THE PSYCHOLOGIST 
 
 BY 
 
 PUTNAM P. BISHOP 
 
 NEW YORK ft LONDON 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 l|jt limchtrbochti |)rtss 
 1886
 
 COPYRIGHT BY 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 iS86 
 
 Press of 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 New York
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. GETTING ACQUAINTED 
 
 II. LAKESIDE PASTIMES ....... 20 
 
 III. A SUNDAY WITH MR. JORMAN ..... 43 
 
 IV. WANTING TO MAKE MONEY ..... 61 
 V. A RAINY DAY ........ 82 
 
 VI. EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN ...... i 01 
 
 VII. JOURNEYING SOUTHWARD ...... 127 
 
 VIII. SOJOURNING IN FLORIDA ...... *43 
 
 IX. MAKING MONEY ....... l6 7 
 
 X. THE BLUE PACKAGE ....... 2 6 
 
 XL ANOTHER WINTER ....... 2 3 2 
 
 XII. VISITING IN NEW YORK ...... 26 5 
 
 XIII. CORRESPONDENCE ....... 2 9 8 
 
 XIV. Miss LOYALTY'S AFFAIRS ...... 3 22 
 
 2090707
 
 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GETTING ACQUAINTED. 
 
 in here a minute before you go ; will you, 
 Bidrop ? " 
 
 The speaker was Mr. Johnson, junior member of the 
 hardware firm of Millecramp & Co., doing business on 
 Reade Street, New York. It was a hot afternoon about 
 the middle of July, and I was getting ready to start for 
 the little cottage in Elizabeth, where I had my home 
 with my black-eyed widow-mother and my rosy-cheeked 
 school-girl sister. As I went into the counting-room, 
 after adjusting my necktie and putting on my coat, Mr. 
 Johnson handed me a slip of paper and then stood and 
 looked at me, with his back against the desk and his 
 thumbs in the arm-holes of his vest. I was a little 
 startled when I saw that the paper was a check, payable 
 to my order, for $200. 
 
 " What is this ? " I asked. " Are you going to dis- 
 charge me ? " 
 
 " Not much, Bidrop," he answered. The truth is that 
 we want you to take a little vacation. You have been 
 working like a horse, without any let-up, for years ; and 
 we have noticed lately that you have a worn and anxious
 
 2 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 look we don't like. You try to be as pleasant as ever to 
 our customers ; but your smile looks a little too much as 
 if it came up from a sense of duty. We want to see the 
 old glow back on your face once more. It is all for our 
 own interest, you know. We want you to be in tip-top 
 condition when you go upon the road next fall, though 
 we can't expect you to beat the record you made last 
 year. You worked up a magnificant trade for us in Iowa 
 and Nebraska and in the Carolinas. The orders are 
 coming in like hot shot all the time. Now be off to the 
 mountains, or somewhere, and go to resting with all your 
 might. Don't let us see you here again for six weeks. 
 Your salary will be running right ahead, you know. 
 Good-bye." 
 
 He shook my hand heartily, whirled around, and had 
 his pen moving instantly. 
 
 I was in a queer state of mind as I walked toward the 
 ferry. Mr. Johnson's proceeding had been so unexpected, 
 and the thought of a vacation was so new to me, that I 
 could not reflect connectedly for some minutes. At 
 length the single fact flashed upon me, that I had two 
 hundred dollars on which I had not counted, with full 
 command of my time for six weeks ; and my heart gave 
 a joyous bound. " Who knows," I asked myself, "but 
 this is the solution of my problem ? I have a few hun- 
 dred dollars besides, and why can't I make a big strike 
 as well as other men ? " 
 
 My thoughts were gallopping wildly, and possibilities 
 came and went, for a while, with bewildering swiftness. 
 Then I remembered that I had a very intimate friend 
 occupying a confidential position in the office of the 
 Standard Oil Company. "Joe will do any thing for me," 
 was my thought, " and I believe he will give me such
 
 GETTING ACQUAINTED. 3 
 
 pointers that I can make money, hand over fist, in petro- 
 leum. I can put up a very handsome margin." 
 
 As I went upon the boat and passed through to the 
 forward cabin, I was mentally selecting the broker 
 through whom I would operate. Very soon I had a 
 vision of myself hurrying to the exchange and calling out 
 my broker to inquire about the quotations. I can re- 
 member just where I sat when my charming castle be- 
 came a heap of ruins. The bomb that demolished it was 
 the mental question, " What if I should meet Mr. John- 
 son on my way to the Petroleum Exchange ? " My sur- 
 render was not instantaneous ; but, while I was planning 
 a route through the city, on which there would be little 
 risk of such an encounter, another thought made me 
 spring to my feet with an impulse to knock somebody 
 down for proposing that I should play the sneak. I 
 saw, with perfect distinctness, that I must either re- 
 turn the check to Mr. Johnson, or use it in accordance 
 with his generous design. Setting aside the unexpected 
 two hundred dollars as something not to be employed in 
 speculation, I was considering how far my little accum- 
 ulation of savings would go in the way of margins, when 
 I began to see in a new light the nature of the favor 
 which I had thought of obtaining from my friend in the 
 office of the Standard Oil Company. Then, of course, 
 the whole scheme had to be thrown to the winds. " No, 
 no," I said ; " if Joe Bargleman ever proves himself un- 
 worthy of a confidential position, it shall not be my fault." 
 
 When I had taken my seat in the car I began to grow 
 philosophical. "After all," I thought, " the right way is 
 the best way, and the way in which a fellow is most likely 
 to hit on expedients for the solution of difficulties. My 
 employers wish me to put myself in the best possible con-
 
 4 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 dition for my next drumming tours, and have provided 
 me with the means of doing so. My duty to them is 
 perfectly plain, and I can see now how wretchedly unfit 
 for their work I should be if I should spend the next six 
 weeks in the hubbub of the Oil Exchange, with hopes 
 and fears making a battle-ground of my heart and keep- 
 ing me half crazy. Very probably it is better for me, as 
 well as for them, that I should get off somewhere and 
 turn my wits loose for a while. Perhaps, when they find 
 themselves unhitched, they will start off on their own 
 hook and make some discoveries that would never come 
 in their way if they were kept harnessed up for drudgery." 
 Another plan soon took form in my mind. I knew a 
 delightful place on the western shore of Lake Champlain, 
 with a plenty of mountains in sight, where the necessary 
 expenses of one person would not exceed ten dollars a 
 week ; and I saw that I had means to procure a vacation 
 for my mother and my sister Dolly, as well as for myself. 
 Through anticipation of pleasure in watching the signs 
 of pleasure on the faces so dear to me, I approached the 
 vine-curtained door of our little brown cottage in high 
 spirts. But this plan, also, had to be given up at last. 
 When I had announced it, mother and Dolly looked at each 
 other wistfully for a moment, and then both shook their 
 heads. I was disappointed and irritated, and made some 
 spiteful remark which I am glad to have forgotten. My 
 mother sat down by my side and laid her hand on my 
 arm. " You misunderstand me," George, she said. " I 
 can't tell you how glad I am that you have this chance 
 for rest and recreation. It is just what I have been 
 wishing for. You don't know how anxious I have been 
 about you all summer, or how afraid I have been that 
 your constant work and anxiety would break you down
 
 GETTING ACQUAINTED. 5 
 
 completely. Every evening when you have come home, 
 I have felt a great relief in seeing that you were not sick. 
 The rest will do you a world of good. But Dolly and 
 I have n't a particle of need of any thing of the kind." 
 
 Here Dolly, standing at my shoulder with her arm 
 around my neck, put in : " O you dear old Georgy ; you 
 have been slaving yourself to death for us. And we, 
 great lazy things, never do anything. Why, just look at 
 me. I shall get so fat I can't waddle if I keep on." 
 
 " Besides," added my mother, " there are some cir- 
 cumstances that make it impossible for us to go." 
 
 " Oh," said I, petulantly, " I suppose your wardrobes 
 are not satisfactory. But you would n't find any fools 
 up there. They all go to Saratoga, or Newport, or some 
 such place." 
 
 At this unkind speech, which I knew to be wholly 
 destitute of justification, the good lady blazed up a little. 
 There was a slight flush on her cheeks, and her black 
 eyes were quite expressive, when she said : " I am not 
 going to have you think me a simpleton, and so I shall 
 have to tell you the real state of the case. No thought 
 of wardrobes entered our heads. The truth is, if you 
 must know it, that we can't leave home because I have 
 agreed to furnish one-o'clock dinners for three gentle- 
 men who live out on little fruit farms, but do business in 
 the town. Two of the gentlemen are connected with the 
 paraffine factory, and the other one is a lawyer. I have 
 been getting dinners for them just two weeks. Keep 
 still and I will tell you all about it," she continued, as 
 her tones grew deprecatory and she caressed the hand 
 which was lying on the arm of my chair. " A few weeks 
 ago, Mrs. Martinson, the wife of one of these gentlemen, 
 rode in and spent the day with me. I got up a nice little
 
 6 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 dinner, and she praised it extravagantly. You know that 
 my cooking is the only thing I was ever proud of. Except 
 my husband and my children," she added, after a pause, 
 with tears gathering in her eyes. Mastering her emo- 
 tion, she went on : " Well, Mrs. Martinson said, over and 
 over, that she wished her husband could get his dinners 
 here. And then she told how dirty every thing was at 
 the restaurant, and how greasy all the food was, and how 
 he could n't spare time to take his dinner at the hotel 
 because it took forever to get waited on, and so forth. 
 That set me to thinking, and before she went I told her 
 that if two or three other gentlemen would come with her 
 husband, so as to make it an object, perhaps I would 
 furnish the dinners. They pay me seventy-five cents 
 apiece for each dinner, and I enjoy it amazingly. I have 
 figured it all up ; and I am certain that I am making 
 more than seven dollars a week clear profit." 
 
 "I have been making money too, Mr. Georgy," said 
 Dolly, turning her head like a canary bird. " We shall 
 be richer than Jews pretty soon." 
 
 " Am I to be favored with some information concern- 
 ing the nature of your lucrative employment?" I 
 inquired. 
 
 " Why, I have been taking lessons in embroidery, so 
 that I could make little things to sell ; and I have sold 
 six of my exercises for seventy-five cents." 
 
 " Your exercises ! " 
 
 " Why, yes ; my exercises. When I write out my French 
 just to learn how to write French, they call what I write 
 an exercise. So, when I work a little mat, or any thing, 
 just to learn how to work it, I call that an exercise." 
 
 " Your reasoning is incontrovertible," I said. 
 
 " Incontro what ? O what a big word."
 
 GETTING ACQUAINTED. 7 
 
 She skipped into the dining-room, and I could hear 
 her singing, as she busied herself with the supper-table : 
 " I 've got a big brother and he uses big words ; 
 He uses big words ; he uses big words ; 
 He uses, he uses, he uses, he uses 
 Big words, big wor er er er er erds." 
 
 " Mother," I asked, " have you seen any reason to 
 think it necessary for you to roast yourself to death over 
 the kitchen-stove in this abominably hot weather ? Have 
 you imagined that I wanted you to do any such thing ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, no, my precious son," she answered. " I knew 
 you would n't like it, and I meant to keep you from 
 knowing any thing about it. But that ' roasting ' that 
 you talk of is all nonsense. My kitchen is very airy, and 
 there is no use in a woman's hanging over the stove all 
 the time if she knows her business. When my fire is all 
 right I can tell to a second when my bread or my roast is 
 ready to be taken out ; and I never go near them till the 
 time comes. It is very easy to spoil a roast by opening 
 the oven-door a dozen times to look at it. Then, when 
 I am cooking steak, or eggs, or any thing else that needs 
 a little closer attention, I only have to walk around once 
 in a while and give it a little touch as I am passing." 
 
 " Still," I persisted, " you seem to think a great deal 
 about saving a little money." 
 
 She cast down her eyes and reflected a moment before 
 she answered, with a touch of sadness on her countenance: 
 '' Well, George, I will tell you the truth. I have noticed, 
 ever since you returned from the South last spring, that 
 money had become to you what it never was before." 
 
 I said : " I should like to know what there has been 
 in my actions to show that I have suddenly become 
 miserly."
 
 8 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " O, don't say ' miserly,' George. Nobody will ever 
 dream of applying that hateful word to you. We 
 mothers don't need to have our children tell us they 
 are troubled : they can't hide such a fact from us. I 
 know you have been very anxious about something, 
 and several little circumstances have convinced me that 
 your anxiety was of a kind that money would relieve, 
 though you have continued to spend altogether too much 
 for Dolly and me." 
 
 " Won't you name some of those circumstances ? " 
 " Well, you refused to order a new summer suit for 
 yourself when I asked you to, and said the old one would 
 do for the present. Then, one morning when your bed- 
 room door stood open, I saw you looking dolefully at your 
 thread-bare cravat, and heard you say to yourself you 
 guessed it would pass muster for a while yet. And do 
 you remember when I spoke to you about Dolly's need- 
 ing a new hat ? You did n't say a word ; but a pained 
 expression that haunted me all day came over your face. 
 And you went right off and punished yourself by bring- 
 ing home a hat twice as expensive as the one I had asked 
 you to get. Oh, I know you, sir. But I have a stronger 
 proof yet to mention. You have taken to smoking cheap 
 cigars, that have none of that delicious odor which I used 
 to enjoy so much. You know I have not urged you to 
 stay in the house to smoke your after-supper cigar this 
 summer, except on one or two rainy evenings. That 
 makes me think," she added, with a merry laugh, " when 
 I came in sight of Chomley's wooden Indian to-day, I 
 suddenly felt a strange longing to see you sitting in your 
 arm-chair enjoying a good smoke once more ; so I went 
 in and told him to give me a dollar's worth of his best 
 cigars. How many do you suppose he gave me ? "
 
 GETTING ACQUAINTED. 9 
 
 " Ten or twelve," I answered. 
 
 " Only seven ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 " They must be superb then," I said, " for Chomley is 
 honest. I have been buying twenty-five for a dollar 
 lately." 
 
 " There," said my mother, shaking her finger at me 
 triumphantly, " did n't I tell you ? " Now don't pretend 
 any more that you are not anxious to save money." 
 
 While we were at the supper-table Dolly broke the 
 silence, which had lasted some time, by saying to me : 
 
 " If you don't tell us what you are thinking about, 
 young man, we shall make up our minds that you are 
 getting ready to scold us again." 
 
 I answered that I was trying to imagine how I could 
 manage to spend my two hundred dollars all alone. 
 
 '* You will manage that easily enough," my mother said. 
 " You must hire horses and take long rides over the hills ; 
 and you must have a boat for rowing on the lake and 
 fishing. Only you will be very careful not to get caught 
 out in a high wind ; won't you, dear ? " 
 
 " I '11 tell you," Dolly broke in. " You must fall in 
 love with a beautiful young lady, and hire a brass band to 
 serenade her, and buy bouquets for her every morning, 
 and every thing of that sort. But you must get over 
 your love-fit just before you come home. We are not 
 going to divide you up with anybody yet awhile. We 
 won't let anybody else have a piece of you as big as a 
 pea." 
 
 This last remark gave my thoughts so sombre a hue 
 that I exerted myself to appear very hilarious. I suspect, 
 however, that my nonsensical gabble operated on my 
 mother more in the way of revelation than in that of 
 deception.
 
 10 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 When Dolly had retired, and I sat smoking one of 
 those excellent cigars which my mother had bought fpr 
 me, and looking at her as she read the evening paper, my 
 heart was very full. She was then forty-eight years old 
 just twenty-three years older than myself, the daughter 
 of a farmer and the widow of a clergyman. Her life had 
 been a life of hard work, or, rather, of what would have 
 been hard work to a woman less able to make every 
 movement effective. I could remember but few times at 
 which a servant had been seen in the house. And yet 
 there were no silvery threads in her coal-black hair, and 
 no wrinkles on her shapely brow. The secret was, that 
 all her toil had been loving toil. 
 
 " Do you know," I asked, after a long silence, " that I 
 should have become a reprobate if I had not been blest 
 with the best mother in the world ? " 
 
 She came across the room quickly, kissed my fore- 
 head, and answered, with a voice indicating deep emo- 
 tion : " No, George, that could never have been. It is 
 not conceivable that your father's son should have be- 
 come a bad man under any circumstances. But you 
 make me very happy when you give me reason to think 
 that I have helped you a little to be true and noble, and 
 that I can still help you to grow nobler as you grow 
 older and wiser." She was leaning on my knee and 
 looking up into my eyes when she added : " It is right 
 for you to wish to improve your circumstances, and to 
 look forward to a time when you will have more power 
 to do good in the world. Of course that is your duty ; 
 and you will be very watchful and see that nothing like 
 avarice ever gets possession of you ; won't you, dear ? " 
 
 " Yes, mother," I answered, vehemently, " I will fight 
 against that passion with all my might, and I bless you 
 for the warning."
 
 GETTING ACQUAINTED. II 
 
 The evening of which I have been giving an account 
 has stood out in my mind ever since as one of the most 
 decisive sections of my life. The hour which followed 
 my going to bed was very far from being a happy one. I 
 took the full measure of the peril in which I had been 
 standing, and the proud security which had long been 
 habitual with me was completely annihilated. Having no 
 dangerous appetites ; having outlived the fear of being 
 considered " green " by my associates ; having found 
 that my refusal to join with other commercial travellers 
 in any kind of dissipation was no drawback to my enjoy- 
 ment of social intercourse with them as we came together 
 at various points on our tours, but seemed rather to 
 favor, the growth of their good-will toward me, and 
 having been ever conscious of that detestation of dis- 
 honesty and of meanness in all its forms, which my 
 parents had assiduously cultivated in me, I had seen no 
 need of vigilance so far as my personal characteristics 
 were concerned. But now my eyes were opened, and my 
 head was hot with shame, as I beheld what had been 
 taking place within me during the last few months. For 
 a special object, which had taken such a hold on my 
 heart as no immediate object of endeavor had ever taken 
 before, I had desired to accumulate a considerab'e sum 
 of money as speedily as possible. This desire had 
 gained entire possession of my faculties, and all my 
 thoughts not necessarily occupied with present duties 
 had connected themselves with money-making. When 
 wearied with endeavoring to contrive ways by which I 
 could " get a start," I had fallen into the habit of assum- 
 ing that the initial difficulties would be overcome, and 
 had then permitted my imagination to heat itself with 
 magnificent schemes and go on its way triumphantly to
 
 12 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 place me in possession of great riches. I was disgusted 
 with myself beyond measure when I saw that the money, 
 which I had at first counted on only as a mean to the 
 securing of an ulterior object, had been growing with 
 me to the proportions of a supreme end. I was forced 
 to the conviction that, in the state of mind which had 
 lately become habitual with me, I should have chosen 
 money-making in preference to the matchless boon for 
 the sake of which I had, for the first time in my life, ex- 
 perienced an ardent desire to accumulate property, if the 
 alternative had been placed before me. I charged my- 
 self with shameful disloyalty to a holy purpose. I tossed 
 myself angrily from one side of my bed to the other and 
 whispered hoarsely : " What a miserable botch I was 
 ready to make of my existence ! An unmitigated money- 
 maker ! a creature without a single manly aim ! a curse 
 to the world ! Pah ! " Gradually, however, I began to 
 taste that sweet fruit which heaven-sent remorse always 
 yields when it is permitted to do its legitimate work." 
 " Rescued, rescued ! " I said. " May God ever bless my 
 dear mother, and may I never forget that it was God 
 who inspired her to warn me." Then I could think 
 calmly of my future. I was conscious that the purpose 
 from which my moral descent had commenced, and 
 which had been almost destroyed in the downward 
 movement, as if its life-sustaining element could exist 
 only at a high level, had now revived in more than its 
 original force. My heart told me that I could never 
 give up the hope which had blended itself with that pur- 
 pose, and no voice within me intimated that I ought to 
 surrender it. " But," I said, " that castle-building has 
 got to be stopped. My imagination shall not make me 
 unworthy of the blessedness for which I am striving, and
 
 GETTING ACQUAINTED. 13 
 
 Providence will open the way for whatever accumulation 
 is necessary." 
 
 The second afternoon, following the one which marks 
 the beginning of this bit of personal history, I arrived at 
 Westbay. The location of that little village seemed to 
 me to be unsurpassed. It was on high ground and over- 
 looked a broad bay. The opposite shore was four miles 
 distant directly in front, five miles distant where the wa- 
 ter-view was bounded at the left, and about six miles 
 where it was cut off by the wooded bay-line at the right. 
 That eastern shore was, for the most part, jagged and 
 rocky, and variegated with forest-trees and low clumps 
 of cedar bushes, though, at two or three points, the ground 
 sloped gently to the water's edge, and there were a few 
 openings which afforded glimpses of meadows or pastures 
 beyond. At the right stood a round-topped, isolated 
 mountain. It was more than ten miles away ; but, in 
 that clear air, the foliage with which it was covered still 
 fed our eyes with the richest green. At the most distant 
 point in sight at the northeast, the color of Camel's 
 Hump was blending with that of the sky. For the rest, 
 the whole field of vision on the eastern side was bounded 
 by the varying blue, and gracefully curving, outline of 
 the Green Mountains. The bay-shore at the left was 
 almost mountainous in its elevation and densely wooded, 
 with here and there a naked cliff, while that at the right 
 terminated in a bushy point but a few feet above the 
 level of the water. Back of the village were several 
 hills, each of which commanded a charming prospect of 
 its own ; and one of them gave, through an opening be- 
 tween much larger hills, a fine view of the easternmost 
 spur of the Adirondacks. The little hotel, at which I took 
 my quarters, was newly built and delightfully arranged.
 
 14 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 It was designed for the accommodation of about thirty 
 boarders, with a reservation of several rooms for tran- 
 sient guests. It had one advantage over all other houses 
 of a similar size that I had ever seen : the parlor was so 
 spacious that all the boarders could assemble there with- 
 out any fear of crowding each other, whether they divided 
 into knots, or fell into general conversation. This parlor 
 was provided with an excellent piano. The house fronted 
 westwardly and immediately on the street ; but, on the 
 eastern side, was a broad piazza, sixty feet long, over- 
 looking a steep grassy slope and the whole expanse of 
 the bay. The parlor and piazza, would have compensated 
 for an indifferent table ; but there was no ground of 
 complaint on that score. Owing to these facilities for 
 gathering in a body, and to the limited number that the 
 house could accommodate, the company of sojourners 
 had much the appearance of a single family. Though 
 few of them had been acquainted with each other before, 
 I found them on terms of mutual familiarity, with a gen- 
 eral disposition to make new-comers feel at home. With 
 the exception of two or three such persons as are to be 
 met with everywhere always self-conscious and con- 
 stantly aiming to make an impression of one kind or an- 
 other, all seemed to have left their cares at home and 
 to be governed by the inclination of the passing hour. 
 They read when they chose to read and conversed when 
 they were so inclined ; and no one thought it necessary 
 to apologize for rambling off alone, or sitting in a " brown 
 study." Once or twice on one day, and half a dozen 
 times on another, there was a conversation which drew 
 the attention of the entire company. There were grave 
 discussions of a great variety of subjects, and there were 
 hours enlivened with the broadest mirth.
 
 GETTING ACQUAINTED. 15 
 
 One of the persons who contributed most to the gen- 
 eral enjoyment was Professor Ardick from a western col- 
 lege. His reputation for learning was very high, and he 
 was said to be greatly beloved by every student and 
 alumnus of his college. He was nearly seventy years 
 old, but had preserved a vivacity of spirit which would 
 be noticeable in a man of thirty. He was over six feet 
 in height, and a large man every way, with no especial 
 grace, and yet with no awkwardness in his movements, 
 but with certain habits, in throwing about his long arms 
 and legs, which were apt to provoke an occasional smile. 
 His countenance, marked by light-blue eyes, a large nose, 
 and a small mouth, was so expressive that we always 
 began to enjoy his ludicrous conceits before he had time 
 to clothe them in language. When serious topics were 
 under discussion, his remarks were exceedingly instruc- 
 tive, and always indicated an elevated moral tone. 
 
 We felt ourselves strongly attracted, also, toward Doc- 
 tor Inglemen, a gray-haired Presbyterian D.D. He 
 evinced, in a placid way, a keen relish for the sparkling 
 witticisms and humorous observations with which we 
 were often treated, and occasionally improved their flavor 
 by dropping a few words which gave them a new turn. 
 He took especial pains to place himself on intimate terms 
 with the younger members of our circle ; and it was easy 
 to see that he was watchful for opportunities to elevate 
 the tendency of their thoughts and to stimulate good im- 
 pulses. At the same time there was not the slightest 
 trace of professionalism in his demeanor. 
 
 Another favorite was an Ohio judge, who was a native 
 of Westbay, and had achieved distinction in his profes- 
 sion. He was said to be wealthy, and he made it evident 
 that the acquisition of property had lost none of its zest
 
 l6 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 for him, though no one charged that it had ever been his 
 paramount aim. We observed, however, that he was fond 
 of talking with two retired merchants from New York on 
 various schemes which were then prominent among 
 capitalists. 
 
 The person who was surest to dispel any cloud of dul- 
 ness that might be threatening to settle down upon us 
 was a young man, a little older than myself, by the name 
 of Egbert Mixley. He called himself a Bohemian, be- 
 cause after leaving college he had led a somewhat roving 
 life, both in Europe and in his own country, supporting 
 himself in part by corresponding with various newspapers. 
 At that time he was arranging to settle down to regular 
 work as a journalist, a plan which he has since carried 
 out with great success. 
 
 The one with whom I first found myself conversing, on 
 the evening of my arrival, was Mrs. Erdby, a widow from 
 Boston, as I soon learned. We had come out from our 
 six-o'clock tea and were standing on the piazza. The 
 surface of the water was as smooth as glass ; and I was 
 looking downward at the reflection of the clouds, made 
 golden by the setting sun, when a lady at my side said to 
 me : " If you will look up at those golden clouds and 
 then at those distant mountains, I think you will be im- 
 pressed by the sight." I acted on the suggestion and 
 was quite startled at first. The mountains which, half an 
 hour before, had been clad in a very pale blue, now pre- 
 sented a dark and almost menacing aspect. 
 
 " That is very remarkable. I thank you for calling my 
 attention to it," I said as I turned and looked the lady 
 full in the face. 
 
 She evinced considerable embarrassment when she re- 
 plied : " I thought I would take the liberty. We dispense 
 with ceremonies to a great extent here."
 
 GETTING ACQUAINTED. 17 
 
 I saw in a moment that the impulse which had 
 prompted her to address me was wholly benevolent. 
 She wanted me to enjoy that particular view which can 
 be caught but rarely, and is never of long duration. Be- 
 sides, she desired to see me relieved as soon as possible 
 of that sense of isolation with which she knew me to be 
 burdened. I said, therefore : " You are commending the 
 place very highly. Ceremoniousness often stands in the 
 way of kindness to strangers. My name is Bidrop," I 
 continued, handing her my card. 
 
 She then gave me her own address and introduced me 
 to her niece, Miss Kitty Evalstone, and her son Charley. 
 The former I took to be about seventeen years old. She 
 was a slender girl of less than the medium height, but 
 obviously full of vitality, with brown eyes, a great abun- 
 dance of silky auburn hair, and a complexion which re- 
 minded one of the "nut-brown maid." Her mouth, 
 when in repose, was a beautiful feature suggestive of 
 affectionateness ; but I soon perceived that its form de- 
 pended very much on the feelings of the passing moment. 
 Her nose, well-formed in the main, terminated rather 
 abruptly, with its point at an elevation which would have 
 precluded surprise at the pertness of any retort which 
 might be elicited from her. 
 
 Charley was a slender ten-year-old boy, apparently not 
 in the best of health. 
 
 Mrs. Erdby herself was about thirty years old, with a 
 finely proportioned form of somewhat more than average 
 size. Her complexion was quite fair, though her hair 
 was nearly black, and her eyes, when examined closely, 
 were seen to have a ground-work of dark gray, mottled 
 with jet-black specks. Her forehead tended to massive- 
 ness without exceeding the limits of symmetry. It is not
 
 l8 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 probable that she was ever called a beauty, and yet it is 
 certain that no one ever considered her deficient in 
 comeliness. Though Mrs. Erdby had been the first 
 person to engage me in conversation, and that without an 
 introduction, I soon found that she was the reverse of 
 obtrusive. She was strongly disinclined to take part in 
 general discussion ; and it was only when directly ap- 
 pealed to, or when prompted by deep interest ia the 
 subject, that she would favor us with a remark. And 
 yet we all felt that she was the best of company. Though 
 the repose of her manner never disappeared for a mo- 
 ment, there was something in her countenance which 
 gave every speaker a satisfactory response and the assur- 
 ance of being completely understood. I have not the 
 slightest recollection of any thing in her dress, except 
 that it presented no tokens of her widowhood. Her 
 husband had been dead for several years. 
 
 Each of our days was marked by two events of some 
 interest : the steamer arrived with Albany papers at one 
 o'clock, and the train brought the New York papers at 
 five. Of course, our eyes were always out for new- 
 comers, and we were free with our conjectures in regard 
 to them. One evening the spring-wagon brought from 
 the depot a gentleman who excited my curiosity so much 
 that I followed him into the office and kept watch while 
 he registered. He wrote in a heavy sprawling hand : 
 " Ralph Jorman, New York." My hasty mental inventory 
 was as follows : " Five feet eleven inches in height ; 
 broad muscular frame ; unusually spare, but perfectly 
 healthy ; forty years old ; smoothly shaven face ; sandy 
 hair and light-gray eyes ; a good substantial nose, a 
 generous mouth, and a rather prominent chin." As he 
 took off his hat and fanned himself with it, I observed
 
 GETTING ACQUAINTED. 19 
 
 that there were no curves in his forehead, and that the 
 hair grew upon it in such a way that one could not easily 
 tell whether it was high or low. He wore a light-colored 
 suit of expensive material, which fitted him perfectly. 
 At the same time there was a certain appearance of 
 negligence about him which caused me to make the 
 mental comment : " He has plenty of money and an 
 excellent tailor, who keeps up the wardrobe according 
 to his own notions. This man never gives a second 
 thought to the matter of clothes himself." 
 
 The first utterance of the stranger was the question : 
 " What is the chance for getting out to Lake Placid ? " 
 
 As no one else replied immediately, I remarked : " A 
 team has just come in from there with some passengers 
 and will be going back in the morning. The driver is 
 stopping at the other house over here a little way." 
 
 " Thanks," he said, turning upon me a searching look 
 which came very near to being prolonged into a stare. 
 Then he dropped his eyes as if conscious of an approach 
 to rudeness, and seemed for a moment to be reflecting 
 on what he had seen. Soon afterwards he was shown to 
 his room, and I saw no more of him till we had come out 
 from tea. I then introduced myself to him and we talked 
 about the scenery. He interested me greatly by com- 
 parisons between the prospect before us and those to be 
 found at certain points among the lakes of Switzerland. 
 In a short time I felt that I was well acquainted with Mr. 
 Jorman, and took occasion to introduce him to others.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 LAKESIDE PASTIMES. 
 
 A FTER the lamps were lighted, on the evening of 
 ** Mr. Jorman's arrival, we all gathered in the 
 parlor. Mrs. Erdby, who was by far the best per- 
 former among us, was induced to take a seat at the 
 piano and favor us with several instrumental pieces as 
 they were called for by one and another. Then she 
 played an accompaniment, while Miss Kitty, who had a 
 clear, bird-like voice of considerable volume, gave us a 
 sparkling little song. This was followed by quartet 
 singing until attention was attracted by the merriment of 
 Professor Ardick and Mr. Mixley. The latter had been 
 writing in a corner of the room, and was showing the 
 Professor what he had written. 
 
 " I observe," said the Judge in magisterial tones, 
 " that two individuals are appropriating to their own per- 
 sonal and exclusive benefit a certain article which is the 
 common property of this company. Such breaches of 
 trust are not to be tolerated in this highly civilized land, 
 and I now issue a peremptory mandamus requiring those 
 gentlemen to produce instanter the wrongfully appropri- 
 ated article." 
 
 After a moment the Professor arose with an attempt 
 at mock gravity, but with a visage full of fun, and said 
 in a voice not under very good control : " I confess that 
 I have been at fault. I did not entertain a deliberate
 
 LAKESIDE PASTIMES. 21 
 
 purpose to trample upon the rights of the distinguished 
 persons the fair women and brave men with whom I 
 am proud to be associated. But there are some strokes 
 of genius so exceptional that, when they hit us without 
 premonition, they make us oblivious, for the time being, 
 of our obligations. The nature of that er er that 
 phenomenal outburst, which temporarily paralyzed my 
 conscience, I will not describe further than to say that 
 the literature of our country has just been enriched by a 
 poem which I am unable adequately to characterize 
 without more extended reflection. It now remains for 
 my friend and associate in crime to obey the order of the 
 court." 
 
 " The poem ! the poem ! " was called out on all sides. 
 
 Mixley stood up and assumed a pompous attitude, 
 throwing his long hair into disorder to give himself a 
 wild appearance. Then holding his manuscript at arm's 
 length in his left hand, he gesticulated with his right 
 while he read these stanzas : 
 
 " O Lake Champlain ! O Champlain Lake ! 
 Thy waters clear, 
 Which I am near, 
 So bright appear 
 That in my heart a considerable bobbery they make. 
 
 ' ' Thou hast done much for navigation ; 
 And some of thy fish 
 Make as good a dish 
 As anybody could wish, 
 Whatever his present means or his reasonable expectation." 
 
 When the applause and laughter had begun to subside 
 the Judge spoke again. " I share," he said, " in the favor- 
 able impression which this remarkable poem has pro-
 
 22 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 duced. But experience teaches that it is imprudent 
 either to commend or condemn a work of literary art 
 before critical judgment has been pronounced upon it. 
 I have, myself, with all my well-known anxiety to avoid 
 the putting forth of unpopular views, often experienced 
 deep chagrin at reading strictures on productions which 
 I had rashly permitted myself to enjoy and to praise. 
 The question to be decided here and now is, What are 
 we to think and say about Mixley's Apostrophe to Lake 
 Champlain ? What is to be the established doctrine con- 
 cerning it ? I call upon Professor Ardick to enunciate 
 that doctrine." 
 
 This was received with universal hand-clapping and 
 calls for " The doctrine ! " The Professor slid up and 
 down in his chair, crossed and uncrossed his legs, rubbed 
 his forehead, and looked pale and anxious for some mo- 
 ments. At length his eyes began to brighten and it was 
 evident that he was seeing his way. Reaching out for 
 the manuscript he perused it for a time, permitting now 
 and then a low chuckle to be heard, while his lips took 
 one comical form after another. Finally he arose, with 
 one hand holding the manuscript and the other on the 
 back of a chair, and spoke as follows : 
 
 " In view of the grave responsibility resting upon me, 
 you will excuse my delay in answering to the call with 
 which you have honored me. The assignment of rank 
 to a work of art the pointing out, if I may so express 
 myself, of the niche in which it is to stand is a matter 
 of no small moment. I shall try to do my work con- 
 scientiously and to apply to Mixley's Apostrophe the 
 most approved rules of of advanced criticism. We 
 are not to inquire whether a production awakens lively 
 emotion within us or not, nor to ask if it fills our imagi-
 
 LAKESIDE PASTIMES. 23 
 
 nations with vivid pictures. A work may do all this and 
 yet not disclose a trace of artistic skill. It may, in fact, 
 have been produced without any consciousness of such 
 dexterity. But it is needless for me to say to you that 
 the presence or absence of artistic skill is all that we are 
 to take into consideration when making up our minds as 
 to the merits, or defects, of a work of art. It is neces- 
 sary, therefore, to get upon the intellectual track of the 
 author in order that we may detect his occult meanings 
 and discover his reasons for doing and saying this and 
 that. We must adopt the method which has led, for ex- 
 ample, to such astonishing discoveries of meaning in the 
 second part of Faust, and in some other productions. 
 
 " We now enter upon our examination of the Apos- 
 trophe. At the very first line, 
 
 " ' O Lake Champlain ! O Champlain Lake ! ' 
 we find occasion to meditate : Why this twofold ex- 
 clamation ? Why did not our author content himself 
 with a single utterance of the name of the body of water 
 which he was honoring with his attention ? The answer 
 is found among the principles of human nature. We are 
 so constituted that when we are calling attention, at a 
 moment of deep feeling, we always utter more than once 
 the name of the person addressed. When, for instance, 
 you are calling to your hired man, ardently desiring him 
 to feed the pigs without delay, you always say ' John ! 
 John ! ' You never stop with a single utterance of his 
 name. And now, our accomplished author understands 
 that, in personifying and apostrophizing a body of water, 
 artistic rules require him to proceed precisely as the 
 principles of human nature would cause him to proceed 
 if that liquid expanse were a rational being. 
 
 " But why do we find this transposition of the words
 
 24 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 ' Lake ' and ' Champlain ' ? Here we come upon a 
 most exquisite artistic touch. The true artist always 
 keeps in mind the effect of his work on the spectator, the 
 hearer, or the reader. If he cannot produce the desired 
 effect, what is he here for ? Well, our poet remembers 
 that the last word of an exclamation is the emphatic 
 word, and the one which governs the mental associations 
 awakened by the exclamation as a whole. Now, he does 
 not desire to set us to thinking about Samuel Champlain, 
 who is said to have discovered this body of water ; but 
 he aims to have us profoundly impressed with with er 
 with what I may call the lakeness of the lake. Hence 
 the exclamation ends with the words, ' O Champlain 
 Lake ! ' 
 
 "The next passage to which I will call attention is the 
 second member of the first medial triplet ' Which I am 
 near.' Now, it is quite probable that there are some 
 persons who will say that this line is thrown in merely to 
 fill out the measure and furnish the needful rhyme. But 
 a moment's reflection will show the absurdity of such 
 a view. Consider how many other words there are which 
 would have answered that purpose as well as the word 
 ' near.' There are cheer, and fear, and dear, and queer, 
 and so forth. And then we have the word beer, which 
 would have suggested itself very naturally by reason of 
 the fact that the article, which it is employed to designate, 
 has the property of liquidity in common with the 'waters' 
 of which the poet was speaking. No, no, my friends. A 
 fine critical acumen detects two distinct purposes which 
 are accomplished by this one masterly stroke. In the 
 first place, the artist raises in our imaginations, by his 
 facile touch, a dream-like vision of himself standing with 
 outstretched arms, and in an attitude suggestive of poetic
 
 LAKESIDE PASTIMES. 25 
 
 ecstasy, a few yards away from the water's edge. In the 
 second place, he gives us the assurance that he is not 
 mistaken in regard to those waters, because he is in such 
 proximity to them that he can see just what they are. 
 
 " The last line of the stanza would justify more ex- 
 tended comment than I have time for at present. Perhaps 
 I shall prepare a lecture upon it at some future day. 
 Many remarks might be made upon the general 
 structure of the stanza, and, especially, upon the upon 
 the the multipedality of the last line. The design of 
 the artist, which he carries out very successfully, is 
 manifestly this : He would have it seem to us that the 
 poetic afflatus, which has found vent only in short and 
 measured jets, has now accumulated such force that 
 there is no use in trying to restrain it any longer, and 
 hence, that the overcharged heart is allowed to empty 
 itself in its own way. There are one or two words in 
 this line that it would be inexcusable to pass over in 
 silence. I do not remember any previous revelation of 
 the artistic possibilities of the word, ' considerable ' ; and 
 I am sure that the use of it here is a striking illustration 
 of our distinguished friend's artistic skill. A poet of the 
 second rank would have said 'tremendous bobbery/ 
 or 'prodigious bobbery/ leaving on our minds the im- 
 pression of exaggeration. But our poet of the first rank 
 makes no such mistake. He prefers to win our confi- 
 dence in his candor by the moderation of his tone ; and 
 he understands that the highest evidence of power is an 
 act of self-repression. To this artistic insight we owe 
 the presence of the word ' considerable.' Some purists 
 may object to the word ' bobbery/ but I maintain that 
 it is perfectly legitimate, needful, and, in this place, most 
 felicitously employed. As robbery is the act of robbing,
 
 26 THE PSYCHOLOGIST 
 
 so bobbery is the act of bobbing ; and I ask you if it is 
 possible to think of another word so completely descrip- 
 tive of what may be supposed to take place in the heart 
 of a poet when he is contemplating an aquatic scene. 
 
 " When we come to the second stanza, we are enveloped 
 in a new atmosphere. We pass from the general to the 
 specific ; and you observe that, while the general struc- 
 ture remains the same, there is some change in the meas- 
 ure. This is important as illustrating that growth of 
 poetic freedom which has been going on, you know, ever 
 since the tyranny of Pope was shaken off. We can- 
 not be too earnest in our efforts to appreciate that free- 
 dom. I can speak feelingly on this point, because, al- 
 though I know that I am all wrong, I can never help 
 fancying at first that a poet's failure to keep up the meas- 
 ure with which he starts out is a confession of weakness. 
 But I must not extend my remarks on this topic. I ask 
 you to consider how fully, in this second stanza, our 
 poet demonstrates that his muse is a philanthropic muse. 
 He gives us to perceive in him an overpowering tendency 
 to view all objects in their relations to human welfare. 
 Thus it comes about that we have this line, which so 
 strongly reminds one of the great Wordsworth : 
 
 1 Thou hast done much for navigation.' 
 
 " Methinks I hear you softly murmur : ' How true ! 
 How true ! ' 
 
 " In the triplet embodied in the second stanza we have 
 indicated a just appreciation of that gustatory enjoy- 
 ment, in allusion to which all exalted pleasures are 
 spoken of under the poetical figure of a feast. 
 
 " It remains for me to point out the psychological in- 
 sight disclosed in the concluding line of this remarkable
 
 LAKESIDE PASTIMES. 27 
 
 poem. We have brought to our view the inseparable 
 connection between the power of wishing and the means, 
 or the reasonable expectation of the means, of gratifying 
 one's wishes. Now that this reality has been flashed 
 upon us in so masterly a way, we apprehend it at once. 
 We see that the man who has neither the means, to buy 
 luxuries, nor the reasonable expectation which would 
 enable him to procure them on tick, is not qualified by 
 experience to form a conception of them. But the pres- 
 ence of a conception is an indispensable condition of 
 specific desire ; and, therefore, such a man is unable to 
 wish for any special luxury. On the other hand, the 
 man who has great means, or the reasonable expectation 
 of them, is magnificently equipped for stupendous wish- 
 ing. It is, therefore, a very flattering compliment that 
 is paid to our favorite edible when the poet says to 
 Lake Champlain : 
 
 " ' Some of thy fish 
 Make as good a dish 
 As anybody could wish, 
 Whatever his present means or his reasonable expectation.' 
 
 " I believe that I have nothing further to say. The 
 doctrine is, that Mixley's Apostrophe is an immense pro- 
 duction, and you are in possession of the grounds on 
 which that doctrine is based." 
 
 The reading of this discourse can afford but the faint- 
 est reflection of its effect on those who heard it. The 
 Professor's enjoyment of his own conceits was so keen 
 that there was a suppressed laughter in his tones which 
 made them irresistibly mirth-provoking, while his en- 
 deavor to maintain a serious countenance met with a suc- 
 cession of defeats which carried his performance far
 
 2 8 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 beyond the highest effects ever witnessed on the comic 
 stage. 
 
 As soon as something like order could be restored the 
 Judge asked : " Does any one dissent from the judg- 
 ment which has been pronounced ? Are you all prepared 
 to see it entered on the records of the Court of Criti- 
 cism ? What says Dr. Ingleman ? " 
 
 " I am quite willing," the Doctor replied, " that the 
 judgment should stand. To show how fully I acquiesce 
 in it, I will assure you that I shall never speak or think of 
 Mixley's Apostrophe without bearing in mind the critical 
 analysis of it to which we have just listened." 
 
 " Mr. Bidrop," said the Judge, " is an authority on 
 hardware, and this poem seems to me to fall under that 
 head. It is proper that we should hear his views." 
 
 1 rose and said : " I am prepared to state the conclu- 
 sion to which I have come, but I shall assign no reasons 
 for it. If reasons were plenty as blackberries I would 
 not give one. My conclusion is, that if you insert Mr. 
 Mixley among the poetis epicis, he will be very apt to 
 strike the sidera with his sublime capite. But my object 
 in rising is to call attention to the fact that we are 
 favored with the presence of a gentleman newly arrived 
 from the city of Gotham, where literary reputations are 
 created and destroyed in great numbers. He has trav- 
 ersed many lands, and cannot have failed to familiarize 
 himself with the principles recognized in the highest 
 courts of criticism. Moreover, it is within my knowl- 
 edge that this gentleman has instituted comparisons be- 
 tween Lake Champlain and many of the other celebrated 
 lakes of the world. He is, therefore, singularly well 
 qualified to pronounce upon the justness of Mixley's 
 tribute to this body of water whose western shore is
 
 LAKESIDE PASTIMES. 29 
 
 made illustrious by our presence. Believing that, in 
 common prudence, we should hear from him before en- 
 tering up final judgment, I now introduce Mr. Ralph 
 Jorman, of New York." 
 
 I had avoided looking at Mr. Jorman until I had fin- 
 ished speaking and resumed my seat, and my first glance 
 at him detected a resentful sparkling of his eyes which 
 made me a little apprehensive as to the result of my im- 
 pudence. But he soon put me at my ease. Rising to 
 his feet, he said : " I have often heard about ' tricks on 
 travellers,' and have not been strongly prepossessed in 
 favor of such measures. But there is something so re- 
 freshingly innocent in this young gentleman's proceeding, 
 that I shall take no exception to it." 
 
 He paused and seemed buried in thought for a short 
 time. When he resumed, and as long as he continued to 
 speak, he had an air of natural gravity, and an appear- 
 ance of candor, which would have become a university 
 lecturer engaged in serious instruction. Not a smile ap- 
 peared upon his face, nor a quiver in his voice. As soon 
 as his drift was apprehended, our enjoyment of his talk 
 was greatly heightened by the apparent sincerity with 
 which he spoke. 
 
 "In every vocation," he said, " the matter of nearest 
 interest is the advancement of those who are engaged in 
 it. The art of criticism, therefore, exists primarily for the 
 benefit of critics. Their first duty, and the duty which 
 should be ever present to their minds, is, to make a favor- 
 able exhibition of themselves. This will enable them to 
 sell their wares at a good price, to make their dislikes 
 effective, and to promote the fortunes of those to whom 
 they take a fancy. Convened, as we now are, in the 
 capacity of a court of criticism, we must not lose sight of
 
 3 
 
 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 these things. We must remember that our final judgment 
 on the production under consideration will have an im- 
 portant bearing on the sentiments with which we our- 
 selves shall be regarded. For this reason, however 
 strongly we may be disposed to commend our poet, we 
 must adopt a certain tone of superiority to him. We 
 must intimate, in some way, that he would have been a 
 gainer by the proceeding, if he had consulted us before 
 putting the final touches on his production. With this 
 view, while I am not disposed to detract in the slightest 
 measure from the positive merits which the learned 
 Professor has pointed out, and while I hold that none of 
 the points which he has made can be successfully con- 
 troverted, I am constrained to propose that our final 
 statement of doctrine concerning Mixley's Apostrophe 
 shall embody an allusion to a certain manifest defect in 
 that poem. I miss the mystical element. There is noth- 
 ing which sets us to wondering what the poet is driving at, 
 as the translator of ' Quid agis ? ' would say, or what he 
 is ' after,' as Mr. Matthew Arnold would teach us to ex- 
 press it. You will agree that, in a poem of fewer posi- 
 tive merits, such a deficiency would be scarcely pardon- 
 able. We have a right to insist that, when a poet takes 
 the liberty to come before us with his work, he shall 
 bring us something that we cannot understand, just as 
 we insist that every man, who calls himself a philosopher, 
 shall treat the human mind as something inconceivable 
 something belonging in the domain of the unknowable. 
 To be sure, we may not always be able to deny ourselves the 
 dissipation to be found in reading some of the old poems 
 which flash their images upon us so vividly, and fill our 
 minds with such clear-cut thoughts, that we have only to 
 sit still and float on the stream of delight thus provided
 
 LAKESIDE PASTIMES. 3! 
 
 for us. But we can give observers, at such times, to un- 
 derstand that we are smiling at the author's old-fashioned 
 style and good-naturedly excusing him from mystifying 
 us. I would suggest that our poet, with a view to future 
 excellence in his chosen art, exercise himself assiduously 
 in covering up his meaning with a multitude of tropes, in 
 attaching several ingeniously contrived appendages to 
 each leading thought, and in making extensive use of 
 those similes wherein the objects undergoing illustration 
 are likened to objects of which no one can form a dis- 
 tinct conception. But his chief resource will be the 
 charging of his intellectual atmosphere with a certain 
 haziness. To this end, I would recommend that he par- 
 take largely of mush and milk before sitting down to his 
 daily task. If his working hours are in the morning, a 
 few bottles of porter before going to bed would be highly 
 beneficial. But I must not detain you longer. I propose 
 that the statement of doctrine, as enunciated by Professor 
 Ardick, be so amended as to read as follows : 'Mixley's 
 Apostrophe is an immense production, but is deficient 
 in the mystical element.' " 
 
 "I accept the amendment," said the Professor, "and 
 I desire to have it understood that I should have used 
 the very language that we have just listened to if I had 
 proceeded to make my criticism exhaustive," 
 
 " The case is closed," said the Judge. " The amended 
 statement of doctrine will stand as the judgment of the 
 court, and no appeal will be allowed." 
 
 After an interval, during which several persons sought 
 introductions to Mr. Jorman, and most of those present 
 congratulated the poet and the two principal critics, 
 Mixley asked : " Why can't we have a little dance for a 
 novelty ? "
 
 32 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " Oh, that would be splendid," said Miss Kitty, clap- 
 ping her hands. 
 
 " Perhaps," said Mrs. Erdby, " ife would not be agree- 
 able " ; and she looked toward the Doctor. 
 
 " You would n't mind if we should dance a little ; 
 would you, Dr. Ingleman ? " said Kitty, in a coaxing 
 tone, as she went to him and laid her little hand on his 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Well," he answered, " dancing is not a distinctively 
 Presbyterian exercise ; but I shall not object. In fact, 
 I rather think I shall enjoy looking on that is, if you all 
 belong to the church," he added, with a hearty laugh. 
 " Let me explain," said he, as soon as he could command 
 his voice. " There is a Judge Adkin, a magnificent old 
 gentleman, in my congregation, though he is not a mem- 
 ber of the church. He was brought up in New England, 
 and there is no such thing as changing the sentiments i?. 
 which he was educated so far as dancing and some other 
 recreations are concerned. But the young church- 
 members in our city have got in a great way of having 
 parlor dances at their social gatherings, though they 
 never go to public balls. They can't be made to see 
 that there is any sin in the recreation, and I am glad, on 
 the whole, that they can't, for their inclination to it is so 
 strong that it would be sure to work moral injury to 
 them if they believed it to be sinful. Well, last winter, 
 the judge's daughter, a very lovable young lady, was 
 going to a party at the home of one of her most intimate 
 friends. She told her father that there would be some 
 dancing in the course of fhe evening, and asked his per- 
 mission to take part in it. He refused peremptorily, 
 although he is, in general, one of the most indulgent 
 parents in the world. But what shall I say when they
 
 LAKESIDE PASTIMES. 33 
 
 urge me ? ' she asked ; ' What excuse can I give ? ' ' Why,' 
 said the judge, raising both hands, ' tell them, my dear, 
 that you don't belong'to the church.' " 
 
 Mrs. Erdby furnished the music, and the dancing was 
 continued till bedtime. As the company was breaking 
 up Dr. Ingleman said : " We have had a very enjoyable 
 evening. It seems to me that there ought to be a grate- 
 ful recognition on our part of the goodness which has 
 made an endless variety of innocent pleasures possible 
 to us, and that we ought to make up our minds to behave 
 ourselves pretty well." It was necessary for him to raise 
 his voice above the conversational tone in order to gain 
 attention, and he evinced some embarrassment as he was 
 turning to leave the room. Just then Mrs. Erdby slipped 
 quietly to his side and gave him her hand, with a hearty 
 " Good-night, Dr. Ingleman," and with a countenance 
 full of approbation. 
 
 When we came out into the office, Mr. Jorman asked 
 me to light a cigar and take a " little stroll " with him. 
 The proposal was agreeable to me, and we were about 
 starting, when a man stepped up to my companion and 
 asked him if he was the gentleman who wanted to go to 
 Lake Placid. 
 
 " Well," was the reply, " I presume I am the man you 
 are looking for ; but I have made up my mind not to 
 go at present. The fishing here suits me pretty well." 
 Then he said to me, as we passed into the street : " I 
 generally hold myself at liberty to do pretty much as I 
 please. I am an old bachelor, with no near relatives, and 
 no one to care where I go or when I come back. The 
 old Doctor," he continued, without an instant's pause, 
 " was going to get his religion in if he had to drag it in 
 by the scalp. He is a grand old fellow going to show
 
 34 
 
 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 his colors all the time a born standard-bearer. ' Sta 
 Signifer !'" 
 
 " He has helped you to the conclusion, ' Hie optime 
 manebimusj " I said. 
 
 "Yes, I suppose he had something to do with my de- 
 termination to remain here. But it is seldom that we 
 can be very exact in giving the relative weights of the 
 various influences that operate on us. They get mixed 
 up in very surprising ways. See here ; I don't make you 
 out very clearly You don't seem to me like a professional 
 or literary man." 
 
 " I am a drummer for a hardware firm." 
 
 "Well, there is nothing in your general appearance to 
 contradict that statement ; but I have never figured the 
 typical commercial traveller as an individual apt to show 
 familiarity with Horace and Livy." 
 
 I explained that I was the son of a clergyman ; that, 
 during my father's lifetime, a liberal education had been 
 contemplated for me, but that his death, near the close 
 of my Sophomore year, had made it necessary for me to 
 leave college and seek a situation in which I could earn 
 my own living and do something for my mother and 
 sister. 
 
 After a moment's silence, Mr. Jorman said that such 
 an experience as mine was quite sure to leave a mark of 
 some kind on my character. Then he asked, suddenly : 
 " Who is Serena ? " 
 
 I answered, without hesitation : " Mrs. Erdly, of Bos- 
 ton, a widow-lady." 
 
 " By George ! " said he, " your wits are pretty brisk. 
 Had she reminded you of a character in one of Miss 
 Bremer's novels ? " 
 
 " No," I answered, " but I thought of the character
 
 LAKESIDE PASTIMES. 35 
 
 as soon as you uttered the name ; and only one applica- 
 tion was possible." 
 
 " She is like General Washington in one respect," Mr. 
 Jorman remarked, meditatively. 
 
 " How is that ? " 
 
 " Why, you know his body-servant said of him, ' He 
 done all his laughin' inside.' There was not a person 
 present to-night who enjoyed the wit and humor more 
 than she did ; but I don't believe her enjoyment found 
 audible expression in a single instance. The first thing 
 I noticed about her in fact, the first thing that strongly 
 attracted my attention after I went into the room was 
 her intellectual alertness. She caught every point quicker 
 than lightning, and apprehended all its bearings. It is 
 that intellectual characteristic that accounts for her dis- 
 covering the Signifer's embarrassment and the fact that 
 he needed a little petting. That was a very good- 
 natured thing on Serena's part. Liveliness of sympathy 
 goes naturally with intellectual alertness. But there was 
 more than that in her case. There is a great deal of 
 lively sympathy that is not worth a fig. In itself it is a 
 mere emotion, and might as well be non-existent unless 
 it is associated with a good, reliable, impulsive force. Its 
 'true yoke-fellow ' is an operative good-will, and the team 
 is complete in Serena's case. I guess, too, that she goes 
 with the Signifer pretty thoroughly in his religiousness. 
 At all events, she wanted him to understand that she ap- 
 proved of his remark, and there was no indication of 
 insincerity or forced work in the expression of her face." 
 
 I said that the action to which he alluded was thor- 
 oughly characteristic of Mrs. Erdby, and told him of her 
 being the first person to address me on the evening of 
 my arrival.
 
 36 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " Well," he said, " you have brought out another de- 
 sirable trait. In calling your attention to that appearance 
 of the mountains, she showed a fine susceptibility to the 
 beautiful on her own part. Intellectual alertness, emo- 
 tional vivacity, sympathetic liveliness, aesthetic suscepti- 
 bility, operative benevolence that is a good beginning 
 for a catalogue. She is worth studying." 
 
 By this time our cigars were burnt out, and we re- 
 turned to the hotel. The next day we all went upon a 
 pic-nic at Tonsor's Point, two miles from the village. 
 Some went in carriages, some in row-boats, and several 
 of us walked. There was not much that was noteworthy 
 in the diversions of the day ; but a few of the incidents 
 will subserve our knowledge of the gentleman with whom 
 we shall have most to do in the course of this story. 
 
 There was fishing for perch from overhanging rocks, 
 and there was trolling for bass at a distance from the 
 shore. And then some of the fish had to be cooked for 
 our noon-day meal The preparation of this part of the 
 repast was taken in charge by a Mrs. Reynolds, a resident 
 of the village, who evinced a just pride in her culinary 
 skill. She superintended the construction of the tempo- 
 rary fireplace from the loose stones that were lying 
 about, and selected the fragments of wood with great 
 care, saying that she must have some " nice hot coals." 
 When most of us had finished eating and risen from the 
 ground, Mrs. Reynolds laid a beautifully crisp perch on 
 the Professor's plate and said to him : " Now, Professor, 
 I want you to eat that perch and then to testify that it is 
 the very best fish in the world." 
 
 " My dear madam," he replied " it will be impossible 
 for me to give that testimony. I am willing to say that 
 it is one of the best, or that it is as good as any other ;
 
 LAKESIDE PASTIMES. 37 
 
 but if I should say, without qualification, that it is the < 
 best fish in the world, I should be contradicting a pro- 
 verbium non scriptum." 
 
 When this remark was made I was cutting a letter 
 " M " in the bark of a white poplar, and my thoughts be- 
 came so engrossed that I observed nothing that was 
 taking place, except that Mixley was spouting poetry, 
 until I happened to turn my head and saw Mr. Jorman, 
 with his arm around a sapling, laughing convulsively. 
 When he caught my glance his laughter ceased instantly, 
 and he looked at me with wide-open eyes as if he had , 
 suddenly made a great discovery. Then he came up to 
 me and laid hold of my coat-collar, saying : " Come out 
 here and I will tell you all about it." He conducted me 
 through the evergreen shrubbery to a flat rock over- 
 hanging the water, and we sat down. For two or three 
 minutes he was mechanically picking up pebbles and / 
 tossing them into the water. Then he looked me in the ^ 
 face, with a smile of indescribable sweetness, and began 
 to talk. 
 
 " I like to see a fellow look at me as you did," he said. 
 " It is a look that I have not seen more than half a dozen - 
 times in my whole life ; and it always makes me act just 
 as the Ancient Mariner acted when he met the wedding- \ 
 guest. I know that I have got to tell my story. You are 
 a regular old knowledge-compeller. Your look said, as , 
 plainly as any thing was ever said in the world : ' Now 
 I am going to know what this means if the devil stands * 
 at the door.' Inquiring looks are common enough, but \ 
 their ordinary language is : 'I wish I knew what this 
 means, but I don't suppose I can find out.' " These last 
 words were uttered with a whine which made them - 
 sound supremely ludicrous.
 
 38 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 When I was able to stop laughing he continued, in a 
 quieter tone : "You see that I am a sort of psychologist. 
 That is, the human mind is to me the most interesting 
 subject of study in the universe, and I can't restrain my- 
 self from observing its operations. I am not like the 
 metaphysicians who trust entirely to introspection, or 
 ' consciousness,' as they call it, and become so absorbed 
 with themselves that they achieve a stupendous ignorance 
 of their fellowvmen. That is the absurdest method 
 imaginable. If you want to understand the natures of 
 forces you must watch their manifestations wherever they 
 can be found. Well, some of the most observable and 
 amusing effects of this kind come from the operations of 
 the associative faculty. The philosophers don't find any 
 such faculty, though they have a great deal to say about 
 association as an intellectual process. It is true that this 
 kind of mental activity seems to go on automatically 
 oftener than otherwise ; and yet we all know that we 
 have a power by which we can make it subservient to 
 our purposes. I say it is utter nonsense to deny the 
 name of ' faculty ' to that provision in our minds by 
 reason of which these associations take place. Now 
 we '11 come to what I was laughing at. You heard the 
 Professor's remark about t\\Q proverbium non scriptum. It 
 was a pretty good thing, and everybody understood that 
 he referred to the old saying, ' There are as good fish in 
 the sea as ever were caught.' Now look at the different 
 trains that started out from the various mental depots 
 around. The Signifer was the first to speak. He com- 
 plimented the Professor on the sageness of his obser- 
 vation by quoting : ' Doth not wisdom cry, and under- 
 standing put forth her voice ? ' Being a clergyman, it 
 was natural that the word ' proverbium ' should set him
 
 LAKESIDE PASTIMES. 39 
 
 to thinking about the Proverbs of Solomon ; and his 
 quick wit seized on the passage most pertinent to the 
 occasion. Then Mixley took in the old saying theflro- 
 verbium to which the Professor had alluded, and the 
 word ' sea ' popped into the leadership. Hence, he be- 
 gan to spout : 
 
 " ' And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea.' 
 
 Little Saucy-nose made the most common application 
 of the proverb, and asked her aunt if she believed 
 Phil Adsley was going to marry Josie Enkman. It is 
 probable that the little maiden had entertained some 
 thoughts of her own as to Phil's future relations. But 
 the best thing of all was said by that old money-making 
 Judge. He said to the merchant who was sitting by 
 him ; ' Delaware and Lackawanna is having quite a 
 boom.' Now, how do you suppose that remark was 
 suggested ? " 
 
 I professed my inability to find an answer. 
 
 " Why, the phrase ' proverbium non scriptum ' was sure 
 to remind a lawyer of the lex non scripta. Then it was 
 the most natural thing in the world for him to think of 
 the sources of the English Common Law ; and no old 
 lawyer does that without having Coke on Littleton occur 
 to his mind. But an ardent money-maker is switched 
 off by the first word that connects itself with any thing 
 he has dwelt on as a source of profit, and it is but half a 
 step from ' Coke ' to coal. Being in the habit of turning 
 over in his mind all the leading modes of investment, it 
 is impossible for him to think of coal without having 
 thoughts also of the railroad companies that make a 
 large part of their profits from the mining and transpor- 
 tation of that article. Now, you know the Delaware and
 
 40 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 Lackawanna is one of the principal roads of that class, 
 and the recent important advance in the shares of that 
 company is of interest enough to the Judge to become a 
 subject of conversation. That is the way the thing goes. 
 The train moves along silently and turns and twists this 
 way and that, without a jolt, till it fetches up against a 
 subject that a fellow cares something about. Then there 
 is apt to be a little talking done. I tell you there is a 
 great deal of fun in watching such processes, and some- 
 times you can set them going with excellent results. If 
 you are acquainted with a man's intellectual habits, and 
 know what are the matters of chief interest to him, you 
 can set him talking on a subject that you don't like to 
 bring 'up by alluding to something that seems to be a 
 thousand miles away from it. On the other hand, you 
 can learn a great deal about a man's habitual way of 
 thinking and his leading desires by observing the turns 
 that various remarks and incidents cause his thoughts to 
 take. Now. Mr. Knowledge-compeller, will you tell me 
 honestly what you were thinking about just before you 
 caught me laughing so idiotically ? " 
 
 I hesitated, and I suppose my face reddened a little, 
 but I finally answered that I was saying to myself : 
 "Your old proverbium won't be true any longer if I can 
 succeed in catching Martha Orlington." 
 
