HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. No. CCCCIX. JUNE, 1884. VOL. LXIX. BTARRITZ. T was oniy February when we left Bordeaux for the Pyrenees, but ev- erywhere were signs of early bloom: the fields were green,the hedge- rows beginning to deepen, and here and there were orchards touched with pink and white. The fragrant al- mond-tree was in full blossom. We whirled by many garden walls within which were some yellow and red flowers growing gayly; and once I remember seeing a group of chil- dren climbing a slope with long branches of feathery purple bloom in their little hands. All these tokens of spring-time came upon us like a sudden waking up after a wintry sleep, for we had left Lon- don shrouded in fog and mist, with not a sign that summer ever meant to come again. It was with new delight we ob- served that on nearing Bayonne, a large town four miles from Biarritz, the verdure deepened: indeed, there was a look as of June brilliancy about the country we finally rested in. Our destination was Bi- arritz, but, to reach it, one goes first to a little sunny railway station called La Nd- gresse, for what reason we always forgot to inquire. There was the name, however, in big painted letters above a picture of a dark lady with ear-rings and a heavy smilemysterious, but no doubt the most impressive feature of the little place. There were a great many idlers about, watching, with the same interest shown by such people all the world over, for new arrivals; but we noticed at once a certain picturesqueness of dress and atti- tude among the peoplesomething which redeemed the most worthless from look- ing commonplace. Carriages, landaus, hotel omnibuses, stood in waiting. Ahead of us stretched a long white road border- ed by a pretty and very fertile country, beyond which rose occasional glimpses of the hills, shining in rather a fierce light, that made it hard just then to gather distinct impressions of form and color. The long roadway was softened here and there by the green of some feathery-look- ing trees, which cast only faint shadows on the hot white ground, yet swayed now and then daintily in the breeze. This road led to Biarritz, and we were very soon seated in a big landau driving comforta- bly in that direction. Our driver wore the gay dress of his classin the Pyrenees. It had a very good effect, although on a short, stout man it looked a little fantas- tic. There were a great many silver but- tons on his short little coat; the horses wore bells, and somehow during our stay in Biarritz we never felt quite sure wheth- er the driver or the horse produced the little cheerful tinkling sound which ac- companied all our excursions. We drove through a beautiful though quiet country. The features of the land- scape were clearly marked: a rich sweep of green lay between soft undulations, di- versified by trees, vagrant hedge-rows, vil- las, and gardens, with their stone walls hung with vines; a bend in the road would bring us sometimes in sudden view of a little inn, with a court-yard full of cheerful clatter. Madame was fre- quently to be seen leaning out of a win- dow on the ground-floor, handing some tired customer a drink of beer or eau sucrde, while her strong-limbed maidens moved about, dusky shadows within. Entered according to Act of congress, in the year 1884, by narper and Brothers, in the Office of the Librarian of congress, at washington. VOL. LxIx.No. 409.i 4 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. The customers seem- ed chiefly men who were driving teams or wagons in and out between Biar- ritz and neighbor- ing villages. Any one of these men might have stepped on to the boards in the character of a brigand, yet I know not where a more peaceable, good-hu- mored people are to be found. Their al fresco life, bring- ing bronzed cheeks, strong limbs, and a certain swaggering gait, seems also to have made them cheerful and gay- tempered, and, from what we overheard them saying, they appeared to enjoy the beautiful wea- ther with an ap- preciation curious in such a land of bloom. Every- where the sunshine seemed almost un- broken. It lay in wide, flowing streams of light, emphasizing every bit of color, deepening every bit of greeii and, in spite of the cool, soft winds, giving us an impression of midsummer. Overhead, the trails of cloud were fret- ted, making their way with delicate, languid movements across the radiant bosom of the sky. I think it was in that first drive from La IThgresse to Biarritz that we received the impression of perpetual smiling youth and glad- ness in the old, old country, which we never lost; everywhere Nature seemed to lift this joyous look to heaven; her face seemed to flush and pale, to laugh and dimple, with the divine tenderness and light of happy youth; nothing then or later suggested the possibility of de- cay. It was all bloom and perfection, untouched, unfettered; and even after days and nights of storm, the land al- OUR POSTILION. K KL 17 BIAIIRITZ. 5 ways awoke again with the same laugh of spring - time in every bud and blossom. Our drive seemed scarcely begun, though we had gone over three miles, when the straggling signs of a town grew closer. We came in sight of some beautiful villas with fine gardens and stone walls covered with vines and flowers, of groups of simpler houses, and one or two more pretentious inns. The passers - by were more frequent and va- rious. The women of the middle class were especially noticeable. They were handsome, dark, and vivacious, dressing well, and wear- ing a sort of bandana handkerchief bound about their abundant coils of hair. The men strongly suggested the chorus of the French opera. Like the team- drivers we bad seen, they were bronzed and ruddy, but they com- bined a certain townish manner with an air~of genial audacity, nod- ding to us politely as we passed, yet smiling, as much as to say, We too may enjoy Biarritz and the gayety there. A turn in the road brought us suddenly to the town itself, Biar- ritz at the first glance seemed to mean one wide, sunshiny street, with hotels to the right and left, cafds and casinos, a few lingerie shops, and a moving population of fashion- able ladies and gentlemen walking about the hotel gardens or up and down the street, with all the conventional indications of people at a resort. All in a moment we seemed to have left the primitive coun- try, with its backgrou of silent, ever- lasting hills, behind usand to have come into a veritable watering-place, in which, WATER-cARRIER. 6 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. however, the Basque element so far pre- dominated that the sense of mere fashion was not oppressive. We wondered, for a moment longer, where could be the sea; for nowhere in this gay little town could we see any signs of nearing the water. We were, indeed, almost at our hotel be- fore we saw that Biarritz slopes upward on a blooming cliff, below which rolls in wide, boundless expanse the Bay of Bis- caya stretch of sailless, tempestuous wa- ter, beating upon high rocks, dashing fu- riously against the cliffs, roaring and surging past the sweep of yellow sands as though uttering a perpetual protest against the verdant serenity above. I think there is no more striking con- trast than that offered to the mind and eye in such a drive as led us to Biarritz, and the sudden movement and activity of a fashionable hotel. The one-oclock breakfast was about to be served, and as we strolled up and down the luxurious corridors leading to the salon and dining- room, we saw figures and heard voices and sentences that brought us back with cruel directness to the world of fashion and youthful frivolity. A great many young ladies had come in from playing tennis or croquet, or walking about the sands. They wore pretty, summery - looking gowns, straw hats, and a great deal of Bre- ton lace on their neck-ties and parasols. They were full of the social animation of the place. From the fragments of con- versation which drifted toward us we gathered that Madame De B hadissued invitations for a fancy-dress ball. And I need five-and-twenty bangles for my costume, said a very pretty girl, with the seal of death clearly on her eyes and thin, flushed cheek. Bob says I shant have them. Didnt you, Bob? This to a heavy young swell of Britain who was reading Galiguani in a window. Cant I have five-and-twenty bangles, Bob? persisted his young wife, while the third of their partya languid English girl with a big coronet in diamonds on her locketlistened and laughed good- humoredly. You have forty now, said Bob, not moving his eyes from his paper. Hasnt she, Bell? Bell only laughed again soft ly. I want five-and-twenty more, per- sisted the wife~ I want all my arms just run over with themVaudeau says I must. She stretched out her thin young arms with a gay little gesture. Cant I have five-and-twenty more bangles, Bob? she resumed. I can get them in Ba- yonne. Oh, theyre to be had anywhere, re- joined Bob, with light scorn. All the shops know womens ways. Are five-and-twenty bangles sinful ? she asked, flippantly. She was so exqui- sitely lovely, but so evidently dying, and dying fast of that dreadful foe of England, consumption, that there was something positively grotesque in her persistence for the five-and-twenty bangles with which, added to her own forty, her arms were to run over~~ on the night of the ball. You have everything for your dress, havent you ? she said to Bell. I dare say, rejoined that calm young lady. Come, Alicia, she added; break- fast is ready ; and away they went, the invalid shaking out her airy draperies, and talking rapidly to Bob, with gestures that showed her mind still ran upon the five-~ and-twenty bangles. Nearly every one goes to the table d h6te in these foreign hotels. Somebody said the peerage seemed to have flung its contents into that one dining-room; but certain it is, at least three members of the Queens household, one or two well- known royal equerries, some dowager duchesses, three members of the fast-van- ishing cabinet, and a dozen young noble- men circled about the table. Conversa- tion was rather general, but not particu- larly interesting, as the people, who were in Biarritz for healths sake, generally seemed depressed at table. The gentlemen of her Majestys government were anx- ious, and the noble young men had some burdens of the card-table rather heavy upon their minds. Everybody, however, seemed anxious to ask every one else what excursions they had been taking, and ea- ger to know if any new place had been discovered. The Englishman abroad is certainly indefatigable in the way of sight- seeing, and the most languid person was to be roused, we found, by being told of any unvisited point of interest. The first question, Dear me, how does one go ? was generally followed by, Oh, really, I must manage it; and it was noticeable that he usually did manage it, rewarded, perhaps, only by a sense of duty done. When we were in our rooms again we went out upon the balcony fronting them, fairly overawed by the spectacle before FLOWER GIRL ANI) MAN. us. Far away, bounding the western shore, rose the Lower Pyrenees, their dim heights crowning the picture, and con- trasting strangely with the wild waters at their feet. To two of our party this was an unknown country, and to them it seemed as if some dream had taken pos- session of the land. The splendor and yet the calm of it all made this first day go by like an hour. The sunset came, flooding the whole scene with a marvel- lous light. Trails of amber and amethyst and opal went sweeping across the sky like colors of some hidden king, trem- bling with a divine radiance on the wa- ters and the distant hills, and even when the last gleam of color faded, leaving a curious quality of light in the grayness filling earth and sky. When night fell, and the moon rose, the whole scene changed. The sea shone under the cold light with a glamour which seemed to influence all the distant country of fading hills. The sky was full of passionate throbbing from a million stars. We could only look and wonder what new glories this world might contain. As for sketching or painting this sort of thing, says the voice of the artist, in a minor key, why, it cant be done. Who could even tell of what we have seen to- day? And this moonlight !one reads, you know, of what moonlight can do, but was there ever anything so wonderful as the way in which it glorifies the water? Ah! therethere is the White Maiden Qf Biarritz I We all looked, but could only see, at the foot of one of the boldest rocks, a tall, thin spray of water which rose and fell on the impassive stone with a little wailing sound. Now one member of our party was particularly fond of the legendary,. though he objected strongly to calling it a taste for the supernatural. He certainly found out the lore of a place almost by instinct. Yes, he continued, that is the White Maiden of Biarritz. And what was her story ? It was a very sad one, said the eru- dite person, thoughtfully. Her lover he was a Basque knight discovered a rival whom the girl favored, and one moonlight nightso runs the legendhe enticed her to that rock, and there flung her over. This was aboutabout 1307. Ever since, at every full moon, she rises, moaning and making ineffectual attempts to be free. To be free ? says a young person who always enjoys the weird to be free? But isnt she deaddrownedand in heaven ? The story-teller smiles calmly. Thats the most singular part of it, he says. Its most horribly fantastic; perhaps I ought not to have told it at all. No; she can never really drownso they believe; and he is supposed to sit chained to that rock, compelled through all ages to hear her cries. The Basques are a highly organ- ized people. After this we sit silent, and as we leave THE BEACH AND THE CASINO. BIARRJTZ. 9 the balcony, about midnight, the most composed of us remarks: Whatever you may say, I dread to- morrow. I am so sure we shall wake up to find the place all a dream; a glimpse of something unearthly; a maddening suggestion of what might be. But the next day the most brilliant sun- shine welcomed us, and we went out early into the town, full of vigor and belief in its existence. What is there about the influence of such a place as Biarritz which compels one to feel himself a holiday- maker? One wonders always whether humdrum commonplace lives are ever led in it, whether the most colorless ex- istence does not derive some warmth from the ebb and flow of pleasure-seeking hu- manity always at its threshold. We walk- ed by the splendid hotels, in the gardens of which some ladies in fine morning toi- lets were moving about, evidently waking INVALIDS. // 10 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. up the fashion of the day. The main windows of the hotels front the sea, and toward the town are spacious court-yards or gardens, with every variety of wicker chairs and tables, sometimes terraces and balconies laden with flowers. Sometimes on moonlight nights one finds the gardens l)eol)led, and always early in the day. There is a Casino somewherea club; there are dark rumors of rouge et noir and piquet, and all the time we remain- ccl in Biarritz we heard of tennis going on somewhere at a maddening rate; young ladies al)1)eared at the mid-day table dhdtc in tennis costumes, flushed with triumph, exchanging significant exl)ressi on s, and ready to rush off at two oclock to the courts at the Casino; but I am afraid we were a vagabond party, too fond of roaming about the beach and the cliffs to enter with any ardor into such country - house occupa- tions as filled hours of every day for mawy visitors. Past the hotels, that first morning, we walked, down into the gay street where the business ac- tivity of the town concen- trated. It was such a pretty place, half idle, half busy; the shop people stood in their open doorways, nodding and smil- mo ., good-humoredly, not cx- actlv askino ones custom, but certainly evincing every read- iness to be attentive. Parisian taste was everywhere about the shops; the signs aiid indica- tions had not a touch of pro- vincialisni; only in the mar- ket-place did we feel that we had put a metropolis far be- hind us. It is a big, cheerful halle, that of l3iarritz. There is an iron railing all around it, with a deep stone ledge inside heaped up with flowers, behind which the sellers stand, dan- gling roses at you encour- agingly. Buy, buy, madame, m sieur, a voice called after us, and there was a pictur- esque, dark old woman with- in the railing, with her head tied up in a bandana, and her brown hands full of the loveliest red and yellow roses. Buy, madame. See, quite twenty for ten sous. And for this trifle we be- came possessed of a great bunch of Mar& chal Niels and Jacques, such as would seem priceless this season over the wa- ter. At this hour half of l3iarritz is at the market, buying and selling fruit, flow- ers, eggs and butter and fowls, and a clam- or of voices fills the air, French aml Span- ish and Basque mingling now and then with En glishi sounds. Away past the mar- ket we strolled, up into one of the hilly streets of the town. Here the houses were very good, though extremely unpictur- esque. They were mostly built of yel- howish or gray stone, with painted blinds. Sometimes a bit of garden ran in front, 9 WOMAN WITH BASKET. but generally the house door opened, with one or two steps, on to the street. Some were largely advertised ~ loner, others were devoted to lodgings or private resi- dences, but all partook of the general brightness of the town. Winding our way up the pleasant street, we passed sev- eral times impromptu shops: women had opened their wares on clothes-horses or lines directly across the sidewalks, great- ly to the inconvenience of passers-by, but I must say no one seemed to resent it. Bright bandanas, shawls, linens, even heavier articles of dress, were thus dis- played, in the midst of which the owner sat knitting contentedly, looking up now and then with an appeal for a purchaser: Is it not that messieurs et dames wishes something ? and on being answered in the negative, the shop-keeper would only lower her eyes, knit on, catching the at- tention of the next passer-by with equal civility. Beyond this first hilly street the town wound in and out, up and down, with graceful irregularity. We followed a cer~ tam lazy course of streets which brought us finally up on the cliffs and sea-walk. The ground was very irregular here, ris- ing into green knolls, jutting out into a base of stone, or stretching from point to point in a grassy ledge, but all overlook- ing the water, which, lighted up now by dancing gleams of sunlight, seemed to have forgotten the unearthly glow and vi- brations of the night before. We saw the bold coast to very good advantage in this clear light. The rocky lines were sharp- ly defined; the wild character of the shore became apparent, with the stone mon- sters at whose feet the waters tumbled furiously; the fierce crags stood out with the sun shining on them as though they wished the fishermen who tempted them in stormy times to see how deadly a peril they would risk. I suppose that nearly every one knows the character of the Pyrenean and Basque sea-ports. Fishing is the common avoca- tion of a large class; the men and boys go out, bringing in heavy boat-loads, for which the women wait eagerly upon the shore, buying of the fishermen, and sell- ing readily in the town. Our first morning on the cliffs we were as latei~, greatly interested in watching the groups of fisher-women waiting for the return of the boats on the sands below. Some were moving about; sonic half lying or sitting on the rocks and sands; most of them knitting, their brown fingers moving deftly, while their eyes now and then were eagerly strained seaward, watching for the first speck of the boats heads to appear. They were very handsome women in a strong, muscular way. Their bare feet and ankles, bronzed and roughened as they were, ~ ould have served a sculptor OUT ON THE BAY HOUSE OF LOUIS XIV. admirably, and the litheness of limb, placed upon the, linen cushion each wo- strong waists and shoulders, and free play man carried for her head. The whole of the arms showed how little trace of company trooped up the cliff, dispersing physical weakness they or their ancestry in different directions, each following her knew. The women, young and old, were accustomed track. dressed in short, dark skirts and loose, Now this was early in the day. We short - sleeved blouses. On their heads lingered a little while, watching the fisher- they wore the usual gay bandanas. Now men in their boats within a sort of haven and then a brown old face looked out of water walled in by firm stones, which from the handkerchief knotted under the was their safeguard often in stormy wea- chin, but chiefly the bit of colored linen ther. They were active, sturdy - limbed was wound about the back of the head, mcii, an excellent type of Basque pea and frequently fastened by long brass or santryif peasant the man can be called silver pins. A great deal of shrill, good- whose days are passed upon the water. humored talking went on. The groups They sang out now and then; they had engaged in conversation gesticulated in a a way of chaffing one another; they talk- way that looked denunciatory at times, ed and laughed; and of all the people of but was in fact oiily roughly emphatic. the lower classes whom we saw, ,seemed Presently every group scattered; the knit- most indifferent to spectators, above all t~ ters thrust their work into their belts, as strangers. Their work and themselves they ran hither and thither on the beach seemed very exclusive. One day I yen- taking their accustomed places. The boats tured to talk to a fine-looking lad, whose were dimly to be seen coming in tiny oarsmanship I had admired. He answered specks at firsttossing and tumbling on in a perfectly unabashed, frank tone. the line of the horizon. The interest Was he Basque ? among the women grew loud and eager, Well, he came from St. -Jean-de-Luz. and as the boats drew nearer, and finally It was a town not far away. were fairly in, it was astonishing with And do you work here always ? I what rapidity every basket was filled and asked. BIARRITZ. 13 Yes, madame; but one day I hope to day with a real gold watch of her go very much furtherwhen the grand- own. father dies. And what did she think of St. -Jean ? How far ? The lad was really puzzled. The boys dark face looked comically Oh, she thought it all very well, no expressive, doubt, for her mother and father, but she Who can say, madame, if Jacques and gladly went back to Bordeaux. Perhaps I may not reach Bordeaux? We knew a madame may have been there ? boy who went from St.-Jean there. He The lads simple discourse, and he him- married Lepoline, the daughter of Pierre self, interested me greatly; and it impress- Gaudin. She came back to St. -Jean one ed upon me a strong desire to see St. -Jean- STREET IN 5T.-JEAN-DE-LUZ. de-Luz. One could, I thought, fancy the simplicity of a people to whom Bordeaux seemed an ultima thule, and Lepolines gold watch an evidence of its luxurious- ness. I told him a little about the large, noisy city. I am afraid I did not make it seem very alluring to him, for my memo- ries were of its heat and noise, the wran- gling of its wharves, th.e air of provincial vulgarity noticeable in many of its streets; but I softened some points in my descrip- tion. I could not look at the dark, eager young face before me, the slim, active fig- ure in blue and white linen, the brown hands burning for movement, and be cru- el enough to dash all his hopes. On the whole, he seemed pleased. Perhaps he liked to hear of noise and bustle and a big citys animation. At all events, he thank- ed me with the air of one who feels a new impetus given to an old desire. I asked him some questions about St. -Jean, to which he cordially responded, and for the first time I saw evidences of the Basque power of languagethe improvisatores talent which so many of them possess. The boy grew quite eloquent as he told me of his native town, and he threw over it a glamour of pathos which, indeed, we felt later when we walked in its sad old streets. He told me that there was con- stant danger of its being washed away by the sea; that no walls could be built to re- sist the merciless barbarity of those waves. Twice it had nearly all been destroyed. It has suffered in old times by sword and famine as well. Yet it holds its own to- day, proudly, confidently Basque; cherishing its great memories hon- oring its old customs, although the people well know that at any hour or day all traces of its present being may he washed away. We were very anxious to visit the old town, and found that the drive formed one of the favorite excursions from Biar- ritz. Meanwhile we studied up a little historynot guide-book exactly, but a quaint story of the town loaned us by a frienda long, narrow little book, with faded yellow leaves between shining brown covers. St. -Jean-de-Luz, we there- in learned, was a well-built and flourish- ing town when Columbus, who visited it, was thinking of his western voyage. The sailors of St. -Jean knew Iceland well, and it is said that one of their number, San- cho de Huelva, gave Columbus the first suggestion for his explorations. De iluel- va knew many remote places, and had in his own mind determined that a land un- trodden by European feet must lie some- where to the west. Just what he knew or guessed at is not recorded, but that he talk- ed navigation and adventure with the dis- coverer of our country seems tolerably certaiu, and that the people of St. -Jean were accustomed to hear of new lands to- ward the west seems very evident from their traditions and earlier literature. All sorts of interesting and picturesque inci- dents color the story of St-Jean. Thither came Francis I. in his proud captivity; there was celebrated the splendid marriage of Louis XIV. and the Infanta; battles were fought again and again in the streets, stout resistance made to the most formi- dable foes. That the people were brave is shown not only in the history of their wars, but in the way in which they bore ViEW ON THE BASQUE COAST. BJARRITZ. 15 the loss of their noted whale - fisheries. fisheries in Newfoundland became most For generations whaling had been the profitable. It was in 1675 that the first chief support of St. -Jean, but gradually disaster occurred: the waves rose, to the these monsters of the deep disappeared partial destruction of the town. On the from the Bay of Biscay. Nothing daunt- 22d of January, 1749, a great flood of ed, the sailors of St. -Jean pursued them waters poured upon the town, and its old to the Spitzbergen seas. Later their cod- people now relate with bated breath the INTERIOR OF CHURCH IN 5T.-JRAN-DR-LUZ. 16 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. stories of that terrible time told them by their grandsires. Such as could escape speedily abandoned their houses, but the havoc in life and property was terrible; and then it was known that the doom of the town was sealed. Over and again at- tempts have been made to guard against the invasion of this relentless foe, but nearly all are in vain. Something, it is true, has been done with the high sea- wall, yet year by year the waters steadily advance. A town with such traditions, with such a future, must necessarily possess a cer- tain mournful charm, a dignity of splen- did and saddening melancholy. I think we enjoyed dwelling upon the depressing features of its history to a neighbor of ours at the table d h6te, who was the most briskly animated and analytical person I have ever met. In journeying about we found he was typical of a classa small class, perhaps, yet large enough to be gen- eralized about. He pounced, as it were, upon the slightest suggestion of sentiment in anything, whether in architecture or the customs or rohics of a place or people. He was one of those persons who seem to believe the grand old monuments of the past are left solely that such as he may come and laugh their intricacies or sugges- tions to scorn. But he was the most in- defatigable sight-seer I ever beheld. He went about the sunny, carelessly happy lit- tle town of Biarritz, I believe, aggrieved that the stones he turned up with his per- petually moving cane did not present cab- alistic characters which he might find it worth his while to decipher and scoff at; and it became my dear delight to indulge in all the sentiment possible over any sight or any excursion in his hearing, as well as to resolutely decline the use of any guide- book, however useful. The traditionary interest of St. -Jean-de-Luz, as dwelt upon by certain members of our party, drove this personage to the borders of despair. I have said his conversation was analytic- al; possibly the term does not describe his power of wearing a subject so threadbare that you utterly forgot the opinion you had originally expressed. He tortured you to explain yourself; he called upon you to render him an account for the mean- ing of every chance syllable your lips had formed, and when you had civilly tried to state your reasons for the faith within you, and explain in bald terms just why you felt thus and so, his manner plainly indicated, By Jove! what a lot of rubbish some people take in ! That we were going to St. - Jean - de - Luz without reading his yellow - covered guide - book, with its pencil marks, nearly crazed him, and he talked dates and events to us dur- ing three meals with the air of one who feels that the persistently ignorant are his special mission in life. We never told him the secret of our little shining brown book; we never told him about our young friend the sailor-boy whose destiny was Bordeaux. We thoroughly enjoyed appear- ing to have the vaguest of reasons for our sentimental behavior in regard to St. -Jean- de-Luz, and we exasperated him almost beyond endurance by saying we had no fixed date for our journey to the old town: we were waiting for the clouds to look just a certain way, for the sunshine to come at just the right angle, for our pulsations to feel St.-Jean-de-Luz; the impulse to go was to be purely ~sthetic. As for our neighbor, he loudly declared, as he grasp- ed his cane and umbrella, he did so many sights a day, rain or shine, warm or cold, and I know that he uttered to himself an expressive Dammy. Any idea of gloom connected with the old town was dispelled by the radiant day on which we started to see it. I use radi- ant in its tersest significance; for what other term can express the weather during that journey through a land of light and color, warmth and richness? We left the town by a road bordered by the low stone walls behind which villas are to be seen protected by graceful shrubberies. There are two roads to St. -Jean-de-Luz, and we chose the one which took us into a coun- try rimmed by the mountainsa land half verdure and blossom, half wilderness of crags and sea-beach. Sometimes for half a mile or more the road was quite shut in by hedges, tall trees, and garden walls, but even these could not tone down the color that seemed to flow in streams of light on all around us; for the hedges near Biar- ritz run riot with vines and wild flowers; over the garden walls hang languid trails of rosesJacques and Mardchal Niels, and a pale white rose, blushing faintly at its heart like some newly wooed niaiden. As we drove along, a pretty picture suddenly presented itself before us. Above an old garden wall the shrubbery clustered thick- ly, but as we slowly passed, the green was parted by a pair of quick dark hands, and a girls face and figure came in view. She was a veritable Spaniard, charmingly pretty, her dark hair loosely bound in a dull blue bandana, her red and black dress a mixture of the peasant and serving-maid. She bent forward, reaching with her slim brown fingers for a spray of the yellow blossoms tangled along the wall, and as she did so she bent her head back slightly, answering a call from the garden behind her. For an unconscious study it was themostperfectpicture~haveeverseen; and where else, we wondered, could it have been given us Now and then on our drive we passed a bank of feathery wil- lows; again some grander trees arched overhead, shutting out all the rich per- fumes of the fields and flowers behind us. Breaking away from these sheltered places, we came at intervals into sudden view of the water sweeping wildly against the craggy shore, dashing against the rocks, uttering the same defiant message to the land, and receding with that long- drawn moan which makes the music of the Bay of Biscay so unutterably plain- tive. To the left of such wild scenes we could always turn our eyes to a peaceful upland, where peasants, men and women were toiling, their brown figures sharply defined against the sky-models, we often thought, for a Brdton or Lepage, impress- ive from the contrast they afforded to fiercer elements in the landscape, but of themselves charming studies, their very activity possessing an element of crude grace in keeping with their form and col- or, harmonizing with the wide stretches of upland field waiting to be tilled or sown as the case may be. shining duskily brown and green in the morning light. Now and then, as we drove by a group of these hill-side toilers, a weather-beaten kindly face would turn to look at us sometimes a little child would start for- ward, fling a handful of wild flowers into the carriage, and look up with pretty, smiling eyes and lips for the sous one could not help tossing him; occasionally a man or woman trudging along would offer a good-humored salutation, but in general the natives take but little heed of the foreign visitors who come and go in their lovely land. Curving in and out of the hilly road to St. -Jean, we had recurrent glimpses of the mountains, finally beholding in the dis- tance the snowy heights, so much sung and painted, but never, it seems to me, to he adequately described. A something im- perial, triumphant, and proudly self-con- scious dominates those hills; they seem to lift an eternal message from earth to sky. As we drove along we looked almost with reverence at the glistening heights, fading into an ethereal vapor that seemed hea- ven itself, and we felt it was a scene not to THE ARCHED ~RIDGE. 18 HAIRPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. be transcribed by pen or pencilonly to be witnessed, to be felt. Below, the bosom of the hills varies with a hundred restless lights, now brown, now purple, now flush- ed with a trembling rosy tint; but look at and admire these as one may, the eye seeks that unwritten glory above; it van- ishes into air, seeming to penetrate the mystery of the very sun itself. Perhaps it was as well that we some- times lost sight of this shining vision of Gods hills; we could not have other- wise found ardor for the minor objects along the road, which had in them per- petually varying elements of human and picturesque interest. There were many undulations in the road, and as we drove along we passed on the rise or fall of ver- dure many dwel]ings, those of the very poor being rudely built of stone some- times perched on a hill-top in the midst of straggling, wind - blown farm lands. Better dwellings marked the entrance to some tiny village, and these, though rare- ly pretty, had usually some characteristic which made them picturesque, and in- clined one of the party to produce a sketch-book and pencil: a bit of tumble- down balcony; a court, grass-grown and ill kept; a gable end; a doorway with heavy oaken beams something, at all events, worth remembering; and when animated by two or three active, hand- some young people, the doorways and yards looked very well. Sometimes we passed a bourgeois garden which was trimly kepta contrast to its neighbors, for flowers do not seem to be cultivated in the windows and at the doorways of the poor in the Pyrenees as they are in England. A rose - tree may run wildly if it will, covering half the side of a house, or green vines may tangle them- selves wantonly over door and window and porch, but there is none of the jea lously loving care bestowed upon a blos- soms growth such as makes the humblest cottage in Great Britain pleasing. This may be because flowers in the Basque country are taken as matters of course as much as the richly rolling sea, the green slopes, or the fair blue sky. En route to St. -Jean we passed the quaint little village of Bidart. I dont know what the guide-books have to say of it. We had known of it in the vaguest fashion before starting, and somehow I always associate it with the change that suddenly filled the earth and sky: the day suddenly turned gray, the sunshine fitful though luminous. Some boys, active over the national game, jeu de paume, stopped short, evidently reading from familiarity the tokens of the sky. For ourselves, we felt at once, in the midst of all the spring- ing green and blossom, that one of the sudden Pyrenean storms was imminent. We drove on quickly, anxious to take shel- ter, and our coachman seemed to share our very worst apprehensions of a drenching. It was then that we curved about and en- tered Bidart. Everything had a lurid in- tensity; objects stood out as though upon some curiously contrived canvas; the houses, quaint and oddly shaped, were lighted up or cast into shadow in unex- pected places; where the ground sloped roughly to the sea there were ridges of black tones, while, just above, fierce gleams of light would color the walls of some old house, or lie in fantastic zigzag across the roadway; people moved hither and thith- er, their importance in size and color won- BASQUE Ox-TEAM. K K1 ~ Ii /7 / // K BJARRITZ. 19 derfully strengthened by the lurid quality in the heavens; strange things grew prom- inent; road - side daisies and buttercups started into sudden dilation as we passed them by. Perhaps the utmost signifi- cance of this strange yellow light and fantastic shade centred about one build- ing. It was a beer merchants establish- ment. There was a curious rambling gal- lery, in which three or four men and wo- men were grouped like people in Frois- sart. Below, two or three strong peasants were rolling casks into a vast, dim room, and in strong contrast to these figures was a young woman above. She had on a dark green gown, and a big silver cross on her breast. She ran to the end of the balcony, and shading her eyes from a too vivid gleam of light, she called out to some old people in a field below to make haste and take shelter. The old people a group of thin, irregular, brown figures seemed listless, or unaware of what the heavens meant. The girl above flung her arms about with the wild gestures we learned to understand as only a sort of underscoring to Basque feelings and sen- timents. She was very pretty, in a rough, dark way, and I dont know what could have been more effective than her figure in the stormy light against the brown old house, the wind flapping her skirts and moving the waves of hair on her forehead. Her cross was shining in a spot of light. Upon a hilly slope at Bidart is a little gray stone church, the bell of which was tolling as we drove into the town. Some pious old people were going in up a flight of well-worn stone steps just above a cu- rious medkeval gateway. The patient figures toiling up the steps seemed to take no heed of the fact that the storm had al- re~dy broken and the rain was pelting down furiously against the doorway, mingling with the sound of the organ within. We hastily took shelter in one of those inns which abound along the road, but which are devoted to the ac- commodation of very simple travellers. But from Bidart to St.-Jean the drive was full of serene loveliness; the day was not too far advanced for us. to enter the solemn old city with clear, still lines of sunlight in the open spaces. We left the range of hills and the quiet uplands rath- er suddenly behind us, and our first im- pression of St. -Jean-de-Luz was of silent, melancholy buildings, full of a pathetic dignity and jealously guarded splendors. VOL. LXIX.No. 4092 A wide irregular square gave on to the wharves and sea. Prominently to the right, and among the sombre houses, was the old churchthat which witnessed the bravery and pomp of the royal marriage in 1660. Further on, as I have said, was the sea. There was an old wall, and fish- ermen were lounging about. Some nets were dragged in, boats turned up, and oth- er idle signs of the craft which still char- acterizes the town. It was the hour for the afternoon service, and we entered the pon- derous old church, our tourist sense mer- ging into something comparatively person- al. The pathos of the people seemed to find its concentration in this vast old house of God, and we had a curious feeling that we might be intruding upon some prayer, though mutely uttered, for the citys sal- vation. The church is a splendid building, vast, dark, and peculiar in architecture. Tiers of oaken galleries, black with age, rise on either side, giving a peculiar effect when filled with people. The men and women, according to the established custom of the country, were divided. The whole sug- gestion of place and people was medheval, for so much of the past clings to these Basques, both in dress and bearing, that one almost expected to hear the strains of old - time music when the organ pealed forth. It seemed as if we might have come in to witness the pompous march of King Louiss wedding up the aisle toward that altar, with its wax lights flickering yellow spots among the blackening oak. Could we not by lingering see it all, catch the shouts of a rejoicing crowd without, see a king made happy, and a queen given to the nation? But it was only March, 1880, after all, and two centuries had clouded St. -Jean, had doubtless changed the character, if not some of the instincts, of the people since that day of fair mag- nificence. If in their time - honored old church they seemed to bring back the meanings of the past, to-day grew present when they drifted out in~to the old square after the service ended. We stood among them for a little while, watching certain picturesque groups which formed uncon- sciously here and there. The old people clattered away in their sabots down the sharply paved streets; the younger ones stood about, laughing and talking gayly. The residence of Louis XIV~ was across the square, and presented deeper sugges- tions of antiquity; at least the windows 20 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. were better, the stone-work more rugged; but the lower part to-day is devoted to merchandise; and the people of St.-Jean are so listless about their historic sights that we found no one who could even tell us whether it would be possible to obtain admittance to the old houses. We drove back to Biarritz by the sec- ond road of which I have spoken, and found its elements rather wilder than the road by which we had gone; the stretch of hills was more unbroken; there were fields of grain and pasture-lands in great level sweeps of yellow and green, and one or two bits of roadway arched by the most splendid old trees. Thence we curved into the little village of La Ndgresse, and on over the now familiar white road to Biar- ritz. Here all was animation, for on Sun- day evening the population of Biarritz is wont to assemble in its principal street, the young women dressing with dainty Paris- ian touches in gowns and parasols, but wearing no hats; the men in rather stiff corduroys, with red and green vests, and something picturesque or characteristic in their caps and knee-breeches. A great deal of laughing and talking was going on, sometimes briefly suspended while the gay chatterers stopped to watch some open carriage roll by with its burden of fash- ionable ladies and gentlemen. Visitors to Biarritz used to be heard complaining that Sunday was intolerably dull; but to me it seenied only an idea, for after service there were drives and walks to take, the sands were always free from a crowd, and if there was no special amusement for the evening, there came the quiet of a long, still watch of the starlight above that wonderful throbbing water. I remember one or two Sundays when we strolled out upon the sands to watch the marvellous moonlight effects upon the crags. What could have been grander than that sweep- ing shore, weirdly fascinating under the cold guardianship of the moon? We sat on one of the benches on a high cliff, and allowed our limbs to grow stiff and our necks to ache while we watched the un- utterable splendors of the night before us. Away stretched the water, rolling to- ward what might be the Infinite, for all it indicated of a distant shore; there were the hills, the crags, the sands, yellow-green in this delusive light. We moved away from our cold bench to look down into some rocky caverns where the waters moaned and gurgled, where it seemed as if a misstep would be so easy, where death would be so swift, yet so hideous and fan- tastic. Out on to one of the stone walls we ventured, growing reckless under the moons sway, and there we beheld, shin- ing in the pure white light, the statue of the Virgin, raised by reverent hands as a signal to sailors. Something curiously unearthly filled all this shore at moon- light; we always tried to smile at our own fantasies concerning it, yet we never could quite defy them; we knew that each occasion would revive the same bewilder- ing, fascinating sensations. I think I must not leave these fragment- ary notes of that part of the Basque coun- try without a few words about the curious legends of the people which we heard on very good authority. How far they are believed in is difficult to say, but they are certainly related by old dames over winter fires, told by mothers to refractory chil- dren, and so far influence the minds of the people as to tinge them with that air of half credulity, half timidity about the un- known which any traditionally supersti- tious nation is sure to possess. For the most part the legends are merely fan- tastic or absurdly foolish, but some are amusing, while certain legendary charac- ters constantly appear in different stories, as, for example, Bassa-Jaun, the wild man, and Bassa-Audre, the wild woman. Bassa- Jaun is sometimes represented as a vam- pire, then as a faun or satyr, and again as a kind of brownie. His wife, Bassa-Audre, figures in various disguises, and one can trace in her likenesses to the legendary characters of the fairy lore of Northern nations. The Laminak constantly ap- pear, and seem to be considered as fairies, both good and evil. The stories are told in the most primitive language, whetl~ier they appear in print or are related by the people themselves, and are curiously lack- ing in all descriptive power, analysis, or even the graphic force so often found in simple beginnings of a literature. For in- stance, one of the tales about Bassa-Jaun opens thus; Once upon a time there lived in one house the landlady and the farmers wife. The farmers wife had three sons. One day they said to their mother to give each of them a ball and a penny roll; that they wished to go from country to country. The mother was sorry to part with her three much-loved sons, but all three start- ed off. This highly popular story goes BJARRITZ. 21 on to relate, in the baldest, most meaning- less language, the wanderings of the three sons, their final appearance at Bassa- Jauns castle, where they are transform- ed by the wild man, and their subsequent release by the efforts of their young sis- ter. The stories are utterly devoid of in- terest except as specimens of primitive literature, and expressing the simplicity of the people. One very popular fireside tale is so characteristic and so absurd that I will give it entire. There were a man and wife who were very poor. The man used to sit sadly at a cross-road. There came to him a gentle- man who asked, Why are you so sad? Because I have not wherewith to live, he said to him. I will give you as much money as you like, if, at such a time, you tell me the age of the devil. Our man goes off happy. He leads a merry life with his wife, for they wanted for nothing. They lived at a great rate. But time went on, and the time was ap- proaching. The man recollected that he had not busied himself at all about the devils age. He became pensive. His wife asked him what was the matter with himwhy is he not happy? they wanted for nothingwhy is he so sad? He tells her how it is that he got rich, and what compact he had made with the gentle- man. His wife said to him: If you have nothing but that, it is nothing at all. Get into a barrel of honey, and when you come out of it get into another barrel of feathers, and, dress- ed like that,goto the cross-roads and wait for the devil there. You will put your- self on all fours, and walk backward and forward, and go between his legs, and walk all around him. The man does as his wife had told him. The devil comes, and draws back when he sees him, and our man goes up quite close to the devil. The devil, being frightened, said to him: I am so many years old, and I have never seen any animal like that, and such a frightful one! Our man had heard enough. He went off home at full speed, and told his wife that they would want for nothing; that he had done as she had told him, just as if she had been a witch, and that he was no longer afraid of the devil. They lived rich and happily; and if they lived well, they died well too. The faculty of rhyming is very common among the people. Old men will go on sometimes for two hours at a time re- lating the events of the day in sing-song doggerel, while the improvisator, dying out elsewhere, is still a well-known char- acter at Basque fetes, prizes being given for the best impromptu verses on a given theme. Some of the songs of the people are extremely plaintive and pretty; when literally translated, their simplicity is very sweet, but rather monotonous. It is hard, even when one has a strong interest in the subject, to get very near these Basques. Their reserve is good-hu- mored, but it is often impenetrable; yet they are a most fascinating people, and one longs to solve the mystery of their origiu.* It is curious to observe how many of their very oldest traits they yet preserve even physical characteristics, which we read of as belonging to perhaps the Abys- sinians, whence some of them came, re-ap- pear now and then with surprising clear- ness. Whatthey believe in the way of their legends they cling to with absolute faith, or at least with that refusal to disbelieve which operates forcibly on any untutored mind. I found among the Basques pre- cisely such influences as I had observed in the peasants of Devon and Somerset, the same belief in witchcraft and demon powerindeed, in the fantastic sway of fairies; for the Basque brownie is the Devonshire were-woman, and the doings of the one are as much respected and feared as those of the other. In the neigh- borhood of St. -Jean-de-Luz a woman will tell you her child has been bewitched and is ill, and a Devon woman will say with equal gravity and faith that her child has had the evil-eye upon her. Witchcraft seems to be the prevailing Basque super- stition, though happily the day has gone by when St.-Jean-de-Luz glowed with the fires kindled for the unhappy victims sus- pected of employing witchcraft. There had been cool winds, mornings and evenings, when a wood fire was not unacceptable, before we talked of leaving the lower Pyrenees, but these were follow- * It is considered probable that the Basques were of Iberian origin, and preceded the Celts by twenty centuries. They were called Euskarians when the Phcenicians came in the year 1100 B.c. The ori- gin of their language is little known, but it bears close analogy to Oriental tongues, especially to San- skrit. Their numbers in France and Spain are about 840,000. There are about 100,000 Basques in South America. 22 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. ed by days of summery stillness. In them we drove all over the country near Biarritz, taking in those final impressions which, as I have said, were like our first. The morning that we left it seemed to me as if I had never seen anything lovelier than the Judas-trees that were richly pink in all the gardens. We left at sunrise to take a train for the upper Pyrenees, and drove to Bayonne over a country gay with the voices of birds, and exquisitely lovely in the first flush of a perfect day. The fields, the hedges, the gardens, the road-side daisies, all had awakened with trembling pulsa- tions of the deepening springthe air was deliciously soft and cool, the glory in the east was a distant flood of color, flaming the mountain-tops, glorifying their shin- ing heights with an unreal, awful majesty; but nearer to us the reflections were more delicately cast. Biarritz receded from view the plaint of its ineffable shore grew more and more distant as we journeyed along in the morning; yet we found, on looking about us, and later, on recalling that day, and all others spent among these lower Pyrenean hills, that we had pre- served all our first impressions. Light and color and fragrance were an abiding association with the country of the Basques. A HUMBLE ROMANCE. SHE was stooping over the great kitch- en sink, washing the breakfast dishes. Under fostering circumstances her slen- derness of build might have resulted in delicacy or daintiness; now the harmony between strength and task had been re- peatedly broken, and the result was ugli- ness. Her finger joints and wrist bones were knotty and out of proportion, her el- bows, which her rolled-up sleeves display- ed,were pointed and knobby, her shoulders bent, her feet spread beyond their natural boundsfrom head to foot she was a little discordant note. She had a pale, peaked face, her scanty fair hair was strained tightly back, and twisted into a tiny knot, and her expression was at once passive and eager. There came a ringing knock at the kitch- en door, and a face of another description, large, strong-featured, and assured, peered out of the pantry, which was over against the sink. Who is it, Sally ? I don know, Mis King. Well, go to the door, cant you, an not stan thar gapin. I cant; my hands are in the butter. Sally shook the dish-water off her red, sodden fingers, and shuffled to the door. A tall man with a scraggy sandy mus- tache stood there. He had some scales in his hand. Good mornin, marm, he said. Hey you got any rags ? Ill see, said the girl. Then she went over to the pantry, and whispered to her mistress that it was the tin peddler. Botheration ! cried Mrs. King, impa- tiently; why couldnt he hey come an- other day? Here I am right in the midst of butter, an Ive got lots of rags, an Ive got to hey some new milk pans right away. All of this reached the ears of the tin peddler, but he merely stood waiting, the corners of his large mouth curving up good-naturedly, and scrutinized with plea- sant blue eyes the belongings of the kitch- en, and especially the slight, slouching figure at the sink, to which Sally had re- turned. I spose, said Mrs. King, approaching the peddler at length, with decision thinly veiled by doubt, that I shall hey to trade with you, though I don know how to stop this mornin, for Im right in the midst of butter-making. I wish youd a happen- ed along some other day. Waal, replied the peddler, laughing, an so I would, marm, ef Id only known. But I dont see jest how I could hey, unless youd a pasted it up on the fences, or had it put in the newspaper, or mebbe in the almanac. He lounged smilingly against the door- casing, jingling his scales, and waiting for the woman to make up her mind. She smiled unwillingly, with knitted brows. Well, said she, of course you aint to blame. I guess Ill go an pick up my rags, up in the garret. Theres quite a lot of em, an it 11 take some time. I dont know as youll want to wait. Lor, I dont keer, answered the ped- dler. Id jest as soon rest a leetle as not. Its a powerful hot mornin for this time o year, an Ive got all the day afore me. He came in and seated himself on a chair near the door with a loose-jointed sprawl.