 " Hello ! " he exclaimed, " you are in for it, are you ? 
 Well, that is all right. I wish we could find out what 
 turn Serena's thoughts were taking." 
 
 " Suppose we try," I suggested. 
 
 " Well," he answered after a pause, " I am willing to 
 have you make the attempt if you will agree to desist on 
 the first indication of an indisposition to favor us with 
 the revelation. You must n't carry your knowledge-
 
 LAKESIDE PASTIMES. 41 
 
 compelling too far in this case. We don't want to worm 
 out any thing that she would prefer to keep to herself." 
 
 I gave the desired promise, and we happened to find 
 Mrs. Erdby unoccupied. 
 
 " We have been having a little talk," I said, "about 
 the workings of different minds, and want you to help 
 us. I will explain myself fully pretty soon. You saw 
 Mr. Jorman come and take me aside ; did you ? " 
 
 " I believe I noticed some such circumstance," she 
 replied, with a look of keen amusement. 
 
 "Well, have you any objection to telling us what you 
 were thinking about just before that incident occurred ? " 
 
 She reflected a moment and then said: " Oh, I remember 
 now. I was thinking about a trip to Chicago that I took 
 last summer." 
 
 "Did you come near missing your train?" Jorman 
 asked, somewhat excitedly. 
 
 "No ; I had some time to wait." 
 
 " Are you sure that the word 'caught' was not in your 
 mind just before you thought of the journey ? " 
 
 She gave him a startled look, and answered : " That 
 word was in my mind. I had a picture there, too, of a 
 young friend of ours who had just come in from the ball- 
 ground, holding his right hand in his left and saying that 
 he had caught a flyer and broken his thumb." 
 
 " Yes," said Jorman, triumphantly," and you travelled to 
 Chicago on that fast train which is called ' The Flyer ! ' ' 
 
 " That is true," she replied ; and we then gave her a 
 full account of the conversation we had been having. 
 
 In the course of the afternoon, Mixley and I had a boat- 
 race, and I was fortunate enough to beat him by a few 
 lengths. As I stepped out of the boat, Jorman said to me: 
 
 " You are rather an athletic fellow. How much do 
 you weigh ? "
 
 42 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " A hundred and sixty-three," I answered. 
 
 "Five feet ten ? " measuring my height with his eyes. 
 
 " Five feet ten and a quarter in my stockings." 
 
 "Well," he said in a satisfied tone, " I like a well put- 
 up ' biped without feathers,' especially, when he is a 
 knowledge-compeller." 
 
 When the party was about to break up, Jorman 
 grasped my shoulder and whispered " Look at Serena." 
 
 Mrs. Erdby was standing on a low flat rock, which ex- 
 tended into the water and commanded a view unob- 
 structed by any thing on the shore, and was looking 
 northward. The sun had declined so far that the greater 
 part of the bay was covered by the shadows of the sur- 
 rounding hills, while the eastern side of it had a glisten- 
 ing border. The sunlit crown of the rocky hill at the 
 northeastern extremity of the bay ; the shaded cliffs with 
 their hemlock sentinels ; the manifold hues, distributed 
 in belts and patches on the water's surface, by sunlight 
 and shadow and reflected clouds, with the subdued glory 
 on the summits of the distant mountains, made up a 
 wonderful prospect. I shall not attempt to describe the 
 expression of Mrs. Erdby's countenance. She was called 
 by her niece to take her place in the carriage, and Mr. 
 Jorman and I started on our walk in silence. His first 
 remark was : 
 
 " There is no doubt about her being religious. It is true 
 that complacency in material beauty and love of supreme 
 goodness have a common fountain-head in our spiritual 
 constitution. Beauty is simply one of the forms, or 
 modes, of goodness. But complacency in material 
 beauty alone never brought just that look upon a human 
 face. She was among the supernal splendors, as Carlyle 
 would say."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A SUNDAY WITH MR. JORMAN. 
 
 HPHE intimacy between Mr. Jorman and myself grew 
 * so rapidly that we soon became nearly inseparable. 
 His conversation invariably entertained me, and was 
 often highly instructive ; and it was natural that he 
 should enjoy my enjoyment of it. His habitual style 
 was somewhat rattling, occasionally verging on slang, 
 with great animation of voice and gesture. But he had 
 many whimsical moods : at one time he would assume 
 the tone of a precise pedant and, at another, would act 
 to perfection the part of a grave lecturer dealing in pom- 
 pous circumlocutions. As the reader has observed, he 
 was much addicted to the application of nicknames, 
 though he did not take that liberty to the face of any 
 member of our circle, except myself. After the picnic, he 
 always spoke to me of the Professor as " Old Delicious," 
 and called the Judge, " Delaware and Lackawanna " at 
 first, but soon abbreviated that name to " D. and L." My 
 name was '* Knowledge-compeller " for a day or two ; 
 then, for a while, it was " Nol-comp," and it finally took 
 the form of " Nolly," which it has retained ever since. 
 Jorman's uniform habit of addressing me and speaking 
 of me by that name has had some amusing results. I 
 have received letters addressed to " Mr. Oliver Bidrop," 
 and have been so introduced to persons with whom no 
 one would think of jesting. A few minutes ago, a young 
 
 43
 
 44 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 matron extended toward me a soft palm, with a diminu- 
 tive hand lying in it, and said : " Nolly dear, did you 
 ever see any thing so pretty as baby's little tapering 
 fingers ? " 
 
 On Sunday morning, after breakfast, Dr. Ingleman 
 conducted devotions in the parlor. He read the nine- 
 tieth psalm, and the words, " Let the beauty of the Lord 
 our God be upon us," became the keynote of his prayer. 
 With simple language, which came of itself from his 
 trustful, loving heart, he took us into the presence-cham- 
 ber of the Majesty on High, and disclosed to us, so far 
 as we were fitted to see it, the ineffable loveliness of the 
 Divine Nature. Then the possibility of our being par- 
 takers of that Nature was a soul-filling reality to him, 
 and, in tones demonstrative of the full assurance of faith, 
 he besought that boon for himself, and for us, and for 
 many classes of mankind whom his far-reaching love 
 brought up for intercession. 
 
 I soon had occasion to see how suddenly a deep re- 
 ligious impression can be broken up. Mr. Jorman and 
 I strolled away from the house in silence, but had not 
 proceeded far before he remarked, musingly : 
 
 " When a man really seems to himself to be holding 
 converse with Deity, and to be preferring requests which 
 are sure to be granted, there is something beautiful about 
 the illusion after all." 
 
 " Illusion ! " I shouted, swinging my rigid fist. " It is 
 the perfect knowledge of a glorious reality." 
 
 He eyed me a moment, with a mixture of amusement 
 and scrutiny in his expression, and then said : * 
 
 " Ah, I see how it is. But there is no use in getting 
 mad if you are ever so pious." 
 
 The idea of piety, coming in such sudden collision
 
 A SUNDAY WITH MR. JORMAN. 45 
 
 with the consciousness of my hot wrath, set me off in a 
 fit of uncontrollable laughter. 
 
 "Well, well," said my friend, "you are a queer bird, 
 anyway. I shall have to cut you up pretty fine before 
 I find out all there is in you. Still," he added, after re- 
 flecting two or three minutes, " it is not a very compli- 
 cated case. The deep feeling which the Signifer's prayer 
 excited in you made my thoughtless remark all the more 
 painful, and the reaction was correspondingly violent. 
 That 's all there is about sudden anger, anyhow : it is 
 the_ heart's reaction against sudden pain. And, then, 
 hearty laughter springs from a sudden and vivid percep- 
 tion of incongruity oftener than from any other source." 
 
 We walked into a woodland pasture and threw our- 
 selves upon the grass in the shade of a spreading maple. 
 Looking in my face with kindly interest, Mr. Jorman 
 said : 
 
 " You have been religious all your life, I suppose, 
 being a clergyman's son ? " 
 
 " No," I replied, " I had to have my period of smart- 
 ness, when I knew more than all the greatest scholars in 
 the world. There is the epoch-making document so far 
 as my life is concerned." 
 
 I handed him, from a thin pocket-book, a paper which 
 I had carried on my person constantly during the pre- 
 ceding six years. It was a letter written by my father 
 near the close of my Freshman year in Brown University, 
 and the principal part of it was as follows : 
 
 " I have so many signs of failing health that I think 
 there ought to be no longer delay in my saying a few 
 words to you as to your personal attitude in the matter 
 of religion. I take it for granted that, like all other 
 young men whose faculties are made active by study,
 
 46 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 and who have not committed themselves on this subject, 
 you are in a vacillating state of mind in regard to the 
 claims of Christianity. Objections, which seem very 
 plausible, occur to you from time to time. Do not make 
 the mistake of supposing that the same objections have 
 not presented themselves to the multitudes of learned 
 men who have finally given in their adhesion to Chris- 
 tianity. But let me ask you if you see no objections 
 on the other side no objections to the conclusion that 
 the claims of Christianity are false. Remember that this 
 is not simply nor mainly a matter of speculation. It is 
 essentially a practical matter and one in regard to which 
 the avoidance of action is impossible. Every day of 
 your life you must stand at the bar of your own con- 
 science as an accepter or as a rejecter of Christianity. 
 Now, in view of what that system of doctrines and pre- 
 cepts has done for the world, and of the support it has 
 received from the wisest and best, does it not come be- 
 fore you with what the lawyers would call a prima facie 
 case ? One thought more. You cannot doubt that you 
 ought to be a good and useful man. Can you doubt that 
 Christianity, if heartily espoused, would help you to the 
 realization of that end ? " 
 
 As Jorman finished reading the letter, and handed it 
 back to me, I said : 
 
 " A week after I received that communication I wrote 
 to my father for permission to come home and be bap- 
 tized by him ; and I can never be glad enough that I 
 gave him that comfort. He died in less than a year." 
 
 " Well," said my friend, " I shall not try to unsettle 
 your faith, though I confess that I had counted on your 
 intellectual sympathy with me in connection with these 
 matters."
 
 A SUNDAY WITH MR. JORMAN. 47 
 
 I responded : " Any attempt to shake my faith would 
 be utterly futile. The subject has not been debatable 
 with me since I took my position on it ; and it never will 
 be debatable with me. The clearing up of speculative 
 difficulties is out of my line, and I am not going to be 
 bothered with them. I know it is best for me, and best 
 for all who are to be affected by my life, that I should 
 treat Jesus Christ as my Master, and that is just what I 
 am going to do." 
 
 " If you stick to that position," was the reply, " it is 
 pretty certain that you will never be a scamp. There is 
 some comfort in that, a great deal of comfort, for I tell 
 you the tendency to scampery in this race of ours is 
 tremendous." 
 
 Our sermon, that morning, was delivered by an accom- 
 plished young preacher from the city. He was fine- 
 looking, and had a musical voice, and his manner was 
 agreeable in every respect. His text was : " The heart 
 is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." 
 The body of the discourse was made up of historical 
 illustrations. The great sinners of the ages, were made to 
 pass before us in a series of very effective word-paint- 
 ings, and we were told that their wickedness was simply 
 the outgrowth of the same depravity that we had all in- 
 herited. Then followed a perfunctory statement, in the 
 stereotyped phraseology, of the necessity of procuring 
 forgiveness through faith in Christ. 
 
 " That won't do," said Jorman, as we walked toward 
 the hotel. 
 
 " No," said I, " not by a long shot." 
 
 In the afternoon we walked to the top of the highest 
 hill at the north of the village. There was very little 
 talk between us till Jorman said abruptly :
 
 48 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " I will tell you all about the human heart if you will 
 give me a quarter of a dollar." 
 
 I handed him a twenty-five-cent piece from my vest 
 pocket, struck a match on the sole of my boot, lit a 
 cigar, adjusted my back to the trunk of a white birch, 
 and told him to " fire away." He put up the coin very 
 carefully, restored his porte-monnaie to his pocket, and 
 said, in solemn tones : 
 
 " Now that my mind is at ease concerning the means 
 wherewith to procure a piece of ginger-bread and a bot- 
 tle of spruce beer, I can enter the domain of metaphysics 
 with a great deal of equanimity and a large quantity of 
 undisturbedness." 
 
 Then he seated himself on a stone, about six feet in 
 front of me, and discoursed as follows : 
 
 " Be it known unto you, O Nolly, that, in considera- 
 tion of your being a knowledge-compeller, and in further 
 consideration of twenty-five cents, to me in hand paid, 
 the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, you are 
 selected and appointed as the second member of the hu- 
 man family to take a square look at the central forces of 
 that interesting creature denominated Man. When I 
 speak of man, I mean the little fellow himself, without 
 reference to his corporeal habitation. In my vocabulary, 
 Man, Mind, and Soul are interchangeable names. 
 
 " Do you ask why this little fellow's heart has remained 
 invisible through all the ages ? I answer that the ex- 
 planation is to be found in the universal lack of self-con- 
 ceit. The philosophers of old, very excellent old duffers 
 in their way magnificent instructors in many things 
 nailed up a set of shutters before the human heart, and 
 all the philosophers of succeeding generations have dis- 
 trusted their ability to take those shutters down, and
 
 A SUNDAY WITH MR. JORMAN. 49 
 
 have contented themselves with boring gimlet holes in 
 them. Now, a gimlet hole is a very good orifice for the 
 inspection of a single point, but it is an inadequate pro- 
 vision for a comprehensive survey of interacting forces. 
 The practice of looking through gimlet-holes has caused 
 the philosophers to be terribly afraid that their disciples 
 would think of man as an object of possible conception. 
 So they tell us, over and over again, that he is distin- 
 guished from matter by being unextended, which means, 
 if it means any thing, that he is nowhere. The great 
 Scotchman says that he ' is not an organism,' that he 
 is ' an intelligence served by organs.' There is a lu- 
 minous description for you. Of course you know just 
 how an Intelligence looks. You can conceive one just as 
 distinctly as you can conceive a Benevolence or an Af- 
 fectionateness. 
 
 " But the big joke on the Christian philosophers is the 
 fact that, while they have been peeping through their lit- 
 tle holes in the shutters put up by Plato and the rest, the 
 true theory of the human soul has been standing out, all 
 ablaze, for nearly two thousand years in the New Testa- 
 ment. Throughout these writings the soul is treated as 
 a definitively organized being, with such an organic 
 structure as is indispensable to the processes of life ; and 
 that is the exact truth about the human soul. If I were 
 going to take a retainer in behalf of the orthodox doc- 
 trine of inspiration, I should base my principal argu- 
 ment on the fact that the men called ' inspired writers ' 
 anticipated the latest results of psychological research 
 by eighteen centuries. But if I talk much longer on 
 this point I shall get mad and fail to show you the hu- 
 man heart after all. 
 
 " Let us take down the shutters, and I will point out to
 
 50 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 you five distinct powers, so organized that they are capable 
 of ten thousand times ten thousand different interactions. 
 We don't know any thing about the substance in which 
 these powers have their seat ; it is enough to know that 
 something holds them together. The first of them is the 
 power to take impressions from the outside world through 
 the senses and the nervous system. When the taking of 
 impressions is intentional, the organs of sense and the 
 nerves are made use of, just as we make use of specta- 
 cles and ear-trumpets. Then we have the intellectual 
 power, by which we come into possession of knowledge 
 through many different processes. This is the only one 
 of the powers that the philosophers have made much 
 headway in examining, and they have a great deal to 
 learn about it yet. The other three powers belong to the 
 heart. We 've got here at last. 
 
 " When I think of the way in which the analytical pro- 
 cess has been applied in this department of psychology, 
 ' I think, also, of the dissection of a fly with a meat-axe. 
 A very common thing is to class all the movements of 
 the soul, which are not intellectual, under the head of 
 'Feelings,' and nobody can find out whether they are un- 
 derstood to spring from one original power or from a 
 dozen of them. Now, look here. Suppose you tell me 
 something that tickles me or troubles me something 
 that makes me grin or grunt. The power to experience 
 that pleasant or unpleasant emotion, on account of the 
 thought that you have put into my mind, is one thing, 
 is n't it ? Well, suppose you hold up a nice, velvety, 
 tan-colored cigar, and I want it it so badly that I go for 
 it. The power to experience that impulse to snatch, 
 possess, and enjoy is another thing, is n't it ? Sixthly 
 and lastly, suppose that the thoughts which you put into
 
 A SUNDAY WITH MR. JORMAN. 51 
 
 my mind please or displease me so much that I either 
 caress you or cuff you. Is n't the power to experience 
 that impulse to caress or cuff still another thing ? Now, 
 if the mere experiencing of pleasure or pain is different 
 from an impulse to do something, then, of course, the 
 first power that I pointed out stands by itself. Well, 
 taking differs from giving, doaft it ? Grasping is not the 
 same as bestowing, is it ? Don't you see that the power 
 to which one of the impulses I spoke of is due, and the 
 power in which the other originates, are as distinct from 
 each other as bread and brandy ? What superlative non- 
 sense it is to jumble all these internal experiences 
 together, and talk of them as if they all sprang from the 
 same source and were governed by the same laws. 
 
 " You see now that there are provisions in the heart for 
 experiences of three distinct classes. Those of the first 
 class are emotions, those of the second are desires, and ' 
 those of the third are affections. You understand, too, 
 everybody understands, or, at least, everybody acts on 
 the assumption, that the most important part of the 
 heart's work is accomplished through the interaction of 
 the intellectual power and the emotional power. What 
 do you do when you want to stir up a deep feeling in 
 my heart ? Why, you try to get my intellectual power 
 occupied with certain thoughts and conceptions, and you 
 take it for granted that the activity of my emotional 
 power will follow as a matter of course. Nobody ever 
 dreams of proceeding in any other way. Suppose you 
 wish to quicken the activity of my intellect on some sub- 
 ject that interests you deeply. In that case you make 
 an additional assumption : you assume not only that my 
 intellectual power will act on my emotional power, but 
 that the latter will react on the former. You try to give
 
 52 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 me the thoughts which seem to you best calculated to 
 awaken a feeling of interest, and you take it for granted 
 that, if the desired emotions can be excited, my intellec- 
 tual power will be set at work more earnestly. Now let 
 us trace this matter of interaction a little further, and 
 bring in some new factors. You want to make me shake 
 off my stupidity and enjoy this beautiful landscape. 
 What do you do ? You exclaim : ' Just look at that 
 sheet of water, those high overhanging rocks, that fringe 
 of trees on the other shore, those wheat-fields, corn-fields* 
 meadows, pastures, and patches of forest beyond ! ' 
 Now what takes place ? You have given me the intel- 
 lectual apprehension of something worth looking at ; my 
 emotional power is stirred ; at the same moment my de- 
 siring power comes into action with an impulse to grasp 
 the pleasure of which you have given me the idea ; my 
 intellectual power takes the attitude of attention ; my 
 power to take impressions from the material world is 
 brought into exercise, and is caused to make use of those 
 optical instruments of which nature has given it pro- 
 visional control. Here we have four of our five powers 
 at work. Indeed, it is not improbable that the fifth 
 the affectional power likewise manifests its presence. 
 If my heart is not too tough it is pretty sure to react tow- 
 ard the beauty which is gladdening me, in an impulse to 
 call down blessings upon the landscape. 
 
 " Now Nolly, you may talk about the wonderful things 
 to be found in the material universe ; but I tell you that 
 there is nothing that can begin to compare with the 
 processes which make up the life of the human soul. In 
 all waking hours such processes are going on as con- 
 stantly as the beating of the heart and the expansion and 
 contraction of the lungs. Yet what an amazing differ-
 
 A SUNDAY WITH MR. JORMAN. 53 
 
 ence there is between the life of the body and the life of 
 the soul ! The vital processes of the body are, to all in- 
 tents and purposes, the same in all men. But the vital 
 processes of some human souls differ from those of other 
 human souls a thousand times more than the lowest 
 member of the animal kingdom differs from the highest 
 member of it. This is true, although every human soul 
 possesses the five, and only the five, original powers 
 which I have pointed out. Indeed, the identity of 
 structure extends very much farther. The power to 
 take impressions from the material world branches out 
 in the same way in all men, so that they are capable of 
 no more and no less than the same classes of impressions. 
 The intellectual power embraces the capability of several 
 special modes of activity, which are the same in all men, 
 and for which all men are very properly said to have 
 special faculties. The emotional power embodies several 
 distinct susceptibilities, which are common to the whole 
 race. As a consequence of this, all human hearts are 
 characterized by several primary desires, which are the 
 same in all. Finally, all normally constituted human 
 beings have a number of affections in common. And 
 yet we have saints and scoundrels, sages and simpletons, 
 heroes and humbugs." 
 
 He paused at this point, and I said : " I don't see how 
 you can maintain that we have no original powers except 
 those you have named. Where is the conscience ? and 
 where is the will ? " 
 
 " My dear fellow," he answered, " I knew you would 
 ask those questions, and I will not shock you by saying, 
 as I have said a great many times, that there is no such 
 thing as either conscience or will. They are both of 
 them stupendous facts, and we could n't get along very
 
 54 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 well without the names which are applied to them. Still 
 we are using figurative language when we speak of either 
 the conscience or the will as a single power producing, 
 by itself, all the effects which we ascribe to it. We need 
 only to make an accurate analysis of the powers I have 
 described, and especially of the three which belong to 
 the heart, in order to see that all these effects moral 
 sentiments, volitions, choices, and purposes are pro- 
 duced inevitably by the reciprocal operations of those 
 powers. Necessarily coming into being in every normally 
 constituted human soul, they are characteristic of man 
 just as completely as they would be if they proceeded 
 immediately from two original powers." 
 
 "I should like to have you show me," I said, "how 
 what I call my conscience can be originated in that 
 way." 
 
 " That," he replied, " would take a great deal more 
 time than the sinking sun will dish out to us on this oc- 
 casion. What you call your conscience is a good-sized 
 bundle of moral sentiments, no two of which get into ex- 
 istence in precisely the same way. Each one of them 
 involves the activity of the intellectual power ; and that 
 activity is not the same in the cases of any two of them. 
 
 " Let us see, however, if we can get any light on the 
 origination of the most conspicuous of these sentiments, 
 the one which causes you to say, ' I ought,' ' It is my 
 duty,' ' I must.' Now, we know where the intellectual 
 element, the conviction embodied in this sentiment, 
 comes from ; and all we have got to do is to hunt up the 
 sources of the emotional and the impulsive elements. 
 But we shall never succeed unless we get back a good 
 ways behind the usual starting-point of the moral phi- 
 losophers. If they had only taken it into their heads to
 
 A SUNDAY WITH MR. JORMAN. 55 
 
 investigate the susceptibilities embodied in the emotional 
 power, they would have had plainer sailing. Now, you 
 don't have to look a great while before you discover that 
 a consciousness of goodness is delightful to you, and a 
 consciousness of badness is painful to you. You know 
 what self-complacency is and what remorse and shame 
 are. If you ask why these particular actions of your 
 intellectual power produce these emotions, the answer is, 
 Because they do. Poke around till doomsday, and you 
 can't find any explanation of the fact except in the laws 
 of your nature. Here, then, you know that you have 
 found an original susceptibility, which needs only the 
 presence of the particular intellectual activity I have 
 just mentioned, in order to account for the moral senti- 
 ment which may properly be called self-judgment. And 
 at this very point you will find a good, substantial, in- 
 destructible basis for a moral nature, imbedded in the 
 constitution of your soul. It comes by evolution of 
 course, evolved from the fiat of the Almighty as plainly 
 and directly as any effect ever followed its cause. 
 
 " Now we are on the track of that sentiment which 
 makes you say ' I ought.' You know, in a general way, 
 that when your emotional power has given you a special 
 kind of pleasure, your desiring power reaches out after a 
 repetition of that pleasure. But the action of the former 
 power on the latter is not immediate. Your intellectual 
 power is always busy as a bee ; and it puts in some fine 
 work at this point. The associative faculty, embodied 
 in this power, binds and glues together the special cause 
 of that special kind of pleasure, and the idea or remi- 
 niscence of the pleasure itself. After numerous repeti- 
 tions of this experience, there grows up in the intellectual 
 power a permanent conception of that cause and that ef-
 
 56 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 feet in inseparable union with each other. While this is 
 taking place, there is growing up in the desiring power a 
 permanent desire for the realization of that conception. 
 That is the way in which all permanent desires are 
 originated. Of course, since the consciousness of good- 
 ness, with its keen delight, and the consciousness of bad- 
 ness, with its unspeakable torture, are constantly visiting 
 you, there arises in your intellect an indestructible con- 
 ception of personal goodness inseparably united with de- 
 licious enjoyment. Of course, too, there comes into being 
 in your heart an indestructible desire of personal goodness. 
 " We have one step more to take. Remember that we 
 have got your desire of goodness accounted for. Now 
 suppose that this desire was never to be impeded in your 
 case. Suppose you had no inclination that would ever 
 come in conflict with it. Do you think you would be 
 saying, ' I ought to do this,' or, ' I ought not to do that ' ? 
 Not a bit of it. Don't you know that you never have 
 those phrases in your mind when you are contemplating 
 no action or inaction incompatible with spontaneous 
 goodness ? Is it a sense of duty that makes you kind to 
 your mother ? that causes you to pet your sister ? that 
 moves you to exert yourself for the pleasure of your 
 sweetheart ? I tell you that if you had not your share 
 of the depravity that our preacher talked about this 
 morning, it would be impossible for you ever to feel the 
 weight of a moral necessity upon you. You could 
 neither be pricked by the spur of moral coercion, nor 
 feel the curbed-bit of moral restraint. It is as plain 
 as the nose on your face that what you call the im- 
 perativeness of your conscience comes into being 
 through the opposition of your rascally inclinations to 
 your desire of goodness."
 
 A SUNDAY WITH MR. JORMAN. 57 
 
 * That sounds rather plausible," I said, " but I should 
 like to have you talk a little more about depravity 
 about the deceitfulness and wickedness of the heart." 
 
 " Well," was the reply, " from one point of view, wick- 
 edness is identical with jackassism. That is the view 
 that Solomon was apt to take, what the writer had in 
 mind when he said the Lord had ' no pleasure in fools.' 
 Now what is the difference between the man who is 
 practically wise and the man who is practically foolish ? 
 Why, the wise man fixes his aims on remote objects 
 which have a more or less permanent value, and, for the 
 sake of securing them, he undergoes self-denial and 
 arduous toil, while the fool cuts loose from all remote 
 and permanent benefits for the sake of immediate or 
 speedy gratifications. If I had time I could show you 
 how the conviction, that personal excellence is the para- 
 mount good, and that personal badness is the hugest of 
 all evils, inevitably takes possession of every human 
 intellect and becomes indestructible there. But ten 
 thousand chances for speedy gratification present them- 
 selves to our view, and we are such confounded fools, 
 and in such a hurry to be enjoying ourselves, that we go 
 for them at the expense of our personal characters. 
 That is the long and short of desperate wickedness. 
 
 " The deceitfulness of the heart is very easily explained. 
 The whole secret lies in the fact that our intellectual 
 faculties are under the sway of our impulses just as much 
 as our hands and feet are. As a consequence, when our 
 rascally impulses predominate, our faculties work in a 
 rascally manner, and we fool ourselves with lies instead 
 of feeding ourselves with truth." 
 
 " Well, about the will ? " I said. " It seems to me that 
 you are a little crazy on that point."
 
 58 
 
 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " Perhaps I am," was the answer. " I confess that I 
 am sometimes inclined to class the will as a sixth origi- 
 nal power a power to experience volitions. But my 
 prevailing impression is that, under the laws which gov- 
 ern all forces, volitions, choices, and purposes result 
 inevitably from the operations of our impulsive powers 
 our desiring power and our affectional power. Lines of 
 causation can be traced in the mental world just as dis- 
 tinctly as in the material world. In both spheres we see 
 simple forces doing their work without impediment ; 
 forces sputtering, simmering, counteracting each other, 
 and remaining inoperative, and the resultants of forces 
 colliding, conflicting, and co-operating. Now, a volition 
 is an effect. All the metaphysical jugglery in the world 
 can't wipe out that fact ; and when men convince them- 
 selves that they doubt it, they simply muddle themselves 
 into the acceptance of a lie. If, any time, when you 
 have come to a determination, you will take pains to 
 review the workings of your mind, you will have no diffi- 
 culty in finding out just how that effect was caused. If 
 you have hesitated and deliberated before resolving, you 
 will find that one impulse has prevailed over another, or 
 that the immediate cause of your resolution was the 
 resultant of several impulses. And then you will see 
 that this resolution was the immediate cause of subse- 
 quent movements in your intellectual faculties and your 
 physical powers." 
 
 I said, " I don't see my way clear to controverting 
 that doctrine successfully. But, if our actions are 
 brought about in that way, instead of proceeding from a 
 free and independent will, how are we to be held re- 
 sponsible for them?" 
 
 " Why, my dear boy," he answered, " what difference
 
 A SUNDAY WITH MR. JORMAN. 
 
 does it make, so far as your responsibility is concerned, 
 whether your actions proceed from the determinations 
 of a single faculty, or are the outcome of all the forces in 
 your nature ? The essential thing in responsibility is sub- 
 jection to consequences. In this sense you are responsi- 
 ble for much more than your external actions. You 
 are responsible for your susceptibilites, your desires, and 
 affections, for all the forces that lie back of your voli- 
 tions ; because all these forces have consequences for 
 good or ill to you. You are responsible primarily for 
 being what you are ; and your responsibility for external 
 actions is a secondary matter. Of course you can say 
 that you did not create yourself, and thus get muddled 
 over an ambiguity in the word ' responsibility.' You can 
 answer as the boy did when his mother asked him, 'Why 
 can 't you be a better boy, Silas ? ' 'I don't know ' he 
 said ; ' I 'm just as the Lord made me ; and he did n't 
 make me worth a snap.' It seems a little rough on a 
 scamp that he should be a scamp ; but, if such is a fel- 
 low's character, he has got to take the consequences as 
 sure as you 're born. I don't have any trouble over this 
 matter nowadays. I am satisfied, in the first place, that 
 it is a good thing to have honest men in the universe, 
 and, in the second place, that the existence of scampery 
 is an indispensable pre-requisite to the existence of hon- 
 esty. The possibility of any special virtue presupposes 
 the possibility of the opposite vice." 
 
 " That is a pretty tough doctrine," I said. " But I 
 believe I have got my quarter's worth ; and we must go 
 to tea now, or the waiters won't have time to get ready 
 for church." 
 
 After tea, we were standing near Mrs. Erdby and her 
 niece, on the piazza., when Jorman threw out a remark
 
 60 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 which evinced a disposition to ridicule the morning ser- 
 mon. Miss Kitty flared up and said to him, in a spiteful 
 tone : " You had better go and preach yourself to-night. 
 Then we shall have something very grand." 
 
 " There, there, darling," said Mrs. Erdby, laying her 
 hand on Kitty's arm. 
 
 " I don't care," was the response ; " I think the minis- 
 ter was real nice. Old hateful ! " she added, with a vio- 
 lent twist of her upper lip, as Jorman passed out of sight 
 laughing. 
 
 After a few minutes, he returned and said, in a candid 
 way : " I want to make my peace with you Miss Eval- 
 stone. I ought not to have said what I did ; and I mean 
 to break myself of the habit of making such remarks." 
 
 " Now, you are trying to make fun of me," she said, 
 looking at him distrustfully. 
 
 " Indeed I am not," he replied earnestly ; " I am speak- 
 ing with perfect sincerity. And I want to say to you that 
 you have risen very much in my estimation by standing 
 up so resolutely for an absent person who has made a favor- 
 able impression on you. Your friends can always count 
 on your loyalty, and always know that there is one person, 
 at least, who will be prompt to speak in their defence." 
 
 "O don't," said Kitty. "You make me feel so fool- 
 ish"; and she ducked her burning face behind Mrs. 
 Erdby's shoulder. 
 
 I could see that the aunt, as she caressed Kitty's little 
 hand, was gratified by the tribute which Jorman had 
 paid, and that she had caught a new revelation as to his 
 own characteristics. On his part he demonstrated his 
 sincerity by changing the young lady's name. Previously, 
 in speaking of her to me, he had called her " Saucy-nose "; 
 but, from that time to this, she has been " Miss Loyalty."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WANTING TO MAKE MONEY. 
 
 A. S the days passed rapidly away, I became more im- 
 ** pressed than I had ever been before with the 
 value of a vacation. Every faculty of my mind and 
 every organ of my body seemed to have benefited by 
 the relaxation of tension. Moreover, I found my views 
 on various subjects becoming more broad and definite, 
 and, in many respects, I was re-adjusting myself to the 
 conditions of life. When I spoke to Jorman on this 
 point he said : "Yes, while we are jogging on through 
 the wilderness, we ought to hitch our horses and go upon 
 a hill-top to take our bearings once in a while. We often 
 get into such a jungle that it is hard to pick out the best 
 course, anyway, and we shall be apt to get off the track 
 occasionally, however careful we may be in our observa- 
 tions." 
 
 For some weeks I had avoided reflection on my 
 personal affairs. But as my period of rest drew towards 
 its close, and I began to experience a certain eagerness 
 to apply my recruited powers to business, my desire for 
 the early accumulation of ten thousand dollars became 
 more importunate. I awoke one morning with that sub- 
 ject in full possession of my thoughts and with the con- 
 viction that I ought no longer to repel it. After break- 
 fast I attempted to steal away for the purpose of solitary 
 meditation. But Jorman soon overtook me, and I sud- 
 
 61
 
 62 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 denly resolved to make him my confidant. We descended 
 the steep bank and sat down in a sheltered nook at the 
 water's edge. I kept entirely silent for some time, and 
 my friend saw that I was in an unusual frame of mind. 
 
 " You seem to want something that it is hard to get," 
 he said. " Is your trouble like Hamlet's ? Do you 
 'lack advancement ' ? Do you crave the joys of domi- 
 nation ? " 
 
 " No," said I, " I want to make some money." 
 
 " To make some money ! " he exclaimed. " That is a 
 singular craving for a child of Adam. What do you 
 want of money ? You are not in debt, are you ? " 
 
 " No," I answered, " I am in love." 
 
 "Well," said he, meditatively, " I have heard a great 
 deal about love in one way and another, and have always 
 thought that there must be something very queer about 
 it, but I never understood that it was apt to make a man 
 avaricious. You don't suspect that the heart of your 
 lady-love can be unlocked with a golden key, I hope ?" 
 
 I responded : " I have no reason to suppose that my 
 having money or not having it would make a particle of 
 difference with my chances for winning her affections. 
 If you will keep still now I will tell you a story. I have 
 got to tell it to somebody, and you may as well be my 
 victim as any one else." 
 
 I then gave him the following narrative : " Last winter 
 I was canvassing for my house in the upper part of South 
 Carolina, making my head-quarters at Spartanburg. In 
 addition to the usual lines of hardware, to which I 
 solicited the attention of merchants, we had control of 
 an improved portable steam-engine which I had con- 
 siderable success in disposing of among the planters in 
 several of those upper counties. It was built on wheels
 
 WANTING TO MAKE MONEY. 63 
 
 and could be hauled, on a good road, by two mules, and 
 it was a splendid labor-saver in threshing grain, ginning 
 cotton, and sawing wood. Up in that region where 
 mixed farming is practised, the capacity of this little 
 engine was sufficient for most of the planters, and, in 
 some cases, two or three of them joined in the purchase 
 of one. In every community where I made sales of that 
 kind I had, of course, to set an engine in operation and 
 show how it could be attached to a threshing-machine or 
 a cotton-gin. That branch of my business made it 
 necessary for me to hire a horse and buggy at Spartan- 
 burg, where I deposited a little more than the value of 
 the outfit as a security against my running away with it. 
 Well, I had been starting one of the engines at a place 
 about thirty miles southwest from Spartanburg, and had 
 an engagement to meet, at Columbia, another drummer, 
 who had Georgia and Alabama in his field. It was im- 
 portant that we should confer on several matters con- 
 nected with the business of our house, and I was to take 
 to him some new samples with which he had not been 
 provided. These were cotton-tie buckles made of malle- 
 able iron, a knife for cutting corn-stalks, and a small 
 hand-mill for grinding hominy. With these articles in 
 my buggy I was driving, late in the afternoon, toward a 
 station on the Greenville road, where I intended to take 
 a train for Columbia the next morning. I was going 
 pretty fast and very carelessly through a wooded ravine, 
 when my forward wheels pitched suddenly into the bed 
 of a little stream, the left hand spindle of my forward 
 axle-tree broke, and I went out over the dash-board ' on 
 all fours.' 1 had not passed a house in coming the last 
 three miles, and the first thing to be found out was the 
 distance to the nearest habitation in the other direction.
 
 64 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 Hitching my horse and walking to the edge of the wood, 
 I saw a large old farm-house less than half a mile away. 
 I went back and put the detached wheel in the 
 buggy and tried to take its place in holding up the axle- 
 tree with my right hand, but soon found that I could not 
 manage the affair in that way. I readily hit on a suc- 
 cessful device, however. After lashing a strong club to 
 the axle-tree, I could keep entirely clear of the buggy- 
 box and use my strength to so good advantage that I 
 had little further difficulty. 
 
 " When I came to the open ground I saw that I was at 
 one of the old plantations embracing several hundred 
 acres. A great part of the land, which had once been 
 cultivated, was now ' lying out,' as the expression is 
 down there, and it was evident that what of the old 
 fencing material had not gone to decay had been brought 
 together for the protection of the fields still enclosed. 
 The mansion appeared to have been one of the best of 
 the ante-bellum plantation houses, with large rooms, high 
 ceilings, and broad piazzas, but the paint upon it had 
 needed renewing for many years. In fact, every thing 
 about the buildings, the once ornamental palings, and the 
 shrubbery was, at once, suggestive of former prosperity 
 and indicative of present adversity. As I drew near the 
 house, I saw two ladies standing in the door-way, whom 
 I took to be mother and daughter. The latter withdrew 
 as soon as I came near enough for close observation, and 
 the former advanced to the edge of the piazza and told 
 a little negro boy to ' go and ask Mr. John to come to 
 the house.' Then she said to me : 
 
 " ' I see that you have had an accident. If you will 
 hitch your horse and walk in, my son will be here to help 
 you pretty soon.'
 
 WANTING TO MAKE MONEY. 65 
 
 " I accepted the invitation and thanked the lady for her 
 kindness. Then I gave her my name, told her briefly 
 the nature of my business, and spoke of the importance 
 of my getting to Columbia the next day. 
 
 " ' It can be managed in some way, no doubt,' she 
 said. ' We are only eight miles from the station, and the 
 morning train for Columbia will not pass there till after 
 nine o'clock. If you can get your arrangements made 
 to-night, you will have plenty of time to ride over in the 
 morning.' 
 
 " I merely bowed my head in return for this quiet ten- 
 der of hospitality, because I had already learned that the 
 treatment of such things as a matter of course was the 
 most acceptable form of acknowledgment with the class 
 of people to which this family evidently belonged. In a 
 short time I heard a quick, heavy step on the piazza., and 
 then the name ' John ' pronounced by a gentle voice 
 which seemed to come from the end of the hall opposite 
 the front door. ' Well, Sis,' said the young man, as he 
 passed the door of the room in which I was sitting. He 
 made his appearance after attending for a few moments 
 to what his sister had to say to him, and his mother in- 
 troduced him to me as her ' son, Mr. John Orlington.' 
 
 " He was a muscular young fellow, of about my own 
 height, with dark hair and eyes, and a face very thor- 
 oughly bronzed. I took him to be about twenty years 
 old. At his suggestion, we went out to see ' what could 
 be done about the buggy.' He examined the broken 
 spindle and then said : ' I 'm afraid it 's too large ; but 
 there 's nothing like trying.' 
 
 " ' Afraid what is too large ? ' I asked, as he was moving 
 away. 
 
 " ' Oh, an old iron ex up in the shed-loft,' he said.
 
 66 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 ' Sis called me in to tell me about it. I had n't thought 
 of it ; but Sis always thinks of every thing.' 
 
 " He brought down the axle-tree, and we saw at once 
 that his apprehensions were well founded. The box in 
 the wheel was too small to admit the spindle. I ex- 
 plained my predicament, and he said, thoughtfully : 
 
 " ' It 's a right bad piece of business, but I reckon 
 we '11 work it all right some way. I '11 talk with Sis 
 about it after supper.' 
 
 "It was almost sun-down, and, just then, a gentleman 
 with bushy white hair and beard rode up, called a negro 
 to take his horse, and asked John, in a hurried way, if 
 the plowing of a certain field was finished. As he dis- 
 mounted, John introduced me to his ' father, Colonel 
 Orlington.' He shook hands with me in a somewhat 
 effusive way, and, noticing my broken buggy, said : 
 ' Ah, you have had a break-down. Well, come in, and 
 we '11 think what it is best to do by and by.' 
 
 "At the supper-table I was introduced to Miss Orling- 
 ton. John's remark about her always thinking of every 
 thing, and his evident confidence in her ability to solve 
 all difficulties, led me to look at her observantly. My 
 first thought was : ' She looks very much as my mother 
 must have looked at her age.' I was impressed chiefly 
 by the same indefinable brightness of countenance, sug- 
 gestive of a joyous fulness of life which had character- 
 ized the earliest picture of my mother that had ever been 
 planted in my imagination. 
 
 " The chair in which I seated myself proved a little 
 rickety, and I gave a slight start which attracted Colonel 
 Orlington's attention. ' Our furniture partakes of the 
 decrepitude of our fortunes,' he said. ' I am so much 
 ashamed of it that I bave brought up the subject of get-
 
 WANTING TO MAKE MONEY. 67 
 
 ting a new set a good many times. But these good 
 ladies say that I must see myself out of debt first. I 
 suppose it is a good thing that they are not as proud as I 
 am.' 
 
 " ' You mean/ said Mrs. Orlington in a quiet way, 
 ' that we are too proud to have new furniture about us 
 while any of your creditors are anxious for their pay. 
 As long as we do right, the Lord will take care of us ; 
 and his care is a gread deal better than fine chairs and 
 expensive china.' 
 
 " The Colonel heaved a deep sigh, and a heavy cloud 
 came over his face. 
 
 " ' You have made very good progress the last year, 
 Papa,' said the young lady ; ' and one or two more 
 good crops will make the sky all clear for us.' 
 
 " ' I think,' said I, ' that there is a very general feeling 
 of encouragement among the planters of this region. I 
 have met a number of them who are contemplating ex- 
 tensive improvements on their places, and quite a num- 
 ber who are expending considerable sums in the pur- 
 chase of labor-saving machinery.' 
 
 " This remark led the Colonel to ask such questions 
 that I had occasion to describe the portable steam-en- 
 gine. ' Those who have bought the engine,' I added^ 
 ' count on a large saving in ginning their own cotton. 
 They say that, in addition to the exorbitant tolls charged 
 at the large establishments, the expense of hauling has 
 been more than it will cost them to run the engine. 
 Besides, by keeping the cotton-seed on their places, and 
 restoring it to the soil as a fertilizer, they will prevent 
 such exhaustion as has been going on in their fields.' 
 
 " Observing that Miss Orlington and her brother were 
 exchanging glances which indicated very plainly both a
 
 68 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 strong wish for one of the engines, and a conviction of the 
 impossibility of procuring one, I looked down upon my 
 plate and said, in a tone of indifference : ' My employers 
 are so anxious to introduce the engine, that they have 
 told me to give it time to pay for itself whenever I think 
 best. I have just started one for Mr. James Ardell. 
 His place is not more than ten miles from here ; is it ? " 
 
 " 'About twelve,' the Colonel said. 
 
 " After supper I went with the father and son into the 
 sitting-room, and the daughter came in soon afterwards, 
 seated herself by a lamp in the corner of the room and 
 began the hemming of a white apron. Referring to my 
 remark about the feeling of encouragement among the 
 planters, Colonel Orlington said : 
 
 "'We are beginning to see just a little light. Now 
 that Hampton has got in, it begins to look as if our peo- 
 ple were going to have some chance for their lives. But 
 I have no hope that we old men shall get rid of any 
 great part of our burdens till we lay them down at our 
 graves. It will be toil and worry for us, toil and worry, 
 as long as we live. But I suppose that is the fate of all 
 inhabitants of a conquered country of subjugated pro- 
 vinces.' 
 
 " I ought to have known better than to have answered 
 this last remark as I did ; but I was foolish enough to 
 say : 
 
 "'We of the North don't look upon the South as a con- 
 quered country, or upon the Southern States as sub- 
 jugated provinces. We thought it our duty to sustain 
 the authority of the national government ; but, since 
 that has ceased to be resisted, we have regarded the 
 Southern States as integral portions of our common 
 country.'
 
 WANTING TO MAKE MONEY. 69 
 
 "'Yes; you act like it,' he exclaimed, passionately. 
 'Your common country ! Your duty ! Your duty ! I 've 
 nothing to say about the war. We did our best to secure 
 our independence ; and we got whipped and gave it up. 
 But then it was your duty to send down a horde of your 
 vilest scoundrels to put the niggers over our heads and 
 rob us and persecute us and confiscate our property by 
 taxation. Your duty ! Oh, you are all wonderfully right- 
 eous! If you could make the niggers turn us out of 
 house and home, and see us all starving to death, you 
 would feel so righteous that you would have nothing to 
 do but to step right into heaven.' 
 
 " He flung out of the room with all the signs of tower- 
 ing rage, leaving me in a state of mind which it would 
 have been hard to analyze. I was dumbfounded, and 
 I was angry. I had vague thoughts of the propriety of 
 leaving the house and spending the night in the woods. 
 The young lady sat motionless, and her face was per- 
 fectly pallid ; and John sat looking at her with an ex- 
 pression which said the responsibility for curing the evil 
 which had been wrought rested with her alone. After 
 what seemed to me an age, she raised her eyes to his and 
 said to him, with a voice full of tears : 
 
 " ' I hope Papa's anxieties and trials will not change 
 him so much that his old friends will forget how good 
 and noble he has always been.' 
 
 "This speech wrought a complete revolution in my 
 feelings. My anger was all gone, and I cared for noth- 
 ing but the relief of the young lady's distress. 
 
 "'I know,' said I, 'that the heads of families in this 
 part of the country have had to endure terrible trials ; 
 and they would have been more than human if they had 
 not become very sensitive on some points. It was alto-
 
 70 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 gether wrong for me to say what I did. I ought to have 
 known that it was scarcely possible to make a more 
 aggravating speech. I was very thoughtless.' 
 
 " ' I suppose that, of course, you cannot look at these 
 things as we do/ she said, as her countenance began to 
 clear up. 
 
 " ' I did n't look at them at all, but blurted out what 
 happened to come into my head. I can see, now that I 
 have had a little time to think, that there was no justifi- 
 cation for my remark in the facts of the case. I spoke 
 as if we Northerners were all of one mind in regard to 
 the treatment of the South, which is very far from being 
 the truth. And then it was an outrageous piece of arro- 
 gance for me to intimate that we were all governed by a 
 sense of duty in all that we did. We have as many 
 stupid prejudices and evil passions as other people.' 
 
 " ' Mamma is often saying to us that there is goodness 
 and badness everywhere, and that it is only the Lord 
 that is capable of sitting in judgment, that all we have 
 to do is to keep our own hearts right. You can under- 
 stand how things must have changed in this section. I 
 was only a little girl when our troubles began ; but I can 
 remember that we never thought of going without any 
 thing we wanted on account of the expense. But papa 
 is not distressed just because we are poor and have to go 
 without things. It is because he owes debts that he has 
 not been able to pay, and owes some of them to people 
 who need their money. This has troubled him so much 
 that we have been afraid, sometimes, it would kill him. 
 And he thinks he would have had all his debts paid years 
 ago if it had not been for bad government. So you see 
 it is natural that he should have some feelings when he is 
 set to thinking on that subject.'
 
 WANTING TO MAKE MONEY. 71 
 
 "'I am satisfied,' I said, 'that mis-government in 
 South Carolina has gone beyond all bounds ; and I be- 
 lieve that a large majority of the Northern people would 
 have demanded that a stop should be put to such enormi- 
 ties if they had been aware of them.' 
 
 "While I was making this remark, the Colonel returned 
 to the room accompanied by his wife. He had recovered 
 a good measure of equanimity, and was evidently dis- 
 posed to bury the unpleasant incident which had oc- 
 curred. 
 
 " ' John,' he said, ' if you can let this gentleman take 
 your saddle, he can go over to the station on horseback 
 in the morning.' 
 
 " ' Yes,' said the young man ; 'but he has got to carry 
 some packages that he can't take on the horse. Sister 
 Martha says that I can put his horse in our buggy and 
 drive him over and get back before you will want to start 
 to town. Lightfoot can stay in the stable and be all 
 fresh, you know.' 
 
 " ' It is too bad for me to be giving you so much trou- 
 ble,' I said. 
 
 " ' Don't mention it,' the Colonel answered. ' Perhaps 
 I shall ride over to Ardell's with you and look at that 
 engine when you get back. Do you keep any track of 
 the affairs of Brown University ? ' 
 
 "'O yes, sir," I replied. 'I spent two years in the 
 institution and take great interest in all that concerns it. 
 It is in a prosperous condition.' 
 
 " ' I am glad to hear it. Brown is my Alma Mater. I 
 graduated in the class of 51.' 
 
 " ' The class of 51 ! Why you must have been acotem- 
 porary of my father there." 
 
 " ' Your father ? Your name is ? '
 
 72 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " ' Bidrop.' 
 
 " ' What ! Are you a son of Jabez Bidrop ? ' 
 
 "'Yes, sir.' 
 
 " ' Why, he was my classmate, and became my dearest 
 friend. I did n't get much acquainted with him till near 
 the end of my Sophomore year. There were several of 
 us Southerners, and three or four Northern fellows, who 
 had plenty of money ; and we formed a little set among 
 ourselves. We all respected Bidrop. We could n't help 
 it. He was always gentlemanly ; and he led the class in 
 several studies. In fact, he came to be regarded as 
 about the ablest man among us, and we got to feeling 
 that we were honored when he gave us a friendly greet- 
 ing and exchanged a few words with us. He never put 
 on any pharisaical airs on account of our frolicking, 
 though we all knew that his own principles were as firm 
 as the everlasting hills. My own intimacy with him 
 came about in this way : I am ashamed to say that, 
 during the first two thirds* of my Sophomore year, I was 
 going down hill pretty fast. I neglected my studies and 
 got more and more in the way of carousing at night. It 
 became altogether probable that I should break down at 
 the examination and be put back a year, even if I was 
 allowed to stay at the university at all. I was thinking 
 of that prospect one day while walking along through 
 the grounds, and Bidrop hurried up and overtook me. 
 He locked his arm into mine, and said, without any pre- 
 liminaries : " Orlington, I can't see you going to destruc- 
 tion without trying to stop you. I have no faith to 
 attempt any thing with any of your associates. But I 
 remember that you and I used to feel alike about religion 
 when we first came here. Can't you get back to that 
 spot again and begin anew ? " 1 told him I was afraid it
 
 WANTING TO MAKE MONEY. 73 
 
 was all up with me, that I was sure to fail at the exam- 
 ation and be disgraced forever. But he said I should n't 
 fail, that he would n't permit it, that he would get per- 
 mission for me to come and study in his room and we 
 would review together. That plan was carried out, and 
 I was rescued. O how many, many times I have 
 thought of the impossibility of fully estimating all that I 
 owe to Jabez Bidrop. He is well and prosperous, I 
 hope.' 
 
 " ' My father died over five years ago,' I managed to 
 articulate. 
 
 "While Colonel Orlington was speaking, the image of 
 my dead father presented itself to me more vividly than 
 it had ever done before ; and I had such a sense of the 
 measurelessness of the loss experienced by my mother, 
 my sister, and myself, that my whole frame was con- 
 vulsed in the struggle to keep from breaking out in a fit 
 of weeping. Happening, just then, to raise my eyes, I 
 saw Miss Orlington looking at me with such an expres- 
 sion of unutterable commiseration as I can hardly be- 
 lieve any other human countenance ever wore. If I had 
 spoken at that moment, I should have said : ' God bless 
 you ! You are giving me the very help I need.' Our 
 eyes met, and our gazes had intermingled for several 
 seconds before either of us became self-conscious. I 
 regained control of myself at once, but have no distinct 
 recollection of our further conversation, beyond the fact 
 that I gave Colonel Orlington some account of my 
 father's life and his last illness. 
 
 " I remember that, as soon as I had been shown to my 
 room and had shut the door, I said to myself : 'I know 
 what love is now. I know what it is to crave possession 
 of a treasure which is beyond all price. I believe that
 
 74 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 God is looking upon me with approbation while I am re- 
 solving that Martha Orlington must and shall be mine. 
 
 let my soul be purified from every taint that makes 
 me unworthy of her.' 
 
 " It would be impossible for me to give a connected ac- 
 count of the reflections which came to me during that 
 night. Every word which the young lady had spoken 
 in my hearing recurred to me again and again, and I 
 had repeated visions of her in all the attitudes in which 
 
 1 had seen her, and with all the different expression 
 which her countenance had presented to my view. These 
 remembrances, with the boundless confidence which her 
 brother had evinced, seemed to me to constitute all-suf- 
 ficient data for an estimate of her character ; and the 
 conviction of my understanding was in full accord with 
 the longing of my heart. 
 
 " John and I took an early start in the morning and 
 drove toward the station rapidly. I was disposed to 
 question him on various points connected with farming 
 in upper South Carolina, because I had been for some 
 weeks discovering attractions and imagining possibilities 
 of attraction in that way of life. That morning the con- 
 ception of myself as a South Carolina farmer was very 
 definite in my mind. I asked particularly about the 
 laborers. 
 
 " ' Oh,' said he, ' we make a great fuss about the niggers 
 being good for nothing, but we get on with them right 
 well after all. We have to look after them, of course, 
 and put up with right smart of meanness once in awhile. 
 But Pa and I would n't change off to any other kind of 
 hands. They Ve been getting better all the time since 
 they began to cool down on politics. A few years ago 
 we could n't do any thing with them in election years.
 
 WANTING TO MAKE MONEY. 75 
 
 They had to go to every radical pow-wow within fifty 
 miles, and we used to think the carpet-baggers got up 
 meetings just to make them leave the fields when we 
 needed them the worst. The office-holders hated us so 
 they wanted to worry us every way they could. One 
 summer, when our cotton was getting into the grass like 
 the old Nick, the niggers went off to a barbecue and 
 were gone three days ; and because Pa scolded right 
 sharp when they got back they said he was " 'timadatin' 
 'em 'cause they was erpublicans," and they went off 
 again and staid off till the rains set in and we could n't 
 do a thing. We just had to throw the crop away.' 
 
 " ' That did n't make you feel very pleasantly toward 
 their political leaders.' 
 
 "' I reckon it did n't. It was a good thing they did n't 
 any of them get in my way when I was out hunting 
 squirrels.' 
 
 " ' There was a little ku-kluxing done I believe about 
 that time.' 
 
 " ' Yes, the young fellows went it pretty strong for a 
 while. I reckon I should have gone m with them, 
 though I was n't more than fifteen years old, if it had n't 
 been for Ma and Sis, especially Sis. They 're both 
 mighty pious. I could n't just take in what Ma said, but 
 Sis told me it was n't manly to go sneaking round in the 
 dark with a veil over my face, that her brother was n't 
 to do any thing that he could n't do in the daytime, 
 with his face bare and his head up.' 
 
 " John met me at the station on my return from Colum- 
 bia, and we reached his home at supper-time. I brought 
 a spindle to be welded upon my axle-tree, having learned 
 that Colonel Orlington kept a blacksmith on his place. 
 I had fully determined on my line of action for the time
 
 j6 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 being : I was to repress, so far as that might be possible, 
 all external signs of my ardent affection and my resolute 
 determination. Still, it was plain to me that Miss 
 Orlington and I could never again appear to each other 
 precisely as we had appeared before that moment when 
 we interchanged gazes. 
 
 " After supper the Colonel said : ' My daughter sug- 
 gests that I get you to do a little figuring for us. The 
 question is whether the time of my getting out of debt 
 would be hastened or delayed if I should buy one of 
 your engines and the other machinery that would be 
 necessary. You must understand, though, that nothing 
 can be permitted to come in the way of my paying off a 
 few hundred dollars at the earliest day possible. The 
 money is very much needed.' 
 
 " You can imagine how gratified I was at being taken 
 into the family counsels in that way. I got a memoran- 
 dum-pad from my satchel and took out my pencil, and 
 we seated ourselves in a semicircle near the lamp. They 
 gave me an estimate of the bushels of Avheat and oats to 
 be threshed, and of the pounds of cotton to be ginned. 
 Then I set down the cost of threshing the grain by 
 horse-power, and of hauling the cotton to and from the 
 ginning establishment, with the value of the tolls that 
 would be taken in lieu of a cash payment for ginning. 
 I added to this the estimated value of the seed that 
 would be lost. On the other hand, after inquiring as to 
 the wages customarily paid in the vicinity, I gave the 
 cost of ginning and threshing with the help of our en- 
 gine. The Colonel said it was hardly worth while to 
 take the necessary fuel into account, because they had 
 an abundance of it going to decay on the place, and it 
 could be hauled up when they would have nothing else
 
 WANTING TO MAKE MONEY. 77 
 
 to do. The result of my figuring showed a probable 
 saving considerably in excess of what I had roughly 
 conjectured. 
 
 " ' Now,' said I, ' our house can furnish all the ma- 
 chinery, belting, and so forth, that you will need. This 
 being the case, in casting up your resources for paying 
 debts in the next year or two, all that you have to do is 
 to deduct from this amount saved, which you see here, 
 six per cent, on the cost of your whole outfit. Our 
 people won't have to lie out of the use of their money, 
 you know. They can realize on your paper by endorsing 
 it, and they know parties on all sides of them who are 
 glad of the chance to carry paper, bearing their endorse- 
 ment, for any length of time at six per cent, annually.' 
 
 " ' Well, what do you say, Martha ? ' Colonel Orlington 
 asked, after a considerable period of silence. 
 
 " The young lady lifted her eyes to me timidly, with a 
 little flush on her cheeks, and asked : ' Mr. Bidrop, are 
 you sure that this is a regular way of doing business, 
 which you are proposing ? ' 
 
 " ' Quite sure.' 
 
 " ' I suppose it is our being so poor that makes us par- 
 ticular about such things. But we want to feel that we 
 are not getting any thing by way of charity, but that peo- 
 ple treat us, in business matters, just as they treat every- 
 body else.' 
 
 " ' Oh, that would be impossible. To treat all persons 
 alike would be the most un-business-like proceeding in 
 the world. No good merchant thinks of doing such a 
 thing. The most important element of success in mer- 
 chandising is the ability to vary one's treatment of dif- 
 ferent parties according to the degrees of confidence to 
 which they are entitled. Selling on credit to one party
 
 78 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 is as good as selling for cash, and often better, while sell- 
 ing on credit to another party would be throwing the 
 goods away. I assure you that I make this offer to Colo- 
 nel Orlington because I am convinced that such a trans- 
 action as I have proposed would be for the interest of 
 my employers. His buying the outfit, and showing its 
 value, will lead others to do the same. Besides, I am 
 satisfied as to his future resources, and I know that he 
 will turn the world upside down, if necessary, in order 
 to meet his obligations.' 
 
 " There was silence again for a few moments, and then 
 Miss Orlington said : ' I think you had better ride over 
 to Mr. Ardell's to-morrow, Papa.' 
 
 " It was decided, in the morning, that the Colonel and 
 I should take our ride on horseback. When we had gone 
 about five miles, we were passing through a large planta- 
 tion which had been entirely abandoned with the excep- 
 tion of two or three small enclosures. ' This/ said my 
 companion, ' is Ellermere, the place on which my wife 
 was born. It used to be called the best plantation in 
 this part of the State. There are fifteen hundred acres 
 in the tract, with quite a variety of soils. This, on the 
 hill here, is pretty good, but the bottom, that you see 
 down there at the right, is very rich. It is a little hard 
 to cultivate on account of the crookedness of the stream 
 that runs through it. They had to make short lands a 
 good deal of the time, and do right smart of turning 
 round. That long row of tumbled-down cabins, the old 
 quarters, will give you an idea of the number of hands 
 that used to be kept on the place. Oh, it was nearer to 
 being a paradise, thirty years ago, than any other place I 
 ever saw. General Mabberly, my wife's father, died just 
 at the close of the war her mother had gone on before
 
 WANTING TO MAKE MONEY. 79 
 
 him, and the estate was so involved that it was no use to 
 try to save the old place. It was bid in by Cavalow & 
 Co., ot Charleston, who had been the General's factors a 
 long time, and they have let it lie out all these years. It 
 was the best they could do. They would have lost 
 money if they had tried to have the land cultivated, and 
 there has been no sale for such property at any price.' 
 
 " I had attached a small circular-saw to Ardell's en- 
 gine, and it was employed in sawing out pickets when we 
 arrived. The Colonel was delighted. ' Why,' said he, 
 ' what will Martha think when I tell her we can get new 
 fences for the house-yard and the turkey-lot without any 
 expense ? ' 
 
 " On our return, I proposed that we ride over the old 
 plantation, so that I could get a general sketch of it in 
 my mind. The old mansion stood a quarter of a mile 
 from the highway, with an eastward frontage, and was 
 nearly surrounded by majestic trees. On riding up to it, 
 I found that it commanded an extensive prospect, and 
 that the ground sloped from it gently in three directions. 
 I judged that most of the framework was still sound 
 enough to justify repairs. 
 
 " In the course of the evening Colonel Orlington spoke 
 of our survey of Ellermere. 
 
 " ' Oh, the dear old place ! ' Miss Martha exclaimed. 
 ' I should rather live there than anywhere else in the 
 world, if I could not stay here.' 
 
 " Before I took my departure, the next morning, I ar- 
 ranged to order an engine and saw, and to return in 
 three weeks to put them in operation. Then I took the 
 address of Cavalow & Co., saying that I was going to 
 Charleston, and wanted to inquire about the ownership of 
 Ellermere, and the terms on which it could be bought
 
 8o THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 Miss Orlington glanced at me swiftly, and then swiftly 
 turned her face away, evidently regretting that she had 
 given a sign of noticing my remark. But she had caught 
 my eye, and I knew that she had connected my words 
 with what she had said the night before about living at 
 Ellermere. 
 
 " I ascertained in Charleston that the place had been 
 conveyed to James Perrison, of New York, and stated 
 this fact when I re-visited the Orlingtons. As soon as I 
 came home, I looked up Mr. Perrison, and ascertained 
 that he was ready to sell Ellermere for $7,500 five dol- 
 lars per acre. I paid him one hundred dollars and took 
 his refusal of the place at that price for eight months." 
 
 Jorman had listened to my narrative very attentively ; 
 and when I had concluded he said : " You are a modest 
 young man in your undertakings. You could n't content 
 yourself with determining to get the girl. The problem 
 would not have been complicated enough ; and so you 
 think you must have both her and the old plantation." 
 
 " I am going to try for both." 
 
 " Don't you think she would be willing to come and 
 live at the North ? " 
 
 " Why, Jorman ! How can you ask such a question as 
 that ? Do you think my love for her is not strong 
 enough to keep me from wishing her to take all the light 
 out of the life of her parents, and to turn her young 
 brother adrift in the world ? Do you think I would lay 
 upcn her the frightful burden of remembering, every 
 hour of every day, that she had wrought such a work as 
 that ? " 
 
 " No, Nolly," he said, looking at me with a little mois- 
 ture in his eyes, " I don't think it is in you to do any 
 thing of that kind. Other men have that peculiar variety
 
 WANTING TO MAKE MONEY. 8l 
 
 of power ; but it happened to be omitted from your 
 composition. Let me have time to get all this nonsensi- 
 cal stuff straightened out in my cranium. I am Ralph 
 Jorman the lover's confidant. I must go and buy me 
 a fan."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A RAINY DAY. 
 
 THE next morning we were shut in by a pouring rain. 
 Soon after breakfast Jorman called me to the 
 eastern piazza, where we could make ourselves comfort- 
 able, since the storm came from the west. 
 
 " Miss Orlington's eyes are black, I suppose," he said. 
 
 " Very nearly so. Her eyebrows are entirely black, 
 and finely arched." 
 
 " Did you get your blue eyes from your father ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, that is all right. How tall is she ? " 
 
 " Of about medium height, and a trifle more than me- 
 dium weight. Her form is perfect." 
 
 " Oh, of course. It is altogether probable in fact, if 
 her heart was not pre-occupied it is certain that she was 
 fatally struck at the same instant when you went under. 
 For a young man and a young woman to gaze into each 
 other's eyes through several seconds, at a moment of in- 
 tense and pure feeling, is an immense event. Such a 
 conjunction of two souls seldom takes place, and when 
 it occurs it is not apt to be forgotten by either of them. 
 When that look of almost divine commiseration came 
 to you, your sense of relief was commensurate with the 
 distress which you had been suffering ; and your heart 
 reacted with a sweep which carried you across the Ru- 
 bicon at once. Then every thousandth part of a second, 
 
 82
 
 A RAINY DAY. 83 
 
 during that supreme moment, helped to make your re- 
 turn impossible. Well, now, on th'e young lady's part. 
 There was something more than sympathy. There was 
 a good measure of complacency, growing out of a favor- 
 able judgment. There was a recognition of a species of 
 goodness which is thought to be rare in this coarse 
 world, when she saw the frame of a robust young man 
 convulsed in that way. Besides, pity always carries with 
 it a tendency to the generation of love. If I had time I 
 could show you just how that tendency is necessitated. 
 But look a little further. What did she read in your 
 gaze when your eyes met ? You have told me what the 
 gaze was saying ' God bless you ! You are giving me 
 the very help I need.' Now there is nothing to which a 
 fresh young heart is more susceptible than it is to the 
 perception of such boundless gratitude, nothing that 
 gives a livelier joy ; and just in proportion to the keen- 
 ness of that susceptibility, is the tendency of such a heart 
 to pour itself out toward the bestower of the joy. What 
 Miss Orlington had just heard about your parentage was 
 far from being unimportaut. Every thing was in your 
 favor. You did n't observe any signs of worry or self- 
 reproach in her manner afterwards, did you ? " 
 
 " No ; of course not. Why should she reproach her- 
 self ? " 
 
 " Well, if her faith had been plighted to any other fel- 
 low, she would have been in a peck of trouble, charging 
 herself with disloyalty, and every thing of that sort. But, 
 about that ten thousand dollars. Had n't you better 
 borrow the money and close up the purchase of Eller- 
 mere at once ? You can give ample security. Ten dol- 
 lars an acre would be an absurdly low price for the 
 land."
 
 84 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " That would n't do. It would n't do at all. Miss 
 Orlington has had the burden of debt pressing down on 
 her whole life. When she comes to me that burden must 
 be lifted off and thrown away forever. Besides, if I were 
 thinking only of myself, I should not venture to shoulder 
 such a load. The necessity of paying interest would 
 cripple me on every hand, so that I could make no im- 
 provements, and would convert me into a slave." 
 
 "As for that matter, you can get the use of money 
 without paying much interest. There are lots of us fel- 
 lows who have thousands lying idle in the bank ; and it 
 would be a comfort to us to have it doing something 
 for somebody if we were not getting a penny for the use 
 of it." 
 
 " Now Jorman, don't you see that, if I am going to 
 be worthy of Martha Orlington, nothing must be let in 
 that would eat away any part of my self-respect ? I must 
 be a man amongst men, and pay for what I have, whether 
 it is the use of money, or whatever it is." 
 
 "Well, I don't see that any thing is left but for you to 
 assert yourself as a knowledge-compeller. That is all 
 there is in the intellectual part of money-making, any- 
 way. The solution of a pecuniary problem consists in 
 the ascertainment of truth just as much as the solution 
 of a theological problem does. The essential thing is 
 the same in both cases ; and, if a man will keep out of 
 ruts, and save his faculties from becoming specialistic, he 
 can go from metaphysics to money-making with all ease. 
 I have been thinking, since we had our talk yesterday, 
 that I should like to get a few new sensations by joining 
 you in making a little money. I never did such a thing 
 deliberately in my life. I inherited some stores and 
 dwelling-houses and a good many vacant lots in the city,
 
 A RAINY DAY. 85 
 
 and am ' in danger,' as the old Greeks used to say, of 
 becoming pretty rich, without any effort on my part. 
 When my tenants, or men who want to be my tenants, 
 urge me to repair, or tear down and build anew, or put up 
 a house on a vacant lot, I turn the matter over to my archi- 
 tect and tell him to go ahead. My rents and dividends 
 are all collected by my bank ; and when my balance gets 
 too big, I go and ask Job Mollison what securities I shall 
 buy. But now I have a fancy for the peculiar experi- 
 ence a fellow gets in deliberate money-making. If you 
 will do the knowledge-compelling, I will furnish the cap- 
 ital, and we will divide the profits." 
 
 I found it difficult to respond immediately, but said, at 
 length : " The truth is, Mr. Jorman, that such an over- 
 ture as you have made is just what I have been wishing 
 for, but have hardly dared to hope for. An old friend of 
 our family, a civil engineer by the name of Edward 
 Sekell, who used to be a member of my father's church, 
 and has always shown great interest in us, told me last 
 spring of what he considered an excellent opportunity. 
 He is now engaged in establishing the line of a railroad 
 in Dakota, with its eastern terminus on a branch of the 
 Missouri River. He says that the road is sure to be built 
 next summer, that an important town is sure to grow up 
 quickly at that eastern terminus, and that, if I can get 
 hold of some real estate there before the actual com.- 
 mencement of grading, I can quadruple my money in a 
 short time. His family live in Chicago and I can ar- 
 range through them, for meeting him on the ground be- 
 fore he comes east for the winter. I have got to spend 
 some weeks in Nebraska this fall." 
 
 " That looks rather promising. I '11 fit you out with 
 the certified checks before you start off on your drum-
 
 86 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 ming tour. We can arrange all details when we get back 
 to New York. You are coming in to see me pretty often, 
 you know ; and I should n't wonder if we should man- 
 age to take lunch together most of the time. But I want 
 to talk with you on one or two other points. You said you 
 could n't have Miss Orlington take all the light out of 
 the lives of her parents by coming North to live. How 
 about your taking the light out of the lives of your mother 
 and sister by going South to live ?" 
 
 "Why, bless your soul ! I shall take them with me 
 and always keep them near me. I have never dreamed 
 of any other course. I shall not be separated from them 
 nearly as much as I have been since I went upon the 
 road. The change will be of great benefit to my mother, 
 for the Northern winters are getting to be very trying 
 upon her. I believe her life will be prolonged for years 
 by a removal to the South." 
 
 " But how will they fit into the society of that region ? 
 Will they find it at all congenial ? I read a great deal 
 about the difference between the two civilizations, the 
 Northern civilization and the Southern civilization." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; the difference is prodigious. The Southern- 
 ers are apt to be eating hominy when we are eating jonny- 
 cake ; and they say ' right smart,' while we are saying 
 ' grade eel.' " 
 
 " Well, what other points of difference have you ob- 
 served ?" 
 
 " I don't think of any other, just now. Let me ask 
 you a question, Jorman. I have been led into a good 
 many reflections on this subject in the last year or two, 
 and I want to see if you think the notions I have got into 
 my head are all nonsense. The question is this : What 
 is the nature of the principal determining element of a
 
 A RAINY DAY. 87 
 
 civilization ? of the element which is most powerful in 
 determining the character of the civilization ? Is it 
 material, intellectual, or moral ?" 
 
 " Oh, it is moral of course. The paramount thing is 
 the ethical ideal of a community. Such an ideal always 
 exists, however vague its outlines may be ; and it is this 
 that governs the standard of respectability, the standard 
 that men and women must conform to, in order to be re- 
 garded as fit for decent society. This standard is the 
 regulator, as well as the outgrowth, of public opinion, 
 and it has so much to do with the practices of those who 
 aim to be respected, that it goes far toward determining 
 the grade of popular intelligence." 
 
 " Very well. Now, suppose that the ethical ideals of 
 two communities are derived from the same source, 
 from an open Bible, for example ; can there be a radical 
 difference between the two civilizations ? " 
 
 " No ; not a radical difference. Other things are 
 operative to a certain extent. Physical causes have an 
 obvious influence. Historical experiences leave their 
 traces for some time. Governmental institutions are not 
 without their effect. But, in comparison with the ethical 
 ideal, all these causes are very insignificant. You must re- 
 member, however, that your open Bible has not received 
 the same interpretation at all points. The Southerners 
 used to find the justification of slavery in it ; and that 
 institution is supposed to have had a momentous bearing 
 on the character of the ethical ideal itself. Perhaps you 
 never read the great speech on the ' Barbarism of Slav- 
 ery.' It was delivered before your time." 
 
 " I am quite familiar with that speech, and was 
 brought up to consider it unpardonable heresy to ques- 
 tion the doctrine presented in it. But you can find out 
 
 *
 
 88^ THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 in ten minutes that there never was any possibility of 
 that doctrine's being true. You told me, the other day, 
 that the most important office of the imagination was to 
 fit us for doing justice to our fellow-men, by putting our- 
 selves in their places and thus getting an experience of 
 the effects of their conditions and surroundings. Now 
 make yourself the owner of a hundred slaves, old and 
 young, male and female, sick and well. I must go and 
 get a match." 
 
 I went into the office and stayed there several min- 
 utes, to allow time for a fair trial of the experiment I 
 had suggested. When I returned and handed Jorman a 
 cigar, he looked up and exclaimed : 
 
 " By George ! I wonder why I never tried this on be- 
 fore. My heart is as flabby as a chunk of macerated 
 tripe. Internally I am all mush. I have put an old 
 man to bed and sent for the doctor, licked an overseer 
 for cuffing a woman, and had a high old time seeing the 
 little niggers skip and caper." 
 
 " Unquestionably," I said, " there were cruel slave- 
 holders to be found, just as there are cruel husbands 
 and fathers. Mrs. Stowe could find a Legree among 
 Southern slave-drivers as easily as Shelley could find a 
 Cenci among Italian noblemen. I have taken great 
 pains to collect information on this point ; and the testi- 
 mony is uniform to the effect that, under the old order 
 of things, if a master was cruel to his slaves he was as 
 sure to lose caste in society as he would have been if he 
 had engaged in sheep-stealing. There are reasons 
 enough for thanking God that slavery no longer exists 
 in this country ; but all that is said about its having had 
 a permanently debasing effect on Southern civilization 
 is unmitigated bosh. When men still insist on that view,
 
 A RAINY DAY. 89 
 
 it is hardly unfair to infer that their own hearts tell them 
 that they themselves would be converted into devils by 
 the possession of unrestricted power over a flock of 
 human beings." 
 
 " I guess there has been something too much of that 
 a priori reasoning about the effects of slavery, the war, 
 emancipation, and all those things, on the characters of 
 Southern men. The Baconian method would be much 
 more reliable. The trouble is that when we hate a class 
 of men it is the easiest thing in the world to make out a 
 case against them. We pick out this and that particular 
 from their circumstances, and shut out of sight all par- 
 ticulars having an opposite tendency, and thus make it 
 appear that tremendous debasing forces are at work 
 without restraint. There has been a great deal of that. 
 Hatred of the slave-holders used to be a very vehement 
 passion. For copious and persistent malignity the out- 
 pourings of some of the old Abolitionists were never 
 matched in America. It is funny to see how some of the 
 literary exquisites have taken to apotheosizing those 
 men. At the same time they are almost broken-hearted 
 over the downfall of Daniel Webster. Perhaps they will 
 set about refuting the reasoning of the 7th of March 
 speech one of these days the grandest speech of the 
 century. If these little fellows could grow pretty fast 
 for about two thousand years they might possibly get 
 within gunshot of old Daniel's standpoint. It is a very 
 fine thing for nice, little, smooth-skinned mice to sit in 
 judgment on shaggy-maned lions." 
 
 We strolled into the parlor after we had finished our 
 cigars, and found a Dr. Margum, a man of some note in 
 the scientific world, who had arrived the preceding day, 
 engaged in glorifying the achievements of" modern
 
 go , THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 science. Soon after we had seated ourselves this gen- 
 tleman remarked : 
 
 " I am not much of a worshipper ; but, if I were going 
 into any thing of that sort, I think I should choose a 
 bunch of the gray matter of the human brain for the 
 object of my devotions." 
 
 Both Professor Ardick and Dr. Ingleman were pres- 
 ent, but no one seemed disposed to take up the gauntlet 
 which had been thrown down. Mrs. Erdby looked ear- 
 nestly from one to another, evidently feeling that some 
 reply ought to be made. Finally, as the silence contin- 
 ued, she asked, with some appearance of embarrassment : 
 
 " Would not that be something like Fetichism ? " 
 
 " You have hit the point exactly," Jorman exclaimed. 
 " The fundamental thing in Fetichism is the ascription 
 to material objects of power to produce effects which lie 
 entirely outside of the range of physical force, effects 
 the production of which by physical force is utterly in- 
 conceivable. Some of our scientists, in their wonderful 
 progress, have managed to fetch up at the lowest stage 
 of savagism, so far as this matter is concerned." 
 
 " I see that you have not much respect for modern 
 thought," said Dr. Margum. 
 
 " Oh, yes," Jorman replied, in his most serious manner. 
 " I am very much obliged to modern thought. I used 
 to have a great deal of trouble with my feet, till one of 
 the advanced thinkers of the nineteenth century worked 
 his way, more or less laboriously, to the conclusion that 
 broad-soled shoes would be a boon to the Simiadic race. 
 Since that time my experience of pedal comfort has been 
 extensive." 
 
 " You would put the immortal scientists of the age, 
 then, on a level with the shoemakers ? "
 
 A RAINY DAY. 9! 
 
 " Not precisely. I am not aware that the shoemakers, 
 in view of their undeniable progress, have arrogated the 
 title of thinkers par excellence. They have recognized 
 certain limitations. They have tacitly admitted that 
 their chosen pursuit has given them no special qualifica- 
 tions for prancing around, shouting ' Vent, vidi, vici, ' in 
 the domain of metaphysics, or in that of theology. To 
 speak seriously, the achievements of human thought, in 
 this century, have been absolutely amazing. It has rev- 
 olutionized the conditions of life throughout the civilized 
 world. It has brought the ends of the earth together. 
 It has wrought stupendous results in the affairs of na- 
 tions. It has disclosed thousands of momentous truths 
 concerning the pre-requisites to human welfare, and has 
 filled the world with grand conceptions. It is no more 
 than honest to say that the votaries of physical science, 
 within their sphere, have kept fully abreast of their 
 fellow-workers in other departments of intellectual 
 achievement." 
 
 " Well," said the scientist, " if thought is such an 
 almost omnipotent agent, what shall we say of that which 
 generates thought, the gray matter of the brain ? " 
 
 " To be sure ! " said Jorman. " I did n't think of 
 that. We can see the gray matter of the brain generat- 
 ing thought, emotion, affection, and desire, twisting them 
 together and making them interpenetrate in ten thousand 
 different ways, just as distinctly as we can see the sound 
 of a flute generating the color of a rose. The power to 
 discern potentialities, and thus to trace lines of causa- 
 tion, which is the prime factor in all scientific research, 
 comes into play here after a wonderful fashion. There 
 is almost enough in the mere name of the gray matter of 
 the brain to account for all the Iliads and Hamlets and
 
 92 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 Nova Organa and Federal Constitutions that were ever 
 produced. You have kept track of the recent discover- 
 ies of the Ganglioscopists, have you not, Professor Ar- 
 dick ? " 
 
 " I am not very familiar with them," was the reply. 
 
 " Then," Jorman resumed, in his lecturer's manner, 
 " perhaps you will be interested in hearing something 
 about their proceedings. In the first place, they take a 
 sheet of mica, and keep it in a bath of bi-trinkate of 
 squizzleum for three days, seven hours, and four minutes. 
 This makes it perfectly transparent, and so flexible that 
 it can be put into any desired shape. Then they get 
 their subject and take a measurement of his head, pre- 
 paratory to making a mica cap which will fit neatly over 
 his brain. The next step is to keep their subject reading 
 Emerson and trying to discover a consecution of thought 
 for about nine hours. This brings on a collapse by 
 which the ganglia are entirely separated from the skull. 
 Then they quickly saw the skull, remove the top of it, 
 and fit on the cap. It takes but a few minutes after- 
 wards, as they have every thing ready, to fit the top of 
 the skull on again with a hinge and a little clasp ; and, 
 after that, they can open it up or shut it down at pleas- 
 ure. Of course they have to allow time for the subject 
 to recover from what they call the ' Emersonic collapse' ; 
 but their scientific eagerness is security against any un- 
 necessary delay. When the great hour arrives, a flood of 
 light is turned on ; the subject is put in a little circular 
 pit, with a demonstrator at his side ; the other Ganglio- 
 scopists sit on circular seats, at a proper elevation, with 
 opera-glasses in their hands, and the demonstrator turns 
 back the skull-top. Then the subject is made to take off 
 his coat and go to thinking with all his might. The
 
 A RAINY DAY. 93 
 
 spectacle is intensely interesting. At first there is a lit- 
 tle bubbling and sputtering. Then one thought bobs up 
 here and another there. Then a dozen more spring up 
 almost at the same instant ; and they approach and re- 
 cede, form themselves into chains, and then go all apart 
 again. The imagination sets up one picture after an- 
 other ; the memory begins to drag out old links of asso- 
 ciation ; one emotion chases another about ; conflicting 
 passions come into view ; conscientious scruples shoot 
 up here and there, and it looks for a while as if they 
 were going to make a regular Walpurgis night of it." 
 
 " I believe," said the Professor, " that they have some 
 device for drawing off those mental phenomena." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; they have found what they call the ' Trans- 
 fusion of Mentality ' entirely feasible. They fit stop- 
 cocks in the skulls of two 'persons and connect them 
 with a flexible tube. It is necessary to have two opera- 
 tors. One of them puts his lips to the ear of the fellow 
 who is to receive the phenomena, and sings, in a sooth- 
 ing way : 
 
 " ' By lollo, baby-bunting, 
 Daddy's gone a-hunting,' 
 
 or something of that sort, and the other one sets the 
 brain of his man to generating the phenomena." 
 
 " But have n't they some way of bottling the phenome- 
 na so as to make them available in case of need ? " 
 
 " Some of them can be bottled up. The last time I 
 was present at an experimental session they secured 
 several good-sized flasks of anger. It was necessary, of 
 course, to make the subject very mad ; and, as he was a 
 Democrat, like my friend Nolly here, the demonstrator 
 expressed the opinion that it was possible for a man to
 
 94 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 die a Republican and go to heaven after all. They were 
 a little slow in opening the stop-cock, and there was 
 such a pressure on the mica cap that I was afraid there 
 would be an explosion. It is thought that this bottled 
 anger may be made to take the place, in some cases, of 
 what is called ' Dutch courage.' " 
 
 " Those experiments are very interesting," said Dr. 
 Ingleman ; " but I do not see that they fully account for 
 the generation of thought. According to your state- 
 ment, it is necessary to induce the subject to exert his 
 thinking faculties, just as you could induce me to twist 
 and interlock my fingers. Now, what is that power 
 which wills the activity of the gray matter ? " 
 
 " That is the conundrum," said Jorman. 
 
 Dr. Margum had taken all this in a very good part, 
 and had laughed heartily at some of the grotesque con- 
 ceits. But ha now said : 
 
 "It is a very easy matter to ridicule a scientific theory, 
 but quite another thing to refute it. If you will apply 
 'Occam's razor,' or what Sir Wm. Hamilton calls the 
 ' Law of Paicimony,' you will see that you are shut up to 
 our doctrine concerning the generation of mental phe- 
 nomena. So long as there is a known cause to which a 
 given class of effects can possibly be ascribed, it is un- 
 philosophical and unscientific to postulate an additional 
 cause. Now, the human brain is a known cause. Its 
 wonderful structure has been described again and again. 
 All the thinking of which we have any knowledge is con- 
 ditioned on the activity of the brain, and I defy you to 
 prove the impossibility of the origination of thought and 
 all the other effects which go under the name of mental 
 phenomena, by this organ." 
 
 Jorman replied : " I heard all that several years ago,
 
 A RAINY DAY. 95 
 
 and you must excuse me when I say it is several years 
 since I last tried to have a particle of patience with such 
 talk. It is scientific to rest your case on a demand for 
 the proof of impossibilities, is it ? Without a particle 
 of affirmative evidence you will hold me responsible for 
 a murder until I prove the impossibility of my having 
 committed that crime. The prosecutor arraigns the 
 accused, reads his indictment, and rests his case ; and, 
 unless the defence can prove the guilt of the accused to 
 be impossible, a verdict of ' guilty ' must be rendered. 
 This is ' Modern Thought.' If you could get your doc- 
 trine universally adopted you would put an immediate 
 stop to all search for hidden causes. Name any effect 
 of an unknown cause that you choose, and I will point 
 out a known cause which you cannot prove to be in- 
 capable of producing that effect. Suppose that Newton, 
 at the beginning of his career, had reasoned in this way : 
 Volition is a known cause of motion ; it cannot be proved 
 impossible for the heavenly bodies to move of their own 
 free wills ; hence it is unscientific to assume the existence 
 of any other cause of their motions. But come back to 
 the generation of thought. I will say that the throbbing 
 heart is a known cause, and that all the thinking of which 
 we have any knowledge is conditioned on the activity of 
 this organ: 7 1 will appeal to universal experience in sup- 
 port of the assertion that whenever thoughts and emo- 
 tions are generated with unusual rapidity, there is un- 
 usual force in the pulsations of the heart. Now, how 
 are you going to prove the impossibility of the generation 
 of thoughts and emotions by this mighty organ ? " 
 
 " You hold, then, that Sir Wm. Hamilton was very 
 stupid in recognizing the law of Parcimony." 
 
 " I am very far from doing so. The legitimate use of
 
 96^ THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 that law is as beneficial as the abuse of it is pernicious. 
 It calls for a thorough scrutiny of all the known causes 
 which have any relation to the effects in question, and 
 forbids us to assume the existence of an additional cause 
 until such a scrutiny has failed to disclose the potentiality 
 which we are seeking. This is the true method in all 
 scientific and philosophical accounting for phenomena." 
 
 " Well, setting that point aside, have you read 
 Maudsley and Bain on the relation of cerebral conditions 
 to mental activity ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I have tried to understand what they have to 
 say. Of course there is such a relation ; it is an in- 
 evitable incident of the incarnation of the mind. But 
 let me drop the phraseology of the metaphysicians, and, 
 instead of speaking of the mind, let me speak of myself. 
 It was ordered that I should commence my existence as 
 an inhabitant of a corporeal organism. This organism 
 constitutes my immediate environment. But I am to be 
 in correspondence with the external world, to act upon 
 it and to be acted upon by it. Hence, this environment 
 is furnished with organs through which the realities of 
 the external world can aid my development, and organs 
 through which I can work out certain infinitesimal 
 effects upon that world. Moreover, I am commissioned 
 to provide for the needs of my corporeal organism. For 
 all these reasons I am made susceptible to physical sen- 
 sations, by which my pleasures and pains and, conse- 
 quently, my desires and affections are largely modified. 
 By reason of the organic union of my powers, these emo- 
 tions and impulses are constantly influencing the activity 
 of my intellectual faculties. But my brain is much more 
 than the organ through which I experience influences 
 from the external world : it is the organ through which
 
 A RAINY DAY. 
 
 97 X 
 
 I dictate the actions of all my members, and aim at all 
 the effects which I try to produce. Of necessity, there- 
 fore, my internal experience and the efficiency of my 
 powers are largely dependent on the condition of my 
 brain. We have only to assume that the universal human 
 consciousness of selfhood, the consciousness of a spirit- 
 ual self, is not a lying consciousness, in order to account 
 for all mental phenomena. To repel that assumption 
 and, at the same time, to predicate of a collection of 
 matter what the scientists themselves admit to be an ab- 
 solutely unthinkable exertion of physical force, seems to 
 me to be the most amazing vagary within the possibilities 
 of the human intellect." 
 
 " I suppose, of course, that you think the doctrine of 
 evolution is not orthodox." 
 
 " My friends here are inclined to smile at your talking 
 to me about orthodoxy. They are regretfully aware that 
 I do not fully share their views as to revealed religion. I 
 believe that the process of evolution is a stupendous 
 reality ; but I believe that it dqn't account for every 
 thing. There are ten thousand lines of causation with 
 which it has nothing to do. It is the old story of riding 
 a hobby to death. The fact of Herbert Spencer's be- 
 coming enamoured of evolution and determining to explain 
 the universe and all the modes of existence embraced in 
 it, by tracing that process, has cost the world the services 
 of a magnificent and industrious intellect for thirty years. 
 I am glad he has exhibited himself in some spheres where 
 men, who do not call themselves philosophers, have done 
 some thinking. He has taken occasion to show the world 
 what comes of an able man's keeping himself bound, 
 hand and foot, to a hobby. Any village preacher can put 
 him to school in ethical science ; any village lawyer can
 
 g8 . THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 teach him his a, b, c's in statesmanship, and any village 
 boor can see the absurdity of his claiming to know that 
 the Unknowable is destitute of all the attributes which 
 every man of common sense ascribes to Deity." 
 
 After a while the conversation drifted to the subject 
 of heredity ; and Dr. Margum and Mr. Jorman found 
 themselves in substantial agreement on several points. 
 Nothing was said, of which I thought it worth while to 
 make a record, until the Doctor remarked : 
 
 " It is often observed that a perverse tendency is apt 
 to acquire a certain momentum in passing from one gen- 
 eration to another ; so that a vicious strain, which has 
 occasioned but a single lapse in the life of the parent, 
 may manifest itself as the predominant force in the life 
 of the child." 
 
 Jorman assented to this and, a moment afterward, 
 sprang from his seat and began to walk nervously about 
 the room. He returned at length, to the Doctor's side 
 and said to him : 
 
 " It is important to remember that the characters of 
 men sometimes undergo very great changes and, therefore, 
 that the tendencies inherited must depend very largely 
 on the period from which the parental relation dates." 
 
 With this remark Jorman turned away, in such a man- 
 ner as to indicate that the conversation was ended so far 
 as he was concerned ; and we soon left the room. At the 
 first opportunity he called me aside and asked excitedly : 
 
 " Did you observe any thing remarkable a little while 
 ago ? " 
 
 " I noticed that you became very fidgety all at once," 
 I replied. 
 
 " Then you did n't observe the cause of my excite- 
 ment ? Why it beat any thing that I ever witnessed in
 
 A RAINY DAY. 99 
 
 my life. Just after I had assented to the Doctor's last 
 remark, I happened to glance at Serena as she was sit- 
 ting there on the sofa. She had her arm around that 
 boy of hers and was pressing him to her side, while she 
 leaned a little forward, as if to shield him ; and her face 
 wore such an expression of mingled suffering and defi- 
 ance as no mortal ever dreamed of. If an actress could 
 present just that appearance, in a scene where she would 
 have to protect a child from some incalculable evil, it 
 would be the greatest histrionic stroke of the century. 
 Serena's husband became a villain before he died. There 
 is no question about that. He may not have made a 
 public revelation of himself in that light ; but she knows 
 that he was a villain. A great many women are loaded 
 down with a secret knowledge of the unworthiness of 
 their husbands ; and, oh, how bravely they struggle on to 
 have it appear to the world that their husbands are mak- 
 ing them happy ! There is something very tragic about 
 that, as Carlyle would say. You see now that Serena, 
 with her intellectual alertness, made an immediate appli- 
 cation of what the Doctor had said and I had assented 
 to. She saw an appalling danger to her boy. She is one 
 of that high order of beings to whom moral deformity 
 presents itself as the hugest of all calamities ; and her 
 maternal love is so mighty that, in the re-action of her 
 heart against the suffering caused by that terrible pros- 
 pect, she felt herself strong enough to tear the laws of 
 nature into shreds. You don't wonder that I was ex- 
 cited ; do you ? I despaired at first of finding any thing 
 to say that would do her any good. But I happened to 
 hit on that thought about characters undergoing changes, 
 and the relation of inherited qualities to the period of 
 birth ; and it was a good strike. Her immediate relief
 
 100 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 was very obvious, and she gave me a quick glance of 
 gratitude. But the trouble was, that she caught me ob- 
 serving her. She evinced a momentary confusion, and 
 then I could see that her thoughts were moving like 
 lightning. There is no doubt at all but what she under- 
 stands all about the cause of my fidgetiness, and the ob- 
 ject with which I made that last remark. This will give 
 rise to a little embarrassment for both of us. Well, I 'm 
 very glad the fellow did n't reveal himself to her as a 
 scamp till after the boy was born." 
 
 Mr. Jorman recurred to this subject repeatedly in the 
 course of the afternoon, and seemed unable to think of 
 any thing else. We both observed that Mrs. Erdby's 
 meditations were far from clothing her countenance with 
 its customary signs of cheerfulness, though we carefully 
 avoided the appearance of watching her. She took her 
 usual seat at the piano in the evening, and seemed to 
 have recovered her habitual frame of mind before we 
 separated for the night.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN. 
 
 nPHE time came for the breaking up of our little cir- 
 * cle. We were to go our several ways and, amid 
 the duties and experiences of our respective spheres, to 
 become more or less non-existent to each other. But 
 I felt, for my own part, that the existence of some of the 
 persons with whom I had been associated would always 
 have much significance for me. It seemed to me 
 that my few weeks in that quiet village had yielded me 
 a knowledge of my race which I had failed to gather 
 from my wide intercourse with men as a commercial 
 traveller. My pursuit had afforded me the amplest op- 
 portunities for observing ways of life and characteristic 
 appearances among all classes of my countrymen, as well 
 as for studying the external peculiarities of a multitude 
 of individuals ; and these outward appurtenances of hu- 
 man life had been the chief part of my world. But I 
 had now been led to the contemplation of several differ- 
 ent styles of inner life, which I regarded as typical ; and 
 the world took on a deeper meaning for me. In view of 
 my relations to mankind at large, there was a certain 
 solemnity in my feelings, of which I had never before 
 been conscious. 
 
 Just before our departure, Mr. Jorman managed, by 
 touching on what seemed to be an entirely unrelated
 
 102 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 subject, to elicit from Professor Ardick some very strong 
 remarks on the feasibility of counteracting constitutional 
 proclivities by educational watch-care. The conversation 
 took place in Mrs. Erdby's presence ; but the Professor 
 was not at all aware of having been drawn into a dis- 
 course for her benefit. Jorman was highly elated over 
 the success of his exploit and said to me, after we had 
 started : 
 
 " I was very sure that I could set Old Delicious off on 
 his hobby ; and I don't believe Serena caught me at it. 
 I knew it wouldn't do for me to look at her and see how 
 she was taking it, and I avoided doing so, though it 
 seemed like tying my optic nerves in a double bow-knot. 
 There was ' right smart ' of good sense in the talk, as 
 your prospective brother-in-law would say. To be sure, 
 there is some timber that wont make shingles, anyway ; 
 but if a stick is too gnarly for shingles, it can be con- 
 verted into first-rate wedges. You must be very careful 
 in your methods, if you are going to overcome an in- 
 herited proclivity. You must n't keep banging away at 
 the proclivity itself all the time ; that is more likely to 
 keep it constantly excited, than it is to have any other ef- 
 fect. What you want to do, is to stimulate counteract- 
 ing tendencies. There is a certain amount, and only a 
 certain amount, of force in a boy ; and if you get all of 
 it to flowing in the right channels, there will be none of- 
 it left for the wrong channels. But you have got to be 
 particular about the kind of stimulants you apply in 
 order to counteract a perverse tendency. Many parents 
 keep their sons from becoming intemperate by making 
 them avaricious ; and some of these boys, instead of be- 
 coming drunkards and paying the greater part of the 
 penalty themselves, get to be hard-hearted and prosper-
 
 EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN. 103 
 
 ous scoundrels preying on their fellow-men all their lives. 
 I believe your book says something about overcoming 
 evil with good. There is a nice touch of philosophy 
 there, whether the writer saw it or not ; and it might well 
 be taken for a key-note in the matter of juvenile train- 
 ing. Well, I don't think the discourse of Old Delicious 
 will do Serena any particular hurt. I guess she will get 
 considerable comfort out of it ; and it will help her to 
 work hopefully against her boy's coming to harm on ac- 
 count of any streak of scampery that he may have in- 
 herited from his father. I wish we could get a few hints 
 to her about a careful selection of the tendencies to be 
 stimulated." 
 
 " I expect to meet her in Florida next winter," I said. 
 " She told me that she was already engaged in corre- 
 spondence with a view to renting a little cottage at 
 Jacksonville. She has a maiden sister whose lungs are 
 delicate, and she thinks a winter in Florida would bene- 
 fit Charley. Arrangements are already made for me to 
 take a part of that State into my field." 
 
 " Do you know," Jorman asked, after meditating a few 
 moments, " that I have more than half a mind to take 
 that Southern trip with you ? I can't think of any bet- 
 ter way of seeing the South. You will be stopping at a 
 good many places, and while you are busy with your 
 customers I can be interviewing my fellow-citizens of 
 African descent and making a note of the various re- 
 grettable features of the Southern civilization. Perhaps 
 I can fix up some material that will be highly prized by 
 the leaders of my party. If serviceable facts happen to 
 be lacking, there will be all the more work for my imagi- 
 nation ; and I am in danger of letting that faculty get a 
 little rusty, anyway,"
 
 104 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 My first evening at home was full of delight for me. 
 The words of Cardinal Wolsey : 
 
 " I feel my heart new-opened," 
 
 recurred to my mind, and it seemed to me that my ca- 
 pacity for filial and brotherly affection had been greatly 
 enlarged. For the first time in several years I took my 
 mother fully into my confidence. I " told her all my 
 heart," and I saw something of the extent to which I 
 had deprived myself of help, and denied expansion to 
 the lives of my mother and sister by my former habit 
 of internal solitariness. As Dolly was about to retire 
 she said : 
 
 " I 've changed my mind. I said we would n't divide 
 you up with anybody. But no ; I have not changed my 
 mind either, because that is not the way it goes. You 're 
 going to be ours more than ever, and Martha is going to 
 be ours too." 
 
 " If I can only get her," I said. 
 
 " If you can only get her. Just as if there was any 
 doubt about that. How ridiculous ! " 
 
 " I think," said my mother, after Dolly had left us, 
 " that it looks very hopeful for you. I can see that she 
 is just the right sort of a young lady to appreciate you. 
 The only danger is that some one else will come in and 
 win her heart before you think it would be right to avow 
 your affection. I should think you would be terribly 
 afraid of that. Doj^'t it seem to you sometimes that all 
 the young men in that region must be going crazy for 
 her ? Still, I have no doubt that she is interested in you 
 now, though she has never whispered such a thing to 
 herself. And then, you need n't think that you have not 
 made any thing like a declaration to her. She is not
 
 EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN. 105 
 
 entirely in the dark. The change in your looks and 
 manner, after your heart went out to her, did n't escape 
 her notice. And I am so glad of that talk about Eller- 
 mere, and of her knowing that you had taken so much 
 pains to inquire into the ownership and the price, after 
 she had spoken so warmly about the ' dear old place.' 
 Of course she don't allow these things to stay up in her 
 mind like every-day matters, but they have a little nest 
 away down in her heart, and she would be surprised to 
 know how much they have to do with the way the whole 
 world looks to her." 
 
 After a period of silence the dear lady asked : " Is n't 
 there something almost presumptuous in your determin- 
 ing to accumulate so large a sum of money in such a 
 short time ? Why, I have often thought it would be 
 hardly reasonable for me to expect to live long enough 
 to see you worth ten thousand dollars. And yet you 
 think you must have as much as that before you can 
 even tell Miss Orlington that you love her." 
 
 I gave her a full explanation of my plan, so far as it 
 had been formed, and she responded : 
 
 " Well, it all looks as if it could be carried out, though 
 we can never foresee all the difficulties in our way, and 
 you seem now to be strong enough for any thing. That 
 Mr. Jorman must be feeling a great interest in you, con- 
 sidering how short a time you have been acquainted. I 
 don't wonder at it if he can read characters as well as 
 you think he can. But I care most about its being Mr. 
 Sekell who is to open the way for you. It will make him 
 so happy if he can help you forward. I shall be almost 
 as glad for him as I shall for you, if every thing turns 
 out well. In all your father's pastoral life he never had 
 a member who was more devoted to him. I can recol-
 
 106 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 lect, as if it was yesterday, when your father took him 
 into the church and gave him the hand of fellowship." 
 
 Many other points had been touched upon between us 
 when my mother saw me looking at my watch. 
 
 " I know it is getting late," she said, " but I can't let 
 you go just yet, dear. I want you to understand how 
 you have widened out the world for me. I have never 
 blamed you, George, for not talking to me of your plans 
 and hopes and aspirations and trials. I have always 
 known that your silence could not spring from any want 
 of affection. I have seen that you thought it would be 
 giving me needless trouble if you should tell me of 
 your perplexities. And then you have been away from 
 home a great deal, and so have formed the habit of keep- 
 ing things to yourself. But oh t I have so longed to be 
 taken more fully into your life. It has seemed to me so 
 certain that I could help you if you would give me a 
 chance to put my heart by the side of yours. Of course 
 I never could say all this to you before. We mothers 
 can never ask our children to reveal their hidden thoughts 
 and feelings to us. If their hearts do not open to us 
 spontaneously, we can't have them open at all. I don't 
 know what the reason is, I am sure ; I only know it is 
 so. But I feel now that I have a great deal more to live 
 for than I had this morning. I can't make it seem to me 
 as if an hour of my time would ever drag heavily here- 
 after." 
 
 When I arrived at the store, the next morning, Mr. 
 Johnson gave me a hearty greeting. " Well," he said, as 
 he looked me over with evident satisfaction, " you have 
 turned your clock back a year or two. You are in a 
 regular prize-fighter condition. I am going to take a 
 little run now myself for a couple of weeks, and you will
 
 EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN. 107 
 
 have to put off starting for the West till I get back. I 
 have made up my mind to have you do most of my work 
 while I am gone. In the first place, you will have to de- 
 termine all the credits. You have had occasion to do a 
 good deal of that kind of work since you went upon the 
 road, and you have never made any bad mistakes. I 
 don't think you have trusted a single man who has turned 
 out to be a rascal, and no one could have foreseen the 
 circumstances that upset your two or three customers 
 who have had to knock under. Then you will have to 
 decide on the extent of a contract for steel screws, to be 
 held at the factory in Cleveland subject to orders for 
 shipment to points further West. Besides, we are nego- 
 tiating for control of several lines of agricultural imple- 
 ments turned out from a mill in Auburn. Some of the 
 tools are adapted to the Western market, and some to the 
 Southern ; two or three of them go to South America. 
 Mr. Millecramp will be governed by your views on that 
 matter. But take out your memorandum-book and come 
 into my den." 
 
 We considered a multitude of particulars in rapid suc- 
 cession, and I spent most of the morning in getting Mr. 
 Johnson's department in hand. Jorman came in about 
 eleven o'clock, but I could give him no attention beyond 
 introducing him to Mr. Millecramp and handing him a 
 chair. Just at that moment, a customer, whom I had 
 secured in Iowa the previous fall, entered the store, and 
 Mr. Millecramp said : " Bidrop, here is a gentleman who 
 has been waiting for you two or three days. He won't 
 have any thing to do with the rest of us." 
 
 I gave my attention to this gentleman, and he bought 
 quite heavily. In passing along the shelves we came 
 near the front of the store, where Mr. Millecramp and
 
 108 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 Jorman were sitting. Examining some case-knives of 
 a peculiar style, my customer asked the price, and having 
 learned it, said : " I like their shape and general appear- 
 ance. I think they would take pretty well with some of 
 our people ; but do you think they are worth that price ?" 
 
 I inspected the knives more closely than I had done 
 before, looked at the cost-mark, and then answered : 
 " No. We can't afford to sell them for any less ; but 
 they are not worth so much." 
 
 Mr. Millecramp overheard us, and suspended his 
 conversation with Jorman long enough to say to me : 
 " Put the knives at what they are worth, and make a 
 memorandum that will keep us from buying any more 
 of them unless we can get them cheaper." 
 
 As we were going to lunch, Jorman related a part 
 of the conversation to which this incident gave rise. He 
 remarked : 
 
 "You seem to do business here on a rather elevated 
 moral plane." 
 
 " We are trying to do business on a money-making 
 plane," Mr. Millecramp answered, " and to build up a 
 concern that will last. We can't afford to drive any 
 sharp bargains. If Bidrop had lied to that man when 
 he had asked his honest opinion, we never could have 
 got him inside of this store again. That is what makes 
 Bidrop such a capital salesman : his customers soon get 
 to understand that he will let their trade go to the devil, 
 and let them go there too, before he will misrepresent 
 any thing to them. Whether we have any higher princi- 
 ple, or not, is a thing that it would n't be in good 
 taste for me to talk about. All that we claim is, that we 
 are men of common-sense, that we want to make money, 
 and that we are here to stay."
 
 EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN. 109 
 
 . 
 
 In philosophizing on this remark, Jorman said to me : 
 " You can get a glimpse here of the ordained use of a ten- 
 dency which is often abused the tendency to make an 
 ultimate object of what was first adopted only as an in- 
 strumentality. I won't go back now to show you how 
 that proclivity originates ; I only want you to see how it 
 works. Take your own case. You want money for the 
 sake of being in a position to solicit the affections of Miss 
 Orlington. Now, if you had n't that ultimate object so 
 much at heart, there would be very great danger of 
 your losing all interest in it and getting to love money for 
 its own sake. That would be the abuse of the tendency. 
 Now for the ordained use of it what it was given for. 
 Here are men like Millecramp, who start out to accum- 
 ulate fortunes. That is their ultimate object, and most 
 of them are but very slightly anchored at first by any 
 moral principle. But they have sense enough to see that 
 square dealing is indispensable to permanent success in 
 their line of business, and they adopt it simply as an 
 instrumentality. What is the result ? Why, whether they 
 know it or not, they soon get to loving square dealing 
 for its own sake. You may talk as much as you please 
 about the demoralizing influences connected with a 
 mercantile life, but it is perfectly certain that there are 
 thousands of merchants who are experiencing a steady 
 moral growth of which they are not conscious in the 
 slightest degree. The great thing is for a man to start 
 out in business with an enlightened apprehension of his 
 own interests. Then he will place himself on such a 
 line, that the tendency of which I have been speaking 
 will constantly operate towards building him up, instead 
 of helping to work out the total wreck of his character. 
 There are a great many fools who adopt knavery as an
 
 110 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 instrumentality, with great reluctance, at first, because it 
 seems to them indispensable to the end on which their 
 hearts are set ; but they very soon come to love knavery 
 for its own sake." 
 
 Jorman and I lunched together nearly every day, and 
 scarcely an evening passed without my making a record 
 of his table-talk ; but I must omit from this work the 
 memoranda which I have preserved of these and many 
 other conversations. He insisted on my seeing his 
 " quarters " as he called them, and getting an under- 
 standing of his habitual way of life. 
 
 " I know it is a boyish whim," he said, " but I have a 
 fancy for putting you in a position to make mental pic- 
 tures of me in a variety of settings." 
 
 I found that he had a room N about twenty-five feet by 
 fifty, in a building which he owned on Tenth Street, 
 where he kept most of his books and conferred with 
 those who had business with him. His library gave no 
 evidence of systematic collecting, but was made up, for 
 the most part, of books which he had gathered from 
 time to time, according as he had happened to be 
 attracted by one line of investigation or another. He 
 could produce, however, a specimen of the writings of 
 nearly every eminent author, in English, French, or 
 German, and a great pile in one corner of the room 
 consisted of quite recent works. 
 
 " I buy about every new book of which I see a notice," 
 he said, " unless I have already had enough of the author. 
 I feel like tendering hospitality to every stranger in the 
 literary world, and am always hoping to find that one of 
 the elect has stepped into the arena. I don't try to keep 
 up any regular habit in reading. Sometimes I do no 
 more for weeks than to open books as I happen to, and
 
 EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN. Ill 
 
 glance over a few pages here and there. At other times 
 I read sixteen hours in twenty-four. When I am in the 
 city I generally stay here from nine o'clock to lunch- 
 time, and then, unless I have got tied to some book, or 
 some subject, or the weather is bad, I go upon the street. 
 I am very apt, though, to pick up a cud that I want to 
 chew a good deal, and, in that case, I come back here to 
 play the ruminant. You see that path in the carpet 
 there ; I tell you my gray matter had to undergo a great 
 many throes and wrenches before it could make such a 
 track as that. I used to have another suite of rooms in 
 this building, and spend my nights there ; but I made 
 up my mind, several years ago, that it was best for me to 
 dispense with certain possibilities connected with that 
 way of life. I like to stay about my hotel most of the 
 time after dinner." 
 
 He went home with me one afternoon and returned to 
 the city by the ten o'clock train. He had no difficulty 
 in getting upon confidential terms with Dolly, whose in- 
 genuous talk seemed to entertain him greatly. In his 
 subsequent conversation with my mother he drew out 
 many results of observation and reflection which sur- 
 prised me. I was proud of my mother and proud of my 
 friend. He left with her his library address for the 
 morning and his hotel address for the evening, and in- 
 sisted that he was to be the first person applied to if help 
 should be needed in my absence." 
 
 As I walked with Jorman to the station he said to me : 
 " Your affections are all right, Nolly, but you have never 
 risen to an intellectual appreciation of your mother. She 
 is a very able woman, and her sympathies have an im- 
 mense reach. I am afraid you have n't quite gotten up 
 to her level yet."
 
 112 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 Before starting West, I told the members of the firm 
 of my new plan, and said to them that my salary would 
 have to be suspended for two or three weeks, if I 
 should go to Dakota. They answered that it would rest 
 with me entirely to say how much should be charged up 
 to me in consideration of time which I might divert from 
 their business ; and Mr. Millecramp added : 
 
 "You must act for yourself, of course, in planning 
 your life-work ; and it is high time that you were about 
 it. You can't help seeing that you will be sacrificing a 
 great deal, if you throw away all the results of your 
 experience in the hardware business. And I may as well 
 tell you that, if you should stay with us two or three 
 years longer, you would make yourself so indispensable 
 to us that we should have to take you into the firm. Even 
 now, we could n't afford to have you go to a rival house. 
 Johnson and I have had a good many talks on this sub- 
 ject." 
 
 When I arrived in Chicago I found a letter from Mr. 
 Sekell awaiting me. He had written as follows : 
 " DEAR GEORGE : 
 
 " If you decide to meet me here, try to arrive as 
 soon after October zoth as possible. You will take a 
 steamer at Omaha for Dekkerville on the Missouri. 
 Then, unless you can catch a boat coming up the With- 
 lematchie, which is not very probable, you will have to 
 take the stage across. It leaves Mondays, Wednesdays, 
 and Fridays. Dekkerville is forty miles below the mouth 
 of the Withlematchie, and Mackopah, which is the name 
 determined on for the eastern terminus of our road, is 
 seventy miles up that river ; but it is only seventy-five 
 miles between the two places by the stage road. There 
 is another thing which you need to understand before
 
 EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN. 113 
 
 leaving Chicago. There is very little land about Macko- 
 pah, to which the title from the Government has been 
 perfected. There is little chance, therefore, for you to 
 secure deeds from individuals, though a part of the town 
 site will be in market, and I shall hope to see you get a 
 slice of it. But I want to see you have two or three tracts 
 adjoining the town ; and here is the difficulty. You 
 can't enter any of the Government lands here with 
 money. They have all been surveyed, and the maps are 
 on file in the land office at Dekkerville ; but the lands 
 have never been offered at public sale. They are open 
 to pre-emption, and they can be entered with a certain 
 class of soldiers' warrants. I think you can get such 
 at F. H. Gleason's, on Monroe Street, though you will 
 have to pay as high as seven or eight dollars an acre. 
 You must be very particular to see that the warrants call 
 for land 'subject to sate,' instead of ' subject to entry.' 
 I advise you to buy one such warrant calling for 160 
 acres, one for eighty, and one for forty. I have my eye 
 on some pre-emptors whom I think you can hire to 
 abandon their claims. 
 
 " Now, in order that you may decide understandingly 
 whether it is best to come here, or to give the whole pro- 
 ject up, I will put you in possession of some facts as they 
 look to me. The Withlematchie & Western R. R., as 
 now located, is to be one hundred and twenty-seven 
 miles long, striking the eastern border of Montana about 
 twenty miles north of the northern line of Wyoming. It 
 winds through a very fertile valley all the way, and opens 
 into a valley averaging thirty miles in width from east to 
 west, and more than one hundred miles long from north 
 to south. These valleys are sure to be densely popu- 
 lated ; pre-emptors have been flocking into them very
 
 114 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 fast all summer. Besides, all the travel and transporta- 
 tion to the Black Hills and the principal mining locali- 
 ties of Montana must go over our road. You see, 
 therefore, that Mackopah is bound to have an immense 
 backing ; it can't help being the emporium of a vast 
 region. It may be expected, of course, that the time 
 will come when our road will be extended to Dekker- 
 ville, and Mackopah will cease to be its eastern terminus. 
 But, by that time, other roads will be coming into the 
 place from the north and south, making ours an eastern 
 and western trunk. And our folks will be in no hurry 
 about building to the east of Mackopah. They will see 
 much more advantage in western extensions, because 
 there they can have every thing their own way, while, to 
 the east, they would be in competition with the river. 
 Any boat that can reach Dekkerville can come to 
 Mackopah, though the Withlematchie begins to shoal 
 badly just above this place. At all events, the place 
 must grow very rapidly for several years. 
 
 " 1 am glad you have found a moneyed partner, and I 
 feel sure that he will never have occasion to regret his 
 connection with you. If my pointing out this opportu- 
 nity results in giving you a lift, I shall feel that I have 
 taken a little step toward repaying what I owe your 
 parents." 
 
 I was able, with some difficulty, to obtain the soldiers' 
 warrants, which Sekell had advised me to buy, though I 
 had to pay such a price for them that the land to be en- 
 tered with them would cost me nine dollars per acre. 
 This seemed to me a little hard, as I had always under- 
 stood the regular price for Government lands to be only 
 a dollar and a quarter an acre. Having canvassed a 
 good part of Iowa in the intervening time, I took passage
 
 EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN. 115 
 
 at Omaha the i5th of October. My fellow-passengers 
 were not numerous, since it was too late in the season for 
 either tourists or emigrants to be moving northwest- 
 wardly in large numbers. As had been anticipated, I 
 found it necessary to go from Dekkerville to Mackopah 
 by stage, that is to say, in a spring- wagon covered with 
 canvas. Sekell was waiting for me, and very anxious to 
 set out for Chicago, that he might be with his family as 
 soon as possible. He showed me a profile of the pro- 
 jected railroad, and expressed the opinion that work 
 would be commenced at the re-opening of navigation the 
 next spring, and be rapidly pushed, if not entirely com- 
 pleted, during the season. He believed that it would be 
 best for the company to place him in charge of the con- 
 struction and permit him to organize the " army," as he 
 called the force of laborers, in his own way. His view 
 was that no contractor would bid for a job, in that 
 remote region, without allowing himself an immense 
 margin. In pointing out the reasons why Mackopah 
 must necessarily be the eastern terminus of the road, Mr. 
 Sekell said : 
 
 " You see by this map of mine that the river makes a 
 big bend just above here, and that for about twenty 
 miles its general course is nearly north and south, so 
 that we could n't shorten our line by striking a point 
 higher up. Now you observe that the banks of the 
 stream all along here are broken up into bluffs and 
 swamps. There is not a single point after you leave 
 Mackopah where even a good landing-place can be 
 found, to say nothing of a town site, till you get to Dill- 
 town, which is at least fifteen miles from here by the way 
 of the river. There is a splendid site for a town there, 
 and the land lies beautifully for some distance back.
 
 Il6 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 But a road from the Montana line to Dilltown would be 
 nearly two miles longer than one from the same starting- 
 point to Mackopah, because it is necessary to pass 
 through a gap which lies almost due west of this place. 
 That is not all. There is a very bad shoal a little way 
 above here. I learn that, during a great part of every 
 summer, such boats as come to Mackopah with all ease, 
 could not possibly get up to Dilltown. That settles the 
 matter, you see, for we have got to strike a point where 
 navigation can be relied upon whenever the river is clear 
 of ice. I '11 make a copy of this map for you, so that 
 you can explain the whole thing to your partner." 
 
 The town about to come into existence was to be situ- 
 ated, for the most part, on an elevated plateau between 
 the river and a considerable ridge. The extent of water- 
 front suitable for a steamer-landing was very limited. It 
 was a strip less than two hundred feet wide, with a pre- 
 cipitous bluff on the upper side and a large area liable to 
 overflow in the opposite direction. Back of this landing- 
 place the ascent was so steep that the plateau was 
 reached by a road winding around the base of the hill, 
 and along the edge of the land liable to overflow, and 
 then up a dry and tortuous ravine. The tract here de- 
 scribed was a part of a fractional lot, containing a little 
 more than one hundred and thirty acres, which had been 
 entered by Jacques Gabineau, a Canadian who had lived 
 there Avith his half-breed wife, for several years. Two 
 of Mr. Sekell's assistants were engaged in laying out 
 streets and lots on that part of the tract which was situ- 
 ated on the plateau. We took an early opportunity to 
 ascertain what terms could be made with Mr. Gabineau, 
 and found that he was unwilling to fix a price for any 
 considerable part of the land on which the surveyors
 
 EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN. 117 
 
 were at work, though he was very ready to sell single 
 lots, here and there, to persons who would bind them- 
 selves to erect buildings. He gave us to understand that 
 he intended to secure for himself all that speculators 
 could make by buying up his land in large blocks. He 
 finally said, with a laugh : " I will sell you that point 
 there, reserving the boat-landing and a right of way up 
 to this level ground. There is about a dozen acres of it, 
 and I will sell it for three hundred dollars an acre." 
 
 " Well, we will think about that," Mr. Sekell said ; 
 and we walked away. 
 
 "We shall have to look at something else," I said. 
 " Three hundred dollars an acre for land all broken up 
 into hills and hollows ? Why, there is hardly a level spot 
 large enough for a shanty." 
 
 "You will change your mind, I think," my friend re- 
 sponded. " That is the very slice I have been wanting 
 you to get. Don't you see that the business of the town 
 has got to be done right there ? There is no other place 
 for boats to land ; and our railroad will strike the river 
 just beyond you. There will be nothing but a street be- 
 tween your line and our depot ; and the street from the 
 depot, running parallel with the river, will be the Broad- 
 way of Mackopah. You will have seven hundred feet 
 on each side of the best end of it. Of course you will 
 have a big job of grading to do. You will have to take 
 down your hill-tops and fill up your ravines and raise all 
 your low ground above high-water mark. That will 
 give you about four hundred feet of water-front. I have 
 made a rough estimate, and find that you will have to 
 move about forty thousand cubic yards at a cost, in 
 round numbers, of six thousand dollars. The only ques- 
 tion is, whether you can explain the matter to your part-
 
 Il8 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 ner in such a way that he will be willing to put in the 
 money." 
 
 " There will be no trouble about that." 
 
 " Well then, your fortune is made ; and do you know, 
 George, that I like this a great deal better than I should 
 to have you buy land and sell it out in the same 
 shape ? Speculating in real-estate, buying land and 
 just waiting for it to advance, without doing any thing 
 for anybody in the meantime, is a business I never ex- 
 actly fancied for myself or my friends. It is all right ; 
 but where you buy land and raise its value by giving 
 laborers a chance to get food for their wives and babies, 
 the thing is a great deal more satisfactory to me." 
 
 We had the tract surveyed, and found that it con- 
 tained a fraction over thirteen acres ; and I concluded 
 the purchase of it. Then, at a cost of sixteen hundred 
 dollars, I procured the abandonment of a pre-emption- 
 claim to a quarter of a section of land lying on the ridge 
 and an adjoining plain. Then we selected an " eighty " 
 and a " forty " near by, and, after much arguing, I per- 
 suaded Mr. Sekell to take warrants for these lots off my 
 hands, and make the entries in his own name. 
 
 In two days after my arrival at Mackopah, we were 
 ready to take our departure. Our business at the land 
 office in Dekkerville was consummated just in time for 
 us to take a steamer down the river. I was not able to 
 get my deed from Gabineau placed on record ; but 
 Sekell said there would be no risk in deferring that mat- 
 ter till the next spring. I carried the deed in a chamois 
 envelope, which I was accustomed to wear on my person 
 when collecting money in out-of-the-way places. 
 
 During this trip down the river, my attachment to 
 Mr. Sekell was greatly strengthened. He was a little
 
 EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN. lip 
 
 more than forty years old, somewhat under the medium 
 size, with brown eyes, reddish-brown beard and dark 
 hair. Both beard and hair were kept short. The most 
 noticable thing in his countenance was what I called the 
 depth and steadiness of his eyes. Though naturally 
 taciturn, it was easy to draw him out on a subject that 
 interested him, unless he thought that his speaking freely 
 might prove injurious to others. On this point he was 
 exceedingly scrupulous. His love for his profession 
 was obviously strong, and I was convinced that he had 
 few superiors in it. He had no property, except his 
 modest home in Chicago, and a few hundred dollars in 
 bank. The investment, which I had just persuaded him 
 to make, was the first step he had ever taken with a view 
 to profiting by the rise of real-estate in value, though he 
 admitted that he had pointed out to others many good 
 opportunities for such proceedings. He said he had al- 
 ways been afraid that any undertaking of that kind 
 would interfere with his professional work. 
 
 At Omaha I found the following letter from Mr. 
 Jorman : 
 
 " Dear Nolly, I have met with a terrible disappoint- 
 ment, and I want to unload upon you about a third of 
 my dissatisfaction with the universe. You remember 
 how excited I was over the manifestation of feeling by 
 Serena, when we were talking about heredity and the 
 added force which a proclivity might gain in passing 
 from one generation to another. But, if you think you 
 know how much of a disturber that circumstance 
 became among my central forces, you are greatly mis- 
 taken. That look of suffering and defiance kept haunt- 
 ing me, and, after you got out of the way, it threatened 
 to take exclusive possession of my imagination. I ought
 
 120 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 to have gone to reading blood-and-thunder novels, or 
 getting up a picture of the Palaeozoic age, or something 
 of that sort ; but the Old Harry had to have his way 
 with me. I kept saying to myself that the only possible 
 explanation had occurred to me at once ; but we are all 
 such cranks, you know, that the surer we feel of any 
 conclusion at which we have arrived by reasoning, the 
 more anxious we are to have it confirmed by facts. 
 Now see how cunningly I cheated myself. I could n't 
 let my right hand know that my left hand was going to 
 fumble around among family secrets. Oh, no. Conse- 
 quently, I remembered that it was a long time since I 
 had seen my old Harvard classmate, Bob Dilmore, who 
 is a native of Boston, and is practising law there. It had 
 been very wrong in me to be so neglectful of Bob, and I 
 saw that I ought to visit him immediately. Well, I 
 found myself in his office about ten o'clock one morning. 
 I suppose I managed to use up a full half hour with 
 reminiscences before making casual mention of the fact 
 that I had recently met a Boston widow by the name of 
 Erdby. Bob said it must have been the widow of Charles 
 Erdby ; that there were not many of the name in the 
 city ; that the Erdbys were classed among the Mayflower 
 families, though none of them were wealthy. His im- 
 pression was that the mother of Charles, who had been a 
 widow a great many years, possessed a moderate compe- 
 tence. In answer to my questions he gave me to under- 
 stand that he had never been intimate with Charles 
 Erdby, but had known him as a young man of quiet 
 manners and somewhat puritanical principles, holding 
 an important position in the Progressive National Bank- 
 According to his recollection, Erdby had given up his 
 position in the bank, or got a furlough, on account of
 
 EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN. 121 
 
 the failure of his health, and gone to Colorado and died 
 there. I asked if there had never been any suspicion of 
 crookedness in connection with that going to Colorado. 
 Bob had never heard an intimation of any such thing ; 
 but, seeing that I was greatly exercised on the subject, 
 he said he could get at all the facts, since he was inti- 
 mate with a brother lawyer who had married one of 
 Charles Erdby's sisters, and was one of the most candid 
 men in the world. I confessed to some curiosity, and 
 spoke in such a way that Bob smiled and assured me 
 that I should be accommodated. I believe the rascal 
 suspected me of a little Benedictine mushiness. 
 