22 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. ed by days of summery stillness. In them we drove all over the country near Biarritz, taking in those final impressions which, as I have said, were like our first. The morning that we left it seemed to me as if I had never seen anything lovelier than the Judas-trees that were richly pink in all the gardens. We left at sunrise to take a train for the upper Pyrenees, and drove to Bayonne over a country gay with the voices of birds, and exquisitely lovely in the first flush of a perfect day. The fields, the hedges, the gardens, the road-side daisies, all had awakened with trembling pulsa- tions of the deepening springthe air was deliciously soft and cool, the glory in the east was a distant flood of color, flaming the mountain-tops, glorifying their shin- ing heights with an unreal, awful majesty; but nearer to us the reflections were more delicately cast. Biarritz receded from view the plaint of its ineffable shore grew more and more distant as we journeyed along in the morning; yet we found, on looking about us, and later, on recalling that day, and all others spent among these lower Pyrenean hills, that we had pre- served all our first impressions. Light and color and fragrance were an abiding association with the country of the Basques. A HUMBLE ROMANCE. SHE was stooping over the great kitch- en sink, washing the breakfast dishes. Under fostering circumstances her slen- derness of build might have resulted in delicacy or daintiness; now the harmony between strength and task had been re- peatedly broken, and the result was ugli- ness. Her finger joints and wrist bones were knotty and out of proportion, her el- bows, which her rolled-up sleeves display- ed,were pointed and knobby, her shoulders bent, her feet spread beyond their natural boundsfrom head to foot she was a little discordant note. She had a pale, peaked face, her scanty fair hair was strained tightly back, and twisted into a tiny knot, and her expression was at once passive and eager. There came a ringing knock at the kitch- en door, and a face of another description, large, strong-featured, and assured, peered out of the pantry, which was over against the sink. Who is it, Sally ? I don know, Mis King. Well, go to the door, cant you, an not stan thar gapin. I cant; my hands are in the butter. Sally shook the dish-water off her red, sodden fingers, and shuffled to the door. A tall man with a scraggy sandy mus- tache stood there. He had some scales in his hand. Good mornin, marm, he said. Hey you got any rags ? Ill see, said the girl. Then she went over to the pantry, and whispered to her mistress that it was the tin peddler. Botheration ! cried Mrs. King, impa- tiently; why couldnt he hey come an- other day? Here I am right in the midst of butter, an Ive got lots of rags, an Ive got to hey some new milk pans right away. All of this reached the ears of the tin peddler, but he merely stood waiting, the corners of his large mouth curving up good-naturedly, and scrutinized with plea- sant blue eyes the belongings of the kitch- en, and especially the slight, slouching figure at the sink, to which Sally had re- turned. I spose, said Mrs. King, approaching the peddler at length, with decision thinly veiled by doubt, that I shall hey to trade with you, though I don know how to stop this mornin, for Im right in the midst of butter-making. I wish youd a happen- ed along some other day. Waal, replied the peddler, laughing, an so I would, marm, ef Id only known. But I dont see jest how I could hey, unless youd a pasted it up on the fences, or had it put in the newspaper, or mebbe in the almanac. He lounged smilingly against the door- casing, jingling his scales, and waiting for the woman to make up her mind. She smiled unwillingly, with knitted brows. Well, said she, of course you aint to blame. I guess Ill go an pick up my rags, up in the garret. Theres quite a lot of em, an it 11 take some time. I dont know as youll want to wait. Lor, I dont keer, answered the ped- dler. Id jest as soon rest a leetle as not. Its a powerful hot mornin for this time o year, an Ive got all the day afore me. He came in and seated himself on a chair near the door with a loose-jointed sprawl. A HUMBLE ROMANCE. 23 After Mrs. King had gone out he sat a few minutes eying the girl at the sink intently. She kept steadily on with her work, though there was a little embarrass- ment and uncertainty in her face. Would it be too much trouble ef I should ask you to give me a tumbler of water, miss 3 She filled one of her hot, newly washed glasses with water from a pail standing on a shelf at one end of the sink, and brought it over to him. Its cold, she said. I drawed it myself jest a few mm- utes ago, or Id get some right out of the well for you. This is all right, an thanky kindly, miss; its proper good water. He drained the glass, and carried it back to her at the sink, where she had returned. She did not seem to dare absent herself from her dish-washing task an instant. He set the empty glass down beside the pail; then he caught hold of the girl by her slender shoulders and faced her round toward him. She turned pale, and gave a smothered scream. Thar! thar! dont you go to being afeard of me, said the peddler. I wouldnt hurt you for the whole world. I jest want to take a squar look at you. Youre the worst-off-lookin little cretur I ever set my eyes on. She looked up at him pitifully, still only half re-assured. There were inflamed circles around her dilated blue eyes. Youve been cryin, aint you ? The girl nodded meekly. Please let me go, she said. Yes, Ill let you go; but Im a-goin to ask you a few questions first, an I want you to answer em, for Ill be hanged ef I ever see Aint she good to you ?in- dicating Mrs. King with a wave of his hand toward the door through which she had departed. Yes, shes good enough, I guess. Dont ever scold you, hey 3 I don know; I guess so, sometimes.~~ Did this mornin, didnt she 3 A little. I was kinder behind with the work. Keeps you workin pretty stiddy, dont she 3 Yes: thars considerble to do this time o year. Cookin for hired men, I spose, and butter an milk 3 Yes. How long hey you been livin here 3 She took me when I was little. Do you do anything besides work ? go round like other gals ?-hev any good times 3 Sometimes. She said it doubtfully, as if casting about in her mind for remi- niscences to prove the truth of it. Git good wages 3 A dollar a week sence I was eighteen. I worked for my board an close afore. Got any folks 3 I guess Ive got some brothers an sis- ters somewhar. I don know jest whar. Two of em went West, an~ one is merried somewhar in York State. We was scat- tered when father died. Thar was ten of us, an we was awful poor. Mis King took me. I was the youngest; bout four, they said I was. I aint never known any folks but Mis King. The peddler walked up and down the kitchen floor twice; Sally kept on with her dishes; then he came back to her. Look a-here, he said; leave your dish-washin alone a minute. I want you to give me a good look in the face, an tell me what you think of me. She looked up shylyin his florid, freckled face, with its high cheek-bones and scrag- gy sandy mustache; then she plunged her hands into the dish-tub again. I don know, she said, bashfully. Well mebbe you do know, only you cant put it into words. Now jest take a look out the window at my tin cart thar. Thats all my own, a private consarn. I aint runnin for no company. I owns the cart an horse, an disposes of the rags, an sells the tin, all on my own hook. An Im a-doin pretty well at it; Im a-layin up a leetle money. I aint got no family. Now this wa~ what I was a-comm at: spose you should jest leave the dishes, an the scoldin woman, an the butter, an every- thing, an go a-ridin off with me on my tin cart. I wouldnt know you, an she wouldnt know you, an you wouldnt know yourself, in a week. You wouldnt hey a bit of work to do, but jest set up thar like a queen, a-ridin and seem the country. For thats the way wed live, you know. I wouldnt hey you keep- in house an slavin. Wed stop along the road for vittles, and bring up at tav- erns nights. What dye say to it 3 She stopped her dish-washing now, and stood staring at him, her lips slightly parted and her cheeks flushed. I know I aint much in the way of 24 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. looks, the peddler went on, an Im older than youIm near fortyan Ive been merried afore. I dont spose you kin take a likin to me right off, but you might arter a while. .An Id take keer of you, you poor leetle thing. An I dont blieve you know anything about how nice it is to be taken keer of, an hey the hard, rough things kep off by some- body that likes yer. Still she said nothing, but stood staring at him. You aint got no beau, hey you ? asked the peddler, as a sudden thought struck him. No. She shook her head, and her cheeks flushed redder. Well, what do you say to goin with me? Youll hey to hurry up an make up your mind, or the old ladyll be back. The girl was almost foolishly ignorant of the world, but her instincts were as brave and innocent as an angels. Taint- ed with the shiftless weariness and phlegm of her parents, in one direction she was vigorous enough. Whether it was by the grace of God, or an inheritance from some far-off Puritan ancestor, the fire in whose veins had not burned low, she could see, if she saw no- thing else, the distinction between right and wrong with awful plainness. No- body had ever called her anything but a good girl. It was said with a disparage- ment, maybe, but it was always a good girl. She looked up at the man before her, her cheeks burning painfully hot, her eyes at once drooping and searching. Idont know jesthow you mean, she stammered. I wouldnt go with the king, efit wasnt togo hoilest__ The peddlers face flushed as red as hers. Now, look a-here, little un, he said. You jest listen, an its Gods own truth; ef I hadnt a meant all right I wouldnt a come to you, but to some other gal, han- sumer, an pearter, anbut, oh Lord! I aint that kind, anyway. What I want is to merry you honest, an take keer of you, an git that look off your face. I know its awful sudden, an its askin a good deal of a gal to trust so much in a fellow she never set eyes on afore. Ef you cant do it, Ill never blame you; but ef you kin, well, I dont bUieve youll ever be sorry. Most folks would think I was a fool, too, an mebbe I am, but I wanted to take keer onyoutheminutel set eyes on you; an afore I know it the wantin to take keer on you will be growin into lovin you. Now you hurry and make up your mind, or she will be back. Sallyhad little imagination, and aloving nature. In her heart, as in all girls hearts, the shy, secret longing for a lover had strengthened with her growth, but she had never dreamed definitely of one. Now she surveyed the homely, scrawny, good-na- tured visage before her, and it filled the longing nature had placed in her helpless heart well enough. His appearance dis- pelled no previous illusion, for previous il- lusion there had been none. No one had ever spoken to her in this way. Rough and precipitate though it was, it was skill- ful wooing; for it made its sincerity felt, and a girl more sophisticated than this one could not have listened to it wholly un- touched. The erratic nature of the whole pro- ceeding did not dismay her. She had no conscience for conventionalities; she was too simple; hers only provided for pure right and wrong. Strange to say, the possible injury she would do her mistress by leaving her in this way did not occur to her till afterward. Now she looked at her lover, and began to believe in him, and as soon as she began to believe in him poor, unattractive, ignorant little thing that she was !she began to love just like other girls. All over her crimson face flashed the signs of yielding. The ped- dler saw and understood them. You willwont you, little un ? he cried. Then, as her eyes drooped more before his, and her mouth quivered be- tween a sob and a smile, he took a step forward and stretched out his arms to- ward her. Then he stepped back, and his arms fell. No, he cried, I wont; Id like to give you a hug, but I wont; I wont so much as touch that little lean hand of yours till youre my wife. You shall see I mean honest. But come along now, little un, or she will be back. I declar ef I dont moren half believe shes fell in a fit, or shed ha been back afore now. Come now, dear, be spry ! Now ~ said Sally in turn. Now! why, of course now: whats the use of waitin? Mebbe you want to make some weddin cake, but I reckon wed bet- ter buy some over in Derby, for it might put the old lady out ; and the peddler chuckled. Why, Im jest a-goin to stow A HUMBLE ROMANCE. 25 you away in that ere tin cart of mine theres plenty of room, for Ive been on the road a-sellin nigh a week. An then Im a-goin to drive out of this yard, arter Ive traded with your missis, as innocent as the very innocentest lamb you ever see, an Im a-goin to drive along a piece till its safe; an then youre a-goin to git out an set up on the seat alongside of me, an were goin to keep on till we git to Derby, an then well git merried, jest as soon as we kin find a minister as wants to aim a ten-dollar bill. But, gasped Sally, shell ask whar I am. Ill fix that. You lay there in the cart an hear what I say. Lor, Id jest as soon tell her to her face, myself, what we was goin to do, an set you right up on the seat aside of me, afore her eyes; but shed talk hard, most likely, an you look scared enough now, an youd cry, an your eyes would git redder; an she might sass you so youd be ready to back out, too. Wo- men kin say hard things to other women, an they aint likely to understan any woman but themselves trustin a man overmuch. I reckon this is the best way. He went toward the door, and mo- tioned her to come. But I wants my bonnet. Never mind the bunnit; Ill buy you one in Derby. But I dont want to ride into Derby bare-headed, said Sally, almost crying. Well, I don know as you do, little un, thats a fact; but hurry an git the bun- nit, or she will be here. I thought I heard her a minute ago. Thars a leetle money Ive saved, too. Well, git that; we dont want to make the old lady vallyble presents, an you kin buy yourself sugar-plums with it. But be spry. She gave him one more scared glance, and hastened out of the room, her limp calico accommodating itself to every un- graceful hitch of her thin limbs and sharp hips. Ill git her a gown with puckers in the back, mused the peddler, gazing after her. Then he hastened out to his tin cart, and arranged a vacant space in the body of it. He had a great-coat which he spread over the floor. Thar, little un, let me put you right in, he whispered, when Sally emerged, her bonnet on her head, a figured green delaine shawl over her shoulders, and her little hoard dangling from her hand in an old stocking. She turned round and faced him once more, her eyes like a childs peering into a dark room. You mean honest ~ Before God, I do, little un. Now git in quick, for she is comm ! He had to lift her in, for her poor little limbs were too weak to support her. They were not a moment too soon, for Mrs. King stood in the kitchen door a second later. Here! you aint goin, air you ? she called out. No, marm; I jest stepped out to look arter my hoss; he was a trifle uneasy with the flies, an thar was a yaller wasp buzzin round. And the peddler stepped up to the door with an open and artless visage. Well, I didnt know but youd git tired waitin. You spoke so about not be- in in a hurry that I stopped to pick my white rags out from the colored ones. I knew theyd bring more ef I did. Id been meanin to hey em all sorted out afore a peddler come along. I thought Id hey Sally pick em over last week, but she was sick Why, whar is Sally ? Who? Sallythe girl that was washin dish- es when you comeshe went to the door. Oh, the gal! I blieve I saw her go out the door a minute afore I went out to see to my hoss. Well, Ill call her, for shell never git the dishes done, I guess, an then well see about the rags. Mrs. King strode toward the door, but the peddler stopped her. Now, marm, ef you please, said he, Id a leetle rayther youd attend to busi- ness first, and call Sally arterward, ef its jest the same to you, for I am gittin in a ~eetle of a hurry, and dont feel as ef I could afford to wait much longer. Well, said Mrs. King, reluctantly, I dont suppose I orter ask you to, but I do hey such discouragin times with help. I declare it dont seem to me as ef Sally ever would git them dishes done. Waal, it dont seem to me, from what Ive seen, that she ever will, either, said the peddler, as he gathered up Mrs. Kings rag-bags and started for the cart. Anybody wouldnt need to watch her for moren two minutes to see how slow she was, assented Mrs. King, following. Shes a girl I took when she was a baby to bring up, an Ive wished moren fifty 26 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. times I hadnt. Shes a good girl enough, but shes awful slowno snap to her. How much is them milk pans ? Mrs. King was reputedly a sharp woman at a bargain. To trade with her was or- dinarily a long job for any peddler, but to-day it was shortened through skillful management. The tinman came down with astonishing alacrity from his first price at the merest suggestion from his customer, and in a much shorter time than usual she bustled into the house, her arms full of pans, and the radiant and triumph- ant conviction of a good bargain in her face. The peddler whirled rapidly into his seat, and snatched up the lines; but even then he heard Mrs. King calling the girl as he rattled around the corner. A quarter of a mile from Mrs. Kings there was a house; a little beyond, the road ran through a considerable stretch of woods. This was a very thinly settled neighborhood. The peddler drove rapid- ly until he reached the woods; then he stopped, got down, and peered into the cart. Sallys white face and round eyes peered piteously back at him. Howre you gittin aloiig, little un? Oh, let me git out an go back Lor, no, little un, you dont want to go back now! Bless your heart, shes all primed for an awful sassin. I tell you what tis, you shant ride cooped up in thar any longer; you shall git out, an set up here with me. Well keep our ears pricked up, an ef we hear anybody corn- in, Ill stow you in the box under the seat afore you kin say Jack Robinson, an thar aint any houses for three mile. He helped the poor shivering little thing out, and lifted her up to the high seat. When he had seated himself beside her, and gathered up the lines, he looked down at her curiously. Her bonnet the severe taste of Mrs. King had regulated. It was a brown straw, trimmed with brown ribbon. He eyed it disapproving- ly. Ill git you a white bunnit, sich as brides wear, in Derby, said he. She blushed a little at that, and glanced up at him, a little grateful light over her face. You poor little thing ! said the ped- dler, and put out his hand toward her, then drew it back again. Derby was a town with the prestige of a city. It was the centre of trade for a large circle of little country towns; its main street was crowded on a fair day, when the roads were good, with any quantity of nondescript and antediluvian- looking vehicles, and the owners thereof presented a wide variety of quaintness in person and attire. So this eloping pair, the tall, bony, shambling man, and the thin, cowed-look- ing girl, her scant skirts slipping too far below her waist line in the back, and fol- lowing the movements of her awkward heels, excited no particular attention. After the tin cart had been put up in the hotel stable, and the two had been legally pronounced man and wife, or spe- cifically Mr. and Mrs. Jake Russell, they proceeded on foot down the principal street, in which all the shops were congre- gated, in search of some amendments t& the brides attire. If it was comparatively unnoticed, Sally was fully alive to the unsuitable- ness of her costume. She turned around, and followed with wistful eyes the pretti- ly dressed girls they met. There was a great regret in her heart over her best gown, a brown delaine, with a flounce on the bottom, and a shiny back. She had so confidently believed in its grandeur so long, that now, seen by her mental vision it hardly paled before these splendors of pleating and draping. It compared advantageously, in her mind, with a brown velvet suit whose wearer looked with amusement in her eyes at Sallys for- lorn figure. If she only had on her brown delaine, she felt that she could walk more confidently through this strangeness. But, nervously snatching her bonnet and her money, she had, in fact, heard Mrs. Kings tread on the attie stairs, and had not dared to stop longer to secure it. She knew they were out on a search for a new dress for her now, but she felt a sorrowful conviction that nothing could be found which could fully make up for the loss of her own beloved best gown. And then Sally was not very quick with her needle; she thought with dismay of the making up; the possibility of being aided by a dressmaker, or a ready-made costume, never entered her simple mind. Jake shambled loosely down the street, and she followed meekly after him, a pace or two behind. At length the peddler stopped before a large establishment, in whose windows A HUMBLE ROMANCE. 27 some ready-made ladies garments were displayed. Here we air, said he, tri- umphantly. Sally stepped weakly after him up the broad steps. One particular dress in the window had excited the peddlers warm admiration. It was a trifle florid in design, with dashes of red here and there. Sally eyed it a little doubtfully, when the clerk, at Jakes request, had taken it down to show them. Untutored as her taste was, she turned as naturally to quiet plumage as a wood-pigeon. The red slash- es rather alarmed her. However, she said nothing against her husbands decision to purchase the dress. She turned pale at the price; it was nearly the whole of her precious store. But she took up her stock- ing-purse determinedly when Jake began examining his pocket-book. I pays for this, said she to the clerk, lifting up her little face to him with scared resolve. Why, no, you dont, little un, cried Jake, catching hold of her arm. Im a-goin to pay for it, o course. Its a pity ef I cant buy my own wife a dress. Sally flushed all over her lean throat, but she resolutely held out the money. No, she said again, shaking her head obstinately, I pays for it. The peddler let her have her way then, though he bit his scraggy mustache with amaze and vexation as he watched her pay her bill, and stare with a sort of frighten- ed wistfulness after her beloved money as it disappeared in the clerks grasp. When they emerged from the store, the new dress under his arm, he burst out, What on airth made you do that, lit- tle un? Other folks does that way. When they gits merried they buys their own close, ef they kin. But it took pretty near all youd got, didnt it ? That aint no matter. The peddler stared at her, half in con- sternation, half in admiration. Well, said he, I guess youve got a little will o your own, arter all, little un, an Im glad ont. A womand orter hey a little will to back her sweetness; its all too soft an slushy otherways. But Ill git even with you about the dress. Which he proceeded to do by ushering his startled bride into the next dry-goods establishment, and purchasing a dress pat- tern of robins-egg blue silk, and a deli- cate white bonnet. Sally, however, insist- ed on buying a plain sun-hat with the re- mainder of her own money. She was keenly alive to the absurdity and peril of that airy white structure on the top of a tin cart. The pair remained in Derby about a week; then they started forth on their trav- els, the blue silk, which a Derby dress- maker had made up after the prevailing mode, and the white bonnet, stowed away in a little new trunk in the body of the cart. The peddler, having only himself to con- sult as to his motions, struck a new route now. Sally wished to keep away from her late mistresss vicinity. She had al- ways a nervous dread of meeting her in some unlikely fashion. She wrote a curious little ill-spelled note to her at the first town where they stopped after leaving Derby. Whether or no Mrs. King was consoled or mollified by it she never knew. Their way still lay through a thinly set- tled country. The tin peddler found read- ier customers in those farmers wives who were far from stores. It was late spring. Often they rode for a mile or two through the lovely fresh woods without coming to a single house. The girl had never heard of Arcadia, but she was riding through it under gold- green boughs, to the sweet broken jangling of tin-ware, all unexpressed to herself. When they stopped to trade at the farm- houses, how proudly she sat, a new erect- ness in her slender back, and held her hus- bands horse tightly while he talked with the woman of the house, with now and then a careful glance toward her to see if she was safe. They always contrived to bring up at some town where there was a place of worship on a Sabbath-day. Then the blue silk and the white bonnet were taken reverently from their hiding-place, and Sally, full of happy consciousness, went to church with her husband in all her bridal bravery. These two simple pilgrims, with all the beauty and grace there was in either of them turned only toward each other, and seen rightly only in each others untutored, uncritical eyes, had journeyed together blissfully for aboutthree months, when one afternoon Jake came out of a little coun- try tavern, where they had proposed stop- ping for the night, with a pale face. Sal- 28 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. ly had been waiting on the cart outside until he should see if they could be ac- commodated. He jumped up beside her and took the lines. Well go on to Ware, he said, in a dry voice; its only three mile further. Theyre full here. Jake drove rapidly along, an awful look on his homely face, giving it the beau- ty of tragedy. Sally kept looking up at him with pa- thetic wonder, but he never looked at her or spoke till they reached the last stretch of woods before Ware village. Then, just before they left the leafy cov- er, he slackened his speed a little, and threw his arm around her. See .here, little un, he said, broken- ly. Youve got considerble back- bone, aint you? Ef anything awful should happen, it wouldntkill you youd bear up ? Ef you told me to. He caught at her words eagerly. I would tell you to, little unI do tell you to, he cried. Ef anything awful ever shouldhappenyoull remember that I told you to bear up. Yes, Ill bear up. Then she clung to him trembling. Oh, what is it, Jake ? Never mind now, little un, he an- swered; prhaps nothin awfuls goin to happen; I didnt say thar was. Chirk up an give us a kiss, an look at that ere sky thar, all pink an yaller. He tried to be cheerful, and comfort her with joking endearments then, but the awful lines in his face staid rigid and un- changed under the smiles. Sally, however, had not much discern- ment, and little of the sensitiveness of temperament which takes impressions of coming evil. She soon recovered her spirits, and was unusually merry for her the whole evening, making, out of the ex- cess of her innocefice and happiness, sev- eral little jokes, which made Jake laugh loyally, and set his stricken face harder the next minute. In the course of the evening he took out his pocket -book and displayed his money, and counted it jokingly. Then he spoke, in a careless, casual manner, of a certain sum he had deposited in a country bank, and how, if he was taken sick and needed it, Sally could draw it out as well as he. Then he spoke of the value of his stock in trade and horse and cart. When they went to bed that night he had told his wife, without her suspecting he was telling her, all about his affairs. She fell asleep as easily as a child. Jake lay rigid and motionless till he had listen- ed to her regular breathing an hour. Then he rose softly, lit a candle, which he shaded from her face, and sat down at a little table with a pencil and paper. He wrote pain- fully, with cramped muscles, his head bent on one side, following every movement of his pen, yet with a confident steadiness which seemed to show that all the subject- matter had been learned by heart before- hand. Then he folded the paper careful- ly around a little book which he took from his pocket, and approached the bed, keep- ing his face turned away from his sleep- ing wife. He laid the little package on his vacant pillow, still keeping his face aside. Then he got into his clothes quickly, his head turned persistently from the bed, and opened the door softly, and went out, nev- er once looking back. When Sally awoke the next morning she found her husband gone, and the lit- tle package on the pillow. She opened it, more curious than frightened. There was a note folded around a bank - book. Sally spelled out the note laboriously, with whitening lips and dilating eyes. It was a singular composition, its deep feeling pricking through its illiterate stiffness. DEAR WIFE, Ive got to go and leve you. Its the only way. Ef I kin ever come back, I will. I told you bout my bizness last night. Youd better drive the cart to Derby to that Mister Arms I told you bout, an hell help you sell it an the hoss. Tell him your husband had to go away, an left them orders. Ive left you my bank-book, so you can git the money out of the bank the way I told you, an my watch an pocket - book is under the pillow. I left you all the money, cept what little I couldnt git long without. Youd better git boarded somewhar in Derby. Youll hey enough money t~ keep you awhile, an Ill send you some more when thets gone, ef I hey to work my fin- gers to the bone. Dont ye go to worry- in an workin hard. An bear up. Dont forgit thet you promised me to bear up. When you gits to feelin awful bad, an you will, jest say it over to yourself He told me to bear up, an I said as I would bear up. Scuse poor writin an a bad pen. Yours till death, JAKE RUSSELL. A HUMBLE ROMANCE. 29 When Sally had read the letter quite through, she sat still a few minutes on the edge of the bed, her lean, round-shoulder- ed figure showing painfully through her clinging night dress, her eyes staring straight before her. Then she rose, dressed herself, put the bank-book, with the letter folded around it, and her husbands pocket-book, in her bosom, and went down - stairs quietly. Just before she went out her room door she paused with her hand on the latch, and muttered to herself, He told me to bear up, an I said as I would bear up. She sought the landlord to pay her bill, and found that it was already paid, and that her recreant husband had smoothed over matters in one direction for her by telling the landlord that he was called away on urgent business, and that his wife was to take the tin cart next morn- ing, and meet him at a certain point. So she drove away on her tin cart in solitary state without exciting any of the wondering comments which would have been agony to her. When she gathered up the lines and went rattling down the country road, if ever there was a zealous disciple of a new religion, she was one. Her prophet was her raw-boned peddler husband, and her creed and whole confession of faith his parting words to her. She did not take the road to Derby; she had made up her mind about that as she sat on the edge of the bed after reading the letter. She drove straight along the originally prescribed route, stopping at the farm-houses, taking rags and selling tin, just as she had seen her husband do. There were much astonishment and many curious questions among her customers. A woman running a tin cart was an un- precedented spectacle, but she explained matters, with meek dignity, to all who questioned her. Her husband had gone away, and she was to attend to his cus- tomers until he should return. She could not always quite allay the suspicion that there must needs be something wrong, but she managed the trading satisfactori- ly, and gave good bargains, and so went on her way unmolested. But not a farm- yard did she enter or leave without the words sounding in her beating little heart, like a strong, encouraging chant, He told me to bear up, an I said as I would bear up. W~hen her stock ran low, she drove to Derby to replenish it. Here she had opposition from the dealers, but her al- most abnormal persistence overcame it. She showed Jakes letter to Mr. Arms, the tin dealer with whom she traded, and he urged her to take up with the advice in it, promising her a good bargain; but she was resolute. Soon she found that she was doing as well as her husband had done, if not better. Her customers, after they had grown used to the novelty of a tinwoman, instead of a tinman, liked her. In addition to the regular stock, she carried various little notions needed frequently by house- wives, such as pins, needles, thread, etc. She oftener staid at a farm-house over- night than a tavern, and frequently stopped over at one a few days in severe weather. After her trip to Derby she carried al- ways a little pistol, probably more to guard Jakes watch and property than herself. Whatever money she did not absolutely require for current expenses went to swell Jakes little hoard in the Derby bank. During the three years she kept up her lonely travelling little remittances came directed to her from time to time, in the care of Mr. Arms. When one came, Sally cried pitifully, and put it into the bank with the rest. She never gave up expecting her hus- band. She never woke up one morning without the hope in her heart that he would come that day. Every golden dawn showed a fair possibility to her, and so did every red sunset. She scanned every distant, approaching figure in the sweet country roads with the half con- viction in her heart that it was he, and when nearness dispelled the illusion, her heart bounded bravely back from its mo- mentary sinking, and she looked ahead for another traveller. Still he did not come for three years from the spring he went away. Except through the money remittances, which gave no clew but the New York postmark on the envelope, she had not heard from him. One June afternoon a poor lonely maid- en, now without her beloved swain, driv- ing through her old Arcadian solitudes, whose enchanted meaning was lost to her, heard a voice from behind calling to her, above the jangling of tin, Sally! Sally! Sally ! 30 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. She turned, and there he was, running after her. She turned her head quickly, and, stopping the horse, sat perfectly still, her breath almost gone with suspense. She did not dare look again for fear she had not seen aright. The hurrying steps came nearer and nearer; she looked when they came abreast the cart. It was he. It always seemed to her that she would have died if it had not been that time. Jake! Jake! Oh, Sally! He was up on the seat before she could breathe again, and his arms around her. Jake, I didbear upI did. I know you did, little un. Mr. Arms told me all about it. Oh, you dear little un, you poor little un, a-drivin round on this cart all alone ! Jake laid his cheek against Sallys and sobbed. Dont cry, Jake. Ive aimed money, I hey, an its in the bank for you. Oh, you blessed little un! Sally, they said hard things bout me to you in Derby, didnt they ? She started violently at that. There was one thing which had been said to her in Derby, and the memory of it had been a repressed terror ever since. Yes: they said as how youd run off withanother woman. What did you say ? I didnt believe it. I did. Sally. Well, youve come back. Afore I merried you Id been merried afore. By all thats good an great, little un, I thought mywife was dead. Her folks said she was. When I come home from peddlin, one time, she was gone, an they said she was off on a visit. I found out in a few weeks shed run off with another fel- low. I went off peddlin agin without carin much what become of me. Bout a year arterward I saw her death in a paper, an I wrote to her folks, an they said twas true. They were a bad lot, the whole of em. I got took in. But she had a mighty pretty face, an a tongue like honey, an I spose I was green. Three year ago, when I went into that ere tavern in Grover, thar she was in the kitchin a-cookin. The fellow she run off with had left her, an shed been tryin to hunt me up. She was awful poor, an had come across this place an took it. She was allers a good cook, an she suited the customers fust rate. I guess they liked to see her pretty face round too, confound her! Well, little un, she knew me right off, an hung on to me, an cried, an begged me to forgive her; and when she spied you a-settin thar on the cart, she tore. I hed to hold her to keep her from goin out an tellin you the whole story. I thought youd die ef she did. I didnt know then how you could bear up, little un. Ef you aint got backbone ! Jake, I did bear up. I know you did, you blessed little cretur. Well, she said ef I didnt leave you, an go with her, shed expose me. As soon as she found shed got the weapons in her own hands, an could hey me up for bigamy, she didnt cry so much, an want quite so humble. Well, little un, then I run off an left you. I couldnt stay with you ef you want my wife, an twas all the way to stop her tongue. I met her that night, an we went to New York. I got lodgins for her; then I went to work in a box factory, an supported her. I never went nigh her from one weeks end to the oth- er; I couldnt do it without hevin mur- der in my heart; but I kep her in money. Every scrap I could save I sent to you, but I used to lay awake nights worryin for fear youd want things. Well, its all over. She died a month ago, an I saw her buried. I knowed she was dead when you be- gun to tell about her, because youd come. Yes, shes dead this time, an Im glad. Dont you look scared, little un. I hope the Lord 11 forgive me, but Im glad. She was a bad un, you know, Sally. Was she sorry ? I don know, little un. Sallys head was resting peacefully on Jakes shoulder; golden flecks of light sifted down on them through the rustling maple and locust boughs; the horse, with bent head, was cropping the tender young grass at the side of the road. Now well start up the horse, an go to Derby an git merried over agin, Sally. She raised her head suddenly, and look- ed up at him with eager eyes. Jake. Well, little un ? Oh, Jake, my blue silk dress an the white bonnet is in the trunk in the cart jest the same, an I can git em out, an put em on under the trees thar, an wear em to be merried in ! THE DAGGER. A STORY OF TilE TIME OF SEXTUS POMPEY. IT was in the old, old days when Sextus Pompey ruled the Mediterranean from Antioch to the Pillars of Hercules that a war galley of fine proportions was speed- ing northward along the lower Italian coast not far from Sicily. There was a pleasant breeze from the west, and as her sharp brazen beak clove through the foaming water her rowers, with their oars all drawn inboard, lay stretched upon their benches enjoying the breeze that drew in through the open oar- ports, for the huge square mainsail, her only sail upon her only mast, with the fresh wind abeam, superseded all their la- bor, and, with every reef let out, bore them right gallantly upon their course. Her deck, flush fore and aft, was pro- tected by strong bulwarks, along which on either side was a line of catapults, each having beside it a large tub of rounded stones of the proper size mingled with leaden balls, all covered, like the catapult, with a tarpaulin. Her belay- ing-pins and all her metal fittings were of the finest bronze, and so well cared for that they shone like burnished gold. For- ward of the mast, on a revolving platform, was a strong ballista that could thus be turned in any direction. On each side of this were two large boxes full of heavy arrows, and two tubs full of stout linen bags containing stones and leaden balls that could be discharged from the ma- chine with deadly effect at short range upon an enemys deck: The fine bronze figure of a lark, with its wings extended, to typify the swiftness of the ship, which indeed was evident from her model, was fastened upon the topmost part of the prow, just above the foaming waves, and explained the name Alauda in bronze letters on her stern. Two young men tended the tiller, while a wrinkled and bronzed old pilot sat near to keep them straight. The rest of the crew were at work forward, repairing and refitting the running and standing rigging, and doing those thousand little things that must be done on board a ship, and which prevent the men from suffering all the ills of idleness. Their uniform was of dark blue edged with white, which, besides its neat appearance, was advantageous in a night attack from the strong contrast of the colors. An awning was stretched above the quarter-deck, and under it four officers two on either side, were pacing to and fro. Of the two on the right, the commander seemed about twenty-eight years of age, and was evidently of superior mould. His fine head, well set on his broad shoulders, his broad and deep chest, his fine, upright figure, his firm, easy, and alert step, his short, curling, coal-black hair and beard, his dark, penetrating, and expressive eyes, and the quiet energy that marked his every movement, showed him born to lead and to command. His clothing consisted of an under-tunic of the fine linen of Egypt, of unsullied white- ness, which appeared at the neck and wrists, where it was adorned with a fine- ly embroidered border of rich purple. Over this was the ordinary Roman tunic of the whitest and finest woollen stuff, adorned with the broad stripe of purple that told of senatorial rank. A pair of light sandals completed his attire. The belt that girt his tunic sustained a sword of the best Spanish steel, just such as are still made at Toledo, straight, dou- ble-edged, strong, light, and elastic. Its silver hilt was finely wrought, yet so that its ornaments should not interfere with, but rather aid, the grasp. A separate, slender belt of the finest leather, richly embroidered, supported at his right side a dagger, the flashing gems upon whose hilt told of its value. This gift of an Eastern potentate to Sextus Pompey had been presented by him to his favorite young commander, Titus Aurelius Cotta, who, in spite of his good old Roman name, had rather the features of a Greek, for his father, while pursuing his studies at Athens, as was then the custom of the better educated Roman nobles, had fallen in love with a beautiful Greek girl, and had finally succeeded in overcoming the opposition of his family to their union. His Greek blood had perhaps inclined him toward the sea, and a boyish voyage with a sailor uncle had made that inclination so strong that he was at length allowed to enter the Roman navy at sixteen, just one year before the battle of Pharsalia. When war actually broke out, his fa- thers death having left him free, he joined the side of Pompey, and by showing a very unusual combination of courage and

THE DAGGER. A STORY OF TilE TIME OF SEXTUS POMPEY. IT was in the old, old days when Sextus Pompey ruled the Mediterranean from Antioch to the Pillars of Hercules that a war galley of fine proportions was speed- ing northward along the lower Italian coast not far from Sicily. There was a pleasant breeze from the west, and as her sharp brazen beak clove through the foaming water her rowers, with their oars all drawn inboard, lay stretched upon their benches enjoying the breeze that drew in through the open oar- ports, for the huge square mainsail, her only sail upon her only mast, with the fresh wind abeam, superseded all their la- bor, and, with every reef let out, bore them right gallantly upon their course. Her deck, flush fore and aft, was pro- tected by strong bulwarks, along which on either side was a line of catapults, each having beside it a large tub of rounded stones of the proper size mingled with leaden balls, all covered, like the catapult, with a tarpaulin. Her belay- ing-pins and all her metal fittings were of the finest bronze, and so well cared for that they shone like burnished gold. For- ward of the mast, on a revolving platform, was a strong ballista that could thus be turned in any direction. On each side of this were two large boxes full of heavy arrows, and two tubs full of stout linen bags containing stones and leaden balls that could be discharged from the ma- chine with deadly effect at short range upon an enemys deck: The fine bronze figure of a lark, with its wings extended, to typify the swiftness of the ship, which indeed was evident from her model, was fastened upon the topmost part of the prow, just above the foaming waves, and explained the name Alauda in bronze letters on her stern. Two young men tended the tiller, while a wrinkled and bronzed old pilot sat near to keep them straight. The rest of the crew were at work forward, repairing and refitting the running and standing rigging, and doing those thousand little things that must be done on board a ship, and which prevent the men from suffering all the ills of idleness. Their uniform was of dark blue edged with white, which, besides its neat appearance, was advantageous in a night attack from the strong contrast of the colors. An awning was stretched above the quarter-deck, and under it four officers two on either side, were pacing to and fro. Of the two on the right, the commander seemed about twenty-eight years of age, and was evidently of superior mould. His fine head, well set on his broad shoulders, his broad and deep chest, his fine, upright figure, his firm, easy, and alert step, his short, curling, coal-black hair and beard, his dark, penetrating, and expressive eyes, and the quiet energy that marked his every movement, showed him born to lead and to command. His clothing consisted of an under-tunic of the fine linen of Egypt, of unsullied white- ness, which appeared at the neck and wrists, where it was adorned with a fine- ly embroidered border of rich purple. Over this was the ordinary Roman tunic of the whitest and finest woollen stuff, adorned with the broad stripe of purple that told of senatorial rank. A pair of light sandals completed his attire. The belt that girt his tunic sustained a sword of the best Spanish steel, just such as are still made at Toledo, straight, dou- ble-edged, strong, light, and elastic. Its silver hilt was finely wrought, yet so that its ornaments should not interfere with, but rather aid, the grasp. A separate, slender belt of the finest leather, richly embroidered, supported at his right side a dagger, the flashing gems upon whose hilt told of its value. This gift of an Eastern potentate to Sextus Pompey had been presented by him to his favorite young commander, Titus Aurelius Cotta, who, in spite of his good old Roman name, had rather the features of a Greek, for his father, while pursuing his studies at Athens, as was then the custom of the better educated Roman nobles, had fallen in love with a beautiful Greek girl, and had finally succeeded in overcoming the opposition of his family to their union. His Greek blood had perhaps inclined him toward the sea, and a boyish voyage with a sailor uncle had made that inclination so strong that he was at length allowed to enter the Roman navy at sixteen, just one year before the battle of Pharsalia. When war actually broke out, his fa- thers death having left him free, he joined the side of Pompey, and by showing a very unusual combination of courage and 32 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. of judgment had risen thus early to his present position. His mother and sister lived in quiet se- curity in Rome, and during that brief time of peace when Sextus met Augus- tus and Antony at Misenum he had gone to Rome to gladden their hearts by his visit. The gay young sailor was as hap- py as a big boy let loose on shore, and they were delighted with his intense en- joyment of everything. Meeting a beau- tiful friend of his sister, he fell most deeply in love, and was so impetuous that he wished to carry her heart by storm. She was not prepared for such terrible rapidity, and so resisted, until finally he tore himself away in a rage of disappoint- ment, and sought his solace on the sea. The fair Julia Sabina was half sorry as soon as he had gone, but the short-lived truce was quickly over, and she heard of him no more. His second in command, who paced be- side him, was of another mould of mind and body. Sturdy, muscular, square- built, and very powerful, he was a fair specimen of the black-eyed Roman with The eagles beak between those eyes which fleer Beheld a conqueror or looked along The land he made not Romes. His firm-bhut but rather thick-lipped mouth, his keen and penetrating glance, that saw and noted everything, and the promptness of his every movement, showed him to be a man of action rather than of thought. His name was Marcus Claudius Pulcher. He was indeed descended from that bluff old sailor Appius Claudius Pulcher, who when he wished to give bat- tle to the enemy, having been informed by the augurs that he must not fight because the sacred chickens had refused to eat, swore by the gods that if they would not eat they should drink, and ordered both coops and chickens to be thrown into the sea. Turning to his commander, he said: Hast thou yet read thy sealed instruc- tions, and hast thou any orders now to give ? I have. My orders are to wait for night, and then to get as near the prom- ontory of Misenum as may consist with safety; to send a well-manned boat on shore to seize whoever may be in the of- ficial residence at the extremity of the promontory, and bring him back to Sicily as a hostage for one of our officers recent- ly taken by the enemy. I am also or- dered to remain with the ship, and to send ashore my second in command. Thou wilt find there either the admiral of the fleet that is in port near by, or the Procu- rator of Campania, or some other high of- ficial. Seize him, bind him quickly, and bring him on board. No great force is needed. Our large boats crew will be sufficient. Thou canst take the eight rowers, and leave the steersman and the bow-boy to tend boat; for swiftness and not strength is the soul of such an enter- prise. Thou wilt take with thee two lan- terns, and when thou comest away light them, and let the bow-boy hold them one above the other. As soon as thy lights are seen we will show the same. At pre- sent we are bowling along too rapidly. Let the sail be double reefed, so that we get near the house at the right time. The house he spoke of had been built with care so as to be a most luxurious mansion. A space about eight hundred by two hundred feet on the bare rock had been inclosed by a strong stone wall some eight feet high. This had all been filled in with rich earth and planted with trees, at the same time the house was built near the end toward the sea, with trees enough to shield it from the westering sun, but not to interfere with the seaward view. The house was built in the usual style, with a short hall leading into the atrium, a square apartment whose roof sloped in- ward toward a large square opening in the centre, thus allowing the rain-water to fall into a square cistern, and securing in this way both air and moisture to cool the house. Beyond the atrium was the tabli- num, or small parlor, separated from the atrium by heavy curtains, and by sliding doors on the other side toward the pen- style, whose roof sloped outward from a large central opening, around which were set columns for support and ornament. Beyond the peristyle was the garden wall. The day had been warm, and all the doors were open to admit the cooling west- ern breeze. The servants were mostly out- side under the trees, and the fair Julia, whose father had been appointed Procura- tor of Campania, was sitting on a chair in the tablinum. The heavy curtain was lifted and the sliding doors drawn back to admit the pleasant breeze; and as the ten- der twilight came on, Julia dismissed her attendant, and sat there in that musing mood that comes at times to all of us. THE DAGGER. 33 First memory took her gently by the hand, and led her to her girlish days among the Sabine hills, with all the dear delights of vineyard and of orchard, of the rich milk, the cream, the butter, and the cheese-cakes; the grass so green in spring, and then the new-mown hay, and then the gathered sheaves of autumn; and how her mother, now two years dead, had en- joyed all these. Then she thought of Rome, and of its pleasures and its shows; and then she naturally fell to passing in review, as young women will, the young men she had seen. Each had his good and bad points, which, with the quick appreciation of her sex, she had observed and noted. Among these she thought of Titus Cotta and his family, and half regretted that he had been so hasty, for he seemed, during the short time she knew him, so superior to the young men around her. Very beautiful was she as she sat there in her chair, with her clasped hands in her lap, her fine soft white dress falling in graceful folds around the beautiful out- lines of her exquisitely proportioned form, her beautiful feet just appearing with their light sandals, while her Grecian sleeve, loose from the elbow, and fastened above with loops and buttons, showed through the openings her rounded arm. Her beau- tiful neck was finely set upon her well- proportioned bust. Her abundant dark brown hair was gathered in long braids that were then wound around each other at the back of the head. Through these braids was passed a long golden pin shaped like a slender lance, which also passed through the middle of a veil, the upper part of which could be drawn over the forehead, or allowed to fall back so as to form a graceful drapery for the shoulders. Her fair and beautifully clear complexion,with her large dark hazel eyes, as well as her brown hair and eyebrows, showed that the blood of the mountaineers had mingled with that of the darker inhabitants of the lowlands. As the daylight gradually dis- appeared, so absorbed was she in these thronging memories, sitting there with her eyes fixed upon the floor, that she did not hear the stealthy steps, she did not see the gliding forms, until a hand was placed upon her mouth, while others pressed her down upon her chair. She heard a voice say: Cut a strip from the curtain to put into her mouth, and tie behind her head, but not so tight as to choke her. Tie her hands and feet, and bind her fast upon her chair. Pass a strong strip around the back of the chair, and let Darius, who is the strongest, bend down and fasten this strip around his chest, so as to carry the chair and its contents on his back. Thus we shall lose the use of only one man s sword if we must fight. The servants outside, who had seen these men enter the house, gazed at them at first in stupid wonder. Then, crowd- ing to the entrance, they were soon driven backbythe sharpwords and sharper swords that met them. Some fled in terror to the nearest villatoward Baheto call for aid. Some few of the boldest lurked be- hind the trees to see what might be done. Their mistress had not called for lights, so they saw nothing till the men appeared bearing her thus strangely in their midst. They were surprised to hear no outcry, but stole along, concealing themselves as best they could, until they saw the boat push off, with their mistress still silent in the stern. Returning to the house, they procured lights and, taking the best horse from the stable, they mounted one of their number, who was to ride as fast as possi- ble to Port Julian to inform the com- mander of the fleet what had taken place, and to give the alarm at the different vil- las as he passed. The rest, taking down from the walls the swords and shields that had been hung there as ornaments, re- turned thus armed to the shore, and sat down behind some rocks to watch, with the vague hope that something might be seen of their young mistress, whose kind- ness they had all experienced. The boat meantime was pulled directly outward from the shore. The bow lights were set as directed, and when they were at a safe distance Julia felt the strip that gagged her cut and removed. Wait- ing for a moment until she had some- what recovered from its effects, she ex- claimed: Oh, tell me who you are, and why you have thus taken me from my fa- thers house! Oh, do not harm me! My father is rich, and will give abundant ransom. I am his only child. His name is Cams Sempronius Sabinus. He is the Procurator of Campania. He went to Cap- ua to hold his monthly court. He will be home to-morrow. You can easily communicate with him, and if I write to him, he will not harm your messenger. 34 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. No answer was vouchsafed, but a boat- cloak was thrown over her, as if to show some touch of kindness. It was terri- ble for a young woman to be thus torn from a luxurious and protected home, and to find herself in the power of pirates. What horrible fate might await her she couhi not tell, but she nerved herself to seek some mode of sudden death, if that should prove her only refuge. Her mo- ther had read with her the old chronicles of Rome, her nurse had sung to her its old, old legends, and she was familiar with the lives of all the worthy women of Rome from Cicelia to Cornelia. Her spirits rose, in spite of her terrible posi- tion, as she thought of these, and nerved herself to emulate them. They soon reached the galley; a rope was lowered, and the chair and its con- tents were transferred to the commanders cabin, while Marcus made his report to him. Thou host done wrong, Marcusa great wrong. We can do nothing with a woman. The enemy would laugh at us were we to propose such an exchange. We are not pirates to carry off young wo- men. We must restore her, or. at least land her, as soon as possible. I must see her. Opening the door of his well-lighted cabin, he saw, to his great astonishment, Julia Sabina. While his astonishment prevented speech, she exclaimed: What! Titus Cotta! Thou command- er df these pirates! Thou seizing helpless women! Oh, shame! Oh, shame! Think upon thy mother and thy sister! Oh, re- store me to my father and my home, or if thou canst not, give me at least that dag- ger at thy girdle, that it may give me a sharp but sure remedy against all ills. Fair Julia, thy words are bitter and not true. I am no pirate. Thou shalt be returned immediately to thy father, even if I lose by so doing my liberty or my life. I did not know that he was Procurator here. My orders were to seize him as a hostage. My officer, not finding him, took thee. The instant that he told me I re- proved him for his folly and his crime. Thou shalt have this dagger to use if I can not protect thee, but first let me cut therewith thy bonds. So saying, he severed the strips that bound her hands and feet. While he was busy unbuckling the small belt, Julia attempted to rise to enjoy her new-found freedom; but her benumbed ankles gave way, and as Titus caught her and replaced her gently in the chair, her emotion over- came her, and she burst into tears. Kneel- ing before her, he exclaimed: Do not weep, fair Julia. Thy tears seem to fall on me like melted lead. Thou shalt be returned immediately, no matter what the risk. But, fool that I am, I have not yet changed the vessels course. Touching a bell, he said to the man who appeared: Tell the chief officer to change the vessels course so as to bring her back as quickly as possible to the place from which we came. Let out every reef, and double man each oar. Get ready the four-oared barge with muffled oars and a picked crew. Away, and let these things be done in- stantly. Then kneeling before her, without dar- ing to touch even the hem of her garment, he besought her again and again not to weep. Calmed at length by his entreat- ies, her sobs subsided, and he left her to expedite the execution of his orders. Meantime the slaves and freedmen that constituted the household sat upon the rocks discussing the event, and some, of course, began to swagger and to boast of what they would have done if they had only known that these men were pirates. Yet it was strange that they had stolen nothing. They therefore felt convinced that they would soon be back to secure all the rich plunder of the house. The two freedmen, Stasimus and Demi- pho, were naturally the leaders of the par- ty, which consisted of three Greek slaves, three common ones, and the two cooks, Anthrax and Congrio. They were all armed with shields and swords of antique pattern taken from the ornamented walls, except the cooks, of whom Anthrax was armed with a long and formidable spit, as his more natural weapon, while his aid, Congrio, with a shorter one, had followed his example. Suddenly Charinus, the young Greek, who had been a sailor-boy, exclaimed: There is a boat coming! Nonsense ! said Stasimus; I hear no- thing. No; because their oars are muffled; but bend your head down low and see the outline of that boat against the sky. It is so. Now listen. We will stay here to see where they touch the shore. If they go toward the house, and we are OPENING THE DOOR OF HIS WELL-LIGHTED CABIN, HE SAW, TO HIS GREAT ASTONISHMENT, JULIA SABINA. strong enough, we may get behind them garden behind the house, where the wo- as they pass the big rock after the first men-servants were hiding in terror. About turn. Strobilus, run thou to the house half remained with Stasimus in ambus- and put out all the lights, to give them as cade. much delay and trouble as possible. As the boat neared the shore, Titus said Seeing the boat come to at the same to his steersman: place as before, they ran for the big rock, After we land, see that all stay by the some even extending their course to the boat, and keep her off shore within easy VOL. LXIX.No. 4093 I 36 HAIRPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. call. If I come not back within half an hour, save yourselves, and return to the ship, for you can not then help me. Oh, how gladly Julia stepped upon the rock whence she had embarked! What joy and wild delight thrilled through all her frame to think that she had indeed escaped the horrible fate that seenied to await her! And as she climbed the well- known rocky pathway that led to her house beneath the faint light of the stars, other feelings began to take the place of that terror and anxiety that had hitherto pervaded her bosom. Titus still loved her. She saw it in his eyes, she heard it in his voice, she felt it in her whole be- ing; and must they now separate forever? What could she do? He had been so kind and so manly in the full and instantaneous reparation that he sought to make for the error of his sub- ordihate, he had such a beautiful and pow- erful face and head, he was such a model of manliness in every respect, and he did love her so that it seemed a thousand pit- ies that they must part. What could she do? She began to pour forth her warmest thanks. The relief and the joy that thrilled in her bosom began to thrill in her voice as her expressions became warmer and warmer. It was very pleasant to him, and he bent his head to hear, when, just as they passed the big rock at the first turn of the road, she heard the dull sound of a blow, and a voice saying, Death to the pirate as Titus fell like a log before her. A pier- cing shriek tore through the air. She rec- ognized the voice, and exclaimed: What! is it thou, Stasiinus?. He was no pirate. He was protecting me. How couldst thou do it ?how conldst thou do it? If he be dead, I must die too. Kneeling down, Stasirnus felt of his heart. He is not dead, lady. His heart beats. We have a large old-fashioned shield here that was taken from the wall. Two of us can carry him on that, and other two can hold his head and feet. His thick leather boarding cap has saved him. Take him up tenderly, then, and I will hold his head. Let some one bring lights and light the house. 0 AI!sculapius, save him! save him They put the broad old shield under him, and gently lifted him up all together. Julia, by a strong exertion of her will, res olutely put down all the natural nervous- ness she felt, and determined to do her ut- most for him. Supporting tenderly the head that had now become so dear to her, with her hands that trembled somewhat~ in spite of all her resolution, she soon reached the house, and had him laid upon the bed in the best and largest of the guest- chambers. Then removing the stiff lea ther boarding cap that had done such good service, and washing off the clotted blood from the curling hair, she found to her great joy that the skull was not broken;: but the blow must have been a powerful one, for he lay in complete torpor. Call- ing one of the most active of the men-serv- ants, she dispatched him on the swiftest. horse to her cousin Marcus Aurelius Sabi- nus at Bake, who owned a very able Greek physician, and who hired him out at a. high price to those who needed him. He had been purchased by the father of his. present owner, who had remarked him as a very bright and intelligent young slave. Noticing his turn for medicine, he had him carefully educated in that art, in which he became an enthusiast; but he was never allowed to purchase his freedom, though he offered a high price for himself, his for- nier as well as his present owner both pre- ferring to hire him out at high prices, and thus repay themselves for their expendi- ture. The messenger fortunately founds him at home, and he returned with him. His clear, penetrating eyes, with the calm consciousness of ability that marked his whole bearing, impressed Julia most, favorably, though this was qualified by the subdued demeanor of a slave, and the necessary sadness of a highly educated~ man who is still retained in a servile con- dition. Having carefully examined into. the condition of the patient, he said: Brain-fever seems to be commencing. He may suddenly pass from this stupor into strong delirium. Have ready four of the strongest men you can command, for possibly we may need all their strength. His prediction was soon verified. Aft- er some convulsive movements Titus sat up in bed and gazed around. Seeing Julia near the door, he exclaimed: What! cruel one, art thou still there to persecute me? My head is all on fire. It burns; it burns. My blood boils in my veins. Give me the dagger that I gave thee, that I may prick my heart and let. the hot blood out. THE DAGGER. 37 He started up as if to approach her, but the four strong men seized him, and pass- ing strong bands over him, they bound him securely to the bed, while Julia fled in terror to her own room, and buried her face in the cushions of her couch. Must he die, she thought die now, and thus be lost when just regained? Oh no! the gods could not be so cruel. 0 Al~sculapius, she exclaimed, save him! save him! and I will enrich thy altar. Be merciful, and send relief ! She could not help hearing the delirious shouts that rang through the house. She could not stay away in spite of the sharp pain it gave to hear him. Now he called on his mother and his sister; now she heard her own name,and complaints of her cruelty; then he was evidently, in imagination, in all the heady tumult of a fight, leading on his brave boarders to sweep the enemy from their deck. She sent for the physician, and entreat- ed hii~ to do his best. He Linderstood of course her feelings, and re-assured her to the best of his ability. Toward noon of the next day she heard the sound of horses hoofs upon the rocks, and looking out of a window, saw her father approaching with his attendants. Running down to meet him, she was soon in his arms, and told him hurriedly of what had happened while their dinner was preparing. Well, he said, we shall run no more such risks, for Agrippa has his fleet now ready. I heard as I came by the naval station that they are to sail to-morrow to attack that foolish sluggard Sextus Porn- pey, on the Sicilian coast, and that will be the last of him; but you must have some doors shut, for this shouting is too trouble- some, and if this continues the small house at the gardens end must be fitted up for him, so that we can get some sleep at night. Now hurry dinner, my child, for I am hungry. I mounted just after daybreak, having eaten little, so that I am quite sharp-set with my long morning ride. I have to send a messenger to Rome with my report about my province, and he can bear thy message to the mother or sister of Titus. Write it to - day, for my mes- senger must leave to-morrow morning. Directions were immediately given to prepare the garden house. The letter was written and dispatched. For a week the young man raved, with scarcely any sleep, carefully watched by the skillful Greek. Then the change came. The inflammation subsided, and the patient lay exhausted on his couch. Slowly, slowly his strength returned, the terrible wear. and tear was gradually made up again, the wasted tis- sues were restored, and the mute sufferers tongue was unloosed. Oh, what joy was Julias when at last she was told that he was really recover- ing! She had received an answer from his sister, stating that his mother, in con- sequence of exposure, had caught a cold, which changed into a fever, so that nei- ther could come to him. She felt, there- fore, that she must take their place. When the physician said that he was strong enough to see her, she sent to ask if she might come. At first he received her with constraint and embarrassment; but her ardent eyes, her warm expressions of thankfulness and delight at his recovery, her abundant and cordial gratitude for what he had done, all spread like a balmy and invigorating cordial through his frame. When she told him of the letter from Rome, and said that she must be both mother and sister to him until they could come, he smiled and thanked her, as she took her leave, at the instance of the physician, who refused a longer interview. At her second visit he was much strong- er and asked if he was a prisoner. Yes, said she; you are my prisoner. But tell me of Sextus Pompey, he exclaimed. He has been utterly defeated off the northern coast of Sicily by Agrippa, and has fled toward the east. Covering his face with his hands, he bowed down his head and was silent. Sitting down beside him, she said, tender- ly: Do not be cast down. If thou hast lost one friend, thou hast niany others left, and none warmer than we are. Think how much, how very much, I owe thee. He raised his head, and looking at her, with her glistening eyes moist with tears for his sorrow, and beaming evidently with the warmest affection for him, he said, softly, Julia, dost thou love mime ? She bent down her head, and a slight trenmor passed over her, but she answered, firmly, I do, Titus. And as he drew her to his bosom the happiest pair that nmornings sun lit with his beams was on the rocky promontory of Misenum. They neither of them wished then to try the sharp point of the dagger. THE NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. T HIREE things are perfectly clear to cit- William and Hanover streets, and is 77 izens of New York first, the United feet high. The rotunda has a height of States of America constitute the greatest 80 feet, and the dome is supported on country on earth; second, New York is eight pilasters of fine variegated Italian the greatest city in the country; third, the marble. Constructed for a Merchants Custom-house is the greatest institution in Exchange, at a cost of $1,800,000, it was the city. purchased and occupied by the national The Custom - house is a plain Doric government in 1862, and ought to be sold building, of Quincy granite, with a porti- at the earliest opportunity. It is dark, co of twelve front, four middle, and two damp, inconvenient, badly ventilated, and rear granite columns, each thirty - eight altogether inadequate for present uses. feet high and four and a half feet in di- President Arthur, when Collector of the ameter. It has a frontage of 200 feet on Port of New York, wisely advocated the Wall Street, a depth of about 160 feet on erection of a suitable edifice on the block

THE NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. T HIREE things are perfectly clear to cit- William and Hanover streets, and is 77 izens of New York first, the United feet high. The rotunda has a height of States of America constitute the greatest 80 feet, and the dome is supported on country on earth; second, New York is eight pilasters of fine variegated Italian the greatest city in the country; third, the marble. Constructed for a Merchants Custom-house is the greatest institution in Exchange, at a cost of $1,800,000, it was the city. purchased and occupied by the national The Custom - house is a plain Doric government in 1862, and ought to be sold building, of Quincy granite, with a porti- at the earliest opportunity. It is dark, co of twelve front, four middle, and two damp, inconvenient, badly ventilated, and rear granite columns, each thirty - eight altogether inadequate for present uses. feet high and four and a half feet in di- President Arthur, when Collector of the ameter. It has a frontage of 200 feet on Port of New York, wisely advocated the Wall Street, a depth of about 160 feet on erection of a suitable edifice on the block THE NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. bounded by Whitehall and State streets, Bowling Green, and Whitehall Square. That would be a more eligible site. It is near to the Barge Office, which covers the water-front sold by the city to the gov- ernment for $5000. Plain as the Custom-house is, it is the commercial heart of the American peo- ple. What passes there is felt by every man, woman, and child in the land. There most of the duties are collected on the foreign woollens, silks,linens, cottons, and on the hats, bonnets,. and furs they wear; on the carpets and mattings they tread; on the sugars, molasses, confection- ery, spices, fruits, and breadstuffs they eat; on the spirits, wines, and malt liquors they drink; on the watches and jewelry they carry; on the earthenware, china, and glass that cover their tables; on the paintings that adorn their walls, the books that till up their libraries, and the iron, steel, and other nmtallic instruments indis- pensable to their uses. All these articles cost the consumer more because of the work that is done at the Custom-house. The total value of merchandise, free and dutiable, imported into the United States during the year ending June 30, 1883, was $723,180, 914. The total value of dutiable merchandise entered for con- sumption, on arrival and after withdrawal from warehouse, in the United States dur- ing the same period, was $493,916,384. The entire value of dutiable merchandise imported into the United States, entered for consumption, and warehoused for payment of duties, in the fiscal year end- ing June 30, 1883, was $515,676,196. The total amount of duties collected thereon was $214,706,496, or 43.49 per cent. of the whole value as officially stated. This enormous revenue from duties on imported goods is the principal means wherewith the United States government maintains the army, the navy, and the civil service, pays the interest on the na- tional debt, reduces the principal, and ef- fects needed improvements. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1883, there were collected at the port of New York in duties on foreign merchandise no less than $146,483,964, or 68.5 per cent. of the aggregate amount collected in all the ports of the country. This fact shows the great national, importance of the New York Custom-house. Another fact of similar bearing is that the foreign commerce of the United States, which has increased nearly one hundred per cent. since 1866, must in the future, as in the past, be mainly carried on through New York. With the exception of Mexico and Can- ada, our commercial intercourse with oth- er nations is conducted by means of steam and sailing vessels. By far the greater portion of these is owned by foreigners. The tonnage of foreign vessels entered at American ports increased from 3,117,034 tons in 1866 to 10,526,176 tons in 1883; whereas the American tonnage entered from foreign ports only increased from 1,891,453 tons in 1866 to 2,834,681 tons in 1883. Great Britain, which, independently of her colonial and other possessions, is our largest commercial correspondent, and which imported from us goods valued at $425,424,174 in the year ending June 30, EXHIBIT SHOWING THE LMFORTS FROM GREAT BRITAIN AND HER DEPENDENCIES INTO THE PORTS OF THE UNITED STATES DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1883. Number or Tonnage. 1 Steam - 5ailin~ v coiiiitry. vessels. vessels. -- vessels. alue of Imports. 161,960,672 England 2,783 6,309,498 1,189 1,594 Scotland 377 915,416 172 205 18,702,898 Ireland 39 30,328 ...; 39 7,959,049 Gibraltar 97 160,184 48 49 4,573 Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island 3,562 489,910 125 3,437 6,091,406 Newfoundland and Labrador 40 12,258 7 33 446,718 British West Indies 631 397,372 160 471 8,736,112 British Guiana 137 64,281 14 123 5,946,429 British Honduras 13 6,868 3 10 531,839 British East Indies 85 97,738 3 82 19,467,800 British hong-Kong 77 159,007 36 41 1,918,894 British Possessions in Africa 27 26,551 7 20 1,840,020 British Possessions in Australasia. 135 169,171 . .. . 135 4,021,395 All other British Possessions . . . . ... .. 1,017,281 8,003 8,838,582 1,764 6,239 - $238,645,086 1883, exporting to us within the same pe- riod goods ajnounting to $188,622,619, is, naturally enough, the principal owner of this shipping. She takes 51.6 per cent. of the total value of American exports, and sends to us 26 per cent. of all our imports. In 1883 the total value of merchandise imported and exported at the port of New York was $857,430,637, or 55.43 per cent. of the whole value of our foreign commerce. The tonnage of British vessels entering at United States ports in the last fiscal year amounted to 6,775,526 tons, a falling off in two years of 1,682,271 tons, but still constituting nearly two-thirds of the en- tire foreign tonnage entering at our ports. EXHIBIT SHOWING NUMBER AND TONNAGE OF AMERICAN AND FOREIGN VESSELS WHICH ENTERED THE PORT OF NEW YoRK FROM GREAT BRITAIN AND hER DEPENDENCIES IN THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1883; ALSO VALUE OF IMPORTS. American vessels Foreign vessels. - AggregBte. Imports No ToBs. No. Tons. No. Tons. Bt New York. England 64 86,679 756 1,838,438 820 1,925,117 92,252,820 Scotland .... 128 326,290 128 326,290 16,082,713 Ireland 5 5,558 28 17,557 33 23,115 7,487,061 Gibraltar .... 44 75,776 44 75,776 4,573 Nova Scotia, New BrnnswiCk, and Prince Edward Island .. ~- 298 52,689 517 104,840 815 157,529 798,090 Qnebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Northwest Territory .... 1 118 1 118 1,873 Newfonndland and Labrador .... 10 3,437 10 3,437 339,652 British West Indies 142 45,882 254 185,798 396 231,680 6,140,133 British Gniana 38 11,159 35 16,329 73 27,488 2,489,261 British Ilondoras - 1 105 9 3,174 10 3,279 146,890 British East Indies 30 32,933 81 88,644 111 121,577 17,113,230 Hong-Kong 17 16,235 7 7,407 24 23,642 1,755,216 British Possessions in Africa and 4 1,746 22 10 640 26 adjacent Islands .. , 12,386 1,329,695 British Possessions in Anstralasia 3 1,372 8 2,791! 11 4,163 1,803,334 All other British Possessions ... . 1 287 1 287 1,005,964 602 254,358 1,901 2,681,526 2,503! 2,935,884 $148,750,505 THE BARGE OFFICE. THE NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. 41 Mr. George Hillier, superintendent of cer, a Surveyor, and an Appraiser of the The Custom-house building, who entered port of New York. Each is nominated the revenue service in 1841, keeps record for office by the President of the United f all the steam-ships entering New York States, confirmed therein by vote of the from Europe. The average number of national Senate, and may retain his po- weekly arrivals is forty.. This is a mar- sition for four years, unless removed for velious exhibit, in view of the fact that satisfactory reasons by joint Executive in 1845, only thirty-nine years ago, there and Senatorial authority. was only one steamer, the Syria, plying Collector William H. Robertson, a vig- etween New York and Liverpool. orous and robust gentleman of sixty years, The local administration of the nation- was commissioned by President Garfield, 1 statutes regulating this vast and rapid- June 29, 1881, and brought to his new ly growing commerce, together with the office the experience acquired in a long collection of the differential duties im- and honorable legal, judicial, and legisla- posed on imported merchandise, is intrust- tive career. Whether as Congressman, d to a Collector, assisted by a Naval Offi- State Senator, or judge, his reputation w~s WILLIAM H. ROBERTSON, COLLECTOR OF THE PORT OF NEW YORK. 42 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. of the highest character, and justified the expectations that have since been so abun- dantly realized. The discussions in the national Senate pertinent to his nomina- tion, and the results to which they gave birth, will ever constitute one of the most memorable chapters in American polit- ical history. The Collectors duty is to see that all vessels and the merchandise therein con- tained, coming within the jurisdiction of his district, are duly entered at the Custom- house; that legally responsible parties be held to their liabilities; that the other branches of the customs service be en- abled to do their duty as by law required; that the duties be properly assessed and collected, and that the legal disposition be made of goods entered in bond, or other- wise, or which are unclaimed; that smug- gling and other frauds be prevented; that claims for drawback or refund be paid upon due proof only; that just fines, pen- alties, and forfeitures be imposed and en- forced; and to report fully, as by law re- quired, on all that pertains to the customs revenue, to the Treasury Department at Washington. It is the duty of the Naval Officer to verify the clerical work done in the Col- lectors oflice. The latter is performed under laws and regulations so compli7 cated as to render independent revision, in order to insure perfect accuracy, indi~- peusably necessary. The Naval Officer is sworn to correct errors, inadvertencies, and neglect and to enforce strict com- pliance with the national statutes. His action is co-ordinate with that of the Collector in all matters affecting the collection of customs revenue, so far as they involve the amount of money col- lectable and collected; the proper record, adjustment, correction, and certification of accounts, including those of drawbacks and refunds; the enforcement of ~all laws and regulations for th& safety of the reve- nue, and excluding any and all concern in the administration of the machinery of collection. General Charles K. Gra- ham, formerly Surveyor of the Port, is now at the head of this department. The average cost per annum of the Naval Of- ficers department in New York for the past twelve or thirteen years does not ex- ceed one-tenth of one per cent. of the du- ties collected at that port, and it certainly yields vastly more than that sum to the government in return. The Surveyor is charged with the duty subject in all cases to the Collectorof su- perintending and directing all inspectors, weighers, measurers, and gaugers within the port; of weekly reporting all neglect of duty to the Collector; of visiting, by proxy, all arriving vessels, and reporting in writing every morning to his superior all that have arrived from foreign ports on the preceding day; specifying the names and denominations of the vessels, the masters names, whence arrived, whether laden or in ballast, to what nation belong- ing, and, if American vessels, whether the masters have or have not complied with the law requiring a definite number of manifests of the cargo on board. He may act in certain cases with the Collector and Naval Officer in allowing ships man- ifests to be corrected. He must also put one or more inspectors on board each ves- sel immediately after its arrival in port; ascertain and rate,. acording to law, the; proof,quantities, and kinds of distilled spir- its imported; examine into the correspond- ency between the goods imported in any vessel and the deliveries thereof, accord- ing to the inspectors returns and the per- mits for landing the same, and report any error or discrepancy to the Collector and. the Naval Officer; . superintend the lad- ing for exportation of all goods entered. f& r the benefit of any drawback, bounty, or allowance, and report on the corre- spondency between the kind, quantity, and quality of the goods so laded with the entries and permits granted therefor;. test the weights, measures, and other in- struments used in ascertaining the dutica on, imports, with public standards; report disagreements, and execute directions for correcting them agreeably to the stand- ard. The duties of this office devolve upon Mr. James L. Benedict, formerly Auditor of the department. It is the duty of the Appraiser to ascer- tain and report to the Collector, under~ that officials orders, the quantity, descrip- tion, and value of all imported merchan- dise, and to give his opinion as to ~vhat rate of duty such goods are liable to pay. The duties of the Collector and his as- sistants not only include the collection of~ the tariff on goods entered for consump- tioh, and the proper entry and clearance~ of vessels, but also the surveillance, ap- praisement, and forwarding of goods im- ported by citizens in othex~ sections of the- country, through the port of New York,. and on which the imposts are collected at ties, expert knowledge, careful training, the places of destination. In the due dis- judicial experience, and culture are also charge of these onerous, delicate, and oft- requisite in many instances. All these en difficult duties, ability, faithfulness, qualifications are sought and should and integrity in all the officials are essen- uniformly he sought by subjecting ap- tially necessary. Added to these quali- plicants for office, ar~d for promotion in INSPECTION OF CABIN PASSENGERS BAGGAGE ON THE DOCK. INSPECTION OF IMMIGRANTS BAGGAGE. office, to judicious competitive examina- ing to the Collectors office are distrib- tipns, under regulations prescribed by the uted into eight divisions, including the Civil Service Commission. Auditors, Cashiers, Warehouse, Naviga In February, 1884, there were 1538 pub- tion, Entry, Invoice and Order, Law, and lic servants employed in the New York Public Store departments. Besides these, Custom-house, at salaries amounting to there is a Customs Bureau at Castle Gar- $1,988,237 per annum. Of these, 232, den, with a superintendent in charge; and with salaries amounting to $311, 513, in the a Correspondence Bureau at the Custom- Collectors special department, had been house, in charge of the Chief Clerk of appointed under the Civil Service regula- Customs. Mr. Joseph Treloar, the latter tions. There were also 34, with salaries official, enjoyed twenty - one years of amounting to $50,800, in the Naval Office, training under the tutelage of Assistant- and 126, with salaries amounting to Collector Clinch; has been in office more 176,083, in the Appraisers department, than thirty years; is an encyclopa~dia of who had been appointed under the same customs law and literature; holds all his regulations. Of the 1538 emp1oy~s in the knowledge at instantaneous command, Custom-house, 470 were in the Collectors and has the courage of his couvictions. office, 95 in the Naval Office, 321 in the Each of the lastsix departments is in charge Appraisers, 11 in the General Appraisers, of a deputy collector, has a chief clerk, and 35 in the Surveyors; while there were and a suitable number of subordinates. 322 inspectors, 9 inspectresses, 117 night The Bureau of Statistics is included in inspectors, 94 weighers and gaugers, and the Auditors department. There are also 64 store-keepers. two deputy collectors for the current busi Among the officials not subjected to ness of the office, an assistant collector competitive examinations are the Collect- at Jersey City, and a special deputy col- or, Deputy Collectors, Naval Officer, Dep- lector, Mr. Joseph Barrett, who is also the uty Naval Officers, Surveyor, appraisers, Collectors private secretary. engineers, ushers, laborers, etc. How the functionaries in these several The members of the large force belong- departments come into active service is TII 1 NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. 45 apparent as the progress of pas~ enge s and goods through the Custom-house is tra ed. Armed with a pass from the Surveyor, the inquiier proceeds to the Ba ge Office, at the Battery. This is a g anite and iron building of irregular shape, with rooms for the Surveyors staff, day, night, and female inspectors, examiners, officials from the Collectors, Naval Officer~s, and Appraiser s of ces, and for the safe-keep- mo of public documents and records. A capaciou~ shed, with 0,000 square feet of area, projects seaward f om the build- ing. Close by is thc dock where be tak& the revenue-cutter, in command of a uni- for ned officer of the revenue marine service, who is also a customs o icial, and sub ect to the Collectors orders. The sail down the bay on a bright, breezy lay morning is a pleasurable experience not oon to be forgotten. The boarding in- SEARCHING A FEMALE SMUGGLER. 46 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. spectors, as well as the revenue marine officer, willingly impart information. The incoming steamerthe Servia, of the Cunard Line, will answer as an ex- ample for allreported by telegraph from Fire Island, is soon met as she slowly en- ters port under the guidance of a skillful pilot. The breathing ocean monster, bearing still on her nostrils the salt of much tempestuous spray, is covered with eager Americans returning home, curi- ous foreign tourists, and anxious immi- grants gazing for the first time on the shores of the promised land that hence- forth is to be their home. The revenue marine officer assigned to boarding duty, and the inspectors of pas- sengers baggage, ascend the rope-ladder, as soon as the sanitary examination of the vessel has been completed by the Health Officer of the port. The revenue marine officer demands from the master the man- ifests of his cargo; and, if the vessel be American, he also demands the crew list, and has the crew mustered and compared withthelist. He alsoidentifies, by means of the consuls certificate, any destitute Amer- ican seamen who may have been brought home in the vessel. Then he certifies the manifests, crew list, and consuls certifi- cates, seals or secures the hatches and open- ings until the necessary permits for unlad- ing are obtained, and hands over the charge of the vessel to the inspectors who have been temporarily assigned to her, or to superintend the delivery of cargo. At the Barge Office he subsequently makes report of his procedure, and delivers all duplicate manifests and other papers re- ceived from the master of the vessel to the boarding officer for transmission to the Collector at the Custom-house. The examination of personal baggage belonging to returning Americans and to foreign visitors is a matter of great inter- est to the parties concerned. As soon as the staff officer in charge receives the pas- senger list from the purser, he and his fellow-officials take their seats at the end of one of the long tables in the saloon. Blanks containing declarations of the dif- feren t trunks, valises, rugs, etc., and of the dutiable goods contained in them, are on hand, and are filled out consecutively as the passengers, in long lines, present themselves to the inspectors. When the blank is filled out, agreeably to the repre- sentations of each individual, or of the head of a family who acts for the whole, he solemnly swears that his statements are true, and signs the document. This is handed to another member of the staff, who numbers and retains it, and gives to the signer a ticket bearing a correspond- ing number. The signers name is at the same time checked off on the passenger list. by a third officer. Under the inquiries propounded by the inspectors, the idiosyncrasies of the parties questioned not unfrequently become mark- edly apparent. Some are jolly, others sulky, and others nervous. Some prompt- ly and others hesitantly respond to the query: Have you any new or dutia- ble goods l Honest men at once blurt out: Yes; twelve pairs of kid gloves for a friend; A piece of silk for my wife; A cloak for my daughter; A service of china here are the bills. The answers are at once entered under the appropriate heading, together with the value of the articles specified, if known by the owner. A peculiar mark is also put on the back of the paper to indicate to the examining inspector that something declared is in the baggage of that individual. Experienced travel- lers pass the ordeal quietly; others are occasionally restive under the pointed in- quisition. While thus engaged, the in- spectors answer a thousand and one ques- tions, endlessly varied, about reqnired forms, when the baggage will be exam- ined, the rates of duty, and when the wor- rying querists will be able to leave tho dock. Patience has, or ought to have, her perfect work in these pachydermatous gentlemen. While this lively scene is in progress the steamer is proceeding up the bay, en- ters the North River, and slowly move; into her dock. There matters wear a still more exciting aspect. Crowds of expect- ant friends are in waiting. Eager salu- tations are exchanged. The voyagers are as willing to quit the luxurious steamer as was Dr. Johnson the ship that he de- fined as a prison, with a chance of being drowned. The movable gangway is run from the dock to the deck. The cab- in passengers pour down it in ceaseless streams, while the steerage passengers wait wistfully for later debarkation at Castle Garden. The staff officers, declarations in hand, follow. Baggage is landed and deposited in separate piles, according to the initials of the owners names, the proper label having been affixed on the steamer. The places are designated by huge letters on the wall of the shed. If there are many Smiths aboard, for instance, there will be a crowded congregation of trunks and owners about S. The examining inspect- ors are already drawn up in line across the dock, and nothing passes them with- out due scrutiny. Wearied travellers, who can leave their matters in the hands of friends, are relieved of further waiting, and after quick search of wraps and va- lises are allowed to depart in peace. As each individuals baggage is brought to- gether, he notifies the staff officer, and hands over his ticket. The officer selects the corresponding declaration, writes the name of an inspectorwhom he calls from the lineupon it, and directs immediate examination. This is usually sufficiently thorough. Inspectors, through long prac- tice, become involuntary disciples of La- vater, and such expert critics of human nature that they almost intuitively detect attempted fraud. Dutiable articles, not declared as such, are brought out, valued by the attendant appraiser, entered, with value attached on the declaration, and the owner is obliged to pay the requisite duty to a clerk in attendance for the purpose of receiving it. The inspector also signs his name to the declaration. The efficiency and courtesy of the Pep- J~1 LANDING IMMIGRANTS AT CASTLE GARDEN. uty Surveyor, and also of the inspectors were refunded on the dock, together with the delicate while those on discharge of their not particularly pleas- the remainder ing duties, are worthy of high praise. were retained. Exceptions are few and far between, The Smuggling is carried oa in mauy ways~ questions asked about dresses, laces, cloaks, and will be carried on while human na- etc., are not invariably met with precisely ture continues to be what it is. Forci g a truthful rejoinders. To cheat Uncle Sam retail traders are adept instructors in the in revenue matters is regarded as a de art of evading the payment of duties, as cidedly venial sin by most of his children, any one who has been in the lace estab- native or adopted. This notion is doubt- lishment of Des Marets and other mer- less an unconscious remnant of the free- chants at Brussels can testify. The inge- booting ethics of forgotten ancestors. It nuity of inspectors is taxed to the utter- is slowly yielding to higher and hetter most to defeat their schemes. Female in- ideas, Even the wealthiest are not cx- spectors are employed to search persons empt from the smuggling mania. One of their own sex who are sent to them by gentleman, whose name is synonymous the Deputy Surveyor for that purpose. Of with almost fabulous wealth, returning these inspectresses there are nine. Ia from Europe in company with his wife, 1866 there were only four. The inspect- was compelled to pay about $1800 in duties resses perform their duties, both at Castle on her enormous stock of xvearin~ ap- Garden and on the docks, in rooms set parel, which he contended was not dutia- apart for such searches. Recitals of their ble, whether it had or had not been worn, experiences are at once amusing and hu- He appealed to the Secretary of the Trea- mihiating to believers in the natural good- sury, who decided against him. He then ness of men. German Jews are more ad- brought suit within ninety days in the dicted to smuggling than people of oth- United States court, His wife swore that er nationalities, but none are altogether a portion of the whole had been worn in free from the vice. Modistes and dress- good faith The duties paid on that portion makers are naturally the most frequent THE NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. and flagrant offenders. Extra gold w tch- age? Their turn comes next. In the es; laces, silks, linens, wonnd around the Scrvia their accommodations have been body or limbs; human hair in toupees, sumptuous compared with those provided. wigs, and switches sewn into skirts; new in steamers of Continental lines, and es- dresses stitched to old ones; silks and pecially in those sailing from Holland. laces made up into several voluminous All the oxygen of the Atlantic is needed skirtsare among ordinary discoveries, to save them from the diseases that foul One unlucky wight, suspected of com- air, unaccustomed food, close contact, and plicity in feminine designs, was found to unavoidable uncleanliness induce. But. have two sets of point lace in the crown of even this must be denied in stormy voy- his hat. ages, and many of them arrive in phys- By the 346 saloon passengers arriving ical condition that imperatively calls for at New York in the Servia~, 230 entries of medical assistance. Mans inhumanity dutiable goods were made, and on them to man is often painfully visible on steam- $946 85 in imposts were collected. The ship and sailing vessel alike. Matters im- Collectors representative on the dock re- prove, it is true, but all too slowly. The taimis the declarations, makes the entries dens in which many are cribbed, cabined, in his own name, and pays the duties re- and confined are often unfit for the us& ceived to the cashier, who receipts for of human beings. The smell of the ship~ them and checks his account. The reve- is in the clothing of the unhappy occu- nne from this single source is quite con- pants for long weeks after their escape. siderable in the course of twelve months. One vessel brought 1155 steerage passen- When all the work of the examining gers from Amsterdam in May, 1882. Spar~ officers on the dock has been performed deck and lower deck were crowded. An they return to the Barge Office, and the average of sixteen people occupied each inspectors assigned to superintend the room. The marvel is that the five deaths discharge of the cargo take charge of the on the voyage had not been fifty. vessel. These immigrants are a motley crowd. But what of the immigrants in the steer- New York contains representatives of for- SMUGGLING CIGARS ON THE JERSEY COAST. ~50 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. ty-four different na- tionalities. Those Armenians in red fez and Oriental cos- tume will swell the numbertoforty-five. Small steamers un- der the control of a landing agent who contracts with the steam - ship compa- nies, take off the Babel crowd in de- tachments from all teamers, and con- vey them to Castle {~arden. There, at he inspectors of- fice, record is kept ~f the steamers ar- riving, the dates of steerage passen - gers, were thus recorded; 3791 packages were sent to the public store forappraise- ment, and some- what less than $10,000 in duties collected upon them. In 18~3 the number of immigrants re- arrival, the name of each vessel, the port corded was 405,352. Smuggling among from which she sailed, the number and the steerage passengers is mainly confined names of the passengers, the births and to persons who have been visiting their eaths during the voyage, the number of friends in Europe. Minute examination packages sent to the public store at Castle occasionally detects pieces of silk and vel- ~-arden, and the names of the inspectors vet, rings, watches, gold chains, and liq- and inspectresses who examined each yes- uors. Discretion is wisely intrusted to el. In 1881, 941 steamers, bringing 441,110 the officials, and is spariugly exercised THE ROTUNDA OF TH CUSTOM-HOUSE. THE NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. 51 toward genuine immigrants. Here is one young Teuton whose trunk reveals, now that its false bottom has been knocked out, a formidable array of little phials con- taming Magentropfen, or stomach drops, and oils wherewith to lubricate rheumatic limbs. The value of the whole is about twelve shillings certainly not an inor- dinate supply for a dyspeptic Dutchman, and hardly enough to last a hypochon- driac Yankee for a single month. The value of the 710 seizures of goods of all classes smuggled by incoming passengers in the year ending June 30, 1883, was $125,519. For each package sent in for appraise- nient a check is given to the owner, and also a receipt by the United States Public Store-keeper. This check is returned when the package is taken away. Immigrants being poorer now than formerly, only $9360 were collected in duties in 1883. Free baggage is sent into another depart- ment, and is duly checked. After the im- migrants have been duly registered, their uncurrent funds exchanged for American currency, and their railroad tickets pur- chased, the baggage is forwarded, after presentation of tickets at the office, to their destinations in the West, or in other parts of the country. The Castle Garden Express delivers such as is addressed to New York, Newark, and other near cities. Castle Garden is one of the, most be- neficent institutions in the world, and owes its present uses largely to Dr. Fried- rich Kapp, now a member of the Imperial German iReichsrath, but formerly a resi- dent of New York. It is under the con- trol of nine Commissioners of Emigration, appointed for the terni of six years by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate of the State of New York. Thither let us follow a portion of the 6730 immigrants who arrived by seven different steamers on the 15th of May, 1882. The name of each, the date of his arrival, place of de- parture, number of his family (if any), whither bound, his business, and other particulars, are all registered. This rec- ord, together with that of the cabin pas- sengers, is compared with the manifest of each captain, which manifest ought to ex- hibit the names of all the persons he had on board. It thus becomes a check on the greed of some who have brought more passengers than the law permits, or than were named in the manifests. Not only do the Commissioners of Emni- VOL. LXIX.No. 409.A gration protect their often helpless charges against the extortions, robberies, and un- speakable villainies of the human harpies who formerly infested the docks, and preyed upomi the luckless incomersnot only do they supply interpreters, main- tain an employment bureau, assist in the exchange of funds, purchase of tickets, forwarding of immigrants and baggage but they also license the boarding-house runners, and subject them to rigid super- vision. They further provide for the sick and disabled, the lunatics, and the pregnant women whose husbands, if sick, are sent to the hospital on Wards Island, furnish medicine to the ailing and truss- es to the ruptured, and preserve recorded particulars of all thus coming under their special care by which they may be found and identified in the future. Near the Information Bureau from 2000 to 2500 people waitiiig inquiringly for their friends have sometimes been con- gregated at one time. The grandly beneficent work of the Emigration Comumissioners deserves bet- ter medical facilities than the miserably inadequate hospital accommodations at their immediate command in Castle Gar- den. New York does the work and bears the expense connected with foreigh immi- gration, but the whole country shares in its benefits. The railroads especially profit by it. The cash value of tickets purchased by inward-bound immigrants in 1881 was more than five million dol- lars. Moneys to the value of eleven millions were exchanged in Castle Gar- den, and. the estimated amount of the drafts, bonds, and other representatives of spe~ie value brought in during the same year was. no less than one hundred mill- ion dollars. Castle Garden ought to be a national institution. While all this busy, anxious work is going on at the dock and immigrant land- in g depot, the captain of the vessel repairs to the Custom-house and enters his ves- sel by delivering its register, together with his clearance and other papers, and par- ticularly the original manifest of his car- go, to the Collector. He also affirms un- der oath that he sailed from the port of departure on a certain day, and that his manifest is truthful to the best of his knowledge and belief. He further signs this sworn affirmation, and attaches it to his manifest. Until this is done the bulk of his cargo can not be broken. The 52 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. manifest is in writing, and contains the name of the vessel, where she is owned, masters name, tonnage, where built, whither bound, where cargo was shipped, the marks and numbers of the several packages, the contents of the packages, consignees names and residences, and ports of destination, number of passen- gers, and the nature and amount of the vessel and cabin stores. The manifest is usually in the national language of the vessel, and is made up from the bills of lading, or copies of them, given to ship- pers of goods, and signed by the captain or his representative. It is an essential document, and copies of it are made to meet the several requisitions of the cus- toms revenue. This statement of the cap- tain or master is noted at once in the re- gister of entries of vessels, and a copy of it is furnished next day to the appraisers. Within forty-eight hours after arrival the master must also report in writing all necessary information about his vessel to the Surveyor, and particularly the quan- tities and kinds of spirits, wines, and teas he has on board, the number of packages in which they are contained, together with the marks and numbers, and also his sea stores of spirits, wines, and teas. If the vessel belong to the United States, the master must give to the Collector a true account of the number of persons employ- ed on board since it was last in a United States port, and must pay forty cents per month, for every person so employed, into the Marine Hospital Fund before it can be admitted to entry. Fees and charges are about as numerous in New York as at Ni- agara. These paid, and legal demands all satisfied, the Collector issues a general or- der for the delivery of the cargo. This is effected under the supervision of the in- spectors in care of the vessel. All car- goes must be unladed between sunrise and sunset. Special permits, however, may be granted by the Collector and Na- val Officer to unlade between sunset and sunrise. In this and in many other cases indemnity bonds are required by the Collector. The scene on the dock during the un- lading and delivery of the cargo is one of great interest and suggestiveness. The two discharging inspectors in charge superin- tend the transfer of the goods from the vessel to the dock; see to it that all goods requiring to be weighed, gauged, measured, orproved are manipulated only by the prop- er officers; send sample goods and goods ordered for appraisement to the Public Store, and other merchandise to warehouse or elsewhere as directed; allow no goods to leave the dock without due permits; de- liver packages to authorized persons; and enter all permits, with specified particulars, to take away goods, and all goods taken away or sent to the Public Store, ware- house, or elsewhere, by marks, numbers, and descriptions, and what goods were ap- parently damaged on the voyage, in a dis- charging book. They also take charge of all the specie and valuables on board the vessel; compare the list of stores on board with those furnished by the master at the Collectors office; report dutiable goods and necessary stores to the Collector or Survey- or; seize all articles imported in violation of law, and close and lock the hatches of the vessel at night. They also, within three days after the delivery of the dis- charging book to the Surveyor, make an- other return of the discharge of the vessel, supported by permits, orders, and other vouchers, showing what goods were call- ed for and not found, what did not agree with permit or order, what were damaged, what were not included in manifest, what sea stores were on board, and also the names of all officials who performed any duty in connection with the cargo. Dis- crepancies between ships manifests and in- spectors returns are subsequently correct- ed by specific process in case no intention to defraud the government is apparent on the surface. Both manifests and inspect- ors returns go through the Bureau of Liq- uidation and Closing of Vessels Accounts, and ultimately find their way into that or- derly cemetery of dead enterprises known as the Record Room. When the discharging inspectors close their labors for the day, they are relieved as custodians of revenue interests by the night inspectors, who number 117 men, and are officered by Captain P. C. Bensel and three assistants. This force is com- posed of vigorous and active men, and in- cludes medical and other students, who in this way acquire the funds necessary to complete their professional education. It is divided into two watches, which alter- nate in the discharge of duty from sunset to midnight, and fi-om midnight to sun- rise. Should any be detailed for all-night duty on vessels lying in the stream, they are excused from service on the following night. The sphere of these duties includes THE NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. 53 the waters and portions of the shores of New Jersey, Long Island, and New York city. The night inspectors are appointed to prevent smuggling, are uniformed and armed, and are authorized to stop and search reasonably suspected persons who may go on board or come from the ves- sel. Their office is by no means a sine- cure. It involves watching, exposure, and fatigue. The Cuban steamers have been wont to bring men who inclosed ci- gars in rubber bags and threw them into the waters of the lower bay. Confeder- ates in boats then picked them up, placed them in express wagons waiting on the shore, and then drove rapidly away. There is something contagious in the glee of wide-awake officials as they relate how they had watched unseen the whole oper- ation until the wagon was ready to start, when they seized the reins, and landed the spoils at the Seizure Room. One French steamer, notorious for smuggling by drib- blets, when searched by this force, was found to contain thirteen hundred bottles of spirits, which it was intended to send ashore bottle by bottle. Tins about an inch deep, and fitted to the body under the armpits, have been taken from the bodies of men who were thus stealthily bringing in valuable bay oil. One dealer in human hair, who died in possession of about $200,000, was detected in illicit mm- portations under the shirts of his agents. Another vivacious fellow, belonging to a French steamer, rejoiced in a profitable trade in kid gloves secreted by the dozen in his immense boots. Sailing vessels are watched by special agents, whose duties are irksome enough to render special su- pervision by superiors a matter of positive necessity. Dealers in contraband goods, scamps who live by their wits, and un- scrupulous traders of many kinds tax the resources of human ingenuity and craft to the uttermost. Logs of foreign wood, cun- ningly excavated and packed with cigars or spirits; eases of boots and shoes, in the heels of which watches and jewelry are hidden; miraculous trunks, false as Ma- chiavelli, being thinly hollow on side and end, top and bottom, concealing laces, hair, trinkets, etc., etc., are among the common devices of ingenious freebooters. Keen, honest, true mensuch as may be seen on any tour of night inspection, like mastiffs at their posts, and especially if visitors be expectedare needed to baffle the plots of the rascals. Political affilia- tions constitute no guarantee of efficiency. The best attainable is through rigid adher- ence to the rules of the civil service re- form. All seizures of whatever value are sent to the Seizure Room at the Custom-house. This is under the authority of General G. W. Palmer, formerly Appraiser of the port, and now the learned and effective head of the Law Department. It em- braces a singular collection. Here a jew- ellers pack; there dresses, silks, shawls, laces, bundles of cigarettes, row-boats cap- tured with contraband goods on board, cutlery, wines, liquors, cigars, and obscene literature. Contaminating articles are de- stroyed, unclaimed goods may be obtained by the owner in the course of twelve months if they are detained in the General Order Store, or within three years if warehoused, on payment of duty and order of the Sec- retary of the Treasury. Perishable arti- cles are sold at auction as soon as possible. Other condemned and unclaimed goods are sold by auction at Collectors sale, after being kept in custody as just stated. Complete records of all transactions are carefully preserved. A disappointed raiser of church debts said that he needed no evidence of total depravity additional to that of the unpaid subscription on his list. If he did, the Seizure Room would furnish it. Human- ity, after all, is redeemable. Charles Reade maintains that it is never too late to mend. The records of the Custom- house illustrate the theory of the novel- ist. In May, 1882, a check for $87 came to hand from a troubled individual who had imported silks, laces, and linens in 1873, and which he then believed to be free, but had since discovered to be dutia- ble to that amount; $50 to correct an un- dervaluation arrived the week before. Collector Schell once received $1500 from a burdened conscience, the owner of which requested him to acknowledge the receipt in a daily paper, which he did. Smaller sums appear in the list of the Conscience Fund, such as 36, $10, $7 27. Most commendable of all is an item of $10 transmitted to the Collector by an inspector, into whose pocket it had been thrust by a passenger. Tender conscience or something else would not allow it to stay there, and the bribe was covered into the Treasury. With these facts be- fore him, Collector Robertson may still 54 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. hope to find out the author of the infa- mously celebrated forged telegram, and more particularly since he himself re- ceived in the month of October, 1882, a check for ~10, 000 from a most excellent merchant whose clerk, unknown to him, had defrauded the government of about that sum by undervaluations. The fact of undervaluation had not been suspected at the Custom-house, and the length of time that had elapsed since it took place had placed the loss beyond the limits of legal recovery. New York has many such high-minded and sternly principled merchant princes. Returning from the Seizure Room to the Rotunda, it is obvious that the concen- trated activity on the dock receiving the cargo has many counterparts in that of the consignees and their agents. These are naturally anxious to obtain possession of their merchandise as quickly as possi- ble. They therefore hasten to the Cus- tom-house and make entry of their re- spective consignments. This is usually, but not always, done through the instru- mentality of a class of men known as Custom-house brokers. Custom-house brokers are principally pushing young men bent on the attain- ment of fortune. The fees charged for their assistance are matters of bargain between themselves and customers. If fraudulent and untrustworthy, they are sure to be extruded from the building. Some are men of high moral character and excellent business abilities. True policy would dictate their enrollment, and invest the Collector with power to ex- clude from practice all who are shown to be incapable or unjust. Self - interest would then hold the broker to the strict- est honesty and probity. At the Custom-house, the consignee or owner states under oath that he has cer- tain merchandise on board the steamer, and verifies his statement by the produc- tion of an invoice, bill of lading, and consular certificate to the invoice given in the country whence the goods were exported. Invoices are made and certi- fied in triplicate, the consul filing one in his office, sending a second to the Collector of the port whither the goods are shipped, and giving a third to the consignor. The last forwards his to the consignee. He also forwards the bill of lading, or copy of it, given by the steam-ship company for goods shipped. The consignee or owner attaches the bill of lading to the entry of the goods he wishes to take away from the dock. All entries are made in duplicate. Every entry must be of all goods coming by the same vessel to the same consignee, even if they come from ten, twenty, thir- ty, or more consignors. This requirement often makes it necessary for consumption entries to be made upon pro forrnct in- voices, which practice has been used by dishonest men to further schemes for un- dervaluation and fraud. The marks and numbers inserted in the entry must correspond with those in the bill of lading, and the description of con- tents of each package must tally with that found in the invoice. The invoice itself is also compared with that sent to the Collector by the consul. If the consignee wishes to have part of the dutiable goods claimed by him sent to a bonded ware- house, he makes a separate and specific entry of them. These papers are next ex- amined as to their correctness by an en- try clerk, and are then stamped with con- secutive numbers. The entry clerk also indorses on the back of the invoice the value of the goods thus entered. In de- termining approximately this value, the consuls and commissioners fees are de- ducted from the amount specified in the invoice, and the shipping charges, and proper commissions prescribed by law, are added to it. The rate of duty and the date of examination of entry are also in- scribed on the invoice. The entry clerk then issues a consumption permit for the duty-free and duty-paid goods, and a bond- ed warehouse permit for those on which the consignee does not wish to pay the duty at once, each permit agreeing with the contents of the entry, the bill of lading, and the invoice. All these papers, except the original entry, which remains in the Collectors office, are then taken to the Na- val Office, where the clerical work is veri- fied. On their return a deputy collector compares the contents of the documents with each other, and ascertains whether the invoice is properly made, and the consu- lar certificate duly attached. If the latter be not attached, the claimant is required to give b9nds to produce a proper consu- lar invoice. If all the papers be correct, the deputy collector then designates cer- tain packages of dutiable goodsabout 10 per cent. of the wholeand orders them to be sent to the Public Store for appraise- ment. Where this is inexpedient, as in TILE NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. 