 " Now see what a pretty kettle of fish I got myself 
 invited to by not knowing enough to mind my own busi- 
 ness. The name of Bob's friend is Melton, and his story 
 was in this shape : 
 
 " Charles J. Erdby was an only son, with three sisters 
 older than himself, and was, of course, the pet of the 
 family. The four children received, under their father's 
 will, only a thousand dollars each, the rest of the small 
 estate being wisely left in charge of their mother. While 
 still very young, Charles obtained a position in the Pro- 
 gressive Bank, and, by reason of his steadiness and close 
 attention to his duties, he was promoted from time to 
 time. One summer he spent the two weeks' vacation al- 
 lowed him in the western part of the State, and there fell 
 in love with the young teacher of a country school, 
 whose name was Julia Evalstone, and whose father was 
 a village carpenter ; and nothing would do but he 
 must get married the next fall. The young couple 
 boarded until some time after their child was born, 
 and then went to keeping house on a very modest scale. 
 The mother and sisters of Charles regarded his wife as
 
 122 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 an amiable young woman, but complained that they 
 could never get her into full sympathy with them, nor 
 lead her to appreciate the privilege of living in Boston. 
 They said her heart always seemed to be with the car- 
 penter's family in the little village of Parcelton. They 
 charged, also, that she was very secretive. But things 
 went on smoothly for some years, till Mrs. Charles Erd- 
 by made a long visit to her old home. Soon after that, a 
 change in both husband and wife began to be observed. 
 He was often moody, and lost all that equableness of 
 spirit for which he had been remarkable. At one time 
 he would be so abstracted as to take no notice of what 
 was going on, and, at another, would be so talkative as 
 to excite the surprise of all his old acquaintances. Oc- 
 casionally, too, he was known to incur expenses wholly 
 inconsistent with his former economical habits. On her 
 part, the wife, though as uncommunicative as ever, was 
 often seen to be in a state of obvious mental excitement. 
 In the course of a few months, she went suddenly upon 
 two visits to Parcelton. On one of these occasions, she 
 was induced to go by a telegram which arrived while 
 Melton's wife happened to be in the house. This lady, 
 observing that instead of being delivered by a messenger- 
 boy, the telegram was brought by one whom she recognized 
 as a clerk of the family grocer, had her curiosity excited. 
 Managing for opportunity to glance at the despatch, she 
 found it was signed ' E. Crasburg.' In this way Melton and 
 his wife were put on the track of a clandestine correspond- 
 ence which Mrs. Erdby was carrying on with some one 
 at Parcelton. They learned from the grocer's clerk that 
 letters for her often came from that place, under cover 
 to his employer, and that he was instructed to deliver 
 such letters only between ten and eleven o'clock in the
 
 EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN. 123 
 
 morning. They found, also, that this grocer had come 
 to Boston, a few years previously, from Parcelton. This 
 was the state of things when Melton, on arriving at his 
 office one morning, had his attention called to a package 
 accompanied with a letter from Erdby. Melton per- 
 mitted my friend to take a copy of that letter, which ran 
 as follows : 
 
 " ' DEAR EZRA: I am a ruined man and about to leave 
 Boston forever. I write this and put in your hands the 
 papers which I send herewith, because I want you and 
 mother and sisters to know the real truth about me. But 
 I beg that all this knowledge may be kept within our 
 family. Though I can never live with my wife again, I 
 want you all to remember that she is the mother of my boy, 
 and for his sake and mine I want you to keep silent. 
 People can understand that I have gone away on account 
 of my health, which you know has been getting bad 
 lately. You will see from the papers I send that my 
 wife has been getting large sums of money from our 
 bank, on notes to which she has attached my signature, 
 and that she has deposited that money in her own name 
 at the Bank of Parcelton and checked it out from time 
 to time for the benefit of her relatives and a Mr. Cras- 
 burg. I have known all the time that something wrong 
 was going on, but could n't imagine what it was. You 
 will see that the notes are all in the handwriting of 
 Lumer, our cashier, and that they are in an unusual form, 
 with the amounts of principal and interest set down on 
 the backs of them and added up. These endorsements 
 are also in Lumer's hand. Why he should encourage 
 my wife to bind me for every dollar I had in the bank, 
 both stocks and deposits, and throw away the money on 
 her Parcelton pets, I cannot understand, unless he has some
 
 124 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 rascally scheme in his head that he knows he could n t 
 carry out if I should stay in my position. He took 
 it for granted, of course, that I would not expose my wife 
 by refusing to pay, and that I would not remain under 
 him an hour after finding out what had been going on. 
 It could all be managed without my wife's going to the 
 bank, because, as you know, she visited at Lumer's 
 oftener than at any other house in the city. If you want 
 any further explanation of my resolution to leave Boston 
 to-night, I will tell you that when I went home this after- 
 noon, after taking up the notes, I found E. Crasburg at 
 my house, and that he is a younger man and a better- 
 looking man than I am.' 
 
 " Melton showed Bob the documents that accompanied 
 this letter. There were several notes, for various sums, 
 aggregating several thousand dollars, signed ' C. J. 
 Erdby per Julia E. Erdby,' and corresponding in all re- 
 spects with the description of them contained in the 
 letter. Then there was a statement of the account of 
 Julia E. Erdby with the National Bank of Parcelton. 
 Finally there was a package of cancelled checks, drawn 
 by Julia E. Erdby on that bank and payable to different 
 orders. Some of them were to the order of J. Evalstone 
 and some to that of Sarah Evalstone ; but the largest 
 checks, by far, were payable to the order of E. Crasburg. 
 Melton attempted to investigate the matter at the Pro- 
 gressive Bank, but could get no satisfaction. The cashier 
 seemed to be very much startled when one of the notes 
 was exhibited to him, though he admitted that it was in 
 his writing. He acknowledged that all claims of the 
 bank on Charles Erdby had been fully adjusted, but 
 positively refused to say another word on the subject. 
 A lady, living on the opposite side of the street, de-
 
 EVENTS OF THE AUTUMN. 125 
 
 scribed to Mrs. Melton a young man whom she had 
 seen leaving the Erdby cottage, with an appearance of 
 great agitation, soon after Erdby had entered his house 
 for the last time ; and Melton obtained, from a hotel- 
 clerk, a similar description of a person registered as E. 
 Crasburg. After conferring with Erdby's mother and 
 sisters, Melton called on young Mrs. Erdby, and told 
 her that the family had determined to keep silence in 
 regard to the trouble, but would prefer to have no further 
 relations with her. She gave him a satirical smile and 
 said ' Very well.' Melton says that, instead of seeming to 
 be at all broken down, she looked as if she had a thunder- 
 cloud imprisoned in her vitals. Within a day or two, a 
 man appeared with a bill of sale and took possession of 
 the furniture ; and Mrs. Erdby set out for Parcelton. 
 Only two or three brief letters had been received from 
 Erdby, when information came of his death in Colorado. 
 The family have been aware, for more than three years, 
 of the young widow's return to Boston. They know that 
 she has been employed, more or less, as a teacher of 
 music. 
 
 " Now is n't that a nice story, Nolly ? I tell you 
 it was a great deal pleasanter for me to think of Erdby's 
 having become a villain, than it is to admit that Serena 
 was apprehending danger to her boy from a proclivity 
 transmitted by herself, while the doctor and I were 
 agreeing that ' a vicious strain, which has occasioned but 
 a single lapse in the life of the parent, may manifest it- 
 self as the predominant force in the life of the child.' But 
 my reflections have brought me some comfort. Of 
 course there are frightful possibilities in the nature of 
 every human being ; and we are wholly unable to meas- 
 ure the moral stamina natural to any one who has fallen,
 
 126 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 unless we have a correct understanding of the pressure 
 which has caused it to give way. We know that Serena 
 is susceptible of strong emotion and is self-repres- 
 sive ; and it is easy to see how these dispositions might 
 be made to pass over into passionateness and secretive- 
 ness. We can see, too, how remorse in view of an enor- 
 mous misstep may have worked very potently toward 
 the formation of those exceptionally vigorous moral 
 sentiments which are now, beyond all question, charac- 
 teristic of Serena. 
 
 " But I am comforted most by another conclusion to 
 which I have arrived. As sure as you are born, there 
 never was any love affair between Serena and Crasburg. 
 I defy you to reconcile her exquisite constitutional taste 
 with conjugal infidelity. And when you come to im- 
 agine her loving a puppy contemptible enough to live on 
 her bounty, you find that the requisite potentiality is 
 totally absent from her nature. There is some other 
 explanation. Perhaps Crasburg had led Serena into 
 some wild scheme for making her husband suddenly 
 rich. Tarn at the bottom of this page, and you must 
 excuse the brevity of this letter, etc. 
 
 " RALPH JORMAN."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 JOURNEYING SOUTHWARD. 
 
 T RETURNED to New York early in December, but 
 -* had only a few days there before starting on my 
 Southern tour. So far as my own affairs were con- 
 cerned, the matter of chief interest was the securing of a 
 new arrangement with Mr. Perrison. I felt perfectly 
 confident that my operations in Dakota would enable me 
 to buy Ellermere and provide me with a sufficient work- 
 ing capital. But I could not hope to make any thing 
 from that source available under three quarters of a 
 year, and I saw that every step in Southern recuperation 
 increased the danger of my having rivals for the posses- 
 sion of the property on which I had set my heart. My 
 mother finally said to me : 
 
 " Suppose you see if you can't complete the purchase 
 by turning in this cottage as a first payment." 
 
 " I have thought of that," I replied ; "but, don't you 
 see, mother, that there would be a possibility of our 
 losing our home and having nothing to show for it ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ; that is very plain, but we are all strong, and 
 it would n't break our hearts if we should have to begin 
 life anew. Besides, if you should fail in your great un- 
 dertaking, and have to give up your chief earthly hope, 
 it would be a good thing for you to have to work harder 
 than ever for Dolly and me. You will never let your 
 heart sink while you have us on your hands. The first 
 
 127
 
 128 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 thing to be attended to, it seems to me, is to keep Eller- 
 mere from slipping away beyond your reach." 
 
 I had no difficulty in effecting the arrangement which 
 my mother had suggested. Mr. Perrison took the cot' 
 tage at $2,500, and I agreed to pay him $5,000 more 
 within a year ; but neither title nor possession was to 
 pass, on either side, until the expiration of that period. 
 I had the contract drawn by a good lawyer, and it was 
 duly executed. 
 
 I found that Jorman was fully bent on accompanying 
 me. " I feel it borne in upon me," he said, " that such 
 an opportunity to replenish my cerebral cabinet with 
 specimens of the genus homo is not to be neglected." 
 
 " Well," said I, " I am going to play Boswell to you. 
 That will keep me out of mischief." 
 
 " In that case I shall have to take a dictionary along 
 and look up some big words." 
 
 It is probable that Jorman forgot this conversation 
 entirely, and that he had no suspicion of my spending 
 some time nearly every night, after going to my room, in 
 making a record of his talks. I can find place here for 
 only a very few of the notes thus accumulated. He often 
 kept me laughing an hour or two by repeating remarks 
 which he had drawn from negroes and uneducated 
 whites ; but I shall omit all such quotations, because I 
 have no skill in dialect-writing. 
 
 After we had left Philadelphia my companion re- 
 marked ; 
 
 " I never get tired of watching these railroaders. I like 
 to observe the working of the special faculties called into 
 exercise by their respective duties. In some of them the 
 development has reached a surprising stage. See that 
 conductor now. He comes into this crowded car and
 
 JOURNEYING SOUTHWARD. 129 
 
 picks out at a glance the passengers who got on at the last 
 station. If he were new to the business he would have 
 to bother every fellow here for a sight of his ticket, in 
 order to be sure of not missing the new-comers. Then 
 he answers four questions while punching one ticket, 
 and snubs an inquisitive cuss with a smile that will keep 
 his vanity alive two hours. He may be giving attention 
 to half a dozen persons and counting his money at the 
 same time, but he will pull the bell-rope at exactly the 
 right instant. And this thing is going on all over the 
 civilized world. In a greater variety of positions than 
 you could enumerate in a week, these specially developed 
 faculties are driving away at their work. I understand 
 the sociologists find the division of labor a hard nut to 
 crack, and get very profound in discussing it. Fiddle- 
 fuddle ! They will never master the subject until they get 
 to understand something about the constitution of the 
 human mind. The law, that all human powers shall grow 
 by exercise, and the susceptibility by reason of which we 
 find growing delight in the exercise of growing skill, are 
 the principal factors. But the best thing in this matter 
 is indicated by the application of the word "duties" to 
 the particular performances called for in each of these 
 multitudinous positions. Men lose sight of the signifi- 
 cance of that word sometimes. They talk about the 
 duties of a brakeman, or an engineer, as though morality 
 had nothing to do with them. But I can show you how 
 each of these fellows comes to be animated in his work 
 by a sense of duty as clear as that which sends the dea- 
 con out in a driving rain to his prayer-meeting. And 
 yet there are mole-eyed blockheads who can't see any 
 celestial regulation in these matters. Why, confound it 
 all, Nolly, if I could n't see an omniscient God in charge
 
 130 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 of human affairs, I would n't give a snap for the universe. 
 We shall be favored one of these days, with the appear- 
 ance of a sociologist able enough to disregard all that 
 has been written by those fellows who can do nothing 
 but grope after the tracks of their respective hobbies, 
 and independent enough to employ induction in their 
 own way. Then we shall have some generalizations 
 which will connect themselves with a celestial plan for 
 the human race. I guess we shall find out that the para- 
 mount thing is the development of the elect. Iniquity 
 presents some aspects which there is no luxury in con- 
 templating ; but I don't know that it would be best for 
 us to have much less of it at this stage of the world. If 
 we did n't have a good deal of iniquity, the elect could n't 
 have a sufficient fight on their hands." 
 
 As we approached Washington, Jorman pointed to the 
 Capitol and said : 
 
 " That is one of the finest observatories in the world, 
 a place for observing the movements, not exactly of the 
 heavenly bodies, but of some very earthly bodies. I 
 hung around there all one winter, and got more warmed 
 up in studying our statesmen than I ever did at any 
 thing else in my life. I catalogued the characteristics of 
 a great many of them very fully, and then I divided them 
 into classes and sub-classes, and closed ' with a few in- 
 ferences,' as the preachers used to say. They are a 
 pretty bright set of men on the whole ; the average of 
 their intellectual efficiency is well up in the scale. It is 
 all nonsense for any one to think that he is in a position 
 to sneer at Congressmen as a body. I did n't spend 
 much time in watching them from the galleries. All that 
 you can get at there, as far as most of them are con- 
 cerned, is their general appearance, and habitual attitudes,
 
 JOURNEYING SOUTHWARD. 131 
 
 and some signs which show whether they are thinking of 
 their duties or not. In order to judge of the respective 
 calibres of the talkers, you have only to read the Con- 
 gressional Record. But I managed to get introduced to 
 the statesmen and to meet them here and there and 
 everywhere ; and I satisfied myself quite fully as to the 
 way their faculties are in the habit of working. Some of 
 them, of course, are only quick-witted and glib-tongued. 
 They have a kind of hair-trigger go-off to them which 
 has stood in the way of their development ; it has kept 
 them blind to the need of stirring up their mental depths, 
 and so their minds have never had any thing but a sur- 
 face-action. Others have secured their seats, and are 
 keeping them, by a certain combination of affability with 
 solemn cunning. Their salaries are satisfactory to them, 
 and they intend to make sure of that means of support, 
 by a persistent solicitation of patronage at one end of 
 the line, and a careful distribution of it at the other. 
 That is their business, and they give themselves to it 
 wholly. But a great many of these statesmen are capable 
 of getting well down into the core of a subject, bringing 
 up and spreading out essential truths, and taking note of 
 their various bearings. 
 
 " Congress is not a good place of discipline for a ma- 
 jority of those who come here : instead of growing and 
 gaining solidity, they become more and more flabby the 
 longer they stay. Responsibility is so divided that there 
 is no such inevitable development of a sense of duty as I 
 pointed out in the cases of the railroaders and others, who 
 have to stand at their post and put in their work at ex- 
 actly the right time, or see a vast system of machinery 
 thrown all out of gear. Laziness is a very prevalent 
 vice among Congressmen. There are only a few of the
 
 132 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 majority and a few of the opposition in whom the sense 
 of duty is forced into constant activity. Still, there are 
 more diligent, strenuous fellows among them than you 
 would suppose at first. A goodly number, whose names 
 hardly ever get into the papers, are doing excellent work 
 for us in the committee-rooms, and wherever they can 
 get a chance for conversation. It is a pity that some of 
 this class have n't a little of the bulldozer in their com- 
 position. They are too modest to assert themselves on 
 the floor and compel the consideration which is due to 
 the excellence of their personalities. The high execu- 
 tive positions are the best training-schools in Washing- 
 ton. There every man has his specific duties, and, if he 
 has n't got into the ' descensus Averni ' before coming here, 
 he is apt to do some climbing." 
 
 My business required me to stop at many different 
 places in North Carolina, some of them in the eastern 
 part of the State where the freedmen are numerous, and 
 some among the mountains where comparatively few of 
 that class were encountered. The following brief notes 
 are inserted without reference to the order in which they 
 were written. 
 
 One evening, after Jorman had been present at several 
 of my interviews with customers, he gave the results of 
 his meditations as follows : 
 
 " They talk about Yankee thrift ; but I guess some of 
 the New England merchants would do well to come 
 down here and take a few lessons. Much as I have 
 heard about close buying, I never found out exactly 
 what it was till to-day. Every man had to look over his 
 shelves, and see how soon he was likely to run short of 
 an article, before he would make any order at all. Then 
 he had to make a careful estimate of the quantity he
 
 JOURNEYING SOUTHWARD. 133 
 
 could sell in a given time, before he would decide on the 
 size of the order ; and you had to put in black and 
 white your agreement to make a discount in case of pay- 
 ment within thirty days. There is no careless risk-taking 
 and no wild-eyed slap-dashness about any of these fel- 
 lows. If this way of doing business is characteristic of 
 Southern merchants generally, they are going to get 
 ahead where there is no deficiency in the productive 
 backing they receive from the country around them. 
 Well, I like this, on the whole. Why should n't a mer- 
 chant take some pains to know what he is about ? To 
 be sure, that kind of prudence can easily melt off into 
 timidity on one side, or harden into stinginess on the 
 other. But that is the way with all our virtues. There 
 is no limit to the possibilities of perversion presented in 
 human nature ; and that is what makes it such a grand 
 thing for a fellow to maintain a decent character. Each 
 susceptibility and each impulse, of which a man is 
 capable, might easily become the avenue of a rot which 
 would prove morally ruinous to him." 
 
 " I had a good talk with an old farmer to-day. When 
 I told him I was a Yankee, he said he reckoned so by 
 the cut of my clothes, and then went on to say that he 
 never thought much of the Northerners till they gave 
 the Southerners a licking. That led him to believe that 
 we amounted to something. His opinion is that the 
 class to which he belongs have some peculiarities which 
 they will never get rid of. In support of this view, he 
 told me he had heard of a man who came down here 
 with the intention of changing the people all over, and 
 making them think and feel and act just like Northern- 
 ers. His understanding was that the fellow was mighty 
 smart and kept tugging away at his job a good long
 
 134 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 time, but finally gave it up and went away and wrote a 
 book about his failure. He had heard that the author 
 called his book 'The error of a darn fool,' and he con- 
 sidered such a candid admission very creditable to him." 
 
 " These people must have had a pretty rough time for 
 a while after reconstruction commenced. They tell me 
 that, at the election of 1868, nearly forty thousand of 
 their best men were denied the ballot, and, consequently, 
 that the leaders of the negroes had every thing their own 
 way. It seems that the Legislature elected at that time 
 authorized the issuance of State bonds in aid of rail- 
 road building to the amount of over $22,000,000 ; that 
 the first of these bonds were sold at seventy cents on 
 the dollar, and that the selling was kept up as long as 
 any thing at all could be got for them, but that no rail- 
 roads were built with the proceeds. This circumstance 
 is adduced simply as an indication of the way the State was 
 governed at that period. But several gentlemen tell me 
 that the worst evils arose from the denial of justice in the 
 courts. They agree in ascribing the Ku-Klux outrages, 
 of which we heard so much, to that cause, and are very 
 earnest in declaring that those disorders had no political 
 significance. I guess that a distance of five hundred 
 miles is a little too long a range for an accurate observa- 
 tion of what is taking place in a community." 
 
 " It won't do to say that given facts have a constant 
 evidential weight, and justify the same conclusion under 
 all circumstances. In the older States of the North, 
 such farm-houses as we have passed to-day, and such a 
 total absence of ornamentation, might be taken as con- 
 clusive evidence of poverty. But, from what we have 
 seen of these farmers, as they have been coming into the 
 towns to trade, we know that many of them are quite
 
 JOURNEYING SOUTHWARD. 135 
 
 well-to-do. This is one of the things that can't be ex- 
 plained on the jump, because it is a general outcome of 
 a great many co-operating influences. It is certain that 
 you can't deduce from these appearances any conclusion 
 as to the worthiness or unworthiness of the people, or as 
 to their rank in the scale of intelligence. You may ride 
 along a country road in New England for twenty miles, 
 and see everywhere the same evidences of taste and re- 
 gard for comfort ; but when you come to investigate the 
 characters of the proprietors, you find them distributed all 
 up and down the scale of social worth. Still, I think the 
 growing up of a general disposition to give more attention 
 to such points of taste and comfort would be salutary 
 to these people. It would certainly help them to secure 
 such an immigration as most of them seem to desire." 
 
 " I thought I was pretty well braced against the prac- 
 tice of generalizing too briskly, but I find that my 
 tendency in that direction will bear a good deal of 
 watching. I have made half a dozen sweeping state- 
 ments to myself about these mountaineers, and have had 
 them all upset. There are some superficial points grow- 
 ing out of their isolation and their necessary mode of 
 life, and some physical effects of climate, that are com- 
 mon to them all ; but when you get down to their intel- 
 lectual habits and their heart-forces, you find as great 
 a variety here as anywhere else. I suppose that this 
 idiotic disposition to jump at sweeping conclusions in 
 regard to classes, races, and populations, is the parent of 
 more stupid prejudices than have ever sprung from any 
 other source except inborn jackassism. The trouble is 
 that the disposition is apt to be backed up by a pretty 
 forcible current of malignity." 
 
 " Knowing that the public school system was of
 
 136 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 recent introduction in this State, I was prepared for the 
 observation of a much denser ignorance than I have 
 found here. But I have heard some surprising state- 
 ments about the manner in which men used to come 
 along and get up schools by subscription in the different 
 neighborhoods, and have been told of instances in which 
 children were sent on horseback to schools six or seven 
 miles away. I have been told also that the practice of 
 stump-speaking, which was carried to great lengths here, 
 contributed very largely to the enlightenment of the 
 people, inasmuch as they all heard both sides of every 
 public question discussed very fully. You know that the 
 opposing candidates were in the habit of making their 
 canvasses jointly. I wonder how that would work in our 
 latitude. I am afraid we should have some conscientious 
 scruples about listening to any arraignment of our respec- 
 tive parties. I know I was brought up to class Demo- 
 cratic documents with Tom Paine's ' Age of Reason.' " 
 
 " I don't see any grounds for distress on account of our 
 colored fellow-citizens. They seem to feel that existence 
 is an enjoyable sort of an affair after all ; and I am be- 
 ginning to suspect that the ' Negro problem,' about which 
 men fear and tremble so excessively, is a very unsubstan- 
 tial bug-bear. The dangers incident to a period of transi- 
 tion have passed away, and the reciprocal relations of the 
 races seem to be adjusting themselves in accordance 
 with unchangeable laws. So far as governmental action 
 may affect the case, we should all feel interested in hav- 
 ing the roads to welfare kept open to the blacks as com- 
 pletely as to the whites. To this extent every citizen has 
 a responsibility ; but every thing else can be left to the 
 celestial plan. To say that two classes cannot live to- 
 gether in harmony without social intermingling, is the
 
 JOURNEYING SOUTHWARD. 137 
 
 sheerest nonsense in the world. Such co-existences are 
 lying open to view right under the noses of all men." 
 
 When we were nearing the border of South Carolina, I 
 wrote Colonel Orlington for permission to bring a friend 
 to his house, and received a very cordial invitation to do 
 so. The time of our arrival was inopportune for an ex- 
 tended visit. It was Friday evening, and the family had 
 arranged to attend the annual meeting of a Baptist Asso- 
 ciation, to be held Saturday and Sunday at a country 
 church some twenty miles distant. We found that a 
 General Bracknell, on his way to the same meeting, was 
 stopping for the night with the Orlingtons ; and we met 
 there, also, a Spartanburg lawyer by the name of Klerg- 
 ham, who had been attending a session of the court in 
 the adjoining county. From the time of our leaving 
 New York the prospect of meeting Miss Orlington once 
 more had been one of growing interest to me, and this 
 visit had gradually become an event of great magnitude 
 in my anticipations. It can be understood, therefore, 
 that I regarded myself, at first, in the light of an injured 
 man. The fixing upon just that time for the associa- 
 tional meeting was a matter for which the Baptists of 
 upper South Carolina owed me an apology ; and most 
 assuredly, if those two visitors had not been my enemies, 
 they would have stayed away. What right had they to 
 come and make all conversation between Miss Orlington 
 and myself impossible ? I was conscious that my vexa- 
 tion made me appear to a disadvantage, and this consid- 
 eration vexed me more than any thing else. My readers 
 may say that my feelings were unreasonable ; but I 
 should like to see them display any better sense under 
 similar circumstances. 
 
 Jorman saw that the best thing he could do for me was
 
 138 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 to draw attention away from me. He talked rapidly, 
 therefore, on such topics as he thought would interest 
 the company most. He was full of enthusiasm about 
 the beauty of that part of the country, and spoke very 
 warmly concerning the mountain scenery of western 
 North Carolina. Finally, in speaking of a particular 
 prospect, he said : " I told Nolly that nothing in the 
 Alps could surpass it " ; and as he said " Nolly," he 
 turned his thumb toward me. 
 
 " I thought your first name was George," said Colonel 
 Orlington, looking at me with surprise. 
 
 This led Jorman to give a very laughable account of 
 the way in which he had come to bestow upon me my new 
 name ; and I think he managed, without causing me any 
 embarrassment, to create an impression quite favorable to 
 me. The result was that, when we left the supper-table 
 and assembled in the parlor, I was able, at least, to listen 
 civilly to what others chose to say. Having accom- 
 plished his object, my friend gave up the lead of the 
 conversation, and listened respectfully while the three 
 Southerners interchanged views on matters of common 
 interest to the people of their section. Not a word was 
 said on any political topic ; but their thoughts were ob- 
 viously centred on the material prospects of the South. 
 I observed there, as I had all along my route, the signs 
 of a rapidly growing hopefulness. After the conversa- 
 tion had run in that channel for some time, General 
 Bracknell said : 
 
 " We shall get upon our feet eventually, and I hope 
 we shall then acquit ourselves in such a manner that our 
 fellow-citizens at the North will begin to entertain a 
 better opinion of us. Do you think that will ever come 
 about, Mr. Bidrop ? "
 
 JOURNEYING SOUTHWARD. 139 
 
 This appeal to me was evidently a simple act of polite- 
 ness on the General's part. I had remained entirely 
 silent, and he felt that my presence ought to be no longer 
 ignored. But he happened to ask my opinion as to a 
 matter on which I had often reflected, and so I was 
 prepared to reply : 
 
 " Undoubtedly the truth will find its way in time, both 
 from the South and from the North. Still, the miscon- 
 ceptions which have been prevalent so long in the two 
 sections are very tenacious of life. I have excellent 
 friends at the North very intelligent persons, and dis- 
 posed to do justice to every one, whom I know to be 
 strongly attached to me, and ready to accept my testi- 
 mony on any other subject without reservation. But 
 when I give them the results of my observation in the 
 South they seem to be simply incapable of taking them 
 in. I find similar difficulty here in securing acceptance 
 for just views concerning the Northern people. But this 
 state of things cannot last forever. The rapidly growing 
 intercourse between the two sections is such that the 
 time is sure to come when the North and South will 
 understand each other, and see how greatly they have 
 misjudged each other in the past." 
 
 The General listened to me very attentively, and con- 
 tinued to look at me in a respectful way for a moment 
 after I had ceased speaking. 
 
 " There is something for us all to think of in what you 
 say," he responded, at length. 
 
 Then Jorman took up the subject and philosophized 
 on the causes of the mutual misunderstanding, making 
 us see that it indicated no special depravity on either 
 side, and placing it in the light of an inevitable but tem- 
 porary misfortune.
 
 140 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 Before we separated for the night my friend managed 
 to secure a brief interview with Mrs. Orlington and her 
 daughter, but I was unable to join the trio, on account 
 of a conversation into which the Colonel had drawn me 
 by speaking of his early intimacy with my father. All 
 that I had opportunity to say to the ladies was, " Good- 
 night." 
 
 Jorman and I occupied the same room, and he gave 
 me a little comfort which I felt the need of very decided- 
 ly. " You have no occasion to be down in the mouth," 
 he said. " Your glumness has been interpreted as def- 
 erence to older persons. And then your splendid strike, 
 in winning the very marked respect of the General, 
 helped you to more than you could have gained by six 
 hours of limberness in chattering. The ladies gave me 
 to understand that he is one of the old hero-saints, like 
 Havelock and Stonewall Jackson, and they hold him in 
 great veneration. But I have something better still to 
 tell you. That incident enabled me to discover the 
 attitude of the young lady's heart. When the General 
 made that appeal to you she turned suddenly pale and 
 was all in a quiver of anxiety. She was n't certain that 
 your modesty would n't cause you to make a fool of 
 yourself. But when you began to talk in that self-pos- 
 sessed and sensible way, the color got back into her face, 
 and one of the finest gleams I ever saw came into her 
 eyes. That respectful look which the old hero gave you 
 after you had stopped talking set her cup to running 
 over. She would like to go out and join the mocking- 
 birds in giving us a concert. If you should get up a few 
 more affairs like that breaking-down of your buggy and 
 its sequences, I don't know but I should begin to talk 
 about providential occurrences, like the rest of you. I
 
 JOURNEYING SOUTHWARD. 141 
 
 told the ladies about your mother and sister, and the 
 probability of their having them for neighbors. I thought 
 it best for them to know that you had made a first pay- 
 ment on Ellermere, and I saw that you might not have a 
 good chance to work the matter in yourself. The old 
 lady evinced a sincere pleasure at this communication, 
 and Miss Orlington made a signally unsuccessful effort 
 to avoid evincing any thing." 
 
 All this was exceedingly gratifying to me, of course ; 
 but I was still unable to recover my habitual sanguine- 
 ness. The difficulties to be encountered in carrying out 
 my undertaking presented themselves, as I lay awake, 
 with a formidableness of aspect which I had not pre- 
 viously recognized. Though my purpose did not waver 
 for an ins tant, I saw so many ways in which it was pos- 
 sible for me to be defeated, that I felt it my duty to re- 
 frain from endeavoring, on that occasion, to stimulate Miss 
 Orlington's interest in me. I really did not desire that 
 she should give me her heart as irrecoverably as I had 
 given her mine, until I could acquire the unincumbered 
 ownership of Ellermere. Somehow, I had come to re- 
 gard the possession of that property as a condition pre- 
 cedent to my soliciting her affections without sinning 
 against her. But I had no opportunity in the morning 
 for more than the utterance of a few commonplaces, 
 since all were busy in preparing to start away. When I 
 was hitching up my horse, John said to me. 
 
 " Ma says you 've bought Ellermere. We "re all 
 mighty glad to hear it." 
 
 " Yes " ; I answered, " I have paid $2,500 on the place. 
 But I have got to pay $5,000 more, and I shall have a 
 hard struggle to raise it." 
 
 " I reckon you '11 fetch it round," was the the cheery
 
 142 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 response. " You don't act like a fellow that gets beat 
 very often." 
 
 As soon as we were on our way, Jorman said : " You 
 thought you did n't make love this morning. But the 
 embarrassment, which grew out of the restraint you had 
 imposed on yourself, was a stronger declaration than 
 you could have put into words. I '11 bet you that Miss 
 Orlington thinks the presence of witnesses was the only 
 thing that kept you from throwing yourself at her feet. 
 Well, I feel pretty comfortably about all this business. 
 I believe you '11 fit in to a charm among these people ; 
 and I have no concern about your mother and sister, 
 now that I have seen the Orlington ladies." 
 
 I must pass over the remainder of our month in South 
 Carolina. Jorman busied himself in framing concep- 
 tions of the old plantation-life ; inquiring into the recent 
 political history of the State ; philosophizing about the 
 effects of the enormous changes and heart-stirring ex- 
 periences of the last quarter of a century on the charac- 
 ters of the people ; noting the points of difference be- 
 tween the freedmen, who were sparsely scattered among 
 the whites in the upper country, and those who were 
 thickly massed in the lower counties, and tracing the 
 bearings of observable causes on the probable future of 
 the colored race.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SOJOURNING IN FLORIDA. 
 
 the second of February, we took rooms at the St. 
 
 James Hotel in Jacksonville, and the same day I 
 found the little cottage in which Mrs. Erdby had estab- 
 lished herself with a maiden sister, Miss Kitty, and 
 Charley. It was less than two squares from the hotel, 
 and we soon formed the habit of dropping in there nearly 
 every evening. There was nothing in my friend's ap- 
 pearance to indicate that his estimate of Mrs. Erdby had 
 been materially changed by the disclosure which he had 
 obtained in Boston. He had spoken to me on that sub- 
 ject with evident feeling, soon after my return from the 
 West, but had subsequently dismissed it from his mind, 
 or set it apart as a subject not to be discussed. Several 
 allusions to it on my part, had failed to elicit a response 
 from him. The general tone of his conversation, at the 
 cottage, was more serious than that of his talks at West- 
 bay ; and whenever he fell into one of his whimsical 
 moods, he addressed himself to " Miss Loyalty," as he 
 uniformly called Miss Kitty. My own sentiments were 
 affected very slightly by the matter which had been un- 
 earthed. I have a constitutional distaste for scandal, 
 which makes me slow in allowing my estimates of per- 
 sons to be changed by statements which can be suspected 
 of having that character. Perhaps, too, an egotistical 
 confidence in my pre-conceptions work in the same 
 
 143
 
 144 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 direction. In this case, Mrs. Erdby's personality 
 marred by past impurity was simply unthinkable to me. 
 I never, for an instant, admitted to myself the possibility 
 of such a fact ; and Charles Erdby's language, at the 
 close of his letter, seemed to me to be clearly that of a 
 man who knew he was making a false charge. I made 
 no attempt to solve the mystery connected with the notes 
 and checks, but confidently assumed that it could be ex- 
 plained without the supposition of any great fault on 
 Mrs. Erdby's part. 
 
 We met at the cottage a young man, just graduated 
 from Harvard University, whose name was Orrin Bar- 
 leek. Mrs. Erdby told us that he was a native of 
 Parcelton, that she had known him from his babyhood, 
 and that his mother, while living, had been her own most 
 intimate friend, though more than ten years older than 
 herself. Orrin and Kitty had been playmates in child- 
 hood and very intimate friends in later years. Mrs. 
 Erdby's house in Boston had been his principal visiting- 
 place during the greater part of his course at the uni- 
 versity. He had come into possession of a considerable 
 fortune by inheritance from his maternal grandfather. 
 He was a very handsome young fellow, with a light flush 
 on his fair cheeks, deep blue eyes, and wavy auburn 
 hair. He had a lithe figure, and his movements were ex- 
 ceedingly graceful. While very witty and much given 
 to provoking merriment, he could converse brilliantly on 
 topics of serious interest, and he gave evidence of a 
 good capacity for consecutive thinking. 
 
 As Barleck was stopping at the St. James, he some- 
 times accompanied us to the cottage, and we were aware 
 that he often passed a good part of the day there. But 
 within a week of our arrival, we began to see that a
 
 SOJOURNING IN FLORIDA. 145 
 
 change was taking place in his appearance and his way 
 of passing his time. He was becoming more and more 
 intimate with a set of young men who were so intent 
 upon pleasure that they were disposed to enlarge their 
 capacity for it by the use of stimulants. As I was con- 
 stantly occupied, in the day time, with the merchants of 
 the city, I found no opportunity to work against the in- 
 fluence of those young men, but Jorman made several 
 unsuccessful attempts to intercept Barleck's association 
 with them. His view of the case was expressed in this way : 
 " This fit of devilism has got to run its course with our 
 young friend. I can see that it is no new thing with 
 him. If it was, we could trust to the morning visit of 
 R. E. Morse, and easily switch him off on to another 
 track. But he has worked his way out of the sphere in 
 which that matutinal visitor goes his rounds and tor- 
 tures young fellows into the exercise of common-sense. 
 There is no use in throwing all the blame on his cronies. 
 He is leading them more than they are leading him. If 
 you should go down to their resort at midnight you 
 would be sure to find Orrin acting as prince of the revels. 
 His inclination to this particular style of self-damnation 
 must have become almost a mania, or he would n't have 
 got on this bender with Serena and Miss Loyalty looking 
 on. It was evident, when we first came here, that their 
 good opinion was beyond all price to him. What is 
 much better, the scamp has a good deal of a heart, and 
 before he got into this hellward rush no consideration 
 could have induced him to inflict on them such pain as 
 they are now suffering. Well, I know just how this 
 thing has got to turn with a fellow of his temperament. 
 His stomach, fortunately, can't stand such rascally treat- 
 ment many days. I will keep a close watch upon him,
 
 146 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 and be ready to take charge of him when he gets sick. 
 In three or four days I can make him presentable at the 
 cottage, and his remorseful recollections, together with 
 his affection for Serena and Miss Loyalty, will be apt to 
 keep him straight the rest of the winter." 
 
 The evening after this talk Orrin was at the cottage a 
 little more than half an hour. A person unacquainted 
 with him might not have suspected him of being under 
 the influence of stimulants. But we could all see that 
 his eyes had a glitter which did not belong to them,- and 
 the natural grace of his movements was exchanged for 
 what would have passed among strangers as a very dig- 
 nified deportment. It was plain that he had taken it into 
 his head to furnish conclusive evidence of his sobriety. 
 To preclude all appearance of frivolity, and show that he 
 had " put away childish things," he called our attention 
 only to subjects of importance. He regarded the work 
 of President McCosh in the field of metaphysics as more 
 valuable than that of Sir William Hamilton. He ques- 
 tioned the wisdom of excluding Greek from the com- 
 pulsory curriculum of Harvard University, and he took 
 a hopeful view of the future of American literature. 
 Finally, he favored us with his conception of the attitude 
 of the South toward the Federal Government. On this 
 point he said : 
 
 " I do not charge upon our Southern fellow-citizens 
 any stronger proneness to evil, than that which charac- 
 terizes us of the North. I trust that I am superior to 
 vulgar prejudices. I aim to keep my mind free from all 
 influences which would tend, even slightly, to make me 
 unjust in my opinions. But we know what human nature 
 is, and we know the force of historical causes. Now, it 
 cannot be denied that but a brief period has elapsed
 
 SOJOURNING IN FLORIDA. 147 
 
 since the men of the South were arrayed in armed hos- 
 tility to the Federal Government. With all the ardor 
 characteristic of the children of a Southern clime, they 
 struggled for that government's overthrow. Had they 
 been triumphant, had they seen their foe lying prostrate 
 at their feet, bleeding at every pore, some compunctious 
 visitings might have assuaged the violence of their en- 
 mity. But having been defeated and forced into sub- 
 jection to the government which they had striven to de- 
 stroy, it follows from the inevitable operation of the laws of 
 human nature, that their hatred has been greatly intensi- 
 fied. We see, therefore, that if Southern influence shall 
 ever make itself felt in national legislation and adminis- 
 tration, it will be felt for poisoning, for emasculation, and 
 for disintegration. Hence, the voice of patriotism calls 
 upon us to guard every avenue by which that baleful in- 
 fluence could possibly penetrate to the vitals of the Fed- 
 eral Government." 
 
 Soon after this deliverance, the eyes of the young man 
 began to lose their fire, and a slight pallor come over his 
 face. He looked at his watch, spoke of an engagement, 
 and took his leave for the night. The situation was em- 
 barrassing for us all, since none of us felt that the time 
 had come for making what was occupying all our minds 
 a subject of conversation. Kitty seated herself at the 
 piano for the purpose of concealing her face from view, 
 but declined to play or sing, on the ground that she 
 wished to commit a song to memory. For myself, it 
 seemed to me impossible to construct a remark of any 
 kind. At length, Mrs. Erdby asked Jorman if she was cor- 
 rect in thinking him to be an alumnus of Harvard Uni- 
 versity. He answered affirmatively, and spoke at some 
 length on the general character of the institution. Fi-
 
 148 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 nally, he worked his way into personal reminiscences 
 and went on as follows : 
 
 " However it may be with others, I think the vicinity 
 of so large a city as Boston was a disadvantage to me. 
 When a young fellow is working pretty hard to maintain 
 a fair standing in his class, he is apt to unbend with a 
 spring which makes him a little giddy in his hours of 
 leisure. He likes to be thoroughly diverted and to be 
 conscious of freedom from all tension in his faculties. 
 For this reason scenes of hilarity are exceedingly attrac- 
 tive to him. In a city like Boston a young man can 
 easily find his way to such scenes ; but, unfortunately, 
 in nearly every instance, the hilarity is promoted by the 
 use of stimulants. Still, there is nothing in the sur- 
 roundings repulsive to a refined taste ; and there lies in 
 this fact one of the special dangers to be encountered by 
 young men in large cities. In a village, all the places, 
 where men get together for purposes of conviviality, 
 have such an atmosphere of coarseness that there seems 
 to be a certain degradation in entering them. But in a large 
 city one can always find drinking saloons where every 
 thing is ordered with a view to aesthetic effect, and where 
 nothing of vulgarity is ever permitted to show itself. I 
 confess that such places became very attractive to me ; 
 and of course I had to pay the penalty. I became very 
 fond of frolicking before I graduated, and it took me 
 some time to get the proclivity under control. But my 
 own experience has taught me that it is entirely unneces- 
 sary to conclude that a young man's case is hopeless, 
 because he gets off the track once in a while during a 
 period of relaxation. The responsibilities of manhood 
 and the bracing efficacy of established purposes may be 
 expected to prove an adequate corrective."
 
 SOJOURNING IN FLORIDA. 149 
 
 This speech evidently afforded the ladies some relief. 
 Kitty turned upon the piano-stool, with her head resting 
 on her hand and looked at the speaker intently. With 
 something like a prayer in her tones, Mrs. Erdby said : 
 
 " It is natural that, with such an experience, you 
 should take an interest in a gifted and generous young 
 man whom you see to be in danger." 
 
 " I certainly do," said Jorman ; and we returned to 
 our hotel. 
 
 " Well," said my friend, as we lit our cigars and seated 
 ourselves on the piazza, " they may talk about their quod 
 erats till they are gray ; but nothing can match the con- 
 clusiveness of a demonstration of sobriety." 
 
 That was the sum of our conversation at that sitting ; 
 but the long delayed tribute to the ludicrousness of what 
 we had witnessed was fully paid before we went to bed. 
 
 The next morning Barleck and one of his constant 
 companions were seen to be much exhilarated before 
 breakfast. Jorman watched for him and accosted him 
 several times in the course of the day, but could not 
 persuade him to stop and listen for even a moment. 
 When evening came, I suggested that we omit our usual 
 vist to the cottage, since we could make no report which 
 would not be painful. 
 
 " That would n't be right," said Jorman. " Some- 
 thing may come up that will show us how we can help 
 the poor women. At all events, we must n't turn the 
 cold shoulder to them at such a time as this. I will tell 
 Serena frankly, that Orrin's stomach is sure to break 
 down in a day or two, and that I shall watch for the 
 first moment when I can take him in charge." 
 
 We walked to the cottage with much the sajn.e feel- 
 ings that we should have experienced if we had been
 
 150 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 about to attend funeral services at the house of a dear 
 friend ; and our reception was what one would have ex- 
 pected on entering a house of mourning. The salutations 
 were barely audible. Miss Kitty looked long and ear- 
 nestly at the hall-door, and then turned her face away. 
 Miss Evalstone, the sister of Mrs. Erdby, seemed to 
 think that we were treated impolitely, and made an ef- 
 fort to introduce conversation. This lady was some 
 years older than Mrs. Erdby, more slender, and in poor 
 health. We learned that her vocation, for many years, 
 had been that of a teacher in primary schools. 
 
 At length, the subject that was engrossing the thoughts 
 of us all was brought out frankly, though with a visible 
 effort. 
 
 " Have you seen Orrin to-day ?" Mrs. Erdby asked. 
 
 " I met him several times," Jorman answered, " but was 
 not able to secure his attention. He was in company 
 with others." 
 
 " Were his companions such as you would have chosen 
 for him ?" 
 
 " They were not." 
 
 " No ; they were not ! " Kitty exclaimed, springing to 
 her feet and gesticulating passionately. " But you could 
 let them drag him away. If you and Mr. Bidrop can 
 only have a good time, you don't care what becomes of 
 Orrin. You might have got him away from the villains 
 if you had tried." She threw herself upon the sofa and 
 broke into convulsive weeping. 
 
 " Why Kitty ! " said Miss Evalstone, " I am astonished 
 at you. What will the gentle " 
 
 " Sarah " said Mrs. Erdby, quietly, but with more 
 sternness than I had ever witnessed in her before, " I 
 ask you to stop ; " and she crossed over to the sofa and
 
 SOJOURNING IN FLORIDA. 151 
 
 folded the poor girl in her arms. " There, there dar- 
 ling," she said. " It is no wonder that you lost control 
 of yourself in thinking of this terrible calamity to your 
 old playmate. We can't have it so. There must be 
 some way, let us all try to think." 
 
 I was convinced that some saving measure would be pro- 
 posed, but could not even attempt to devise one myself ; 
 and my friend afterwards told me that his state of mind 
 was the same. After the silence had lasted some minutes, 
 Mrs. Erdby asked, without lifting her eyes : " Does not 
 that little steamer start for the Ocklawaha River to-night ?" 
 
 " There ! " said Jorman, whirling toward me and 
 speaking fiercely. " I 've tried to make you understand 
 that brains are valuable. The trouble with you and me 
 is that we don't happen to have any." 
 
 " Are you sure," she asked, " that you can go without 
 too great a sacrifice ? " 
 
 "Why, my dear madam," said Jorman, "we have been 
 thinking about making the trip, and have inquired about 
 the boat, and found out that it leaves at twelve o'clock 
 to-night. But we had not sense enough to think of the 
 possibility of taking Orrin with us." 
 
 " The truth is, Mrs. Erdby," said I, " that we gave up 
 the trip for this week because Mr. Jorman said he 
 would n't leave the city until he could deliver Orrin to 
 you in his right mind." 
 
 " I thank you," she said, with emphasis, giving Jorman 
 a look oi gratitude which affected him visibly. 
 
 " The only difficulty will be in getting him to accom- 
 pany us," I said. 
 
 " I feel sure that he will go," Mrs. Erdby replied. 
 
 She went to her portfolio, took out a broad sheet of 
 paper, and wrote, in a large hand :
 
 152 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " DEAR ORRIN : Mr. Jorman and Mr. Bidrop are 
 about to take a trip up the Ocklawaha ; and, as the 
 dearest friend of your mother, I feel that I have a right 
 to insist on your going with them. JULIA ERDBY." 
 
 As we were about starting on our mission, Kitty crept 
 up to us, gave each of us a hand, and said, timidly : 
 
 " You won't hate me very much for being so saucy, 
 will you ? " 
 
 " We are going to love you for it, Miss Loyalty," said 
 Jorman, warmly. This brought a little moisture into 
 Mrs. Erdby's eyes. 
 
 On our way to the hotel Jorman broke the silence by 
 saying : " It is a cursed lie." 
 
 " Of course it is," said I ; " I never believed a word 
 of it." 
 
 " Of course what is ? What are you talking about ? " 
 he asked, angrily. 
 
 " That Boston story about Serena." 
 
 " What business have you to be prying into my 
 thoughts ? " 
 
 We stopped at the hotel only long enough to pack our 
 satchels and have them sent to the boat, and to give in- 
 formation of our intentions at the office. As we walked 
 toward the resort where we felt sure of finding the young 
 man, a picture of the scene on which we were about to 
 enter formed itself in my mind, and as good luck would 
 have it, I grew very angry and felt as strong as a lion. 
 
 " I will have him out of there," I said, " if I have to 
 whip the whole gang and lug him off on my shoulders." 
 
 " Good for you," said my companion, " If you get 
 into a row I '11 slash around with my cane. It has been 
 out of my line for some years, but they used to call me 
 pretty lively when I was one of the boys,"
 
 SOJOURNING IN FLORIDA. 153 
 
 We had no trouble, however, though it is probable 
 that the expression of my face had some effect when I 
 went up to the table where Orrin and his companions 
 were sitting with cards and glasses before them. The 
 talking and laughing ceased at once, and when I touched 
 the young man's shoulder and said I wished to speak 
 with him, he rose to his feet without hesitation. I took 
 him near a gas-jet and held Mrs. Erdby's note before 
 his eyes. He looked at the writing in. a stolid way at 
 first, with his frame tipping backward and forward, but 
 gathered in the meaning of the appeal at last, and then 
 locked his arm into mine with a convulsive movement. 
 " Come, let 's go. Hurry," he said. 
 
 As we moved toward the door the barkeeper called 
 out : " See here. Who pays for them drinks ? " 
 
 " I '11 pay for them," said Jorman, approaching the bar. 
 
 " Not by a d d sight you don't," said one of the 
 young men at the table. " We 've got money enough to 
 buy forty such American citizens as you are." 
 
 " Very well," was the reply, " I congratulate you on 
 your affluence. Good-night, gentlemen." 
 
 We took two state-rooms on the little boat, and Jor- 
 man said : " I will occupy No. 4 with Orrin, and you 
 can keep our trumpery in No. 6. There are several 
 other articles to be got." 
 
 About twenty minutes afterwards he reappeared and 
 said : " The distinguished guardian of the Federal Gov- 
 ernment against Southern influence came near going to 
 sleep before I could get him undressed. He will proba- 
 bly sleep four or five hours, though he may wake up at 
 any moment. You had better stay where you can keep 
 your eye on his door. I must go and order some sup- 
 plies before the stores are shut up ; and I will just step
 
 154 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 up to the cottage and let Serena know how beautifully 
 her plan is working." 
 
 When he returned he had a package of dry goods un- 
 der his arm and was attended by a boy who brought a 
 basket filled with bottles. " I have some under-clothes 
 and a clean shirt for the approver of American litera- 
 ture," he said, " and some goods which possess what Old 
 Delicious would call ' the property of -liquidity.' We '11 
 dump them all into Number 6. Liquidity is an unde- 
 desirable property for goods to be kept in Number 4." 
 
 Having found that Orrin was sleeping quietly, we went 
 out and seated ourselves in front of the pilot-house, 
 which was on the same floor with the cabin. 
 
 " From the number of bottles you are taking along," I 
 said, " I should infer that you intend to have Orrin con- 
 tinue his spree." 
 
 " I don't intend to have any snakes in his boots," he 
 said. " He will have to take quite a number of drinks 
 to-morrow, and a few the next day. It is probable that 
 I shall give him whiskey, but I may see reason for sub- 
 stituting brandy. I shall get him off on to the plane of 
 teetotalism with a little champagne. Besides, I have a 
 preparation of bromide and some of Valentine's meat 
 juice. You could n't have thought of all these things. 
 Your education was so neglected that you are entirely 
 helpless in this department of beneficence. But, as I 
 had my fling in my younger days, I am prepared to play 
 the philanthropist over an extensive range." 
 
 " Then you would advise all young men to obtain such 
 an experience as Orrin is passing through now, would 
 you ? " 
 
 " O Nolly, Nolly ! " he replied, laying his hand heavily 
 on my knee. " I am glad you are religious and able, in all
 
 SOJOURNING IN FLORIDA. 155 > 
 
 sincerity, to thank your God for keeping you hedged 
 from all such experiences. The people who find it so 
 easy to roll up their eyes at what they have no inclination 
 to, fancy that they understand something about the ap- 
 petite for intoxicating liquors. They are greener than 
 cucumbers. The only consoling reflection about the 
 vice is that it brings a punishment in this life which 
 would seem to be quite heavy enough to satisfy the de- 
 mands of justice. There is no sufficient measure for 
 the suffering crowded into the nervous reaction which 
 follows a debauch. The fellow is not free for an instant 
 from the reflection that he has voluntarily brought all the 
 torture upon himself. He calls himself ' fool ! fool ! 
 fool ! ' and, if he has not yet reached a turning-point, he 
 constantly hears a prophetic whispering, which assures 
 him that he is going to repeat the suicidal folly again and 
 again, and his anticipations can lay hold of nothing but 
 a succession of hell-presences. The simple truth is, that 
 he is conscious of being possessed of a devil. He 
 knows, too, that his self-degradation is working out 
 affliction for all who care for him. And it is a great 
 mistake to suppose that, in the exceptional cases of de- 
 liverance from the demoniacal possession, the punish- 
 ment ceases at the time of reformation. The foul 
 images, sure to be fastened upon the imagination in 
 seasons of debauchery, can never be annihilated, and a 
 man must either consent to their presence or exhaust 
 much of his energy in repelling them. Any casual asso- 
 ciation, by reproducing a disgraceful incident, may cause 
 one to be almost suffocated with a sense of degradation. 
 I tell you, Nolly, that there is a blessedness which you 
 cannot begin to appreciate in your not being subject to 
 such visitations from the past."
 
 156 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " The government," said I, " ought to make such ex- 
 periences impossible by preventing the sale or manufac- 
 ture of the accursed stuff." 
 
 " Well, there are a good many sides to that question. 
 It is about as complicated as the subject of a protective 
 tariff. I have never felt that the settlement of it was 
 any part of my mission, though I have had a great many 
 thoughts about it. My general theory in regard to legis- 
 lation is favorable to a restriction of its sphere. You 
 can't go too far in the way of excluding possibilities of 
 perversion without curtailing possibilities of develop- 
 ment. The habit of relying upon governmental coercion 
 is one that can easily be carried too far. Take the case 
 we are considering. Within this generation there has 
 been an incalculable amount of force expended with 
 the design of making total abstinence compulsory. 
 Suppose that entire volume of force had been directed to 
 the inculcation of self-control and to the lifting up of 
 standards of manly worth, calculated to evoke noble 
 aspirations, would not the cause of temperance have 
 made greater progress than it has made ? But there is 
 another consideration which has great weight with me. 
 Looking to my own welfare, I am heartily glad that tem- 
 perance is not, and never has been, compulsory with me. 
 I am glad that I have had an opportunity to fight my way 
 to the voluntary practice of that virtue. My natural 
 make-up is on the flabby order, and if I had n't been 
 compelled to choose between going through a tremen- 
 dous struggle, and going straight to hell, I don't see how 
 I could ever have gained any strength of character. I 
 say, to-day, that I would accept the certainty of being 
 overcome by my appetite occasionally before I would 
 give up the possibility of voluntary temperance in the
 
 SOJOURNING IN FLORIDA. 157 
 
 midst of temptations. I crave unlimited power for 
 making a fool of myself, because it is only on that con- 
 dition that I can take to myself any credit for practical 
 wisdom." 
 
 I shall have to pass over the incidents of our trip very 
 hastily. The next morning we found ourselves at Palat- 
 ka ; and we entered the mouth of the Ocklawaha about 
 noon. That stream is so narrow and crooked that only 
 stern-wheeled boats can be used on it. Besides, each 
 boat is furnished with two rudders, one of which is 
 thrown directly back of the wheel in making a short 
 turn, so that the force of the wheel-water is utilized for 
 steering the craft. For the first hundred miles, there is 
 no outlook beyond a few rods in extent ; but the forest- 
 growth, with the gigantic cypresses, the tall and slender 
 palmettoes, the swamp-hollies covered with scarlet ber- 
 ries, the vines interweaving everywhere, and the luxuriant 
 shrubbery at the water's edge, presents so many fantastic 
 forms, and is so utterly different from any thing to be 
 seen at the North, that one never tires of looking. 
 
 On the second morning we were in Silver Spring a 
 spring with no visible inlet, which gives out a navigable 
 stream nine miles long. The water is so pellucid, that 
 the smallest objects are plainly visible at a depth of more 
 than fifty feet. In returning to the Ocklawaha down the 
 " Run," as the stream furnished by the spring is called, 
 one sees the fishes darting about as plainly as if they were 
 flitting in the air. I am told that, since the extension of 
 railroads to the lake region of Sumter County, the Ock- 
 lawaha, above the mouth of Silver Spring Run, is not 
 often navigated. But, at the time of which I am writing, 
 all communication of that region with the world outside 
 was by that river. On the second afternoon we were
 
 158 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 passing through a prairie, which is sometimes dry and 
 sometimes overflown. As one ascends the stream, this 
 prairie gradually spreads from a width of one fourth of a 
 mile to a width of eight miles. We entered Lake Griffin 
 a little before sundown, and after traversing its entire 
 length found ourselves at the growing town of Leesburg. 
 The' next morning we were still near Leesburg, but on its 
 eastern side instead of its western side, having reached 
 that point by steaming more than thirty miles after put- 
 ting out from the Lake Griffin landing of the town. On 
 our return we passed through all the lakes Harris, 
 Eustis, and Griffin by daylight ; and the scenery was 
 exceedingly fascinating to me. 
 
 I shall make no record of Orrin's recovery from his 
 debauch. Such events, unhappily, are so common that 
 no description of them is needed. There was enough to 
 justify all that Jorman had said concerning the suffering 
 incident to such experiences. It seemed to me that the 
 young man's recollection of what he was passing through 
 pught to serve him as a sufficient safeguard on that score 
 to the end of his life. " Unless he is, in reality, pos- 
 sessed of a devil," I said to myself, " he will never again 
 plunge into such horrors." 
 
 On the last day of our trip Orrin's physical restoration 
 seemed to be complete. His nerves were steady and his 
 appetite was good. But he was very silent and was evi- 
 dently overwhelmed with shame. We reached our hotel 
 in time for supper, and as soon as this was despatched, 
 Jorman proposed that we all go to the cottage. Orrin said : 
 
 " I don't believe I can go to-night. I must get a little 
 stronger before I can face them. Tell them I will call in 
 the morning." 
 
 " Oh, that won't do at all," said Jorman ; " their hearts
 
 SOJOURNING IN FLORIDA. 159 
 
 won't stop aching till they have seen you with their own 
 eyes." 
 
 We were received with much gladness. Mrs. Erdby 
 wrought an unusual cordiality almost an effusiveness 
 into her greeting of Orrin. He was deeply affected and 
 stammered out : 
 
 " I should think you would want me never to show my 
 face here again after behaving so disgracefully." 
 
 "You are not to say one word about it," she replied. 
 " It is never to be mentioned. It is covered, and will 
 never be repeated." 
 
 Miss Kitty shook hands with us in silence. It was 
 plain that her heart was full, but difficult to discern the 
 precise nature of her emotions. After quite a full ac- 
 count of our trip, music was proposed. Mrs. Erdby 
 played two or three instrumental pieces and then said 
 Kitty had a new song which she would sing. In reply 
 to inquiries made afterwards, Mrs. Erdby merely told me 
 that the auther's name was not given. But she presented 
 me with a manuscript copy of the song ; and I will write 
 it down here, with the title prefixed to it by Mr. Jorman. 
 
 MISS LOYALTY'S HEART. 
 
 I see prizes gleaming ; 
 
 They shall be my own ; 
 The wide earth is teeming 
 
 With treasures unknown. 
 My strength is unbounded 
 
 To grasp and possess ; 
 Behold me surrounded 
 
 With all that can bless. 
 
 I feel my strength failing ; 
 I fall, oh ! I fall ;
 
 l6o THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 I hear naught but wailing ; 
 
 In vain do I call, 
 The darkness now thickens ; 
 
 I grope for my way ; 
 My heart faints and sickens ; 
 
 I pray, oh ! I pray. 
 
 A pale rift is breaking 
 
 The darkness above. 
 Is Heaven yet making 
 
 A proffer of love ? 
 Is this a true seeming ? 
 
 Is light still for me ? 
 Oh ! am I not dreaming? 
 
 Do I again see ? 
 
 My pathway is broken ; 
 
 I view not the whole. 
 Aloft gleams a token 
 
 Which guides to my goal. 
 With sweetest assurance 
 
 My burden I take, 
 In toil and endurance, 
 
 The journey to make. 
 
 Perhaps the reader will find nothing impressive in 
 the words of this song ; but Miss Kitty's rendering of 
 them had an indescribable effect upon us. To me, there 
 was a new and startling revelation of possibilities in the 
 transformation which she underwent as the spirit of each 
 stanza, in its turn, assumed complete possession of her. 
 Much, unquestionably, was due to the accompaniment 
 executed by Mrs. Erdby. In fact, the mysterious power, 
 which transformed the singer, seemed to issue from the 
 instrument. The first interlude was quite prolonged ; 
 and there were many gradations between the buoyant 
 hopefulness of its beginning and the sinking of heart
 
 SOJOURNING IN FLORIDA. l6l 
 
 which marked its close. The last stanza was led up to 
 by a strain instinct with sober confidence, and as the 
 song ended, I felt that I saw the realities of my future in 
 their true light and had gained a new preparation for en- 
 countering them. 
 
 As soon as the music had ceased Miss Kitty left the 
 room, without turning to look at us ; and Jorman and I 
 both knew that she needed to have Mrs. Erdby's arm 
 around her. We rose, therefore, to take our leave, and 
 Orrin, whose emotions made it impossible for him to 
 speak, gave Mrs. Erdby his hand in silence. 
 
 " Come and see us about ten o'clock," she said to 
 him. " We shall have our work out of the way and be 
 ready for a good visit by that time." Then, detaining 
 me with a slight motion of her hand till Jorman and 
 Orrin had passed from the room, she asked : " Can you 
 and your friend favor me with a short call immediately 
 after breakfast to-morrow morning ? " I nodded affirm- 
 atively, and she continued : " I feel that we have only 
 made a beginning, and I know that you will continue to 
 help me. I am not going to try to tell you how grateful 
 I am for what you have done already." 
 
 When I overtook my companions, Jorman exclaimed : 
 " O my God ! What a heart that little creature carries 
 around with her ! Orrin, if ever you make Miss Loyalty 
 suffer again, I think I shall kill you." 
 
 " I ought to be killed now," was the answer. 
 
 As Jorman separated himself from us and began to 
 walk up and down the piazza, Orrin asked me if I was 
 willing to sit down and talk with him a few minutes. 
 We seated ourselves in a secluded corner and he asked : 
 
 " Do you think Kitty will ever forgive me ? " 
 
 " Forgive you ? " said I. " If you should help to save
 
 162 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 a man from drowning, would it be very hard for you to 
 forgive him for having fallen into the water ? " 
 
 " But she would n't say a word to me to-night. And 
 her hand was as cold as ice. It used to be so warm, and 
 to have so much heart in it." 
 
 " Well, I won't try to account for the manner in which 
 she received you to-night. I leave all such explanations 
 to Mr. Jorman. But there is one thing certain : it is im- 
 possible for a human being to desire any thing more 
 earnestly than she desires your welfare. If her concern 
 for you had been only of the common order, I don't 
 know where you would have brought up by this time." 
 
 I then gave him an account of the scene which had led 
 to our determining on the trip up the Ocklawaha. 
 
 "The precious girl ! " he said, between his sobs. "I 
 would lay down my life for her. The world would n't 
 be the world if Kitty was n't in it. I could n't live. Ever 
 since I used to draw her around on my little sled, and 
 carry her through the snow-drifts, she has been more 
 than every thing else to me." 
 
 It was after Orrin had retired that Jorman gave me 
 the title for the song which we had heard. " It is very 
 likely," he said, " that if we had read the song before 
 hearing Miss Loyalty sing it we should have called it 
 a poor thing, or not have taken the trouble to say any 
 thing about it. But, as the matter now stands, the song 
 will present to me four distinct and wonderful phases of 
 that little girl's immeasurable heart-power." 
 
 We met only Mrs. Erdby when we called at the cot- 
 tage, the next morning. She took up no time with pre- 
 liminaries, but said, as soon as we had seated ourselves : 
 
 " I can't help feeling that this is the great crisis in Or- 
 rin's life, and that the great question whether he is to be
 
 SOJOURNING IN FLORIDA. 163 
 
 saved, or lost, will be determined in a short time. You 
 are aware, I presume, that this is not his first experience 
 of this kind. It is not the first time that he has fallen, 
 nor the first time that he has suffered remorse from the 
 same cause. It seems very plain that he is in need of a 
 new power of some kind." 
 
 "Is n't it possible," Jorman asked, "to inspire him 
 with some engrossing purpose which would be incompati- 
 ble with this kind of self-indulgence ? " 
 
 " I should think," said I, " that his very ardent affec- 
 tions ought to be a sufficient safe-guard, when he knows, 
 and can't help knowing, how much the happiness of 
 those who are dear to him depends on his conduct." 
 
 "It would seem so," Mrs. Erdby responded. "But 
 have your observations, Mr. Jorman, led you to place 
 much confidence in such safe-guards ? " 
 
 " I confess they have not," he answered-. " I have seen 
 the total insufficiency of such restraining forces demon- 
 strated hundreds of times, and that, too, in cases where 
 love was strong enough to make a man count his life as the 
 merest bagatelle. It seems impossible for men to main- 
 tain a clear and abiding apprehension of the extent to 
 which they hold in their keeping the happiness of those 
 who love them. I have often thought of this as one of 
 the most difficult psychological problems that ever fell 
 under my notice." 
 