55 the case of iron, marble, gypsum, soda- ash, soda crystals, live animals, grains, bones, building stones, etc., he orders an appraisement on the wharf; or in the case of glass - ware, etc., at the merchants store. The number of the packages to be examined are described by indorsement on the invoice; which indorsement con- stitutes an order to the Appraiser to de- cide their dutiable character and value. A similar indorsement is written on the entry, and also on the permit. The last is an order to the discharging inspector to send the packages indicated to the Public Store for appraisement. The numbers written on invoice, entry, and permit must agree, inasmuch as they are designed to be safeguards against collusion and fraud, and guides to officers who act independ- eutly of each other. The consignee, or his broker, papers in hand, next repairs to the cashiers office, and pays the estimated duty on the whole invoice of goods wanted for immediate consumption, together with the legal fees. The cashier affixes his check, in token of payment, to invoice and permit both. Then the merchant, compliant with law, gives what is termed a return bond that he will hold the packages intact for ten days after the Appraiser has passed upon the cases sent to his department, and that lie will return to the custody of the Col- lector within that time any or all of the goods so received by him upon due notice so to do. All these preliminaries having been duly observed, the consignee leaves all his papers, except the permit, at the Custom - house. To the permit he pro- cures the signature of the deputy collect- or, and the counter-signature of the Naval Officer, and at length presents it to the inspector in charge of the vessel, and re- ceives his goods. Record is kept of all invoices, of the kinds and numbers of the packages sent to the Public Store, and of the ship in which they came. The invoices, together with copies of record and entries, are sent to the Appraiser by the revenue cab run- ning between the Custom-house and the Appraisers office, so that by them he may identify the parcels sent to him for exam- ination and appraisal. These are so nu- merous as to keep himself and the assist- ant appraisers in a state of decided activ- ity during the spring and fall importa- tions. In 1873 the number of packages appraised was 181,068; in 1881 it was 249,593; and in 1883 it was 267,202. The largest number of packages received in a single day was on the 16th of September, 1881, when it reached the total of 1542. The United States Public Store occupies an entire block, owned by the heirs of a deceased New York merchant, and fronts on the Hudson River, between Hubert and Laight streets. The number of public servants employed therein is 349, of whom about 100 have held office for upward of ten years. Assistant Appraiser John A. Baush, who died in 1883, held office for forty-one years, and other officials have kept their places over twenty years. One hundred and seventy-seven other officers, watchmen, and laborers belonging to the Eighth Division of the Collectors office, and under the immediate orders of Depu- ty Collector Colonel William A. Jones, co-operate with them. The rules of the civil service are here applied with strict regularity. No temporary appointments have been made since the appointment of Colonel A. P. Ketchum to the office of Appraiser, except to positions of which the annual salary is under $900, and there- fore below the grade to which civil service regulations apply. Papers different from those employed at the Collectors office are used in the examination of candidates. Goods and merchandise are assigned, on arrival for examination and appraisal, to one or more of the ten divisions in the of- fice, each of which is under the supervision of an assistant appraiser, whose salary is $3000. Samples of textile and other fab- rics sent to this country by foreign man- ufacturers for the inspection of merchants who order supplies, yet to be made, from them, are promptly examined and ap- praised in the sample office: 31,993 pack- ages of samples were received in 1881, and 63,479 in 1883. The tariff is an abstruse science. Heyls work entitled United States Import Du- ties, or Morgans United States Tariff, must be mastered to understand its appli- cation. Even then its principles are not readily comprehended. Some goods are subjected to specific, others to ad valo- rem, and still others to specific and ad Va- lorem duties combined. The typical Phil- adelphia lawyer is needed to unravel all its mysteries. There are doubtless rea- sons of some sort why silk and wool dress goods should be charged a specific duty of eight cents per square yard, and forty per 56 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. cent. ad valorem; why, if such goods weigh over four ounces to the square yard, they should pay fifty cents per pound, and thir- ty-five per cent. ad valorern; why one tex- tile fabric with thirty-four warp and twen- ty - six woof threads to the quarter of a square inch, or 240 warp and woof threads to the square inch, should pay a specific duty of seven and a half cents per square yard, and fifteen per cent. of its value ad- ditionally; why, if there he less than 201 threads to a square inch, it should pay six and a half cents per square yard, and fif- teen per cent. ad valorem; and why, if not exceeding 200 threads to the square inch (the difference of a single thread may and sometimes does determine the rate of duty), and costing over twenty-five cents per square yard, it should pay an ad Va- lorem duty of thirty-five per cent.; but to the uninitiated these reasons appear to be inscrutable. As the laws of a nation are the crystallizations of its historical expe- riences, so the customs regulations of a people are the residual crystallization of its commercial relations with foreigners, its efforts at industrial development and self-preservation, and its bitter acquaint- ance with greed, guile, and guilt. Passing through other departments of the Public Store we paused to criticise the costly, exquisitely beautiful, and marvel- lously constructed dresses imported from Worth and from Camus, in Paris; the paintings by Meissonier, son of the fa- mous artist, whose Charge des Cuiras- siers adorns the stately mansion of Mrs. A. T. Stewart, and other distinguished painters; the statuary, bronzes, watches, and jewelry; the carpets, rugs, and cur- tains; the cigars and tobacco, wines, spir- its, and liqueurs; and specimens of all other articles proper and improper to high and wealthy civilization. All packages are seemingly handled with skill and care. The contents of not a few are manifestly injured by injudi- cious nailing on the part of the consign- ors employds; and from some, portions of the contents have been extracted in tran- situ by thievish hands. When the invoices of imported goods arrive at the Public Store they are sent to the Invoice Bureau, and are there dis- tributed to the appropriate divisions. The head of each division in turn distributes his allotment among the respective cx- aminers, and charges each with the in- voices assigned to him. Deft, cautious, and expert examination of each and every parcel follows. The standard of value for each article in the foreign market where it was purchased is ascertained by correspondence with consular agents, by extensive comparison of invoices, and more especially from the invoices of the more prominent American merchants, whose reputation for integrity and square dealing is unimpeached and unassailable. The most persistent attempts to defraud the government of its just dues take the forms of undermeasureinent and under- valuation. Merchandise is frequently un- dervalued by foreign consignors. The consignees, aware of the fact, and in- structed by previous failures, usually cor- rect the fault by entering the goods at fig- ures nearer to their true value. One case of merchandise exhibited an increased statement of value to the average extent of ten per cent. When the Appraiser raises the dutiable value of goods as much as ten per cent., the estimate carries with it an additional penalty to the importer of twenty per cent. The Chinese importers doing business in New York have not yet, in every instance, learned how business is done at the Custom-house. Their under- valuations are occasionally outrageous. Seven packages of silk fabrics had just been appraised at from 50 to 300 per cent. above the invoice price. As soon as the examiners finish their inspection of the goods appraised, the quantity and quality thereof are noted on the invoice, and that document is sent to the Appraiser for his approval. Correct invoices are returned to the Entry and In- voice Department of the Collectors office on a black list, and corrected ones on a red list. No parcels are permitted to leave the Public Store without being corded and sealed and checked by the examiner. This is a precaution against possible theft. In the Entry Department the returned in- voices are placed in the hands of the liqui- dating clerks, by whom the work of the Appraiser as to classification of goods and the true amount of duties to be paid is carefully revised. If either or both should be incorrect, the invoice is sent back to the Appraiser for reclassification and amend. ment. After this is done, and the exact amount of duty is ascertained, the amend- ment is revised by the amendment clerk in the Naval Office, and on his indorse- ment is again returned to the Bureau of Liquidation. If the importer have al THE NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. 57 ready paid the right sum on entering his goods, he is notified of the fact, applies for a delivery permit, and receives his goods. If a balance yet be due to the government, he is informed of the fact, and immediate payment is demanded. If he have paid more than the proper amount, he is notified of the fact, receives a refund- ing check from the Auditor, and payment thereof from the Assistant Treasurer of the United States. The national government does busi- ness wisely, and always secures itself be- forehand against possible loss. If the importer when apprised of the classifica- tion as to rate of duty made by the Col- lector be dissatisfied with it, he must make a written protest within ten days, appeal to the Secretary of the Treasury within thirty days, and if the Secretarys deci- sion sustain the action of the Collector, must, within ninety days from said dcci- sion, bring suit in court in order to save any remedy to which he may be legally entitled. Or, if dissatisfied with the valua- tion noted and certified on the invoice, he may ask for a re-appraisement, or mer- chant appraisal. If he should do so, then the Collector selects one discreet and ex- perienced merchant, a citizen of the United States, familiar with the character and value of the goods in question, and notifies him of his appointment. The General Ap- praiser is also notified of the appeal, and of the name of the merchant appraiser. A day is fixed for the appraisal, and the merchant selected is sworn to do his duty. Other merchants may be subpcenaed to act as mercantile experts at the examina- tion. Th& importer or his agent presents his views of the case, and the decision of the General Appraiser and merchant ap- praiser is final. Ordinarily the judgment of the Appraiser of the port is sustained. Should they disagree, the Collector de- cides the matter. Only in the event of informality in the procedure can the im- porter institute further proceedings in the United States District or Circuit Court. The importer usually accepts the decision, pays the duty, and receives his goods. So accurately is the work of the General Ap- praisers office done that not more than two per cent. of all its transactions is found to be incorrect by the Liquidating Bureau. Damage appraisements are demanded where goods have been injured on the voyage of importation. When the dam- ages claimed exceed $100 the percentage of damage to the goods is subtracted from the amount of duty assessed. Green fruit must be damaged in excess of twenty-five per cent. of the invoice value in order to admit of any reduction of duty, and then the reduction is only on the damage above twenty-five per cent. of injury. A bulletin of correct entries, increased appraisements, and refunds to importers who paid more than the real duty at the time of entering their merchandise is hung up in the Rotunda for the inspection of in- terested parties. All invoices are stamp- ed after final examination in the Liqui- dating Bureau, and are thence sent to the custody of a clerk, who records the date of reception, arranges them in packages according to the initial and terminal let- ters of importers names, classifies them as miscellaneous, free, or duty-paid, and warehoused, and ties the several packages together with differently colored tapes. Invoices thus preserved are in constant de- mand for reference, re-appraisement, etc., and are always brought forward, on prop- er requisitions, by the heads or chief clerks of divisions. Responsible parties are also permitted to consult them on matters of business. After being retained for six months they are deposited in the Record Room. The entry papers accompanying the in- voices to the cashiers office are there sepa- rated from them, and sent to an official, who imposts them, or, in other words, classifies the articles therein described in separate columns according to the rate of duty that each is liable to pay. Articles paying duty by the yard are also classified in appropriate columns. The duties on the wholes are then calculated. The to- tals added together must correspond with the totals of the cashiers and Naval Of- ficers offices. This is another efficient safeguard against inadvertencies and in- accuracies. From the imposter the en- tries pass to other hands, which tabu- late the contents for statistical purposes; from thence they pass to a third official who therefrom prepares the statistics for publication in the newspapers. From him the Bureau of Liquidation receives them for examination and correction, reunites them with the corresponding invoices, sends them to the Naval Office, and re- ceives them again after due revision by the amendment clerks. Again they pass into the hands of the imposting and sta- tistical clerks, who correct their own work, 58 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. in case any error should have been de- tected. The entry papers are then filed away. Tedious and complicated as are the in- vestigations connected with the appraisal of composite textile fabrics, and of wares whose dutiable value is based upon weigh- ers and gaugers returns, still greater dif- ficulties attach to the valuation of other articles, such as sugars, chemicals, etc., etc. Appeals from the decisions of the Collect- or and litigation in United States Courts often delay final settlement for some time. In these cases the aid of the United States Chemical Laboratory, situated in the Pub- lic Store, is invoked. This institution is conducted by Dr. Edward Sherer. Not satisfied with all the precautions hitherto described in order to obtain a proximate approach to absolutely certain knowledge of the commerce of New York, the accounts of each vessel are put into the hands of a class of officials known as liquidators of vessels, about thirteen months after her arrival in port. The liquidators bring together all the papers connected with a single voyage of that vessel, compare and check off the officers return and the ships manifest, ascertain what disposition has been made of goods for which no entries or papers were filed, and, if such goods are still in general order stores, cause them to be put upon the sale list, and sold for the benefit of the gov- ernment. They examine the accounts of the liquidators of entries, and inquire whether any refunds ought to be made or increase of duty assessed. All the en- tries of each vessel are tabulated upon a duty list, showing the original, addition- al, and liquidated duties, the increase and excess of duty, and the penalties exacted. All these are footed up, and referred to the Naval Officer for comparison. If found correct, the Naval Officer checks the duty list, which is then filed in the Record Room for statistical or other purposes. / To the same repository the documents associated with entries for warehousing, transportation, and exportation in bond, warehouse and immediate exportation, immediate transportation, and withdraw- al for transportation and export to Cana- da or Mexico, ultimately find their way. Merchants entering imported goods, on which the duties are not paid, for ware- housing, give bonds to the amount of twice the value of the goods with the duty added. Receipts for such goods, given by bonded warehouse proprietors, are ne- gotiable, and available as collateral secur- ities for the eventual liquidation of in- debtedness. When importers wish to withdraw their merchandise, in part or in whole, from warehouse, withdrawal en- tries are made for that purpose, the esti- mated duties paid, and delivery permits obtained. A regular debtor and creditor account with them is kept by the ware- house department. It also keeps account of all goods received and delivered for transportation or export, including de- scriptions of marks, numbers, and con- tents of all packages. Of bonded warehouses (most of which include from three to six buildings each) in New York, Brooklyn, Jersey City, and Hoboken, the number is fifty-nine. The United States government grants the priv- ilege of private bonded warehouses to im- porters; but only one firm, that of Lan- man and Kemp, the great drug importers, avail themselves of it. All the rest are for public use. Each is double locked every evening, the proprietors using one set of locks, and the United States store- keepers another. Any one may hire or erect a building for a bonded warehouse, and enter upon the business of conduct- ing it, after having given a bond of $25,000 for each independent edifice, 25 by 100 feet in area, and an additional bond of from $10,000 to $15,000 for each building con- nected with the original structure by in- ternal doors. Should the proprietor dis- continue business, his books are compared with those of the warehouse department, and in case of correspondency his pecun- iary liability ceases, but no bond is ever cancelled. All are preserved in anticipa- tion of possible need. No suit, however, has as yet been brought against a proprie- tor on his bond. The store-keepers are United States officials, under the control and orders of the Collector, and number sixty-five persons. On the 1st of February, 1884, there were 241 lighters and 1501 carts employed in the transfer of merchandise to and from the bonded warehouses. The owner of each lighter gives a bond for it by name. The 397 owners of the carts also give bonds that their vehicles shall be faithfully used for revenue purposes only while in gov- eminent employ. In the four bonded manufacturing warehousesone in Brooklyn, and three in New Yorkmerchandise such as Flor THE NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. 59 ida water, sarsaparilla, life syrup, and tricopherous is manufactured for export only. All dutiable goods imported for these purposes are sent into general stor- age warehouses, class 3, where the duties are ascertained, and are thence forwarded to manufacturing bonded warehouses, without payment of duties, but under the prescribed bonds. There they are manu- factured, and are thence exported. None can be sold in the United States. The manufacturers file formYdas specifying the nature of their manufactures with the Secretary of the Treasury. Government chemists detailed to test the quality and percentage of the alcohol used have free access to these establishments at all times, and on their favorable reports permits for exportation are issued to the proprie- tors. Each manufacturing bonded ware- house is under the charge of a United States store-keeper. On many dutiable articles of commerce drawbacks of duties paid are allowed to exporters. Imported merchandise, export- ed within three years direct from the cus- tody of the United States store-keepers, is entitled to drawback, less one per cent. to defray necessary expenses. Drawback of duties paid, less one per cent., is allowed on imported goods that have been with- drawn from warehouse to enter into the construction or repair of American ves- sels, or less ten per cent. if manufactured into articles, for export to foreign coun- tries. Rebate of internal revenue taxes is allowed on certain taxable articles of do- mestic production that are entered for ex- port. The object of drawbacks is the en- couragement of domestic manufactures, and the promotion of the influx of pre- cious metals. The amount of drawback upon imported goods, afterward manu- factured and exported from New York, in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1883, was $1,663,297; of drawback and remission of tax upon domestic and foreign goods, $4,816,659. Bonds are required by the government in order to secure its rights and dues from individuals, corporations, and business firms who seek its protective aid and in- dorsement in the transaction of their busi- ness, to insure honesty and fair dealing, and to prevent frauds. Such bonds are never cancelled unless satisfactory proof be adduced that the legal conditions have been fulfilled. If the proof of fulfilled stipulations be not sufficient, then the im porter often applies to the Secretary of the Treasury, who has discretionary power, to cancel the bonds. Should the Secretary decline to cancel them, the cases are then prepared in the law department of the Collectors office, and forwarded by him to the United States District Attorney for prosecution. The number of such suits instituted in the year ending June 30, 1883, was 280. The entire number of bonds of all kinds duly executed in connection with the public revenue at the port of New York in the same year was 140,963. The Law Department of the Collectors office also reviews with critical legal eye the entire course of the revenue business and its results; interferes to correct irreg- ularities; perfects it in a legal sense; pre- pares all the papers and evidence neces- sary to the defense of the Collector in the suits instituted against him by dissatisfied or fraudulent importers, or other persons whose business relations with him have not been agreeable to themselves; and pre- pares the documents and evidence needful to the prosecution of criminal offenders and the redress of irregularities. The num- ber of suits instituted against Collector W. H. Robertson in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1883, was 586; and of suits brought by him against others for other causes than on bonds was 161. Ship-building in the United States is one of the relatively decadent industries. Politico-economical reasons are readily ad- duced to account for it. But what vessels the country does possess in the locality of New York are cared for with minute full- ness at the Custom-house. There United States vessels are documented, or regis- tered, enrolled, and licensed. In the re- gistry of each vessel the managing owner or president of the proprietary company deposes under oath to the names of the owners, to the share of each in the vessel, to the place of his residence, and to the fact that he is a citizen of the United States. The master of the vessel also makes oath that he is himself a citizen. No foreigner can own a recorded interest in a foreign- going American vessel, although he may own an interest in a steamer running on inland waters, rivers, or bays. The man- aging owner and master then unite in giv- ing a bond, with sureties satisfactory to the Collector, that the certificate of regis- ter shall be used exclusively within the limits of the law. The registers of all American vessels, 60 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. while in port, are deposited with the Cob lector at the registry desk. The owners and masters oath and bond for registry are all included in a bound volume after- ward preserved in the depository of rec- ords. Each foreign-bound vessel also de- posits articles of agreement, signed by master and crew, and a copy thereof, which is certified by the Collector. A list of the persons composing the crew is also deposited with the Collector, and a certified copy thereof is given by him to the master. A crew bond is further ex- ecuted by the master and sureties, bind- ing them to produce the persons named as composing the crew to the first board- ing officer at the first port of the United States at which the vessel shall arrive, unless the said persons shall have been discharged by consent of an American consul. If sailors are discharged, or de- sert in foreign countries, the fact is cer- tified by the nearest American consul. Crew lists and articles of vessels are bound together in volumes. Returned crew lists are placed on file. If a vessel should discharge her crew at a port other than that from which she sailed, notifica- tion of the fact that the crew is accounted for is sent to the original port of depart- ure, and the crew bond is thereupon can- celled. When a change of master of any vessel occurs, the new master makes oath that he is a citizen of the United States, and the certificate of this oath is attached to the certificate of the vessels register. Particulars of all such changes are record- ed. Abstracts of surrendered registers is- sued at other ports are also kept in book form, and monthly reports of them are sent to Washington. Certificates of record are issued to ves- sels built in the United States and own- ed by foreigners, to enable such vessels, should they become the property of Amer- ican citizens, to be documented and re- ceive an American register. Bills of sale and mortgages of vessels are also received and recorded in books that describe the species and name of each vessel, names of grantors and mortgagors, parts owned, parts conveyed, species of conveyance (bill of sale, etc.), when made, amounts received for sale or mortgage, when re- ceived for record, dates of record, dates of cancellation, and names of parties who take the documents away from the office. Certificates of register, if lost, must be replaced by new ones; and new certifi cates must also be issued in correspond- ency with changes in the characteristics or occupation of vessels. Record is kept of all these registers, and of all issues and surrenders of documents, and copies of such records are sent quarterly to the Sec- retary of the Treasury. Rebates of duties paid on imported goods are allowed by law to the extent in which these goods enter into the construction of American vessels. The rebate in one in- stance, in 1882, amounted to $3622. In the case of some Boston vessels it was still larger. In the registration of a new ves- sel, the production of the master carpen- ters certificate, of the certificate of mea- surement, and of the inspectors certifi- cate, as well as the oath of ownership, etc., are required in order to documentation. Application is then made to the Secreta- ry of the Treasury at Washington for an official number, and for letters to be used in signaling at sea. Thus 130,052 is the official number, and J. R. K. W. the offi- cial letters, of the little schooner Nettie Dobbins; 10,456 the number, and H. J. G. W. the letters, of the barque Gernsbok, of New York. When any number and set of letters are exhibited by flags at sea, the officers of passing vessels who observe them can turn to the list of United States merchant vessels and learn what the name of the signaling vessel is. The total registered tonnage of the port of New York, according to the latest re- port, is as follows: VESSELS REGISTERED FOR FOREIGN TRADE. Sailing vessels 540, with a tonnage of 346,485 Steam 50, 82490 Total 590, with a tonnage of 428,975 VESSELS OF FIVE TONS AND UPWARD ENGAGED IN THE COASTING TRADE AND UNDER ENROLLMENT AND LI- czssz. Sailing vessels 1452, with a tonnage of 132,260 Barges, etc 375, 68 246 Steamers 741, 203~0s4 Total 568, with a tonnage of 403,560 RECAPITULATION. Registered vessels 590; tonnage, 428,975 Enrolled and licensed 2568; 403560 Total 158; 8~32,535 Eighty - six of the above - mentioned steamers are constructed wholly of iron. American vessels engaged in domestic trade are enrolled and licensed. The pro- cess of enrollment and license is very sim- ilar to that of registration for foreign com- merce. Records of steam vessels owned in New York and engaged in domestic trade THE NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. 61 are preserved in the Custom-house, whose officers enforce the execution of the navi- gation laws, including those relating to the inspection of vessels, the licensing of pilots, engineers, and masters, and the en- trance and clearance of coastwise vessels. Particulars of all the wrecks and casual- ties of American vessels documented at New York are also preserved, and often prove to be of great service. All receipts of duties, penalties, fees, etc., are revised and tabulated in the office of Colonel Charles Treichel, the Auditor. There all checks for refund of money paid in excess of the true amount of duty are drawn and furnished to the importers. Uncle Sam scarcely ever fails to assure himself against loss. In 1880 the sum of $2,256,487 73 was disbursed in refunds, $1,594,833 37 in 1881, and $3,313,159 73 in the first eleven months of 1882. The whole of the refunds made since 1870 is upward of $18,000,000. The average annual num- ber of entries on which refunds are made is 28,512. Receipts for refunds are taken in duplicate; one copy is sent to Washing- ton, and the other is preserved in the Col- lectors office for reference. All checks paid for refunds are reported to the Na- val Officer, who compares the reports with his own books of record. Full particu- lars of all matters connected with each refund are also reported to Washington. All record books are kept in the Auditors office for seven or eight years, and are then sent to the Record Room. Only lately a dispute as to which of two merchants a certain check had been paid was settled by appeal to the records. It was paid to the importer. Prior to the advent of Mr. S. G. Ogden, who served in the Auditors department for more than forty years, the Collectors were often placed in the position of de- faulters by faulty book-keeping. But so thoroughly has the system of keeping ac- counts been revised and perfected that for many years they have balanced exactly at the end of every week. The system of checks and balances in use at the New York Custom-house, if not absolutely per- fect, is at least a close approximate ap- proach to perfection. Accou uts of all re- ceipts and disbursements by the Collector are rendered monthly to the Commission- er of Customs and to the First Auditor of the Treasury. The multitudinous records and papers appertaining to the customs service in New York have been preserved from the commencement, and are now so classified and arranged that any of them can be readily found when sought, unless it be some very old papers packed away in the dark rooms. The record rooms occupy the entire upper story of the Custom-house, and a portion of the story immediately be- low it. The custody and care of all these papers and documents require a genius for classification and arrangement. Hun- dreds if not thousands of tons of account books, bond books, cargo and passenger manifests, entries, inspectors returns, offi- cial certificates, withdrawals, invoices, con- sular certificates, permits, shipping arti- cles, crew lists, pay rolls, check-book stubs, registers, etc., etc., are here stowed away in such order as to be almost immediately available when wanted. Directly but independently related to the customs revenue in New York is a class of about twenty United States offi- cials, three of whom are known as special agents. All are under the charge of an intelligent, active, and energetic head Captain C. H. Brackett. The special agents keep vigilant watch over sailors, importers, and officials alike, and ai~e, in fact, practical and practiced detectives. Suspicion of wrong may be awakened by personal observation, or by confidential information from different sources. Once on the track of offenders they are sure to run them down, unless the criminals be en- dowed with almost supernatural shrewd- ness and cunning. Nothing that human ingenuity can de- vise appears to be left out of the machin- ery of this, the greatest revenue establish- ment in the United States. It is the most scientifically organized and economically administered of American national institu- tions. Under Collector W. H. Robertsons presidency the cost of collecting the pub- lic revenue at this point is 1.78k per cent. of the whole sumless than in the admin- istration of any of his predecessors. NOTEIn the preparation of this article the writer has been indebted to the courtesy of several offi- cials, and particularly of K. N. Prince, Esq., Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, for indispensable assistance. Whatever discrepancies may appear between the figures in this article and those in the Annual Re- port on the Foreign Commerce of the United States are due to the fact that the latter are largely made up from the duties estimated at the time of entry, whereas the former have been made up since the entries were finally liquidated and the due amount of duties paid. ABRAHAM LINCOLN AT CINCINNATI. IN the summer of 1857 Mr. Lincoln made his first visit to Cincinnati. He was original counsel for the defendant in a patent reaper suit pending in the United States Circuit Court for Northern Illinois. The argument of the case was adjourned to Cincinnati, the home of Judge McLean, at his suggestion and for his accommoda- tion. Mr. Lincoln came to the city a few days before the argument took place, and re- mained during his stay at the house of a friend. The case was one of large impor- tance pecuniarily, and in the law questions involved. Reverdy Johnson represented the plaintiff. Mr. Lincoln had prepared himself with the greatest care; his ambi- tion was up to speak in the case, and to measure swords with the renowned law- yer from Baltimore. It was understood between his client and himself before his coming that Mr. Harding, of Philadelphia, was to be associated with him in the case, and was to make the mechanical argu- ment. Mr. Lincoln was a little surprised and annoyed, after reaching here, to learn that his client had also associated with him Mr. Edwin M. Stanton, of Pittsburgh, and a lawyer of our own bar, the reason assigned being that the importance of the case required a man of the experience and power of Mr. Stanton to meet Mr. John- son. The Cincinnati lawyer was ap- pointed for his local influence. These reasons did not remove the slight convey- ed in the employment, without consulta- tion with him, of this additional counsel. He keenly felt it, but acquiesced. The trial of the case came on; the counsel for defense met each morning for consulta- tion. On one of these occasions one of the counsel moved that only two of them should speak in the case. This motion was acquiesced in. It had always been understood that Mr. Harding was to speak to explain the mechanism of the reapers. So this motion excluded either Mr. Lin- coln or Mr. Stanton from speaking which? By the custom of the bar, as be- txveen counsel of equal standing, and in the absence of any action of the client, the original counsel speaks. By this rule Mr. Lincoln had precedence. Mr. Stan- ton suggested to Mr. Lincoln to make the speech. Mr. Lincoln answered, No; do you speak. Mr. Stanton promptly re- plied, I will, and, taking up his hat, said he would go and make preparation. Mr. Lincoln acquiesced in this, but was deeply grieved and mortified; he took but little more interest in the case, though re- maining until the conclusion of the trial. He seemed to be greatly depressed, and gave evidence of that tendency to melan- choly which so marked his character. His parting on leaving the city can not be for- gotten. Cordially shaking the hand of his hostess, he said: You have made my stay here most agreeable, and I am a thousand times obliged to you; but in reply to your request for me to come again I must say to you I never expect to be in Cincinnati again. I have nothing against the city, but things have so happened here as to make it undesirable for me ever to return here. Thus untowardly met the first time Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton. Little did ei- ther then suspect that they were to meet again on a larger theatre, to become the chief actors in a great historica.l epoch. While in the city he visited its lions, among other places of interest the grounds and conservatories of the late Nicholas Longworth, then living. The meeting of these remarkable men is worthy of a pass- ing note. Nor can it be given without allusion to their dress and bearing. Mr. Lincoln entered the open yard, with tow- ering form and ungainly gait, dressed in plain clothing cut too small. His hands and feet seemed to be growing out of their environment, conspicuously seen from their uncommon size. Mr. Longworth happened at the time to be near the en- trance, engaged in weeding the shrubbery by the walk. His alert eye quickly ob- served the coming of a person of unusual appearance. He rose and confronted him. ~ Will a stranger be permitted to walk tli~g ugh your grounds and conservato- ri& ? inquir~d Mr. Lincoln. Y-e-s, haltingly, half unconsciously, was the reply, so fixed was the gaze of Mr. Longworth. As they stood thus face to face the con- trast was striking, so short in stature was the one that he seemed scarcely to reach the elbow of the other. If the dress of Mr. Lincoln seemed too small for him, the other seemed lost in the baggy bulkiness of his costume; the overflowing sleeves concealed the hands, and the extremities of the pantaloons were piled in heavy

ABRAHAM LINCOLN AT CINCINNATI. IN the summer of 1857 Mr. Lincoln made his first visit to Cincinnati. He was original counsel for the defendant in a patent reaper suit pending in the United States Circuit Court for Northern Illinois. The argument of the case was adjourned to Cincinnati, the home of Judge McLean, at his suggestion and for his accommoda- tion. Mr. Lincoln came to the city a few days before the argument took place, and re- mained during his stay at the house of a friend. The case was one of large impor- tance pecuniarily, and in the law questions involved. Reverdy Johnson represented the plaintiff. Mr. Lincoln had prepared himself with the greatest care; his ambi- tion was up to speak in the case, and to measure swords with the renowned law- yer from Baltimore. It was understood between his client and himself before his coming that Mr. Harding, of Philadelphia, was to be associated with him in the case, and was to make the mechanical argu- ment. Mr. Lincoln was a little surprised and annoyed, after reaching here, to learn that his client had also associated with him Mr. Edwin M. Stanton, of Pittsburgh, and a lawyer of our own bar, the reason assigned being that the importance of the case required a man of the experience and power of Mr. Stanton to meet Mr. John- son. The Cincinnati lawyer was ap- pointed for his local influence. These reasons did not remove the slight convey- ed in the employment, without consulta- tion with him, of this additional counsel. He keenly felt it, but acquiesced. The trial of the case came on; the counsel for defense met each morning for consulta- tion. On one of these occasions one of the counsel moved that only two of them should speak in the case. This motion was acquiesced in. It had always been understood that Mr. Harding was to speak to explain the mechanism of the reapers. So this motion excluded either Mr. Lin- coln or Mr. Stanton from speaking which? By the custom of the bar, as be- txveen counsel of equal standing, and in the absence of any action of the client, the original counsel speaks. By this rule Mr. Lincoln had precedence. Mr. Stan- ton suggested to Mr. Lincoln to make the speech. Mr. Lincoln answered, No; do you speak. Mr. Stanton promptly re- plied, I will, and, taking up his hat, said he would go and make preparation. Mr. Lincoln acquiesced in this, but was deeply grieved and mortified; he took but little more interest in the case, though re- maining until the conclusion of the trial. He seemed to be greatly depressed, and gave evidence of that tendency to melan- choly which so marked his character. His parting on leaving the city can not be for- gotten. Cordially shaking the hand of his hostess, he said: You have made my stay here most agreeable, and I am a thousand times obliged to you; but in reply to your request for me to come again I must say to you I never expect to be in Cincinnati again. I have nothing against the city, but things have so happened here as to make it undesirable for me ever to return here. Thus untowardly met the first time Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton. Little did ei- ther then suspect that they were to meet again on a larger theatre, to become the chief actors in a great historica.l epoch. While in the city he visited its lions, among other places of interest the grounds and conservatories of the late Nicholas Longworth, then living. The meeting of these remarkable men is worthy of a pass- ing note. Nor can it be given without allusion to their dress and bearing. Mr. Lincoln entered the open yard, with tow- ering form and ungainly gait, dressed in plain clothing cut too small. His hands and feet seemed to be growing out of their environment, conspicuously seen from their uncommon size. Mr. Longworth happened at the time to be near the en- trance, engaged in weeding the shrubbery by the walk. His alert eye quickly ob- served the coming of a person of unusual appearance. He rose and confronted him. ~ Will a stranger be permitted to walk tli~g ugh your grounds and conservato- ri& ? inquir~d Mr. Lincoln. Y-e-s, haltingly, half unconsciously, was the reply, so fixed was the gaze of Mr. Longworth. As they stood thus face to face the con- trast was striking, so short in stature was the one that he seemed scarcely to reach the elbow of the other. If the dress of Mr. Lincoln seemed too small for him, the other seemed lost in the baggy bulkiness of his costume; the overflowing sleeves concealed the hands, and the extremities of the pantaloons were piled in heavy ABRAHAM LINCOLN AT CINCINNATI. 63 folds upon the open ears of the untied shoes. His survey of Mr. Lincoln was searching: beginning with the feet, he slowly raised his head, closely observing, until his upturned face met the eye of Mr. Lincoln. Thus for a moment gazed at each other in mutual and mute aston- ishment the millionaire pioneer and the now forever famous President. Mr. Lin- coln passed on, nor did Mr. Longworth ever become aware that he had seen Mr. Lincoln. The grounds and conservatories were viewed and admired. And so afterward the suburbs of the cityWalnut Hills, Mount Auburn, Clifton, and Spring Grove Cemetery. He lingered long in the grounds of Mr. Hoffner in study of the statuary. He sought to find out whom the statues represented, and was much worried when he found himself unable to name correctly a single one. A day was given to the county and city courts. An entire morning was spent in Room No. 1 of the Superior Court, then presided over by Bellamy Storer, eccen- tric and versatile, in the maturity of his extraordinary powers. 1-us manner of conducting the business of that room, miscellaneous, demurrers, motions, sub- mitted docket, etc., was unique. The old- er members of the bar remember it well. To describe it literally would do gross in- justice to that really great judge. To mingle in the same hour the gravity of the judge and the jest of the clown was a feat that only he could perform without loss of dignity, personal or judicial. On this morning the judge was in his happiest vein, in exuberant spirits, keeping the bar in a roar, assisted much in this by the lively humor of poor Bob McCook. Mr. Lincoln greatly enjoyed this morn- ing, and was loath to depart when the cur- tain dropped. He said to the gentleman accompanying him: I wish we had that judge in Illinois. I think he would share with me the fatherhood of the legal jokes of the Illinois bar. As it is now, they put them all on me, while I am not the author of one-half of them. By-the-way, how- ever, I got off one last week that I think really good. I was retained in the de- fense of a man charged before a justice of the peace with assault and battery. It was in the country, and when I got to the place of trial I found the whole neighbor- hood excited, and the feeling was strong against my client. I saw the only way was to get up a laugh, and get the people in a good humor. It turned out that the prosecuting witness was talkative; he described the fight at great length, how they fought over a field, now by the barn, again down to the creek, and over it, and so on. I asked him, on cross-ex- amination, how large that field was; he said it was ten acres, he knew it was, for he and some one else had stepped it off with a pole. Well, then, I inquired, was not that the smallest crap of a fight you have ever seen raised off of ten acres? The hit took. The laughter was uproarious, and in half an hour the pros- ecuting witness was retreating amid the jeers of the crowd. Mr. Lincoln remained in the city about a week. Freed from any care in the law case that brought him here, it was to him a week of relaxation. He was then not thinking of becoming President, and gave himself up to unrestrained social inter- course. His conversation at this time related principally to the politics and politicians of Illinoisa theme of which he never seemed to weary. A strange chapter in the story of our country that is. What a crowd of great men arose with the first generation of white people on the broad Illinois prairie! There were Hardin, Lo- gan the judge, Bissel, Trumbull, Douglas, Lincoln, and many other scarcely lesser names. Of these he discoursed as only lie could. The Kansas-Nebraska agitation was at its height, and Douglas the promi- nent figure. Of him he spoke much. Indeed, the story of Lincoln interlaces with that of Douglas. They are insep- arable. It is the relation of antagonism. Parties might come and goWhig, Know- Nothing, Union, Republicanthey were never on the same side until, amid the throes of revolution, they met in the de- fense of the Union. Douglas was a per- ennial stimulus to Lincoln. Webster was wont to say, if he had attained any excellence in his profession, he owed it to his early conflicts with Jeremiah Mason. In his public speeches Lincoln seemed ever addressing Doublas; even to the last, as seen in his great speech at New York, when he made the words of Douglas his text. When Lincoln was driving an ox-team at four dollars a month, and splitting rails, he first met Douglas, then teaching school in central Illinois. 64 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. Mr. Lincoln loved to tell the story of Douglas. It is indelibly written in my memory. Not in the very words can I re- peat it, and yet even that in the salient points. He said Douglas, when he first met him, was the smallest man he had ever seen in stature under five feet, in weight under ninety pounds. He was teaching a coun- try school, and lodging with a violent Democratic politician, a local celebrity. From him Douglas got his political bias. Douglas was his prot~g6. He encouraged Douglas in the study of the law, procured the books for him, had him admitted to the bar before a year, pushed him into the offlce of prosecuting attorney, and into the Legislature. When Van Buren became President, the patron wanted the office of Register at the Land-office, and sent Douglas to Washing- ton to procure the place for him. In due time Douglas returned with the commis- sion in his pocket, but not for his patron. It was to himself. The old man was en- raged at the ingratitude, and swore venge- ance. He listened to no explanations. It was not long before he had an opportunity to gratify his feelings. Douglas became the Democratic candi- date for Congress, the whole State consti- tuting one Congressional district. His opponent was Mr. Stewartstill living, a relative of Mrs. Lincoln. After an ani- mated contest Douglas was defeated by one vote in a poll of 36,000. The old pa- tron rejoiced in the belief that that one vote was his. Mr. Douglass sensitive nature was over- whelmed by this defeat. He gave way to uncontrollable grief, sought consolation in excessive drink, and his career seemed at an end. But time brought its accus- tomed relief, and he re-appeared in the arena, again the thunderer of the scene. The years to follow were to him years of unbroken prosperity. He became succes- sively Judge of the Supreme Court, Repre- sentative in Congress, and Senator. The name and fame of the Little Giant over- spread the land. These, however, were cheerless years to Mr. Lincoln, yet with unshaken fortitude he bore the banner of Whiggery. It was his custom to follow Mr. Douglas about the State, replying to him. But a change came; the Kansas-Ne- braska Bill awakened the moral sense of the State, and by common consent Mr. Lincoln became its representative. Mr. Douglas, in Washington, was alarmed at the uprising, and hurried home to edu- cate the people up to conquering their prejudice against slavery. He made a canvass of the State, Mr. Lincoln follow- ing him and replying to him. After having spoken at a number of places, said Mr. Lincoln, I was surprised one evening, before the speaking began, at Mr. Douglas entering my room at the ho- tel. He threw himself on the bed, and seemed in distress. Abe, the tide is against me, said he. It is all up with me. I can do nothing. Dont reply to me this evening. I can not speak, but I must, and it is my last. Let me alone to- night. I saw lie was in great distress; he could not bear adversity; and I acqui- esced in his request and went home. They did not meet again in debate, if I mistake not, until the great contest of 1858. Mr. Lincoln had a high admiration for the abilities of Mr. Douglas, and afterward was glad to have his aid in behalf of the Union, and commissioned him a major- general; but he thought him in debate and in politics adroit, unscrupulous, and of an amazing audacity. It is impossi- ble, said he, to get the advantage of him; even if he is worsted, he so bears himself that the people are bewildered and uncertain as to who has the better of it. When I, said Thucydides, in wres- tling have thrown Pericles and given him a fall, by persisting that he had no fall he gets the better of me, and makes the by- standers, in spite of their own eyes, believe him. Thus doth man from age to age repeat himself; and yet not quite always. We hear of Gladstone felling trees, but it is not reported that he and Froude have wrestling matches. Some weeks after this conversation with Mr. Lincoln I met Mr. Douglas, and drew from him his opinion of Mr. Lincoln. His very words, terse and emphatic as they were, I give: Of all the Whig rascals about Springfield, Abe Lincoln is the ablest and most honest. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill had indeed turned ,the tide against Douglas; the Re- publicans were successful, having a ma- jority of one on joint ballot in the Legisla- ture, thus securing the Senator. With a common voice the Republicans of the State proclaimed Lincoln Senator. In caucus he received forty-nine votes out ABRAHAM LINCOLN AT CINCINNATL of the fifty-one Republican majority. If I recall the figures aright, Mr. Trumbull the other two. But these refused in any contingency to vote for Mr. Lincoln. After balloting for some time, I learned from a trustworthy source, said Mr. Lin- coln, that on a certain future ballot these two men would cast their votes for the Democratic candidate, and elect him. I called a meeting of my friends, explained the situation to them, and requested them on the next ballot, .after these two men had voted for Mr. Trumbull, to change their votes and elect him. At this there was a murmur of disapprobation and dec- larations never to do it. I resumed and said: Gentlemen, I am not here to play a part; you can not elect me; you can elect Mr. Trumbull, who is a good Republican. You put me in a false position if you use my name to the injury of the Republican par- ty, and whoever does it is not my friend. They then reluctantly acquiesced, and Mr. Trumbull was elected. This is the most significant act in the merely personal history of Mr. Lincoln. It exhibited the self-control and equilibri- um of his character, as well as his party fidelity. There is now before me a letter of his in which he announces his motto in political affairs, Bear and forbear. This self-poise, self-abnegation, and for- bearance enabled him to bring the ship of state safely through the stormy seas before him. He never labored for effect; there was nothing theatrical in him; he was not concerned about his personal relations to affairs; smiled when he was told that Seward was using him and getting all the glory. He sought nothing fantastical; but felt it to be his supreme duty to bring peace with honor to his distracted country. A picturesque administration may please the unskillful, but it makes the ju- dicious grieve. The machinery of gov- ernment, like that of the human body, is usually working best when it is attract- ing no attention. The bread thus thrown upon the waters by Mr. Lincoln in securing the election of Trumbull returned, and not after many days. But when he had these conversa- tions it was unknown to him. To the suggestion he would certainly be selected as the next Senator, he quietly replied, I dont know. But when the time came the Republican Convention unanimously nominated him for Senatoran act with- out precedent in our Senatorial history. The debate followed. At that time, un- der the influence of a strong partisan en- thusiasm, I felt that Lincoln had greatly the advantage. But upon reading the debate now, its moral bearings aside, as a mere intellectual feat, the advantage of either is not apparent. The argument of slavery is put with all the telling force of Douglass vigorous mind and intense na- ture. He was a veritable little giant. Mr. Lincoln, as we have seen, remained in Cincinnati about a week, moving freely around. Yet not twenty men in the city knew him personally, or knew that he was here; not a hundred would have known who he was had his name been giwen them. He came with the fond hope of making fame in a forensic contest with Reverdy Johnson. He was pushed aside, humil- iated, and mortified. He attached to the innocent city the displeasure that filled his bosom, shook its dust from his feet, and departed never to return. How dark and impenetrable to him then was the thin veil soon to rise, revealing to him a resplendent future! He did return to the city, two years thereafter, with a fame wide as the continent, with the laurels of the Douglas contest on his brow, and the Presidency in his grasp. He returned, greeted with the thunder of cannon, the strains of martial music, and the joyous plaudits of thousands of citizens throng- ing the streets. He addressed a vast con- course on Fifth Street Market; was en- tertained in princely style at the Burnet House; and there received with courtesy the foremost citizens, come to greet this rising star. The manner of the man was changed. The free conversation of unrestraint had given place to the vague phrase of the wary politician, the repose of ease to the agitation of unaccustomed elevation. Two men have I known on the eve of a Presidential nomination, each expecting it-Chase and Liacoln. With each, but in different degrees, there was an all-ab- sorbing egotism. To hear, every waking moment, ones hopes and prospects can- vassed, develops in one the feeling that he is the most important thing in the uni- verse. Accompanying this is a lofty ex- altation of spirits; the blood mounts to the brain, and the mind reels in delirium. Pity the Presidential aspirant. With high hope and happy heart Mr. Lincoln left Cincinnati after a three days 66 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. sojourn. But a perverse fortune attended him and Cincinnati in their intercourse. Nine months after Mr. Lincoln left us, after lie had been nominated for the Pre- sidency, when he was tranquilly waiting in his cottage home at Springfield the ver- diet of the people, his last visit to Cincin- nati and the good things lie had had at the Burnet House were rudely brought to his memory by a bill presented to him from its proprietors. Before leaving the hotel he had applied to the clerk for his bill; was told that it was paid, or words to that effect. This the committee had directed, but afterward neglected its payment. The proprietors shrewdly surmised that a let- ter to the nominee for the Presidency would bring the money. The only significance in this incident is in the letter it brought from Mr. Lincoln, revealing his indignation at the seeming imputation against his honor, and his greater indignation at one item of the bill. As to wines, liquors, and cigars, we had nonectbsolutely none. These last may have been in Room 15 by order of com- mittee, but I do not recollect them at all. Mr. Lincoln again visited Cincinnati on his way to Washington. His coming was not heralded by the roar of cannon, but it was greeted by an outpouring of the peo- ple such as no man here ever before or since has received; they thronged in count- less thousands about the station, along the line of his march, covering the house-tops. They welcomed him with one continuous and unbroken storm of applause. Com- ing events were then casting their dark shadows before them. All men instinct- ively desired to look upon and cheer him who was to be their leader in the coming conflict. There was an informal reception at the Burnet House, the people, in line, filing through and shaking his hand until a late hour in the evening. His manner was quiet, calm, resolute, and observant. All exaltation of feeling was gone. His reception amused and instructed him. As they passed before him, this one eagerly and enthusiastically grasped his hand, speaking out, Be firm; dont back down. He was a good Republican. But this one takes his hand quietly, releases it slowly, while whispering, The country expects a conservative administration. This is a Bell and Everett man. Another touch- es his hand with the tips of his fingers, and, with a curious gaze, passes on in si- lence. That is a Douglas man. The reception over, Mr. Lincoln passes to his room to find his little son fretfully waiting his coming to be put to bed. The father lovingly takes him in his arms and retires to an adjoining room, un- dresses him, and puts him to bed. As he gazes upon the placid features of his sleep- ing child for a moment his mind turns from all around him and all before him, back to his quiet life and home, to the grave of the little one not with him. Its last sickness is before him; also the dream that warned him that his child could not livethe dream that ever came to him before coming calamitythat was once again to startle him, presaging his tragic end. One may lift himself out of his early environment, but its impress is enduring. About this weird and wonderful man one of those unique characters that do not repeat themselves in historyis fast gath- ering a cloud of myth and legend, obscur- ing the real man. That we may retain some glimpses of this is the apology for these reminiscences. LITTLE ELSIE. Au, dont come a-wooing with your long, long face, And your longer purse behind: Im a bri~ht young gIrl, and I know my place, And I think I know my mind. I like to laugh, and to dance and sing, And to tease my parents dear. My brothers call me a tiresome thing; But they wouldnt miss me here. 0 Us I am my mothers hearts delight, And my fathers ri0ht hand brave. Would I leave my home so free and bright To be a rich malis slave? Would I buy myself a gown of silk In a grand dull house to pine, When Ive boys to play with and cows to milk, And the whole fair world is mine? Ah, dont come talking of the cares of life: ~I~y head is gold, not gray; And its my desire to be no mans wife At least, not just to-day. But Ive a heart, and its warm and true, And Ill keep it safe, at ease; And if one I love should come to woo, Ill give itwhen I please!

66 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. sojourn. But a perverse fortune attended him and Cincinnati in their intercourse. Nine months after Mr. Lincoln left us, after lie had been nominated for the Pre- sidency, when he was tranquilly waiting in his cottage home at Springfield the ver- diet of the people, his last visit to Cincin- nati and the good things lie had had at the Burnet House were rudely brought to his memory by a bill presented to him from its proprietors. Before leaving the hotel he had applied to the clerk for his bill; was told that it was paid, or words to that effect. This the committee had directed, but afterward neglected its payment. The proprietors shrewdly surmised that a let- ter to the nominee for the Presidency would bring the money. The only significance in this incident is in the letter it brought from Mr. Lincoln, revealing his indignation at the seeming imputation against his honor, and his greater indignation at one item of the bill. As to wines, liquors, and cigars, we had nonectbsolutely none. These last may have been in Room 15 by order of com- mittee, but I do not recollect them at all. Mr. Lincoln again visited Cincinnati on his way to Washington. His coming was not heralded by the roar of cannon, but it was greeted by an outpouring of the peo- ple such as no man here ever before or since has received; they thronged in count- less thousands about the station, along the line of his march, covering the house-tops. They welcomed him with one continuous and unbroken storm of applause. Com- ing events were then casting their dark shadows before them. All men instinct- ively desired to look upon and cheer him who was to be their leader in the coming conflict. There was an informal reception at the Burnet House, the people, in line, filing through and shaking his hand until a late hour in the evening. His manner was quiet, calm, resolute, and observant. All exaltation of feeling was gone. His reception amused and instructed him. As they passed before him, this one eagerly and enthusiastically grasped his hand, speaking out, Be firm; dont back down. He was a good Republican. But this one takes his hand quietly, releases it slowly, while whispering, The country expects a conservative administration. This is a Bell and Everett man. Another touch- es his hand with the tips of his fingers, and, with a curious gaze, passes on in si- lence. That is a Douglas man. The reception over, Mr. Lincoln passes to his room to find his little son fretfully waiting his coming to be put to bed. The father lovingly takes him in his arms and retires to an adjoining room, un- dresses him, and puts him to bed. As he gazes upon the placid features of his sleep- ing child for a moment his mind turns from all around him and all before him, back to his quiet life and home, to the grave of the little one not with him. Its last sickness is before him; also the dream that warned him that his child could not livethe dream that ever came to him before coming calamitythat was once again to startle him, presaging his tragic end. One may lift himself out of his early environment, but its impress is enduring. About this weird and wonderful man one of those unique characters that do not repeat themselves in historyis fast gath- ering a cloud of myth and legend, obscur- ing the real man. That we may retain some glimpses of this is the apology for these reminiscences. LITTLE ELSIE. Au, dont come a-wooing with your long, long face, And your longer purse behind: Im a bri~ht young gIrl, and I know my place, And I think I know my mind. I like to laugh, and to dance and sing, And to tease my parents dear. My brothers call me a tiresome thing; But they wouldnt miss me here. 0 Us I am my mothers hearts delight, And my fathers ri0ht hand brave. Would I leave my home so free and bright To be a rich malis slave? Would I buy myself a gown of silk In a grand dull house to pine, When Ive boys to play with and cows to milk, And the whole fair world is mine? Ah, dont come talking of the cares of life: ~I~y head is gold, not gray; And its my desire to be no mans wife At least, not just to-day. But Ive a heart, and its warm and true, And Ill keep it safe, at ease; And if one I love should come to woo, Ill give itwhen I please! SHEFFIELD. NE beauty of Sheffield is that you can nest of dark, unornamental houses; a I see very little of it at a time. The complication of narrow, winding streets; greatest altitude and the clearest day corn the lofty spire or dome of a church the bined do not considerably affect this cir- urgent traffic of pedestrians and vehicles. cumstance. No matter which point of Beyond, in every direction, is a screen of view is selected, the foreground is dim, torpid smoke which obscures the sky, and yellow, and confined; the distance is tones the warm radiance behind it to a spectral, muffled, and deplorably gloomy, mellow and sometimes golden twilight. Down below us, from every height, is a Out of the clinging folds countless slender Voi~. LXJX.No. 4095

SHEFFIELD. NE beauty of Sheffield is that you can nest of dark, unornamental houses; a I see very little of it at a time. The complication of narrow, winding streets; greatest altitude and the clearest day corn the lofty spire or dome of a church the bined do not considerably affect this cir- urgent traffic of pedestrians and vehicles. cumstance. No matter which point of Beyond, in every direction, is a screen of view is selected, the foreground is dim, torpid smoke which obscures the sky, and yellow, and confined; the distance is tones the warm radiance behind it to a spectral, muffled, and deplorably gloomy, mellow and sometimes golden twilight. Down below us, from every height, is a Out of the clinging folds countless slender Voi~. LXJX.No. 4095 68 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. chimneys immensely high streak tbe mo- regard of the conveniences of approach. notonous color that surrounds them, and As the population has multiplied, and as from each issues a woolly black stream the sons of the old cutler of a hundred that, lacking the natural buoyancy and years ago have grown into a firm employ- SHEFFIELD FROM THE HIGH LEVEL AT VIcTORIA STATION. diffusiveness of smoke, seems to clot in ing hundreds of workmen, larger dwell- the sultry air. The uninformed traveller ings and more commodious factories have who glances through the town by rail- been necessary; but the modern structures way without alighting is kept in igno- have not been erected with a cohesive de- rance of its topography by the persistence sign or appropriate sequence; the new mu- of these fumes: he can not tell, from all sic hall is here, and the new hotel there, that is visible, whether it is built upon a with shabby blocks of antiquated houses plain, a slope, or a ridge; whether it is between. The manifest inconvenience of compact or scattered, wide or narrow in such a state of things at length forced it- area. Only the elongated chimneys with self upon the attention of the authorities, their smoky pennons are lifted into prom- who, armed with power and provided with inence; all below them is vague, the necessary funds, have entirely revised It is a blessing even yet that not much large portions of the early plan of the of Sheffield can be seen at a time, for all centre of the town. Blind alleys and that makes a city attractive is only now curvilinear lanes, with all their mislead- being provided. The streets were tortu- ing sinuosities, have been razed to open ous and incongruous, having been built the continuous and spacious streets which without any prevision. The builders the ever-increasing traffic requires. The seem never to have thought that the plans authorities have aimed to secure a main which suited them might obstruct in the avenue, broad and well lighted, in its busi- future, or, thinking, they did not care; and ness centre, with well-planned streets run- when any new edifices were put up, it was ning at right angles with it. In th m with American indifference to the harmo- stately piles of buildings, of some archi- ny of environment, and un-American dis- tectural pretensions, are being erected, and SHEFFIELD. 69 the centre of the town in the future will present a very different appearance from what it has done in the past. Sheffield possesses no town-hall, court-house, muse- um, or other public building really worth looking at, and until recently it had only one public park; now it has three. A brief digression will enable us to see what there is commendable in the town besides its commerce. The atmosphere of Sheffield is not fa- vorable to the development of genius, but a few notable men have grown under the smoky skies whose fame has reached all English readers. Chantrey, the sculptor, was born within two or three miles of the town; Montgomery, the poet, spent most of his life in it; and Elliott, whose facile ver- sification contributed as much to the re- peal of the corn laws as the most logical eloquence of prose, carried on a business within its precincts. When he was a mere boy, and an un- successful one, having failed in London, the rock that breaks so many hearts, Mont- gomery saw an advertisement in a Shef- field newspaper which led to his engage- ment upon its staff. The paper was the Register, which was in disfavor with the government on account of its sympathy with the disaffection created in England by the French Revolution; and the em- bryo poet had not been long enough in an editorial chair to perceive what Dead Sea fruit its rewards are, when (the proprie tor having fled) he was arrested on the charge of having written a seditious bal- lad, and sentenced to three months im- prisonment. Soon after his release his sense of humanity was touched and his indignation aroused by the violence of a military officer in quelling a distjirbance for a description of which he was again arrested, and imprisoned six months. But he survived these penalties, and prospered. Under the name of the Iris, the Register became a great pecuniary success, and Montgomery died in April, 1854, at the age of eighty-three years, wealthy and honor- ed, after a residence in Sheffield of sixty- two years. A bronze statue upon a granite pedestal has been erected to his memory in the General Cemetery. His paper was published and most of his poems were written in an old house in the Harts- head, which was recently occupied as a tavern, but now is used as offices. It is related that Howitt once called his atten- tion to the number of authors whose homes had become public drinking places, among others Burnss, Scotts, Shelleys, and Coleridges at Nether Stowey. Mont- gomery laughed, but he lived to see his own sanctum become the resort of disrep- utable old topers. Ebenezer Elliott, the Corn - law Rhymer, entered the steel business in Sheffield with a capital of one hundred pounds, and after many struggles ac- quired a respectable fortune. His corn- law rhymes had an extraordinary success, A cORNER. 70 HAHPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. and if his other works were not satisfac- Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned tory in form they showed in some degree twelve years out of the nineteen which real inspiration, she spent in England. She was in custo- dy of the sixth earl, and was guarded by forty men. There is extant the following document, issued by the earl for the gov- ernment of her household, which com- prised thirty personal attendants. To the Master of the Scotts Queenes Household, Mr. Beton. First.That all your people which apper- tayneth to the Queene shall depart from the Q neenes chamber or chambers to their own lodging at IX of the clock at night, winter and summer, whatsoever he or she; either to their lodging within the house or without in the towne, and there to remain till the next day at VI of the clock. Item. That none of the Qucenes people shall at no tyme wear his sword neither within the house nor when her grace rydeth or goeth abroad; unless the mas- ter of the household himself do weare a sword and no more without special licence. Item. That there shall none of the Qucenes people carry any bow or shaftes at no tyme, neither to the fields nor to the butts, unless it he four or fyve and no more in the Queenes companyc. Item. That none of the Qucenes people shall ryde or go at no tyme out of the house or towne without my special licence; and if he or they so doeth, they or he shall come no more in at the gates, neither in the towne, whatsoever he or she or they be. Item. That you or some of the Quecues chamber, when her grace will walke abroad, shall advertyse the officiar of my warde, who shall declare the messuage to me one boner before she goeth forth. Item. That none of the Qucenes people, whatsoever he or they be, not once offer at no tyme to come forth of their chamber or lodging when anie alarum is given by night or dale, whether they be in the Qucenes chamber or in their chambers within the house or without in the towne, and yf he or they keep not their cham- hers or lodging whatsoever that be he or they shall stande at their perill for deathe. At Shefeild the 26th daie of April, 1571, per me, SHREWSBURIE. Chantrey was a milk-boy in Sheffield, and when released from this occupation he was transferred to the scarcely more conoenial shop of a grocer, and then ap- prenticed to a carver and gilder, with whom he remained only a short time. Aft- erward he started out on his own account as a portrait painter, and modestly set forth his claims to patronage through an adver- tisement in Montgomerys paper, which stated that he hoped to meet with the liberal sentiments of an impartial public. His advancement was rapid, and from a humble portrait painter he soon developed into a great sculptor. He was knighted by William the Fourth, and was buried in a suburb of Sheffield. Thomas Creswick, the landscape painter, was also a native of the town, as were Archbishop Seeker, Sir Sterudale Bennett, and several other celeb- rities. Another thing which uplifts the town above the sordid commonplaces of its com- merce is its history, which has a varied in- terest. Its site was known to the IRomans, of whom many traces have been found; and when they had departed the land was occupied by a succession of Saxon lords, from whom it passed to the famous Shrewsburys. The fourth earl was cus- todian of Cardinal Wolsey during his dis- grace, and entertained him with great con- sideration at the Manor Castle, in which The earls orthography was not always so symmetrical, as Matthew Arnold would say, however, as may be seen in a letter which he wrote describing the un- happy ladys condition: She is within a few dayes become more malincholy than of long before, and complenes of her wronges and imprisonments. I am sure her malyncholy and grefe is grattar than she in words uttars; and yett, rather than contynew this imprisonment she stycks not to say she will gyve hur boddy, hur sonne, and hur cuntry for lyberty. The Queen remained at the castle until Sep ru~ MANOR cAsrLE. SHEFFIELD. 71 tember, 1584, and three years later her Ca- which received the Queen while altera- reer was ended by the executioners axe. tions were being made in the main build- Wolsey died within three days of his de- ing, remains, in a state of extreme dilapi parture from the town. dation, having been occupied as a road- With the extinction of the male Sbrews- side ale-house until its walls became too burys in the civil war, the estate became insecure for the shelter even of the most the property of the Howards, an the Duke reckless. The parish church was founded of Norfolk now owns much of the ground in the reign of Henry I. It is rectangu- upon which Sheffield is built. The castle lar in shape, with a crocketed tower and is levelled, but the manor attached to it, a spire near the centre. The nave and A BIT OF OLD SHEFFIELD. 72 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. chancel have north and south aisles, and the nave is divided into five bays with stone pillars and arches. In the south- east corner is the Shrewsbury Chapel, an elaborately fitted alcove with a stained- glass window, and under its sculptured vault is the tomb of Wolseys noble cus- todian, whose figure is reproduced in re- cumbent marble, with similar statues of his two wives by his side. The Hall, the property of the Cutlers Company of Hallamshire, is most interest- ing for its associations. The reputation of Sheffield steel-ware had even reached pany for the good order and government of the makers of knives, sickles, shears, scissors, and other cutlery waresan or- ganization which still exists in a prosper- ous condition. The body - corporate in- cludes a master-cutler, two wardens six searchers, and twenty-four assistant search- ers, the latter being empowered to seize all defective wares produced by inferior work- men. For a long time the government of the Cutlers Company pursued a very exclusive policy, excluding all except free- men from their handicraft; but in 1814 an act of Parliament limited its functions to the granting of trade-marks. old Chaucers ears, who, describing a char- acter in the Canterbury Tales, says, A Sheffield thwytel bare he in his hose, the thwytel or whittle having been a fourteenth-century bowie-knife; and in the Middle Ages the staple business of the town was the manufacture of arrow- heads, some of which were used on Bos- worth Field. Nearly txvo hundred years ago the population included seven thou- sand cutlers, and in 1624 the operatives formed themselves into a protective coin- By a still more recent act the functions of the company have been extended to ev- ery department of steel and iron in the district, and it now occupies a position of equality with the Registrar - General of Trade - marks in London. The revenue of the company is derived from the grant- ing of marks, the lettings of their rooms, and divi~dends on invested stocks. The first Thursday in September is a memo- rable day in connection with the com- pany. The master-cutler-elect is then BLOOMSPRING LANE BOARD SCHOOL. SHEFFIELD. 73 ceremoniously installed in office, and in the evening he gives his time - honored feastone of the most celebrated events in northern England. His guests num- ber 350; and happy is the master-cutler who can secure the presence at his festive well-equipped charities. The Shrewsbury Hospital began its beneficence over two hundred years ago, and has since accom- modated twenty poor gentlewomen and twenty poor gentlemen, providing them with lodgings, coal, clothing, and a small V board of one or more of the cabinet min- isters of the day, with a sprinkling of dukes, earls, and noble lords. The hail is in the Italian style, and includes a dining- room one hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, and an assembly-room eighty feet long by thirty feet wide. At one time Sheffield was deplorably behind in educational matters; but since the Education Act was passed in 1872 Her- culean efforts have been made to supply felt deficiencies. The School Board have erected twenty-three schools in different parts of the town, which are alike an orna- ment and a credit to it. The attendance at the elementary schools within the bor- ouch has increased since 1872 from 12,000 to 36,317. There is no more handsome pile of buildings in the town than the cen- tral schools, the offices of the board, and the colle~,,e erected through the munifi- cence of the late Mr. Mark Firth. Much attention is also being given to technical education. Then there is the new Albert Hall, which, in proportions at least, is somewhat noteworthy. In Arundel Street a school of art is established under the auspices of the South Kensington Museum, the directors of which place it at the head of all similar schools in the United King- dom; and in Darkhouse Road is the classic front of the Wesleyan College. Another count in Sheffields favor is that it has many firmly established and amount of cash each week. Besides the inmates, it has sixty out-door pensioners, twenty of whom (males) receive seven shillings a week each, and forty of whom (females) receive five shillings a week each. The Deakin Institute is both novel in its aims and admirable in its adminis- tration. It was founded by a merchant, who bequeathed three thousand pounds toward its establishment, on condition that a like sum should be subscribed within two years of his death. Its object is to assist unmarried women of good char- acter, who are members of the Episco- pal Church, Evangelical, or Dissenters over forty years of age, and thirty-nine such women are now annuitants, twenty- five of the number receiving twenty-five pounds each annually, and fourteen twen ty pounds each annually. The most un- usual and commendable feature of the charity is its privacy and unostentation. On election the annuitants imniediately receive one-half of the yearly sum, and the details of the payment are so arranged that no one is the wiser for it except the recipient. At IRanmoor, one of the loveliest sub- urbs of Sheffield, is a group of alms- houses which were built and adequately endowed by the late Mr. Mark Firth at a cost of 30,000. There are thirty - six houses for the accommodation of forty- eigh t persons, with chapel and house for WESLEYAN COLLEGE. 74 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. the chaplain and governor. Besides the free occupancy of the house, each married couple receives ten shillings and each sin- gle inmate seven shillings per week. The Sheffield General Infirmary, which has been established for nearly a century, re- lieves from 12,000 to 14,000 in and out pa- tients every year. It contains 186 beds for patients, of which forty are set apart exclusively for childrens cases in sepa- rate wards. The Public Hospital and Dis- pensary accommodates about forty thou- sand patients, in-door and out, annually; and the town also has a special hospi- tal for women, built at a cost of more than 30,000 by Mr. Thomas Jessop; a free hospital for children, an Institute and manufactory for the blind, a home for nurses, an asylum for decayed li- censed victuallers (the euphemistic calling in Great Britain of dealers in alcoholic liquors), a school of medicine, and vari- ous funds bequeathed under more or less narrow, eccentric, or oddly generous conditions. Among the hills outside the town, in an old dwelling, is the nucleus of Mr. Ruskins art museum of the St. Georges Society; and among the things we have to admit is that the desire for wealth has not been so eager nor the hold of it so tenacious that the unfortunate or necessitous have been overlooked in Shef- field. But now that we have enumerated such of its possessions, historical, biographical, and architectural, as weigh in a tourists estimate of a towns desirability, let us emphasize what is fairly evident that Sheffield is not to be discovered in muse- ums, churches, or municipal palaces; that its vitality, its influence on the world, all that makes it great, and the causes of its reputation, are by no means a~sthetical, re- ligious, or philanthropic. Its significance is in its immense trade and the absolute excellence of its metallic manufactures, the knowledge of which is circulated ev- erywhere by a medium less mutable than literature. We question if there is a sav- age so benighted who, however ignorant he may be of its import, can not see Shef- field deeply branded on his knife, and it is quite possible at this very moment, while the ink is drying on this manuscript, that with a Sheffield blade of one kind or another some fugitive Bannocks are hiding in the fastnesses of Montana, with a view to anatomic experiments upon the whites; that many a Jack Tar,perche~ in the fore- top, surveying the gray uncertainty of antipodal seas, is shaving his plug for a fresh quid; that princes are sitting down to dinner; that some convicts are scraping the cement out of the walls of their cells; and that the readers of Har- pers Magazine are cutting the leaves of the last number. Scarcely any limita- tion can be set to the variety of purposes served by Sheffield manufactures. Travel- lers in Russia and Austria are whirled over Sheffield rails; the twenty-four inch armor plates of Englands newest iron- dads were rolled in Sheffield; the scissors that myriads of pale seamstresses are ply- ing bear the Sheffield brand; the veloci- pedes upon which numerous young ath- letes are flying between the bloom of Eng- lish lanes have come from under the big Sheffield chimneys; the scythes that are levelling fields of ripe grain in Iowa and Minnesotawere ground on Sheffield stones; the rotary saws that are hissing in lum- bering settlements among the California sierras were cut by Sheffield hands; the mortars and cannons that bristle along many a fortress, with the pyramids of shot and shell for their consumption beside them, represent an extensive part of Shef- fields industry; the superb repoussd work of silver dpergnes that adorn banquet ta- bles was hammered out by Sheffield arti- sans; and every variety of electro - plate and silver-ware, beautiful in design and enormous in price, is wrought under Shef- field roofs. We have not nearly exhaust- ed a catalogue which includes many oth- er products, such as railway tires, axles, springs, buffers, and engines, all sorts of tools, sewing - machines, fire - irons, and stoves; but we have mentioned enough to indicate where Sheffield is to be found, if its interest is invisible in the places to which a tourist usually looks for a citys attractions. The labor has few rests, and whenever we are carried into the dark limits of the town from the green hills of Yorkshire by the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln- shire line, the grewsome spectres of chim- neys are still wearing their funereal ban- ners. At night the smoke pulsates with the fer~id glow of the furnaces at the base, around which hoarse, complexionless, sweating men are toiling, not for the price of a ransom, but for a brief respite. We see Sheffield in hundreds of blackened lit- tle cottages, built in alleys, courts, and thoroughfares; again, in the groups of cit- izens who with their wives fill the streets and markets in the evenings; again, in the modern factories built to accommo- date from one to five thousand hands now in the scorching glow of a red-hot armor plate, then in the dust of a hull of grinding troughs. It has little time for refinement or amusement, and immortality is less of a problem with it than the adjustment of - work and wages. The steam-hammer shapes the desti- nies of the populace as well as - the metal upon which its blows fall and ring. In whichever direction we walk we can not escape the throbbing of labor. Now it is audible in the hissing whirl of a steam-saw that tears its way through a plate of steel as though it were the soft- est wood; now in the strident fric- tion of a grinding-wheel; now in the measured beat of a hundred hammers; then in the ravenous breathing of a blast-furnace; and once niore in the terrible splash- ings of m6lten metals. Nor can we wander far away from the presence of labor, which is visible from the pleasure-parks, the cemeteries, and the homes of the citizens. A prodigious ex- hibit of industries is that which 8heffield presents; one that, if it were taken in the details of all its branches, would fill a vol- ume of descriptionan absorbin~ly inter- esting volume, too, for while every apphi- aiice that human ingenuity has devised C. A BIT OF SHEFFIELD ON THE BILL. may be seen in operation, the purely me- chanical or economic aspect which en- gages the engineer is superseded in the estimation of a layman by the picturesque side of the works, the high colors, the un- intermittent activity, and the metamor- phoses of some of the workmen, who seem like imps in a region which only needs perpetuity to realize the inferno. Only of a Sunday does the hum of toil cease, the sriioke begin to clear away, and Shef- field for a few hours of respite become quiet and visible. Containing a population of 286,289, mostly artisans, Sheffield has particular interest to the student of social science. Notwithstanding its great and varied in- dustries, and the abundant opportunities for employment that tire afforded, there are in the more crowded parts of the town much destitution and immorality. Em- ployers complain that their people will not work full time, but waste their days at cricket and foot-ball matches, at handi- caps and coursing matches; and betting on almost every conceivable event has spread amongst them like an epidemic. Others are ardent fishermen. There are hun- dreds of fishing clubs in the town, which rent miles of water away in Nottingham- shire, Lincolnshire, and elsewhere. Co- operation, improved dwellings, cafds, clubs, and so forth, are doing much to improve the social life of the people. The more respectable Sheffield artisan is not tentative by nature, and the course of a river is not more submissive to the thrall- dom of habit than he is. Living in a two- storied cottage well seasoned with the ho- mogeneous blackness, he is usually en- abled by ordinary sobriety and industry to maintain himself and his family in a re- spectable and comfortable position. The cottage has two stories, a kitchen and sit- ting-rooin on the first floor, and two or three bedrooms above, such a dwelling be- ing obtainable for about five shillings, or one dollar and twenty-five cents, a week. His wife is apt to be a stont Lancashire or Yorkshire woman, thrifty, industrious, and cleanly, whose good qualities are conspicu- ous in the whitened door-step, the speck- less windows, and the orderly arrangement of the furniture. The neatness of these cottages is very noticeable, and an excep- tion to the rule in most manufacturing towns. Once a year even the poorest try to take A VERY CLEAR DAY. SHEFFIELD. (1 a holiday by the sea-side at Bridlington, Morecambe Bay, or Scarborough, and evening amusements are provided by several theatres and music halls, though it is to be confessed that the entertainment most patronized during our visit to the town was not of an edifying character. The programme consisted of a farce called An Old Woman in a Fix (the very title of which seemed to strike the audience as be- ing humorous to a side-splitting degree), and a novel exhibition in which the spec- tators took part. A new silk hat ( one of Tylers best) was offered to the gastro- nomic prodigy who could eat one of Fid- dlesticks celebrated all-hot pies the quick- est; and the contest provoked an uproar of mirth that must have warmed the mana- gerial heart. But the more sedate citizens resort to the neighboring tap - room for the discussion of affairs of state. Some- times there are flashes of rough wit, and the stolid Yorkshire mechanic becomes as eager a politician as the most eloquent members of the Bull-dog Coterie, Sixth Ward, New York. Wheers tha off to ? inquires his opponent, as a disgusted Lib- eral angrily makes for the door. Im goin to see if th sylums open, retorts Mr. Gladstones disciple, delicately insin- uating the appropriateness of that institu- tion for the gentleman opposite. Well, want to answer it, and it ud ta-ake thee a neet. A survey of all the trades that are plied in Sheffield is impossible here, and we must confine our observations to the three largest, which are in steel manufactures, electro - plating, and cutlery. The last is first in history, extent, and importance, the value of its exports to the United States being about one million dollars an- nually. The oldest firm began its busi- ness one hundred and fifty years ago, with workshops in the rear of the dwell- ings of its two partners. It made only the plainest goods, but the steel in them was of the best quality, and it has now become an establishment employing over seventeen hundred mechanics, who produce weekly five thousand dozen table knives and forks, eighteen hundred pairs of carvers, sixteen hundred dozen pocket - knives, fourteen hundred dozen razors, and fifteen hundred dozen scissors. The quantity of finished cutlery exported by this one firm to the United States annually weighs more than twelve tons, and the intimacy engendered between Sheffield and the West by the traffic causes an American to be treated in that city with a little less wonderment than his advent excites in some other English provinces. theyll ta-ake thee in, anyway, Ill bet, The pioneer establishmeiit, as they loudly asserts the Conservative; andthe am would call it on the Pacific coast, was dience, whether they believe it or not, are willingly opened for our inspection, and vastly tickled by the sally. What arge- an intelligent artisan was appointed to ment canst th make on it ? demands an- act as our guide, who first took us into the other Conservative of a Liberal, referring ivory room, in which twenty-five tons of to a question that he has put. A good elephant tusks are made fit for handles enough one, is the reply, but thoud every year. It is not a pleasant place by A SUNDAY zvzNING. any means; the air is filled with white dust, which is thrown out like a spray from the saws, and the pale brown tusks piled upon the shelves have no reminis- cence of the spicy Indies in their odor. The best quality is African, the second East Indian, and each tusk contains eight differeiit qualities in itself, the yellowish part near the centre beiiig most valuable. Every bit is utilized, and as the sawyer is paid according to the thrift he displays with his materials, he is sometimes so in- genious that not a scrap of waste remains. Besides the ivory, four hundred - weight of stag-horn is used every week for pock- et-knives, and of this only the rough brown outside is available. The inside is put in solution for the gelatinous sub- stances which it contains; the extraction is sold for the stiffening of cloth, and the residue is an excellent fertilizer. In the next department, which is in a court-yard, six men, each in a separate alcove, like mediawal alchemists, are bending over lit- tle forges, and here the blades are shaped out of purposeless-looking bars, under the tinkling rain of the hammers; the form is given, without the polish or edge of the finished article, and at this stage of the manufacture the steel is a variable blue or purple, with rings and blots of rusty brown upon it. Every blade is branded with the iiidividual mark of its maker, who is thus held accountable for its qual- ity to his employers, and the same sign shows at the end of the day exactly how much work he has done, the labor in all the branche~s of cutlcry being paid for by the piece. The blade made, it is welded, in the case of a dinner knife, to a piece of iron, which forms the tang, or the part that is inserted in the handle, and the shoulder, or the projecting part between the handle and the blade. It is then heat- ed to incandescence, and plunged perpen- dicularly into cold water, by which a sud- den hardening is effected, and the gradual application of further heat afterward tempers it. The next process is grind- ing. We are led across the court-yard into a dismal workshop, which is so poor- ly lighted that for a few momeiits we can only discern the whirring bands on many wheels, an occasional white flash, or a shower of sparks, and when our sight be- comes accustomed to the gloom, a fantas- tic scene is visible. From the back of the room to the front there are several separate WORKS AT SHEFFIELD. SHEFFIELD. 79 rows of grinding-stones, and these massive disks are revolving with a busy murmur, the power being communicated from the shafting near the ceiling by leather bands. The lower part of the stones touches a long vessel containing water, and by a technical peculiarity each stone is called a trough. Immediately behind every stone there is a solid block of wood with a saddle in it, which forms the seat of the grinder, who, scarcely ever straightening himself, bends to his task, and accompanies the humming of the stone with a song or a whistle. The stone spins steadily and tire- lessly; myriads of minute sparks ify out from it mixed with particles of sand that make the apartment misty, and the grinder gently draws the blade to and fro across it until the steel loses the dark color the forge gave it, and becomes lustrously white un- der the friction. Now and then he lifts the blade from the stone, and quickly runs his eye along its lambent surface, or touch- es the edge with his fingeran experiment repeated several times before he transfers it into other hands. After it has been ap- plied to the rou~,h sandstone, it is ground upon a wheel of hard bluestone, next upon an emery wheel, and finally upon a wheel of what our amiable guide very de- liberately called rhinocus hide, the dif- ferent kinds of friction leaving it sharp and brilliant. The grinders work under an unusual system: the troughs and the tools belong to them, having been a heritage through an unknown number of generations, and they pay the employers seven shillings a week for the power supplied to each trough. Not every grinder is a proprie- tor, however. Some have no direct rela- tions with the master-cutlers, being hired by their fellows, who adjust and settle their wages, and these agents are paid so much a dozen for the blades ground. The custom is old and incongruous; it has no apparent advantages to either party; but a Sheffield grinder inflexibly adheres to es- tablished usage, and resists every innova- tion. He suffers severely from a painful disease caused by the entrance of steel and stone dust into the lungs, and when fans were applied to create draughts that would suck the dust away, he objected to them because they would lengthen the average life of the trade, and lead to a surplus of labor! The grounds upon which a grind- er stands have not often a more rational FORGING THE BLADES OF cLASP-KNIVES. foundation. A very notable characteris- tic of his class, and one that has sprung in recent years from the dissemination of cheap literature and the facilities for trav- el and observation, is an independence of attitude and utterance which, however re- pugnant it may be to those followers of Mr. Ruskin whose watch-word is Obey, contrasts refreshingly with the obsequi- ousness of former days. Passing from the dark interior of the grinding-room, where each wheel has a sound of its own, one spluttering, another whirring, and another singing, we are led up and down stairways, along close cor- ridors, and through interminable work- rooms, where men, women, and children are silently putting the various parts of the knives together; and the division of labor is so complete that one knife is han- dled, or taken up, to use the local ex- pression, about seventy times, by different artisans, from the moment the blade is forged until the instrument is finished and smoothly wrapped up for market. At one long bench we find a party of men cutting files on the blades of pocket-knives with such dexterity that the threads, each less than the hundredth part of an inch in thickness, and exactly equidistant, are as true as if they were graven with the aid of a rule and a magnifying-glass, while the only implements used in the work are a chisel and a mallet, the mechanic being guided by his eye and an almost marvel- lous sensitiveness and accuracy of touch. The chisel is put upon the blade near the tip, and struck with the mallet, leaving the initial thread, which is followed by others until the fiat steel becomes a per- fect file. The men employed in this are fairly considered skilled workmen, but their earnings are small, and do not reach two pounds, or ten dollars, a week, under the most favorable circumstances. At an- other bench a row of men are putting to- gether the parts of ivory, pearl, and buck- horn clasps, riveting theni and jointing FINISHING POCKET-KNIFES. SHEFFIELD. 81 them with a like quickness and sureness of touch that would not be suspected from the clumsiness of their fingers; and in a separate room more wheels are revolving, each operated by a man or a boy, who is putting the finishing polish on the blades. The custom previously mentioned of mak- ing some mark on a knife by which each of the various processes may be traced to the artisan who has done the work, and a check put upon carelessness or incapacity, is continued through all the branches, and ever resource the work-people find outside the abstraction of their toil must be in the imagination. Here and there the bench- es have been decorated by scraps from il- lustrated newspapers, or the very chro- matic portrait of some houri that has adorned a baking-powder box. An ascet- ic-looking old gentleman has a familiar hymn pasted on the wall before him, and the youth next to him, whose face indi- cates much pent-up levity, has a ballad under his eye, the easy rhyme having an GRINDING THE BLADES OF POCKET-KNIVES. when a knife passes into the packing-room inexhaustible fascination for him. The or storehouse it bears a succinct history of intelligence of some, their comfortableness itself from its shaping at the forge to its of dress and well - taken - care - of appear- chastening on the polishing-wheel. ance, are very noticeable, and yet more so The hours are longfrom seven in the is the interest evinced in politics by the morning until noon, when there is an in- men, who, between their bites at dinner termission for a frugal dinner, and from pore over the leaders of the morning one oclock until six. We grow pitiful in papers with great eagerness. contemplating their tedium. All the win- From the cutlersand, by-the-way, let dows show an unvarying prospect of roofs us say that, technically, the cutler is the and smoking chimneys, without a bit of man who puts the knife together, to the blue sky or any silver lining to the clouds exclusion from the name of grinders and a contraction of the horiEon, a despond- othersfrom the cutlers, whose buildings ence of color, unspeakably monotonous. loom up on an entire block, we traverse Conversation is not allowed, and what- several little alleys and broad thorough- 82 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. fares, with smoke-discolored houses and shops bordering them, until we stand be- fore a massive gateway, with a tremen- dous knocker not less than five pounds in weight affixed to it, and in response to a laborious rat-tat and a word of explana- tion, we are admitted into a laboratory where Vulcan and Titan are partners, and the Cyclops, disembodied, re-appear in ma- chines of modern devising; where feats of strength are performed every minute that make play of those recorded in the classic fables; where Sheffield is again seen in five thousand mechanics, clothed in fus- tian, begrimed, and translated, to all ap- pearances, from decent humanity to a hy- brid condition between that of gnomes and that of demons. Within these noisy pre- cincts the materials of the toil are steel and iron, and the productions are armor plates, tools, and railway metals. The space covered by the workshops is more than fourteen acres, subdivided by long avenues, and all over this vast area, which is piteously black and execrably dusty, the labor assumes heroic propor- tions, which elevate it and fill an observ- er with the almost obsolete sense of amaze- ment even an observer of nineteenth- century ubiquitousness, who has been everywhere, seen everything, and cares nothing about ordinary mechanical pro- cesses. No wild vision of the supernat- ural, no Crystal Palace exhibition of py- rotechnics, no brilliant achievement of scenic art, could approach in weirdness, picturesqueness, and startling quality of effect the simple business of making Bes- semer steel, which is a staple and every- day industry. Our final exploration is through the work-rooms of an electro-plate factory another scene, another act, and a new set of characters in Sheffield life. We watch the inferior metals in pale green and yel- low baths assuming the whiteness of sil- ver; we see shapeless pieces of metal transformed into beautiful dishes emboss- ed with fruits, flowers, and other artistic designs, under the instantaneous pressure of an insensate machine; we are charmed by the exquisite skill of the repouss~ work- man, under whose hammer Nature iS imi- tated in her loveliest forms. Though Sheffield is itself so sombre, it is environed by some of the fairest scenery in England. Chatsworth and Beauchief Abbey are in its vicinity. Proceeding in any direction, the traveller is sure to find within a few miles of the town a pictur- esque charm in an embowered rivulet, a quaint old church, an ancient manor-house covered with ivy, a cool expanse of wood- land, or a sweep of velvety pasturage. A 5HEF.FIELD FOUNDRY. NATURES SERIAL STOI~Y. VII. DURING the week which followed East- er the season moved forward as if there were to be no more regress. An efficient ally in the form of a southwest wind caine to the aid of the sun, and eveiy day nature responded with increasing fervor. Amy no more complained that an Ameri- can April was like early March in Eng- land; and as the surface of the land grew warm and dry it was hard for her to re- main in-doors, there was so much life, bustle, and movement without. Buds were swelling on every side. Those of the lilac were nearly an inch long, and emitted a perfume of the rarest delicacy, that was far superior to that of the blos- soms to come. Tbe nests of the earlier birds were in all stages of construction, and could be seen readily in the leafless trees. Snakes were crawling from their holes, and lay sunning themselves in the roads, to ber and Jobunies dismay. Alf VOL. LXJX.No. 4096 captured turtles that, deep in the mud, had learned the advent of spring as readily as tbe creature of the air. The fish were ascend- ing the swollen streams. Each rill. as Thoreau wrote, is peopled with new life rushing up it. Abram and Alf were planning a momentous expedi- tion to a tumbling dani on the Moodna, the favorite resort of the sluggish suckers. New chicks were daily breaking their shells, and their soft, downy, ball-like lit- tle bodies were more to Amys taste than the peepers of the marsh; One Saturday morning Alf rushed in, announcing with breathless haste that Kitten had a calf. Kitten was a fawn- colored Alderney, the favorite of the barn- yard, and so gentle that even Jobnnie did not fear to rub her rough nose, scratch her between her horns, or to bring her wisps of grass when she was tied near tbe house, and her calf was unlike all other calves. There was no rest until Amy had seen it, and she admitted that she had never look- ed upon a more innocent and droll little visage. At the childrens pleading the infant cow was given to them, but they were warned to leave it for the present to

NATURES SERIAL STOI~Y. VII. DURING the week which followed East- er the season moved forward as if there were to be no more regress. An efficient ally in the form of a southwest wind caine to the aid of the sun, and eveiy day nature responded with increasing fervor. Amy no more complained that an Ameri- can April was like early March in Eng- land; and as the surface of the land grew warm and dry it was hard for her to re- main in-doors, there was so much life, bustle, and movement without. Buds were swelling on every side. Those of the lilac were nearly an inch long, and emitted a perfume of the rarest delicacy, that was far superior to that of the blos- soms to come. Tbe nests of the earlier birds were in all stages of construction, and could be seen readily in the leafless trees. Snakes were crawling from their holes, and lay sunning themselves in the roads, to ber and Jobunies dismay. Alf VOL. LXJX.No. 4096 captured turtles that, deep in the mud, had learned the advent of spring as readily as tbe creature of the air. The fish were ascend- ing the swollen streams. Each rill. as Thoreau wrote, is peopled with new life rushing up it. Abram and Alf were planning a momentous expedi- tion to a tumbling dani on the Moodna, the favorite resort of the sluggish suckers. New chicks were daily breaking their shells, and their soft, downy, ball-like lit- tle bodies were more to Amys taste than the peepers of the marsh; One Saturday morning Alf rushed in, announcing with breathless haste that Kitten had a calf. Kitten was a fawn- colored Alderney, the favorite of the barn- yard, and so gentle that even Jobnnie did not fear to rub her rough nose, scratch her between her horns, or to bring her wisps of grass when she was tied near tbe house, and her calf was unlike all other calves. There was no rest until Amy had seen it, and she admitted that she had never look- ed upon a more innocent and droll little visage. At the childrens pleading the infant cow was given to them, but they were warned to leave it for the present to 84 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. Abram and Kittens care, for the latter was inclined to act like a veritable old cat when any one made too free with her bo- vine baby. This bright Saturday, occurring about the middle of the month, completely en- throned spring in the childrens hearts. The air was sweet with the fragrance from the springing grass, swelling buds, and so still and humid that sounds from other farms and gardens and songs from dis- tant fields and groves blended softly yet distinctly with those of the immediate vicinage. The sunshine was warm, but veiled by fleecy clouds; and as the day advanced every member of the family was out-of-doors, even to Mrs. Clifford, for whom had been constructed, under her husbands direction, a low garden- chair which was so light that even Alf or Amy could draw it easily along the walks. From it she stepped down op her first visit of the year to her beloved flower beds, which Alf and Burt were putting in or- der for her, the latter blending with his filial attentions the hope of seeing more of Amy. Nor was he unrewarded, for his manner toward his mother, whom he al- ternately petted and cliaffed, while at the same time doing her bidding with manly tenderness, won the young girls hearty good-will. At last Mrs. Clifford, after she had gloated over the blooming crocuses, daffodils, and the budding hyacinths and tulips, expressed a wish to join her hus- band. A wide path bordered on either side by old - fashioned perennials and shrubbery led down through the garden. There Amy gave herself up to the enjoyment of the pleasing sights and sounds on every side. Mr. Clifford was the picture of placid content as he sat on a box in the sun, cutting potatoes into the proper size for planting. Johunie was perched on another box near, chattering incessantly as she handed him the tubers, and ask- ing no other response than the old gen- tlemans amused smile. Leonard with a pair of stout horses was turning up the rich black mould, sinking his plough to the beam, and going twice in a furrow. It would require a very severe drought to affect land pulverized thus deeply, for un- der Leonards thorough work the root pas- turage was extended downward eighteen inches. On one side of the garden plot Webb was planting seeds. Leaving Mrs. Clifford chatting and laughing with her husband and Johunie, Amy sauntered along the broad path until she came in the neighborhood of Webb, and lingered there, enjoying an April day that lacked few elements of perfection. The garden is one of the favorite haunts of the song-sparrow. In the flower bor- der near, she would hear such a vigor- ous scratching among the leaves that she might well believe that a motherly hen was at work, but presently one of these little sober-coated creatures that Thoreau well calls a ground-bird would fly to the top of a plum-tree and trill out a song as sweet as the perfume that came from the blossoming willows not far away. The busy ploughs made it a high festival for the robins, for with a confidence not mis- placed they followed near in the furrows that Leonard was making in the garden, and that Abram was turning on an adjacent hill-side, and not only the comparatively harmless earth-worms suffered, but also the pestiferous larv~e of the May-beetle, the archenemy of the strawberry plant. Even on that day of such varied and ethe- realized fragrance the fresh, wholesome odor of the upturned earth was grateful. Suddenly Webb straightened himself from the sowing of the scale-like parsnip seed in which he was then engaged, and said, Listen. Remote yet distinct, like a dream of a bird-song, came a simple mel- ody from a distant field. Then he took off his hat and said: Welcome. Thats our meadow-lark, Amy: not equal to your skylark, I admit. Indeed, it is not a lark at all, for Dr. Marvin says it belongs to the oriole family. Brief and simple as is its song, I think you will agree with me that spring brings few more lovely sounds. That is the first one that I have heard this year. She scarcely more than caught the ethe- real song before Burt and Alf came down the path, trundling immense wheelbar- row-loads of the prunings of the shrub- bery around the house. These were add- ed to a great pile of brush and refuse that had accumulated on the other side of the walk, and to Alf was given the wild ex- citement of igniting the inflammable mass and soon there was a fierce crackling as the fiaP~es devoured their way into the loose dry centre of the rejected ddbris of the previous year. Then to Alf and John- me s unmeasured delight they were per- mitted to improvise a miniature prairie fire. A part of the garden had been left THERE WAS NO REST UNTIL AMY HAD SEEN IT. 86 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. to grow very weedy in the preceding summer, and they were shown how, by lighting the dry, dead material on the windward side, the flames, driven by a gentle western breeze, would sweep across the entire plot. With merry cries they followed the advancing line of fire, aiding it forward by catching up on iron rakes burning wisps and transferring them to spots in the weedy plot that did not kin- dle readily. Little Ned, clinging to the hand of Maggie, who had joined the fam- ily in the garden, looked on with awe- stricken eyes. From the bonfire and the consuming weeds great volumes of smoke poured up and floated away, the air was full of pungent odors, and the robins call- ed vociferously back and forth through the garden, their alarmed and excited cries vying with the childrens shouts. In half an hour only a faint haze. of smoke to the eastward indicated the brief confla~,ra- tion; the family had gone to the house for their one-oclock dinner, and the birds were content with the normal aspect of the old garden in April. The last Saturday of the month was looked forxvard to with hopeful expecta- tions, as a genial earnest of May, and a chance for out-door pleasures; but with it caine a dismal rain-storm, which left the ground as cold, wet, and sodden as it had been a month before. The next day was one of sunshine. The birds took heart, and their songs of exultation resounded far and near. A warm south breeze sprang up and fanned Amys cheek, as she, with the children and Burt, went out for their usual Sunday afternoon walk. They found the flowers looking up hopefully, but with melted snow hanging like tears on their pale lit- tle faces. The sun at last sank into the unclouded west, illumining the sky with a warm golden promise for the future. Amy gazed at its departing glory, but Burt looked at herlooked so earnestly, so wistfully, that she was full of compunc- tion even while she welcomed the return of the children, which delayed the words that were trembling at his lips. He was ready, she was not; and he walked home- ward at her side silent and depressed, feeling that the receptive, responsive spring was later in her heart than in na- ture. According to the almanac, May was on time to a second, but Nature seemed un- aware of the fact. Great bodies of snow covered the Adirondack region, and not a little still remained all the way southward through the Catskills and the Highlands, about the head-waters of the Delaware and its cold breath benumbed the land. Johnnies chosen intimates had given her their suifrages as May-queen; but prudent Maggie had decided that the crowning ceremonies should not take place until May truly appeared with its warmth and floral wealth. Therefore, on the first Sat- urday of the month, Jeonard planned a half-holiday, which should not only com- pensate the disappointed children, but also give his busy wife a little outing. He had learned that the tide was right for cross- ing the shallows of the Moodna Creek, and they would all go fishing. Johnnie s friends and Dr. and Mrs. Marvin were in- vited, and great were the preparations. Reed and all kinds of poles were taken down from their hooks, or cut in a neigh- boring thicket, the stock of rusty hooks depleted at the country store, and stray corks were fastened on the brown linen lines for floats. Burt disdained to take his scientific tackle, and indeed there was little use for it in Moodna Creek, but he joined readily in the frolic. He would be willing to fish for even minnows indefi- nitely if at the same time there was a chance to angle for Amy. Some preferred to walk to the river, and with the aid of the family rockaway the entire party were at the boat-house before the sun had passed much beyond the zenith. Burt, from his intimate knowledge of the channel, acted as pilot, and was jubilant over the fact that Amy consented to take an oar with him and receive a lesson in rowing. Mrs. Mar- vin held the tiller-ropes, and the doctor was to use a pair of oars when requested to do so. Webb and Leonard took charge of the larger boat, of which Johnnie, as hostess, was captain, and a jolly group of little boys and girls made the echoes ring, while Ned, with his thumb in his mouth, clung close to his mother, and regarded the nautical expedition rather dubiously. They swept across the fiats to the deeper water near Plum Point, and so up the Moodna, whose shores were becoming green with the rank growth of the bordering marsh, and passing under an old covered bridge they soon were skirting an island from which rose a noble grove of trees, whose swollen buds were only waiting for a warmer caress of the sun to unfold. Re- turning, they beached their boats below the bridge, under whose shadow the fish were fond of lying. The little people were disembarked, and placed at safe distances; for, if near, they would surely hook each other, if never a fin. Silence was enjoin- ed, and there was a breathless hush for the space of two minutes; then began whispers more resonant than those of the stage, fol- lowed by acclamations as Johnnie pulled up a wriggling eel, of which she was in mortal terror. They all had good sport, however, for the smaller fry of the fiuny tribes that haunted the vicinity of the old bridge suffered from the well-known tend- ency of extreme youth to take everything into its mouth. The day was good for fishing, for thin clouds obscured the light and darkened the water. Indeed, at that season an immature sunfish will take a hook if there is but a remnant of a worm upon it. Amy was the heroine of the party, for Burt had furnished her with a long light pole, and taught her to throw her line well away from the others. As a result she soon took, amidst excited plaud- its, several fine yellow perch. At last Leonard shouted: You shall not have all the honors, Amy. I have a hook in my pocket that will catch bigger fish than you have seen to-day. Come, the tide is going out, and we must go out of the creek with it, unless we wish to spend the night on a sand-bar. I shall now try my luck at shad-fishing over by Poilopols Island. The prospect of crossing the river and following the drift - nets down into the Highlands was a glad surprise to all, and they were soon out into Newburgh Bay, whose broad, lake-like surface was unruf- fled by a breath. The sun, declining to- ward the west, scattered rose hues among the clouds. Sloops and schooners had lost steerage-way, and their sails flapped idly against their masts. The grind of oars between the thole-pins came distinct- ly across the water from far distant boats while songs and calls of birds, faint and etherealized, reached them from the shores. Rowing toward a man rapidly paying out a net from the stern of his boat, they were soon hailed by Mr. Marks. who with genial good-nature invited them to see the sport. He had begun throwing his net over in the middle of the river, his oarsman row- ing eastward with a slight inclination to- ward the south, for the reason that the tide is swifter on the western side. The aim is to keep the net as straight as possi- ble and at right angles with the tide. The two boats were soon following Mr. Marks on either side, the smooth water and ab- sence of wind enabling them to keep near and converse without effort. Away in their wake bobbed the cork floats in an ir- regular line, and from these floats, about twenty feet below the surface, was sus- pended the net, which extended down thirty or forty feet further, being kept in a vertical position by iron rings strung along its lower edge at regular intervals thus the lowest side of the net was from fifty to sixty feet from the surface. In shallow water narrower nets are rigged to float vertically much nearer the sur- face. Mr. Marks explained that his net was about half a mile long, adding: Its fun fishing on a day like this, but its rather tough in a gale of wind, with your eyes half blinded by rain, and the waves breaking into your boat. Yes, we catch ~just as many then; perhaps more, for there are fewer men out; and I suppose the weather is always about the same, ex- cept as to temperature, down where the shad are. The fish dont mind wet wea- ther; neither must we if we make a busi- ness of catching them. Do you always throw out your net from the west shore toward the east ? Webb asked. No; we usually pay out against the THE UPLAND MEADOW. 88 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. wind. With the wind, the boat is apt to go too fast. The great point is to keep the net straight, and not all tangled and wobbled up. Passing boats bother us, too. Sometimes a float will catch on a paddle- wheel, and like enough half of the net will be torn away. A pilot with any human feeling will usually steer one side and give a fellow a chance, and we can often bribe the skipper of sailing craft by hold- ing up shad and throwing it aboard as he tacks around us. As a rule, however, boats of all kinds pass over a net without doing any harm. Occasionally a net breaks from the floats and drags on the bottom. This is covered with cinders thrown out by steamers, and they play the mischief. Do the fish swim against the tide ? Usually; but they come in on both sides. Mr. Marks, how can you catch fish in a net that is straight up and down ? Amy asked. Youll soon see; but Ill explain. The meshes of the net will stretch five inches. A shad swims into one of these, and then, like many others that go into things, finds he cant back out, for his gills catch on the sides of the mesh, and there he hangs. Occasionally a shad will just tangle him- self up, and so be caught, and sometimes we take a large striped bass in this way. In answer to a question of Burts he continued: I just let my net float with the tide, as you see, giving it a pull from one end or the other now and then to keep it as straight and as near at right an- gles with the river as possible. When the tide stops running out, and turns a lit- tle, we begin at one end of the net and pull it up, taking out the fish, at the same time laying it carefully in folds on the gunnel, so as to prevent all tangles. If the net comes up clear and free, I may throw it in again, and float back with the tide. So far from being able to depend on this, we often have to go ashore where there is a smooth beach, before our drift is over, and untangle our net. There, now, Im through paying out. Havent you noticed the floats bobbing here and there ? Weve been too busy listening and watching you, said Leonard. Well, now, watch the floats. If you see one bob under and wobble, a shad has struck the net near it, and I can go and take him out. In smooth water its like fishing with one of your little cork bob- bers there on your lines. Ill give the shad to the first one that sees a float bob under. Alf nearly sprang out of the boat as he pointed and shouted, There! there Laughing good-naturedly, Mr. Marks lifted the net beneath the float, and sure enough there was a great roe-shad hang- ing by his gills, and AIf gloated over his supper already secured. The fish were running well, and there were excited calls and frantic pointings, in which at first even the older members of the party joined, and every few mo- ments a writhing shad flashed in the slanting rays as it was tossed into the boat. Up and down the long irregular line of floats the boats passed and repass- ed until excitement verged toward satiety, and the sun, near the horizon, with a cloud canopy of crimson and gold, warn~d the merry fishers by proxy that their boats should be turned homeward. Leonard pulled out what he termed his silver hook, and supplied not only the Clifford family, but all of Johunies guests, with fish so fresh that they had as yet scarcely real- ized that they were out of water. Now, Amy, said Burt, keep stroke with me, adding, in a whisper, no fear but that we can pull well together. Her response was: One always asso- ciates a song with rowing. Come, strike up, and let us keep the boats abreast, that all may join. He, well content, started a familiar boating song, to which the splash of their oars made musical accompaniment. A passing steamer saluted them, and a mo- ment later the boats bowed gracefully over the swells. The glassy river flashed back the crimson of the clouds, the east- ern slopes of the mountains donned their royal purple, the intervening shadows of valleys making the folds of their robes. As they approached the shore the resonant song of the robins blended with the hu- man voice. Burt, however, heard only Amys girlish soprano, and saw but the pearl of her teeth through her parted lips, the rose in her cheeks, and the snow of her neck. Final words were spoken, and all were soon at home. Maggie took the house- hold helm with a fresh and vigorous grasp. What a supper she improvised! The maids never dawdled when she di- rected, and by the time the hungry fish- ermen were ready, the shad that two NATURES SERiAL STORY. 