 There was a short period of silence, and Mrs. Erdby 
 then said : " I have been thinking of a sermon which 
 once interested me very much, one on the same line 
 with what you suggested about an engrossing purpose. 
 But I find that our Jacksonville pastor has n't it in his 
 library. It is a sermon by Dr. Chalmers on ' The Ex- 
 pulsive Power of a New Affection.' I have it at home
 
 164 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 in a volume entitled, ' Commercial Discourses.' I wish 
 our pastor could see it." 
 
 " It must be a very interesting discourse," Jorman said. 
 " I should like a chance to read it myself ; and I will see 
 if some of the other preachers have n't got it." 
 
 She gave him a grateful smile and said, " I am very 
 glad that you are inclined to look for it. If I don't talk 
 about thanks, it is because I feel that we are all inter- 
 ested together in this matter. I am going to have Orrin 
 accompany me to the prayer-meeting to-night ; and I am 
 anxious about the turn which will be given to the exer- 
 cises. If you will attend, Mr. Bidrop, and say a few 
 words at the right time, it will have an excellent effect. 
 Your being a young man will give weight to what you 
 may say." 
 
 Before noon Jorman had placed the volume of sermons 
 in Mrs. Erdby's hands, and she had taken it to the 
 pastor. When the time for the prayer-meeting arrived I 
 asked my friend to accompany me ; but he said : " No ; 
 I am not invited. Besides, I can see how my presence 
 might prove a hinderance to what you have in view ; 
 and I am really anxious that you should succeed. As 
 Serena and the devil are going to have a regular stand- 
 up fight over the young scamp, I want it distinctly 
 understood that I am on Serena's side." 
 
 The introductory exercises were all that could have 
 been desired ; and it was evident that the whole tone of 
 the meeting had been determined by Dr. Chalmers' great 
 sermon. I took occasion, at what I thought the proper 
 time, to give some results of my experience and observa- 
 tion, illustrative of the value of religion to a young man. 
 I have no room for further particulars pertaining to this 
 subject ; but it will be agreeable to the reader to know
 
 SOJOURNING IN FLORIDA. 165 
 
 that Mrs. Erdby's undertaking seemed to be crowned 
 with complete success. Within three weeks Orrin was 
 received into the church, and was displaying great zeal 
 in calling the attention of young men to the claims of 
 Christianity. A few months afterwards I learned that he 
 had entered on a course of study at a theological semi- 
 nary. Our interest in his career, and in its bearings on 
 Miss Kitty's life, will be revived hereafter. 
 
 Jorman drew from me an account of the meeting, and 
 then relapsed in^o a fidgety silence. He would start up 
 and walk a few steps and then sit down again ; and it 
 seemed impossible for him to take an attitude that suited 
 him. I finally asked him if he had ever meditated much 
 on the subject of quiescence. 
 
 " No," he answered, petulantly, " I don't want to know 
 any thing about it. The fact of it is, that there is a 
 cussed kind of externality about my position that I don't 
 like. This thing of sneaking around on the outside of 
 the pen and peeking through the fence, is getting tire- 
 some. You religious people have a kind of freemasonry 
 among you, which makes me mad every time I think of 
 it. The worst of it is that you attract me more than any 
 other sort of people I ever met. If you would keep your 
 confounded allurements away from me I should be much 
 obliged to you. I felt it up at Westbay. Old Delicious 
 and the Signifer and Serena and you would take me 
 along with you for a while, and make me feel more at 
 home than I ever felt before in my life. Then, all at 
 once, you would cut me loose and float away ; and I 
 would find myself sitting all alone in a mud-hole." 
 
 " Well, you will be in complete fellowship with us one 
 of these days ; and then there won't be any more of that 
 cutting loose."
 
 l66 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " What makes you think so ? " 
 
 " Oh, I never try to explain what makes me think any 
 thing in connection with these matters. Somehow I 
 have come to take it for granted that you were chosen 
 before the foundation of the world for fellowship with 
 Christians." 
 
 " You seem to be an old-fashioned Calvinist." 
 
 " I don't know how that is ; but I am very sure that 
 I believe what I used to hear my father preach about 
 the sovereignty of God." 
 
 " Well, when I see my way clear to accepting your 
 doctrines I '11 let you know." 
 
 The remainder of our time in Florida was taken up 
 chiefly with visiting the other towns in the State. Be- 
 fore our final departure from Jacksonville, Mrs. Erdby 
 asked me if I was willing to undertake a confidential 
 mission for her. I professed my readiness to serve her 
 in all possible ways, and she handed me a letter, saying : 
 " It looks like a very unreasonable request ; but, for 
 some cause, I can't keep myself from making it. I wish 
 you to deliver this letter in person, and to take charge 
 of such papers as may be handed to you, and keep them 
 safely, subject to my order. I ask you to keep the fact 
 of my making this request entirely secret, and to let no 
 one, except your mother and sister, know any thing about 
 what is in the papers. If I should die before calling for 
 them, you would be at liberty to disclose their contents to 
 your friends ; and it would be comforting to me to know? 
 in my last hours, that such a disclosure would be made." 
 
 I found that the letter was addressed to " Hon. 
 Ephraim Crasburg, Parcelton, Mass."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MAKING MONEY. 
 
 T\/T Y stay in Florida had been prolonged beyond the" 
 ^*- intended period ; and it was important that I 
 should get to New York as soon as possible. I could 
 not well spare the two days which a visit to the Orling- 
 tons would have taken up. Moreover, it would have 
 been hard for me to give the family a reason for such a 
 divergence from my route. Colonel Orlington had 
 expressed to me his unbounded satisfaction with the 
 machinery which I had sold him, and had given me to 
 understand that he should be prepared to pay the an- 
 nual interest on his note, with, at least, a hundred dol- 
 lars of the principal. I could not say truly that I cared 
 to take another look at Ellermere before my time for 
 entering on possession of the property should come. 
 But these considerations would have been set aside, if 
 my judgment had approved of my seeking an interview 
 with Miss Orlington at that time. I longed for the sight 
 of her face more than for any thing else on earth. At times 
 it seemed to me that passing through South Carolina, 
 without availing myself of that privilege, was utterly im- 
 possible. I stated the case fully to Jorman and asked him : 
 " Now what can I say to her consistently with my pur- 
 pose not to attempt the winning of her affections until 
 Ellermere is paid for, and yet without raising an ob- 
 stacle to my future success ? " 
 
 167 -
 
 l68 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 "Well," he said, "that is a pretty tough conundrum 
 You have got yourself into a bad box by forming that 
 resolution. If I were in your place I would give it up, 
 and just go and turn my heart loose to her as soon as 
 possible." 
 
 " That is out of the question." 
 
 " Oh, I suppose so. Your old Calvinistic mulishness 
 has got to have its way. This being the case, I am 
 afraid you would injure your prospects by an interview 
 with the young lady. You would be very apt to des- 
 troy the favorable impression you have made heretofore. 
 You would act like a dunce. A fellow can't keep 
 silence on what his heart is full of, and talk sensibly at 
 the same time about any thing else. It is like shutting 
 off the steam and trying to run an engine by hand. Your 
 intellect is never earning its salt, unless you are letting 
 your heart-power have free course. Besides appearing 
 like a simpleton, you would be very apt to get yourself 
 suspected of insincerity. You can conceal your real 
 sentiments easily enough, but, in that case, you can't 
 conceal the concealment ; and if you give the impression 
 that you are trying to be cunning, it will be all up with 
 you at the Orlington mansion. You can't carry the 
 thing off now as you could have done a few months ago. 
 I have discovered by a good many signs that your love 
 has been gaining such force that it won't do to fool with 
 it any longer. You had better wait till you can let it rush 
 out in its own way, before you come face to face with 
 its object again. Still you will be running a great risk if 
 you make no sign till you come down here next fall. She 
 may conclude that she was mistaken in thinking you 
 cared for her, and may succeed in shutting you out from 
 her world. The young lady has a pretty good stock of 
 resoluteness."
 
 MAKING MONEY. 169 
 
 " I shall have occasion to write Colonel Orlington on 
 business before I leave New York, and I can say something 
 about the interest with which I look forward to the time 
 when I shall be his neighbor. I shall also express some 
 hopes on behalf of my mother and sister." 
 
 " Well, that will be driving down a stake which will 
 help to hold matters where they are." 
 
 If I say nothing about this love affair of my mine, in re- 
 lating the events of the next few months, I hope the reader 
 will not conclude that it had no place in my thoughts. 
 It connected itself with all my plans and proceedings, 
 and was ever present to me as an energizing force. But 
 a history of my own interior life is not within my present 
 scope. 
 
 It was necessary for me to stop at Verdville, about 
 twenty miles from Ellermere, for the purpose of adjust- 
 ing a claim for rebate. The town is delightfully situ- 
 ated, and I was favorably impressed as to its social 
 conditions. Learning that an excellent school for girls 
 was located there, I made myself acquainted with the 
 principal and arranged with him to act for me in renting 
 a cottage for my mother and sister if all should go well 
 with me. He said there would be no difficulty in ob- 
 taining such a place of residence for them conveniently 
 near the school building. When I reached home I was 
 led to rejoice more than ever before at the prospect of 
 my mother's escaping the severity of our Northern win- 
 ters. I was quite shocked at first by her pallor and 
 obvious loss in vitality. It was very plain to me that she 
 could not pass through many such winters without be- 
 coming fatally diseased, and I said to her : 
 
 " I believe that, in all these things which have been 
 causing me to determine on making a home at the South,
 
 170 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 Providence has had the lengthening out of your life In 
 view." 
 
 " Perhaps so," she said. " I sometimes feel that my 
 life is too insignificant a matter for Providence to take 
 into account. But 1 remember that, when I once said 
 something of that sort to your father, he told me that I 
 must not ' limit the Holy One of Israel ' by such thoughts. 
 He always traced every thing that befel us to a provi- 
 dential design, and always said it would turn out for our 
 good if we made a proper use of it. He was so wise and 
 he felt so certain of all this, that it must be true." 
 
 " But how do you feel, mother, about going South to 
 live, and getting out of the reach of these terrible win- 
 ters ? " 
 
 " Oh, I can hardly tell. My feelings are all the time 
 contradicting one another when I get to thinking about 
 it. It has seemed to me a great many times as if I must 
 fly away at once from the terrible weather we have had ; 
 and my judgment tells me that, in all probability, the 
 change will be good for my health. But you have no idea, 
 George, how hard it is for us women to think of break- 
 ing up all our old associations and going into entirely 
 new scenes among total strangers. You must n't look so 
 serious over what I say, dear. I am a little weak and 
 babyish now. But you will find me ready enough to go 
 when the time comes, and, if you succeed in what you 
 have set your heart on, nothing can keep me from being 
 happy. I would n't have you fail for a thousand 
 worlds." 
 
 Dolly said: " I expect to cry a little when I say good- 
 bye to my school-mates and teachers, and I guess I shall 
 boo-hoo right out when we leave this dear little old cot- 
 tage for good. But then I want to take the journey, and
 
 MAKING MONEY. 171 
 
 I want to see the teachers and girls at Verdville, and 
 hear the darkies sing. Oh, yes ; it will be perfectly 
 splendid. And Oh, Georgy, it seems to me I can't wait 
 till next fall to see my sister Martha." 
 
 I proceeded, at the earliest opportunity, to execute the 
 mission with which Mrs. Erdby had entrusted me. Judge 
 Crasburg, to whom her letter was addressed, I found to 
 be a dignified gentleman over seventy years of age, with 
 a fine benevolent countenance. 
 
 "Well," he said, when he had read the letter, " I am 
 glad to see Julia showing a disposition to enlarge the 
 circle of those who know something about her life. If I 
 could have had my way, the truth would have been re- 
 vealed to all her acquaintances long ago. But she has 
 been more imperious than Catharine of Russia, in en- 
 joining silence on the few of us who were conversant 
 with the facts. I have told her it was wicked for such a 
 woman as she is to rest under a cloud, in order to keep 
 the truth about a scamp from being known. You met 
 her in Florida, I suppose." 
 
 "Yes, Sir," I said; "but I first became acquainted with 
 her at Westbay, last summer." 
 
 " Well, you may accept this mark of her confidence as 
 highly complimentary. There has been no danger of 
 her trusting men rashly of late years, though when she 
 was married she seemed to be unaware of the existence 
 of such a thing as falseness." 
 
 Judge Crasburg then related many things connected 
 with Mrs. Erdby's life and illustrative of her character- 
 istics. But as a statement by him of all the essential 
 facts was included among the papers committed to my 
 care, I omit the remainder of our conversation. When 
 I got home I put the papers in a blue envelope and
 
 172 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 handed them to my mother for safe keeping, telling her 
 that the collection of documents was to go by the name 
 of "The blue package." It had occurred to me, fortu- 
 nately, that I might have occasion to give directions 
 concerning it by telegraph. I told my mother, also, that 
 I was authorized to let her and Dolly into Mrs. Erdby's 
 confidence, and that they were at liberty to read the pa- 
 pers. They were not slow in availing themselves of the 
 permission. When I returned from the city, the next 
 evening, I found them much excited, and, for several 
 days, Mrs. Erdby had a large share in their thoughts. 
 
 " How fortunate you have been in your acquaintances, 
 George ! " my mother said. " I am sure that no one can 
 see much of Mrs. Erdby without being lifted up by her. 
 Oh, I am so proud of her trusting you so fully." 
 
 " I wish it was n't wicked to hate a man when he is 
 dead," said Dolly. 
 
 I had to work very hard in order to get my depart- 
 ment of the business of Millecramp & Co. in a conven- 
 ient shape for my successor before the time came for me 
 to start for Dakota. Among other things I made a cata- 
 logue of the customers I had secured, with full annota- 
 tions in connection with each name. After the comple- 
 tion of this work I made my head-quarters at Jorman's 
 room in Tenth Street, and busied myself with planning 
 my course of action at Mackopah. According to the 
 latest reports, it was probable that the ice would be out 
 of the upper Missouri in a short time, and I was expect- 
 ing to start in about a week, when I found the following 
 letter on my desk at home : 
 
 " MY DEAR GEORGE : I am overwhelmed with re- 
 morse because, as far as I can see, I have ruined your 
 prospects. Such a numskull as I am about money-
 
 MAKING MONEY. 173 
 
 making ought never to have meddled with your affairs. 
 I can never forgive myself. It is decided that the rail- 
 road terminus shall be at Dilltown instead of Mackopah, 
 and your land at the latter place is n't worth a quarter of 
 what it has cost you. Millerton, the vice-president and 
 general manager of the company, made a winter journey 
 to Dakota and spent several weeks there, and when he got 
 back here to Chicago he tried to persuade me to make the 
 change from Mackopah to Dilltown. I told him I could 
 not do so without being false to my employers, and I 
 know that neither your interests nor my own had any 
 thing to do with the ground I took. In fact, I was so 
 astounded at the proposed outrage on the stockholders 
 that your investment at Mackopah did n't come into my 
 mind. Millerton would n't listen to any of my argu- 
 ments, but said very sternly that the terminus had got to 
 be at Dilltown. Then, without saying another word 
 I wrote out my resignation and handed it to him. 
 That, I suppose, was just what he was after. He wanted 
 a chief-engineer who would be entirely subservient to 
 him, and he has got one now. I am out of a job, but I 
 don't care any thing about that. I can always get work 
 enough to do. I am not at all afraid that your mother 
 and you will doubt that I was trying to help you all the 
 time. Bnt I don't see how you can help blaming me for 
 my stupidity in bringing all this evil, upon you. It is 
 certain that I shall never cease to blame myself. There 
 ought to be a law to punish such dunces as I am for giv- 
 ing advice on business matters. 
 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 " EDWARD SEKELL." 
 
 It was fortunate that I was alone in the room when I 
 read this letter, and fortunate, too, that I was soon to.
 
 174 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 meet my mother and Dolly at the tea-table. My first 
 definite thought was that I must keep the blow from 
 falling on the_m until I could secure a little time for 
 thinking. Remembering that the resource recommended 
 by Mr. Jorman for such an emergency was the energetic 
 direction of thought to some subject apt to yield excite- 
 ment, I used all the force of will of which I was capable 
 in laying hold of a calumnious letter from the South, 
 which had made me very angry when I had read it in a 
 morning paper of that date. I recalled the most exas- 
 perating paragraphs and succeeded to some extent in 
 bringing about a renewal of my indignation. Although 
 our talk at the table was out of the usual line, it was 
 sufficiently animated, and I flattered myself that I had 
 concealed the crushing weight which was oppressing me. 
 But it was well that I had risen and turned to leave the 
 room, when Dolly said : 
 
 " Why, what a Southerner you are getting to be. I am 
 afraid we shall all be Ku- Kluxers after we have lived in 
 South Carolina a little while." 
 
 " Lived in South Carolina ! " I said to myself. " O 
 my God ! Have I got to give up all my hopes ? " I 
 took my hat and said to my mother, without turning to 
 face her, that I felt like taking a long walk, and should 
 probably make my cigar last a good while. A record of 
 all that passed through my mind during that walk would 
 occupy many pages. But the general course of my 
 thoughts may be given as follows : 
 
 " No ; it can't be that I shall have to give it all up. 
 Nothing so cruel as that can be in store for me. I can't 
 and I won't give up the hope of making Martha Orling- 
 ton my wife. Nothing but a rejection from her lips, with 
 evidence that she does not love me, shall make me desist
 
 MAKING MONEY. 175 
 
 from endeavoring to bring about that result. I can take 
 care of her. I can surround her with all that is needful" 
 to the enjoyment of life. I am very sure that I can find 
 some one who will take Ellermere off my hands and pay 
 me back the $2,500 at which I put the cottage in. I 
 heard of a good many investments in plantation property 
 last winter. Millecramp & Co. will be very glad to have 
 me return to their service, with the understanding that I 
 am to spend eight months of every year at the South ; 
 and my wife can board with her parents as well as any- 
 where else while I am travelling. But it will be a terrible 
 thing for us to be separated so much. That don't come up 
 to what I have been calculating on, though of course I 
 can fetch around to Where she is pretty often. It won't 
 be like living steadily on and being together month after 
 month at Ellermere. I wonder if I have got to cast all 
 that away as a wild dream ? I am ready to surrender one 
 point that I thought I should always stick to : I don't 
 say now that I must be in possession of the plantation 
 before offering myself. Oh, I know it is still in my power 
 to become the owner of Ellermere and to spend my life 
 there. Jorman would lend me the money fast enough, 
 and give me a thousand years to pay it in. But I can't 
 make up my mind to-night to incur such an obligation. 
 If I could see some certain prospect of being able to pay 
 off the debt in a reasonable time I would borrow the 
 money. But it don't seem as if there was any certainty 
 in any prospect. I could n't see the shadow of a doubt 
 hanging around that Mackopah matter ; and now it has 
 all gone to smash. How under the sun could that have 
 come about ? Sekell could n't have been mistaken about 
 the reasons for making Mackopah the terminus instead 
 of Dilltown. In this letter he calls the change an out-
 
 176 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 rage on the stockholders. I have heard a great deal 
 about the plundering of corporations by inside rings. 
 Hold on ! Thunder and lightning ! Millerton has se- 
 cured all the land about Dilltown, and started out to 
 make a fortune by sacrificing the interests of the com- 
 pany. I '11 bet my life on it. You think your beautiful 
 scheme will work, do you, Mr. Millerton ? We '11 see 
 about that. I '11 go to the bottom of this affair if it costs 
 every dollar I can raise in the world." 
 
 A clearly defined plan took form in my mind within a 
 few minutes. I returned to the cottage and brought 
 together all the letters and memoranda in my possession, 
 bearing on the reasons for making Mackopah the ter- 
 minus of the railroad, together with the map which 
 Sekell had made for me ; and the outlines of an exhaus- 
 tive argument seemed to come to me of themselves. I 
 think my faculties had never worked quite so effectively 
 before. I had taken up my lamp and said " Good- 
 night, mother," when I chanced to turn and discover the 
 signs of painful disappointment on her face. Putting 
 down my lamp and taking a chair, I said : 
 
 " I was going to tell you all about it, of course ; but I 
 thought I would put it off till morning. I thought you 
 would sleep better if I did n't give you any thing new to 
 think about to-night." 
 
 "I should n't have slept at all if you had gone to bed 
 without saying any thing," she answered. " What would 
 have troubled me most would have been your not seem- 
 ing to care for my sympathy. I knew as soon as you 
 came back from your walk that you had got rid of a 
 great load ; but I was sure that you had come to some 
 new determination that it would take all your strength to 
 carry out."
 
 MAKING MONEY. 177 
 
 I then laid the whole matter before her according to 
 the argumentative plan which had come to me spon- 
 taneously, and was glad to see a sort of battle-fire coming 
 into her eyes as I proceeded. I was confirmed in the 
 view that I had inherited from her the quality which 
 always yielded me an energizing foretaste of victory 
 when I had a contest on hand. She stood by my side, 
 with her fingers in my hair, as I was finishing my state- 
 ment and giving vehement expression to my purpose. 
 
 " Oh, what a blessing it is to have a son who amounts 
 to something," she said. " I know you will succeed. I 
 am perfectly confident of it. Edward Sekell is never 
 mistaken in any thing connected with his profession, 
 when he has looked the ground all over. Poor fellow ! 
 It won't take you long to turn his sorrow into joy ; and 
 he will see what advantage it is to be associated with a 
 good fighter. I hope he will take a lesson from you, and 
 see that there is no need of giving every thing up. You 
 can show the company that Millerton is trying to rob 
 them ; and they won't stand it." 
 
 At nine o'clock the next morning, I was at the room 
 in Tenth Street. Jorman soon came in, and I placed 
 Sekell's letter before him, without a word. He read it 
 through two or three times, and then began to walk back 
 and forth on the thread-bare track in the carpet. At 
 length he stopped before me with a very stern expression 
 in his face. 
 
 " Now, Nolly," he said, "you have got to give up some 
 of your nonsense. I '11 be cust if I am going to be bull- 
 dozed by you forever, and not permitted to have my way 
 in any thing. You Ve got to let me finish paying for 
 Ellermere, and then you have got to take money enough 
 to start you off in planting. It is a pretty story if I can't
 
 178 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 be allowed to get some satisfaction out of my money. 
 I 'd rather be breaking stones on the street than to be 
 defeated by somebody's damned squeamishness every 
 time I set my heart on doing any thing. I '11 tell you 
 just what I am going to do. I am going down to the 
 bank, and I am going to bring ten thousand dollars in 
 United States bonds up here ; and, if you won't take 
 them, I '11 burn them on the spot,, right before your 
 face." 
 
 I saw that he was almost ready to cry, and replied, " I 
 don't say that I shall reject your generous offer if there 
 turns out to be any occasion for it. But do you think I 
 am going to give up that Mackopah enterprise without a 
 fight ? " 
 
 " Why, what can you do ? " 
 
 " Do ? I am going to lock horns with that scoundrel, 
 Millerton. Don't you see that he is attempting to sacri- 
 fice the interests of the -company for the sake of making 
 a speculation of his own at Dilltown ? Is it necessary to 
 knock under at once, as Sekell does, and let him have 
 his way ? Are we all going to act like a set of babies ? 
 Don't you suppose that such a transparent piece of ras- 
 cality can be defeated ? " 
 
 " Well, how do you propose to proceed ? " 
 
 " I am going to bring out the whole truth, every par- 
 ticle of it. In the first place, I am going to know all 
 about the Withlematchie and Western Railroad Com- 
 pany." 
 
 " Well, you have got into your legitimate role as a 
 knowledge-compeller, and if the devil stands in your 
 way, he 'd better look out for himself. Have you the 
 names of any of the directors or other officers ? " 
 
 " No ; but I expect to have them before night. I am
 
 MAKING MONEY. 179 
 
 going to be at a restaurant on Williams Street at a quar- 
 ter past twelve, and, if Tom Clonmel is in town, I shall 
 find him there taking lunch. He is a reporter and 
 detective on his own hook, sells his information to one 
 paper or another just as the fancy takes him ; and he can 
 work up such a matter as this quicker than any other 
 man in New York. He was one of my Brown University 
 cronies. When he was a sophomore, he paid most of 
 his expenses by writing essays and orations for rich 
 juniors and seniors." 
 
 " I should like to take him into my collection." 
 
 "You will have a chance." 
 
 I was fortunate enough to see Tom enter the restau- 
 rant soon after my arrival, and, while we were lunching, 
 I gave him a succinct statement of the case in hand. He 
 entered into the matter with great eagerness. 
 
 "You must get me employed to ferret out all of Miller- 
 ton's tricks," he said. " It will be an elegant job. I 
 can get this information you want now in less than two 
 hours. I know just where to find out all about Western 
 railroads. Where shall I find you between two and three 
 o'clock ? " 
 
 " Sha'n't I go with you ? " I asked. 
 
 " No, no ; you would spoil every thing. I can't have 
 any hanger-on about me when I am hunting items. They 
 get scared if they see two fellows after them at once." 
 
 I told him how to find me at the room in Tenth 
 Street, and Jorman and I awaited his coming, with little 
 disposition to talk or to do any thing else. He came 
 about half past two, swinging a paper over his head in 
 triumphant glee. 
 
 " Here you are," he said, " straight as a string." We 
 looked eagerly at the list of names, and, in an instant,
 
 l8o THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 Jorman exclaimed : " Hello ! we 're all right. Here is 
 Job Mollison among the directors. Let us go right 
 down and catch him at his office before he gets away." 
 
 We proceeded to a building on Pine Street, and as- 
 cended to the third floor in the elevator. Jorman led 
 the way through an outer office to the presence of a 
 heavy-set gentleman, with massive jaws and bristling 
 iron-gray hair and side-whiskers, who seemed to be hard 
 at work at his desk. 
 
 " Hello, Job ! " said my friend. 
 
 " How goes it Ralph ? Wait a minute," was the 
 response. 
 
 Mr. Mollison let us stand two or three minutes, while 
 he finished a computation in which he was engaged, 
 and then turned to Jorman with the interrogative, 
 " Well ? " The latter introduced me, remarking that I 
 had something to say which it would be best for him to 
 hear. I began by saying that it was my own interest 
 which had led me to seek the interview, but that this 
 interest of mine was intimately connected with that of 
 the Withlematchie and Western Railroad Company. I 
 then opened my map and laid it on the table, told of the 
 purchase I had made, and stated as briefly as possible 
 the reasons which had led to the selection of Mackopah 
 as the eastern terminus of the road. I concluded by saying 
 that the former chief-engineer had resigned because he 
 had been required to change the terminus to Dilltown, 
 and considered that such a step would be an outrage on 
 the stockholders. 
 
 Mollison cast an inquiring look into Jorman's face, and, 
 receiving the answer, " Yes, sir ; you can take stock in 
 him," he fell to studying the map. At length he asked : 
 " Who drew this map ? "
 
 MAKING MONEY. l8l 
 
 " Mr. Sekell," I said, " the former chief-engineer that 
 I spoke of." 
 
 "What ! " he exclaimed, " Ed Sekell ? " As I nodded 
 affirmatively, he went on, " Oh, the devil ! Why did n't 
 you tell me that before ? There is something in this, 
 sure enough, if Ed has got his back up in that way. I 
 thought, perhaps, it was all fiddlestick." 
 
 I handed him all the letters from Sekell which had a 
 bearing on the subject. He glanced over them and then 
 fell into meditation. His first words were : " I ought to 
 have known that Millerton was a damned scoundrel." 
 
 After looking over a memorandum book, and spending 
 some minutes in figuring, he asked : 
 
 " Can you carry a quarter of a million of this stock 
 for a while, Ralph ? It will take $50,000 down and as 
 much more in the course of the summer." 
 
 " I can do it by selling some governments." 
 
 " Better hypothecate your governments. They are 
 going to advance. You have some other stuff that you 
 ought to work off pretty soon some that I made a mis- 
 take in advising you to buy. I don't think it will be 
 necessary for you to take this Withlematchie and West- 
 ern. I think we can scare Millerton into re-instating 
 Sekell and then resigning. If we fail in that we must 
 issue the twenty-day notice for a stockholders' meeting 
 and have peremptory instructions adopted. In that 
 case you must be prepared to vote twenty-five hundred 
 shares." 
 
 " Very well," said Jorman. 
 
 Mr. Mollison then struck a bell, sent a messenger for 
 Mr. Grimmage, and turned toward me with the remark : 
 " You have rendered the company a great service. The 
 probabilities were all in favor of Millerton's succeeding
 
 1 82 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 in his scheme. We trust every thing to the general 
 managers in the West, and don't try to keep track of 
 them. You can start for Chicago to-night, I suppose ?" 
 
 " I can if necessary," I said, " though I must go to 
 Elizabeth first. I should lose no time if I should wait 
 for to-morrow's Flyer." 
 
 " All right. Sam," he continued, as Mr. Grimmage en- 
 tered the room, " you will start with this gentleman on 
 the Flyer in the morning for Chicago, and perhaps for 
 Dakota. Come to my house for instructions at nine 
 to-night. Bidrop, you will telegraph Sekell to meet you 
 at the Grand Pacific. Mr. Grimmage, Mr. Bidrop. That 
 is all, I believe. Look in occasionally, Ralph. Good- 
 day, gentlemen." 
 
 " Don't you want to send a detective ? " Tom asked. 
 
 " It might be a good thing," said Mollison. " What 
 is your particular line ? " 
 
 " Rascalities of railroaders. Do you remember the 
 exposure of Brockmey's scheme for gobbling the Lib- 
 bensack ? " 
 
 " I guess I do. It kept me from fooling away fifty 
 thousand dollars." 
 
 " I am the fellow who worked that up." 
 
 " Your name is Tom Clonmel, then." I have heard of 
 you often. Take him along Sam. Good-day again. 
 You have saved the company a hundred thousand dol- 
 lars, Bidrop." 
 
 After we got into the hall we arranged to meet in the 
 office of the Grand Union half an . hour before train 
 time, and Jorman volunteered to secure our sections in 
 the sleeping-car. He walked to the Courtlandt Street 
 ferry with me, and talked incessantly. 
 
 " I am glad this thing has happened," he said. " It
 
 MAKING MONEY. 183 
 
 has given me a chance to photograph you in a new atti- 
 tude. It brings you out splendidly. I wonder what it is 
 that Sekell and I lack. If you had been constituted as 
 we are the whole thing would have gone to the devil. 
 You would have had a humiliating sense of defeat which 
 would have gone far towards cowing you for life ; Sekell 
 would have been confirmed in his self-depreciation and 
 had a load of remorse saddled on him permanently ; 
 Millerton would have furnished a new instance of trium- 
 phant rascality, and the railroad company would have 
 suffered to the extent of a hundred thousand dollars. I 
 guess the fundamental difficulty with Sekell and me is 
 the feebleness with which our hearts react against paint. 
 Our resentments are not violent enough to throw us into 
 a fighting attitude, and so we are too ready to accept 
 evils as irremediable and let them settle down on us. I 
 believe I can go a little deeper still, and point out our 
 defect a little more definitely. The force of resentment 
 depends on the keenness of the susceptibility that is 
 touched. A fellow may be ready enough to fight when 
 one susceptibility is hit, and yet lie right down under an 
 evil which strikes another point in his emotional nature. 
 I guess the specific trouble with Sekell and me is located 
 in the bluntness of our susceptibility to the conscious- 
 ness of weakness. We don't care enough about power, 
 and so the prospect of being beaten is n't offensive 
 enough to bring out our energies. Talk to Sekell about 
 this, Nolly, and tell him I am going to discipline myself 
 to looking the ground all over, and not accepting defeat 
 till I am convinced of the necessity of doing so. Where 
 we can't rely on our spontaneous impulses, we must see 
 that their work is done by established purposes. It 
 won't take long to sharpen up our susceptibilities so
 
 184 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 much that our spontaneous impulses will begin to behave 
 themselves. Ain't Mollison a great old fellow ? I go 
 into his office very often just to watch the operations of 
 his intellect. He and I were boys together, though he is 
 three or four years older than I am. He is one of the 
 staunchest friends in the world, and he hates meanness 
 with the devil's own vehemence. How quickly he 
 formed that double-barrelled plan for upsetting Miller- 
 ton's calculations. It was lucky that he knew all about 
 Sekell. You could n't have brought him to a decision 
 to-day if he had n't had that knowledge. At most he 
 would only have agreed to investigate the matter. It 
 was natural that he should think you might be mistaken 
 as to some of the facts in the case, and as long as he 
 supposed the enginneer to be an unknown man his 
 action had very little weight. But as soon as you 
 brought Sekell into view the thing was settled. I tell 
 you, when you can have the known character of a true 
 man to pry with, your leverage is immense. This is 
 pretty sudden business. I don't see just how I am going 
 to adjust myself to having you so far away. I shall run 
 over to see your mother and Dolly every few days. I '11 
 meet you at the Grand Union and fix you up in money 
 matters. I guess this is the boat that connects with your 
 train. By-by." 
 
 " Why, I have wasted a great deal of bravery," my 
 mother said, when I had given her the results of my 
 day's work. " I have been working myself up to face a 
 struggle that was going to last all summer. You must 
 tell Mr. Sekell that you could n't have succeeded if Mr. 
 Mollison had n't known what kind of a man he is. Oh, 
 dear ! Have you got to go in the morning and be gone 
 so many months ? "
 
 MAKING MONEY. 185 
 
 When we met at the Grand Union Jorman said to me : 
 " It was too late to get into the bank yesterday, and it is 
 too early this morning. But here is a package of ac- 
 ceptances that I have put my name on ; and you can fill 
 in the dates and amounts, and draw on me whenever you 
 choose and for any amount you want. If you think it 
 best to buy more land, go ahead. I shall keep a pretty 
 big balance on hand, and be ready for your drafts. I 
 understand that Serena has got back to Boston. Have 
 you any idea what her source of income is ?" 
 
 " Yes," said I, " I know all about it. But I won't give 
 you a word of explanation ; for I am mad with you for 
 having any trouble on that score. You ought to know 
 by this time that all she has is come by honestly." 
 
 I could see that he winced under the reproof, and yet 
 drew genuine satisfaction from it. 
 
 We were soon on our way. Mr. Grimmage was a 
 square-browed man about thirty-five years old, with a 
 plenty of " speculation " in his dark eyes, but the reverse 
 of talkative. He was good-natured enough, however, 
 and seemed to be highly entertained by Tom's incessant 
 rattling especially by his accounts of numerous detec- 
 tive feats. I learned that Grimmage expected to find 
 Millerton in Chicago, and was commissioned to " bull- 
 doze him," as he expressed it ; and I had no doubt of 
 his fitness for that work. Tom was a year or two older 
 than myself, five feet seven inches in height, and weigh- 
 ing a hundred and forty pounds. His face had been 
 marked by small-pox. He was of Irish parentage, and 
 could assume the brogue or lay it aside, as he pleased. 
 Which of the two nationalities and what grade of culture 
 he should represent was always at his own option. I 
 never knew his spirits to flag. We came to the under-
 
 1 86 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 standing that Grimmage and I should keep ourselves 
 quiet at the Grand Pacific, and let Tom locate Millertoii 
 and see how much of a case he could make out against 
 him without leaving the city. 
 
 " I don't want to meet the scamp," Grimmage said, 
 " until I am prepared to show that I can crush him." 
 
 As I finished registering at the hotel, Sekell touched 
 my arm, and we stepped aside. 
 
 " Have you come out here to flog me?" he asked. 
 
 " Yes," I replied ; " that is my principal business. 
 But there are a few little incidentals that I must attend 
 to first. I am commissioned by a very high authority to 
 instruct you to enter on a course of self-discipline, with 
 a view to developing a love of power and a disposition 
 to fight. I can't say any thing more till I have washed 
 my face and gotten a little breakfast, except that you will 
 probably have to go back and finish that job you ran 
 away from, the building of the Withlematchie and 
 Western." 
 
 He had not a word to say ; but his deep eyes were 
 fastened on me till I left the room. When I had come 
 out from breakfast and given Mr. Sekell an account of 
 what had taken place, he looked at me in astonishment. 
 
 " You are a wonderful boy, George," he said. " The 
 idea of going behind Millerton and getting his decision 
 reversed never entered my mind. We look on a General 
 Manager as an autocrat whose word is law, and who is 
 under no obligation to give a reason for his actions. I 
 suppose we railroaders are as much accustomed to sub- 
 ordination as soldiers are. I know I should be very 
 much surprised if one of my subordinates should ques- 
 tion the propriety of my orders." 
 
 " That," I said, " explains the difference in our ways
 
 MAKING MONEY. 187 
 
 of taking this thing. Very likely, if you had been in my 
 position, you would have acted just as I did." 
 
 " No ; I guess not. I can't imagine myself blazing up 
 and resolving on such a contest. And I am afraid, 
 George, that you will find yourself beaten after all. 
 Millerton is a hard man to fight, and he told me that a 
 man who would act on his advice held proxies enough to 
 control the board of directors." 
 
 "That must have been what Mr. Mollison had in mind 
 when he arranged with Jorman to carry a quarter of 
 million of the stock. Millerton will find that he is 
 headed off there." 
 
 " Is Job Mollison on your side ? " 
 
 " With all his heart. And it was your name that fixed 
 him. He did n't seem to take what I said into very 
 serious consideration till he found that the engineer who 
 had resigned was Ed Sekell. Then he decided at once. 
 And, by the way, mother impressed on me that I must 
 tell you of that fact, and let you know that my success 
 was due to your high character." 
 
 " If your mother has that feeling," said Sekell, in a 
 broken voice, and with visible moisture in his eyes, " it 
 is worth more than all the rest to me." 
 
 Beyond the fact that Tom had located Millerton at 
 the Palmer House, we received nothing material from 
 him for two days. On the afternoon of the third day 
 however, he came to Grimmage's room and laid before 
 us the case which he had worked up. If I could afford 
 the requisite space I should like to give Tom's report in 
 full, and, as nearly as possible, in his own words. But I 
 must content myself with a condensed statement. 
 
 He had found that interviews with Millerton were 
 frequently sought by a black-haired man with the mark
 
 1 88 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 of a burn on his right cheek, and that Millerton avoided 
 the appearance of intimacy with the man. Sekell recog- 
 nized the description as that of a wandering and charac- 
 terless speculator by the name of Chinett, who had spent 
 most of the previous summer in Dakota. Tom watched 
 for an opportunity to catch a few words of conversation 
 between the two men. Seeing them seated under the 
 stairway leading from the office to the entre-sol in the 
 Palmer House, he hired a porter to come and tell him, 
 " The gentleman says he will be at No. 34 at eleven 
 o'clock," and to be prepared to find him very hard of 
 hearing. Then he got a morning paper and a cigar and 
 seated himself at a little distance from Millerton and 
 Chinett. When the porter came Tom put his hand to 
 his ear, and the communication had to be fairly screamed 
 out before he seemed to understand it. The conversa- 
 tion was carried on in so low a tone, however, that noth- 
 ing serviceable could be caught, except two remarks by 
 Chinett, which were made distinct by his earnestness. 
 He said : " You ought to let me in for a hundred shares 
 more in the Withlematchie Development." The other 
 remark was : " Cropperton swears that he won't give me 
 but thirty thousand for getting him the contract at those 
 figures ; and you must be content with fifteen, or raise 
 the figures." Having obtained these clues Tom avoided 
 being seen by the conspirators. After visiting half the 
 law libraries in the city he found a copy of the acts 
 passed the preceding winter by the Dakota Legislature, 
 and read the charter of the Withlematchie Development 
 Company. The capital stock was $200,000, divided into 
 two thousand shares. The books were to be opened at 
 Dekkerville. He ascertained from the same pamphlet 
 that the county in which Dekkerville was located had
 
 MAKING MONEY. 189 
 
 been divided, and that the new county-seat was Dilltown. 
 By telegraphic communication with the Register of 
 Deeds at Dekkerville Tom learned that the records had 
 not been removed, and that many tracts of land at Dill- 
 town and in its immediate vicinity had been conveyed 
 to the Withlematchie Development Company. His next 
 despatch to the Register was as follows : 
 
 " Give me the number of shares of Withlematchie 
 Development held by J. C. Millerton, and draw against 
 your answer for one hundred dollars." 
 
 " It can be worked," the Chicago operator said, "but 
 Jack and I will bleed him for all he '11 stand." 
 
 The answer came in a few hours : " J. C. Millerton's 
 original subscription to stock of Withlematchie Develop- 
 ment Company, fifteen hundred shares. Thomas Chinett, 
 three hundred shares." Tom said that neither of those 
 men was named among the incorporators in the charter. 
 
 The next measure was to get on the track of the man 
 whom Chinett had called " Cropperton." The name 
 was found at length on the register of the Tremont. 
 Tom succeeded in identifying the man as a contractor 
 on a large scale, and managed to get into conversation 
 with him. He proved to be well constituted for the 
 enjoyment of anecdotes, and the two separated only at 
 late bed-time, after taking several " night-caps " together 
 and agreeing to breakfast together the next morning. A 
 little before ten o'clock the next forenoon Cropperton 
 said he had a very important engagement. 
 
 " I am afraid," said Tom, very seriously, " that you 
 are going to fool away thirty thousand dollars." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " Cropperton shouted, in evi- 
 dent amazement. 
 
 ''Well," was the reply, " if you will agree to be candid
 
 190 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 with me I will be candid with you. I am sure it is more 
 to your interest than it is to mine that we should ex- 
 change confidences." 
 
 " Come up to my room," said Cropperton. " There is 
 no risk in letting the damned rascals wait, any way." 
 
 Tom made a full statement of the case, and convinced 
 Cropperton that Millerton would be removed from his 
 position very soon, and that any contract entered into 
 by him was sure to be annulled by the directors. Then 
 all was plain sailing. 
 
 " You 've saved me a good many thousand dollars," 
 said Cropperton, and I will help you all I can. They 
 
 expected to get a big hawl out of me to-day, 'em 
 
 They would n't wait, in the usual way, for the money to 
 become due me, but demanded twenty thousand down 
 on the signing of the contract ; the damned skeezuckses." 
 
 In relating what had taken place between himself and 
 the two villains, Cropperton used a great many exple- 
 tives which it is unnecessary to record, and paid no at- 
 tention to the new version in naming the place of resi- 
 dence which he selected for Millerton and Chinett. 
 Tom drew up a statement to the effect, that Chinett had 
 agreed in the first instance, for the consideration of 
 $30,000, to procure Cropperton a contract for grading 
 the track from Dilltown to the Gap, about seventeen 
 miles, at $15,000 per mile, and that this arrangement 
 was so modified that Cropperton was to pay $40,000 and 
 receive $15,600 per mile for the grading. It was further 
 stated that this modification of the agreement had been 
 made in the presence of Millerton and that the forenoon 
 of that day had been appointed for the execution of the 
 contract and the paying over of $20,000 ; Cropperton 
 affixed his signature to this statement and went before a 
 notarv and made oath to it.
 
 MAKING MONEY. 191 
 
 Incidently, Tom had fallen in with two steamboat 
 captains, well acquainted with the upper Missouri and 
 all its tributaries, and had procured from them affidavits 
 confirmatory of Sekell's declaration in regard to the 
 shoals in the Withlematchie, between Mackopah and 
 Dilltown. 
 
 After the report was concluded, Grimmage sat in a 
 "brown study " for ten minutes, and then said to Tom : 
 " Write all that out in the form of a letter to the Chicago 
 Times. Head your letter ' A Thrifty Manager,' and 
 hand it to me before breakfast." 
 
 " You don't mean to have it published ? " said Sekell. 
 
 " Not unless Millerton is a bigger fool than I take him 
 to be," was the answer. " Keep in mind what I want 
 the document for, Clonmel. Copy the affidavits into 
 your letter and then hand them back to me separately. 
 Mollison will want to put them in his ammunition-chest. 
 He '11 have a regiment of rascals at his mercy pretty 
 soon." 
 
 " Dis nigger doan sleep none to-night," said Tom, as 
 he gathered up his papers and left the room. 
 
 " I am afraid this is rather a bad world," said Sekell. 
 " I believe I don't want to get behind the curtains any 
 more. I have known Cropperton a long time. He is 
 the smartest contractor for getting work done I ever saw. 
 If I had the job of building the Withlematchie and 
 Western, I should be willing to pay him five hundred 
 dollars a month as master of construction." 
 
 " You had better see him then ; for, in all probability, 
 you will have the job, and it will be at your own option 
 whether you supervise the whole work, or let contracts. 
 I know that is Mollison's view ; and he won't meet with 
 much opposition in the Board after this."
 
 192 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " But I don't like Cropperton's being willing to let 
 those men take advantage of the stockholders." 
 
 " Oh, that has nothing to do with his efficiency as 
 master of construction. All you have to do, is to look 
 after the interest of your company. He '11 settle for the 
 other matter elsewhere." 
 
 Tom's letter would have filled four columns of the 
 Times, and he offered to bet that he could sell it to that 
 journal for three hundred dollars. " O day of sadness ! " 
 he said, "Am I never to behold this potent production 
 typographically glorified ? Mr. Grimmage, in handing 
 you this document and consenting to its suppression, I 
 knock sixteen rungs out of the ladder by which I ex- 
 pected to climb to immortality." 
 
 Grimmage found it necessary to occupy but very little 
 time in his interview with Millerton. He exhibited 
 Tom's report and gave a rapid sketch of its contents, 
 and presented the alternative of an unconditional sur- 
 render, or the publication of the document in the Times 
 the next morning. Millerton chose, of course, to sur- 
 render ; and Grimmage brought back and delivered to 
 Sekell a document which read as follows : 
 
 "To MR. EDWARD SEKELL. Sir : You are hereby re- 
 instated as Chief-Engineer of the Withlematchie and 
 Western Railroad Company. Subject to the approval of 
 the Board of Directors, you are charged with the duty of 
 locating termini and stations, and will exercise exclusive 
 supervision of construction. J. C. MILLERTON, 
 
 " General Manager." 
 
 Another paper, dated a day later, contained Millerton's 
 resignation. 
 
 "This is a great responsibility," said Sekell, "but I 
 will do my best. It seems rather hard, though, to have
 
 MAKING MONEY. 193 
 
 my good-fortune so connected with the ruin of Mil- 
 lerton." 
 
 "Oh," said Grimmage, " I don't see how a man who be- 
 lieves, like you, in the old-fashioned doctrine of having 
 sinners go to hell, should feel so very tender toward a 
 defeated scoundrel. Millerton's downfall don't trouble 
 me a particle. I am perfectly willing that he shall lie 
 down in the bed he has made for himself. I like to see 
 men get their deserts." 
 
 " Perhaps," said Tom, "if he has a pretty rough time 
 of it now, they '11 let up on him a little when he plays his 
 next engagement." 
 
 " That," said Sekell, " will depend on the use he makes 
 of this experience. The danger is that it will harden 
 him and make him worse than ever." 
 
 Grimmage telegraphed the result to Mollison, and re- 
 ceived the answer : "All right. Bring Sekell here." 
 
 It was decided at once that my three friends should 
 start for New York by the night express. After a period 
 of meditation, Sekell said to Grimmage : "There ought 
 to be no time lost in organizing the force of laborers. 
 We ought to be on our way to Mackopah in two weeks 
 at the latest. The frost will be all out of the ground by 
 that time. I think I had better find Cropperton and see 
 if he will take the matter in charge. As he has been 
 expecting a contract, he knows where he can lay his hand 
 on a great many men. I can order the equipment from 
 New York. I shall not let any contracts unless the 
 Board over-rule me. I know I can grade the track from 
 Mackopah to the Gap for $9,000 a mile. I am going to 
 ask the Board to make you the paymaster, Grimmage, if 
 Mollison can spare you. Handling money is out of my 
 line. Let me see you a minute, George."
 
 194 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 We stepped into the hall, and he threw his arm around 
 my neck. "The Lord has been very good to us," he 
 said, " and we must give ourselves to Him fully. You 
 have no idea how distressed my wife and I were when 
 we thought I had ruined you. But you ought to have 
 seen what a time we had when I told her what your 
 mother wanted you to say to me. You know Celia be- 
 longed to your mother's bible-class when she was a young 
 girl ; and she would rather have a compliment from her 
 than to be decorated by all the queens and empresses 
 in the world. You must go and see the poor girl when 
 I am gone, George." 
 
 Tom volunteered to go with Sekell and find Cropper- 
 ton, which he said he could do in "short order." A 
 provisional arrangement was effected without difficulty. 
 Cropperton said he had a good chance to put out his 
 money for a year at a high rate, and chose to work on a 
 salary, instead of looking for a contract. Just at that 
 time, the idea of a contract excited some disgust in 
 him. 
 
 The next morning I felt that I was all alone in a 
 strange world. I had acquaintances enough in Chicago, 
 but none whom I cared to see, except Mrs. Sekell. It 
 seemed to me that, in giving up my position with Mille- 
 cramp & Co., I had become an exile from the world in 
 which I had previously moved. There was a great 
 change in my frame of mind. I had been unduly elated 
 over the swift success of the movement which I had 
 initiated, and I had taken to myself an exaggerated 
 measure of credit for it. I had begun to think of my- 
 self as a very able young man. But, in looking forward 
 to my work at Mackopah, I was oppressed by a feeling 
 of helplessness. It was so different from any thing I had
 
 MAKING MONEY. 195 
 
 ever had connection with, that I was at a loss for a way 
 to begin, and found it wholly impossible to plan a course 
 of action. I had expected to take counsel with Sekell, 
 and get minute directions from him as to the grading to 
 be done on the land purchased from the Frenchman. 
 But there had ^een no opportunity for that, and I was 
 too impatient to await his return from New York. " Oh, 
 pshaw ! " I said to myself, " I am not fit to be any thing; 
 but a drummer. I thought I showed myself wonderfully 
 smart in bringing about the defeat of Millerton. But I 
 only happened to be in a position to set the ball in 
 motion, just as any body else could have done. All the 
 planning and executing has been accomplished by others. 
 I could n't have done a thing without Tom Clonmel's 
 help." 
 
 That self-distrust was a new thing in my experience ; 
 but it lasted a long time and must have impaired my 
 judgment for a season. I knew enough to buy some 
 wheelbarrows, picks, and shovels, and ship them to 
 Mackopah, but I made several blunders which I after- 
 wards looked back upon with astonishment. I ought to 
 have filled out and negotiated one of the drafts which 
 Jorman had accepted, and to have procured, in exchange, 
 drafts on New York, which would have been preferred in 
 Dakota to bank-notes. I could have done that readily 
 in Chicago, where there were several prominent mer- 
 chants who would have vouched for me. But the im- 
 portance of such prudential action did not happen to 
 occur to me. As a consequence, I found myself greatly 
 embarrassed when I got to Mackopah. My stock of 
 currency was nearly exhausted, and I saw the necessity 
 of replenishing it before employing laborers. At length 
 I arranged with a merchant, who had just arrived with a
 
 196 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 large stock of goods, to take my draft on Jorman for 
 $1,000, send it forward for collection and obtain notice 
 of its being honored by a telegram to be mailed at 
 Dekkerville. It would have been much better if I had 
 contented myself to remain idle until I could have pro- 
 cured certified checks from New York. But I was be- 
 coming anxious to be at work, and I thought the saving 
 of three or four days an important matter ; and, strangely 
 enough, it did not occur to me that I could save the time 
 by going to Dekkerville and telegraphing for the checks. 
 When the telegram came I drew my currency, employed 
 a few men and set about my work in a feeble, blunder- 
 ing way. A few days afterwards I saw an opportunity 
 to buy a twenty-acre tract which connected my quarter 
 section with the plateau on which Gabineau had laid out 
 streets. I saw that by owning that tract I should be in a 
 position to make a road by which all our land would be 
 easily accessible from the business part of the embryo 
 town. But the owner said he was in a hurry to go East, 
 and, if I wanted the land, I must " plank down the 
 money " at once. The price was $3,000. It happened 
 that I had became quite intimate with Mr. Ipperson, the 
 merchant of whom I have spoken, and had been the 
 bearer of good news to him by being the first person to 
 convince him that Mackopah was sure to be the terminus 
 of the railroad. He had come to have entire confidence 
 in my paper, and wanted as large a draft as I was willing 
 to give him, since my assurance as to the railroad had 
 led him to determine on greatly increasing his stock of 
 merchandise. The result was that I drew $4,000. I 
 had gotten my work a little better in hand, and was be- 
 ginning to form some new plans in regard to it, when 
 Ipperson told me that my draft was protested.
 
 MAKING MONEY. 197 
 
 It was just at night when this information came to me, 
 and it filled me with consternation. I told Ipperson all 
 about Jorman and my relations to him ; and he had not 
 much doubt that the protest had resulted from a failure 
 to find the drawee. I said that I would go immediately 
 to Dekkerville and telegraph Jorman, so that the matter 
 might be rectified as soon as possible. Then I settled 
 with my men, ordered them to suspend work until my 
 return, mounted a horse which I had bought and started 
 for Dekkerville a little before midnight. When I had 
 nearly reached that place I saw that I had committed 
 another egregious blunder. I had failed to get from 
 Ipperson the address of the person to whom he had sent 
 the draft, and, consequently, could not order the money 
 paid over to him. I could only inform Jorman that the 
 draft was protested. After waiting nearly twenty-four 
 hours, I received the despatch : " Protest by rascally 
 notary for sake of fee., Have mailed certified check." 
 I started immediately on my return to Mackopah, and 
 had ridden about ten miles when the question occurred 
 to me : " What if he has mailed the check to Dekker- 
 ville ? " Then I had a vision of myself going in vain, 
 day after day, to the Mackopah post-office. " If Jorman 
 were accustomed to business," I thought, " it would be 
 different. But it seems to me I can see him looking at 
 the name of the place from which my telegram was sent, 
 and copying it in the superscription of his letter." I 
 turned my horse's head and put him into a furious gallop 
 for Dekkerville. To my question, " To which place is 
 the check mailed ? " Jorman answered, " To Dekker- 
 ville." I had no other course than to wait four or five 
 days where I was. I wrote to Ipperson, but my letter, 
 as it afterwards appeared, was put on a steamer bound
 
 198 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 for the head-waters of the Missouri, instead of being sent 
 by the Star Route on which service had just been 
 "expedited." 
 
 That period of waiting turned out to be very fruitful 
 for me. My whole series of blunders presented them- 
 selves to my intelligence in a body ; and I got so angry 
 with myself that my faculties were thoroughly aroused. 
 I felt that the question, whether I was to go through life 
 as an inefficient ninny or not, must be settled then and 
 there. It will be taken for granted that such a prospect 
 threw my spirit into a fighting attitude. Somehow my 
 old self-confidence came back to me in full force. " Fid- 
 dlestick ! " I said. " It is only necessary for me to 
 keep myself awake and understand what I am about. 
 I have got to look over the whole ground, when I have 
 any thing to do and hunt out all the chances for acci- 
 dents, and keep every point guarded against them." 
 That lesson has been of so much use to me since that the 
 embarrassments incurred by my blunders have been 
 compensated for many times over. 
 
 With my recovered energy I began to think about my 
 work at Mackopah. I saw that, in filling out the low 
 ground on my water-front, I should have to remove a 
 large body of earth so far that I should need vehicles 
 larger than wheelbarrows. I was on the point of de- 
 termining to buy some horses and carts, when I hap- 
 pened to remember what I had seen in the lumber-yard 
 of a car factory in Dayton. The lumber and other 
 materials there were all moved on narrow-gauge tramways, 
 made by levelling the ground and laying down " two by 
 three's " fastened together in sections about twenty feet 
 long. The track could be shifted from one place to 
 another with little labor, and I was able to recall the
 
 MAKING MONEY. 199 
 
 construction of the switches and wooden " frogs." The 
 car wheels were a foot in diameter, and supported a 
 platform eight feet long. I had no difficulty in imagin- 
 ing an earth-container convenient for dumping its load. 
 Having formed in my mind a complete picture of the 
 entire equipment, I telegraphed to a house in Chicago to 
 have the irons for six of the cars shipped to me at 
 Mackopah, and received the answer : " Your order will 
 be filled." Then I considered the possibility of securing 
 a foreman who understood grading and the management 
 of laborers better than I did, and of employing myself 
 at something for which I was better fitted. By talking 
 with every one I met, I found a man who had consid- 
 erable experience as a foreman of railroad contractors, 
 and engaged his services at five dollars a day. Then I 
 learned at the Land-Office that a large area in the vicinity 
 of Mackopah and along the line of the railroad was 
 about to be offered at public sale and thrown open to 
 private entry, and I immediately resolved on opening a 
 land-agency. I arranged with the Receiver to furnish 
 me maps of some forty townships, with all the entries 
 indicated, and to send me daily information of new 
 entries. Finally I engaged two carpenters and bought a 
 large quantity of assorted lumber, taking care to see that 
 the lot included material for my tramways. 
 
 Jorman's letter came at length, enclosing a single cer-; 
 tified check for $10,000. There was no bank at Dekker-. 
 ville, and getting so large a check cashed by any merchant 
 there was out of the question. As Printock, my fore- 
 man, had given me a long list of tools to be bought, 
 which could not be found short of Omaha, I took pas- 
 sage on a steamer which was just starting for that place. 
 I had sold my horse with a view to buying one which 
 would suit me better.
 
 200 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 On my return from Omaha I had the good fortune to 
 be on the same steamer with Sekell and Cropperton and 
 a large force of laborers, who were to be followed by 
 other companies in rapid succession. Our conversation 
 was extremely valuable to me, but I have no space for a 
 record of it. When I entered Ipperson's store he 
 evinced some surprise and a good deal of excitement. 
 " I was beginning to think," he said, " that you were the 
 most accomplished confidence-man in the world, and had 
 given me the slip." But when I had handed him the 
 Omaha drafts on New York, and offered to compensate 
 him for any loss he had sustained by the mishap, he 
 seemed to regard me more favorably than ever before. I 
 observed that several other persons looked at me curi- 
 ously, but I took no time for reflection on the circum- 
 stance. It was not until long afterwards that I became 
 fully aware of all the excitement which my absence had 
 occasioned. 
 
 From that time my business went on prosperously. 
 Printock made his appearance with nearly fifty " hands," 
 many of whom had worked under him before ; my car- 
 penters were ready for action ; my lumber was landed, 
 and my car-irons soon arrived. In less than a week I 
 had a building of rough boards thrown up, received my 
 maps, and opened my land-agency. I soon had to employ 
 several assistants in that department of my work. Two 
 young men, who were experienced in finding corners and 
 tracing lines, were furnished with horses and kept busy 
 in pointing out vacant tracts. The public sale had taken 
 place, and the rush for choice lands was immense. I 
 often had, in one day, as much as sixty dollars of clear 
 profit to set off against the five dollars which I was pay- 
 ing my foreman.
 
 MAKING MONEY. 2OI 
 
 I was in the habit of going out among my workmen 
 two or three times a day, and one circumstance gave me 
 great favor with them and disposed them to do the best 
 they could for me. During my absence a big brawny 
 fellow, by the name of Shockput, had put up a shanty 
 on my land and opened a grog shop and gambling den 
 in it. He took my demand for the removal of the build- 
 ing very coolly, informed me that there was no " forcible 
 entry and detainer" law in the territory, and said he 
 should get his "pile made" before I could bring an 
 action of ejectment to hearing in the territorial court. I 
 ascertained that he was correct as to the law, and sup- 
 posed that I should have to endure the nuisance. But 
 when I went among my men, one morning, I found this 
 Shockput cursing a slender little fellow, who had weak- 
 ened himself by dissipation, and about to assault him. I 
 shouted : " Hold on there," and placed myself before 
 the bully. 
 
 " Perhaps you are going to take this up, you " 
 
 he said. 
 
 " Yes," I answered, " that is just what I am going to 
 do. I am not going to have one of my men run over by 
 an insolent bully." 
 
 At that he started to bring his big fist down upon the top 
 of my head ; but I knocked him over and repeated the 
 proceeding till he said, "I 've got enough." I had taken 
 lessons in boxing and had kept myself well up in athletics 
 by sportive scuffling with other drummers. I made some 
 remarks about the grogshop being on my land and my 
 being destitute of legal redress, when a tall, lank, sandy- 
 haired fellow, who went by the name of " Ferd," asked 
 me : 
 
 " Why don't you put your nully-bony on 'im." Then
 
 202 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 he told, in his peculiar way, of a judgment debtor whom 
 a constable had frightened into showing some hidden 
 property by threatening to return the execution " Nulla 
 bona." The next morning I found the lumber, of which 
 the shanty had been built, all lying in a neighboring 
 ravine. " I guess it 's a case of nully-bony," said Ferd ; 
 " I would n't ask any questions about it if I was you." 
 
 Crowds of people were arriving daily. Many proposed 
 to establish themselves in business at Mackopah, and 
 many more pushed farther on as fast as they could 
 select their locations. The part of Gabineau's plateau 
 adjoining the ground on which I was operating was 
 rapidly covered with structures of one kind or another, 
 some of them permanent and many of them temporary. 
 Hundreds were living in tents. All was excitement and 
 hubbub ; and every one's head was more or less turned. 
 Groggeries sprung up on every side ; and gambling was 
 carried on in all of them. Those who suspended their 
 work on Sunday were apt to pass the day in carousing. 
 Numbers of men, who must have lived respectably at the 
 East, could be seen playing cards at open doors, with 
 whiskey bottles on the table, every Sunday. I needed 
 all my principles and all my ties, to brace me up against 
 the destructive power of such a social atmosphere. 
 Sekell soon got his men distributed along the line at 
 some distance from the town, and I saw very little 
 of him. But he had said : " You must stand up for the 
 Master, George " ; and an earnest Christian woman be- 
 sought me with tears to " do something in opposition to 
 this terrible wickedness." As yet, no missionary of 
 any denomination had come upon the ground. My 
 courage was tested with unprecedented severity, and I 
 fear it would have failed me, had it not been that
 
 MAKING MONEY. 203 
 
 the thought of my behaving like a sneak always made 
 me furious. But I acted boldly enough at last. I gave 
 notice of a Bible-reading service in my land-agency 
 office, and had the satisfaction of seeing the room well- 
 filled. I had to conduct the opening exercises myself ; 
 and that brought me an opportunity for a little progress 
 in self-knowledge. While I was praying, I heard a 
 shuffling and tittering which irritated me so much, that I 
 was about to call the Lord's attention to " such fools as 
 are incapable of decent behavior " ; when there came 
 to my ears, in a hoarse, angry whisper, the words : " Bet- 
 ter dry up," and the disorder ceased. When I passed 
 out of the door with the rest, at the close of our session, 
 Ferd was saying to a young dandy : 
 
 " If you cut up any more of your didos when our old 
 man is a-prayin' I '11 spile that pooty face o' your'n. I 
 don't hold more 'an four aces on religion myself ; but 
 there ain't no little city cuss going to make fun of our 
 Sunday-school. You can jest bet your knee-pans on 
 that." 
 
 I conducted similar exercises every Sunday till a 
 preacher made his appearance ; and several persons as- 
 sured me that the movement was of great moral benefit 
 to them. 
 