89 hours before had been swimming deep in the Hudson lay browned to a turn on the ample platter. It is this quick transi- tion that gives to game fish their most ex- quisite flavor, Burt remarked. Are shad put down among the game fish ? his~father asked. Yes; they were included not very long ago, and most justly, too, as I can testify to-night. I never tasted anything more delicious, except trout. If a shad were not so bony, it would be almost perfection when eaten under the right conditions. Not many on the Hudson are aware of the fact, perhaps, but angling for them is fine sport in some rivers. They will take a fly in the Connecticut and Housatonic; but angle-wornis and other bait are em- ployed in the Delaware and Southern riv- ers. The best time to catch them is early in the morning, and from six to eight in the evening. At dusk one may cast for them in still water as for trout. The Hudson is too big, I suppose, and the wa- ter too deep, although I see no reason why the young fry should not be caught in our river as well as in the Delaware. I have read of their biting voraciously in September at a short distance above Phil- adelphia. Do you mean to say that our rivers are full of shad in August and Septem- ber ? Leonard asked. Yes; that is, of young shad on the way to the sea. The females that are running up now will spawn in the upper and shallow waters of the river, and re- turn to the ocean by the end of June, and in the autumn the small fry will also go to the sea, the females to remain there two years. The males will come back next spring, and these young males are called chicken shad on the Connecticut. Multitudes of these half-grown fish are taken in seines and sold as herrings or alewives. The true herring does not run up into fresh-water. Young shad are said to have teeth, and they live largely on insects, while the full-grown fish have no teeth, and feed chiefly on animalcules that form the greater part of the slimy growths that cover nearly everything that is long under water. Well, I never had so much shad be- fore in my life, said his father, laughing and pushing back his chair; and, Burt, I have enjoyed those you have served up in the water almost as much as those dish- ed under Maggies superintendence. I should suppose that the present mode of fishing with drift-nets was cheap- er and more profitable than the old meth- od of suspending the nets between poles, Leonard remarked. It is indeed, Burt continued, viva- ciously, for he observed that Amy was SHAD-FISHING ON THE HUDSON. listening with interest. Poles, too, form a serious obstruction. Once, years ago, I was standing near the guards of a steamboat when I heard the most awful grating, rasping sound, and a moment later a shad-pole gyrated past me with force enough to brain an elephant had it struck him. It was good fun, though, in old times, to see the shad- fishers raise the nets, for they often came up heavy with fish. I Strange to say, a loon was once pulled up with the shad. Driven by fear, it must have dived so vigorously as to entangle itself, for there it hung with its head and one leg fast. I suppose that the last moment of consciousness that the poor bird had was one of strong surprise. May came in reality the follow- THE BEE HAEVEST. NATURES SERIAL STORY. 91 ing morning. Perhaps she thought that the leisure of Sunday would secure her a more appreciative welcome. The wind no longer blew from the chill and still snowy north, but from lands that had long since responded to the suns genial power. Therefore the breeze that came and went fitfully was like a warm, fra- grant breath, and truly it seemed to breathe life and beauty into all things. During the morning hours the cluster buds of the cherry burst their varnished- looking sheaths, revealing one-third of the little green stems on which the blossoms would soon appear. The currant bushes were hanging out their lengthening ra- cemes, and the hum of many bees proved that honey may be gathered even from gooseberry bushes, thus suggesting a ge- nial philosophy. The sugar-maples were beginning to unfold their leaves, and to dangle their emerald-gold flowers from long drooping pedicels. There are few objects of more exquisite and delicate beauty than this inflorescence lighted up by the low afternoon sun. The meadows and oat fields were passing into a vivid green, and the hardy rye had pushed on so resolutely in all weather that it was be- ginning to grow billowy under the wind. All through the week the hues of life and beauty became more and more apparent upon the face of nature, and by the fol- lowing Saturday May had provided every- thing in perfection for Johunies corona- tion ceremonies. For weeks past there had been distin- guished arrivals from the South almost daily. Some of these songsters, like the fox-sparrow, sojourned a few weeks, fa- voring all who listened with their sweet and simple melodies; but the chief musi- cian of the American forests, the hermit- thrush, passed silently, and would not deign to utter a note of his unrivalled ininstrelsy until he had reached his re- rriote haunts at the North. Dr. Marvin evi- dently had a little grudge against this shy, distant bird, and often complained: Why cant he give us a song or two as he lin- gers here in his journey? I often see him flitting about in the mountains, and have watched him by the hour with the curiosi- ty that one would look at a great soprano or tenor, hoping that he might indulge me with a brief song as a sample of what he ~could do; but he was always royally indif- ferent and reserved. I am going to the Adirondacks on purpose to hear him some 6* day. Theres the winter wren, toosaucy, inquisitive little imp !he was here all winter, and has left us without vouch- safing a note. But then great singers are a law unto themselves the world over. The week which preceded the May par- ty was a memorable one to Amy, for dur- ing its sunny days she saw an American spring in its perfection. Each morning brought rich surprises to her, Johnnie, and Alf, and to Webb an increasing won- der that he had never before truly seen the world in which he lived. The pent- up forces of nature, long restrained, seem- ed finding new expression every hour. Tulips opened their gaudy chalices to catch the morning dew. Massive spikes of hya- cinths distilled a rich perfume that was none too sweet in the open air. Whenev- er Amy stepped from the door it seemed that some new flower had opened and some new development of greenery and beauty had been revealed. But the crown- ing glory in the near landscape were the fruit trees. The cherry boughs grew whiter every day, and were closely follow- ed by the plum and pear and the pink- hued peach blossoms. Even Squire Bart- leys unattractive place was transformed for a time into fairy-land; but he, poor man, saw not the blossoms, and the birds and boys stole his fruit. Amy wondered at the wealth of flowers that made many of the trees as white as they had been on the snowiest day of winter, and Johnnie revelled in them, often climbing up into some low-branched tree that she might bury herself in their beauty, and inhale their fragrance in long breaths of delight. The bees that filled the air about her with their busy hum never molested her, be- lieving, no doubt, that she had as good a right to enjoy the sweets in her way as themselves. After all, it was Mrs. Clif- ford, perhaps, who obtained the profound- est enjoyment from the season. Seated by her window or on a sunny corner of the piazza, she would watch the unfold- ing buds as if she were listening to some sweet old story that had grown dearer with every repetition. Indeed, this was true, for with the blossoms of every year were interwoven the memories of a long life, and their associations had scarcely ever been more to her heart than the new ones now forming. She often saw with her chil- dren and grandchildren the form of a tall girl passing to and fro, and to her loving eyes Amy seemed to be the fairest and 92 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. most perfect flower of this gala period. She, and indeed they all, had observed Burts strongly manifested preference, but with innate refinement and good sense there had been a tacit agreement to appear blind. The orphan girl should not be an- noyed by even the most delicate raillery; but the old lady and her husband could not but feel the deepest satisfaction that Burtthe one child that gave them so- licitudewas making so wise a choice. They liked Amy all the better because she was so little disposed to sentiment, and proved that she was not to be won easily. But they all failed to understand her, and gave her credit for a maturity that she did not possess. In her happy, health- ful country life the girlish form that had seemed so fragile when she first came to them was taking on the rounded lines of womanhood. Why should she not be wooed like other girls at her age? Burt was farther astray than any one, and was even inclined to complain mentally that her nature was cold and unresponsive. And yet her very reserve and elusiveness increased his passion, which daily acquired a stronger mastery. Webb alone half guessed the truth in regard to her. As time passed, and lie saw the increasing evidences of Burts feeling, he was careful that his manner should be strictly fraternal toward Amy, for his impetuous brother was not always disposed to be reasonable in his most normal condition, and now was afflicted with a malady that had often brought to shame the wisdom of the wisest. He saw how easily Burts jealousy could be aroused, and therefore denied himself many an hour of the young girls society, although it caused him a strange little heart-ache to do so. But he was very ob- servant, for Amy was becoming a deeply interesting study. He saw and apprecia- ted her delicate fence with Burt, in which tact, kindness, and a little girlish brusque- ness were almost equally blended. Was it the natural coyness of a high-spirited girl who could be won only by long and patient effort, or was it an instinctive self- defense from a suit that she could not re- pulse decisively without giving pain to those she loved? Why was she so averse? Their home life, even at that busy season, gave him opportunities to see her often, and glimmerings of the truth began to dawn upon him. He saw that she enjoy- ed the society of Alf and Johnnie almost as much as that of the older members of the family, that her delight at every new manifestation of spring was as unforced as that of the children, while at the same time it was an intelligent and questioning interest. The beauty of the world with- out impressed her deeply, as it did John- nie, but to the latter it was a matter of course, while with Amy it was becoming an inviting mystery. The little girl would bring some new flower from the woods or garden, the first of the season, in content- ed triumph, but to Amy the flower had a stronger interest. It represented some- thing unknown, a phase of life which it was the impulse of her developing mind to explore. Her botany was not altogeth- er satisfactory, for analysis and classifica- tion do not reveal to us a flower or plant any more than the mention of a name and family connection makes known individ- ual character. She felt this, and her love for natural objects was too real to be sat- isfied with a few scientific facts about. them. If a plant, tree, or bird interested her, she would look at it with a loving, lingering glance until she felt that sh& was learning to know it somewhat as she would recognize a friend. The rapid changes which each day brought were like new chapters in a story or new verses in a poem. She watched the transition of buds into blossoms with their changes~ of form and color with admiring wonder. She shared in Alfs excitement over the arrival of every new bird from the South, and having a good ear for music, found absorbing pleasure in learning and esti- mating the quality and characteristics of their various songs. With her sense of humor their little oddities amused her. A pair of cat-birds that had begun their nest. near the house received from her more ridicule than admiration. They seem to be regular society birds and gossips, she said, and I can never step out-of- doors but I feel that they are watching me, and trying to attract my attention. They have a pretty song, but they seem to have learned it by heart, and as soon as they are through they make that hor- rid noise, as if in their own natural tone they were saying something disagreeable about you. But on the morning of Johnnies coro- nation she was wakened by songs as en- trancing as they were unfamiliar. Run- ning to her window, she saw darting through the trees birds of such a brilliant NATURES SERIAL STORY. 93 flame-color that they seemed direct from the tropics, and their notes were almost as varied as their colors. She speedily ceased to heed them, however, for from the edge of the nearest grove came a mel- ody so ethereal and sustained that it thrill- ed her with the delight that one experi- ences when some great singer lifts up her voice with a power and sweetness that we feel to be divine. At the same moment she saw Alf running toward the house. Seeing her at the window, he shouted: Amy, the orioles and wood-thrushes the finest birds of the yearhave come. Hurry up, and go with me to the grove yonder. Soon after, Webb, returning from a dis- tant field to breakfast, met her near the grove. She was almost as breathless and excited as the boy, and passed him with a bright hurried smile, while she pressed on after her guide with noiseless steps lest the shy songster should be frightened. He looked after her and listened, feeling that eye and ear could ask for no fuller enchantment. At last she came back to him with the fresh loveliness of the morn- ing in her face, and exclaimed: I have seen an ideal bird, and he wears his plum- age like a quiet-toned elegant costume that simply suggests a perfect form. He was superbly indifferent, and scarcely looked at us until we came too near, and then, with a reserved dignity, flew away. He is the true poet of the woods, and would sing just as sweetly were there never a listener. I knew he would not disappoint you. Yes, he is a poet, and your true aristocrat, who commands admiration without seek- ing it, Webb replied. I am sure he justifies all your praises, past and present. Oh, isnt the morning lovelyso fresh, dewy, and fragrant, and the world looks so young and glad I You also look young and glad this morning, Amy. How can one help it? This May beauty makes me feel as young as Alf, she replied, placing her hand on the boys shoulder. Her face was flushed with exercise, her step buoyant; her eyes were roaming over the landscape tinted with fruit blossoms and the expanding foliage. Webb saw in what deep accord her spirit was with the season, and he thought: She is young in the very May of her life. She is scarce- ly more ready for the words that Burt would speak than little Johnnie. I wish he would wait till the girl becomes a wo- man ; and then for some reason he sighed deeply. Amy gave him an arch look, and said: That came from the depths, Webb. What secret sorrow can you have on a day like this ? He laughed, but made no reply. Ah, listen I she cried. What bird is that? Oh, isnt it beautiful Ialmost equal to the thrushs song. He seems to sing as if his notes were written for him in coup- lets. She spoke at intervals, looking to- ward the grove they had just left; and when the bird paused, Webb replied: That is the woodthrushs own cousin, and a distinguished member of the thrush family, the brown-thrasher. Well, John- nie, he added, to the little girl who had come to meet them, you are honored to- day. Three of our most noted minstrels have arrived just in time to furnish music for the May-queen. But Johnnie was not surprised, only pleased, as Webb and others congratu- lated her. She would be queen that day with scarcely more self-consciousness than one of the flowers that decked her. It was the occasion, the carnival of spring, that occupied her thoughts, and, since the fairest blossoms of the season were to be gathered, why should not the finest birds be present also? For the children, May-day was a revel that left nothing to be desired. They had decided that it should be a congress of flowers from the earliest that had bloomed to those now opening in their sunniest haunts. Alf, with one or two other ad- venturous boys, had climbed the northern face of old Storm King, and brought away the last hepaticas and fragrant clusters of arbutus and diceutras, for pattykers, ar- buties, and dutchers butchers, as Ned called them, were favorites that could not be spared. On a sunny slope dogwood well advanced was found. There were banks white with the rue-anemone and they were marked, that some of the little tuber-like roots might be taken up in the fall for forcing in the house. Myriads of violets gave a purple tinge to parts of a low meadow near, and chubby hands were stained with the last of the star-like blood- root blossoms, many of which dropped their white petals on their way to Johnnies throne. Some brought handfuls of colum- bine from rocky nooks, and others the HAIRPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. purple trillium, that is near of kin to Bur- roughss white wake-robin. There were so many jacks-in-the-pulpit that one might fear a controversy, but the innumerable dandelions and dog-tooth-violets which carpeted the ground around the throne diffused so mellow a light that all the flowers felt that they looked well and were amiable. But it would require pages even to mention all the flowers that were brought from gardens, orchards, meadows and groves, and rugged mountain slopes. Each delegation of blossoms and young tinted foliage was received by Amy as mistress of ceremonies, and arranged in harmoniouspositions; while Johnnie, quite forgetful of her royalty, was as ready to help at anything as the humblest maid-of- honor. All the flowers were treated ten- derly except the poor purple violets, and these were slaughtered by hundreds, for the projecting spur under the curved stem at the base of the flower enabled the boys to hook them together and fight roost- ers, as they termed it. Now and then some tough-stemmed violet would hook off a dozen blue heads before losing its own, and it became the temporary hero. At last the little queen asserted her power by saying, with a sudden flash in her dark eyes, that she wouldnt have any more fighting roosters; she didnt think it was nice. By one oclock the queen had been crowned, the lunch had met the capacity of even the boys, and the children, cir- cling round the throne, were singing: Oats, pease, beans, and barley grows, and kindred rhymes, their voices rising and falling with the breeze, the birds war- bling an accompaniment. Webb and Leon- ard, at work in a field not far away, often paused to listen, the former never failing to catch Amys clear notes as she sat on a rock, the gentle power behind the throne that had maintained peace and good-will among all the little fractious subjects. The day had grown almost sultry, and early in the afternoon there was a distant jar of thunder. Burt started up from a bed of dry leaves, from which he had been watching Amy, and saw that there was an ominous cloud in the west. She ac- ceded at once to the prudence of return- ing, for she was growing weary and de- pressed. Burt, though he tried to seem quietly and unobtrusively devoted, had never permitted her to become uncon- scious of his presence and feeling. There- fore her experience had been a divided one. She could not abandon herself to her hearty sympathy with the children and their pleasure, for he, by manner at least, ever insisted that she was a young lady, and the object of his especial devo- tion. Her nature was so fine that it was wounded and annoyed by an unwel- come admiration. She did not wish to think about it, but was not permitted to forget it. She had been genial, merry, yet guarded toward him all day, and now had begun to long for the rest and refuge of her own room. He felt that he had not made progress, and was also depress- ed, and he showed this so plainly on their way home that she was still more perplex- ed and troubled. If he would only be sensible, and treat me as Webb does 1 she exclaimed, as she threw herself on a lounge in her room, exhausted rather than ex- hilarated by the experience of the day. During the hour she slept an ideal show- er crossed the sky. In the lower strata of air there was scarcely any wind, and the rain caine down vertically, copiously, and without beating violence. The sun- warmed earth took in every drop like a great sponge. Beyond the first muttered warning to the little May party in the grove there was no thunder. The patter of the rain was a gentle lullaby to Amy, and at last she was wakened by a ray of sunlight playing upon her face, yet she still heard the soft fall of rain. With the elasticity of youth she sprang up, feeling that the other cloud that had shadowed her thoughts might soon pass also. As she went singing down the stairway Webb called from the front door. Amy, look here. I was hoping you would come. See that rainbow. The cloud still hung heavily over the eastern mountains, while against it was a mag- nificent arch, and so distinctly defined that its feet appeared to rest on each bank of the river. They watched it in silence until it faded away, and the whole scene, crowned with flowers and opening foliage that was tinted like varied-hued flowers, was gemmed with crystals by the now unclouded sun, for the soft rain had clung to everything, from the loftiest tree-top to the tiniest spire of grass. Flame-like orioles were flashing through the per- fumed air. Robins with their heads lift- ed heavenward were singing as raptur- ously as if they were saints rather than rollicking gormandizers. Every bird that NATURES SERIAL STORY. 95 had a voice was lifting it up in thanks- giving, but clear, sweet, and distinct above them all came the notes of the wood- thrush with his Beethoven-like melody. Have you no words for a scene like this, Webb ? she asked at last. It is beyond all words, Amy. It is one of natures miracles. My wonder is even greater than my admiration, for the greater part of this infinite variety of beauty is created out of so few materials and so simple yet mysterious a method that I can scarcely believe it, although I see it and know it. Men have always agreed to worship the genius which could achieve the most with the least. And yet the basis of nearly all we see is a mi- c~oscopic cell endowed with essential pow- ers. That large apple-tree yonder, whose buds are becoming so pink, started from one of these minute cells, and all the growth, beauty, and fruitfulness since at- tained were the result of the power of this one cell to add to itself myriads of like cells, which form the whole structure. It is cell adding cells that is transforming the world around us. He spoke earnestly, and almost as if he were thinking aloud, and he looked like one in the presence of a mystery that awed him. The hue of Amys eyes darkened and deepened, and her face flushed in her quickened interest. Her own mind had been turning to kin- dred thoughts and questionings. She had too much mind, and she had passed be- yond the period when she could be satis- fied with the mere surface of things, and Webbs direct approach to the very foun- dation principles of what she saw sent a thrill through all her nerves as a heroic deed would have done. Can you not show me one of these cells with your microscope ? she asked, eagerly. Yes, easily, and some of its contents through the cells transparent walls, as, for instance, the minute grains of chloro- phyll, that is, the green of leaves. All the hues of foliage and flowers are caused by what the cells contain, and these, to a certain extent, can be seen and analyzed. But there is one thing within the cell which I can not show you, and which has never been seen, and yet it accounts for everything, and is the architect of all life. When we reach the cell we are at the threshold of this mysterious pre- sence. We know that it is within. We can see its work, for its workshop is under our eye, and in this minute shop it is building all the vegetation of the world, but the artisan itself ever remains invis- ible. Ah, Webb, do not say artisan, but rather artist. Does not the beauty all around us prove it? Surely there is but one explanation, the one papa taught me: it is the power of God. He is in the lit- tle as well as in the great. Do you not believe so, Webb ? Well, Amy, he replied, smilingly, the faith taught you by your father is, to my mind, more rational than any of the explanations that I have read, and I have studied several. But then my know- ledge is sniall indeed, compared with that of multitudes of others. I am sure, how- ever, that the life of God is in some way the source of all the life we see. But perplexing questions arise on every side. Much of life is so repulsive and noxious but there! what a fog-bank I am leading you into this crystal May evening! Most young girls would vote me an insufferable bore should I talk to them in this style. So much the worse -for the young girls, then. I should think they would feel that no compliment could exceed that of being talked to as if they had brains. But I do not wish to put on learned airs. You know how ignorant I am of even the be- ginnings of all this knowledge. All that I can say is that I am not content to be ignorant. The curiosity of Mother Eve is growing stronger every day; and is it strange that it should turn toward the ob- jects that are so beautiful and yet so mys- terious that meet my eyes on every side ? No, said he, musingly; the strange thing is that people have so little curiosity in regard to their surroundings. Why, multitudes of intelligent persons are al- most as indifferent as the cattle that browse around among the trees and flow- ers. But I am a sorry one to preach. I once used to investigate things, but did not see them. I have thought about it very much this spring. It is said that great painters and sculptors study anato- my as well as outward form. Perhaps here is a good hint for those who are trying to appreciate nature. I am not so shallow as to imagine that I can ever un- derstand nature any more than I can you with your direct honest gaze. To the thoughtful, mystery is ever close at hand, but it seems no little thing to trace back what one sees as far as one can, and you 96 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. bave made me feel that it is a great thing to see the Divine artists finished work. They were now joined by others, and the perfect beauty of the evening as it slowly faded into night attracted much attention from all the family. The new moon hung in the after-glow of the west- ern sky, and, as the dusk deepened, the weird notes of the whip - poor -will were heard for the first time from the mountain- sides. At the supper table Leonard beamed on every one. A rain like this, after a week of sunshine has warmed the earth, he exclaimed, is worth millions to the country. We can plant our corn next week. Yes added his father; the old In- dian sign, the unfolding of the oak leaves, indicates that it is now safe to plant. Next week will be a busy one. After long years of observation I am satisfied that the true secret of success in farming is the doing of everything at just the right time. Crops put in too early or too late often partially fail, but if the right conditions are com- plied with from the beginning, they start with a vigor which is not lost until nia- turity. Burt indulged in a gayety that was phenomenal even for him, but after sup- per he disappeared. Amy retired to her room early, but she sat a long time at her window and looked out into the warm fragrant night. She had forgotten poor Burt, who was thinking of her, as in his unrest he rode mile after mile, holding his spirited horse down to a walk. She bad almost forgotten Webb, but she thought deeply of his words, of the life that was working all around her so si- lently and yet so powerfully. Unseen, it had created the beauty she had enjoyed that day. From the very contrast of ideas it made her think of death, of her father, who once had been so strong and full of life. The mystery of one seemed as great as that of the other, and a loneli- ness such as she had not felt before for months depressed her. I wish I could talk to Webb again, she thought. He says he does not understand me. Little wonder: I do not understand myself. It would seem that when one began to think, nothing that appeared simple before is un- derstood. But his words are strong and assured; he leads one to the boundaries of the known, and then says, quietly, we can go no farther, but he makes you feel that what is beyond is all right. Oh, I wish Burt was like hini But little chance had Amy to talk with Webb for the next few days. He had seen the cloud on Burts brow, and had observed that he was suspicious, unhap- py, and irritable, that reason and good sense were not in the ascendant; and he understood his brother sufficiently well to believe that his attack must run its nat- ural course, as like fevers had before. From what he had seen he also thought that Amy could deal with Burt better than any one else, for although high- strung, he was also manly and generous when once he got his bearings. In his present mood he would bitterly resent in- terference from any one, but would be bound to obey Amy and to respect her wishes. Therefore he took especial pains to be most kindly, but also to appear busy and preoccupied. It must not be thought that Burt was offensive or even openly obtrusive in his attentions. He was far too well bred for that. There was nothing for which even his mother could reprove him, or of which Amy herself could complain. It was the suit itself from which she shrank, or rath- er would put off indefinitely. But Burt was not disposed to put anything that he craved into the distance. Spring-tide mi- pulses were in his veins, and his heart was so overcharged that it must find ex- pression. His opportunity came unex- pectedly. A long exquisite day had merged into a moonlight evening. The apple blossoms were in all of their white and pink glory, and filled the summer- like air with a fragrance as delicate as that of the arbutus. The petals of the cherry were flurrying down like snow in every passing breeze, glimmeringmoment- arily in the pale radiance. The night was growing so beautiful that Amy was tempted to stroll over the grounds, and soon she yielded to a fancy to see the ef- fect of moonlight through an apple-tree that towered like a mound of snow at some little distance from the house. She would not have been a human girl had the witchery of the May evening been without its influence. If Burt could have understood her, this was his opportunity. If he had come with step and tone that accorded with the quiet evening, and sim- ply said, Amy, you know, you have seen, that I love you; what hope can you give me ? she in her present mood would have NATURES SERIAL STORY. 97 answered him as gently and frankly as a child. She might have laughingly point- ed him to the tree, and said: See, it is in blossom now. It will be a long time be- fore you pick the apples. You must wait. If you will be sensible, and treat me as you would Johnnie, were she older, I will ride and walk with you, and be as nice to you as I can. But this Burt could not do and still re- main Burt. He was like an overcharged cloud, and when he spoke at last his words seemed to the sensitive girl to have the vividness and abruptness of the lightning. It was her custom to make a special toilet for the evening, and when she came down to supper with a rose in her hair, and dress- ed in some light clinging fabric, she proved so attractive to the young fellow that he felt that the limit of his restraint was reached. He would appeal to her so ear- nestly, so passionately, as to kindle her cold nature. In his lack of appreciation of Amy he had come to deem this his true course, and she unconsciously enabled him to carry out the rash plan. He had seen her stroll away, and had followed her until she should be so far from the house that she must listen. As she emerged from under the apple-tree, through which as a white cloud she had been looking at the moon, he appeared so suddenly as to startle her, and without any gentle re-as- surance he seized her hand, and poured out his feelings in a way that at first wounded and frightened her. Burt, she cried, why do you speak to me so? Cant you see that I do not feel as you do? Ive given you no rea- son to say such words to me. Have you no heart, Amy? Are you as cold and elusive as this moonlight? I have waited patiently, and now I must and will speak. Every man has a right to speak and a right to an answer. Well, then, she replied, her spirit ris- ing, if you will insist on my being a woman instead of a young girl just com- ing from the shadow of a great sorrow, I also have my rights. Ive tried to show you gently and with all the tact I pos- sessed that I did not want to think about such things. Im just at the beginning of my girlhood and I want to be a young girl as long as I can, and not an engaged young woman. No matter who spoke the words you have said, they would only pain me. Why couldnt you see this from my manner and save both yourself and me from this scene? Ill gladly be your lov- ing sister, but you must not speak to me in this way again. You refuse me, then ? he said, throw- ing back his head haughtily. Refuse you? No. I simply tell you that I wont listen to such words from any one. Why cant you be sensible, and understand me? I no more wish to talk about such things than do AIf and John- nie. I do understand you, he exclaimed, passionately, and betterperhapsthan you understand yourself. You are not a child. You are a woman, but you seem to lack a womans heart, as far as I am concerned ~ and with a gesture that was very tragic and despairing he strode away. She was deeply troubled, and incensed also, and she returned to the house with drooping head and fast-falling tears. Why, Amy, what is the matter ? Looking up, she saw Webb coming down the piazza steps. Yielding to her impulse she sprang forward and took his arm, as she said: Webb, you have always acted toward me like a brother. Tell me true. Am I cold? Am I heartless? Is it unnatural in me that I do not wish to hear such words as Burt would speak to-night? All I ask is that he will let me stay a happy young girl till I am ready for something else. This is no way for a flower to bloom she snatched the rose from her hair and pushed open the red petals and yet Burt expects me to respond at once to feelings that I do not even understand. If its best in the future- But surely Ive a right to my freedom for a long time yet. Tell me, do you think Im unnatural? No, Amy, he answered, gently. It is because you are so perfectly natural, so true to your girlhood, that you feel as you do. In that little parable of the rose you explain yourself fully. You have no cause for self-reproach, nor has Burt for complaint. Will you do what I ask ? Yes, Webb. You say you do not un- derstand me, and yet always prove that you do. If Burt would only treat me as you do, I should be perfectly happy. Well, Burts good-hearted, but some- times he mislays his judgment, said Webb, laughing. Come, cheer up. There is no occasion for any high tragedy on his part nor for grieving on yours. You go and tell mother all about it, and just how you feel. She is the right one to manage 98 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. this affair, and her influence over Burt is almost unbounded. Do this, and, take my word for it, all will soon be serene. And so it proved. Amy felt that night what it was to have a mothers boundless love and sympathy, and she went to her rest comforted, soothed, and more assured as to the future than she had been for a long time. How quiet and sensible Webb was about it all ! was her last smiling thought before she slept. His thought, as he strolled away in the moon- light after she left him, was: It is just as I half believed. She has the mind of a woman, but the heart of a child. How apt was her use of that rose! It told all. Burt did not stroll; he strode mile after mile, and the uncomfortable feeling that he had been very unwise, to say the least, and perhaps very unjust, was growing upon him. When at last he returned, his mother called to him through her open door. Sooner or later Mrs. Clifford al- ways obtained the confidence of her chil- dren, and they ever found that it was sa- cred. All that can be said, therefore, was that he came from her presence penitent, ashamed, and hopeful. His mood may best be explained, perhaps, by a note writ- ten before he retired. My dear sister Amy, it ran, I wish to ask yourpardon. I have been unjust and ungenerous. I was so blinded and engrossed by my own feelings that I did not understand you. I have proved myself unworthy of even a sisters love, but I will try to make amends. Do not judge me harshly because I was so headlong. There is no use of disguising the truth. What I have said so unwisely and prematurely, I can not unsay, and I shall always be true to my words. But I will wait patiently as long as you please, and if you find in future years that you can not feel as I do, I will not complain or blame you, however sad the truth may be to me. In the mean time let there be no constraint between us. Let me be- come once more your trusted brother Burt. This note he pushed under her door, and then slept too soundly for the blighted youth he deemed himself a few hours before. He felt a little embarrassed at the pros- pect of meeting her the next morning, but she broke the ice at once by coming to him on the piazza and extending her hand in smiling frankness, as she said: You are neither unjust nor ungenerous, Burt, or you would not have written me such a note. I take you at your word. As you said the first evening I came, we shall have jolly times together. The young fellow was immensely re- lieved .and grateful, and showed it. Soon afterward he went about the affairs of the day happier than he had been for a bug time. Indeed, it soon became evi- dent that his explosion on the previous evening had cleared the air generally. Amy felt that the one threatening cloud had sunk below the horizon. As the days. passed, and Burt proved that he could keep his promise, her thoughts grew as serene as those of Johnnie. Her house- hold duties were not very many, and yet she did certain things regularly. The old people found that she rarely forgot them and she had the grace to see when she could help and cheer. Attentions that must be constantly asked for have little charm. A day rarely passed that she did not give one or more of its best hours to her music and drawing, for while she never expected to excel in these arts, she had already learned that they would enable her to give much pleasure to others. Her pencil also was of great assistance in her study of out-door life, for the fixed attention which it required to draw a plant, tree, or bit of scenery re- vealed its characteristics. She had been even more interested in the unfolding of the leaf buds than in the flowering of the trees, and the gradual advance of the foli- age, like a tinted cloud up the mountain slopes, was something she never tired of watching. When speaking of this one day to Webb, he replied: I have often wondered that more is not said and written about our spring foli- age before it passes into its general hue of green. To me it has a more delicate beauty and charm than anything seen in Octo- ber. Different trees have their distinct coloring now as then, but it is evanescent, arid the shades usually are less clearly marked. This very fact, however, teaches the eye to have a nicety of distinction that is pleasing. The busy days passed quickly on. The blossoms faded from the trees, and the immature fruit was soon apparent, the strawberry rows, that had been like lines of snow, were now full of little promising cones. The grass grew so lusty and strong that the dandelions were almost hidden. At last the swelling buds on the rose- bushes proclaimed the advent of June. GRACE SHERWOOD. THE ONE ViRGINIA WITCH. THE singular incident here related is almost unknown except to students. A few lines in the histories of the State are all that the annalists bestow upon it; and yet it seems that the historians ought not to have regarded it as beneath the dignity of history. What we wish to as- certain is the character of a peopleto have the exact measure of their feelin~s and opinions; and this incident throws a curious and unexpected light on the Vir- ginians of the old age. They were men neither better nor worse than their con- temporaries: mingled childish credulity with generous instincts and the soundest good sense, and to get at their true por- traits we must see the sense and folly as they actually mingled. The sce~ie of the event was as strange as the event itself; the weirdest of trans- actions had a frame-work in unison with it. Princess Anne County, Virginia, ex- tends from opposite Hampton Roads to the borders of North Carolina; and this long coast- line is broken on the Chesa- peake and the Atlantic by numerous coves and inlets, one of which had a singular ori- gin. A sluggish stream formerly crawled in a northerly direction toward the Chesa- peake, emptied its waters into a small la- goon separated from the bay by a narrow sand bar, and escaped by an inlet at the western extremity of the lagoon. A gen- tleman residing in the vicinity was fond of boating on the Chesapeake, but to reach the open bay was obliged to make the long detour. In front was the low sand bar of very inconsiderable width, and, long med- itating on the subject, he determined at last to dig a canal through the obstruction wide enough for the passage of his boat. This scheme was accomplished, but the re- sult was disastrous. The Chesapeake, at the first high tide, rushed throu~h the opening, and carried all before it. The little channel became an inlet half a mile wide, which would float a ship; and the waters of the bay were not even content with this feat of engineering science; they rolled steadily inland, following the course of the sluggish stream, encroached more and more, nndermined what they did not overflow, and one of the results was the destruction of an ancient church on the west shore. The edifice, beaten by the waters, slowly crumbled, at last fell, and was completely submerged. The old tomb- stones, with their coats of arms and curi- ous inscriptions, went with the rest; and bathers near the spot still occasionally touch them with their feet, and are able to read the names by the sense of touch. Lynhaven Bay was thus formeda wide expanse of water shut in by low shores. The surrounding country is wild and lonely. The chance traveller making his way over the roads of oyster-shells through the weird thickets sees the gleam of the white-winged water-fowl hovering above the ripples, and hears the murmur of the bay and the ocean. The waves lap on level shores clothed with junipers and ragged pines, and here and there the deep green leaves of the cypress stand out in vivid contrast with the oozy margin. A few shrubs only grow in the sandy soil, and relieve its barrenness, though it yields, with sufficient attention, all the vegetables for which the region is famous. Among these shrubs the most prominent is the rosemary, which grows to a large size, as on the banks of the Mediterranean; and its origin, well authenticated by ancient tra- dition, brings us to our subject. For a. century after the settlement of Virginia no rosemary was ever seen there, but at last it was domesticated without the aid of government. Somewhere about the year 1700, or perhaps earlier, a certain young woman named Grace Sherwood resided in Princess Anne. She was a shy, secretive maid, and her neighbors told envious sto- ries of her. Only one of these vague re- ports, however, was established on suffi- cient evidence, to wit, that she had crossed the Atlantic to the Mediterranean in an ego-shell, had been pleased with the odor of the rosemary growing on its shores, and on her return from this voyage in an open boat had brought some plants which she set out around her cottage for re- membrance. The result of this harmless fancy was that Princess Anne was soon covered with rosemary; but the neighbors of young Grace Sherwood were ungrateful. For want of something better to occupy their minds, they began to gossip about her. Rosemary was sweet, but there was that voyage in the egg-shell boat! It was true it harmed nobody, but such proceedings were uncanny. Only witches who rode on

GRACE SHERWOOD. THE ONE ViRGINIA WITCH. THE singular incident here related is almost unknown except to students. A few lines in the histories of the State are all that the annalists bestow upon it; and yet it seems that the historians ought not to have regarded it as beneath the dignity of history. What we wish to as- certain is the character of a peopleto have the exact measure of their feelin~s and opinions; and this incident throws a curious and unexpected light on the Vir- ginians of the old age. They were men neither better nor worse than their con- temporaries: mingled childish credulity with generous instincts and the soundest good sense, and to get at their true por- traits we must see the sense and folly as they actually mingled. The sce~ie of the event was as strange as the event itself; the weirdest of trans- actions had a frame-work in unison with it. Princess Anne County, Virginia, ex- tends from opposite Hampton Roads to the borders of North Carolina; and this long coast- line is broken on the Chesa- peake and the Atlantic by numerous coves and inlets, one of which had a singular ori- gin. A sluggish stream formerly crawled in a northerly direction toward the Chesa- peake, emptied its waters into a small la- goon separated from the bay by a narrow sand bar, and escaped by an inlet at the western extremity of the lagoon. A gen- tleman residing in the vicinity was fond of boating on the Chesapeake, but to reach the open bay was obliged to make the long detour. In front was the low sand bar of very inconsiderable width, and, long med- itating on the subject, he determined at last to dig a canal through the obstruction wide enough for the passage of his boat. This scheme was accomplished, but the re- sult was disastrous. The Chesapeake, at the first high tide, rushed throu~h the opening, and carried all before it. The little channel became an inlet half a mile wide, which would float a ship; and the waters of the bay were not even content with this feat of engineering science; they rolled steadily inland, following the course of the sluggish stream, encroached more and more, nndermined what they did not overflow, and one of the results was the destruction of an ancient church on the west shore. The edifice, beaten by the waters, slowly crumbled, at last fell, and was completely submerged. The old tomb- stones, with their coats of arms and curi- ous inscriptions, went with the rest; and bathers near the spot still occasionally touch them with their feet, and are able to read the names by the sense of touch. Lynhaven Bay was thus formeda wide expanse of water shut in by low shores. The surrounding country is wild and lonely. The chance traveller making his way over the roads of oyster-shells through the weird thickets sees the gleam of the white-winged water-fowl hovering above the ripples, and hears the murmur of the bay and the ocean. The waves lap on level shores clothed with junipers and ragged pines, and here and there the deep green leaves of the cypress stand out in vivid contrast with the oozy margin. A few shrubs only grow in the sandy soil, and relieve its barrenness, though it yields, with sufficient attention, all the vegetables for which the region is famous. Among these shrubs the most prominent is the rosemary, which grows to a large size, as on the banks of the Mediterranean; and its origin, well authenticated by ancient tra- dition, brings us to our subject. For a. century after the settlement of Virginia no rosemary was ever seen there, but at last it was domesticated without the aid of government. Somewhere about the year 1700, or perhaps earlier, a certain young woman named Grace Sherwood resided in Princess Anne. She was a shy, secretive maid, and her neighbors told envious sto- ries of her. Only one of these vague re- ports, however, was established on suffi- cient evidence, to wit, that she had crossed the Atlantic to the Mediterranean in an ego-shell, had been pleased with the odor of the rosemary growing on its shores, and on her return from this voyage in an open boat had brought some plants which she set out around her cottage for re- membrance. The result of this harmless fancy was that Princess Anne was soon covered with rosemary; but the neighbors of young Grace Sherwood were ungrateful. For want of something better to occupy their minds, they began to gossip about her. Rosemary was sweet, but there was that voyage in the egg-shell boat! It was true it harmed nobody, but such proceedings were uncanny. Only witches who rode on 100 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. broomsticks to midnight meetings could sail in egg - shells, and as witches cast spells and exerted malignant influences on honest people, it was plain that Grace Sherwood was a witch, and ought to be tried and punished. Grave citizens, solid men of the county of Princess Anne, were ready to give their testimony. That egg-shell voyage was a fact established: might not the witch as easily bridle and saddle honest people, and ride them to her nocturnal revelries? Would not strange and malignant dis- eases, the result of spells, break out in the community? Nay, had not these dread inflictions already resulted from the tol- eration of Grace Sherwood? As worship- ful Shallows and Slenders of the County Court of Princess Anne, it behooved them to institute proceedings for the extirpation of the witch, if she were a witch. That was the question now solemnly examined into by their honors in the case of Grace Sherwood, the place being Prin- cess Anne Court House, and the time July, 1706. The entry in the court record is the only remaining evidence of the event, and a copy of this entry from the yellow old sheet is here presented, with all the literary and other graces of the original carefully preserved: Princefs Annfs S. At a court held ye ioth July 1706 (ColO Mofeley, Capt. Mofeley) Prefent Capt Woodhouse, Jno Cornick ~ Justices C Capt Chapman, Capt Wm Smyth) J. Richafsoncome late Grace Sherwood tobe Ducked Whereas Grace Sherwood being Sus- pected of Witchcrafthave a long time waited for a fit opportunity for a further Examinationand by her Consent, & Approbation of ye court, it is ordered yt ye Sherr take all such Convenient as- sistance of boats and men as shall be by him thought fit to meet & at John Har- pers plantation in order to take ye 5d Grace Sherwood forthwith & put her into water above mans Debth & try her how she swims. Therein always having Care of her life to preserve he [r] from Drown- ing & as soon as she comes Out yt he request as many Ancient and Knowing women as possible to come to Serch her Carefully for teats spotts and marks about her body not usual on Others & yt as they find ye same to make report on oath To ye truth there of to the Court, and further it is ordered yt Four women be requested to Shift and Serch her be- fore she goo into ye water yt she carry nothing about her to cause any further Suspicion. Order XX Grace Sherwood Ducked Whereas on Complaint of Luke Hill in behalf of her Majesty yt now is agt Grace Sherwood for a person Suspect- ed of Witch craft & having had Sundry Evidences sworn agt her proving many Circumstances to which She could not make any Excuse Little or Nothing to Say in her own behalf only Seamed to Rely on wt ye Court should doo, and there upon Consented to be tryed in ye Water & Like wise to be Serched again Bodily. Experiment being tried She swiming wee therein & bound Contrary to Custom & ye judgt of all ye Specta- tors, & afterward being Serched, & five Ancient ~veomen who have all Declared on Oath yt she is not like yern nor noo Other women yt they know of.... all weh Circumstances ye Court weighing in there Consideration Doo there fore ordr yt yC Sherr take ye 5d Grace Into his custody and to commt her body to ye Common Goal of this County, there to secure her by irons or other Wise, there to Remain till Such time as shall be otherwise Directed in order for her com- ming to ye Common Goal of ye County, to be brought to a future tryall there EDw~ MosELEv & JNO. RIcHAssoN. This literary performance, the work of that official Dogberry the clerk of the court, whose reading and writing proba- bly came by nature, may be regarded by certain persons as obscure, even as bun- gling and stupid. But this criticism may involve injustice. A clear and direct writer is not necessarily a profound one, and the wise Lord Bacon tells us that all great literary beauty hath something of strangeness in it, requiring study. Ap- plying this maxim to the production be- fore us, and carefully collating the vari- ous portions, we perceive that the lumi- nous record clearly sets forth the follow- ing facts: That at Princess Anne Court House, Virginia, July 10, 1706, their worships the justices of that county, in serious niood and with spectacles on noses, did calmly take into consideration the case of a cer- tain Grace Sherwood, charged with witch- craft. The historian does not pause to describe the imposing surroundings of the trialthe grave worships with con- tracted brows seated in a row on the ele- vated dais; the packed crowd of worthy people, in broad skirts and knee-breeches, behind the bar; himself, Dogherry, C. C., with possible nasal intonation, reading the indictment; and poor Grace Slier- wood, the witch, standing up in the box of the accused, but bending down her head and weeping. The foliage of sum- GRACE SHERWOOD. 101 mer brushes the windows, and the birds are singing; but the stern representatives of the law are oblivious of this indiffer- ence of nature, and solemnly set about their duty as the servants of her Majesty that now isthat gracious Princess Anne from whom their county takes its name. The prosecutor in the business is a cer- tain Master Luke Hill, who doubtless scowls fiercely at poor Grace, awaiting the call to testify. It is not the first time that the witch has been arraigned. Col- lating careful]y the detailed statements of Dogberry, C. C., we ascertain that the said Grace Sherwood, having previously been suspected of witchcraft, had been arrested and examined, no doubt by a sin- gle justice of the peace; and that the re- sult of this trial extra curiarn in the jus- tices manor-house had been the commit- tal of the accused to jail to undergo fur- ther examination, for xvhich the prisoner, we are informed, awaited a fit opportu- niLy. The opportunity is now at hand, and the charges are duly investigated. To the damning array of testimony, by Master Luke Hill and others, the weeping witch has nothing to say; or, in the more con- cise style of Dogberry, sundry evidences were sworn against her, proving many circumstances, to which she could not make any excuse. Alas! there were the terrible facts; her depravity was proved, and what she faltered out pit- eously was not to the point. She had little or nothing to say in her own behalf, and only seemed to rely on what the court should doa frail reliance it must have seemed after all the mass of proof clearly establishing the egg-shell business, and the spells she had inflicted on honest peo- ple. But what was she to do? She could only appeal to the mercy of the court. And then the witch no doubt covered her face and sank down weeping, sorely dis- trusting the result of their worships con- sultation. The court seems to have been in a quan- dary. There was the law, and there was the evidence. The latter proved that Grace Sherwood was a witch, and the for- mer directed that witches should be burn- ed. But then to burn women was a thing unknown in Virginia. Various persons might have their opinion of themselves, the worshipfuls, if Grace Sherwood were burned, and a certain flash of intelligence visits the minds of the Shallows and Slen ders. There was a meamis of infallibly determining time guilt or innocence of the accused. As she persisted in declaring her innocence, would she consent to be bound and thrown into the water as a conclusive test? If she swam, under these circumstances, the fact would be establish- ed that she was a witch; if she sank, and were drowned, her innocence would be as clearly demonstrated! That was fair, their worships intimated. Was the ac- cused ready to undergo the ordeal? The reply is concisely indicated: judgment was entered by her consent, and the court duly directed the character of the test. The sheriff is to take the necessary boats and men, to conduct the said Grace Sher- wood to John Harpers plantation on the shore of Lynhaven Bay, and then and there these further directions of their wor- ships are to be complied with. The said Grace Sherwood is to be committed to four ancient women, who are to remove her clothing, in order to ascertain be- fore she go into the water that she carry nothing about her to cause any further suspiciondoubtless amulets or charms of virtue sufficient to cause a per- son to float while bound. Then, if no- thing of this improper description is found concealed about her body, the said Grace is to be boundher hands only it would seemby the sheriff; he and his men are to conduct her in a boat to deep water, and there she is to be thrown in, above a mans depth, to try her how she swims. If she is guilty, as this honorable court believes, she will swim in spite of her bonds; if she is innocent, she will sink; but the sheriff is to have a care of her life to preserve her from drowning. A final ceremony, in accordance with her own request, is to be observed. When she conies out of the water, as many an- cient and knowing women as possible are to search her person once more for evi- dences of witchcraft, and if such are found, the said ancients are to report the fact under oath to this court. So the trial of the witch ends, and the supreme test is speedily applied. A crowd of spectators assemhle at John Harpers plantation on Lynliaven Bay, and it is possible that their worships adjourned court and mingled with the rest. The scene was still and lonelyoozy banks skirted with pines, and lugubrious cy- presses shining in the sun, white-winged sea-fowl flitting and screaming, the far 102 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. lines of the Chesapeake coast, and the dim haze toward the shore of the Atlantic. On the banks are the crowd of people who have come to witness the punishment of the first Virginia witch, and the sheriff and his posse are ready to carry out the order of court. The waves are lapping in the grass and flags, and the odor of the pines mingles with the scent of rosemary that rosemary brought in the egg-shell ship from the distant shores of the Medi- terranean. And so the test begins. The ancient women, no doubt resem- bling their respectable prototypes in lilac- beth, proceed to make their examination. Poor Grace Sherwood, no doubt weeping at the terrible ordeal before her, is divest- ed of her clothingin a place of privacy, it is to be hopedand her person is close- ly inspected for some lurking amulet or other protection. None, it seems, was found, and, her clothing no doubt having been restored to her, the witch was ready to undergo the decreed test. Her hands were bound, and she was placed in the boat; the sheriff followed with his posse; the fleet rowed to deep water, and having reached a spot where it was over a mans head; the final ceremony took place. It is to be regretted that Dogberry, C. C., did not find it convenient to enter into de- tails, but doubtless he depended upon the intelligence of his readers to imagine the scene. The sheriff, he informs us, was to take~ boats for his purpose, and a num- ber filled with men probably formed a cir- cle around the sheriffs with the view of rescuing the accused if she sank to the bottom. One and all of these honest Vir- ginians, if we may hazard a conjecture, thought it a bad business. It was hard to drown a woman, and doubtless they were about to drown Grace Sherwood; for was it not the judgment of all the spectators that it was contrary to cus- toni and the laws of nature that one bound as she was could swim or float in water? But there was the order of their worships, which must be obeyed; and suddenly Grace Sherwood is grasped in strong hands, in spite of her struggles, and thrown into water above a mans depth. The witch plunges and disappears, when doubtless the cry rises, She was in no- cent! But as suddenly she re-appears, and begins to swim in spite of her bonds! The witch is a witch, after all, as their wise worships declared; and never more should anybody presume to doubt those in author- ity! A shout from the crowd on shore proclaims the respect due to magistrates; the witch is dragged into the boats, which are rowed back to shore, and there the five ancients remove her wet garments and re-examine her. This time there is no more doubt. Conclusive and damning evidence is discovered of the witchs true character. Two moles are found on her person, and the hags hold up their hands in horror. When they come iii due time to make oath as to what they have discov- ered, they will sum up all in the crushing statement that Grace Sherwood is a witch, for upon examination they had found that she was not like them. So Grace is taken back to jail, and their worships are in a greater quandary than ever. She is proved a witch-are they to burn her? Doubtless that were the true course, in accordance with the laws of the realm. But then it is a serious matter to burn people, and the court will consider it further. It may be that certain people outside of Princess Anne are laughing at the whole proceeding. To end: judgment will be reserved; Grace Sherwood shall be confined in irons or otherwise in the county jail, and shall be brought to fu- ture trial.... The facts here recorded are all that is known of this singular incident. A tradi- tion has survived that the young witch died in prison before that future trial, but the statement only rests upon tradition. But for the entry in the journal of the court, and the name Witch Duck still attached to the scene on Lynhaven Bay where Grace Sherwood was put into water, the whole story of this first and only Virginia witch would remain a mere legend. LOVES RESURRECTION DAY. ROUND among the quiet graves, When the sun was low, Love went grievingLove who saves Did the sleepers know? At his touch the flowers awoke, At his tender call Birds into sweet singing broke, And it did befall From the blooming, bursting sod All Loves dead arose, And went flying up to God By a way Love knows.

102 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. lines of the Chesapeake coast, and the dim haze toward the shore of the Atlantic. On the banks are the crowd of people who have come to witness the punishment of the first Virginia witch, and the sheriff and his posse are ready to carry out the order of court. The waves are lapping in the grass and flags, and the odor of the pines mingles with the scent of rosemary that rosemary brought in the egg-shell ship from the distant shores of the Medi- terranean. And so the test begins. The ancient women, no doubt resem- bling their respectable prototypes in lilac- beth, proceed to make their examination. Poor Grace Sherwood, no doubt weeping at the terrible ordeal before her, is divest- ed of her clothingin a place of privacy, it is to be hopedand her person is close- ly inspected for some lurking amulet or other protection. None, it seems, was found, and, her clothing no doubt having been restored to her, the witch was ready to undergo the decreed test. Her hands were bound, and she was placed in the boat; the sheriff followed with his posse; the fleet rowed to deep water, and having reached a spot where it was over a mans head; the final ceremony took place. It is to be regretted that Dogberry, C. C., did not find it convenient to enter into de- tails, but doubtless he depended upon the intelligence of his readers to imagine the scene. The sheriff, he informs us, was to take~ boats for his purpose, and a num- ber filled with men probably formed a cir- cle around the sheriffs with the view of rescuing the accused if she sank to the bottom. One and all of these honest Vir- ginians, if we may hazard a conjecture, thought it a bad business. It was hard to drown a woman, and doubtless they were about to drown Grace Sherwood; for was it not the judgment of all the spectators that it was contrary to cus- toni and the laws of nature that one bound as she was could swim or float in water? But there was the order of their worships, which must be obeyed; and suddenly Grace Sherwood is grasped in strong hands, in spite of her struggles, and thrown into water above a mans depth. The witch plunges and disappears, when doubtless the cry rises, She was in no- cent! But as suddenly she re-appears, and begins to swim in spite of her bonds! The witch is a witch, after all, as their wise worships declared; and never more should anybody presume to doubt those in author- ity! A shout from the crowd on shore proclaims the respect due to magistrates; the witch is dragged into the boats, which are rowed back to shore, and there the five ancients remove her wet garments and re-examine her. This time there is no more doubt. Conclusive and damning evidence is discovered of the witchs true character. Two moles are found on her person, and the hags hold up their hands in horror. When they come iii due time to make oath as to what they have discov- ered, they will sum up all in the crushing statement that Grace Sherwood is a witch, for upon examination they had found that she was not like them. So Grace is taken back to jail, and their worships are in a greater quandary than ever. She is proved a witch-are they to burn her? Doubtless that were the true course, in accordance with the laws of the realm. But then it is a serious matter to burn people, and the court will consider it further. It may be that certain people outside of Princess Anne are laughing at the whole proceeding. To end: judgment will be reserved; Grace Sherwood shall be confined in irons or otherwise in the county jail, and shall be brought to fu- ture trial.... The facts here recorded are all that is known of this singular incident. A tradi- tion has survived that the young witch died in prison before that future trial, but the statement only rests upon tradition. But for the entry in the journal of the court, and the name Witch Duck still attached to the scene on Lynhaven Bay where Grace Sherwood was put into water, the whole story of this first and only Virginia witch would remain a mere legend. LOVES RESURRECTION DAY. ROUND among the quiet graves, When the sun was low, Love went grievingLove who saves Did the sleepers know? At his touch the flowers awoke, At his tender call Birds into sweet singing broke, And it did befall From the blooming, bursting sod All Loves dead arose, And went flying up to God By a way Love knows. THE NORTH SHORE. AMONG European types there is none more interesting than the monks, who in popular conception, I believe, are supposed to have been vastly instrument- al, in the Middle Ages, in preserving the foundations of modern art and learning. They are believed to have been even then, however, rather jovial fellows, fond of good living and a racy story, and are thus represented by the artists of the present. I do not remember having seen a pic- ture of the American monk, unless it be in the illustrations of Chateaubriands Atala, and he is certainly not a familiar figure. But it has been my good fortune to have seen something of the climate and soil to which he appears to have become native, for, like nearly every one else in America, he has gone west, not west from Boston or New York, but from the St. Lawrence, and he went at a very early day. The Northern region of which it is pro- posed to speak is, however, interesting for many other reasons than because the cru- cifix and gown stand out in sombre silhou- ettes against its historical horizon, for the monastic life formed only a part, though a very important part, of a vast and brilliant panorama of discovery and ad- venture, and the North Shore is interest- ing as a region toward which the eyes of the world were once turned throughout an extended period, and whose atmos- phere is redolent of a somewhat venerable past; but which, in spite of it all, has these many years lain well-nigh forgotten be- hind pathless forests, and has had the unique fate to remain a perpetual frontier. It happened that our tickets were on an American line of boats, and it happened also that while we had hoped to find on board some gentle Franciscan , or at least some weather - beaten voyageur, full of stories of the early trading days, to lend the beginning of onr journey a character- istic flavor, the monotonous list of pas- sengers was only relieved by the conspic- uous figure of a venerable widower, who was distinguished by having married four wives of different nationalities, and was now out on wedding journey number five, bonnd, as a commercial traveller in- formed us, for the great sea-side resort of the west, at Ashland, with a veritable travelling Babel of sons and daughters. This somewhat ambitious expression is characteristic of the country, but not near- ly so inaccurate as may appear, for not only is this wide way-side nook itself a surprise both in its surroundings and its unsurpassed accommodations, but Lake Superior, which was once mainly distin- guished from the sea by its freshness, has now been found to contain all the essen- tial salts, at least in the waters of Thun- der Bay, a locality of which more will be said as our narrative continues, and as early as 1851 Professor Agassiz announced the fact that the beach pea is found along the North Shore,together with other plants and insects peculiar to the ocean. The place of Lake Superior among all bodies of fresh-water is unique, with its vast expanse, its headlands that repeat Gibraltar, its islands that lie in the dis- tance like mountains of opaque amethyst in beds of turquoise blue or silver, and its waters cold as the waters of the pole, and so clear that you look at a depth of fifty feet upon beds of rock white with silver veins, paved with phosphorescent spar, or glittering with copper, where Isle Roy- ale stretches her jewelled fingers beneath the waves.~~ Then, too, it has lain there these many million years, hemmed in by a rim of rocky heights which were twisted and marred by the fires which shaped the globe, and as a model about which the continent was formed, presents an epitome of antiquity before which the age of the eternal hills is but an instant in the march of time. There was a pleasant surprise in enter- ing Duluth. We had expected to find de- sertedwarehouses and streets grown green since the fiasco of a premature beginning, but the prosperity inevitable upon its nat- ural situation seems to have taken a new lease of life, and there is a strong impres- sion in approaching from the water that the city has grown in a single night, al- most every other one of the houses scat- tered well up the slope of the irregular and barren hills being still unpainted, and ap- parently occupied before completion. The early French writers were fond of comparing Superior to a bended bow, and Keweenaw Point, stretching far into the lake, was not inaptly called an arrow; but the people of Duluth humorously speak of it or at least of its western end, as a colos- sal hand, with the index finger pointing

THE NORTH SHORE. AMONG European types there is none more interesting than the monks, who in popular conception, I believe, are supposed to have been vastly instrument- al, in the Middle Ages, in preserving the foundations of modern art and learning. They are believed to have been even then, however, rather jovial fellows, fond of good living and a racy story, and are thus represented by the artists of the present. I do not remember having seen a pic- ture of the American monk, unless it be in the illustrations of Chateaubriands Atala, and he is certainly not a familiar figure. But it has been my good fortune to have seen something of the climate and soil to which he appears to have become native, for, like nearly every one else in America, he has gone west, not west from Boston or New York, but from the St. Lawrence, and he went at a very early day. The Northern region of which it is pro- posed to speak is, however, interesting for many other reasons than because the cru- cifix and gown stand out in sombre silhou- ettes against its historical horizon, for the monastic life formed only a part, though a very important part, of a vast and brilliant panorama of discovery and ad- venture, and the North Shore is interest- ing as a region toward which the eyes of the world were once turned throughout an extended period, and whose atmos- phere is redolent of a somewhat venerable past; but which, in spite of it all, has these many years lain well-nigh forgotten be- hind pathless forests, and has had the unique fate to remain a perpetual frontier. It happened that our tickets were on an American line of boats, and it happened also that while we had hoped to find on board some gentle Franciscan , or at least some weather - beaten voyageur, full of stories of the early trading days, to lend the beginning of onr journey a character- istic flavor, the monotonous list of pas- sengers was only relieved by the conspic- uous figure of a venerable widower, who was distinguished by having married four wives of different nationalities, and was now out on wedding journey number five, bonnd, as a commercial traveller in- formed us, for the great sea-side resort of the west, at Ashland, with a veritable travelling Babel of sons and daughters. This somewhat ambitious expression is characteristic of the country, but not near- ly so inaccurate as may appear, for not only is this wide way-side nook itself a surprise both in its surroundings and its unsurpassed accommodations, but Lake Superior, which was once mainly distin- guished from the sea by its freshness, has now been found to contain all the essen- tial salts, at least in the waters of Thun- der Bay, a locality of which more will be said as our narrative continues, and as early as 1851 Professor Agassiz announced the fact that the beach pea is found along the North Shore,together with other plants and insects peculiar to the ocean. The place of Lake Superior among all bodies of fresh-water is unique, with its vast expanse, its headlands that repeat Gibraltar, its islands that lie in the dis- tance like mountains of opaque amethyst in beds of turquoise blue or silver, and its waters cold as the waters of the pole, and so clear that you look at a depth of fifty feet upon beds of rock white with silver veins, paved with phosphorescent spar, or glittering with copper, where Isle Roy- ale stretches her jewelled fingers beneath the waves.~~ Then, too, it has lain there these many million years, hemmed in by a rim of rocky heights which were twisted and marred by the fires which shaped the globe, and as a model about which the continent was formed, presents an epitome of antiquity before which the age of the eternal hills is but an instant in the march of time. There was a pleasant surprise in enter- ing Duluth. We had expected to find de- sertedwarehouses and streets grown green since the fiasco of a premature beginning, but the prosperity inevitable upon its nat- ural situation seems to have taken a new lease of life, and there is a strong impres- sion in approaching from the water that the city has grown in a single night, al- most every other one of the houses scat- tered well up the slope of the irregular and barren hills being still unpainted, and ap- parently occupied before completion. The early French writers were fond of comparing Superior to a bended bow, and Keweenaw Point, stretching far into the lake, was not inaptly called an arrow; but the people of Duluth humorously speak of it or at least of its western end, as a colos- sal hand, with the index finger pointing 104 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. significantly toward their city as the out- let and feeder of the northern west, and the enthusiastic hope that it will become an important centre at no distant day bears every evidence of being realized, in- asmuch as it lies at the head of navigation at the eastern extremity of the Northern Pacific, is surrounded by the largest pine forest east of the Rocky Mountains, and possesses in Vermilion Range a deposit of iron of great extent and undisputed value. While at Duluth a delightful jaunt was made to the Dells of the St. Louis, where the river pours through broken, irregular gorges, which seem hewn from the solid rock, sweeping around enormous rugged bowlders, and tumbling with impetuous haste over frequent falls. We were told that the river had lost much of its charm through the construc- tion of dams for timber, but while one re- grets these innovations from the point of view of the picturesque, the practical value of the stream becomes a matter of enga- ging interest, when we learn that with a fall of four hundred feet in four miles there is enough power to turn the twenty- five million spindles of England and Scot- land combined. Sieur Du Luth was by no means the first to explore the territory of Minnesota, but he was at one time actively engaged in trade at the western end of Lake Supe- rior, and is said to have caused his Maj- esty the King of Frances arms to be planted in a chief village of the Sioux in 1678. He may or he may not have been identified with the locality now called Du- luth, though it is more than likely that he was, but however important the spot may have been at an early day, there is little in the modern city to remind oneof the past. It is true that in the palmy days of the fur trade there was a post at Fond du Lac, within sight of the hills behind the city, but even there every vestige of the past is gone; there is not even a rafter of the old banquet hall remaining, and we found no one with a personal recollection of the scenes along the great portage to the Mis- sissippi, when the rivers were vocal with the songs of the voyageurs, and the wil- derness, which they never touched with change, was populous with their half-sav- age and half-civilized existence, and ones consciousness of the antiquity of the place is strangely at variance with the impres- sion of ones actual surroundings. The prospects of to-day in this region are, how- ever, curiously interwoven with the ideas of early discovery, and the mind reverts with a feeling of relief to that earlier phase of life which was remarkable alike for its picturesque scenes and its striking histor- ical contrast with contemporaneous events. In 1600, after the failure of Raleighs Virginia colony, there was not an English- man in America. Washington was not born until 1732, and yet ninety years be- fore, the Jesuit Jognes had landed at the Sault Ste. Marie. In 1659 two French traders had already penetrated to north- ern Minnesota, and in 1672, ten years be- fore Penn landed on the Delaware, there was a mission at the Apostles Islands, and Marquette and his fellow-missionaries had not only learned the location of tIme Mis- sissippi, but prepared an excellent map of the lake, which was published in Paris while the New England colonists were still struggling with King Philip. It would seem that affairs went forward in those early days at a very modern rate of speed, for the missionaries were scarcely established on the lake before there were settlements of traders, with their quaint block-houses and stockades, and its waters were picturesque with bright and stirring scenes of life long before the first drum-tap of the Revolution. The priests were the heroic figures of the epoch, and seem to reproduce the age of saintship, as with exalted piety and fervor they penetrated among hostile tribes, taking possession of the country in the name of God by carv- ing the word Jesus on the trees, and when tortured with diabolical ingenuity, weep- ing for those who could not find martyr- dom a joy. It may be that they accom- plished little among the Indians in pro- portion to their efforts, but the character of the performance remains the same, and the interest quickens as we fancy them treading the dense Northern forests, float- ing down silent shadowy rivers in their birch canoes, or sleeping in the snow be- neath the stars, and often enough, with faces illumined with benignant piety, yielding up their lives. Standing at Duluth, at the extremity of the great avenue of progress, the mists which hide the past seem to roll away, and the bright panorama of adventure is re- produced in fancy, with its brilliant col- oring, and the buoyant freedom of an un- restrained existence; the priests always in the lead, the discoverers, the traders, THE NORTH SHORE. 105 all in the quaint and often gay costume of the time, in ever-en ding and ever-re- newed procession; and then the theatre of action, the magnificent approach to the country of the lakes, down foaming rivers, and over unknown inland seas, the St. Lawrence, the Ottawa, the islands of Hu- ron, the Sault, and the new Pillars of Hercules at Gros Cap and Point Iro- quois, which guard the entrance to the Kitchigami, with its mighty basalt hills, and its silver mists in which men floated forever in enchantment. Eight miles from Montreal was the feudal castle of La Salle, with its pali- sades and bastionsnot exactly like the castles of early European history in ap- pearance, but, after all, with its tenantry and the whole movement of its life the same, and called La Chine, from his pro- posed route to China from the upper Mis- sissippia project based on ideas of the nearness of China and Japan which now seem ludicrous enough, but were then so seriously entertained that on one occa- sion at least Chinese traders were expect- ed to be found in what is now Wisconsin, and a certain explorer even prepared him- self for a western expedition with gar- ments of celestial hue. Not the least interesting feature of the period, though remote from Lake Superi- or, was the strange spectacle of the grace and stateliness of a court in log cabins buried in the dark Canadian forests, and the quaint progress of the provincial gov- ernors with their fleets of brightly color- ed boats, when the chivalrous European knight, surrounded with barbaric splen- dor, appeared as a patriarch and protector in a region which, though far from pop- ulous, was already picturesque with the life of merry boatmen, and resounded with the joyous airs of France whenever the traders swept in their swift canoes along the rivers, or built their camp fires for the nights bivouac. On a certain occasion, something over two hundred years ago, the Intendant of Canada, with a view to an extension of the French dominions, sent envoys throughout the west to pro- pose a congress of the nations at the Sault Ste. Marie, than which there can have been few more picturesque assemblies, as the tribes came in hosts in their birchen navies, with merry shouts and shining paddles, in all the glitter of savage deco- ration, and finally gathered on the shore in silent semicircles (sitting) about a group of black-gowned priests, stately braves in snowy turbans and eagle feathers, and French officials in plumed hats and scar- let cloaks, while above all were reared the cross, and a column marked with the lilies of the Bourbons. Here was feud- alism, the flavor of mediawal saintship, the gallantry of Paris and Versailles, and the buoyant, joyous life of the bourgeois class, all in the heart of the new conti- nent, before Bunker Hill was dreamed of. The French incursion is, however, quite as interesting as a repetition and epitome of history, for the Latin race bore the cross and fleur - de - lis far beyond the heavy-footed Saxon, built forts, concili- ated the savages, and laid the foQnda- tions of an empire, and then caine the Norsemen, as of old when the south of Europe led the world. Again in the New World the Latin races were to lead, and again all that is left is the poetry and ro- mance of the past, like the perfume of a rich and brilliant flower which lingers long after the substance has passed away; but the short route to China has been dis- covered, the sturdy Norsemen have laid the rails, and the fair dreams of those early days will be more than realized in the new belt of civilization and commerce along the boundary of Canada and the United States. There are several ways of skirting along the coast eastward from Duluth. A jour- ney through the interior would only be possible for experienced woodsmen; in- deed, very much of the country has really never been thoroughly explored. We might have taken the government road along the shore, in comparison with which the roughest corduroy would appear a brilliant modern innovation. We learned, however, that it was merely a broad trail for dog teams, which carry the mail in winter to Thunder Bay and other places, and were willing to leave undisturbed a monopoly which could not excite the envy of the most communistically inclined. It would require a week to reach Prince Arthurs Landing in a Mackinaw boat, and while we might have made the run in eighteen hours by steamer, it was pre- ferred to combine pleasure with moderate expedition, and we accordingly took the mail tug which plies between Duluth, Grand Portage, and intermediate points, with a view to an occasional glimpse of the scenery, which increases in grandeur all the way to Thunder Cape. 106 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. In the dry atmosphere of this region River we crossed the present line, which the vision reaches very far. On the up- includes Isle Royale, and extends along ward journey the northern coast had a r~markab]e chain of lakes and streams beer~ visible nearly across the lake, stretch- reaching to the Lake of the Woods, which ing its faint outlines far along the hon- once formed an important highway, fol- zon; and now, eighteen miles away, we lowed by the traders, who after a journey could see every wrinkle and fold in the of several thousand miles, arrived at the mighty wall rising hundreds of feet into Grand Portage in their canoes with more the sunlight in shining escarpments and regularity than a modern steamer in its palisades, cleft by shadowy recesses, brok- trip around the lakes. en by bold headlands, and now and then The territory thus acquired is still vir- opening into some exquisite rock-bound tually terra incognita. There are no set- harbor radiant with imprisoned light. tlements inland, and the few scattered In such a journey there is little mci- towns along the lake are the result of dent, and one is content with impressions mining, which has been encouraged by that can not be conveyed. One merely the geological surveys, but which, wheth- exists, exhilarated by the bracing air, and en the deposits of silver and other metals satisfied to bask in the sun, and follow be rich or otherwise, will not soon be can- the long inregulan line of heights as they ned forward without the utmost diffi- emerge in pale blue masses from their culty, and the mines can now only be robe of misty light, reached from the coast by packing. It is not safe to approach too near the At the Grand Marais, one of these towns, coast. There wene, however, occasional where there was considerable delay, it close glimpses, notably at Agate Bay, was our good fortune to catch a glimpse where picturesque groups of Indians were of local life, and see the trains of gaunt gathering the beautiful stones implied in Indian figures, with packs on their the name, which in the nougli are indis- backs, supported by straps around the tinguishable to the untrained eye from or- fonehead, ascending a rocky portage in dinary pebbles, but are gathered in quarts single file, something like the carriers of and bushels by these dusky-fingered con- South America, or the arrieros of Spain. noisseurs. A more novel make-shift for a team, how- It was not long, as we pushed merrily even, used in winter, consists of a dog, a onward in our brusque and somewhat in- billy-goat, and a mule, a combination of trusive little craft, before we reached a character in the latter two animals which bit of scenery well worthy of special no- comically typifies the persistence neces- tice in the palisades, which begin beyond sary in local operations, and is oddly a rock-bound bay, and once formed a wall characteristic of a region whene literally which rose directly and continuously from the earths crust is so bare that, were the the water. Their composition, however, forests removed, a few heavy rains would is such that this could not long remain wash away what little soil there is, and the case, the basaltic columns, of which leave a continuous line of rocky hills all the surface is composed, being loosened the way eastward from Duluth, not un- by storms and frost, and sliding down per- like the Riviera of southenn Enance cx- pendicularly as the softer rock beneath cept in elevation, and if recollection is worn away, or crushed by the icy bat- serves us rightly, even more jagged and tenies which every winters storm hurls splintered in their savage grandeur. against its base, with the result that the One of the most interesting places in the effect of grandeur is heightened on close early history of Lake Superior was Grand inspection among the huge columns which Portage, on Grosselier on Pigeon River. lean against the wall, or lie shattered at In 1679 Du Luth built a fort there, the its base in massive blocks, and the mind ruins of which were still visible a few is awed by a vivid realization of the forces years since, but the real importance of the by which they were formed, and which place did not begin until after the estab- have left the underlying portions twisted lishment of the Northwest Company, and curved in a manner which defies de- though at the signing of the Declaration scniption. of Independence it is said to have already It will be remembered that before 1842 been a commercial emporium of the back- the Great Lakes formed part of the bound- woods, bright with a motley and bizarre ary line of the United States. At Pigeon existence. CLIFFS ON THE NORTH SHORE, ABOVE DULUTH. VOL. LXJX.No. 4097 Until the boundary treaty the Grand giving their complaintes in particular a Portage was the general head - quarters peculiar interest, and they might often and rendezvous of trade in this part of have been seen at evening slowly moving the world, and became a sort of home to across the polished surface of some silent the voya gears, or was at least the one forest lake with slowly dipping paddles, place in the wilderness in which their in- chanting a co9nplaintc~ which perhaps re- terests centred, and which was associated lated the sufferings and misfortunes of with social pleasures, and it is in places some real or imaginary royageur. like Grand Portage and Fort William that At certain seasons they came to the one gets the best idea of these heroes of the Grand Portage, and later to Fort William, paddle. They were gay, droll, braggart in numbers swelling the population to fellows, full of poetry and music, whose several thousands, and it was invariably every passing mood found expression in a season of festivity and rejoicing, when verse, which was often enough doggerel old friends met after scenes of danger, and in form, but more or less genuine in feel- old vows were renewed over brimming ing. They were true believers, too, in the bumpers. During the day there were old German saying, Em anderes St~dt- wrestling matches and Indian dances in chen, em anderes 1\Thdchen,~ and often the open air, and night after night the enough had a sweetheart at every post great banquet ball with its low ceiling from Montreal to the Pacific. It was was lighted for the dance, with blazing therefore natural that some ma Doudette pine knots revealing its unstudied decora- or ma belle Rose should often be made tiona few pairs of snow-shoes leaning in the theme of compositions, the body of the corners, cutlasses crossed with mus- which was made up of the impressions of kets at intervals alonp the walls, and an the journey, the steersman touching ev- occasional pair of branching antlers, which cry passing incident in his composition, may have been the gift of some Highland and the others joining in a joyous chorus, laddie, for Sandy was by no means a keeping time with their paddles and their stranger to the fur trade. swaying bodies, and nothing could be The ruling social element, however, was more inspiriting than a brigade of canoes always French, and there are few more under full song sweeping down some rap- picturesque affairs than those border balls, id river. Theirs was, however, a life of with an orchestra composed of a bagpipe, hardships, and Lower Canada always re- a fiddle, and a flute, to the music of which mained the home to which they would the dark - eyed half - breed girls moved some time return, but toward which they through the stately dances with the wild nevertheless always turned the longing grace and freedom of the woods, with gay eyes of exiles, and the result was a pecul- partners, who were doubtless very hand- jar and pathetic sadness running in an some in their soft brown deer-skin leg- under-tone through many of their songs, gings, their blue capotes, and scarlet sash- __________________________________ es, from which hung glittering knives and ~ Another village, another maiden. embroidered Indian pouches. LAMB ISLAND LIGHT, NEAL THUNDER CAPE. THE NORTH SHORE. 109 ThesteamerfromGrandPortagebrought esque log bank, which, with its quaint ga- us into Thunder Bay at night, and there bles, really looks as if it were built to were only passing glimpses in the evening please some idle fancy. of clusters of curiously indented islands, On learning, however, of the sums tbat with long tapering points, and the irregu- are being laid out in docks and piers, and lar coast of the mainland, with an occa- sional Indian lod~e, a few indistinct fig- ures before a camp fire, and two or three canoes drawn up on the shore, or a soli- tary light on some wind-swept rock, run up on a pole, in lien of a light-house before a rickety hut, wbich looked the pic- ture of exile and desolation. We will frankly acknowledge a preju- dice against Canadian towns. We had thought them rickety and shiftless, but Prince Arthurs Landing, on Thunder Bay, is a creation of New Canada. It is true it is not much of a place as yet, and there was the least suggestion in the tinkling bells of one-horse carts that jogged slow- ly along the village streets of the delicious drowsy life in those quaint old French towns along the St. Lawrence River, and the lawyer and banker walked about the streets in slippers. One saw more of the life of the place in the long twilight of pleasant summer evenings, when all the town was out, and a little bevy of ladies and gentlemen went canoeing in craft that were quite luxurious enough for Quebec or Montreal, and a fleet of white-winged yachts rode buoyantly in the bay, dipping with the rising swells as a swallow dips and soars against a freshen- ing breeze. The Landing is, in fact, all sorts of a place. There were smart, tidy shops that remind one of an English village, where one can buy articles of luxury not to be found in our larger country towns, and not always in our cities. A ruined stock- ade, which the fancy connected with In- dian massacres and a frontier life, was built to anticipate the Fenian invasion. The government yard contained the gig of Sir Garnet Wolseley, who once passed through here with troops; and as we stroll- ed along the street that skirts the bay be- fore the Queens Hotel, ~roups of dusky figures basking in the sun along the beach, the brilliant atmosphere, the magnificent scenery, with Pie Island lying in the dis- tance, very like Capri across the Bay of Naples, created a vivid impression of many a sunny nook along the Italian coast. There is not, in fact, much about the Land- ing to remind one of the frontier, except the sameness of the houses and a pictur- THE DEVILS TOOTHPICK, PIE ISLAND. 110 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. A MINERSILVER ISLAND. that, with only 1300 people, the village has laid twelve miles of track against heavy odds to meet the Canadian Pacific, extending, as it were, a royal invitation to that line to make this its eastern termi- nus for the present in preference to the neighboring village of Fort William, we were whisked from idle fancies to the prac- tical realities of the present, and felt the bracing atmosphere of enterprise and com- petition. A friendly greeting at the landing had been assured through letters from Duluth, and as we happened into the post-office the evening of the day of our arrival, we were surrounded by the judge, a lawyer, two ed- itors, and a sheriffa combination which would naturally have a portentous aspect; but though we were arrested rather sum- marily in our course, it was only to be pre- sented to the postmaster, and a civil engi- neer, said to be very familiar with the coun- try, and it was not long before we were thoroughly at home among friends, many of whom devoted themselves to our serv- ice with engagin,, hospitality. Accordingly the following morning we became their guests in an excursion to the Nipigon, one hundred miles away. On this occasion we enjoyed the use of a private launch, a sort of propeller, tug, and yacht combined, provided by the president (reeve) of the village, and an intelligent and enterprising merchant, and nothing could have been more agreeable than our surroundings on setting forth; the exhil- arating freshness of the Northern morn- ing; the landscape gradually stealing from a silent world of mist, which broke up with shifting irregular patches of blue between its vapory masses; and then as we ap- proached the pier, what a spectacle lay be- fore the eye the bending lines of hills stretching in gentle curves far out to sea, with increasing elevation to Thunder Cape, and Pie Island in the foreground (the latter once a projection of the shore), inclosed with mural cliffs from eight to fourteen hundred feet in height a vast rock-rimmed basin, radiant with light and color. There it lay with undulating stretches of soft rich purple, followed by purplish-grays and greens a little farther out, and finally a pale blue bed about the distant islands, which lay dark and mass- ive across our path, their huge crowns silhouetting in clear-cut outlines against the eastern sky, while a soft mirage lifted the distant heights of Isle Royale across the outer gaps in white and shining PIE ISLAND. THE NORTH SHORE. 1:I~1 light. But it was not until we gradually rounded Thunder Cape that we felt the full effect. Then how the mighty masses ruled us! What silent isolation! And how supreme they were as they seemed to look down upou us across these many million years since the earth was young, and their scarred and wrinkled fronts echoed the tumult of creation! Parallel with Thunder Bay, and only separated from it by the cape, lies Black Bay, stretching inland nearly forty miles, while the Nipigon, rock - bound like the rest, and equally extensive, lies close beyond. At the foot of Thunder Cape we touch- ed at Silver Islet, which at one time cre- ated a furor in the speculative world, and is unique, I believe, among silver mines, the shaft being sunk fifteen hundred feet through a rock which was originally only forty by seventy feet in extent, and until it was cribbed was submerged by every heavy sea. Mr. Cabot, who wrote the narrative of the Agassiz expedition in 1851, estimated that there were nearly thirty-six thousand islands in the lake, most of which lie across the mouth of these three bays, and along Point Magnet, which bends west- ward from the western extremity of the Nipigon, and as we passed between them and the mainland, there was at times the impression that one was floating down some river like the Danube or Rhine; again the effect was of a submerged mountain chain, while still again the ap- pearance was wholly like the sea as we swept by breezy headlands with project- ing reefs of dark brown rock fringed with curling foam, or stopped to sketch some broken pile of blocks richly mottled with patches of yel]ow, brown, and green, and crispy with its brilliant lichen coat. The following evening found us at Red Rock, at the head of Nipigon Bay, where a river pours down from a chain of lakes linked by a series of boiling rapids. A visit was made to the house of the agent of the Hudson Bay Companya commodious modern building, curiously and rather elab- orately finished throughout with hard pine in place of plaster. The register contained the names of a good many American fish- ermen, and a goodly list of speckled trout caught by different parties, single fish often tipping the scales at from five to seven pounds. In the course of our stay there was an intere~ting jaunt to an In- dian settlement on Lake Helen, one of the expansions of the Nipigon River, two miles above. The wigwams lay scattered all along the shore, surrounded by scores of yelping Indian dogs blinking in the sun; and inasmuch as the Nipigon Indians were at one time exceedingly warlike and ferocious, the present peaceful settlement speaks well for the success of the Catholic FORT WILLIAM. 112 TIAiRPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. missions. There was a church, and a few substantial housQs and barns belonging to half-breeds, but the full-blooded Indi- ans invariably lived in wigwams, which were scattered in picturesque groups, usu- ally with a few nets and brightly colored garments drying in the sun before them, and Indian women repairing canoes along the beach. The Canadians have an English fond- ness for long jaunts, at least in this part of Canada, and we had scarcely returned from the Nipigon when our friends pro- posed an expedition inland to the Kaka- bikka Falls. During the days spent in preparation for the inland journey (for our Canadian cousins have an English system in their business) the time was passed at the mis- sion and Fort William. Years ago the Chippeways sent a depu tation to the Manitoulin Isl- ands, in Lake Huron, to ask the establishment of a mis- sion on the North Shore, and two priestsFathers Du Ranquet and Coninwere accordingly sent to the post at Pigeon River, but sub- sequently removed to the vicinity of Fort William where there is now a con- siderable establishment, the school buildings, church, and monastery lying in green fields along the riv- er-bank against a niountain background. Our first visit was made on a warm day in June. A few canoes were lying on the shore before a group of scattered cottages, and the place seemed silent, as all old places do. We passed a large field yellow with buttercups, and as we let down the bars on appar- ently deserted grounds, and ascended a narrow project- ing wharf, a bright-eyed little Indian boy offered to ferry us across. There was an ascent of a steep and rick- ety pair of stairs on the oppo- site bank, and we found our- selves in the quaint porch of the little monastery, where a tall, spare priest with a plea- sant face gave us welcome. There were many pleasant hours spent at the mission, full of interesting informa- tioii. In the conversion of the Indian it seems, curionsly enough, that the main bulwark to be carried is his fondness for drumminga ceremony senseless and mo- notonous enough to us, but full of myste- rious importance to those who, in the sim- plicity of race childhood, are awed by nat- ural phenomena, and especially in winter are lonely and full of a superstitious fear of tempests, and practice this pagan rite by way of solace and protection. Sometimes in a storm a long smoky wig- wam will be filled with Indians surround- ing drummers, who continue their monot- onous ceremony throughout the day and night, until the feeling becomes so intense that one may pass back and forth among them without attracting notice. Howev- er, when once thoroughly Christianized, INDIAN BOY AT NIrIGON. they forget the drum even under (to them) the most trying circumstances, and I well remember an occasion when com- ing down a wild rapid in a storm, the clouds were black, the wind blew in gusts, and the dark spruce woods rocked above us as we shot through the white foam, and my guide, who was a Christian, chant- ed a Latin hymn with a countenance full of wondering awe, and a curious mingling of savage feeling and Christian solace. In cases of great mortality, however, even these Christian Indians often return to the fetich of the drum. The whole neighborhood of Fort Will- iam bas a peculiar charm, and is indelibly impressed upon the mind. A mountain with bold cliffs, the straggling buildings of the mission, a few crosses, an ancient grave-yard, in which is buried many an old - time voyageur; up the river a sleepy village, with lazily droning mills and de serted docks; and below, where the river enters the lake through a delta, a broad bed of blue through the trees, and on the left, toward a low-lying light-house, the old fort, which grows upon one impercep- tibly as it lies there in the sunshine, with its quaint peaked roofs, its mossy walls full of the mellow tones of age, and the last schooner of the trade lying before it on the river-bank, with crumbling cord- age and gaping seams. The chief glory of the fort has, how- ever, passed away in the retirement of Mr. McIntyre, the last of the local factors who looked like an old Scotch laird, with his ruddy face, shaggy eyebrows, and a tasselled cap that covered locks as white as the Northern snows among which he NIPIGON STRAIT. 114 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. has spent his life. There was always something interesting iii a visit to the fort with him. Sometimes it was old Loin- bard, who said he had had twelve wives and six running dogs in his day, and if I were to live my life over, I would be a royctqeln again sometimes it was the records, and sometimes an o~d rubl)ish chaniber, from which we were permitted to carry away the bayonet of ait Old Brown Bess, bearing the To\ver mark, and Louis Quatorze shoe-buckles, which were the more l)lelitif iii as they were sent over to sell to the Iiidians, who, strangely eiiongh, it was thought, did not appreciate these then modern innovations. Again it was the fort itself, for while, with the exception of a ruined block-house aii(l a stone house for fnrs, there is really little left of the original fortitication, the new buildings are 01(1 enongi), and besides they have inherited their traits as a son hALLWAY IN rRIEsTs nousE. inherits from his father. Best of all, how- ever, was to hear the 01(1 factor renew the auld lang sync, when the trade was in its glory, and the 01(1 gentlemaii~s eves sparkled as lie recalled the meetings of the l)a.rtLiers, when an Italian cook was seiit froni the club-house at Montreal with braii- dies oily with age and fine 01(1 port; on such occasions the table groaned with fish aii(l game. Siiiion MeGilvary, chief factor, presi(le(l, and a beaver was on the i)hatter, aiid three l~nndred sat down to dijie, iii the order of their rank, with wines grade(1 froni charupag-ne at the factors l)laces, to mu and water among the guides at the lower end. Aye, mon those were jolly times, and mommy an auld Scotch song \vas sung, mnm(l inony a toast was (irunk. TIme 1st of July, on which we went to the Kakabikka, is Dominioii-day iii (Jan- a(la, amid is celebrate(l somewhat as we cel- ebrate tIme Fourth, though it is only un- poitant a5 the anniversary of the recent provincial con- federation. The celebration on this occasion was a mild one, but it was intemestino to watch the Donalds and Johunies as they camime in on the little steamers from the mines, amid the throngs of Indians an(l squaws seate(l n oiidermng groups along the shore aimd pier. Two large vessels were sailing below tIme cape, and with h~right flags and buoys, amid the snowy fleet of swiftly sailing yachts, the bay pre~ semited an unwonted scene of life; but the most niterest- ing spectacle of all was the canoe race as the two Iii- diaum crews shot forward with lusty strokes ail(l merry shouts, which continued till the goal was passed. At evening we were to be ready for the start. As we assembled at tIme station a few awk uvard worknmen- tyros oim the still unused roa(l were ruovin g about with lanterns, for what pur- pose no one could exactly tell, aiid a group of Indians waiting for their Prizes cu- riously eyed onr hand-car, which was loaded with two we1l~secnred canoes, and prov4sionS and der second growtib which seemed etched luggage for the journey, against the light, until we entered the si- The Canadian Pacific skirts along the lence of the dark I1V[uskeg. It was not bay as you leave the village, and the ef- long before we passed Fort William, and fect is unsurpassed as the moon rises large then followed a long ascent of nearly five and red above the dark rocks across the hundred feet in twenty miles, until in the gleaming water, and as we bowled along, dim morning light a floating cloud of the wash of the breakers soothed our ears, smoky mist appeared above the forest, and and the glancing waves seemed to smile the journey was at an end. There were and beckon in mystery through the slen- no changing scenes, only the deep shad- KAKABILKA FALLS. 116 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. owy woods, the white moonlight, the si- lence oniy broken by the continual rattle of the car, and the shadows of our figures slowly bending back and forth, and an occasional relief by turns, when the one most anxious to keep awake invariably fell asleep as he rattled along on a hard pine board across the keels of the over- reaching boats. At the as yet unused sta- tion of Karninistiquoia there was a short nap, a brisk bathe, as our Scotch friends called it, in the river, a hearty breakfast, and the canoes were launched for the downward passage. There was a dash of rapids at the out- set. A few swift, steady strokes brought us to the clearest water, and the spout- ing foam showered us with its refreshing drops; then there was a lull, a stretch of dimpling, eddying surface, and again a roar and rush of water that looked the whiter by contrast with the overhanging green. At one point there was a fall of twenty feet, beyond which the river seemed to lose itself among the trees. The forest lay all about us, and the impression was that the broad smooth surface had ceased to move, but on winding through a long circuitous channel we dropped down a glassy chute into an extensive basin, cross- ed by a curving line of islands with a lux- urious growth of spruce interspersed with modest satiny birches, and between the isl- ands the river poured in picturesque cas- ca(les. It was evening when we reached the Indian trail above the Kakabikka, which began with characteristic caution at a dis- tance above the falls. As we pushed through the tangled brush and interla- cing boughs the leaves were wet with spray, and as we neared the brink there was a dizzy rush of water, which seemed to sink out of sight, and the mist over- whelmed us with its hurrying clouds. There was a rough descent along the trail of some two hundred feet, which brought us to an ideal terrace surrounded by a hedge of thickly blooming roses, but it was nevertheless decided to camp on an island which lay temptingly beneath the falls. There was a stiff struggle up the rapids, a clinging here and there to roots along the wall, with an occasional rest in some deep eddy, the surface of which was covered with thick foam, cut now and then by the fins of slowly moving stur- geon, then another struggle with the wa- ter, and in the course of an hour or so the distance of a few hundred feet was made. It was dark above and darker still be- tween the black walls of the gorge, which rose two hundred feet above us, and little could be seen except vague clouds of mist that moved in spectral procession down the valley. In the quickly made camp a ruddy bon- fire was surrounded by a floor of cedar boughs, bacon was frying in pans on im- provised stone ovens, and a surrounding wall of wet gray blankets hung smoking in the heat, relieved by red bandana handkerchiefs, blue stockings, and soiled white sombreros, while a little group of tourists lay stretched at length before the fire, for the last pipe and story, and final- ly lay down, with their heads under the canoes, in wet clothing, between wet blankets, beneath the ever-falling spray. If Lake Superior were remarkable for nothing else, it would still be remarkable for the unnumbered cascades which stud its coasts, and which are often of great height and beauty. Among them all perhaps the grandest is the Kakabikka, as, with a width of one hundred yards, it flings itself over a precipice twenty feet higher than Niagara. The descent is perpendicular, but there is a slight shelving of the slate, and the water sinks in consequence in flaky foam ~rom the very top. On the occasion of our visit the morn- ing sun filled the fall with light, and the projecting piers which form the caldron were rich and dark against the snowy mass, and the thundering torrent seemed to disappear in an impalpable and seem- ingly incandescent spray. Below the falls there were ten miles of boiling rapids, then long smooth slopes of water, where at a few yards distance we could overlook the heads of those before us as they swept down the rapid current; then an intermi- nable maze of bends and curves, with exquisite terraced banks, and luxurious growths of elms; then the mission, the fort, and light-house, a long stretch across the bayin the dusk of evening; then oc- casional voices, a bell, and echoing ham- mers at the Landing, and as the moon rose above the cape our journey ended. YIII.THE GIANT BEECH. MILLION little beech leaves sway In the warm wind above me here; A speckled mavis sings quite near, The cuckoo calls from far away, But only beech leaves can I see, Trembling and tossing carelessly A world of green lost in the fair Surrounding space of azure air. IX.OLD FISHER-BOAT. Bright as a burnished shield, the sea In calm, in moveless peace doth sleep; Only the tides faint ripples creep Along the brown sands hushfully, Till now they lap the old worn hoat That nevermore on them will float. A year ago a wild storm made The saads a grave where it was laid. X.A HERRING SHOAL, WEST HIGHLANDS. Between dark hills on either side The salt sea-loch runs for a mile; And now, sun-charm~d to a smile, Gleams bright its flowing, frothing tide. But, lo! each wave to silver turns, In dazzling fire the whole loch burns. Millions of herring dart and splash, Each one a living lightning-flash. TRANSCRIPTS FROM NATURE.