 As soon as the grading was sufficiently advanced I had 
 my Gabineau land laid out in streets, blocks, and lots, 
 and filed a map of " Jorman & Bidrop's Allotment " 
 among the public records. I made my principal street, 
 running from the railroad to the plateau, a continuation 
 of Gabineau's most important street, and gave it the same 
 name " Third Street." After the grading on that tract 
 had been completed I laid out a broad street and made 
 an excellent roadway from the plateau nearly through
 
 204 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 the centre of our quarter section. Then I laid out and 
 worked a street about midway of the eastern slope of 
 the ridge, and as near as I could to our eastern line. I 
 was obliged to give the street a gentle curve and to 
 throw away some land ; but I secured a frontage of 
 building-sites overlooking the plateau, and half a mile 
 long. The competition for our best lots was very active, 
 and I made many sales. Jorman had given me a power 
 of attorney, enabling me to convey his interest with my 
 own. Ipperson took in two partners who had an abun- 
 dance of capital, and I made my heaviest sale to that 
 firm. They bought two hundred feet of my water-front, 
 extending from the river to River Street, for $20,000. 
 They determined on establishing a jobbing business in 
 all kinds of merchandise, reasoning that, as they would 
 get heavy discounts in view of the largeness of their 
 purchases, and secure special rates on transportation 
 lines, they could make it an object for the merchants at 
 the railroad stations to buy of them instead of ordering 
 from the East. " At any rate," said Ipperson," " we 
 can't load up too heavily for next winter. Thousands 
 and thousands have been pushing on back of us, and in 
 a little while now the ice in the rivers will shut them out 
 from the rest of the world." 
 
 I will trouble the reader with no additional particu- 
 lars, but will say that when I returned to New York I 
 was able to pay back to my partner all that he had ad- 
 vanced, and then to divide with him a sum so large that 
 I could secure a clear title to Ellermere and have still in 
 hand a working capital quite sufficient for all I then had 
 in view. I had sold my land-agency business for $3,000. 
 In dismissing this enterprise I will add that Jorman and 
 I gave Edward Sekell a power of attorney by virtue of
 
 MAKING MONEY. 205 
 
 which he has managed our Mackopah interests, from 
 that time to this, without any interference on our part. 
 His own investment, which I had persuaded him to ven- 
 ture on, has made him as rich as he cares to be, though 
 he is still acting as General Manager of the Withlematchie 
 and Western Railroad. He has his precious wife and 
 beautiful children around him at his delightful home in 
 Mackopah, and saving influences are going out from that 
 home all the time. God bless Edward Sekell and his 
 household !
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE BLUE PACKAGE. 
 
 A BOUT the middle of September, the wires having 
 ** been extended to Mackopah, I received the follow- 
 ing telegram : 
 
 " Please have papers received at Parcelton delivered to 
 Mr. Jorman. JULIA E. ERDBY." 
 
 Of course I telegraphed the necessary directions con- 
 cerning the Blue Package to my mother. The next day 
 I received from Jorman a letter which enabled me to 
 account quite satisfactorily to myself for the order from 
 Mrs. Erdby. The letter ran as follows : 
 
 " MY DEAR NOLLY : As sure as you are born, I be- 
 lieve I am converted. Anyhow a very strange thing has 
 happened to me. Let me tell you about it. Something 
 like two weeks ago, I stepped into Christern's, as I often 
 do, and tumbled over his last lot of imported books in 
 various languages. Among the rest I found a copy of 
 the Greek New Testament, which struck my fancy. It 
 was an octavo volume. The paper was heavy and 
 smooth ; the type was large and clear, and the text was 
 printed in paragraphs, not ruined by being split up into 
 little verses. I was so pleased with the book that I 
 bought it and took it to my room in the hotel. That 
 evening I began reading at the first chapter of Matthew. 
 I had a copy of the revised English version which I 
 looked into when I found any difficulty, and some- 
 
 206
 
 THE SLUE PACKAGE. 207 
 
 times I referred to my Liddell and Scott. Going on in 
 that way, I gave closer attention to the meaning of the 
 text than I had ever given before. The plain truth is 
 that I had scarcely read the New Testament at all after 
 really learning how to read. Well, I kept the thing up 
 night after night. I was not conscious of any particular 
 object in doing so. I read because I was inclined to 
 read, and the simple explanation of the fact is that the 
 book interested me. Three nights ago, I finished the 
 last chapter of John. It must have been pretty late, and 
 I don't know how long I sat in a sort of reverie almost 
 a trance after I had stopped reading. A head of Christ, 
 which impressed me very much when I saw it in one of 
 the Continental galleries at Milan, I think, worked 
 itself into the picture which my imagination created. 
 Many of the scenes, illumined by the presence of The 
 Wonderful, passed before me. I saw Him encountering 
 the tempter, feeding the multitude, having compassion 
 on lowly sufferers, reclining at the table of the publican, 
 conversing with the woman of Samaria, weeping with the 
 sisters of Lazarus. I saw Him sitting on the Mount, 
 inculcating a morality which had never before been 
 dreamed of in this world. Many of the ' gracious words 
 which proceeded out of His mouth ' recurred to me. I 
 was in complete accord with Him as he exposed and 
 denounced the haughty self-righteousness and cruel 
 bigotry of the Pharisees. More and more He became to 
 me One endowed with a wisdom before which I could 
 but stand in awe. When His last discourse to His dis- 
 ciples and His prayer for them passed through my mind, 
 I received a conception of love, to which I had been a 
 stranger ; and there was matter for amazement to me 
 when I saw Him holding up to His hearers the pros-
 
 208 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 pect of deadly persecution and universal hatred, and 
 inspiring them with the heroism still to go forward. The 
 trial and the crucifixion passed before me, and still The 
 Wonderful was present. I was first aroused to self- 
 consciousness by hearing from my own lips the words : 
 ' Ho Kyrios mou kai ho Theos mou The Lord of me 
 and the God of me.' 
 
 " Nothing in this world ever startled me as I was 
 startled at that moment by the sound of my own voice. 
 I walked wildly about my room, and my head was all on 
 fire. When I became able to think connectedly the con- 
 viction was upon me, that my immediate business was 
 the earnest consideration of my personal attitude toward 
 Jesus Christ, and that there must be no shilly-shallying 
 about it. You know in a general way, Nolly, that I have 
 not been prepared to accept any religion as supernatu- 
 rally introduced into the world. I have been in the habit 
 of regarding them all as outgrowths, under widely con- 
 trasted circumstances, of the inborn spiritual forces of 
 Man. This view, as you are aware, was not due to any 
 skepticism in regard to the general fact of supernatural- 
 ism. For many years the rationalistic assumption of the 
 non-existence of that fact has appeared to me entirely 
 incompatible with any high order of intelligence. Nor 
 have I believed, for one moment, that all supernaturalism 
 is aloof from the province in which human investigation 
 can be successfully conducted. Latterly, Agnosticism 
 has been more offensive to me than any thing else that 
 has been promulgated, except Materialism. The har- 
 monies which pervade the universe sufficiently demon- 
 strated to me the unity of creative energy and creative 
 design. The constitution of the human soul and the 
 history of mankind disclosed to me, with noon-day clear-
 
 THE BLUE PACKAGE. 209 
 
 ness, certain attributes of Deity, as well as the reality of 
 Divine purposes concerning our race. The trouble with 
 me was just here : A long time ago I thought I found 
 things in the writings which make up the Bible, that 
 could not be reconciled with the doctrine of inspiration 
 which orthodox men seemed to be everywhere main- 
 taining ; and I was such a dunce that I supposed the 
 claims of Christianity to a supernatural origin must stand 
 or fall with that doctrine. The truth is that I never 
 went at the subject with any manly energy. All my 
 meditations on it were no more than a sort of 'twixt- 
 sleeping-and-waking dalliance. I took in a conception 
 of Christ which I had gathered from one of Thomas 
 Jefferson's letters that I had happened to come across ; 
 and He became to me a gifted and benevolent enthusiast 
 who ' mistook the scintillations of his own fine genius 
 for an inspiration of a higher order.' 
 
 " Now I '11 come back to that midnight hour. The first 
 point I got settled was that the claims of Christianity are 
 in no sense dependent on the doctrine or the fact of in- 
 spiration. ' Suppose,' I said, ' we set it down that these 
 biographies which I have been reading are of purely 
 human origin. How did those men come by their con- 
 ception of the character of Jesus ? There had been 
 nothing like it in the world before. There is nothing 
 like it in the world to-day. Numberless men of genius 
 have set themselves at the portrayal of imaginary heroes 
 in whom their ideals of the perfect man were to be em- 
 bodied ; and the Jesus depicted here stands unapproach- 
 able still. That the picture here presented was taken 
 from life, nobody b*rt-a- dunce can doubt. That the 
 teachings here recorded came forth from the lips of 
 Jesus, is proved by the fact that history gives us no in-
 
 2IO THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 timation of any other personage from whom such teach- 
 ings could have come. After all these centuries, their 
 meaning is just beginning to be fathomed. There is no 
 question about His having put forth a claim of super- 
 natural wisdom, paramount authority, and distinctive 
 oneness with the Father. Will any fool attempt to 
 reconcile the morality which He taught and the morality 
 which He practised, with deliberate imposture ? Was 
 He mistaken about Himself ? Endowed with a wisdom 
 never matched on earth ; displaying a common-sense 
 which turned the slightest incident to account, was He 
 likely to be cumbered with that self-ignorance which is 
 the surest indication of intellectual feebleness ? ' 
 
 " I do not know how long such thoughts as I have 
 hinted at engrossed me. I know, however, that the day 
 was beginning to dawn before I sought my bed. I do 
 not remember having come to any definite resolution ; 
 but I found myself saying again : ' Ho Kyrios mou kai 
 ho Theos mou,' and I saw the characteristics of Jesus 
 expanding to boundlessness and becoming the attributes 
 of God. I remember how mad you got when I intimated 
 that the Signifer was laboring under an illusion while he 
 prayed ; and I don't wonder at it now. I am satisfied 
 that no man can gain more than a mere suggestion of 
 the joy which may be yielded by perception of Goodness, 
 till his soul has poured itself out in adoration of the 
 God revealed in Jesus Christ. It is equally plain to me 
 that, for moral strengthening, and for the sharpening of 
 moral discernment, the practice of worshipping that God 
 is worth a thousand times more than all other resources. 
 How contemptibly silly Herbert Spencer makes himself 
 appear when he pretends that he can see in Christian 
 worship only the assumption that God is fond of adula-
 
 THE BLUE PACKAGE. 211 
 
 tion. In tracing the course of evolution, he has not come 
 upon the truth that adoration is enjoined upon man for 
 the \inspeakable good of man. But I must not criticise 
 him too severely ; for I had no clear apprehension of 
 that truth, myself, a few days ago. 
 
 " I have taken three days for quiet reflection since that 
 decisive night. I was never in a calmer frame of mind 
 than at this moment. I have thought, over and over 
 again, of that letter from your father which led you to 
 espouse Christianity ; and I can't help wondering that 
 his points made so little impression on me. They now 
 seem to me perfectly conclusive. 
 
 " This thing is going to make quite a difference in my 
 way of life. I have tried to be a pretty decent fellow of 
 late years. I think my moral taste has been cultivated 
 to some extent, and I fancy that a fair measure of benev- 
 olence has mingled with my impulses. But the truth is, 
 Nolly, that, until three days ago, I never had a clear-cut 
 conception of such a thing as living beneficently. Now, 
 however, these words from the Master's lips are contin- 
 ually recurring to me : ' 'Ouk diakon^th<?nai, alia diakon- 
 ^sai, Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.' I 
 think I am likely to take this expression for my motto. 
 
 " I must tell you of one particular step which I have 
 made up my mind to take. I am going to ask Serena to 
 marry me. I guess I have been in love with her ever 
 since we left Florida. O jimminy ! how I have wanted 
 to see her. I don't think I should ever have proposed 
 to her if this thing had not come upon me. I have not 
 cared a snap about that scandal since we parted at the 
 Grand Union. I knew then, as soon as you got mad, 
 thatjivw knew Serena to be blameless. But I never did 
 her justice in my conceptions till now never accurately
 
 212 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 measured the moral distance at which she stood above 
 me. I saw, though, that her religiousness would often 
 take her out of my sphere ; and that is the thing that 
 would have kept me from courting her. I could n't 
 endure the thought of such separations. You never im- 
 agined how much it hurt me to be obliged to fall out of 
 line when her movement for saving Orrin was culmi- 
 nating. But I feel now that I can take her by the hand 
 and walk through the world with her, and not have to 
 let go for an instant. If I can still have hold of her 
 hand I can go wherever she goes. But oh, how much I 
 need her ! How much more wisely I can use my money 
 if I can have her to counsel me ! I shall not tell her 
 any thing about this new attitude of mine till after I 
 have proposed. I am intellectually convinced that she 
 would not suspect me of having changed my position 
 merely as a preliminary to wooing her ; but I can't have 
 any possibility of such a suspicion lying open. I am not 
 at all sanguine as to the result. The fact is I am terribly 
 afraid I shall be rejected. Nevertheless, I have deter- 
 mined to go to Boston to-morrow and make a trial of it. 
 Perhaps a fellow's making up his mind to go a-courting 
 is not a very common result of getting religion ; but that 
 is the way the thing seems to turn out in my case. 
 
 " O Nolly ! how glad I am to be able to subscribe 
 myself, 
 
 " Your BROTHER, 
 
 " RALPH JORMAN." 
 
 I will now disclose the contents of the Blue Package, 
 which I was afterwards permitted to copy, omitting the 
 dates and merely formal portions of the several docu- 
 ments, as well as the affidavits attached to them. The 
 first paper was
 
 THE BLUE PACKAGE. 213 
 
 JUDGE CRASBURG'S STATEMENT. 
 
 " I knew Julia Evalstone in her childhood. She was 
 a constant playmate of my younger children. Her 
 father was an industrious carpenter, with a strongly 
 religious turn of mind. He earned a comfortable living 
 for his family, but never accumulated property. As a 
 child Julia was distinguished by the quietude of her 
 manners, the sunniness of her disposition, and a certain 
 watchful benevolence. She was a natural peace-maker, 
 and no strife among the other children could proceed 
 very far when she was present. Though she was never 
 boisterous in childish sports, she evinced a very keen en- 
 joyment of them. As she approached womanhood she 
 exhibited a maturity of judgment and a general intel- 
 lectual ability quite remarkable in a girl of her years. 
 In this respect she differed greatly from all the other 
 members of her family, except her older brother Egbert, 
 who went to California a short time before her marriage. 
 These two seemed to have had transmitted to them the 
 intellectual characteristics of their maternal grandfather. 
 Egbert and Julia were bound together by such an affec- 
 tion as seldom exists, even between brother and sister. 
 The boy's regard, especially, fell but little short of idola- 
 try, and he said more than once in my hearing that he 
 had no wish to acquire property except on Julia's ac- 
 count. 
 
 " At the time of her marriage, the fact of Julia Eval- 
 stone's residence in Parcelton had become a source of 
 pride to most of the inhabitants of the village, and her 
 going from among us was very generally regarded as an 
 affliction. There were very few of our families to whom 
 she had not endeared herself by an affectionate and 
 helpful interest in their welfare. I never became well
 
 214 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 acquainted with her husband, Charles J. Erdby. He 
 spent very little time at Parcelton, and never seemed to 
 feel at home among us. He was understood to be very 
 straitlaced in his way of life, and very intolerant of 
 any departure from the path in which he was walking, 
 but I could not divest myself of the impression that he 
 lacked solidity of moral worth. He appeared to me to 
 be of an inferior calibre, both intellectually and morally. 
 Many indications went to show that he was persistently 
 endeavoring to detach his wife from her relations and 
 the friends of her childhood, but none of us had any 
 fear of his being successful in that. 
 
 " About two years before Julia Erdby's return to take 
 up her residence among us again, I received information 
 of Egbert Evalstone's death, and of my being named in 
 his will as a co-executor with James Minthall, of Stock- 
 ton, California. A copy of the will having been sent me, 
 I found that Egbert had left to his father, Jared Eval- 
 stone, to his sister, Sarah Evalstone, and to Catherine C. 
 Evalstone, the only child of his deceased brother, three 
 thousand dollars each, and that he had made Julia E. 
 Erdby his residuary legatee. Owing to my distrust of 
 Charles J. Erdby, I enjoined on all the legatees com- 
 plete silence in regard to the contents of the will. 
 The securities and other personal property of the de- 
 ceased were soon realized upon, and Minthall estimated 
 the value of the real estate bequeathed, and directed to 
 be sold by the executors, at twenty thousand dollars, but 
 expressed himself in favor of awaiting a favorable turn 
 in the real-estate market before making sales. When 
 the proceeds of the personal property were remitted to 
 me, I paid off the other legacies and had between thir- 
 teen thousand and thirteen thousand five hundred dollars
 
 THE BLUE PACKAGE. 215 
 
 in hand for Mrs. Erdby. -I then wrote her a statement 
 of all the facts, insisting that she should keep entirely 
 silent in regard to them, and arrange for an early and 
 prolonged visit to her old home. This communication I 
 enclosed in a letter to Isaac Norbro, who had gone from 
 Parcelton and established himself as a family grocer in 
 Boston, and I requested him to make the delivery per- 
 sonally and very privately. Julia arrived in a few days, 
 and remained several weeks. The monies inherited by 
 her father, sister, and niece were invested according to 
 her advice, and so judicious was her management that I 
 urged her to proceed in the same way with her own, and 
 so to place them that they could not be reached by her 
 husband or his creditors. At this point I encountered a 
 firm resistance. She said that she should choose to 
 throw the money away in preference to concealing from 
 her husband the fact of her having it, and that her see- 
 ing any creditors of his go unpaid while she possessed 
 the means of satisfying their demands was out of the 
 question. She expressed a determination to hand over 
 to her husband at once the sum of ten thousand dollars. 
 After many earnest arguments on the subject, we finally 
 arrived at a compromise. In consideration of my de- 
 sisting from all opposition to the step on which she had 
 resolved, Julia promised that every thing pertaining to 
 the real estate which she had inherited, and to the avails 
 of it which might come into my hands, should remain a 
 profound secret between herself and me. It was a part 
 of this agreement that all my communications to her by 
 letter or telegraph should be under cover to Narbro. 
 When she returned to Boston she had in her porte-monnaie 
 a draft of the Bank of Parcelton on New York, to the 
 order of C. J. Erdby, for ten thousand dollars, having
 
 2l6 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 still in the bank to her own credit less than three thou- 
 sand dollars. 
 
 " After a few months, I began to receive remittances 
 from Minthall on account of proceeds of real-estate 
 sales. Under Mrs. Erdby's general instructions, I kept 
 a handsome balance to her credit in the bank, and in- 
 vested for her in government bonds exclusively. From 
 time to time, she sent me checks, payable to my order, 
 with directions to use the proceeds for certain charitable 
 objects, which she clearly specified ; and I willingly 
 acted as her agent in those matters. I had in my safe 
 seventeen thousand-dollar United States bonds, belong- 
 ing to her, when I received a telegram which read as 
 follows : 
 
 " ' HON. E. CRASBURG : Please bring all my bonds to 
 Boston immediately. No other way to avert ruin. I need 
 your advice. JULIA E. ERDBY.' 
 
 " It was late in the evening when this despatch arrived, 
 and, as I was ill at the time, I delivered the bonds to my 
 son, Edward, who was associated with me in the practice 
 of law ; and he started for Boston by the first train. The 
 remaining incidents of the occasion will be related by 
 my son. 
 
 " When Julia returned to Parcelton all her available 
 means consisted of a single thousand-dollar bond and a 
 few hundred dollars in money. Her appearance, at first, 
 was somewhat surprising to me. She seemed to give 
 little thought to the loss of her money, and was by no 
 means downcast. But there was a certain sternness in 
 her countenance, which made me say to myself that she 
 could witness the infliction of deserved punishment with 
 entire equanimity. Afterwards, however, it became evi-
 
 THE BLUE PACKAGE. 217 
 
 dent that she was taking herself to task ; and I ascer- 
 tained that she was tracing the downfall of her husband 
 to her own fault in giving him the ten thousand dollars, 
 and was suffering remorse in view of that action. But a 
 person of her robust intellectuality could not remain long 
 in that frame of mind. Having been conscious of the 
 purest and most unselfish motives, she saw it was wrong 
 in her to blame herself for lacking omniscience. 
 
 "Some other remittances came from California, and, 
 when the settlement of the estate of Egbert Evalstone 
 was concluded, Julia was able to pay for a modest home 
 in Boston, besides having an invested basis of income 
 amounting, I judge, to about fifteen hundred dollars an- 
 nually. She removed to Boston in order to secure edu- 
 cational advantages for her son and her niece, and, for a 
 year or two, she supplemented her income by giving 
 lessons in music. EPHRAIM CRASBURG." 
 
 The next documents are the following three letters 
 written during the summer preceding the break-up of the 
 Erdby family : 
 
 I. 
 
 " DEAR JUDGE CRASBURG : I am very much afraid 
 that I did wrong in not taking your advice. The money 
 seems to be having a very bad effect on my husband. 
 He is very different from what he used to be, and the 
 change is far from being for the better. Formerly he 
 was always about the same, and when he went to the 
 bank in the morning I knew how he would appear at 
 dinner-time. But now I never know what to expect. 
 Sometimes he seems morose, and then again he will be 
 overflowing with pleasure. I write this in order that you 
 may not scold me when I tell you what I want to do.
 
 2l8 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 From such remarks as Mr. Erdby makes when he is in 
 high spirits, I infer that he has gone to speculating ; and 
 I do not think he is calculated to be successful in that 
 way. In fact, I have got it settled in my mind that he 
 is going to lose the ten thousand dollars and all he had 
 of his own. It seems to me that none of the money 
 which my dear brother left me is going to do any good, 
 except what I give away ; and I cannot bear to think of 
 having all his hard work in accumulating that money 
 turn out to be useless. Now, my dear friend, I enclose 
 my check for $1,000, and, if it will not be too great 
 a burden, I want you to use it for the benefit of the pub- 
 lic library at Parcelton in such a way that it will do as 
 much good as possible. If you can spare time to select 
 and purchase books yourself, and have them placed in 
 the library, instead of paying the money to the treasurer, 
 I shall know that some persons are being helped on ac- 
 count of dear Egbert's toil. I wish there could be a new 
 library building. How nice it would be to have a pleas- 
 ant reading-room on the first floor, and a good large place 
 for social gatherings on the floor above. Then, if some 
 of you educated people would take a little pains to keep 
 up conversations that would excite an interest in the books, 
 a great deal might be done for making the tone of society 
 better. Do you not think that some one would give a lot ? 
 The building could be put up without much expense ; and 
 I should take pleasure in making a liberal contribution. 
 " I was very much interested in what you wrote to me 
 about the Sherman children. I hope you will let me 
 know if they are going to need warmer clothing before 
 cold weather comes, and if there is any danger of their 
 having to be kept out of school. 
 
 " I remain your sincere friend, 
 
 " JULIA E. ERDBY."
 
 THE BLUE PACKAGE. 2Ip 
 
 II. 
 
 " DEAR JUDGE CRASBURG : I am delighted to hear 
 that Mr. Dornley offers to give a lot for the library build- 
 ing, and that the people in the village are taking so much 
 interest in the subject. I will come next week, as you 
 request, and make any suggestions that may occur to me 
 before the contract for the building is made. Is it too 
 much to ask Mrs. Crasburg to have a little gathering, so 
 that I can talk the matter over with some of the ladies ? 
 Don't let her take the trouble to have refreshments ; but 
 if you and Edward and two or three others will bring up 
 subjects which will give occasion for referring to some 
 of your books, it will be a little start toward what I have 
 in mind. Of course, there will be no formality in the 
 matter, but every thing will come in naturally. I had to 
 be foolish and cry a little when I read in your letter that 
 people were taking hold of the enterprise because, as 
 they said, ' Our Julia is at the bottom of it.' If they 
 knew how my heart goes out to them, they might well 
 call me ' Our Julia.' 
 
 " I shall try to come on Tuesday, and my stay will 
 have to be very short. I think Mr. Erdby has been 
 meeting with great losses, for he has been very low- 
 spirited several days in succession. 
 
 " With many thanks for your great kindness, I am still 
 
 your young friend, 
 
 " JULIA." 
 in. 
 
 " DEAR JUDGE CRASBURG : The pastor has written 
 me about the new church. I am glad it has been de- 
 cided that you will build, and I want to help liberally. 
 But there are some things I want to have understood 
 before I make my subscription. I hope the building
 
 220 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 will not be so expensive that the society will be in debt, 
 because I know that when there is a debt on a church 
 the pastor has to suffer for it. Besides I disapprove of 
 expensive ornaments in a house of worship. At the 
 same time, a great deal of care ought to be exercised 
 about the inside work. When I go into some audience- 
 rooms I become despondent, and my mind seems to lose 
 some of its power to take hold of the truth. Other audi- 
 ence-rooms make me feel like dancing. The thing is to 
 have it just right. 
 
 " If you telegraph me to do so, I will come to Parcel- 
 ton. But you must have arrangements with all the per- 
 sons you want me to see, because I cannot stay more 
 than one night. I must be near my husband when he 
 gives up all hope of recovering what he has lost. 
 
 "I remain your obliged friend, 
 
 " JULIA E. ERDBY." 
 
 STATEMENT OF L. F. LUMER, CASHIER OF THE PROGRESS- 
 IVE BANK, BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 " Charles J. Erdby was employed in the Progressive 
 Bank for more than fifteen years. He was attentive 
 to his duties and usually accurate, and was gradually 
 promoted. I was never aware of any ill-will towards 
 him on the part of his associates in the bank, but he 
 was never specially intimate with any of them. The 
 general impression among them seemed to be that a 
 certain rigidity in his principles made it impossible for 
 him to be genial ; and his frequently manifested intoler- 
 ance of certain recreations occasioned the exchanging 
 of some jocose remarks. 
 
 " Such was the status of Charles J. Erdby among us 
 until about the commencement of his last year of service
 
 THE BLUE PACKAGE. 221 
 
 in the bank. I then began to hear such questions as : 
 ' What has come over Erdby ? ' He occasioned sur- 
 prise sometimes by an unwonted geniality, and at other 
 times by something bordering on quarrelsomeness. My 
 own impression was that his nervous system was some- 
 what disordered for the time being. At length I began 
 to have difficulty with my balances. New discrepancies 
 made their appearance month after month, and, as the 
 footings were uniformly against the bank, I became con- 
 vinced that there was a leakage which ought to be dis- 
 covered at the earliest possible moment. I took but one 
 person an expert into my confidence, our president 
 being in Europe. We conducted our investigations at 
 night and with the utmost secrecy, and soon fastened 
 the guilt on Erdby, whose duty it was to receive a cer- 
 tain class of drafts and checks, enter them in his book, 
 and place them in a drawer. We continued our work 
 until I had a complete list of Erdby's embezzlements, 
 with the date of each, and full descriptions of the stolen 
 checks and drafts. The entire amount stolen was found 
 to be $18,273.69, and this sum corresponded precisely 
 with .the aggregate of discrepancies shown by our books. 
 " I suppose that, on the day after the conclusion of 
 our investigation, I unconsciously looked at Erdby or 
 spoke to him in such a way that he saw evidence of the 
 abatement of my confidence in him. I had made up 
 my mind to have him arrested the next day. I could 
 not free myself from some compunctions on account of 
 his wife, who had been a frequent visitor at my house, 
 and whom I had come to regard very highly. But such 
 crimes as Erdby's had become so frequent that I felt it 
 my duty to be merciless in the case. Soon after the gas 
 was lit in my house that evening, Mrs. Erdby, the wife
 
 222 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 of Charles J. Erdby, was announced. She asked for a 
 private interview with me, and, as soon as we were 
 seated in my library, she said her husband told her he 
 was ruined, and that I knew he had been taking money 
 from the bank. She said he admitted that he had lost 
 every dollar of the money in speculation. Then she de- 
 sired to know the entire amount of the embezzlements 
 that she might see how far her property would go tow- 
 ards making good the losses of the bank. Having looked 
 at my figures and the footing, she handed me her bank- 
 book, which showed a considerable amount to her credit 
 in the Bank of Parcelton, and told me she had $17,000 in 
 United States bonds ; that she had telegraphed for the 
 bonds and expected to receive them the next morning. 
 Then she offered to make good every dollar taken trom 
 the bank by her husband, with interest, on condition that 
 I would refrain from prosecuting him, and bind myself 
 and all who had knowledge of the matter to perpetual 
 silence on the subject of his guilt. I thought my duty to 
 our stockholders required me to accept her offer. She 
 gave me her check on the Bank of Parcelton for $3,500, 
 and insisted on entering into a written obligation to pay 
 the balance of the sum embezzled. I told her I was 
 quite willing to take her word ; but she said she might 
 die before morning, and wanted to place the bank's right 
 to recover the money beyond the possibility of a doubt. 
 I then took up my list and wrote out a note correspond- 
 ing with each embezzlement, computing interest from 
 the date* of the crime which I made also the date of 
 the note to the day of payment. As neither of us 
 knew certainly whether the bonds were Mrs. Erdby's or 
 her husband's, in the eye of the law, we thought it best 
 that she should sign the notes : ' C. J. Erdby, per Julia
 
 THE BLUE PACKAGE. 223 
 
 E. Erdby.' In answer to my expressions of sympathy, 
 she said she felt no lack of strength to go through with 
 what was before her, whatever it might be, but could 
 hardly make it seem to her that she was the same person 
 she had been formerly. The next day a gentleman, who 
 gave his name as Crasburg, called at the bank with fif- 
 teen United States bonds for $1,000 each, and took up 
 the notes. I handed him, also, a certificate to the effect 
 that all claims of the bank on Charles J. Erdby were fully 
 adjusted. On the morning of the same day Erdby came 
 to the bank and obtained leave of absence for an indefi- 
 nite period. 
 
 " This statement is made under a suspension of the 
 injunction of silence, which I regard as otherwise in full 
 force. 
 
 " L. F. LUMER, 
 " Cashier, Progressive Bank, Boston." 
 
 STATEMENT OF EDWARD CRASBURG. 
 
 " My connection with the affairs of Charles J. Erdby 
 was of short duration. It began with my father's show- 
 ing me a telegram from Mrs. Julia Erdby, summoning 
 him to bring her United States bonds to Boston without 
 delay. As my father was too ill to travel he committed 
 the bonds to my care, and instructed me to proceed to 
 Boston by the first train and render Mrs. Erdby all the 
 assistance in my power. I arrived at her home about 
 noon the next day. She put me at once under the re- 
 strictions of professional confidence, from which I am 
 released only for the purpose of this statement. Then 
 she informed me that her husband had robbed the bank 
 in which he was employed of large sums of money, and 
 that she had secured his immunity from prosecution and
 
 224 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 exposure by obligating herself to make good all the losses 
 sustained through his crimes. Having ascertained the 
 aggregate of the notes she had given, and been instructed 
 to confer only with Cashier Lumer himself, and to obtain 
 from him, in addition to her notes, documentary evidence 
 of the satisfaction of all claims against her husband, I 
 took fifteen United States bonds, calling for one thou- 
 sand dollars each, and proceeded to the Progressive 
 Bank. My business with Cashier Lumer was soon de- 
 spatched. He received the bonds and made out the 
 desired certificate and delivered it to me, with Mrs. 
 Erdby's notes and a small amount of currency. I then 
 returned to Mrs. Erdby. We were sitting in her parlor, 
 with the certificate and notes which I had brought, and 
 Mrs. Erdby's bank-book and a package of cancelled 
 checks on the Bank of Parcelton lying on the table near 
 us, when Charles J. Erdby entered the room. He saluted 
 me with a scowl, barely uttering my name, and stepped 
 quickly to the table on which he saw the papers lying. 
 He first examined the checks, and then said to his wife, 
 angrily : 
 
 " ' You seem to have been very flush. If you had let 
 me have this money that you have been squandering on 
 these people, I could have retrieved my losses, and this 
 thing would not have happened." 
 
 " ' Perhaps not,' she answered, very calmly. 
 
 " ' How much money have you got in the bank now ? ' 
 he asked. 
 
 " ' Very little,' was the reply. ' I gave Mr. Lumer a 
 check for $3,500 last night.' 
 
 " 'Well, I have got to get out of here,' he said, fiercely ; 
 ' do you want me to starve ? ' 
 
 " ' I am not conscious of such a desire,' she answered.
 
 THE BLUE PACKAGE. 225 
 
 ' I will divide with you the little I have left. I have two 
 thousand-dollar bonds out of the seventeen which Mr. 
 Crasburg brought ; and here is one of them.' 
 
 " He grasped the paper eagerly and asked : 
 
 " ' What are you going to do with the other one ? 
 
 " ' Charley and I will need some means of support till I 
 can find a way to earn something/ she answered. 
 
 " Mr. Erdby examined the papers on the table in silence 
 for some moments, and then put them all in the breast 
 pocket of his coat, together with the bank book and 
 package of checks. 
 
 " ' You have no right to those papers, Mr. Erdby,' I 
 said. 
 
 " ' What business have you to meddle with my affairs ?' 
 he shouted. ' Your presence in my house is not ac- 
 ceptable.' 
 
 " ' Good-bye, Mr. Crasburg,' said Mrs. Erdby, rising 
 and extending her hand to me. ' Give my love to your 
 mother, and tell her I expect to see her in a few days.' 
 Then she added, in a firm, distinct tone, with measured 
 accents : ' If any thing serious should happen to me 
 you would be released from your pledge of secrecy.' 
 
 " I could see that the man cowered at these words ; but 
 I left the house in an agitation which it was hard for me 
 to control. Erdby appeared to me to be in so desperate 
 a mood that I could not divest myself of apprehen- 
 sions for the safety of his wife. Happening to meet 
 a man whom I knew as a skilful detective, from his 
 having been employed in that capacity in my part 
 of the State, I engaged him to watch the movements 
 of Erdby and report to me at my hotel. He came 
 in about midnight .and reported that soon after my 
 departure Erdby had sent for a hack and gone with
 
 226 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 his trunk to an obscure hotel near the Albany de r . 
 that he had spent some time there in writing, and then 
 had taken a package of papers to an office in Court 
 Street. Other movements, which it is not necessary to 
 mention, were observed. My informant saw Erdby buy 
 two tickets for Chicago and engage a section in the 
 Chicago sleeper, and, finally, saw him depart on the 
 eleven o'clock train, accompanied by a dissolute young 
 woman well known as ' Madge Pitley.' The detective 
 learned, also, that Erdby had realized several hundred 
 dollars from the sale of the furniture in his house. There 
 was no way of ascertaining how large or how small a 
 part of the stolen money had actually been lost by 
 Erdby. 
 
 " The next morning I sent a messenger to Mrs. Erdby 
 with a note in which I stated the facts as they had been 
 reported to me, and placed my services at her command. 
 I thought it well for her to be fortified by indignation. 
 She replied, with thanks, that she should need no assist- 
 ance, and that she expected to meet me soon at Parcelton. 
 
 " EDWARD CRASBURG." 
 
 In the affidavit attached, Mr. Crasburg was careful to 
 say that the report of conversation, embodied in his 
 statement, was according to his recollection. 
 
 Such were the contents of the Blue Package. The 
 fact of its being ordered into the possession of Mr. 
 Jorman was sufficient evidence of his having prospered 
 in his suit. I should have anticipated that result in any 
 event. It had been settled in my mind for some months 
 that the union of Mr. Jorman and Mrs. Erdby would 
 come about in due time. It was obvious, at the begin- 
 ning of their acquaintance, that they felt a peculiar 
 interest in each other ; and I had seen it abundantly
 
 THE BLUE PACKAGE. 227 
 
 that each of them was steadily gaining a larger 
 and larger place in the thoughts of the other. I soon 
 received the following letter : 
 
 " MY DEAR BROTHER NOLLY : If you have tears to 
 shed prepare, not to shed them. I have been down in 
 the depths and up on the heights ; and I am now at ex- 
 actly the right elevation. It is ' all serene/ as the boys 
 say. While I was riding to Boston my firmament got 
 badly overclouded. The instances in which I had made 
 an ass of myself in Serena's presence came along in a 
 procession which threatened to ' stretch out to the crack 
 of doom.' Oh ! how unspeakably silly I saw a hundred 
 or two of my speeches to have been. Well, I got my 
 dinner at the Revere and then went to my room and 
 tried to invent an impressive mode of 'popping the ques- 
 tion ' ; but I met with such a ' plentiful lack ' of success, 
 that I concluded to trust to what is called the ' inspira- 
 tion of the moment.' I looked in the glass and won- 
 dered that I had never before been fully aware of my 
 own homeliness. ' A regular ogre ! ' I said. But I 
 braced myself up and took a carriage for Serena's resi- 
 dence. I told the driver to wait, whether I was in the 
 house five minutes or five hours. It seemed to me proba- 
 ble that there would need to be some hauling done in 
 my case. I found Serena at home, and her reception of 
 me was cordial enough, though she was a little startled 
 and somewhat embarrassed when I presented myself. I 
 plunged ' in medias res ' in less than a minute. I can't 
 recall what I blurted out, except that I began by saying : 
 
 ' You are surprised to see me here Sere 1 mean, Mrs. 
 
 Erdby.' When I got through, there was a queer light in 
 her eyes, and such a smile as I had never seen before on 
 her lips, but she did n't say any thing. It came into my
 
 228 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 head that she saw something ridiculous in my pro- 
 posal. 'I see that I am rejected' I said, 'and I must 
 bear it as well as I can. I hope God will bless you. 
 Good-bye.' 
 
 " ' Stop, Mr. Jorman,' she said, coming up to me and 
 laying her hand on my arm. ' Of course you are not 
 rejected. You misunderstood me. I was only smiling 
 to think that such a reader of hearts as you are should 
 be so ignorant of the state of my feelings. The union 
 which you propose will be quite as acceptable to me as 
 to you. My affections have been trying to go out to you 
 a long time, and there is quite a luxury in ' turning them 
 loose,' as I once heard you say. 
 
 " She gave that little semi-audible laugh, and I awoke 
 all at once to the reality of my blessedness. I threw out 
 my arms and None of your grinning, you rascal ! 
 
 " But the best was still to come. We sat on the sofa, 
 and I held her hand in mine as I told her that story, 
 which I wrote to you, about the purchase of the Greek 
 Testament, and its sequences. Oh ! I wish you could 
 get some idea of the depth of that happiness which shone 
 out in my darling's face. It seemed to me that some 
 sweet influence from heaven was around us. 
 
 " I hope I shall learn that you have arranged to go 
 South pretty early. Serena agrees with me on the im- 
 perative necessity of your being at our wedding, with 
 your mother and Dolly. Your Brother, 
 
 " RALPH JORMAN." 
 
 A week later my friend wrote me as follows, dating his 
 letter at Boston : 
 
 " DEAR BROTHER NOLLY : I could n't take time to 
 write you immediately after reading the papers delivered 
 to me by your mother. I had to come here at once.
 
 THE BLUE PACKAGE. 229 
 
 Your mother arranged an interview, by telegraph, and 
 came to Tenth Street with Dolly the next morning. 
 
 " ' I could not deny myself the pleasure of coming to 
 congratulate you in person on your engagement,' she 
 said. 
 
 " ' My engagement ! ' I exclaimed. ' How can you 
 know any thing about that ? ' 
 
 " ' I know,' she answered, ' that the Blue Package 
 would not have been ordered into your hands if you had 
 not become engaged to Mrs. Erdby.' 
 
 " 'What under the sun is the Blue Package ?' I asked. 
 But then I added : ' I will not give you time to answer 
 my question before I assure you that your conclusion is 
 correct. Serena is going to be my wife, and I am the 
 happiest man in the world.' 
 
 " ' I was certain of it,' was the response, ' and I do con- 
 gratulate you with all my heart. Dolly and I have been 
 rejoicing every minute since the telegram came from 
 George. This blessing, coming on top of the certainty 
 of George's success at Mackopah, makes me feel that 
 this is a very charming world.' 
 
 " Well, Nolly, if this world is not altogether charming, 
 it is because it contains so few such women as your 
 mother and Serena, and such girls as Martha and Dolly 
 and Miss Loyalty. You will not expect me to tell you 
 by letter a thousandth part of what the contents of those 
 papers made me think and feel. I lived over again with 
 my darling that period of fearful trial and those years of 
 silent heroism, when she was enduring obloquy and sus- 
 picion, in preference to disclosing the guilt of one whom 
 she had once loved. She had been fully aware that the 
 fact of her being ignored by her husband's family had 
 attracted the notice of all their acquaintances, and that
 
 230 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 the existence of a sufficient reason for such treatment 
 had been taken for granted. When I asked her within 
 what limits a knowledge of the actual facts was to be re- 
 stricted in future, she said that the matter had passed 
 entirely into my hands. ' My reputation no longer con- 
 cerns me alone/ she said. ' Any cloud that hangs over 
 me will necessarily cast its shadow upon you ; and you 
 know that I want nothing but sunlight falling on your 
 head.' 
 
 " We both saw it to be proper for me to lay the papers 
 before Bob Dilmore. ' Great conscience ! ' he exclaimed 
 as he finished the reading, ' this is the most astonishing 
 case I ever heard of. I was sure that I could get a ver- 
 dict of " guilty " on such evidence as Melton presented, 
 without having the jurymen leave their seats.' He in- 
 sisted on taking the papers to Melton's office at once, 
 asking me to wait till he returned. He came back in 
 about an hour, and Melton accompanied him. I found 
 this gentleman quite sensible and essentially right- 
 spirited. ' The only proper way is the just way,' he 
 said. ' The blameworthy and the praiseworthy, alike, 
 should receive their deserts as far as that is possible in 
 such a world as this. When the mother and sisters of 
 Charles come to find out what a villain he got to be, they 
 will feel it keenly ; but that is better than that they 
 should continue to do injustice to Julia. Besides, they 
 will find great compensation in the interest which they 
 will soon take in the young Charles. He is the only 
 male Erdby in the whole circle of relatives now. Do 
 you think Julia would be willing to have Mrs. Melton 
 and myself call upon her, Mr. Jorman ? ' 
 
 " ' Unquestionably,' I answered. ' She has never cher- 
 ished a particle of resentment toward any of you. She
 
 THE BLUE PACKAGE. 231 
 
 has not been aware of the precise nature of your theory 
 concerning her, but has had no doubt that Erdby made 
 use of the notes and checks for the purpose of mislead- 
 ing you.' 
 
 " ' Will you entrust me with these papers for a few 
 days ? ' Melton asked. 
 
 " ' Certainly,' I said. ' But I suggest that you make 
 their contents known no further than justice may seem 
 to require. The members of the family can explain the 
 renewal of their relations with Serena with Mrs. Erdby, 
 by simply saying that they had been mistaken in regard 
 to her. There is no occasion for any public talk.' 
 
 " There the matter rests for the present. I have bought 
 off a tenant who was living in a big old house of mine 
 on 34th Street the house I was born in, and it is full 
 of workmen now. Serena is going down in a few days 
 to issue her fiat for the decorative work, and to decide on 
 styles of furniture. Sha'n't we have a great time when 
 we get settled down there ? 
 
 " Let me know when you expect to get home, and 
 how soon you will to go South. 
 
 " Your Brother, 
 
 " RALPH JORMAN."
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 
 
 "DEFORE the pleasure yielded by success can be 
 -^ raised to its culminating point, the successful man 
 must come face to face with the person whose love for 
 him is most ardent. I learned this lesson when I found 
 myself in my mother's presence on my return from 
 Mackopah. I had enjoyed a profound satisfaction in view 
 of results which had far transcended my most sanguine 
 expectations. At times my feeling had amounted to ex- 
 ultation. But it was not until my mother had her arm 
 around my neck and laid her head on my shoulder, 
 weeping for joy, that my capacity for such happiness as 
 can come of successful achievement was fully measured. 
 Mr. Jorman afterwards told me that two of the deepest 
 original springs of pleasure in my nature susceptibility 
 to perception of sympathy, and susceptibility to percep- 
 tion of happiness were then made to flow profusely. 
 He said the power of these susceptibilities to yield en- 
 joyment was at its height when the sympathy and happi- 
 ness perceived were experienced by the persons most 
 dear to us. When I told him that my mother's first 
 words were, " Oh ! how good the Lord has been to us," 
 he responded, " That was the cap-sheaf. As you had 
 been fitted to take in that sentiment, you and your 
 mother rose together on a billow of gratitude that carried 
 you a great ways toward heaven." 
 
 232
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 233 
 
 I found that Dolly was not far behind us in apprecia- 
 tion of the change which had taken place in my circum- 
 stances. The pace at which the precious girl had 
 matured during my absence at the West caused me some 
 astonishment at first. She was still light-hearted ; but 
 the vivacious skipping of her thoughts from one bright 
 possibility to another had been exchanged, in a great 
 measure, for womanly reflection. She had been emer- 
 ging into full companionship with her mother very rapidly, 
 and neither of them seemed to have her mind much 
 occupied with any subject which was not freely can- 
 vassed between them. Dolly's approach to womanhood 
 was marked most plainly by a disposition to dwell on 
 prospective difficulties. This was illustrated in her say- 
 ing to me : " I don't see how you can expect to find that 
 Martha cares any thing for you. She would n't let her- 
 self care for you a single bit, of course, unless she thought 
 you cared for her a great deal. And here you have n't 
 been near her nor written a single word to her for ever 
 so many months and months. She knows you stopped 
 within a few miles of her when you were coming home 
 from Florida. I should think she would cut your name 
 out of her book and throw it away, and let somebody 
 that could n't keep away from her take up her thoughts." 
 
 I confess that this speech of Dolly's gave me some un- 
 easiness, and tended quite strongly to quicken the fear 
 which had occasionally crept in among my hopes. But 
 my mother's words were more reassuring. " Mr. Jor- 
 man," she said, " has talked over with me, several times, 
 all his reasons for thinking Miss Orlington is very much 
 interested in you ; and, most of the time, it seems to me 
 that they settle the matter. He says she has a very deep 
 nature ; and, if that is the case, any interest she has felt
 
 234 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 in you is n't going to pass away very soon. If she has 
 ever cared for you very much you need n't be afraid of 
 her listening to anybody else. I should n't wonder if 
 you should find out that she has had a pretty correct 
 view of the way your mind has been working, and of the 
 reasons why you have kept silent. Mr. Jorman says she 
 is unusually intelligent. There is another thing. I 
 did n't think I should tell you of it, but I can't see how 
 there can be any harm in your knowing it. I have got 
 in the habit of praying that the Holy Spirit may so work 
 on Miss Orlington's mind that your union with her may 
 be possible, and that you may cheer and strengthen one 
 another in the Lord's service. Perhaps it is not right. 
 I have been afraid there was too much worldliness and 
 mere natural affection in the petition. But somehow I 
 can't help praying in that way ; and it has seemed to 
 me more and more certain lately that the prayer is 
 answered." 
 
 I must make room here for one more of my dear 
 mother's remarks. As I finished the examination and 
 filing of a collection of papers which had accumulated 
 in my desk, she came and leaned upon my knee, and I 
 saw that she was deeply moved. " I have been thinking 
 about your father," she said, " and of how strange every 
 thing is. He did n't leave you any property ; but you 
 can trace your having a fortune now right back to him. 
 I remember that when Edward Sekell related his experi- 
 ence he told of a sermon your father had preached and 
 of a conversation they had had together afterwards, and 
 said the sermon and the conversation were the means of 
 his conversion. You see it was your father's faithfulness 
 and wisdom which caused Edward always to take such 
 an interest in us, and led to his showing you where you
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 235 
 
 could make your fortune. Besides, if Edward had not 
 been converted, it is not certain, by any means, that he 
 would have had such a character that what he had said 
 and done would have gone so far with Mr. Mollison. Oh, 
 no one can tell how it adds to my happiness when I see 
 how much your father had to do with your getting to be 
 so well off." 
 
 I found Mr. Jorman at his office in Tenth Street ; and 
 he could not content himself, as formerly, with a hearty 
 hand-shake. He had to give me a hugging which put 
 my shoulder-blades in some danger. " Well," he said 
 pushing me off and surveying me with boyish delight, 
 " I don't see that prosperity has transformed you to any 
 surprising extent." 
 
 " We shall have to rely upon something else then," I 
 said, " to work out changes in me. It is quite certain 
 that I need a good deal of transforming." 
 
 " I don't think I want to see any great alterations in 
 your general outlines. I could suggest some improve- 
 ments in your internal equipment. Some of your springs 
 need stiffening, and several of your pop-guns are a little 
 too quick on the trigger. But I should n't be in favor of 
 breaking you up and selling you for old material, as they 
 are doing with some of the ships in the navy yard 
 according to the morning papers." 
 
 After rattling on in that way a few minutes, Jorman 
 took me to the side of a long table, which stood opposite 
 a window. "Here," he said, "is where I sit when I am 
 making up my mind what I '11 do. Now look up there." 
 
 My eyes followed the indication of his finger, and I 
 saw at the top of a book-case, in large Greek characters, 
 gilt letters on a dark ground " Ouk diakonethenai, 
 alia diakonesai."
 
 236 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " Not to be ministered unto, but to minister," I trans- 
 lated, and then said : " You think you can stick to that, 
 do you ? " 
 
 " I have started out on that track," he answered, "and 
 it don't seem to me possible that I shall ever leave it de- 
 liberately. Of course I shall slip and sprawl around a 
 great deal ; and I am afraid I shall tumble heels over 
 head occasionally and find hard work to get back. I 
 have selfishness enough to load down the Great Eastern ; 
 and I have lived so many years under the impression 
 that the universe was created for my entertainment, that 
 you might as well expect a fellow to become a Blondin 
 without practicing, as to anticipate my being found 
 trudging straight along on my track every time I am 
 looked at. But I shall get the right step by degrees ; 
 and Serena will help me prodigiously." 
 
 " Have you settled on any particular ways of minister- 
 ing ? " I asked. 
 
 " Well, I have been looking over the ground and sur- 
 veying the conditions of different classes ; and some 
 human needs have shown themselves to me in such start- 
 ling lights that I have been on the point of resolving to 
 pour all my energies into this channel of beneficence or 
 that. But I see that such a course won't do for me, 
 however plainly others may be called to it. I am not 
 going to become wild-eyed about any thing, or permit 
 myself to fall under the delusion that the cure of any 
 one evil is all the human race has need of. To be al- 
 ways learning from the Master is the fundamental thing. 
 That is, LEARNING as an apprentice learns a trade. His 
 disposition to minister was displayed wherever He went, 
 and in ways as numerous as His opportunities were 
 various."
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 237 
 
 " Have your habits in reading and philosophizing un- 
 dergone any change ? " 
 
 " So far as reading is concerned, there is no haphazard 
 work about it now, except when I feel the need of relax- 
 ation. I am aiming at growth in wisdom, at the 
 enlargement of my capacity for the apprehension of 
 truth. If I am going to intermeddle with things, it is 
 my business to find out what they are and what their 
 relations are. I see no occasion for putting any restric- 
 tion on my proclivity to psychological research. The 
 spiritual man, so ' fearfully and wonderfully made/ is 
 the one incomparable object of man's beneficence ; and 
 the more we know about this object the better equipped 
 we shall be for dealing with it. But my observations 
 and analytical efforts are no longer carried on for mere 
 amusement. I am trying to form the habit of asking, 
 ' What is the specific corrective adapted to this case ? ' 
 whenever perverse mental activities fall under my notice." 
 
 It was necessary for me to call Mr. Jorman's thoughts 
 away from this subject to matters of business, though I 
 did it reluctantly. I had made out the account between 
 us in full, and endorsed over to him the drafts by which 
 I proposed to return him the capital he had advanced, 
 and to pay him half the profits which had been realized. 
 When he saw the amount which he was to receive he 
 expressed some astonishment. " Your letters," he said, 
 " had prepared me to expect a pretty liberal profit ; but 
 I did n't look for any thing like this. My first and only 
 experiment in deliberate money-making has turned out 
 rather overwhelmingly. Why, I have considerably more 
 than doubled the capital in less than a year." 
 
 " But you must remember," I said, " that we have only 
 made a few little breaks in our investment, in order to
 
 238 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 draw this money out. We still own by far the greater 
 part of the land that we bought. I have not attempted 
 to estimate what we shall realize hereafter. That will 
 depend on what may take place to help or hinder the 
 growth of Mackopah. But I expect enough from that 
 source to put me at ease for life." 
 
 "What ! money to come and come, and keep coming, 
 year after year ! " 
 
 " That is the present prospect." 
 
 Mr. Jorman fell into profound meditation. " I am 
 heartily glad of this on your account, Nolly," he said at 
 length, " and I guess it will turn out for good in the 
 general order of things. As far as I can see it is best 
 for the world that you should be in a position to use 
 your powers freely, without being hampered much by the 
 question of bread and butter. So far as I am concerned 
 this thing brings an addition to my responsibilities which 
 I can't make seem agreeable to me just yet. I have got 
 it settled in my mind that my annual surplus must be 
 made to yield all it can to the general sum of benefi- 
 cence ; and that will require a great deal of hard think- 
 ing. If you had brought me this report before the 
 change in my attitude toward the universe, I should have 
 urged you very strongly to accept a deed of my interest 
 in the unsold lands at Mackopah. I should have argued 
 that such a settlement between us would be simply just, 
 inasmuch as the property has been acquired through 
 your knowledge-compelling and energy, by the side of 
 which the little capital advanced by me is hardly worth 
 mentioning. But I see now that the property has come 
 into my hands through a legitimate transaction, and that 
 you are in no sense a fit object for charitable donations ; 
 and I feel no warrant for transferring to you my share of
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 239 
 
 the responsibilities of trusteeship. An additional burden 
 is laid on Serena and me, and we have got to carry it. 
 That is all there is about it." 
 
 It was at that time that I suggested our giving Edward 
 Sekell a power of attorney, a measure which was carried 
 out immediately. As I met Mr. Jorman from day to 
 day, my attachment to him was greatly intensified. It 
 is not probable that any change in his appearance was 
 remarked by casual acquaintances. He displayed his 
 old heartiness and geniality on all occasions. But I 
 could see a deeper meaning in his eyes, and abundant 
 evidences of an added strenuousness in his inner life. I 
 saw that he was much more likely than he had formerly 
 been to give those with whom he might be brought in 
 contact the impression of being in the presence of an 
 unusually able man. 
 
 My preparations for going South were pushed as 
 rapidly as possible, and arrangements for the marriage of 
 my friends had to be hastened accordingly. My mother 
 and Dolly expressed a desire to see all they could of 
 " Serena," as they constantly called her ; and we broke 
 up our home in Elizabeth, got through, as others must 
 get through, with the long farewells, shipped our furni- 
 ture, and went to Boston, three days before the wedding, 
 taking up our quarters at the Revere. We found that 
 Miss Evalstone and Miss Kitty had already taken a room 
 there. Jorman told us that Erdby's mother and sisters, 
 after the first gush of their grief was past, had taken his 
 Serena to their hearts far more fully than they had done 
 in the early years of their relationship. He said they 
 were self-convicted of having done her great injustice, 
 and that a sincere disposition to make amends for past 
 ill-treatment is sure to pass over into warm affection, un-
 
 240 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 less unlovable characteristics stand too much in the way. 
 He pointed out the " springs of force " in our constitu- 
 tion, by which he held that such a result was necessitated. 
 Finally, he called attention to the natural gratitude of 
 these ladies for " Serena's heroic silence in regard to 
 Charles Erdby's guilt." As a result of these things, old 
 Mrs. Erdby had insisted that her daughter-in-law should 
 be married from her house ; the furnished cottage of the 
 latter had been rented, and Miss Evalstone and Miss 
 Kitty had come to the Revere. 
 
 Jorman soon brought his betrothed to see us ; and my 
 mother said, when they had gone, that it was not possible 
 for a pair of young lovers to be as happy as they were, 
 because young persons could not sufficiently compre- 
 hend the greatness of the blessing vouchsafed to them in 
 their reciprocal affection. Besides, she was certain, from 
 her own experience, that capacity for love was continually 
 growing as one advanced in years. My mother and 
 Dolly had several long interviews with Mrs. Erdby ; and 
 the general result on their side was indicated in my 
 mother's saying : " I don't see why Providence should 
 have been so kind to us as to let us become intimately 
 acquainted with such a woman." On the other side, 
 Jorman quoted his darling as saying : " I always 
 thought your Nolly's mother must be a very superior 
 lady. But I was not prepared to find a person of such 
 enlightened views combined with such richness of heart. 
 And Dolly is going to be one of the sweetest creatures 
 in the world. I wish I could have her sunny face shin- 
 ing on me every day." When Dolly and Kitty had made 
 some progress in getting acquainted, the latter said : 
 
 " I suppose your brother has told you what an awfully 
 bad-tempered little cat I am."
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 241 
 
 Dolly answered : " He has told us that you have 
 a bigger heart than almost anybody else in the world. 
 He says you deserve the name that Mr. Jorman has 
 given you. May n't I always call you ' Miss Loyalty ' ? 
 Mother and I never think of giving you any other name 
 when we are talking about you." 
 
 "I did n't suppose that anybody ever talked about me, 
 unless they happened to remember how hateful I had 
 been, or how like a fright I look. But if you think you 
 can love me a little you may call me ' Miss Loyalty.' 
 I '11 tell you something if you won't say any thing about 
 it : when I am off by myself I am awfully proud of Mr. 
 Jorman's giving me that name. Now that 's a secret, 
 you know, that I never told to anybody before that is, 
 I don't call Orrin anybody." 
 
 " Are you going to marry Orrin ? " 
 
 " Why, what a question ! Well, you dear rosy-cheeked 
 duck, I believe you have a right to know all my secrets, 
 because you are so handsome. Orrin says I 've got to 
 marry him, and I have promised that I will. We never 
 knew what it was not to love one another. But if he 
 should get off the notion, I should tell him to go along 
 about his business." 
 
 " What if he should go along and marry somebody 
 else ? " 
 
 " Well, I should n't make any fuss about it. I should 
 only die. That 's all. There, let me get my arm around 
 you, and put my head on your shoulder so. I want to 
 be a little bit of a baby." 
 
 Orrin Barleck came from his Theological Seminary 
 two days before the wedding. His brow and eyes bore 
 the indications of hard study, and he was seldom in a 
 mirthful frame. Otherwise, his appearance was much
 
 242 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 the same as when I first met him in Florida. It was 
 noticeable that, when he and Kitty were both in the par- 
 lor which I had engaged, he was quite restless until he 
 could manage to be seated near her ; and I thought I 
 could see an expression of contentment coming over his 
 face whenever such proximity had been secured. On 
 one of the walks which he and I took together, he gave 
 me an account of his wooing. He had no doubt of 
 Kitty's warm affection for him, but feared it was not of 
 such a nature as he desired, feared it would turn out 
 that she could love him only as a sister loves a brother. 
 The time came when he could endure his doubts no 
 longer. He arranged with Mrs. Erdby to bring about a 
 favorable opportunity, and then he revealed to the little 
 maiden the state of his mind, winding up with the ques- 
 tion : 
 
 " Do you think you can love me, Kitty ? " 
 
 "Why, what a- foolish question," she answered. 
 
 " Why is it a foolish question ? " 
 
 " It 's the silliest question I ever heard. You Ve 
 known for more than a hundred years that I could n't 
 help it if I tried." 
 
 " Known that you could help what ? " 
 
 " Oh, you have to ask, ( Could n't help what ? ' Why, 
 feeling that way you talked about, goosey." 
 
 Orrin was fain to content himself with this reply, and 
 attempted to exercise the privilege of an accepted lover. 
 But Kitty eluded him and flew to the most distant corner 
 of the room. 
 
 "What makes you act in that way?" she exclaimed. 
 "You Ve never done so before, since you were a little 
 boy." 
 
 " Can't I have a kiss to seal our engagement ? "
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 243, 
 
 "Who said any thing about an engagement?" 
 
 "Why should n't we consider ourselves engaged, since 
 you acknowledge that you love me ? I am going to marry 
 you, you know." 
 
 " I don't believe you want to marry me. I don't be- 
 lieve anybody does, or ever will. You know as well as 
 I do that I could n't be wicked enough to be married to 
 anybody else, after feeling as I have towards you ever since 
 the Flood. I 've been expecting to be a little old maid like 
 Miss Flite, and go around with a bag of papers hanging 
 on my arm. What does any gentleman want with such a 
 wife as I should be ? I ain't bigger than a ten-cent piece, 
 and I am blacker than a coal, and my nose looks like 
 Time in the primmer, and I 'm always getting spunky at 
 nothing and acting like a crazy wild-cat." 
 
 " That is an exact description of the wife I have made 
 up my mind to have," said Orrin, as Kitty's outburst of 
 dissatisfaction with herself was concluded. He had 
 been stealthily approaching the corner, and was now 
 near enough for a spring which brought the contest to an 
 end. 
 
 On our other strolls Orrin talked theology incessantly. 
 He was then a Calvinist of the most rigid type. He had 
 much to say ahout the " sovereign will of God," and I 
 was unable to see how his conception of it differed from 
 what I should conceive of as arbitrary caprice coupled 
 with omnipotence. He held that whatever God willed 
 was right, and right because He willed it. He said that, 
 if God had predestined any number of men to eternal 
 damnation, regardless of their characters, no being in the 
 universe had a just ground of complaint against Him 
 that all were His creatures and He had a right to appoint 
 their lots as He chose. If I remember correctly, Orrin
 
 244 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 called the atonement which he believed in a " particular 
 atonement." When I spoke with Jorman on this subject 
 he said : 
 
 " I have noticed that it is quite a common thing for 
 young theological students to out-Calvin Calvin. They 
 get hold of a great truth and turn it into a lie because 
 they can't see it in its relations to other truths. I sup- 
 pose I might be called a Calvinist, in a certain sense. 
 There is a doctrine of divine sovereignty, the doctrine 
 your father used to preach, undoubtedly, which coin- 
 cides perfectly with my philosophical principles. It is a 
 sovereignty without which the moral universe would be 
 a chaos. But when this doctrine is wrenched from all 
 its relations, it is sure to yield a horribly distorted con- 
 ception of The Sovereign. The boys generally get up, 
 after a while, to a point of view from which they can 
 take in the most important of those relations. But I am 
 afraid that Orrin will always be riding a hobby of one 
 kind or another. He has a good deal of such stuff as 
 fanatics and one-idea men are made of. The funda- 
 mental trouble with such men is not any lack of volume 
 in their intellectual power. Most of them are well 
 enough off on that score, and some of them are capable 
 of producing astonishing effects. The radical derange- 
 ment of their forces seems to lie in an undue subjection 
 of their intellectual power to their emotional power. 
 They catch a view of some great truth which addresses 
 one or two of their keenest susceptibilities, and their 
 emotional interest glows and blazes around it, till all the 
 rays of light at their command converge upon it, and 
 they fall under the impression that no other truth is 
 worth mentioning. Then, on account of their suscepti- 
 bility to perception of the lack of sympathy, they get mad
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 245 
 
 at everybody who fails to exhibit a similar interest in 
 that particular truth, and away they go, ripping and tear- 
 ing. Their primary need is a knowledge of this defect 
 in their organization. Then they ought to have manli- 
 ness enough and conscientiousness enough to strive per- 
 sistently for the fit adjustment of their intellectual and 
 emotional powers to each other. This will lead to the 
 gradual development of their intellectual clamps, which 
 are only rudimental now, and, after a while, they will be 
 able to reach out like a devil-fish and hold all the most 
 intimately related truths in view at once." 
 
 The wedding was like other weddings. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Jorman disappeared from our view under a fusillade 
 of benedictions. It was arranged that Miss Evalstone 
 and Miss Loyalty should remain at the Revere until the 
 opening of the house on 34th Street, when they were to 
 take up their permanent abode there as members of Mr. 
 Jorman's family. I stopped in New York, with mother 
 and Dolly, one day ; and then we were whirled away to 
 Verdville, South Carolina. A snug little cottage had 
 been secured, and, as the furniture had arrived, my dear 
 ones were soon settled in their new home. Their in- 
 terior lives, while the strangeness clung to their surround- 
 ings, could be described with great accuracy by several 
 myriads of women in this land of migrations. 
 
 I began to feel very eager for the settlement of the 
 great question to which all the other problems, that had 
 come in my way for nearly two years, had been merely 
 preliminary. I had carried all the outworks ; but the 
 citadel was still before me, and I could only form conjec- 
 tures on the possiblity of effecting an entrance. I made 
 no attempt to disguise from myself the fact, that I might 
 yet become the victim of a disaster which would cause
 
 246 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 me to feel that all my preliminary successes were worth- 
 less. It was plain that my first business should be the 
 establishment of myself at Ellermere ; and one circum- 
 stance came to my aid very effectively. It had been 
 noised about the village that I had become the owner of 
 that property, and was on the point of taking possession 
 of it. This report led to my mother's being visited by a 
 wholesome-looking colored woman, about fifty years old, 
 who said her name was " Aunt Phyllis." It appeared 
 that she had been brought up at Ellermere, and was 
 yearning to return to her old home. Moreover, she had a 
 daughter and a son-in-law, Courtney and William who 
 wanted to work for me, and who had " only three chil- 
 dren." William was said to be a " mighty peert hand wid 
 critters." This was precisely the kind of help which I 
 desired to secure at the outset ; and I had no difficulty 
 in making a bargain. Then I bought a span of mules 
 and the whole outfit of a " team." I chanced, also, to 
 get possession of what turned out to be an excellent 
 saddle-horse. My mother selected a stove and cooking 
 utensils for me, together with such furniture as would make 
 me comfortable, and a little stock of provisions. These 
 things, amounting to two wagon-loads, having been sent 
 forward with my newly employed helpers, the time came 
 for me to mount my horse. My mother had been sitting 
 for some minutes, with her hands crossed on her lap and 
 her eyes fastened upon the floor. 
 
 " What are you thinking about, mother ? " I asked. 
 
 " I was thinking," she answered, " about that Spartan 
 mother who gave her son a shield and told him to come 
 back -with it or upon it. It seems to me that, with all my 
 weakness, I could almost do such a thing as that. I 
 can't help trembling a little, George, when I think how
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 247 
 
 much is depending on what has got to be decided pretty 
 soon now. But my heart do,n'j: sink. It is full of hope. 
 Oh ! how could I keep from hating her if she should reject 
 you ? But she is not going to reject you. There can't 
 be such a thing as that in store for your father's son. 
 The Lord will guide you and teach you what to say. I 
 feel that I shall be helping you all the time. It can't be 
 that I should have this inexpressible longing to help you 
 if it was not possible for me to do so. Don't come back 
 here till it is all settled. I sha'n't expect you for some 
 days. If you get any real encouragement I shall call it 
 settled. When it is decided you will come to me as soon 
 as possible ; whether you have joy or sorrow to bring, you 
 will need your mother. Good-bye now. Get on your 
 horse and ride off like a young hero." 
 
 " Tell Martha she 'd better look out now, for my 
 finger-nails are awfully sharp," said Dolly. 
 
 When I reached Ellermere I found that Aunt Phyllis 
 had managed to get the stove in operation by running 
 the pipe out at the window, and had made a pot of 
 coffee to accompany the cold bread and meat which my 
 mother had put up for us. The next morning the scrub- 
 bing and patching of floors began ; and, after a hard 
 day's work, we had three or four rooms in quite decent 
 order. Aunt Phyllis showed herself much more capable/ 
 than I was of superintending the work, and, on the 
 morning of the succeeding day, I saw that I had no, 
 reason for deferring my visit to the Orlingtons. Telling 
 Aunt Phyllis I did not know how long I should be 
 absent, I mounted my horse and started. I had made 
 up my mind that my first step should be an explanation 
 with Colonel Orlington of the cause which had impelled 
 me to purchase Ellermere, and a straightforward request
 
 248 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 for permission to address his daughter as a suitor for her 
 hand. I suppose that, as I rode along, my state of mind 
 was very similar to that of which some millions of my 
 fellow- Americans have had experience. On the whole, 
 my hopes preponderated over my fears. This result was 
 largely aided by the continual recurrence to my mind of 
 Jorman's reasons for taking a favorable view of my 
 prospect. I attached importance, also, to the Colonel's 
 recollections of my father. As I rode up to the house I 
 caught a glimpse of Miss Martha looking out at the win- 
 dow, and I was sure that a frightened look flashed over 
 her face as she sprang out of my sight. I could not keep 
 my heart from sinking. Nevertheless, I tied my horse to 
 the new picket-fence and went up the steps to the door. 
 My knock was answered by Colonel Orlington in person, 
 and as soon as I saw his face my heart sank still lower. 
 His expression was one of sorrow perceptibly mingled 
 with displeasure. He took my hand, but I could not 
 feel the slightest suggestion of a return pressure. He 
 asked me into the parlor and handed me a chair. Then 
 he took a seat at a convenient distance for conversation, 
 but had not a word to say. I was on the point of asking 
 Colonel Orlington why he treated me in that way, but 
 immediately decided that it would be improper for me to 
 call his manner in question while I was still under his 
 roof. I asked after the health of the family and was 
 answered that all were well. I drew out the fact that the 
 crops of the previous season had been good ; and the 
 Colonel volunteered the information that his circum- 
 stances were improving. I said, at length : " Mrs. 
 Orlington and Miss Orlington are at home, I suppose." 
 
 "Yes, they are at home. They are usually very much 
 occupied with their household cares."
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 249 
 
 I said that I had finished paying for Ellermere, and 
 had taken possession of the property ; and he answered : 
 " I supposed you would do so." 
 
 I said : " I have been hoping to profit very much 
 by your advice, as I am entirely inexperienced in 
 planting." 
 
 To this he replied : " It is not likely that you will see 
 me at Ellermere very soon. The associations of the 
 place have become very painful to me." 
 
 This was all I could stand. I said " Good-day," got 
 out of the house the best way I could, mounted my 
 horse and rode slowly toward my new home. For the 
 moment my spirit was entirely prostrate ; every particle 
 of my pluck was gone. " My life is wrecked ; my life is 
 wrecked," I said over and over again. My first definite 
 thought, in the way of accounting for the change in 
 Colonel Orlington's manner toward me, was, that he 
 chose to have me understand at the outset that a North- 
 erner could be no welcome neighbor of the Orlington 
 family, however ready they might be to extend hospital- 
 ity to him as a drummer. But nothing that I had ever 
 seen in Colonel Orlington appeared to justify that view. 
 Then I remembered Miss Martha's frightened look and 
 the haste with which she sprang away from the window, 
 and I said : " It may be they have all foreseen that I 
 should offer myself to her, and want to save me the 
 mortification of being rejected." But this, too, seemed 
 to be an insufficient explanation. I fancied this and I 
 fancied that, and finally submitted to the conclusion that 
 the mystery was insoluble. I thought of meeting my 
 mother, and my imagination created a most pathetic 
 scene. Then I imagined myself in the presence of Jor- 
 man, and it seemed to me that I could almost hear him
 
 250 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 saying, "Well, Nolly, this is terribly rough on you." 
 Somehow, that name, " Nolly," stayed in my mind and 
 soon brought up the circumstances under which I had 
 received it. I stopped my horse with a convulsive jerk. 
 For a single instant I was completely stupefied. Then I 
 exclaimed aloud : 
 
 " A pretty knowledge-compeller I am. Here is a 
 question connected with all I care for in this world, and 
 I have given it up at the very start as a mystery that 
 can't be solved." 
 
 I turned my horse and spurred him into a mad gallop. 
 I laid my course through a field in which I had caught a 
 view of John Orlington, repairing a fence, and I was soon 
 at his side. " John," I shouted, " I am going to know 
 what this means." 
 
 He looked up, with his dark eyes full of defiance, 
 and answered : " You are going to know what what 
 means ? " 
 
 " I am going to know why your father makes it as 
 plain as possible that he don't want me to come about 
 his house, arid why your mother and sister won't speak 
 to me. I can put up with any decent kind of a mystery, 
 but I can't stand this, and I won't." 
 
 I was nearer crying than I often get,, and John was 
 impressed by emotion. " I '11 go to the house and see 
 the folks," he said, after reflecting a moment. 
 
 I rode by his side, but neither of us uttered a word 
 till we reached the house. He asked me if I would 
 go in. "No," I said, "you will find me sitting on the 
 wood-pile here when any of you have any thing to say 
 to me." 
 
 In about five minutes, Colonel Orlington came out and 
 took a seat at my side. " They all say," he began, " that
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 251 
 
 I ought to tell you why our way of treating you is 
 changed. It is a very painful thing for me to do. It 
 has been very, very painful for me to think what I have 
 I been compelled to think about a son of Jabez Bidrop. 
 I can't help wondering, though, at your asking an ex- 
 planation. We have heard about your proceedings out 
 in the Northwest last summer. We have heard of your 
 leaving that place Mackopah, I believe the name is, 
 between two days." 
 
 He paused and looked squarely in ray face. I knew, 
 in an instant, the substance of what was coming. The 
 remembrance flashed upon me that Mr. Klergham, the 
 Spartanburg lawyer whom I had met at Colonel Orling- 
 ton's house the preceding winter, was at Mackopah at 
 the time of my senseless midnight departure, and that he 
 had left the place before my return. The manifestations 
 of my overwhelming shame, on account of my idiocy in 
 exposing myself to such a terrible misconception, were 
 easily mistaken by the Colonel for signs of conscious 
 guilt. It was some moments before I could utter a word; 
 and my voice was almost beyond my control when I 
 managed to say : " I wish for a precise statement of 
 what you have heard." 
 
 Colonel Orlington heaved a deep sigh and answered : 
 " The statement is, that you claimed to own a large 
 amount of valuable land at Mackopah, and talked very 
 largely about grading, laying out streets, and so forth ; 
 that you gave a merchant a small draft which he sent to 
 New York and had collected ; that, after you got the 
 money, you had a little grading done, to keep up appear- 
 ances, but did n't act as if you expected to accomplish 
 any thing ; that, by working yourself into the merchant's 
 confidence, you got him to cash a draft for several thou-
 
 252 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 sand dollars ; that this large draft was protested, and 
 you immediately discharged your men and disappeared 
 in the middle of the night. That was the last that was 
 heard of you till a man came up the river and reported 
 that you had sold your horse at some place and taken a 
 steamer for the East. After the merchant had given up 
 all hope of your returning, he looked around to see if 
 you had any property that he could get hold of. He 
 had the records examined, and found that you did n't 
 own a foot of land in the county, and had n't a vestige 
 of any property there except a few cheap tools." 
 
 It was all perfectly clear. I had deferred getting my 
 deeds recorded until the office should be opened at the 
 new county-seat. The man to whom I had paid the 
 $3,000 for the twenty acres of land had departed imme- 
 diately for the East. I had drawn the deed myself, and 
 the officer who took the acknowledgment happened to 
 be temporarily absent when the inquiries about my prop- 
 erty were on foot. Mr. Gabineau, from whom I had 
 made my first purchase, was a reticent man, and had 
 hastened to use a little of his newly acquired wealth in 
 making a visit to his old home in Canada. 
 
 When the Colonel had concluded his statement, I sat 
 for some time in silent meditation. I had recovered the 
 command of my faculties, and I soon laid out my course. 
 I determined not to attempt to clear the matter up until 
 it could be cleared up once for all, and, therefore, that I 
 would enter upon no explanation until I could present 
 evidence which would place my integrity beyond the 
 shadow of a doubt. My first words were : 
 
 " Mr. Klergham is at Spartanburg, I suppose ? " 
 
 " I have not said that my information came from him," 
 Colonel Orlington replied.
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 253 
 
 " There was no need of your saying so," I said. " I 
 have no fault to find with Mr. Klergham. Appearances 
 were against me. Of course I shall not trouble you with 
 my presence again until I am invited to your house by 
 yourself. And now I will tell you frankly what such an 
 invitation will mean. I gave my heart to Miss Martha 
 Orlington the first night that I was ever in her presence. 
 I determined to become the owner of Ellermere, because 
 I had heard her say that she would rather live there than 
 anywhere else in the world, if she could not stay at her 
 present home. It was for that reason that I engaged in 
 the enterprise at Mackopah ; and you will be convinced, 
 sooner or later, that I did nothing wrong there. Now, 
 your invitation of me to your house will mean that you 
 freely consent to my endeavoring to win the affections 
 of Miss Orlington. I am going to make her my wife if 
 such a thing is within the range of possibilities. With- 
 out such a result life would be worthless to me." 
 
 The Colonel was evidently astounded by this speech. 
 His conviction of my guilt was somewhat shaken, though 
 I could see that his mind preponderated to the view that 
 I was merely carrying the matter off for the moment 
 with a brazen face. He said, at length : " You are cer- 
 tainly acting honorably in saying this to me, if that is 
 your feeling." 
 
 I said " Good-day," and started for Spartanburg. I 
 will trouble the reader with no extended record of the 
 thoughts which occupied me during the next twenty- 
 four hours. As I rode along at a rapid pace I became 
 more hopeful than I had ever been before of the con- 
 summation which had been almost my " all in all " for 
 so many months. My blood was up, and the old fore- 
 taste of victory was in full volume. " The reaction in
 
 254 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 their feelings , when they come to know the truth, will 
 settle the matter at once," I thought. " I can under- 
 stand now why Martha was in such a panic when she 
 caught a glimpse of me. If she had n't cared for me, her 
 face would n't have had such a look as that. Blessings 
 upon old Jorman ! If he had never called me ' Nolly,' 
 my life would have fizzled out to nothing." 
 
 I reached Spartanburg about five o'clock in the even- 
 ing, and found Mr. Klergham straightening up his office 
 preparatory to going home for the day. He looked at 
 me with evident surprise, pronounced my name, and 
 mechanically offered his hand. 
 
 " No, Mr. Klergham," I said, " I will not inflict a hand- 
 shake on you till you have ceased to regard me as a vil- 
 lian. I don't blame you a particle for what you have 
 said. This thing has come about through my own super- 
 lative senselessness. But I have come to ask you to send 
 a telegram to some acquaintance of yours at Mackopah. 
 I remember that you went there in company with Wil- 
 liam Bernton, and I believe he is there still." 
 
 " Yes ; he is established in business there," was the 
 response. 
 
 " Is he known and trusted about here ? " 
 
 " Very widely known and very thoroughly trusted." 
 I sat down and wrote : " To William Bernton, Macko- 
 pah, Dakota. How did the affairs of Bidrop at Macko- 
 pah turn out ? Answer fully at my expense." 
 
 " Certainly," said Mr. Klergham, " I will send the 
 telegram. It is simply just that I should do so." 
 
 I laid upon his table a roll of bank-notes, to pay the 
 cost of telegraphing, and was moving toward the door, 
 when the lawyer said : " Stop a moment, if you please. 
 I want to say now, since I have taken occasion really to
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 255 
 
 look at you, which I never did before, that I believe in 
 you notwithstanding all those dark-looking circum- 
 stances. I should like to shake hands with you before 
 you go, Mr. Bidrop." 
 
 I saw he was in earnest and grasped his hand heartily, 
 telling him that I should be in waiting at the Commercial 
 Hotel. The hours dragged very slowly, and I slept but 
 little that night. I could not help fearing that Bernton 
 would be away, or that something would prolong the 
 period of suspense. But about eleven o'clock, the next 
 morning, Klergham rushed into the smoking-room with 
 the answer to his telegram, which read as follows : " We 
 did Bidrop great injustice. Protest all a mistake. Delay 
 in getting deeds recorded. He returned with plenty of 
 money and a large force of men. Achieved a magnifi- 
 cent success. Made a fortune. Has the boundless con- 
 fidence of every one here." 
 
 As I read these words, there were two or three tears 
 which I was unable to choke back. Klergham patted 
 my shoulder, and, as Boon as I had regained my com- 
 posure, he said : " Now, my friend, I want you to do me 
 a little favor. I want you to take back all this money 
 that you left upon my table and let me bear the expense 
 of the telegrams." I expostulated with him ; but he 
 had his way in the end. I then asked : 
 
 "Will you communicate this information to Colonel 
 Orlington? " 
 
 He answered : " I have already started a messenger to 
 Colonel Orlington with a copy of Bernton's telegram. My 
 man happened to be at the office when it came. He 
 used to belong to the colonel." 
 
 " Mr. Klergham," said I, " I am glad these things have 
 taken place. I am glad to have come into these relations
 
 256 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 with a South Carolina gentleman. But I must be start- 
 ing for home." 
 
 " I think I know what port you are bound for," he 
 said, " and I wish you success with all my heart." 
 
 I reached Ellermere a little after dark, and retired 
 quite early. As I was beginning to dress, the next 
 morning, Aunt Phyllis came to my door and called out : 
 " Yere 's Misser Johnny Orlin'ton a-wantin' ter see ye. 
 De Lord bress *im." 
 
 I opened my door, and John rushed in and nearly 
 wrenched my hand from my wrist. " Pa wants you to 
 come over to breakfast," he said. "We 've all been about 
 upset with happiness since last night. What a driver 
 you are ! There 's no poking about and dallying around 
 when you go at a thing. We had all just come out from 
 supper last night, when we heard a big knocking at the 
 door and, in a second or two, Nanny screamed out that 
 there was Mr. Klergham's Ben. 'a-wantin' de Colonel'. 
 Ben came in and handed pa a letter and said : ' I reckon 
 it 's suthin mighty speshalus. Boss tole me let de mare 
 slide like de debble wor a-chasin' 'er'. Pa handed the 
 letter to Sis and told her to see what was in it. She 
 went to where the lamp was and leaned over to it a little, 
 and we were all standing around her, and she read out 
 loud. Mr. Klergham said he hastened to repair an in- 
 justice he had done. Then there was the copy of Mr. 
 Bernton's telegram. We know all about Mr. Bernton ; 
 he 's one of the best men in the world. And Mr. Klerg- 
 ham said at the end that he considered you one of the 
 truest gentlemen he ever met. Sis read pretty fast and 
 had got all through before she appeared to understand 
 what she had been reading. Then, all at once, she 
 turned as white as a sheet, and dropped the letter on the
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 257 
 
 floor, and screamed out ' Papa ! ' and threw her arms 
 about his neck, and began to cry terribly. Pa sat down 
 in a chair and took Sis in his lap and kept saying 
 'There, there,' to her. It ain't often that Sis boo-hoos, 
 but she went it then I tell you. Well, the fact is, I 
 reckon we all made a nice lot of babies of ourselves. 
 After a while Sis got so she could talk, and then she told 
 us she was sorry to be so foolish, but we could n't imagine 
 how wretched she had been ever since that report came 
 about you. She said it was such a disappointment to 
 have to think that a person who had seemed to be so good 
 and noble had turned out to be dishonest after all. She 
 told us she had had wicked doubts come into her mind 
 about there being any goodness in the world, and wicked 
 questions about whether it was any use to try to be good 
 as long as we are living in such a bad world. Sis said 
 she had been fighting off such thoughts by making her- 
 self think of pa and ma and the old general and a few 
 more, and had prayed every little while, but she had had 
 to keep going through the fight in her mind over and 
 over, every day." 
 
 Soon after I had gotten out my horse and we had 
 started on our way, John gave me a sidelong glance and 
 said, in a low voice : " Pa told Sis every word you said 
 to him the other day." 
 
 I could hardly have asked what the result was if my 
 life had been at stake. But John saw the agony of sus- 
 pense in my face, and went on : " She sat right still in 
 pa's lap, and appeared like she was looking right sharply 
 at nothing ; and there was a queer little pinkish color 
 on her cheeks. By and by she put her hand up in pa's 
 hair, and asked him what made him let you say such 
 foolish things to him. Then she went to the window
 
 258 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 and pushed the curtain one side, and sat down and 
 looked out into the moonlight, with her face in her 
 hands and her elbows on the window-sill. She sat there 
 as still as a mouse a good long time. She did n't say a 
 word nor make a motion till she came round to kiss us 
 all good-night, as she always does. Then she told pa 
 she had made up her mind not to punish him just yet, 
 and she said she reckoned ma would n't be naughty any 
 more, and she pulled my ear and asked me if I did n't 
 know that I was the greatest rascal in South Carolina. 
 Then she took up her lamp and backed out of the room 
 in a play-actor kind of a way, and kept saying, in a little 
 more than a whisper : ' To bed ; to bed ; to bed.' Pa 
 said she was taking off Lady Mac Something, in 
 Shakespeare. He said he remembered telling her once 
 how Charlotte Cushman used to speak those words." 
 
 When we arrived at the house Colonel Orlington met 
 me with a countenance overflowing with joy ; and, this 
 time, there was no lack of force in the hand-clasp which 
 he gave me. He attempted to apologize for having be- 
 lieved evil of me ; but I refused to listen to him. I hung 
 my hat on a rack in the hall, and the Colonel then con- 
 ducted me to the parlor-door, opened it for me, and shut 
 it behind me when I had passed into the room. Looking 
 to the right, I saw Miss Martha rise from a sofa, take 
 two or three steps and then stop. I walked straight up 
 to her, and my arms were around her and my lips were 
 pressed to hers before either of us had uttered a word. 
 Our betrothal was complete ; and yet a syllable upon the 
 subject had never passed between us. But there was no 
 lack of such syllables when we sat side by side on the 
 sofa. I found that Mr. Jorman had read the young 
 lady's mind correctly, in the main, and that his philoso-
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 259 
 
 phizing on what necessarily followed from that inter- 
 change of gazes, which he had regarded as so momentous, 
 was justified by the facts. It turned out that my 
 inquiries about the ownership of Ellermere, with the look 
 that was in my eyes at the time, had operated as a reve- 
 lation of my ultimate object, and that my having con- 
 tracted for the purchase of the property had been 
 accepted as strong confirmation. On my asking if my 
 silence on the subject of my love had not seemed strange 
 to her, Martha replied : 
 
 " Oh, if you had been anybody else, I should have 
 pushed all thoughts of your caring for me out of my 
 mind. But I knew that what others would do under the 
 circumstances was no rule for you. I knew you were 
 strong enough to keep silent, howe'ver full your heart 
 might be, if you thought you ought to. You see I under- 
 stood you pretty well. I made one mistake, though. I 
 supposed you would get settled down at Ellermere, and 
 then pay your attentions in a gradual sort of a way, like 
 other folks. I had no idea of your taking me by storm 
 in this way." 
 
 At the breakfast-table I was naturally led into a narra- 
 tion of the circumstances by which Mr. Klergham had 
 been misled ; and my severe criticisms of my own con- 
 duct drew from my betrothed some very manifest signs 
 of indignation. She said I had no right to make such 
 remarks, and that Solomon himself would not have acted 
 any more wisely when every thing was all new to him. 
 That was the first time I ever excited her displeasure, 
 but not the last. 
 
 While I was taking my after-breakfast smoke, with the 
 back of my chair against a window, I felt the gentlest of 
 all possible pinches upon my ear, and heard a whispered
 
 260 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 " Nolly." When I whirled around, the laughing maiden 
 had sprung back a yard or two ; but I soon had hold of 
 her hand. 
 
 "Why do you call me ' Nolly ' ?" I asked. 
 
 "Oh," she answered, " that has been my name for you 
 ever since you were here with Mr. Jorman, my own 
 private name, you know. I have never called you so 
 aloud, except sometimes when I knew nobody could hear 
 me. I like to think how your friend came to give you 
 that name. Besides, ' Nolly ' is so much better than 
 ' George ' for the name of a nice little pet. And do you 
 know that I have actually dreamed of pinching your 
 ear ? " 
 
 After a few delicious hours, I said that I must go and 
 carry the good news to my mother, and then I gave as 
 clear an idea as I could of her deep sympathy with me 
 throughout my momentous heart-experience. Over- 
 hearing me ask Martha when I should bring my mother 
 to see her, the Colonel inquired : 
 
 " Does your mother hold to any rule according to 
 which it would seem indelicate for Martha to call on her 
 first?" 
 
 " I am not aware that she does," I answered. "We 
 have never moved in highly fashionable society, nor 
 made a study of its rules. As a family we have always 
 kept ourselves very much at liberty." 
 
 "Matters of etiquette," said the Colonel, "take up very 
 few of our thoughts. We merely try lo get at what is 
 right. The general feeling around here is, that, when a 
 meeting is to be brought about between a young person 
 and a person more advanced in years, who are at some 
 distance from each other, the necessary exertion should 
 be borne by the younger of the two. Besides, Mrs. Or-
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 261 
 
 lington and myself must insist on paying our respects to 
 your mother before any thing is said of her visiting us. 
 This is due to her as a new-comer in South Carolina. If 
 you think it proper, we will all come to Verdville to- 
 morrow. We will take dinner at the hotel, and you can 
 then conduct us to your mother." 
 
 " Let it be understood then," I said, " that you will 
 be my guests at the hotel. My mother and Dolly will be 
 there to receive you." 
 
 I arrived at the cottage in Verdville just as the sun 
 was setting. My mother caught sight of me through the 
 window, as I rode up, and flew to the door. As soon as 
 she saw my face clearly, she turned back into the house 
 and called out, " Dolly ! Dolly ! It is all right. O how 
 good the Lord is! " 
 
 The conversation which took place that evening, within 
 the walls of the little cottage, must be left to the imagina- 
 tions of my readers. They will have little difficulty in 
 reproducing the happy scene for themselves, unless I have 
 failed in my purpose to make them acquainted with the 
 widow, the son, and the daughter, of Jabez Bidrop. 
 
 I was able to secure the exclusive use of a large parlor 
 at the hotel for our visit with the Orlingtons ; and the 
 occasion was full of interest. My dear mother was made 
 very happy by the Colonel's account of her beloved hus- 
 band's college-life. Dolly was wholly satisfied as she 
 sat clasping the waist of her " sister Martha." Mrs. Or- 
 lington's calm religiousness helped us to see all subjects 
 under discussion in their higher relations ; and John's 
 vivacity seemed to quicken the vital forces of all. It 
 was a blessed day. 
 
 I awoke the next morning with my faculties ready for 
 business and with such a consciousness of energy as I
 
 262 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 had seldom known. The house at Ellermere was tb be 
 put in a habitable condition in the shortest time possible. 
 'Half a day sufficed for the maturing of my plan of oper- 
 ations. My architect's examinations were made at once, 
 and his " bills " for materials were soon in my hands. 
 All points of the compass were drawn upon for lumber, 
 brick, lime, hardware, carpenters, masons, painters, and 
 tinners. The principal timbers in the frame of the main 
 building were found to be entirely sound ; and I pre- 
 served the original plan of the house with the addition 
 of two bay windows and two entirely new wings. While 
 work on the house was proceeding, it was necessary for 
 me to make arrangements for the cultivation of my land. 
 Under Colonel Orlington's advice I rode over nearly 
 every day to ask his advice I determined to do but little 
 farming myself the first season, but to throw up several 
 small houses for tenants at convenient points on the 
 plantation. There was a swarm of applicants for oppor- 
 tunity to plant on shares ; and I selected such as the 
 Colonel or John pointed out as the best men. In most 
 cases I had to furnish mules and their " feed," and to 
 advance provisions for the families to live on while mak- 
 ing their crops. Fortunately, the "no-fence law," as it 
 is called, had been adopted by the county in which 
 Ellermere is situated. It was then a " local-option law," 
 but has since been extended over the whole State. 
 
 I had sent Mrs. Jorman diagrams of the two floors of 
 my house, and she had kindly selected furniture for all 
 the rooms. It was on hand as soon as the house was 
 ready for it. Then we had a wedding and a house- 
 warming ; and then my darling and I were by ourselves 
 in our own home, just beginning to comprehend our own 
 blessedness.
 
 ANOTHER WINTER. 263 
 
 After a few days we rode over to Verdville, intending 
 to urge that Dolly should take a room at the hoarding- 
 school, and that my mother should come and make her 
 permanent home with us. But a great surprise awaited 
 us. We found my mother acting as house-keeper at the 
 boarding-school, and exercising a general watch-care 
 over the girls. " You see, George," the dear lady said, 
 " when I found that I had no more struggling of yours, 
 either for a fortune or a wife, to put my heart into, I be- 
 gan to feel that some of my life was going out of me, 
 and that I needed something that was not finished, and 
 something that would go wrong if it was let alone, to 
 take up my thoughts. Well, the girls, who came in one 
 after another to take tea with Dolly, drew so many con- 
 trasts between the little dishes we had made up and what 
 they had at the boarding-school, that I got to be very 
 anxious for them to have more wholesome food. Then 
 I thought how easy it would be to help them about 
 giving their thoughts a better turn. I don't know how 
 it would have come out if I had n't received something 
 by mail which I had requested Serena to send me, so 
 that Dolly could embroider a piece from it. I will show 
 it to you." 
 
 She brought out from her portfolio a long strip of 
 paper and unfolded it for us. It was a copy, in large Greek 
 characters, of Jorman's motto : " OVH 
 
 " I see how it all came about," I said. 
 
 " Of course you do. You could n't help seeing it. 
 And you must let me have my way, dear for a while, 
 anyway. I shall always know that you would receive me 
 with open arms if I should come to you. The work is 
 doing me a great deal of good. I have such a nice trial
 
 264 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 of my patience with the servants. I find that I have not 
 lost all my temper by growing old. And I think some of 
 the girls are beginning to love me. If you want to sup- 
 port me, as you always have done, I should like to use 
 what I earn, to help two or three of the girls who are 
 afraid they will have to leave the school on account of 
 the expense." 
 
 I had been sleeping some time, the night after our re- 
 turn from this visit, when I was aroused by a pretty 
 vigorous pulling of my ear and the question : " Are you 
 wide-awake, Nolly ? " 
 
 " I shall be pretty soon if you keep on," I answered. 
 
 " I have been thinking about something." 
 
 " That is a remarkable circumstance. Shall I get up 
 and light a lamp ? " 
 
 " Don't be silly now. Will you teach me the Greek 
 alphabet to-morrow, so that I can pick out that ' Ouk 
 diako '? You know what I mean." 
 
 " I will do so with great pleasure." 
 
 " Nolly, dear." 
 
 " Well ? " 
 
 " I have almost a good mind to try to be useful. Just a 
 little, you know. I can't be like your mother, of course. 
 I think I shall talk with Aunt Phyllis to-morrow and 
 have her go and visit all the tenants' wives, and see if 
 she can't get them to be more careful about their daugh- 
 ters. And don't you think Uncle Sim ought to have a 
 new pair of shoes ? His old ones are so torn and run 
 down at the heels they must hurt him. I remember 
 when he used to dance about with me sitting on his 
 shoulder."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 
 
 TV TY wife and I got acquainted with each other quite 
 m fast. Neither of us had ever practised self- 
 repression to a great extent ; and I suppose that the 
 state peculiar to newly married couples is highly favora- 
 ble to spontaneity. Besides, we were both inclined to 
 be talkative, and we had a variety of practical questions 
 to consider. Thus many points in the character of each 
 of us were soon brought to light. It was impossible that 
 there should be long delay in my wife's making one un- 
 pleasant discovery. The fact that I was " quick-tem- 
 pered " had been commented upon by every one who 
 had ever known me at all intimately. It was chiefly in 
 allusion to this trait that Jorman had spoken of my 
 " internal pop-guns " as being " a little too quick on the 
 trigger." He told me afterwards that he had anticipated 
 my " flaring up with noticeable fervor " whenever my 
 wife should call my views in question. He said the 
 more ardently I loved her the more sure I was to be 
 exasperated by a failure on her part to share my senti- 
 ments on any subject. Then he expatiated on what he 
 called the " laws governing our susceptibility to percep- 
 tion of sympathy and perception of the lack of sympa- 
 thy." It turned out, on the other hand, that my wife 
 was by no means deficient in a healthy capacity for 
 resentment ; and an on-looker might have predicted that 
 
 265
 
 266 v THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 our domestic life would be marred by many scenes 
 which it would be unpleasant for us to remember. I 
 fear that such would have been the case if my wife had 
 been less happily constitued. She would have been the 
 last person in the world, however, to convert an insig- 
 nificant matter into a great affliction. Perhaps, also, her 
 experience had given her peculiar fitness for dealing 
 with my special form of perverseness. From her child- 
 hood she had practised seeking out and indicating all 
 that was bright in circumstances and prospects in order 
 to cheer her father. Hence there was no danger of her 
 getting into an unhappy frame of mind on account of 
 my absurd outbursts. That would have made our case 
 very much worse, because what I regard as the needless 
 unhappiness of those whom I love is the hardest of 
 all things for me to bear patiently. But, instead of sub- 
 jecting me to such a trial, she got in the way of counter- 
 acting my anger by exciting my sense of the ludicrous. 
 She often assumed some comic role, and displayed a gift 
 which might have made her fortune if she had taken to 
 the stage. On one occasion she hit on an expedient 
 which proved very valuable to me. I had surpassed my- 
 self in unreasonableness, and she left the room in silence. 
 While I was pretending to read a book, which might as 
 well have been printed in Sanscrit for all the meaning I 
 was getting out of it, she returned with a slender little 
 switch which she had taken from a peach-tree. Then 
 she began to talk about the pain it gave her to be com- 
 pelled to chastise her little boy. She felt almost as bad 
 as she did that day when she had eaten so many cucum- 
 bers. But she must do her duty. She could not bear 
 the thought of having her boy grow up to be so naughty 
 that he would have to be hung. No ; after all her pride
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 267 
 
 in him and her bright hopes of him, she could not have 
 him make such an exhibition of himself. She had 
 thought that she might live to see him the driver of a 
 four-mule team, and had even dreamed of his going to 
 the city and getting to be an excellent hand at opening 
 oysters. After all these things, her consenting to his 
 being hung was out of the question. What would people 
 think ? It was so improper for a man to climb up to the 
 top of a gallows and have himself hung. It was so con- 
 trary to the rules of good society for a gentleman to have 
 himself held perpendicular by a rope around his neck. 
 Everybody knew that when a gentleman was perpendic- 
 ular in good society he had his feet touching something. 
 
 She ran on in this way until she had me rolling on the 
 carpet in a fit of laughter, from which it took me a long 
 time to recover ; and the scene got itself so intimately 
 associated in my mind with unreasonable anger that I 
 usually began to laugh before I had time to scold. The 
 peach-tree switch was laid on top of a " whatnot " near 
 my writing-table, and it lies there to-day. 
 
 Early in the summer Jorman wrote me a letter, from 
 which I make the following extract : 
 
 " Let it be set down that your adorable and her adorer 
 are to make their home in the old Jorman house during 
 July and August. That is, we will all have this house 
 for our base of operations, and make as many raids on 
 proximitous resorts as we please. But if I succeed in my 
 experiment, we shall be apt to stick pretty closely to the 
 old house. Just think of my attempting an experiment 
 in the realm of matter. It came about in this way : I 
 happened to pick up a little twenty- cent book entitled 
 ' Science in Short Chapters,' and to read a description of 
 the plan on which the English coal-mines are ventilated.
 
 268 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 The thing interested me, and led me to ask : ' Why can't 
 a house be ventilated after that fashion ? ' I have no 
 head for such things, as you are very well aware, and 
 perhaps I am making a fool of myself. But I have got 
 started in, and I am going to go ahead. I am building a 
 big tower at the rear of my house, and am going to have 
 it extend some feet above the highest point in the roof. 
 Near the top of the tower I am going to have a tank for 
 ice-water, and one of those wheels with pegs in the peri- 
 phery for elevating ice. Connected with the tank 
 there is to be a set of iron pipes enclosed in a tight box 
 which will extend from the top of the tower to the 
 ground. This box will be in a corner of the tower, and 
 on top of it will be fitted one of those big revolving air- 
 funnels which always face the wind. About twelve feet 
 from the bottom of the tower there will be a tight floor 
 with a trap-door in it, which can be raised when we are 
 lifting the ice. You see we shall have quite a big cham- 
 ber for cold air. This will be connected by air-pipes 
 with some of the rooms which will be so closed up as to 
 receive but little air from any other quarter. These 
 rooms will be connected by other air-pipes with a smoke- 
 stack in the corner of the tower diagonally across from 
 the box of pipes. I am having a fellow contrive a fur- 
 nace to be placed in the smoke-stack. He says he can 
 get up a ' thundering heat,' and leave a plenty of room 
 for the passage of air. I don't see why I can't get a 
 pretty big volume of tolerably cool air into the rooms. 
 And it ought to be a good deal purer than the air which has 
 just been kissing the mud. If it is desiccated too much 
 we must manage to have evaporation going on some- 
 where. If necessary, I can get some one to contrive a 
 device for letting in steam which has been cooled till it is
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 269 
 
 on the point of condensation. Of course the water in 
 the pipes will have to be changed pretty often, but it 
 won't be enormously expensive to have a specialist de- 
 voting all his time to the regulation of our climate. He 
 can be peeking through a pane of glass at thermometers, 
 barometers, hygrometers, and every thing of that sort. 
 Don't you see what a scientist I am getting to be ? The 
 leaders of modern thought had better look out for their 
 laurels. If you forget our number, just walk along the 
 south side of West 34th Street, with your face toward 
 the home of the polar-bear, till you see a tower topped 
 off with a smoke-stack and a revolving air-funnel." 
 
 This invitation was highly acceptable to us. It is true 
 that my wife evinced some trepidation at the prospect of 
 going for the first time among residents of a great North- 
 ern city. She seemed to take it for granted that I should 
 have a feeling similar to one of which she had been con- 
 scious, and which had caused us some trouble. It was 
 an anxiety, just a little morbid, as to the impression 
 which I should make on her South Carolina acquaint- 
 ances. Such a feeling leads, of course, to more or less 
 of such exacting criticism as one dislikes to encounter. 
 But my wife had no reason to apprehend that I should 
 experience any uneasiness of that nature. I knew that 
 she would be none other than her charming self, and 
 that she would appear to be precisely what she was. It 
 was certain that she would never excite a smile by " putting 
 on airs," nor display ignorance by attempting to appear 
 especially bright. Whatever might be her self-distrust, on 
 any occasion, I knew the command which she held over 
 her nerves would keep her from attracting attention by 
 an appearance of embarrassment. 
 
 We reached New York early in July, and I need not
 
 270 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 dwell on the heartiness of our welcome. Though my 
 wife had never met the ladies of the household, she had 
 drawn from me the materials for so distinct a conception 
 of them, and they had so often heard Jorman describe 
 her appearance and expatiate on her characteristics, that 
 the meeting was more like that of old friends than of 
 strangers. There was nothing to hinder an immediate 
 revelation of my wife's constitutional joyousness, and on 
 the second morning Jorman was prepared to greet her 
 with the question : " How is Felicita this morning ? " 
 
 " There," said Kitty, " I knew Uncle Psycho would 
 get the right name for you. But we must shorten it, 
 just as he shortened Mr. Bidrop's name from Knowledge- 
 compeller to Nolly. What shall it be ? Feley ? No, I 
 don't like that. Oh ! I am going to call you Lissey ; 
 and I am going to remember it means that you are al- 
 ways happy yourself and always making every one else 
 happy." 
 
 This name was adopted by general consent ; and it 
 has become a very sweet name to me. Kitty, from the 
 very outset, evinced a vehement liking for my wife. The 
 intimation, in Kitty's presence, that "Lissey" was less 
 beautiful than some other woman, or inferior in any re- 
 spect, was sure to bring on a scene. On the other hand, 
 there was a full appreciation of those characteristics 
 which had won the apellation, " Miss Loyalty," ab- 
 breviated by my wife to " Loyey." When they were 
 both in a prankish mood, which was quite often, they 
 satisfied all our desires in the way of mirth provoking, 
 Kitty found satisfaction in telling "all her heart " to my 
 wife ; and I soon came to understand that some trouble- 
 some apprehensions were mingling with her thoughts of 
 Orrin Barleck. She had no fear of his ever ceasing to
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 271 
 
 love her. But she felt that, as to the nature of his future 
 career, all was uncertainty. She saw that there was 
 something in him which made it quite probable that his 
 way of life would be different from that of clergymen in 
 general. She knew that he was capable of sacrificing 
 popular favor to his convictions. " I don't think I 'm cut 
 out for a martyr," she said ; " but, if Orrin chooses 
 martyrdom for us, I am ready to share it with him, and 
 I won't let anybody say he 's foolish." 
 
 I learned from Jorman that none of the family were 
 free from misgivings on this subject. " I am afraid," he 
 said, "that Miss Loyalty's big heart is destined to be 
 badly wrenched. It is certain to my mind that Orrin 
 will be classed as an impracticable enthusiast as soon as 
 he gets started out in his work, but there is no such 
 thing as foreseeing what particular tangent he will go off 
 on. He has been drifting out of the atmosphere of 
 hyper-Calvinism, and is getting to be all taken up with 
 the character and missionary work of Paul. He said, 
 the last time he was here, that a life like Paul's was the 
 only one it was worth a man's while to live. I see, also, 
 that he is becoming enamoured of poverty, and, if his for- 
 tune were under his own control, I should expect him to 
 give it all away very soon. But it is so tied up that he 
 can use only the income of it, which amounts to about 
 $3,000 a year." 
 
 I could perceive no change in Mrs. Jorman, except an 
 obvious deepening of her tranquil happiness, and the 
 natural effects of new responsibilities. Her talk was still 
 limited, for the most part, to timely and fruitful sugges- 
 tions. Her house-keeping was so systematized that it 
 seemed to go on of itself : and any thing that was wanted 
 could be produced in a moment. In the matter of little
 
 272 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 civilities, she quietly and smilingly assumed that it was 
 no part of her husband's duty to think of them. When 
 any subject of interest was engaging his thoughts, he 
 could never observe whether his guests were sitting or 
 standing, or whether their plates were full or empty ; but 
 the civilities were always extended in the most agreeable 
 manner ; and Jorman's abstraction was thought of only 
 as a pleasing feature of the household life. 
 
 From nine to twelve o'clock, every morning, the master 
 and mistress of the house were closeted together in what 
 they called their " working room," which adjoined the 
 library. I gathered that they were occupied chiefly, at 
 those hours, in comparing modes of beneficence, and in des- 
 ignating the resources at their immediate command, with a 
 view to meeting what they saw to be the most pressing 
 needs. Jorman told me that he had kept Tom Clonmell 
 employed nearly two months, the previous winter, in col- 
 lecting information as to the organized charities of the city. 
 
 I was interested in my friend's account of the consid- 
 erations which had influenced the selection of a church 
 for the family. " I had no old associations that made 
 me care much more for one denomination than I did for 
 another," he said. " But the case was different with 
 Serena. She says she was a zealous sectarian when she 
 was a little girl. She is pretty well over that now. Of 
 course, though, her old ties have a good deal of strength 
 yet, and I told her the matter of our denomination was 
 settled at the outset. In fact, I soon got to being glad 
 that her hereditary church relations were just what they 
 were. I don't know much about the distinctive tenets 
 of the different religious bodies, and I have no sense of 
 duty driving me to make a study of them. But 1 am so 
 much of an old fogy that the maintenance of what seems
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 273 
 
 to me to have been the original style of the ordinances, 
 and their original order of precedence, commends itself 
 to my taste. Well, the next thing was to determine 
 whether we would unite with a congregation composed 
 almost exclusively of poor people with limited culture or 
 with a different congregation up-town. In one point of 
 view it was plain that the poor church needed us most ; 
 but it did n't take us long to see that we should always 
 be at liberty to help a poor church with our money 
 whether we were members of it or not. We went over 
 the ground very thoroughly, and made pictures of our- 
 selves in both positions. We saw that we might easily 
 become a disturbing force in the poor congregation, or, 
 at least an obstacle to the inter-flow which depends on 
 congeniality, and that we should be in danger of being 
 suspected of a disposition to " run things " because we 
 were rich. Then, as to our personal influence, Serena 
 said that the rich needed that kind of help quite as much 
 as the poor did, and that in view of the greater power of 
 persons in easy circumstances, an influence for good 
 upon them seemed to be more important to the world 
 than it would be if exerted upon persons who were less 
 able to bring about results. Finally it came to our view 
 that what should be the decisive consideration, after all, 
 had to do with the effect of our surroundings, and of the 
 services which we should attend, upon our own person- 
 alities. The upshot of the matter was that we joined a 
 congregation where our money is not needed, and put it 
 in the power of a poor church to employ a more efficient 
 pastor than it could have had without our help. There 
 is no doubt about our being right. I can see that Serena 
 is gradually making herself felt among the ladies of our 
 congregation, and you know what that means."
 
 274 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 During the working hours of Mr. and Mrs. Jorman I 
 was usually engaged in conducting my wife and Kitty to 
 various points in the city and helping them to study the 
 objects of interest. After lunch Jorman and I were in 
 the habit of going for a while to his room in Tenth 
 Street ; and he favored me with many of his peculiar 
 talks. On one occasion he surprised me by saying : " I 
 wish we could repeat that Mackopah strike." 
 
 " Why," said I, " I thought the money coming from 
 that source was going to be a great burden to you." 
 
 " Yes," he responded, laughingly, " I thought so too, 
 at first. But I could n't have been expected to care 
 about having more money so soon after my conversion. 
 I have been growing, you know. It don't take many 
 weeks of hunting after beneficent uses of money to make 
 a man feel that he would like to have the wealth of all 
 the Rothschilds at his disposal. Serena and I are con- 
 stantly racking our brains to find out how we can make 
 the little we have to give most productive. I am revolv- 
 ing a plan for bringing some of my rich acquaintances 
 into co-operation with us. They have got to come down 
 with their greenbacks sooner or later. This thing of 
 ministering is a tremendous matter. The worst of it is 
 that you can't give people the help they are most in need 
 of by the use of money, except in an indirect and hap- 
 hazard way, which always leaves you in doubt as to 
 whether any good is going to be accomplished or not. 
 It is easy enough to furnish a man with something which 
 will make the outside of his head comfortable, but an 
 all-killing hard job to do any thing for the inside of it. 
 This thing upsets my patience every time I get to think- 
 ing about it. A man has no business to be a fool. A 
 fellow's acquiescence in his own stupidity is one of the
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 275 
 
 most rascally things of which he can be guilty. The 
 overshadowing vice of the civilized world is the intellec- 
 tual laziness which keeps men from meditating on their 
 own needs. Well, all we can do with this vice is to 
 ' keep pegging away ' at it, as Lincoln did at the rebel- 
 lion. We must hope that, some time, there will be a 
 better understanding of the responsibility inseparable , 
 from a power to think. For bringing this about we must 
 rely chiefly on the pulpit and the press. But how large 
 a part of the press indicates any appreciation of that 
 responsibility ? Don't you suppose that more than half 
 the writers for the public are ready to echo the idiotic 
 sentiment, that a man is never to be blamed for his opin- 
 ions ? Besides, most of these writers feel the necessity 
 of allowing the characters of their productions to be 
 governed by the popular demand ; and how much of a 
 demand is there for writings which will set men to ask- 
 ing, with thoroughgoing earnestness, What are our needs ? 
 Take the pulpit now. How many sermons did you ever 
 hear in which the duty of intellectual industry was in- 
 sisted on ? The preachers are doing a work of incalcu- 
 lable magnitude in getting men headed in the right 
 direction. If they should withdraw from the field the 
 world would soon go to the bow-wows. But they are 
 not doing what they ought to do for the understandings 
 of men. The trouble is that they don't see to what a 
 measureless extent a man's eternal welfare depends on 
 the development of his intellectual power. They have 
 no just apprehension of the relation between the head 
 and the heart. It will be understood, one of these days, 
 that a theological education, which leaves psychology' 
 out of sight, is quite as defective as a medical education \ 
 without either anatomy or physiology would be."
 
 276 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 One day, when Tom Clonmell was present, Jorman 
 looked up from his newspaper and remarked : " So the 
 Senator and the General are going up to the Thousand 
 Islands for a little fishing. I would give a hundred 
 dollars for a record of one of their frank colloquies on 
 politics." 
 
 " You shall have it," Tom exclaimed. " I 've been 
 thinking about going up there for a little fun myself." 
 
 " Will you sit down at a table, with pencil and paper, 
 and tell them to proceed ? " 
 
 " Oh, no. I see how I can manage to hear a colloquy ; 
 but I sha'n't write a word till afterwards." 
 
 " A very accurate report you would give." 
 
 " Suppose you try me, and see if I can report a con- 
 versation between you and George." 
 
 Tom lit a cigar and sat down in a lazy attitude, with a 
 newspaper in his hands. 
 
 " Well, Nolly, what subject shall we discuss ? " Jorman 
 asked. 
 
 " It might be well to make some remarks on bees- 
 wax," I replied. 
 
 " Ah, yes. Beeswax a momentous subject, with mani- 
 fold bearings. We will consider it historically, in the 
 first place. Then we will take a scientific view of it. 
 This will require us to trace the evolution of the bee 
 from the tadpole, and to point out the precise way in 
 which natural selection originated the proclivity to wax- 
 making. Finally, we will treat of the various uses of 
 beeswax in the arts. But first historically. Do you 
 remember what author made the earliest mention of 
 beeswax ? " 
 
 "I think it was Eli Perkins, nineteen hundred and 
 seven years before the Hegira."
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 277 
 
 " I believe you are correct ; and I remember that 
 Xenophon, in the Anabasis, spoke of finding it in com- 
 bination with some other ingredients." 
 
 We talked in that style some twenty minutes ; and 
 then Tom, who had appeared to be reading very atten- 
 tively all the time, wrote out a report in which neither of 
 us could detect an error. I was inclined to think that 
 he would manage in some way to make good his prom- 
 ise ; but the matter had nearly passed from our minds 
 when we received the following report : 
 
 " To THE HONORABLE, THE PSYCHOLOGIST AND THE 
 KNOWLEDGE-COMPELLER. 
 
 " GENTLEMEN : Having ascertained that the Senator 
 and the General would strike for the Bay, I telegraphed 
 a friend of mine at that place to buy me the best boat in 
 the market, with oars and fishing tackle, and received 
 the answer : ' Boat and equipment secured.' I shad- 
 owed my victims and became their co-passenger on the 
 train, dressed in character and bent on having a little 
 fling as a jolly Paddy. At a point in the road which my 
 scintillating genius had selected as a locus faciendi, I ap- 
 proached the distinguished gentlemen and made known 
 my willingness to place myself and my boat at their ser- 
 vice. They looked me over and drew forth some replies 
 which disclosed my good nature and my refreshing sim- 
 plicity ; and they caught a glimpse of my surpassing 
 merits. My services were engaged. That night I took 
 possession of my boat and its equipment. When I 
 arose the next morning I saw that meteorological con- 
 ditions would favor piscatorial proceedings. I went to a 
 butcher's shop and purchased a pound of bloody beef. 
 I divested myself of my vest, and imparted a distinctly
 
 278 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 observable bloodiness to the right side of my shirt-front. 
 I resumed and buttoned my vest, and the bloodiness be- 
 came invisible. I am not commissioned to record the 
 exploits and the jocose remarks of the mighty fishermen. 
 Our dinner was upon an island, and I cooked the pick- 
 erel with exceeding skill. After other hours of successful 
 and unsuccessful trolling, the declining sun admonished 
 us to take in the lines and move rapidly Bayward. Then, 
 once more, I divested myself of my vest, whereupon the 
 General exclaimed : ' Why, Tom, you have got on the 
 bloody shirt ! ' 
 
 " As I, in much confusion, was blundering out an ex- 
 planation, the following colloquy began : 
 
 " Senator In hoc signo vinces. 
 
 " General You think we can conquer under that 
 banner once more, do you ? 
 
 " Senator Undoubtedly. But, whatever our hopes or 
 fears, the necessity of waving it is imperative. We are in 
 no condition for a defensive campaign. Our entire line 
 of battle is flecked with vulnerable positions. Some as- 
 tounding facts have recently come to my knowledge. 
 The maintenance of an espionage upon the administra- 
 tive branch of the public service has never had a place 
 among my occupations. I am not continually haunting 
 the departments. That is the congenial work of such 
 senators as are conscious of unfitness for legitimate sen- 
 atorial duties. I indicate my wishes in regard to posi- 
 tions for" my friends ; and I have reasons for believing 
 that, in many instances, my requests have been complied 
 with promptly, in order that occasion for my visiting the 
 departments personally might be precluded. As for the 
 corruptionists, by whose arts the public service has been 
 debauched, they are thoroughly aware that I should
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 279 
 
 trample them under foot as I would so many vipers, if 
 they should appear in my presence with ignoble sugges- 
 tions. You readily apprehend, therefore, why I have 
 but recently received knowledge of the forbidden work 
 which has been in progress. 
 
 " General You think, then, it is necessary to make 
 our people so angry with the South that they will give 
 no attention to exposures of evil practices in the admin- 
 istrative service ? 
 
 " Senator Most assuredly. So long as our front em- 
 braces these vulnerable positions, our only hope lies in 
 keeping the North arrayed against the South. While we 
 do this our overthrow is impossible, for the simple reason 
 that the North has an overwhelming preponderance both 
 in the House of Representatives and in the Electoral 
 College. 
 
 " General There are some signs which indicate a 
 growing weariness of the sectional issue among our 
 people. 
 
 " Senator Oh, that of course. A long spasm of popu- 
 lar fury is necessarily followed by a reaction. But the 
 craziness is renewed very easily when the proper machin- 
 ery is set in motion. However impervious to other 
 sentiments the masses may be, they are always ready to 
 get angry. This is true especially of the religious peo- 
 ple. They are never fully satisfied unless they are con- 
 signing foes to hell. Before this contest shall have 
 progressed very far, you will find the ministers beginning 
 to ' see red,' like Eugene Sue's coutcaurier. The 
 shepherds will soon change their sheep and lambs into 
 war-horses that will smell the battle afar off, and paw 
 and snort at the thunder of the captains and the shouting. 
 
 " General Your remark about the ministers reminds
 
 280 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 me that Bixtell expects ministerial aid of another kind in 
 his race for Congress. 
 
 " Senator How is that ? 
 
 " General I have been told that a minister is to bring 
 out the fact that Adderlow, in his bachelor days, made 
 one of those slips that you don't allow to be talked about 
 in your presence. 
 
 " Senator What ! Do you say that Bixtell is cogni- 
 zant of that design ? 
 
 " General As I understand, he is the instigator of the 
 revelation. 
 
 " Senator Then, I swear, I will have him beaten. 
 He understands thoroughly that no man can be sent to 
 Congress from that district without my consent ; and I 
 will never consent to the election of any man by a de- 
 vice so low and putrescent. Parading before households 
 and mixed multitudes such matter as a gentleman hastens 
 to put out of sight in his hours of utmost privacy ! 
 Pah ! I wish my party to have a majority in the House, 
 but not at such cost as that. 
 
 " General Do you contemplate dealing personally in 
 this canvass with the reports of Southern outrages ? 
 
 " Senator No ; I shall have nothing to do with them. 
 Each man must perform the work for which he is equip- 
 ped. My arguments, I hope, will be such as become a 
 statesman. I shall argue that the North ought to be the 
 governing section, because most of the national revenue 
 is collected in the North. 
 
 " General Does that argument bear convincing force 
 to your own mind ? 
 
 " Senator Your question is not at all pertinent. The 
 point to be determined is the probable weight of an 
 argument with those to whom it is addressed. Whether
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 281 
 
 it has irresistible force or is all bosh, in the speaker's 
 apprehension, is wholly void of consequence. The sole 
 business of the orator is to produce the convictions and 
 awaken the sentiments which will advance his cause. 
 To do this effectively, he must always bear in mind the 
 difference between his own intelligence and the average 
 intelligence of his hearers. 
 
 " General You apprehend no trouble from the pro- 
 ceedings of the reformers, I conclude ? 
 
 " Senator By no means. The precious sentimental- 
 ists entertain us with a few theatrical episodes in our 
 conventions, and air their chaste rhetoric through the 
 press. But they will be all in line at the opening of the 
 real battle ; and the remembrance of their preliminary 
 expostulations will enable them to prevent defections 
 among their elegant little followers. Let them come to 
 our conventions, and be voted down as often as they 
 choose We can rely on their Bourbonism to keep them 
 from affiliating with a party which they have spent their 
 lives in denouncing. Besides, almost to a man, they are 
 exceedingly susceptible to the magic of the bloody shirt. 
 
 " General Is there not some truth in their allegation 
 that, under the present system, our government is not a 
 government by the people ? 
 
 " Senator Undoubtedly there is. These gentlemen 
 plume themselves on their sagacity in having made this 
 discovery. But the fact has long been entirely familiar 
 to all practical men who are favored with any breadth 
 of intelligence. The theory of a government by the peo- 
 ple is very poetical ; it is gratifying to the vanity of the 
 masses, and its general acceptance is to be encouraged. 
 It is a serviceable illusion. This country is governed by 
 a company, large or small, of men proficient in practical
 
 282 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 politics, who know how to utilize the passions of the 
 ignorant multitudes. In a national contest, an army of 
 politicians who hold the offices is arrayed against an 
 army of politicians who want the offices ; and the popu- 
 lar vote, as some one said of Providence, accords the 
 victory to the side which carries the heaviest artillery. 
 
 " General We have some obvious advantages on that 
 score. I understand that arrangements for collecting 
 assessments upon the office-holders are very complete, 
 and that very rigid discipline is to be enforced. Some 
 of the millionaires and protected manufacturers also 
 speak very encouragingly. 
 
 " Senator Oh, yes. In the matter of financial ammu- 
 nition we have an excess over the enemy's resources, 
 amounting to as many millions as we choose to ask for. 
 But that is not our chief advantage. Our incomparable 
 point of superiority lies in the circumstance that we have 
 a vast army of trained workers, thoroughly organized, 
 impelled by the keenest self-interest, and paid from the 
 \ national treasury for serving our cause. In every nook 
 and corner of every State in the Union we have such a 
 worker on guard. Wherever there is a little post-office 
 the government is maintaining a man who will do our 
 bidding, and one who knows that his official security is 
 conditioned on his political fidelity. 
 
 " General With all these advantages it would seem 
 that we ought to be able to dispense with the sectional 
 issue. 
 
 " Senator Not just yet. If you had seen the vulner- 
 able places in our line as they have been revealed to me, 
 you would appreciate the necessity of a furious onslaught. 
 When we shall have gained one or two more national 
 victories, battle-cries will be of little importance. We
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 283 
 
 need a few additional years in which to solidify our 
 strength, to perfect our Organization, and to see every 
 important post occupied by a skilled disciplinarian. 
 Then the leaders of our party will constitute a self-per- 
 petuating body which can never be driven from power. 
 
 " The cheering prospect, brought into view by these 
 last words, gave birth to a period of silent contempla- 
 tion. As we were nearing the Bay the Senator asked : 
 ' Is your deal in the city fully arranged ? ' 
 
 " ' Very nearly so,' the General answered. ' There is 
 one point, however, which is giving me some trouble. 
 The old man insists on having Billy's place for one of 
 his heelers ; and Billy threatens to kick if he is dropped 
 out. He is capable of doing us a great deal of harm.' 
 
 " ' That is the only point now in controversy, is it ? ' 
 
 " ' Yes ; every thing else is settled very satisfactorily.' 
 
 " ' Well, we must make a place at the Federal crib for 
 Billy. Let him spot an official who is doing us no good, 
 and we will create a vacancy.' 
 
 " Thus ended the colloquy. 
 
 " Respectfully submitted, 
 
 " TOM CLONMELL." 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Jorman, after he had read this report 
 two or three times, " this is a more valuable revelation 
 than I expected. It is very rich in psychological inter- 
 est. For producing certain classes of effects the Senator 
 is one of the ablest men in America. I have sometimes 
 thought him to be the very ablest. And yet this colloquy 
 makes it plain that, as to general ability for the ascer- 
 tainment of truth, his superior can be picked up at any 
 street-corner. Although his intellectual power is mag- 
 nificent in volume, his intellectual greatness is altogether 
 fragmentary. He is wholly destitute of tranquil wisdom,
 
 284 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 and this for the reason that he has never systematically 
 trained himself to the use of the wise man's keys." 
 
 " What do you mean by ' the wise man's keys ' ? " I 
 asked. 
 
 " The key to contemplative wisdom is the question, 
 What is true ? The key to practical wisdom is, What 
 is right ? The two kinds of wisdom shade into each 
 other, and are often thoroughly blended ; but no man 
 can be wise no man can have an intellect worth a fig 
 for the highest offices of the intellect without strenuous 
 self-discipline, having for its end the maintenance of 
 preeminence among his impulses by a desire to know 
 the simple truth and a desire to do right. The Senator's 
 theory concerning the orator's legitimate work is the 
 theory of an ignoramus. If he had taken the first step 
 in ethical science, he would recoil with horror from the 
 raising of the sectional issue as a political expedient, and 
 he would see that nothing but moral baseness can ac- 
 count for the production of such a misleading argument 
 as he proposes to make." 
 
 " Still, the Senator gives evidence in this colloquy of 
 the possession of some very elevated moral principles." 
 
 " Oh, Nolly, those are not principles that are disclosed 
 here. They are mere repugnances. It is highly to his 
 credit, of course, that corruption and jobbery, with a 
 view to money-making, are insufferably offensive to his 
 taste, and that the political utilization of obscenity 
 awakens his wrath. His manifestation of these senti- 
 ments is an immense public benefaction which the coun- 
 try should never forget. But, after all, he makes it plain 
 that all such sentiments are mere matters of taste with 
 him, resting on no such substratum as a steadfast appre- 
 ciation of moral excellence."
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 285 
 
 " What do you think of what he says about the re- 
 formers ? " 
 
 " Well, that matter is not fairly straightened out in my 
 own mind. The truth is that I am not very well satisfied 
 with myself as an American voter. So far as politics 
 are concerned, I have always been a shirk. I have had 
 a pretty strong predilection for one of the parties, and 
 have cast my vote regularly for its candidates. But I 
 have done this without any of that sense of responsibility 
 which makes a fellow inquire into things with manly 
 vigor. I have lazily submitted to the impression that it 
 is only for politicians to make themselves familiar with 
 political affairs ; and I have had a conception of that 
 class of men which has made me unwilling to be one of 
 their number. But I believe I have been all wrong in 
 this. I can see that I have been unconsciously accept- 
 ing the Senator's theory that a national election is simply 
 a battle between two armies of spoilsmen. Now I know 
 some of these reformers, and I am pretty sure that they 
 understand what they are about. There is Gabriel Just- 
 man, for example. He is a very level-headed and 
 broadly cultivated man ; and he has taken a deep inter- 
 est in public affairs all his life, though he has never been 
 in office. He has been a good deal of a partisan, but 
 has shown some disposition to kick out of the traces 
 lately. I '11 tell you, Nolly. Justman is one of a com- 
 mittee who receive and disburse money for the purpose 
 of propagating the reform doctrines. Now if this is a 
 good cause, with a feasible plan, I want to help it a 
 little. But I ought to know something more about it 
 first. Suppose I ask Justman to come up here soon and 
 give us an explanation ? " 
 
 " I should be delighted to hear him talk. But I want
 
 286 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 to know just now how you are impressed by what the 
 Senator says about the preachers. I have been very 
 much troubled to understand why it is that so many of 
 those who are supposed to represent the very highest 
 morality show a disposition to take the lead in what 
 seems to me to be the wickedest partisan movement ever 
 known among men." 
 