YIII.THE GIANT BEECH. MILLION little beech leaves sway In the warm wind above me here; A speckled mavis sings quite near, The cuckoo calls from far away, But only beech leaves can I see, Trembling and tossing carelessly A world of green lost in the fair Surrounding space of azure air. IX.OLD FISHER-BOAT. Bright as a burnished shield, the sea In calm, in moveless peace doth sleep; Only the tides faint ripples creep Along the brown sands hushfully, Till now they lap the old worn hoat That nevermore on them will float. A year ago a wild storm made The saads a grave where it was laid. X.A HERRING SHOAL, WEST HIGHLANDS. Between dark hills on either side The salt sea-loch runs for a mile; And now, sun-charm~d to a smile, Gleams bright its flowing, frothing tide. But, lo! each wave to silver turns, In dazzling fire the whole loch burns. Millions of herring dart and splash, Each one a living lightning-flash. TRANSCRIPTS FROM NATURE. THE GREAT WESTERN MARCH. THE four years administration of John Q uincy Adams is commonly spoken of as a very uninteresting period, but it was in one respect more important than the twenty years that went before it or the ten years that followed. For the first time the inhabitants of the United States began to find out how very large a coun- try they lived in. From occupying a mere strip of land on the Atlantic they had spread already through New York and Ohio; but it was by detached emigra- tions, of which the nation was hardly con- scious, by great single waves of popula- tion sweeping here and there. After 1825 this development became a self-conscious and deliberate thing, recognized and legis- lated for, though never systematically or- ganized by the nation. When, between 1820 and 1830, Michigan Territory in- creased 260 per cent., Illinois 180 per cent., Arkansas Territory 142 per cent., and In- diana 133 per cent.,it indicated not a mere impulse but a steady progress, not a wave but a tide. Now that we are accustomed to the vast statistics of to-day, it may not seem exciting to know that the population of the whole nation rose from nearly ten millions (9,633,822) in 1820 to nearly thir- teen (12,866,020) in 1830; but this gain of one-third was at the time the most astound- ing demonstration of national progress. It enables us to understand the immense importance attached in John Quincy Adaniss time to a phrase now common- place and almost meaninglessinternal improvements. It is true that under John Quincy Adams more commercial treaties were organized than under all his predecessors; but this, after all, was a mi- nor benefit. The foreign commerce of the Unil~ed States is now itself, compar- atively speaking, subordinate; it is our vast internal development that makes us a nation. It is as the great epoch of in- ternal improvements that the four years from 1825 to 1829 will forever be moment- ous in the history of the United States. In 1825 the nation was in the position of a young man who has become aware that he owns a vast estate, but finds it to be mostly unproductive, and hardly even marketable. Such a person sometimes hits upon an energetic agent, who con- vinces him that the essential thing is to build a few roads, bridge a few streams, and lay out some building lots. It was just in this capacity of courageous adviser that John Quincy Adams was quite ready to offer himself. On the day of his in- auguration the greater part of Ohio was yet covered with forests, and Illinois was a wilderness. The vast size of the country was still a source rather of anxiety than of pride. Monroe had expressed the fear that no republican government could safe- ly control a nation reaching as far as the Mississippi; and Livingston, after miego- tiating for the purchase of Louisiana, had comforted himself with the thought that a large part of it might probably be re- sold. At that time this enormous annexa- tion was thought to endanger the very ex- istence of the original thirteen States. This was perhaps nowhere more frank- ly stated than by an able Fourth-of-July orator at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1813, Benjamin R. Nichols. He declares that to admit to the Union new States formed out of new territory is to set up a prin- ciple which, if submitted to, will make us more dependent than we were as colonies of Great Britain. If a majority of Con- gress have a right of making new States where they please, we shall probably soon hear of States formed for us in East and West Florida; and, should it come within the scope of the policy of our rulers, of others as far as the Pacific Ocean. If all this be right, the consequence is that the people of New England, in case of any disturbances in these newly created States, may, under pretense of suppressing insur- rections, be forced to march, in obedience to the Constitution, to the remotest cor- ners of the globe. In other words, that which now makes the crowning pride of an American citizen, that the States of the Union are spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was then held up by a patriotic Federalist as the very extreme of danger. The antidote to this deadly peril, the means. of establishing some communication with these remotest corners of the globe, must be found first of all in internal improve- ments. At least, under these circumstances of alarm, a highway or two might be held a reasonm~ble proposition, and the new Pre- sident, in his inaugural address, approach- ed the subject with something of the lin gering stateliness of those days: The magnificence and splendor of their public woeks are among the imperishable glories of the ancient republics. The roads

THE GREAT WESTERN MARCH. THE four years administration of John Q uincy Adams is commonly spoken of as a very uninteresting period, but it was in one respect more important than the twenty years that went before it or the ten years that followed. For the first time the inhabitants of the United States began to find out how very large a coun- try they lived in. From occupying a mere strip of land on the Atlantic they had spread already through New York and Ohio; but it was by detached emigra- tions, of which the nation was hardly con- scious, by great single waves of popula- tion sweeping here and there. After 1825 this development became a self-conscious and deliberate thing, recognized and legis- lated for, though never systematically or- ganized by the nation. When, between 1820 and 1830, Michigan Territory in- creased 260 per cent., Illinois 180 per cent., Arkansas Territory 142 per cent., and In- diana 133 per cent.,it indicated not a mere impulse but a steady progress, not a wave but a tide. Now that we are accustomed to the vast statistics of to-day, it may not seem exciting to know that the population of the whole nation rose from nearly ten millions (9,633,822) in 1820 to nearly thir- teen (12,866,020) in 1830; but this gain of one-third was at the time the most astound- ing demonstration of national progress. It enables us to understand the immense importance attached in John Quincy Adaniss time to a phrase now common- place and almost meaninglessinternal improvements. It is true that under John Quincy Adams more commercial treaties were organized than under all his predecessors; but this, after all, was a mi- nor benefit. The foreign commerce of the Unil~ed States is now itself, compar- atively speaking, subordinate; it is our vast internal development that makes us a nation. It is as the great epoch of in- ternal improvements that the four years from 1825 to 1829 will forever be moment- ous in the history of the United States. In 1825 the nation was in the position of a young man who has become aware that he owns a vast estate, but finds it to be mostly unproductive, and hardly even marketable. Such a person sometimes hits upon an energetic agent, who con- vinces him that the essential thing is to build a few roads, bridge a few streams, and lay out some building lots. It was just in this capacity of courageous adviser that John Quincy Adams was quite ready to offer himself. On the day of his in- auguration the greater part of Ohio was yet covered with forests, and Illinois was a wilderness. The vast size of the country was still a source rather of anxiety than of pride. Monroe had expressed the fear that no republican government could safe- ly control a nation reaching as far as the Mississippi; and Livingston, after miego- tiating for the purchase of Louisiana, had comforted himself with the thought that a large part of it might probably be re- sold. At that time this enormous annexa- tion was thought to endanger the very ex- istence of the original thirteen States. This was perhaps nowhere more frank- ly stated than by an able Fourth-of-July orator at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1813, Benjamin R. Nichols. He declares that to admit to the Union new States formed out of new territory is to set up a prin- ciple which, if submitted to, will make us more dependent than we were as colonies of Great Britain. If a majority of Con- gress have a right of making new States where they please, we shall probably soon hear of States formed for us in East and West Florida; and, should it come within the scope of the policy of our rulers, of others as far as the Pacific Ocean. If all this be right, the consequence is that the people of New England, in case of any disturbances in these newly created States, may, under pretense of suppressing insur- rections, be forced to march, in obedience to the Constitution, to the remotest cor- ners of the globe. In other words, that which now makes the crowning pride of an American citizen, that the States of the Union are spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was then held up by a patriotic Federalist as the very extreme of danger. The antidote to this deadly peril, the means. of establishing some communication with these remotest corners of the globe, must be found first of all in internal improve- ments. At least, under these circumstances of alarm, a highway or two might be held a reasonm~ble proposition, and the new Pre- sident, in his inaugural address, approach- ed the subject with something of the lin gering stateliness of those days: The magnificence and splendor of their public woeks are among the imperishable glories of the ancient republics. The roads JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. From the paInting by G. P. A. Healy, in the Corceran Gallery, Washington. 120 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. and aqueducts of Rome have been the admira- tion of all after-ages, anti have survived thou- sands of years, after all her conquests have been swallowed up in despotism, or become the spoil of barbarians. Some diversity of opinion has prevailed with regard to the pow- ers of Congress for legislation npou subjects of this natnre. The most respectful deference is due to doubts originating in pure patriot- ism, and snstained by venerated authority. But nearly twenty years have passed since the construction of the tirst national road was commenced. The authority for its construc- tion was then nnquestioned. To how many thousands of our countrymen has it proved a benefit? To what single individual has it ever proved an injury ? We must remember that when John Q uincy Adams became President the na- tion had been governed for a quarter of a century under a succession of Democratic administrations, acting more and more on Federalist principles. The tradition of States-rights had steadily receded, and the reality of a strong and expanding na- tion had taken its place. The very states- men who had at first put into the most definite shape these States-rights opinions had, by their action, done most to over- throw them, Jefferson above all. By the purchase of Louisiana he had, per- haps unconsciously, done more to build up national feeling than any President before him. Having, by a happy impulse, and in spite of all his own theories, enor- mously enlarged the joint territory, lie had recognized the need of opening and enlightening the new possession; he had set the example of proposing national ap- propriations for roads, canals, and even education; and had given his sanction (March 24, 1806) to building a national road from Maryland to Ohio, first obtain- ing the consent of the States through which it was to pass. To continue this policy would, he admitted, require consti- tutional amendments, but in his closing message he favored just these changes. It was but a step from favoring constitu- tional amendments for this purpose to doing without them; Jefferson, Madison, Monroe had done the one, John Quincy Adams did the other. Of course it took the nation by sur- prise. Nothing astonishes people more than to be taken at their word, and have their own theories energetically put in practice. Others had talked in a general way about internal improvements; under President Monroe there had even been cre ated (April 30, 1824) a national board to plan them; but John Quincy Adams real- ly meant to have them; and his very first message looked formidable to those who supposed that because he had broken with the Federalists he was therefore about to behave like an old-fashioned Democrat. In truth he was more new-fashioned tItan anybody. This is the way he commit- ted himself in this first message: While foreign nations, less blessed with that freedom which is power than ourselves, are advancing with gigantic strides in the ca- reer of public improvement, were we to slum- her in indolence, or fold up our arms and pro- claim to the world that we are palsied by the will of our constituents, would it not be to cast away the bounties of Providence, and doom ourselves to perpetual inferiority? In the course of time year now drawing to its close, we have beheld, under the auspices and a.t the expense of one State of this Union, a new university unfolding its portals to the 501)5 of science, and holding up the torch of human improvement to eyes that seek the light. We have seen, nuder the persevering and enlightened enterprise of another State, the waters of our western lakes mingle with those of the ocean. If undertakings like these have been accomplished in the compass of a fe~v years by the authority of single members of our confederation, can we, the representa- tive authorities of the whole Union, fall be- hind our fellow-servants in the exercise of the trust committed to us for the benefit of our common sovereign, by the accomplishment of works important to the whole, and to which neither the authority nor the resources of ammy one State can he adequate ? Nor was this all. It is curious to see that the Presidents faithful ally, Mr. Rush, Secretary of the Treasury, went far beyond his chief in the tone of his recom- mendations, and drifted i~o what would now be promptly labelled as Communism. When we read as an extreme proposition in these days, in the middle of some mildly socialistic manifesto, the suggestion that there should be a national bureau where- by new fields can be opened, old ones de- veloped, and every labor can be properly directed and located, we fancy it a nov- elty. But see how utterly Mr. Rush sur- passed these moderate proposals in one of his reports as Secretary of the Treasury. He said that it was the duty of govern- muent to augmemit the number amid variety of ocen- patioiis for its inhabitants; to hold out to ev- ery degree of labor and to every mamilfestation of shill its appropriate object and inducement; THE GREAT WESTERN MARCH. 121 to organize the whole labor of a country; to entice into the widest ranges its mechanical and intellectual capacities, instead of suffer- ing them to slumber; to call forth, wherever hidden, latent ingenuity, giving to effort ac- tivity, and to emulation ardor; to create em- ployment for the greatest amount of numbers by adapting it to the diversified faculties, pro- pensities, and situations of men, so that every particle of ability, every shade of genins, may come into requisition. Let us now turn to the actual advances made under the guidance of Mr. Adams. Nothing in. the history of the globe is so extraordinary in its topographical and moral results as the vast western march of the American people within a hundred years. Let us look, for instance, at the excellent French map of what constituted the northern part of the United States in 1798. The western boundary of visible settlement is the Genesee River of New York. The names on the Hudson are like the names of to-day; all beyond is strange. No railroad, no canal; only a turnpike rnnning to the Genesee, and with no farther track to mark the way through the forest to Buffaloe, on the far-off lake. Along this turnpike are set- tlements, Schenectady, Canajohary, Schjuyler or Utica, Fort Stenwick or Rome, Oneida Cassle, Onondaga Cassle, Geneva, and Canandargue, where the road turns north to Lake On- tario. Forests cover all Western New York, all Northwestern Pennsylvania. Far off in Ohio is a detached region indi- cated as the Connecticut Reserve, con- ceded to the families who had been ruin- ed during the war of Independence whence our modern phrase Western Re- serve. The summary of the whole map is that the United States still consisted of the region east of the Alleghanies, with a few outlying settlements, and nothing more. Now pass over twenty years. In the map prefixed to William Darbys Tour from New York to Detroit, in 1818this Darby being the author of an emigrants guide, and a member of the New York Historical Societywe find no State west of the Mississippi except Missouri, and scarcely any towns in Indiana or Illi- nois. Michigan Territory is designated, but across the whole western half of it is the inscription, This part very imper- fectly known. All beyond Lake Michi- gan and all west of the Mississippi is a nameless waste, except for a few names of rivers and of Indian villages. This marks the progress and a very considerable progressof twenty years. Writing from Buffalo (now spelled correctly), Darby says: The beautiful and highly culti- vated lands of the strait of Erie are now a specimen of what in forty years will be. the landscape from Erie to Chicaga [sic]. It is a very gratifying anticipation to be- hold in fancy the epoch to come when this augmenting mass of the population will enjoy, in the interior of this vast conti- nent, a choice collection of immense marts where the produce of the banks of in- numerable rivers and lakes can be ex- changed.? Already, it seems, travellers and map- makers had got from misspelling Buffa- be to misspelling Chicaga. It was a great deal. The Edinburgh Review for that same year (June, 1818), in reviewing Birkbecks once celebrated Travels in America, said: Where is this prodigions increase of nnm- hers, this vast extension of dominion, to end)? What bounds has nature set to the progress of this mighty nation ~ Let our jealousy burn as it may, let pur intolerance of America be as unreasonably violent as we please, still it is plain that she is a power in spite of us, rapidly rising to supremacy; or, at least, that each year so mightily augments her strength as to overtake, by a most sensible distance, even the most formidable of her competitors. This was written, it must be remember- ed, when the whole population of the United States was but little more than nine millions, or about the present popu- lation of New York and Pennsylvania taken together. What were the first channels for thi great transfer of population? The great turnpike-road up the Mohawk Valley, in New York; and farther south, the Na- tional Road, which ended at Wheeling, Virginia. Old men, now or recently liv- ingas, for instance, Mr. Sewall New- house, the trapper and trap-maker of Onei- dacan recall the long lines of broad- wheeled wagons, drawn by ten horses forty of these teams sometimes coming in close succession; the stages, six of which were sometimes in sight at once; the casualties, the break-downs, the sloughs of despond, the passengers at work with fence rails to pry out the vehicle from a mud hole. These sights, now disappear- ing on the shores of the Pacific, were then familiar in the heart of what is now the JOHN C. CALHOUN. From the painting by Do Block, owned by John C. Caihono, Eoq. THE GREAT WESTERN MARCH. 123 East. This was the tide flowing west- ward; while eastward, on the other hand, there soon began a counter current of flocks and herds sent from the new settle- ments to supply the older States. As early as 1824 Timothy Flint records meet- ing a drove of more than a thousand cat- tle and swine, rough and shaggy as wolves, guided toward the Philadelphia market by a herdsman looking as untamed as themselves, and coming from Ohio a name which still sounded in our ears, Flint says, like the land of savages. The group so well known in our litera- ture, the emigrant family, the way- side fire, the high-peaked wagon, the exhaust- ed oxen, this picture recedes steadily in space as we come nearer to our own time. In 1788 it set off with the first settlers from Massachusetts to seek Ohio; in 1798 it was just leaving the Hudson to ascend the Mo- hawk River; in 1815 the hero of Lau~rie Todd saw it at Rochester, New York; in 1819 Darby met it near Detroit, Michigan; in 1824 Flint saw it in Missouri; in 1831 Alexander depicted it in Tennessee; in 1843 Margaret Fuller Ossoli sketched it beyond Chicago, Illinois; in 1856 I myself saw it in Nebraska and Kansas; in 1864 Clarence King described it in his admira- ble sketch, Way-side Pikes, in California; in 1882 Mrs. Leighton in her charming letters pictures it at Puget Sound; beyond which, as it has reached the Pacific, it can not advance. From this continent the emigrant group, in its original form, has almost vanished; the process of spreading emigration by steam is less picturesque, but more rapid. The newly published volumes of the United States Census for 1880 give, with an accuracy of detail such as the world never before saw, the panorama of this vast westward march. It is a matter of national pride to see how its ever-chan- ging phases have been caught and photo- graphed in these masterly volumes, in a way such as the countries of the older world have never equalled, though it would seem so much easier to depict their more fixed conditions. The Austrian newspapers complain that no one in that nation knows at this moment, for instance, the centre of Austrian population; while the successive centres for the United States are here exhibited on a chart with a pre- cision as great, and an impressiveness to the imagination as vast, as when astrono- mers represent for us the successive posi- voL. LxIx.No. 409.S tions of a planet. Like the shadow thrown by the hand of some great clock, this inev- itable point advances year by year across the continent, sometimes four miles a year, sometimes eight miles, but always advancing. And with this striking sum- mary, the census report gives us a series of successive representations on colored charts, at ten-year intervals, of the gradu- al expansion and filling in of population over the whole territory of the United States. No romance is so fascinating as the thoughts suggested by these silent sheets, each line and tint representing the unspoken sacrifices and fatigues of thou- sands of nameless men and women. Let us consider for a moment these successive indications. In the map for 1790 the whole popula- tion is on the eastern slope of the Appa- lachian range, except a slight spur of em- igration reaching westward from Penn- sylvania and Virginia, and a detached set- tlement in Kentucky. The average depth of the strip of civilization, measuring back from the Atlantic westward, is but three hundred and fifty-five miles. In 1800 there is some densening of population with- in the old lines, and a western movement along the Mohawk in New York State, while the Kentucky oasis of population has spread down into Tennessee. In 1810 all New York, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky are well sprinkled with population, which begins to invade southern Ohio also, while the territory of Orleans has a share; and Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, the Mississippi territoryincluding Mississip- pi and Alabamaare still almost or quite untouched. In 1820 Ohio, or two-thirds of it, shows signs of civilized occupation; and the settlements around Detroit, whie~m so impressed Darby, have joined those in Ohio; Tennessee is well occupied, as is southern Indiana; while Illinois, Wis- consin, Alabama, have rills of population adjoining the Indian tribes, not yet re- moved, still retarding Southern settle- ments. In 1830Adamss administration being now closedIndiana is nearly cov- ered with population, Illinois more than half; there is hardly any unsettled land in Ohio, while Michigan is beginning to be occupied. Population has spread up the Missouri to the north of Kansas River; and, farther south, Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas begin to show for some- thing. But even in 1830 the centre of population is in Moorefield, western Vir 124 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. ginia, not yet moving westward at the rate of more than five miles a year. This year of 1830 lying beyond the term of John Quincy Adamss administration, I shall here follow the statistics of the great migration no farther. Turn now to his annual message and see how, in- stead of the doubts or cautious hints of his predecessors, these state papers fairly bristle with suggestions of special im- provements which an overflowing Trea- sury enabled him to secure. In his third fourteen millions were expended under him for permanent objects, besides five million dollars for pensions; a million and a half for the Indian tribes; thirty millions for the reduction of the public debt; and a surplus of five millions for his successor. Here was patriotic housekeep- ing indeed, for the vast household of the nation, and yet this administration has very commonly been passed over as be- longing to those times of peace that have proverbially but few historians. t the I 0 ~( ~C lID. BALTIM RE ~ H~~o I C 0 ~ WE o~ei~a 390 15 -kerbur~ 0Clark. u~g ~ ~ I8OO~ c / - ~1S2O 0A~ APOLIS All s ~ ~ 0 ~184O ~ 830 / SHINGTON ~ N. ~155Q k V I 11 (1 I A \,~ V((odstoc X T U C KY vi~ G I\N I A MAP SHOWING THE MOVEMENT OF THE CENTRE OF POPULATION WESTWARD ON THE THIRTY-NINTH PARALLEL. annual message, for instance, he enu- merates reports ready for Congress, and in some cases acted upon, in respect to the continuance of the national road from Cumberland eastward, and to Co- lumbus and St. Louis westward; as to a national road from Washington to Buf- falo, and a post-road from Baltimore to Philadelphia; as to a canal from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi; another to be cut across Florida; another to con-. nect Mobile and Pensacola; another to unite the Coosa and Hiwassee rivers in Alabama. There are reports also on Cape Fear; on the Swash in Pamlico Sound; on La Plaisance Bay in Michigan; on the Kennebec and Saugatuck rivers; on the harbors of Edgartown, Hyannis, and New- buryport. What has been already done, he says, in these and similar directions, has cost three or four million dollars an- nually; but has been done without crea- ting a dollar of taxes or debt; nor has it diminished the payment of previous debts, which have indeed been reduced to the ex- tent of $16.O00,000 in three years. But this was only a partial estimate. During the whole administration of John Quincy Adams, according to the American An- nual Register, more than a million dollars were devoted to the light-house system; half a million to public buildings; two millions to arsenals and armories; three millions to coast fortifications; three mill- ions to the navy; and four millions to in- ternal improvements and scientific sur- veys. Including smaller items, nearly Let us return to the actual progress of the great western march. The Ohio River being once reached, the main chan- nel of emigration lay in the water-courses. Steamboats as yet were but beginning their invasion, amid the general dismay and cursing of the population of boatmen that had rapidly established itself along the shore of every river. The early water life of the Ohio and its kindred streams was the very romance of emigra- tion; no monotonous agriculture, no toil- some wood-chopping, could keep back the adventurous boys who found delight in the endless novelty, the alternate energy and repose of a floating existence on those delightful waters. The variety of river craft corresponded to the varied tempera- ments of the boatmen. There was the great barge with lofty deck requiri~g- twenty-five men to work it up-stream; there was the long keel-boat, carrying from fifteen to thirty tons; there was the Kentucky broad-horn, compared by the emigrants of that day to a New England pig-sty set afloat, and sometimes built one hundred feet long, and carrying sev- enty tons; there was the family-boat, of like structure, and bearing a whole household, with cattle, hogs, horses, and sheep. Other boats were floating tin shops, blacksmiths shops, whiskey shops, dry-goods shops. A few were propelled by horse-power. Of smaller vessels there were covered sleds, ferry fiats, and Alleghany skiffs; pirogues made from two tree trunks, or dug-outs con- THE GREAT WESTERN MARCH. 125 sisting of one. These boats would set out from Pittsburgh for voyages of all lengths, sometimes extending over three thousand miles; and reaching points on the Mis- souri, Arkansas, and Red rivers. Boats came to St. Louis from Montreal with l)ut few portages or carries~~ on the way; and sometimes arrived from Mack- inaw, when the streams were high and unorasses full, without being carried by hand at all. The crews were carefully chosen; a Kentuck, or Kentuckian, was consider- ed the best man at a pole, and a nuck, or French Canadian, at the oar or the cordelle, the rope used to haul a boat up-stream. Their talk was of the dan- gers of the river; of planters and saw- yers, meaning tree trunks imbedded more or less firmly in the river; of riffles, meaning ripples; and of shoots, or rap- ids (French, chutes). It was as necessary to have violins on board as to have whis- key, and all the traditions in song or pic- ture of the jolly boatmen date back to that by-gone day. Between the two sides of the river there was already a jealousy. Ohio was called the Yankee State; and Flint tells us that it was a standing joke among the Ohio boatmen, when asked their cargo, to reply, Pit-coal indigo, wooden nutniegs, straw baskets, and Yankee no- tions. The same authority describes this sort of questioning as being inexhaustible among the river people, and asserts that from one descending boat came this se- ries of answers, all of which proved to be truthful: Where are you from ? Red- stone. Whats your lading? Mill- stones. Whats your captains name ? Whetstone. Where are you bound ? To Limestone. All this panorama of moving life was brought nearly to a close during the younger Adamss administration by the steamboats, though it was transferred for a time to the newly built canals. Steam- boats were therefore looked upon, as Flint tells us, with detestation by the inhabitants, though they soon learned to depend upon them, and to make social visits in them to friends a hundred miles away. In 1812 Fultons first Western boat, the Orleans, went down the Ohio, and in 1816 the Washington proved itself able to stern the current in returning. But for a time canals spread more rapidly than steamboats. Gouverneur Morris had first suggested the Erie Canal in 1777, and Washington had indeed proposed a system of such waterways in 1774. But the first actual canal in the United States was that dug around Turners Falls, in Massachu- setts, soon after 1792. In 1803 DeWitt Clinton again proposed the Erie Canal. It was begun in 1817, and opened July 4, 1825, being cut mainly through a wilder- ness. The effect produced on public opin- ion was absolutely startling. When men found that the time taken from Albany to Buffalo was reduced one-half, and that the freight on a ton of merchandise was brought down from $100 to $10, and ulti- mately to $3, similar enterprises sprang into being everywhere. The most con- spicuous of these was the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, from Georgetown to Pitts- bnrgh, which was surveyed and planned by the national board of internal improve- ments, created just before Mr. Adamss ac- cession. On July 4, 1828, the first blow was struck for the excavation by President Adams. He had a habit of declining in- vitations to agricultural fairs and all pub- lic exhibitions, but was persuaded to make a speech and put the first spade in the ground for this great enterprise. The soil was for some reason so hard that it would scarcely yield, so the President took off his coat, and tried again and again, at last raising the sod, amid general applause. It was almost the only time during his ardu- ous life when he paused to do a picturesque or symbolic act before the people. Thus, by various means, the great wave swept westward. Massachusetts, Con- necticut, and New Jersey filled up Ohio; North Carolina and Virginia popuh(ed Kentucky and Tennessee; Canada sent its emigrants into Illinois and Indiana, and all down the Mississippi. The new set- tlers, being once launched in the free ca- reer of the West, developed by degrees a new type of character. Everywhere there was a love of the frontier life, of distance, isolation, of range, as the Kentuckians of that day told it. There was a charming side to it all. There was no more fascina- ting existence anywhere than that of the pioneer hunters in the yet unfelled for- ests, and the lasting popularity of Coopers novels proves the permanent spell exer- cised by this life over the imagination. No time will ever diminish the pictur- esqueness of Daniel Boones career in Ken- tucky, for instance, amid the exquisite beauty of the forests near Lexington; woods carpeted with turf like an English 126 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. park, free from underbrush, with stately trees of every variety, and fresh, clear streams everywhere; or beside the salt springs of the Licking Valley, where Si- mon Kenton saw from twenty to thirty thousand buffaloes congregated at a time. What were the tame adventures of Robin Hood to the occasion when these two pio- neer hunters, Boone and Kenton, ap- proached the Licking Valley, each alone, from opposite points, each pausing to re- connoitre before leaving the shelter of the woods, and each recognizing the presence of another human being in the valley? Then began a long series of marnnuvres on the part of each to discover who the other was, without self-betrayal; and such was their skill that it took forty-eight hours before each could make up his mind that the other was a white man and a friend, not an Indian and a foe: But there was to all this picture a re- verse side that was less charming. For those who were not content to spend their lives as woodsmen in Kentucky, and pre- ferred to seek Ohio as agriculturists, how much of sacrifice there was! what weary years of cold, poverty, discomfort! This letter, quoted in Perkinss Fifty Years of Ohio, as written in 1818 from Marietta, gives a glimpse through the doorway of a thousand cabins: Marietta I find a poor, muddy hole the mud here is more disagreeable than snow in Massachusetts. My advice to all my friends is not to come to this country. There is not one in a hundred but what is discontented; but they can not get back7 having spent all their property in getting here. It is the most bro- ken country that I ever saw. Poor, lean pork at twelve cents; salt, four cents; poor, dry fish, twenty cents. The corn is miserable, and we can not get it ground; we have to pound it. Those that have lanterns grate it. Rum, twen- ty-five cents a gill; sugar, thirty-seven cents a pound; and no molasses! This country has been the ruin of a great many poor people; it has undone a great many poor souls forever. Meantime, at Washington, there had been a great increase in wealth and social refinement since the earlier days. Mr. Josiah Quincy, in his Recollections of Washington Society in 1826, presents for us a polished and delightful community, compared to that which had preceded it. Himself a handsome young Bostonian, with the prestige of a name already noted, he found nothing but sunshine and roses in his path through the metropolis. Nanies now historic glitter through his pages; he~j went to balls under the escort of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Webster; his first entertain- ment was at Mrs. William Wirts, where he met Miss Henry, Patrick Henrys daugh- ter, who played the piano and sang to the harp. The belles of the day smiled upon him; Miss Catherine van Renssel- aer, of Albany, and Miss Cora Living- ston, the same who in her old age, as Mrs. Barton, sold the great Shakespearean li- brary to the city of Boston. The most conspicuous married belle of that day was known as Mrs. Florida White, so called because her husband represented that re- gion, then new and strange. More eccen- tric than this sobriquet were the genuine names in the household of Mrs. Peter, granddaughter of Mrs. Washington, and the fiercest of Federalists, who had named her daughters America, Columbia, and Britannia the last by way of defiance, it was said, to Jefferson. With these various charmers Mr. Quincy attended many a ball in Washington, these enter- tainments then keeping modest hours from eight to eleven. He saw a sight not then considered so modestthe introduc- tion, in 1826, of the first waltz, danced with enthusiasm by Baron Stackelburg, who whirled through it without removing his huge dragoon spurs, and was applauded at the end for the skill with which he avoided collisions that might have been rather murderous. The young Bostonian also went to din- ner parties; sometimes at the White House, either formal state dinners of forty gentlemen and ladies, or private occasions, less elaborate, where he alone among witnesses found the President amusing. He gives also an agreeable picture of the home and household man- ners of Daniel Webster, not yet fallen into those questionable private habits which the French M. Bacourt, sixteen years afterward, too faithfully chronicled. Mr. Quincy also found the Vice-President, John C. Calhoun, a man most agreeable in his own house, while Miss Calhoun had an admirable gift for political discussion. The presence of these eminent men lent a charm even to the muddy streets and scat- tered houses of the Washington of that day. The two branches of government then met in small, ill-arranged halls, the House of Representatives having huge pillars to intercept sight and sound, with no gallery, but only a platform for visit- ors, but little higher than the floor. In THE GREAT WESTERN MARCH. 127 this body the great Federal party had left scarcely a remnant of itself, Mr. Elisha Potter, of Rhode Island, describing vivid- ly to Mr. Quincy a caucus held when the faithful few had been reduced to eleven, and could only cheer themselves with the thought that the Christian apostles, after the desertion of Judas, could number no more. The Houses of Congress were still rather an arena of debating than for set speeches, as now; and they had their lead- ers, most]y now fallen into that oblivion which waits so surely on merely political fame. Daniel Webster, to be sure, was the great ornament of the Senate; but McDuffle, of South Carolina, and Storrs, of New York, members of the House, had then a national reputation for elo- quence, though they now are but the shad- ows of names. To these must be added Archer, of Virginia, too generally desig- nated as Insatiate Archer, from his fa- tal long-windedness. For the first time for many years the White House was kept in decent order again; all about it had for yearsif we may trust Samuel Brecks testimony worn the slipshod, careless look of a Vir- ginia plantation. Fence posts fell and lay broken on the ground for months, al- though they could have been repaired in half an hour, and the grass of the lawns, cut at long intervals, was piled in large stacks before the drawing-room windows. Fifty thousand dollars spent on the inte- rior in Monroes time had produced only a slovenly splendor, while the fourteen thou- sand appropriated to Adams produced neatness at least. Manners shared some of the improvement, in respect to order and decorum at least, though something of the profuse Virginia cordiality may have been wanting. It was an interme- diate period, when, far more than now, the European forms were being tried, and sometimes found wanting. In Philadel- phia, where the social ambition was high- est, Mr. William Bingham had entertain- ments that were held to be the most showy in America. As in England, he had a row of livened servants, who repeated in loud tone, from one to another, the name of every guest. A slight circumstance put an end to the practice. On the evening of a ball an eminent physician, Dr. Kuhn, drove to the door with his step-daughter, and was asked his name by the lackey. The doctor and Miss Peggy, was the reply. The doctor and Miss Peggy, was echoed by the man at the door, and hence by successive stages to the drawing- room. The doctor and Miss Peggy (Miss Markoe, afterward Mrs. Benjamin Franklin Bache) became the joke of the town; and the practice was soon after changed, carrying with it the humbler attempts at imitation in Washington. Samuel Breck, who tells the story, re- joices that among the other failures in aping foreign manners were the repeated attempts of our young dandies to introduce the mustache on the upper lip. And so, he adds, with the broadcloth gaiters and other foreign costumes. They were neither useful nor ornamental, and would not take with us. So much the better. The President himself, in the midst of all this, lived a life so simple that the word Spartan hardly describes it. He was now sixty years old. Rising at four or five, even in winter, he often built his own fire, and then worked upon his correspondence and his journal, while the main part of the day was given to public affairs, these being reluctantly interrupted to receive a stream of visitors. In the evening he worked again, sometimes going to bed at eight or nine even in summer. His rec- reations were fewbathing in the Poto- mac before sunrise, and taking a walk at the same hour, or a ride later in the day, or sometimes the theatre, such as it was. For social life he had little aptitude, though he went through the forms of it. This is well illustrated by one singular memorandum in his diary: I went out this evening in search of conversation, an art of which I never had an adequate idea.... I never knew how to make, con- trol, or change it. I am by nature a si- lent animal, and my dear mothers con- stant lesson in childhood that little chil- dren should be seen and not heard con- firmed me in what I now think a bad habit. It is to be observed that the influence of political wire-pulling first began to be se- riously felt at this period. We commonly attribute its origin to Jackson, but it real- ly began, as was explained in a previous paper, with Crawford. When, in Monroes time, this ambitious Secretary of the Trea- sury pressed the passage of a bill limiting the term of civil officers, he did it because he was a candidate for the Presidency; and all the Treasury officials at once be came ardent Crawfordites. As the end of Monroes administration drew near, 128 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. there were, it must be remembered, five candidates in the field for the succession Crawford, Clay, Calhoun, Adams, and Jackson. Calhoun withdrew, was nom- inated for Vice - President, and was tri- umphantly elected; but for President there was no choice. Jackson had 99 electoral votes, Adams 84, Crawford 41, Clay 37. The choice was thrown into the House of Representatives, and took place February 9, 1825. Two distinguished men were tellers, Daniel Webster and John Ran- dolph. They reported that Mr. Adams had 13 votes, General Jackson 7, Mr. Crawford 4; and that Mr. Adams was therefore elected. The explanation was that Mr. Clays forces had been trans- ferred to Mr. Adams, and when, after his inauguration, Mr. Clay was made Secre- tary of State, the cry of unholy coali- tion was overwhelming. It was, John Randolph said, a combination hitherto unheard of, of the Puritan and the Black- legof Blifil and Black Georgethese being two characters in Fieldings Torn Jones. This led to a duel between Clay and Randolph, in which neither party fell. But the charge remained. Jackson and Calhoun believed it during their whole lives, though the publication of John Adamss Diaries has made it clear that there was no real foundation for it. The method thus introduced by Craw- ford was one brought to bear systematical- ly against John Quincy Adams during all the latter part of his administration. Having the reluctance of a high-minded statesman to win support by using patron- age for it, he unluckily had not that bet- ter quality which enables a warm-hearted man to secure loyal aid without raising a finger. We know by the unerring evi- dence of his own diary that he saw clear- ly how his own rectitude was injuring him, yet never thought of swerving from his course. One by one the men depend- ent on him went over, beneath his eyes, to the camp of his rival; and yet so long as each man was a good officer he was left untouched. Mr. Adams says in his diary (under date of May 13, 1825), when describing his own entrance on office: Of the custom-house officers throughout the Union two-thirds were probably op- posed to my election. They were all now in my power, and I had been urged very earnestly from various quarters to sweep away my opponents, and provide with their places for my friends. This was what he absolutely refused to do. In these days of civil service reform we go back with pleasure to his example; but the general verdict of the period was that this course may have been very heroic, but it was not war. It must always be remembered, more- over, in our effort to understand the ex- citement of politics fifty years ago, that the Presidential candidates were then nominated by Congressional caucus. The effect was to concentrate in one spot the ex- citement and the intrigues that must now be distributed through the nation. The result was almost wholly evil. It places the President, John Quincy Adams wrote just before his election, in a state of sub- serviency to the members of the Legisla- ture, which. . . . leads to a thousand cor- rupt cabals between the members of Con- gress and heads of departments. . . . The only possible chance for a head of a de- partment to attain the Presidency is by ingratiating himself with the members of Congress. The result was that these Congressmen practically selected the Pres- ident. For political purposes, Washington was the focus of all that political agitation now distributed over various cities; it was New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, all in one. It was in a centre of politics like this, not in the present more metropolitan Washing- ton, that John Quincy Adams stood im- passivethe object of malice, of jealousy, of envy, of respect, and perhaps sometimes even of love. He was that most unfortunate person- age, an accidental Presidentone chosen not by a majority or even a plurality of popular or electoral votes, but only by the mechanism reluctantly employed in case these votes yield no choice. The popu- lar feeling of the nation, by a plurality at least, had demanded the military favorite, Jackson; and through the four years of Adamss respectable but rather colorless administration it still persisted in this de- mand. The grave, undemonstrative Pres- ident, not rewarding his friends, if indeed he had friends, had little chance against the popular favorite; his faults hindered him; his very virtues hindered him; and though he was not, like his father, defeated squarely on a clear political issue, he was defeated still. With him we leave behind the trained statesmen Presidents of the early period, and pass to the untrained, untamed, vigorous personality of Andrew Jackson. JUDITH SHAKESPEAiRL: HER LOVE AFFAIRS AND OTHER ADVENTURES. CHAPTER XVI. BY THE RIVER. THE next morning she was unusually demure, and yet merry withal. In her own chamber, as she chose out a petti- coat of pale blue taffeta, and laid on the bed her girdle of buff-colored leather, and proceeded to array herself in these and other braveries, it was to the usual ac- companiment of thoughtless and quite in- consequent ballad-singing. At one mo- ment it was Green-sleeves was all my joy, and again Fair, fair, and twice so fair, or perhaps An mbling nag, and a-down, a-down, We have borne her away to Dargison. But when she came to take forth from the cupboard of boxes the portion of the play she had locked up there the night before, and when she carefully placed that in a satchel of dark blue velvet that she had attached to the girdle, she was sileut; and when she went down-stairs and encountered her mother, there was a kind of anxious innocence on her face. The good parson (she explained) had re- mained so late on the previous afternoon, and there were so many things about the house she had to attend to, that she had been unable to get out into the fields, as her father had bade her, to bring him home some wild flowers. Besides, as every one knew, large dogs got weak in the hind- legs if they were kept chained up too continuously; and it was absolutely ne- cessary she should take Don Roderigo out for a run with her through the meadows, if her father would permit. There be plenty of flowers in the gar- den, surely, her mother said, who was busy with some leather hangings, and wanted help. But he would liefer have some of the little wildlings, good mother, said Judith. That I know right well; for he is pleased to see them lying on the table before him; and sometimes, too, he puts the names of them in his writing. How know you that? was the im- mediate and sharp question. As I have heard, good mother, Ju- dith said, with calm equanimity. And then she went to the small mirror to see that her gray velvet cap and starch- ed ruff were all right. What can your father want with wild flowers if he is to remain the whole day at Warwick ? her mother said. Is my father going to Warwick ? she asked, quickly. If he be not already set forth. She glanced at the window; there was neither horse nor serving-man waiting there. And then she hastily went out and through the back yard into the garden; and there, sure enough, was her father, ready booted for the road, and giving a few parting directions to his bailiff. Well, wench, he said, wheu he had finished with the man, what would you ? She had taken from her purse all the money she could find there. Good father, said she, will you do this errand for me at Warwick ? More vanities ? said he. I wonder you have no commissioner to dispatch to Spain and Flanders. What ist, then? a muff of satina gimmal ring No, no, not so, father; I would have you buy for me a clasp-knifeas good a one as the money will get; and the cutler must engrave on the blade, or on the handle, I care not which, a messagean inscription, as it were; tis but three words For Judiths Sweetheart. Could you remember that, good father? Ist too much of a trouble ? How now ? said he. For whom do you wish me to bring you such a token ? Nay, sir, said she, demurely, would you have me name names? The gift of a sweetheart to a sweetheart is a secret thing. You are a mad wench, said he (though doubtless he guessed for whom the knife was intended), and he called to Matthew gardener to go round and see if Master Shawe were not yet ready. But now I bethink me,