 " That opens a subject of very grave interest. No- 
 body can understand it without some knowledge of 
 psychology, something that deserves to be called a knowl- 
 edge of psychology. There is a starting-point for an 
 explanation in the fact that a preacher's, or any other 
 very religious person's, susceptibility to the perception 
 of moral goodness and the perception of moral badness 
 is apt to be exceptionally acute. But just in proportion 
 to the shock which the perception or the imagination of 
 moral badness gives to one's emotional power, is the 
 inevitable reaction of his heart against those to whom 
 the badness is ascribed. If unrighteousness is believed 
 to characterize a population, the question whether that 
 belief is true or false has nothing to do with the result. 
 Indignation, which is neither more nor less than a dis- 
 position to punish, necessarily comes into being in either 
 case ; and its force is measured exactly by the keenness 
 of the susceptibility which I just mentioned. Now the 
 preachers of whom you speak believe that the Southern 
 whites, as a body, are unrighteous in their treatment of 
 the negroes, in their political methods, and in the senti- 
 ments with which they regard the Union and the North- 
 ern people. And here another force comes in. It 
 springs from the susceptibility to the perception of hap- 
 piness and the perception of unhappiness. They figure 
 the negroes, as suffering from oppression, and are indig-
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 287 
 
 nant against the supposed oppressors in proportion as 
 they are pained by that conception of suffering. The 
 inevitable consequence is that they are loud in their de- 
 nunciations of the Southern people, and rampant in their 
 demand that the federal government shall be hostile to 
 the South." 
 
 " Do you say, then, that these men are entirely blame- 
 less in echoing the sectional clamor ? " 
 
 " I say no such thing. I say it is a horrible sin for 
 one human being to join in a clamor against other hu- 
 man beings before exhausting all available sources of 
 information in regard to the justice of that clamor. To 
 seize on an accusation and assume its justice, before 
 attending to what the accused has to say for himself, is 
 as contrary to the spirit of the Gospel as it is to the 
 spirit of the English common law. Here comes in what 
 we were speaking of the other day in connection with 
 responsibility for opinions. How can any man of com- 
 mon sense shut his eyes to the truth, that the unneces- 
 sary cherishing of a false belief, which is sure to result 
 in the perpetration of injustice, is enormously wicked ? 
 Men do not apprehend the appalling dangers associated 
 with the operation of noble impulses, for the simple 
 reason that they are ignorant of themselves. They do 
 not see how mightily indignation predisposes them to 
 believe evil of those who are its objects, and to repel 
 without examination all evidences that have an opposite 
 bearing. I am going to keep on repeating that no man, 
 who has not a good measure of psychological knowl- 
 edge, is fit to be a teacher of righteousness." 
 
 The interview with Mr. Justman was soon arranged. 
 I found him to be a gentleman apparently in his prime, 
 though his hair and side-whiskers testified that he was no
 
 288 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 longer young. I said to myself that his features were of 
 the type called " classical " ; and he wore an air of re- 
 finement which was sure to impress itself on those who 
 observed him. To suspect him of any deficiency in 
 emotional power was out of the question .; and yet his 
 countenance presented no traces of tempestuous feeling. 
 The steady light of his eyes, and other signs of intelli- 
 gence and self-mastery, caused me to remember the 
 phrase, " tranquil wisdom," which I had often heard 
 Jorman use. The principal part of the conversation was 
 as follows : 
 
 Jorman said : " You are placing us under obligation 
 by giving us this interview. But after all, perhaps, it is 
 more your own business than it is ours that you have 
 come upon. We want to see what reasons there are for 
 our enlisting in this Civil-Service Reform movement ; 
 and I suppose you care a great deal more about that 
 cause than we do at present. Won't you give us a little 
 light, in the first place, on the origin of this movement?" 
 
 Mr. Justman answered : " It originated, like other 
 reformatory movements in the growing comprehension 
 of growing evils. Thoughtful men came to be deeply 
 impressed by certain abuses in the public service. Their 
 thoughts having been once turned upon that subject, the 
 discoveries were both multitudinous and startling. As a 
 rule, these gentlemen are not pessimists. On the con- 
 trary, they are strongly predisposed to assume that under 
 our form of government public evils are curable. But 
 an intelligent prescription of remedies had, of course, to 
 be preceded by an intelligent diagnosis ; and it soon 
 became apparent that a change of administration, which 
 is the remedy regularly clamored for in such cases, could 
 be no more than a temporary palliative. The offices
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 289 
 
 would still be filled by human beings, with all the human 
 liability to fall under the power of temptation, and with 
 no evidence of fitness beyond subserviency to the con- 
 trollers of patronage, while the public service would 
 necessarily suffer for a time from their inexperience. It 
 is now seen with perfect distinctness that the only 
 effectual remedy is the annihilation of the system on 
 which appointments to positions in the civil service are 
 made, and which is very appropriately called the " spoils 
 system." This is the end which we have in view. We 
 do not flatter ourselves that our work will be consum- 
 mated very speedily or by a single Congressional meas- 
 ure. We keep ourselves free from illusions. But we 
 expect to see some grades of the service dissevered from 
 politics at an early day. From time to time our lines 
 will be advanced, and, in the end, our country will be 
 blest with a thoroughly non-partisan civil service." 
 
 " I see it objected," Mr. Jorman remarked, " that your 
 scheme is contrary to the genius of our institutions, and 
 that its success would involve the creation of an aristoc- 
 racy of office-holders." 
 
 "Yes," Mr. Justman rejoined, "that objection is be- 
 coming quite current with a certain class of provincial 
 newspapers, and among bar-room politicians generally. 
 I see no mention yet of an aristocracy of grocers' clerks, 
 though the danger in the two cases is obviously equal. 
 The word ' aristocracy,' when it is used with any pro- 
 priety, conveys the idea of exercising authority, of 
 ruling. Now we propose that the body of civil servants 
 shall utterly cease to provide a factor in determining 
 what party shall administer the government or be vested 
 with the law-making power of the land. No note is to 
 be taken of the political affiliations of these public ser-
 
 2QO THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 vants. They are to be under no obligation to party 
 leaders. They are to be affected no more than other 
 citizens by the results of elections. No assessments 
 upon them for political purposes are to be permitted. 
 Partisan activity at the expense of official industry is to 
 be strictly forbidden. As to influence on the govern- 
 ment of the country, they will stand where the members 
 of other professions stand. As individuals, they will 
 weigh for what they are. As a body, their political 
 power will be zero. The relation of their existence to 
 the spirit of popular institutions will be precisely the 
 same as the relation subsisting in the existence of grocers' 
 clerks. An aristocracy ! How stands the matter under 
 the spoils system ? Has not that system raised up a 
 class of men who wield a power out of all proportion to 
 the weight of their personal characters ? Does not the 
 civil service yield an aggregated power which constitutes 
 a tremendous factor in determining who shall be our 
 legislators and administrative officers ? Look at the 
 political chieftains and see the ties of self-interest be- 
 tween them and their followers, assuring a mutual sup- 
 port whether it be deserved or undeserved. Why, 
 gentlemen, one of our weightiest reasons for earnestness 
 in this reformatory work is the fact that our country has 
 been rapidly coming under subjection to what Governor 
 Tilden appropriately called an ' oligarchy of office- 
 holders.' The truth would seem to be that those who 
 raise the objection which you mention are exceedingly 
 anxious to spend their lives as hangers-on of such an 
 oligarchy." 
 
 " You spoke of the civil service as a profession," said 
 Mr. Jorman. " Do you aim to place it on that basis ? " 
 
 "Personally," Mr. Justman answered, "I am looking
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 2pl 
 
 toward that consummation. You may call it a profes- 
 sion, or an aggregate of professions. The name is of no 
 consequence. I would have the service of the govern- 
 ment, under appointment by the President and heads of 
 departments, a regular, legitimate vocation ; and I would 
 have admission to it and continuance and promotion in 
 it governed by the same considerations ,pf fitness which 
 common-sense dictates in every other service. I would 
 have a faithful and efficient servant of the government 
 retained for the same reasons which ensure the retention 
 of such a servant by a railroad company. Of course the 
 chief administrative officers must always have power to 
 designate the persons who are to have the most intimate 
 relations with them and to be held responsible for the 
 enforcement of their policy. But leaving this small num- 
 ber of persons out of view, to state the plan which we 
 favor is to justify it. It is idle to argue with any man 
 who doubts that the merit system is the only system on 
 which the money of the people can be honestly and 
 wisely applied to the maintenance of the civil service. A 
 preference for the spoils system necessarily involves the 
 assumption that it is proper to expend the money of the 
 people foolishly and corruptly. Gentlemen, there is ab- 
 solutely nothing to be said in favor of the spoils sys- 
 tem." 
 
 " How will the change which you are laboring to bring 
 about affect the multitude of patriots who are aspiring to 
 the privilege of serving their country ? " 
 
 " Just as they are affected by the necessity of fitness 
 in all other vocations. They can look over the field, as- 
 certain what qualifications are requisite, learn the num- 
 ber of competitors for each vacant post, and choose for 
 themselves between competing for a position in the pub-
 
 292 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 lie service and settling down to some other calling. If 
 they choose the former course, they will exert themselves 
 to obtain qualifications which will profit them whether 
 they secure the official prize or come short of it. Here, 
 too, we see a great gain for large numbers of our fellow- 
 citizens. Mr. Jorman, are you not aware that the hope 
 of winning posts in the public service through partisan 
 activity and subserviency to bosses has proved ruinous 
 to myriads and myriads of men ? It is moderate to say 
 that, whenever a national contest is in progress and its 
 issue is doubtful, there are five aspirants to each of the 
 offices which the new administration is expected to dis- 
 tribute. For months, half a million of Americans are 
 kept unsettled in mind, neglecting their opportunities and 
 becoming daily less fitted for the business of private life." 
 
 " I see that the editors and orators amuse themselves 
 very highly over your competitive examinations." 
 
 "Oh, yes ; they are exceedingly bright, and I hope they 
 enjoy their brilliancy. They certainly parade their igno- 
 rance of the whole subject in a manner which affords us 
 much food for mirth. Still, we are not so wedded to 
 competitive examinations that we are unwilling to ex- 
 change them for any other expedient equally sure to give 
 us an honest, efficient, economical, and non-partisan 
 service. The end is all that we have at heart." 
 
 " But is it not important that there should be one large 
 class of men working to keep the offices, and a similar 
 class struggling to obtain them, in order that national 
 canvasses may be sufficiently earnest to ensure the en- 
 lightenment of the people? I am in the habit of saying 
 that party spirit has a legitimate office in bringing about 
 the full presentation of both sides of every public ques- 
 tion, and of the respective claims of political parties."
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 293 
 
 "Yes ; and party spirit, in alliance with patriotic im- 
 pulses, can be relied upon to do that work. It is not 
 necessary to have five hundred thousand men raging for 
 spoils. Self-interest will be sufficiently represented in 
 the exertions of candidates for the elective offices. Be- 
 sides, we expect the destruction of the spoils system to 
 be followed by the political activity of a large class of 
 men who are now politically idle. Mr. Jorman, I have 
 known you as a man who could always be depended 
 upon to vote the regular ticket. Let me ask you how 
 many times you ever took part in making such a ticket, 
 in designating candidates to be supported by your party." 
 
 " You can get at the number by substracting six from 
 half a dozen." 
 
 " Precisely. What has repelled you from the primary 
 meetings ? " 
 
 " The characters of the professional politicians. 
 
 " Yes ; the characters of a class of men raised up by the 
 spoils system, and destined to disappear with the spoils 
 system. When such men shall cease to arrogate the 
 control of all measures preliminary to political canvasses, 
 their places will be occupied by intelligent and patriotic 
 citizens, who will soon come to understand that they owe 
 their country something besides the bare depositing of 
 their ballots. Gentlemen, this movement for reform in 
 the civil service is destined to be an epoch-making move- 
 ment." 
 
 " You are confident of ultimate success, are you ? " 
 
 " Confident ? Mr. Jorman, you are a reader of his- 
 tory. You know something of the American people. You 
 see the light flowing in upon this spoils system and re- 
 vealing its hideousness. You know how rapidly the 
 volume of such light increases when the fires begin to
 
 294 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 blaze throughout the land. You know what takes place 
 when the moral sense of the American people is thor- 
 oughly aroused and thoroughly offended. Have you a 
 doubt of our ultimate success ? " 
 
 " Not a particle of doubt. The spoils system must go 
 under in the end, as sure as fate." 
 
 " We are fully aware that we have a long struggle be- 
 fore us. The congressional enactment, which we hope 
 to secure at an early day, will be an important be- 
 ginning. But it is plain that there can be no rapid 
 progress without an administration thoroughly imbued 
 with the reform spirit. We can hope but little from 
 either of the candidates now in the field. But we shall 
 continue to work on ; and the next general contest will 
 disclose our power to secure the nomination, by one 
 party or the other, of a candidate for the Presidency who 
 will show himself to be in hearty accord with us. Then 
 we shall secure the election of that candidate." 
 
 " He will have a big job on his hands." 
 
 " Unquestionably. The spoilsmen in his own party 
 will howl and rage ; and the pressure upon him will be 
 fearful. The newspapers will be flooded with letters, 
 signed ' A Life-long Republican/ or ' A Life-long Demo- 
 crat/ as the case may be, declaring that the writers cast 
 their votes with the single object of having all the federal 
 offices, from the highest to the lowest, filled by members 
 of their own party." 
 
 Mr. Justman paused at this point, and, after a short 
 silence, Jorman remarked, in his serious, reflective man- 
 ner : " The obvious reply to the Life-longers will be 
 that if they voted with that single end in view they voted 
 as donkeys, and that, whatever merits those animals may 
 possess as progenitors of mules, they are not adequately
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 295 
 
 equipped for dictating the policy of an administration. 
 But how do you think your President's fight will turn 
 out ? " 
 
 " That is something which no one can foresee at this 
 time. It will rest with his party to accept or reject 
 the glory of introducing a new era in the country's his- 
 tory. If the President is sustained by his party, it will 
 continue to administer the government and will con- 
 summate the great work. If the spoilsmen of the party 
 control its action, the opposition will seize the oppor- 
 tunity and rise to power by committing itself irrevocably 
 to the cause of reform. It would be no new thing for 
 the work begun by one party to be finished by another. 
 You remember Disraeli's Reform bill." 
 
 As the interview was closing, my friend handed Mr. 
 Justman a check and said to him : " Let me know when 
 your treasury needs replenishing. I will talk this matter 
 over with Job Mollison and a few other friends. You 
 can have money enough." 
 
 My own remark on the occasion was this : " I have 
 been led by several causes chiefly by the partisan em- 
 ployment of sectional animosity to cherish a very strong 
 aversion to the political organization in which I was 
 brought up. But it now seems to me altogether certain 
 that I shall vote hereafter for such candidates as I may 
 see to be most earnest in their hostility to the spoils sys- 
 tem. If they happen to be candidates of the party which 
 I have been hating, so be it." 
 
 When Mr. Justman had left us Jorman walked back 
 and forth for some time. At length he broke into a 
 laugh and said : " I have been taking a look at the Life- 
 longers. They are about the most interesting specimens 
 that I have examined lately. The name of their party is
 
 296 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 a great deal broader than charity. It is capable of 
 covering not only the multitude of sins, but all imaginable 
 sins. And the name of the opposite party would make 
 them see a 'brow of Egypt ' in ' Helen's beauty.' Their 
 party is the sweetest of sweethearts. Talk about senti- 
 mentalism. The Life-longers are the champion senti- 
 mentalists of the nineteenth century. What an edifying 
 spectacle we have when a Life-longer in Maine smashes 
 in the crown of his hat, straddles his legs apart, puts his 
 hands in his pockets and howls, because a postmaster in 
 Texas don't belong to his party. It is the same old 
 story of an affection turned into a passion, abjuring all 
 association with reason, and starting off on its own hook 
 to boss things. Party spirit is an excellent impulse when 
 it is yoked with common-sense. Its source in the 
 spiritual organism is the same as that of patriotism and 
 several other affections. It is what I call a suscepti- 
 bility to consciousness of ownership. When you say of 
 any object, 'It is mine' you experience a certain pleasure 
 which causes your heart to react in affection. It makes 
 no difference whether the object is a parrot or a party. 
 It is easy enough to see how party spirit impels men to a 
 great deal of beneficial work ; but when it sets out to 
 provide the world with an exhibition of idiots it is pretty 
 sure to take the prize." 
 
 Our evenings at the Jorman home gave us our most 
 delightful and most profitable seasons. They always 
 began with music ; and this was usually followed by 
 reading aloud. But for how long or how short a time the 
 reading would continue, could never be determined 
 beforehand. Sometimes the first page occasioned dis- 
 cussion or comment ; and there were frequent references 
 to other books for more light than was furnished by the
 
 VISITING IN NEW YORK. 297 
 
 volume in hand. A number of cultivated persons of 
 both sexes and of various ages were already on such 
 terms with the family, that they were in the habit of 
 dropping in without ceremony. But they always insisted 
 that their coming should cause no interruption of the 
 reading, nor suspension of the conversation which they 
 found in progress. Most of them could be relied upon 
 to contribute materially to the interest of the hour. 
 
 When we had started for home my wife said : " This 
 has been a blessed, blessed visit. I feel that it will do 
 me more good than a full college course would have 
 done. It seems to me that I have gathered in enough 
 to keep my thoughts occupied for years. I wonder if we 
 shall ever forget how silly it is for people to live selfishly. 
 'Ouk diakonethenai, alia diakonesai.' Don't you say so, 
 darling ? "
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 TT was fully understood between Mr. Jorman and 
 ^ myself that there was to be a long return visit at 
 Ellermere the next winter. I remembered afterwards 
 that when this subject had been spoken of in presence 
 of the ladies, Miss Kitty had been very jubilant over the 
 prospect, while the two wives had been silent. After we 
 reached home several allusions of mine to the prospective 
 visit failed to elicit a response ; and I got exasperated 
 at length and charged that Lissey showed no apprecia- 
 tion of our friends. I was even boorish enough to ask if 
 she shrank from the trouble of entertaining them. Then 
 I was caressed in a commiserating style, and heard some 
 remarks on the dulness of men, which made me feel that 
 I was an object of pity on account of my sex. I was 
 bright enough at last so to interpret circumlocutions, 
 ambiguities, and blushes as to understand that domestic 
 events in both families would necessitate the postpone- 
 ment of the visit to another winter. For this reason, and 
 because I cannot persuade myself entirely to ignore that 
 period in the lives of those in whom I have been en- 
 deavoring to interest my readers, I will give here a 
 collection of extracts from letters, arranging them with- 
 out reference to the order of their respective dates. 
 
 GEORGE BIDROP TO RALPH JORMAN. 
 
 " Most of the time since my return I have been de- 
 voting myself to my farming interests. The season was 
 
 298
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 299 
 
 quite favorable on the whole, though the crops suffered 
 from lack of rain in July. I find that the estimated 
 value of my rents in kind is equivalent to a fair interest 
 on the cost of my land. My own salary for supervision 
 is the pleasure I have taken in it. Only two of my 
 tenants are any better off than they were at the beginning 
 of the season. I had advanced so much to the others 
 that it took all their shares of the crop to get even with 
 me. But they have supported their families comfortably ; 
 and I have the impression that this is as much as tenant- 
 farmers generally, in any part of the country, can say for 
 themselves. In the two exceptional cases the men are 
 able to settle all their bills and to buy the mules which 
 they have been working. Hence, their percentage will 
 be increased for the next crop. I find, at the same time, 
 that these men have paid me the highest rents, for the 
 reason that they have been the most thorough of all my 
 tenants in cultivating their crops. 
 
 " I am going to enjoy this plantation life exceedingly. 
 As I see it now, I could not be induced to exchange it 
 for any other occupation. There is something in the 
 care of crops, flocks, and herds that suits my taste ex- 
 actly. It seems to me that I am participating in the 
 vitality and development which I am fostering. I see 
 that the demand for brain-work is going to be constant 
 and pressing, and I am glad that I am new to the busi- 
 ness and have every thing to learn. I am reading up on 
 agricultural chemistry, and am beginning to collect the 
 most approved works on vegetable physiology. The 
 secrets of nature, especially the laws under which her 
 forces operate, are becoming very attractive to me. But 
 I see that for knowledge of immediate practical benefit 
 to me I must look chiefly to the most experienced and
 
 300 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 successful farmers among my neighbors. We are taking 
 steps to organize a farmers' club in this part of the 
 county. It is probable that we shall put up a large 
 club-house in some pleasant grove at a central point, 
 and arrange for monthly meetings. Lissey says that 
 each meeting must be an all-day picnic, and that the 
 farmers must bring their wives and children. She insists 
 that the primary object is to be the improvement of 
 farmers and their families, and that the improvement of 
 farms and farming methods will follow as a natural con- 
 sequence. I apprehend that my own specialty at the 
 meetings will be the drawing out of practical information 
 from those who possess it. All I shall have to do in the 
 way of preparation will be to write out a list of questions 
 which I desire to have answered for my own benefit. 
 We shall take a good number of agricultural and horti- 
 cultural publications, and have a committee make se- 
 lections from them for reading and discussion at the 
 meetings. Lissey says that a good deal of attention 
 must be given to the home-life of farmers' families, the 
 employment of their leisure, farmers' libraries, etc. 
 
 "I am enclosing some land for grazing, and gathering 
 what information I can about the best breeds of cattle, 
 sheep, and hogs, for this climate. As the support of a 
 poor animal is as expensive as that of a good one, it 
 seems to me very nonsensical to keep any but the best 
 breeds. The matter of grasses is a very serious one for 
 us. The Northern grasses need a longer period of rest 
 than our winters afford them. I have talked with some 
 of my neighbors on the possibility of acclimatizing 
 grasses by a series of seedings and sowings ; but I do 
 not learn that there has been any systematic effort in that 
 direction. If you can find any work on the general subject
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 301 
 
 of the acclimatization of plants, I wish you would send 
 it to me. There must be something of that kind in Ger- 
 man, if not in English. Several of my neighbors are 
 experimenting with alfalfa, and the merits of Bermuda 
 grass, Johnson grass, etc., are widely discussed. 
 
 " The matter of labor is taking up a great many of my 
 thoughts. I am sure that I shall never be satisfied with 
 the cultivation of my land on the share system. It does n't 
 give me sufficient control over the methods employed ; 
 and I shall abandon it altogether as soon as I can get 
 my work completely in hand. I will pay regular wages 
 and have work done in my way, whether it is a good one 
 or not. I will have houses for my laborers and their 
 families, with a ' patch ' connected with each house, so 
 that the women and children can raise potatoes, and 
 other vegetables. These things will be taken into ac- 
 count, of course, in adjusting the wages of the men. 
 What we need most, in order that we may get good work 
 and derive a fair profit from our farms, is the intellectual 
 and moral elevation of the negroes. We need to have 
 them more capable of comprehending our directions and 
 understanding the money-value of trustworthiness. It 
 would be a great gain, too, if we could make them see 
 the importance of keeping themselves physically able to 
 do good work. They are very prone to spend their 
 nights in such pranks that they are good for nothing on 
 the succeeding days. Some of them find their dissipa- 
 tion in what they call prayer-meetings, where they shout 
 and bellow and prance till nearly morning. Others are 
 tramping over the hills and through the valleys after op- 
 portunities for other kinds of self-indulgence. We have 
 got to content ourselves with seeing improvement in these 
 matters progressing very slowly. It seems that his habits
 
 302 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 are about as hard as his skin, for the Ethiopian to change. 
 I am satisfied that the first point to push for is the eleva- 
 tion of the negro clergy. The negro masses have got to 
 be lifted up by their preachers if they are ever lifted up at 
 all. Nobody else can do much with them. Colonel Orling- 
 ton and I agree that if we can find a colored minister, 
 who has sufficient intelligence and will put his heart into 
 the work, it will pay us to support him liberally for the 
 benefit of the negroes on the two plantations. The Col- 
 onel is hunting for the right man. Lissey says that 
 Aunt Phyllis is doing valuable missionary work among 
 the colored women. This comes from Lissey's having 
 seen your Greek motto. 
 
 " Matters immediately connected with my business 
 don't take up all my time. Lissey and I are going on 
 quite systematically with a course of reading. Besides, 
 I am spending an hour or two every day on a book which 
 I have begun to write. Don't you thing( I ought to give 
 the world some of the things which I have learned from 
 you ? 
 
 " John Orlington is off at school. Immediately after 
 the visit at Verdville, when he met mother and Dolly 
 for the first time, he began to talk with his sister about 
 being an ignoramus ; and his dissatisfaction at the pros- 
 pect of going through life as an ill-informed man 
 increased rapidly from week to week. But his sister 
 convinced him that he still had power to abolish that 
 disagreeable prospect. He shrank at first from the 
 thought of going to school, because he would be sure 
 to be brought in contact with young boys ' little boys,' he 
 called them who would be much further advanced than 
 himself. But his sister told him he must be brave 
 enough to disregard all such considerations, and he
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 303 
 
 finally mustered the requisite nerve-power. It was im- 
 possible for him to leave home until the crop \vas made 
 and gathered. But the Colonel then rented the greater 
 part of the plantation for the next season, and John 
 could be spared. He says all he expects to do at school 
 is to learn how to use books and thus get into a position 
 to educate himself. We are expecting him to become a 
 magnificent man." 
 
 MRS. JABEZ BIDROP TO MRS. JORMAN. 
 
 " I want to thank you with all my heart for your kind- 
 ness to my children. I feel that their having that long 
 visit was one of the greatest among the blessings which 
 Providence has been showering upon me. It was next 
 to Martha's being given to George. I have made each 
 of them give particular accounts of the talks with you 
 and Mr. Jorman and Miss Loyalty, and I am getting 
 enjoyment and profit out of them day after day. I knew 
 you would love Martha ; she is so sweet, and is always 
 finding so much to be happy over. What I used to fear 
 for George was that he would get a wife inclined to look 
 on the dark side of every thing. That would have been 
 sure to make him appear bad-tempered. Almost the 
 only thing he ever scolded Dolly and me for was because 
 we were not so happy as he thought we ought to be. Of 
 course he would get into little pets about other things ; 
 but they always passed away in a few minutes. He has 
 not inherited that grand repose which made his father's 
 wisdom so plain to every one. But he has been a dear, 
 good boy. From the time of his father's death he was 
 ready to lay down his life for Dolly and me any minute. 
 
 " Dolly is getting on finely in her studies, and is quite 
 womanly now in her manners and her way of looking at
 
 304 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 things. She is a great pet in the school. I think they 
 all took particular pains to be pleasant to her at first, 
 because they wanted to show that they had no prejudice 
 on account of her being a Northern girl. I was sur- 
 prised to find such excellent teachers as we have here. 
 They are very thorough and conscientious in all their 
 work, and have managed in some way to keep themselves 
 informed about the best methods, much out of the world 
 as this place seems to be. 
 
 " I am still the house-keeper at the school, though 
 they call me the ' matron.' I am usually very happy, 
 because the girls try to please me every way they can ; 
 and then I have the feeling that a few persons are a little 
 better off on account of my being in the world. Some- 
 times I am very tired, and have my thoughts all taken 
 up with what I have failed to accomplish, and get to 
 asking myself what use there is in such- an insignificant 
 little woman's trying to do any thing. But I have finally 
 succeeded in forming the habit of remembering at such 
 times that every thing will look different to me as soon 
 as I get rested. The Greek motto has done us a world 
 of good. Martha asked Dolly to make a copy of it for 
 a birth-day present to George, and she embroidered one 
 beautifully on dark velvet. The last time I was at 
 Ellermere I saw it fastened up in the library, where 
 George and Martha study together and agree on their 
 plans." 
 
 SERENA TO LISSEY. 
 
 " Our life is much the same as when you were here. 
 Our responsibilities are increasing considerably, but our 
 work is becoming so systematized that we do it more 
 and more easily and find it more and more delightful. 
 Mr. Jorman says we are beginning to have much pleasure
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 305 
 
 from a consciousness of power, which is stimulated by 
 our increasing skill in managing what we have charge 
 of. Several of his wealthy friends are putting money 
 into our hands for charitable purposes. They are very 
 much occupied with business, and are not inclined to 
 make any break in their customary recreations. They 
 tell Mr. Jorman if he is willing to take the drudgery 
 upon himself they will furnish him money whenever he 
 calls for it. But he can hardly ever get them to pay 
 attention to any explanation of the way he uses the 
 money. One of them calls it ' going into a blind pool.' 
 I think it would be very much better for such gentlemen 
 if they could be more interested in the particular objects 
 to which the money is devoted. Having this help from 
 them has led to some discussion between Mr. Jorman 
 and me. I could not help feeling anxious on account of 
 the chance there was to suspect us of using some of the 
 money for ourselves, and so I insisted that we ought to 
 keep a full record of what we received and what we paid 
 out, and take receipts when it was possible. But it was 
 a long time before I could get him to admit the possi- 
 bility of our being subject to such a suspicion. He 
 found out, though, that I was keeping such a record very 
 carefully, and then he said, as our business was increas- 
 ing so much, we must have a book-keeper. We offered 
 the position to my sister, and she accepted it most joy- 
 fully. She had been feeling that she was entirely useless, 
 but this work is giving her new life. She writes an 
 excellent hand, and is very careful and accurate. 
 
 " There is another thing which may interest you. 
 Several of us ladies had talked at different times of what 
 we might gain by being better acquainted, and of how 
 little satisfaction there was in our formal calls, besides
 
 306 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 the great amount of time taken up in that way. In the 
 course of such conversations I had been led to suggest 
 that it might be possible to have a regular time and 
 place for coming together and spending an hour or two 
 socially. After a while five or six of the ladies called 
 on me together and asked me if I would open my parlor 
 for that purpose some afternoon in each week, and I set 
 apart Tuesday afternoon from three o'clock to five 
 o'clock. I proposed that in speaking of these gatherings 
 we should call them 'meetings of the 34th Street Ladies' 
 Club.' But I have been overruled in that matter, and 
 the ladies all name the meetings ' Mrs. Jorman's Tuesday 
 afternoons.' The usual attendance is already much 
 larger than I expected ever to see it ; and Mr. Jorman 
 has ordered a large number of nice camp-chairs, which 
 can be folded up and packed away when they are not 
 needed. 
 
 " Mr. Jorman and I had many talks about how these 
 afternoons could be made profitable. We could not bear 
 to think of their being merely what he called a ' Gossip 
 Exchange.' At the same time it was necessary that there 
 should be no stiff formality about them and no breaking 
 up of their social character. We thought that whatever 
 was done would have to be done in a social way. Mr. 
 Jorman said that every thing would depend on the class 
 of subjects that engaged attention. But you know that 
 I have no gift for leading in conversation. I always feel 
 embarrassed when the attention of more than two or 
 three is directed to what I am saying ; and I never have 
 more than two or three sentences ready at any one time. 
 Even then I am always hesitating for the right word. 
 But Providence favored us in this matter wonderfully. 
 At our second afternoon one of my friends brought and
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 307 
 
 introduced to me a Miss Cutterra, of whom I had often 
 heard her speak. This lady is about forty years old, 
 with blue-gray eyes and a very expressive countenance. 
 She seems to be familiar with almost every subject which 
 can be mentioned. Her reading must have been im- 
 mense, and she must have reflected a great deal on what 
 she has read. But notwithstanding all this, there is not 
 a particle of the blue stocking about her. I am told that 
 she is quite what is called a ' society lady.' I think I 
 never knew her conversational powers equalled ; and she 
 is very quick at connecting remarks dropped by others 
 with subjects which interest her. Mr. Jorman says her 
 strong point is desire of sympathy, by which he means 
 her desire to have her thoughts and feelings shared by 
 others. Before I had been talking with Miss Cutterra 
 five minutes, I believed the Lord had sent her to us, and 
 before she left I asked her to call on me the next after- 
 noon. She did so, and I explained the mission which I 
 desired her to undertake, how I wanted her to work in 
 her own way to elevate the tone of thinking among our 
 ladies. She was taken much aback and assured me that 
 she could not think of assuming such a responsibility. 
 After we had discussed the subject for some time without 
 my having appeared to make much progress, I took her 
 into our working-room and gave her a short account of 
 the way in which Mr. Jorman and I spend our mornings 
 there. Then I looked up at the Greek motto, and her 
 eyes followed mine. She stood and gazed at the beauti- 
 ful inscription a long time, and when she turned her 
 eyes toward me they were brimming with tears. She 
 put her arm around my neck and kissed me. ' I will do 
 whatever you ask of me, Mrs. Jorman,' she said. 
 
 " Each succeeding Tuesday afternoon I have new
 
 308 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 reasons for rejoicing over the enlistment of Miss Cutterra 
 in this work. Without the slightest appearance of ob- 
 trusiveness, she glides from one group to another and 
 joins in whatever conversation may be going on, often 
 exciting mirth, but sure in the end to lead the conversa- 
 tion to something that will be profitable. A few weeks 
 ago I induced her to read for the benefit of the company 
 a few pages from a recent English work which has not 
 been re-published in this country. Then I asked her a 
 question or two, and this gave rise to questions by others. 
 Since that time half an hour or such a matter is usually 
 spent in that way ; and Miss Cutterra is receiving many 
 requests for advice as to the selection of books. It is 
 quite generally understood among the ladies that I shall 
 soon have to be excused for a few weeks, and that Miss 
 Cutterra will represent the mistress of the house at the 
 Tuesday afternoons during that period." 
 
 MISS LOYALTY TO LISSEY. 
 
 " O you dear Lissey, if you cared any thing about do- 
 ing what is right, you would pack your trunk and take 
 the first train for New York. It was so ridiculous for 
 you and Aunt Serena to keep us from coming to Eller- 
 mere. Uncle Psycho and Nolly were both anxious for 
 the visit. They were just as nice as they could be. If I 
 had you here I would pinch your cheek and kiss you 
 and tell you you had lost all your beauty. Then I would 
 take you off to my room and sit down with you and get 
 my arm around your waist and cuddle up under your 
 big deep preciousness and have such a sweet cry. Orrin 
 is going to leave the seminary in a few weeks. He says 
 the rest of the course would only be a chase after grati- 
 fications of vanity, in preparing to make a display at
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 309 
 
 commencement and getting a diploma to brag about. 
 He is right of course, and it is all my fault that I can't 
 feel as he does about it. But I can't help wishing it was 
 his duty to go on in the regular way. I should like to have 
 him ' astonish the natives ' with his oration and have the 
 men praising his eloquence and the girls talking about 
 his being so handsome. They all say that he is very 
 smart, and two or three churches, where he has preached 
 once iu a while, want him for a pastor. But he says there 
 is no such luxurious life for him. He is talking about 
 picking out the wickedest place he can find and hiring a 
 hall and preaching without cost to any one. He says 
 we must live on what is left of his income after paying 
 the expenses of keeping up his congregation. He asked 
 me if I could be content to live as the very poorest peo- 
 ple do, and I told him I would share any lot he chose 
 for us if he needed me. I did n't tell him that I should 
 be contented, because I did n't feel certain just then that 
 I co2tld\)Q ; and I could n't tell him a fib you know. You 
 have n't forgotten how I like pretty things, and how dirt 
 and coarse manners and bad language make me squirm. 
 But I can harden myself to all such things, and I can 
 learn to cook and wash and do any thing that 's neces- 
 sary, as long as I am helping Orrin. I know he does 
 need me and always will. It 's a mystery why it should 
 be so with such a little black snub-nosed thing as I am ; 
 but I know that I can make him rest as nobody else can. 
 He may be ever so uneasy and fidgety, and he will be as 
 quiet as a lamb as soon as he feels my hand on his arm. 
 If I was n't so wicked, I should n't have any trouble. 
 But some times I catch myself wishing it was n't right 
 for Orrin to take such a course ; and then my whole 
 soul cries out for Lissey. I can't talk to aunt Serena
 
 310 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 and uncle Psycho about these things, because they would 
 find fault with Orrin, and that would make me angry. I 
 have been almost ready, two or three times, to ask Aunt 
 Serena if I might go to Ellermere by myself. But, if Orrin 
 should want to see me and I should n't be here, it would 
 be dreadful." 
 
 LISSEY TO MISS LOYALTY. 
 
 " We are very proud of our brave Miss Loyalty, and 
 we pray God to bless her and bless her. It touches our 
 hearts so to think of your being ready to give up almost 
 every thing that you enjoy so much, and of your looking 
 forward to a life of hard work and privation. And then 
 we see how strong you are when you are able to form 
 such a resolution in spite of the shrinking of your heart 
 from coarse scenes and from people who have no re- 
 finement. But you need n't talk about putting your dear 
 little delicate hands to washing. Orrin would see that it 
 would not be right for him to refuse to let your friends 
 fit you up a nice little home, and place pretty things 
 around you, and hire a servant for you. We shall tell 
 him the money will be thrown away if it is not used for 
 that purpose. That won't be any thing like charity, you 
 know. It won't be as if Orrin was poor. Besides, the 
 help will be given to the cause, so that you and Orrin 
 may have a place where you can get nicely rested and be 
 able to go out again fresh and strong for your great work. 
 And then you will both need to visit a great deal with 
 your Uncle Psycho and Aunt Serena. They are so wise 
 and true ; they will help you a great deal about your 
 work. If you can have these resting-places, where 
 every thing will be beautiful and improving, you will 
 soon get so that you won't ' squirm,' as you say, when
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 31 1 
 
 you are among rough people. I know that, while you 
 are looking forward to the kind of a life that Orrin pro- 
 poses for you, you can't help feeling sad a good many 
 times ; and, Loyey dear, if I was in your place, I would 
 be very religious. It is so comforting and strengthening. 
 If it had n't been for mamma's faith, I don't know what 
 we should have done when we were in such distress, and 
 papa was near being crazy because he could n't pay debts 
 that he owed to people who were suffering for their 
 money, and there was no chance to sell any of his land. 
 Mamma and I used to go into her bedroom, and kneel 
 down by the side of her bed, and she would tell the Lord 
 all about our troubles, and commit every thing to Him, 
 and ask Him to guide us. O how that used to brighten 
 up the world for us ! And almost always, when we had 
 left the bedroom and gone about our work, we could see 
 something cheering that we had n't seen before, or think 
 of some new turn that papa could make. I can't write 
 any more now. O, my precious girl, how dear you are 
 to me! " 
 
 LISSEY TO SERENA. 
 
 " I am strong enough to write now, and I am so thank- 
 ful that I have a chance to write to a dear friend who is 
 also blessing God for a sweet little baby. Our precious 
 little boy is three weeks old, and seems to be very well 
 and strong. There is not a bit of deformity about him 
 anywhere. It dHji't seem so strange to me as it did at 
 first ; but I can't help wondering that I used to under- 
 stand so little about what it is to be a mother. I never 
 had any doubt of my power for loving ; but I had no 
 idea of what is in my heart now when I am thinking of 
 our dear little treasure. The gift seems to be such a 
 sacred one ; and it is so sweet to feel thankful for it.
 
 312 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 Oh ! how can any mother live without being religious ? 
 Think of being trusted, as a mother is, with the care of 
 an immortal soul. It seems to me that the responsibility 
 would crush me if I could n't look up to Heaven for 
 guidance. How sweet it is now to remember the pro- 
 mise that, if we lack wisdom and ask of God, it shall be 
 given. 
 
 " There is one thing that I did n't think was possible. 
 I did n't think that any thing could bring Nolly and me 
 any nearer to each other than we were before. But I 
 find that I was mistaken. Since baby came to us it al- 
 most seems as if our souls were blended together so that, 
 in some strange way, we are only one person. 
 
 " I can't tell you how much interested I was in the let- 
 ter you wrote me a little while before you were sick. It 
 makes me very happy to think what a delightful life you 
 and Mr. Jorman are living. How empty and silly it 
 makes the lives of a great many rich and fashionable 
 people appear. I hope Miss Cutterra will bring some of 
 the ladies of that class to your Tuesday afternoons. Poor 
 creatures ! I suppose they have been so imprisoned in 
 their little world of fashion, that they have had no 
 chance to learn much about rational enjoyments. Per- 
 haps if you and I had always been shut up in a little ex- 
 clusive circle, we should have been just as blind as they 
 are, and have cared just as little as they do about the 
 rest of the world. 
 
 " Nolly and I can never have the joy of being as useful 
 as you and Mr. Jorman are ; but we are very thankful for 
 such opportunities as we have. Nolly hardly ever talks 
 to any one but me about being useful ; and he is a great 
 hand, when he is doing good, to make it appear that it 
 is all in the way of business and for his own interest.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 313 
 
 He is very ingenious in showing how we are getting 
 benefit ourselves when we are helping others. But I 
 know that his principal pleasure, way down in his heart, 
 is in thinking of the good that is being done. You know 
 about our Farmers' Club. Our neighbors, all through 
 this part of the county, are very enthusiastic over it. 
 They are wondering why they never got up any such 
 thing before. The farmers say they are learning a great 
 deal from one another and getting a great many new 
 ideas that will be valuable to them in their work. And 
 then they all bring their families to the meetings, and we 
 are getting to be so much more interested in each other, 
 and in the good of the community, than we used to be. 
 Everybody's mind seems to be waking up. I wrote to 
 our dear old friend, General Brocknell, and he came and 
 stayed two weeks with us. Then he attended a meeting of 
 the club and made two addresses. Before dinner his 
 subject was ' The Farmer's Home' ; and after dinner he 
 showed how much the interests of the land-owners de- 
 pended on the elevation of the colored laborers. But he 
 didn't stop there, because he always talks right out what 
 he thinks and feels. He told us it was a Christian duty 
 to do all we can to make these people more intelligent and 
 virtuous. What he said went a great ways, for the old 
 Confederate soldiers almost idolize him. I wish our 
 people, all over the South, would wake up to this sub- 
 ject. There are some things about a great many of the 
 colored people that you can't understand ; but they are 
 very shocking. We Southern white women would be 
 living in constant terror if we had n't such protectors as 
 the Southern meti, or if they trusted entirely to the law 
 for punishing some crimes. You can see by the scrawls 
 I am making, that I am getting a little tired."
 
 314 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 RALPH JORMAN TO GEORGE BIDROP. 
 
 "Paternity ! My beloved hearers, the subject of pater- 
 nity is exceeding broad, and no string is long enough to 
 measure it vertically. We speak the things that we do 
 know. Alas for the man who has no experience of 
 paternity ! For the ears of such 't were idle to clothe in 
 verbal apparel the stately thoughts which none but dad- 
 dies know. 
 
 " Oh, paternity 's a transcendent thing; 
 There 's no telling what grandeur 't would bring, 
 If a fellow was able to give it full swing. 
 
 " There, I feel better now. I have been looking into 
 this matter of parental affection, Nolly, and am surprised 
 to see how much there is of it. I had regarded it as 
 being almost exclusively the heart's response to that con- 
 sciousness of ownership which I pointed out to you as 
 the immediate agent in bringing patriotism and party 
 spirit into existence. I made up my mind a good while 
 ago that what is called the parental instinct in the lower 
 animals is traceable to the same cause. The parental 
 relation is not the only one in which they make a certain 
 sense of proprietorship observable, and it is not difficult 
 for the evolutionists to show how the animal mind has 
 evoluted in this direction. But while I am ready to go a 
 certain distance here with the evolutionists, our materi- 
 alist friends will please take notice that it is the animal 
 mind and not the animal body which has been brought 
 into possession of the consciousness of ownership. Un- 
 less a man has metaphysicalized all his common-sense 
 to the winds, it will forbid him to predicate conscious- 
 ness of an organism purely material. But I '11 talk with
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 315 
 
 you about this next summer. There is no doubt that my 
 peculiar affection for this little girl baby starts out from 
 the knowledge that she is mine. Of all the hundreds of 
 millions of earth's inhabitants I am the only male indi- 
 vidual who can say of this particular baby : ' She is 
 mine.' There is something in this exclusiveness which 
 sharpens and invigorates my consciousness of ownership, 
 and its effect on the susceptibility which it addresses is 
 correspondingly mighty. There comes up a great gush 
 of joy, and my heart reacts with a great gush of love 
 toward the object with which my consciousness was 
 busying itself when it created the joy. But this is not 
 all. In that person who is dearest to me, and whose ac- 
 cord with me is incomparably sweeter than that of any 
 other person, I perceive a fulness of sympathy which 
 can be yielded only by the relation of what I will call 
 co-parentalism. Thus another fountain of joy is opened 
 in my susceptibility to perception of sympathy, and new 
 force is given to the reaction of my heart toward the lit- 
 tle being that occasions all these movements of my soul. 
 Look a little further. Do you suppose any fellow ever 
 became a father without thinking more highly of his own 
 importance in the universe by reason of that fact ? 
 Without putting any strain on my discerning power, I 
 discover within myself a clearly denned self-complacency 
 in the mere fact that I am this baby's father. Here, you 
 see, is a stirring up of that same susceptibility to con- 
 sciousness of goodness which I have often mentioned to 
 you as our moral nature's ' heart of heart.' But the 
 volume of joy poured out by this susceptibility is swelled 
 in two other ways. I look on this little helpless crea- 
 ture,* newly arrived in this storm-beaten world, and I 
 resolve that I will take care of her, that I will shield and
 
 316 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 foster her, that no power of mine to win her well-being 
 shall lie unused. I see the years stretching on and on, 
 and through them all I see my assiduous watch-care ex- 
 tending, and I am conscious of a rich worthiness in that 
 mighty purpose and its persistent accomplishment. Once 
 more I consider the responsibility which is laid upon me 
 in connection with the existence of this little immortal, 
 and resolve that my duty shall be done with all possible 
 fulness. Here my consciousness of goodness evokes 
 that peculiar delight which is spoken of as the fruit of 
 an approving conscience. Now all these delights, smiled 
 out by that queenliest of human susceptibilities, are 
 gathered around my little baby by an inseparable associa- 
 tion, and just in proportion to their depth and intensity 
 my affectional power goes out to her. Is n't there 
 something worth looking at in parental affection ? Of 
 course it is not the same in all human beings. The char- 
 acter of the affection depends on the state of the sus- 
 ceptibilities, and in proportion as the higher of these are 
 obtuse and inoperative, the affection receives its color 
 from that consciousness of ownership which we have in 
 common with the lower animals. 
 
 " You tell me that you are writing a book, and I infer 
 that you intend to have it published. Well, you will find 
 the composition an excellent expedient for self-develop- 
 ment, and I guess you know enough not to suffer very 
 much if the public should take no notice of what you 
 have to say. You are so bull-headed that if you should 
 once make up your mind to secure attention I should 
 expect you to succeed in the end. But the question is, 
 whether that would pay or not. It might take more time 
 than the results would justify. There is something very 
 queer about this matter of getting the attention of the
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 317 
 
 public by literary work. In some cases there is an in- 
 definable deliciousness in a writer's style, or in the play 
 of his fancy, which fully accounts for the eagerness with 
 which his inanities are rushed after. But I don't believe 
 you have any thing of that sort to bestow. I am 
 inclined, rather, to anticipate that your style will remind 
 us of ' the remainder biscuit after a voyage.' Then, I 
 have been a little puzzled to make out what there is that 
 you know enough about to warrant you in spreading out 
 your views. You have no scientific knowledge ; and 
 your historical information is very limited. You have a 
 pretty strong tendency to study human beings ; and I 
 have concluded that this is the field in which you are 
 working. Taking this to be the case, let me beg of you 
 not to bother us by trying to occupy our attention with 
 men and women who are not worth looking at. It is not 
 good art to make the insignificant and the unworthy 
 conspicuous. A painter dqn/t choose a mud-hole for his 
 subject. He is always hunting after beauty, and he uses 
 its opposite only as a foil. And this is the appropriate 
 literary use of simpletons and knaves, as foils to beauty 
 and strength in human character. The wicked exist for 
 the benefit of the righteous, and the foolish for the 
 benefit of the wise ; and there is no true art in according 
 a principal place to that which is subsidiary. There is 
 no lack of good subjects for portraiture. If you keep 
 your eyes open you will see a great many beautiful, and 
 some majestic human characters. The most thorough- 
 paced ignoramus that walks our streets is the cynic. 
 
 " I have got up a new-fashioned club. We call our- 
 selves ' Advanced Epicureans.' You know that some of 
 my rich friends have been furnishing me with a good 
 deal of money for charitable purposes. I could hardly
 
 318 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 ever get them to listen to any account of the ways in 
 which I meant to disburse the funds. If they were not 
 too busy there was always something else which they 
 preferred to talk about. Charitable objects evidently 
 lay outside of their intellectual range, and they were not 
 disposed to extend the fences. Serena and I talked this 
 thing over a great many times. Most of these friends of 
 mine are good fellows, and I have been strongly attached 
 to them for years. But it was evident that their benefi- 
 cence was not doing them any good. That, you see, was 
 a bad state of things. With money used beneficently it 
 ought to be, as Portia says it is, with mercy : it ought to 
 bless him who gives, as well as him who takes. We kept 
 thinking this over till we got to feeling a stronger desire 
 to help these rich fellows than we had to help anybody 
 else. Finally I made several of them promise to come 
 to my house for an hour or two, one Saturday evening. 
 I had a lot of laughable stuff arranged in my mind, and 
 when the proper time came I let it out upon them. I 
 began by reproaching them with having subjected me to 
 temptation by supplying me with money to use as I saw 
 fit ; and I described several absurd rascalities which 
 they had put it in my power to commit. I told them I 
 was n't going to stand that strain upon my virtue any 
 longer, and asked them how they would like to see me in 
 the penitentiary on account of their recklessness. As 
 they got more and more good-natured, I worked my way 
 into an explanation of the uses to which I had put their 
 money, and set forth as effectively as I could the benefits 
 which had accrued. They got thoroughly interested, 
 and were evidently gratified to see that they had been 
 doing so much more good than they had intended. The 
 talk became very animated, and they all took part in it.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 319 
 
 At length I called their attention to the fun which they 
 had formerly denied themselves in refusing to listen to 
 my explanations, and suggested that, as sensible men de- 
 sirous of getting some enjoyment out of their money, 
 they should provide themselves with a new recreation in 
 connection with this charitable work. The result was 
 that we resolved ourselves into a club of Advanced 
 Epicureans. We have had several meetings and have 
 received more than a score of new members ; and I re- 
 gard the club as a permanent institution. It would do 
 you good to see how the hearts of these fellows are 
 broadening out and mellowing, and how much more the 
 human race is to them than it was a few weeks ago. I 
 make a report at every meeting, and there is always 
 something in it which calls out comments and practical 
 suggestions. These business heads will straighten out 
 in two minutes a matter which I have been puzzling my- 
 self over for a week. There is much discussion of 
 different modes of beneficence ; and I am glad to per- 
 ceive how much importance is attached to the selection 
 and training of good workers in the various spheres of 
 usefulness. There is a general disposition among us to 
 gather definite information as to the equipment of the 
 colleges for scientific instruction. There is no doubt of 
 our being ready to endow psychological professorships 
 as fast as the institutions are prepared to exchange meta- 
 physical mystification for psychological teaching. 
 
 " Of course, the over-supply of the labor market is seen 
 to be the unparalleled source of distress ; and this sub- 
 ject is held up in many different lights. Phil Rickerman 
 contended one evening that all efforts to promote 
 sobriety, cleanliness, and good habits generally, among 
 the poorer classes, as well as all sanitary measures for
 
 320 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 their benefit, must prove pernicious in the end, because 
 such proceedings tend to bring about the survival of the 
 unfittest and to aggravate all the evils incident to an 
 over-stocked labor market. But Job Mollison charged 
 that the laying down of this doctrine was an attempt to 
 curtail our opportunities for recreation. He said that 
 we were entitled to the fun of relieving and precluding 
 suffering, and were under no obligation to bother our- 
 selves with the ultimate consequences pointed out by 
 Rickerman. The serious conviction is that Providence 
 or celestial regulations, can be relied upon to make sure 
 that good to the world, on the whole, shall result from 
 such efforts as are indispensable to our moral growth and 
 elevated enjoyment, although there has been no explicit 
 statement of that view. 
 
 "We are beginning to have a strong predilection for in- 
 vestments which will involve a demand for labor and 
 prove beneficial to the poor in other ways. There is 
 more or less discussion of the feasibility of opening out- 
 lets from the large cities by establishing colonies on the 
 unoccupied lands of the Southwest ; and some of these 
 business men make it seem very clear to me that invest- 
 ments on that line can be made very remunerative and 
 widely beneficent. Mollison has broached another im- 
 mense project. He suggests that we build an under- 
 ground railroad the whole length of the island, and then 
 have a surface extension to some point beyond Harlem 
 River, where we can obtain suitable space for an un- 
 limited number of tenement-houses. He would have 
 the underground section so far below the surface that it 
 can be laid out without reference to the courses of the 
 streets and without detriment to any proprietary rights. 
 The occupants of the tenement-houses are to be entitled
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 321 
 
 to free transportation on the railroad, and the laws of 
 the land are to be supplemented by such regulations as 
 every proprietor has a right to adopt as to what shall be 
 required, or prohibited, within the territory subject to 
 his exclusive control. I will explain the whole scheme 
 to you when we meet. Job has got it worked out very 
 fully. 
 
 "AVe all consider it extremely desirable that our rich 
 people should adopt more expensive customs, and that 
 fashion should become more potent in creating a demand 
 for labor. At our last meeting I described a small table 
 on which an Italian had bestowed twenty-five years of 
 toil. This was thrown out to suggest how many mouths 
 could be filled in the course of providing furniture for a 
 single parlor. Our rich ladies ought to make more use 
 of embroidery and of such other ornamentation as calls 
 for the work of female hands. You can see how the 
 education of taste, and the enlargement of capacity for 
 enjoying the beautiful, might be made to go hand in. 
 hand with the furnishing of employment to those who 
 need it. When we get a little further along in our civil- 
 ization, fashion will begin to demand recognition as a 
 beneficent power."
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 MISS LOYALTY'S AFFAIRS. 
 
 letters received in the course of the spring the 
 following facts came to our knowledge : 
 Orrin Barleck left the seminary some time in Feb- 
 ruary. His first measure was the selection of his field 
 of labor ; and after visiting several other cities, he con- 
 cluded that missionary work was most needed in the 
 lower part of New York. Accordingly, he rented in 
 that locality a hall which had been used sometimes for 
 dancing and sometimes for gambling. By putting up 
 posters and having notices handed about, he soon gath- 
 ered a congregation. There was much disorder in the 
 meetings at first ; but the police captain of the district 
 soon perceived in Orrin's enterprise an aid to the pre- 
 vention of crime, and gave such orders that no disturb- 
 ance of the exercises could be carried very far. Orrin's 
 original design was to pay all the expenses of the mission 
 from his own income ; but he soon had to admit the 
 need of much pecuniary help in order that his opportu- 
 nities for usefulness might be fully improved. The gas- 
 bills were found to be heavy ; many new seats had to be 
 provided for the increasing congregations ; a janitor had 
 to be employed, and hymn-books had to be bought. Be- 
 sides, he desired to secure the frequent use of a number 
 of smaller rooms, located here and there, for prayer- 
 meetings. He attached much importance to having as 
 
 322
 
 MISS LOYALTY S AFFAIRS. 323 
 
 many persons as possible take part in such meetings ; 
 and, as several of his adherents were confident of their 
 qualifications, and professed their readiness to conduct 
 religious exercises in public, he looked forward to the 
 time when he could have several prayer-meetings in 
 progress simultaneously. Moreover, he remembered 
 Paul's earnestness in collecting funds for the relief of 
 needy saints ; and Le was surrounded by persons who 
 claimed to belong to that class. As might have been 
 expected, these pecuniary necessities, at the outset, were 
 made known to the Jormans, and their response was 
 prompt and liberal. But circumstances soon caused all 
 applications in that quarter to cease. 
 
 For several weeks after Orrin had entered upon his 
 his work he visited his old friends quite frequently, and 
 spoke very enthusiastically of what he hoped to accom- 
 plish. He always chose a seat by Kitty's side, and 
 usually held her hand in his while he explained his plans to 
 Mr. and Mrs. Jorman. Very often his language implied 
 that he expected Kitty to be soon in full co-operation 
 with him as his wife, although he had not asked her to 
 appoint the time for their marriage. Mrs. Jorman drew 
 from her the fact that she was entirely in the dark as to 
 Orrin's wishes on that subject. At the same time, Kitty 
 insisted upon a promise that nothing should be said to 
 him with the design of eliciting an expression of those 
 wishes. Still, it became increasingly evident that the 
 uncertainty which she would not allow to be dispelled 
 was very painful to her. While she would not permit 
 her aunt to question the propriety of Orrin's silence, it 
 was easy to see that she felt it to be incompatible with, 
 such a love as her heart was craving. Besides, this un- 
 certainty as to the time when her marriage would take
 
 324 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 place seemed to make her whole future uncertain. She 
 felt herself unable to treat a married life as a prospective 
 reality, or to form any plans in relation to it, until she 
 could lay hold on some fixed point of time for its begin- 
 ning. Thus her imagination was kept from familiarizing 
 her with the way of life, the associations, and the class 
 of duties which she assumed that Orrin had chosen for 
 her. Could she have looked forward with clear expec- 
 tation to a particular time when that new life would 
 commence, such was the strength of her impulses and 
 the consequent force of her will, that she would have 
 accepted her prospective lot in all heartiness, and might 
 have come to feel that she could make herself at home 
 in it. But, on account of the lack of such a starting- 
 point for plans and day-dreams, the sense of her personal 
 unfitness for missionary work among the most depraved 
 inhabitants of the city was constantly growing upon her. 
 Another circumstance added to Kitty's troubles and 
 increased the anxiety of the Jormans. It was observed 
 that Orrin not only indicated no desire for advice, but 
 seemed totally incapable of taking in any practical sug- 
 gestions let fall for his benefit. On this point Jorman 
 wrote me : " As a stimulant to self-sufficiency nothing 
 can equal an unregulated zeal for righteousness. When 
 the paramount impulse is a desire to do right, and a fel- 
 low's interest comes to be centred on a special work, 
 the strength of his conviction as to the importance of 
 that work is in direct proportion to the intensity of his 
 interest. Then, if he is unpractised in observing his own 
 mental processes, he is sure to estimate the general 
 power of his understanding by the burning consciousness 
 of that overwhelming conviction. When other men fail 
 to adopt his conception of the relative importance of his
 
 MISS LOYALTY S AFFAIRS. 325 
 
 special work, they prove to him that their understandings 
 are inferior to his. It is in this way that fanatics come 
 to regard themselves as infallible. If I had not so many 
 reasons for deploring this feature of Orrin's present state 
 of mind, I should be highly amused by the smile of su- 
 periority with which he dismisses suggestions offered by 
 Serena and myself. But I have such a view of the bat- 
 tle which is going on in Miss Loyalty's big heart that I 
 sometimes feel that I can never be amused again at any 
 thing. Her insight is marvellously sharp, and she sees 
 the absurdity of Orrin's self-sufficiency as clearly as I 
 do, but is determined that she won't have it so. She is 
 constantly insisting to herself that her failure to see 
 things as he does is due to her own unworthiness. She 
 might find a little unsatisfactory rest in such a conclu- 
 sion, were it not for her knowledge that the view which 
 she is trying to get rid of is entertained by her aunt. 
 There is torture for her in the thought of being out of 
 sympathy either with Serena or with Orrin. But the 
 dear child is braver than Joan of Arc. She gives no 
 sign of succumbing or repining. Her safety lies in the 
 same vehemence of aff ectional power that makes all these 
 things so intensely painful to her. That reactive force 
 keeps her in a fighting attitude ; and you know that 
 there is no danger of our sinking under troubles so long 
 as they make us mad enough to declare that the evils 
 which appear imminent shall never be experienced." 
 
 As the weeks passed away it became evident that Or- 
 rin's state of mind was undergoing a change. Nothing 
 indicated any abatement of his confidence in his own 
 judgment. On the contrary, it became increasingly clear 
 that he expected all his utterances to be accepted as 
 final. The disappointments which he encountered, and
 
 326 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 the failure of certain measures which he had undertaken, 
 wrought no admission of an error in judgment. Their 
 first effect was to embitter him toward his fellow-men 
 and dispose him to expatiate on human wickedness. 
 But he was too intellectual to persist in ascribing his 
 own failures to the perverseness of others where he was 
 unable to discern a relation of cause and effect, and his 
 desire to have his own heart right was so sincere and so 
 ardent that the embitterment within him did not long 
 escape his notice. The result was that he became pro- 
 foundly dissatisfied with his moral state. He began to 
 talk of being unworthy of success in his Master's cause, 
 and of the impossibility of a blessing on such half- 
 hearted work as his. He expressed himself in that 
 strain on one occasion, till Kitty's patience gave out 
 completely. She declared that it was wicked for him to 
 talk in that way ; that there was not one minister out of 
 a million who would make such sacrifices as he was 
 making for the sake of doing good, and that if the Lord 
 wanted any thing more there was no use in trying to 
 please Him. Jorman interposed with the remark that 
 the usefulness of service can never be accurately meas- 
 ured by external signs, and Mrs. Jorman expressed the 
 opinion that the Master often withholds blessings, for a 
 period, to test and develop the faith of His servants. 
 But none of these considerations had any weight with 
 Orrin. " I appreciate your kindly feelings," he said, in 
 a patronizing tone, as he rose to leave, " though it would 
 have been a very sad thing for me if you had succeeded 
 in making me satisfied with myself. I know I have 
 heretofore consecrated myself but very imperfectly. I 
 have clung to a dream which it is my duty to renounce. 
 I see what is required of me, and I am praying for grace
 
 MISS LOYALTY S AFFAIRS. 327 
 
 to be fully obedient." As he uttered these last words he 
 staggered against the door-way in manifest agony, but 
 mastered himself immediately and rushed from the 
 house. 
 
 In recounting this incident, Jorman wrote : " You can 
 imagine something that would answer as a faint sugges- 
 tion of the state in which Orrin left us. What renuncia- 
 tion he had in mind was perfectly clear to us all. We 
 were all silent and all motionless. I was afraid to look 
 at Miss Loyalty. When I caught Serena's eyes she 
 turned them toward the Book upon the table by which I 
 was sitting. I read portions of the last address to the 
 disciples, beginning with, ' Let not your heart be troubled,' 
 and ending with, ' In the world ye have tribulation : 
 but be of good cheer ; I have overcome the world.' 
 Then I knelt down and asked for just exactly what I 
 wanted ; and I got it. I don't care a snap what any- 
 body's theory of prayer is. It is enough for me to know 
 that the use of such a resource at such a time is in strict 
 accordance with the dictates of common sense, and that 
 its value is questioned only by those who are proud of 
 their ignorance." 
 
 That was the last of Orrin's visits at the Jorman home. 
 Two or three days afterwards, he wrote Kitty that he 
 dared not trust himself in her presence again ; that his 
 eyes had been opened to the terrible truth that compan- 
 ionship with her could be only self-indulgence on his 
 part ; that entire consecration to his Master's work was in- 
 compatible with the union to which he had looked forward 
 with such fervent joy, and that he should be false to his 
 own soul if he should adopt a lower rule of action than 
 the one exemplified in the celibacy of Paul. 
 
 The letter was a long one, but the above were the only
 
 328 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 points in it which Kitty would disclose. Mr. Jorman 
 had no doubt, however, that Orrin's love found such ex- 
 pression in the hour of its crucifixion as he had never 
 before had power to give it. This view was confirmed in 
 a letter from Kitty to my wife. " I don't feel humiliated 
 a bit," she wrote ; "and I am ashamed of ever having 
 felt that he would have begged for an early wedding-day 
 if he had loved me enough. I don't believe anybody 
 else could 'love as he does ; and I am very proud of his 
 being conscientious and strong enough to give me up. It 
 is going to be pretty hard for your foolish little Loyey to 
 think of there being a thick high wall between her and 
 Orrin, so that she can never see him comforted again by 
 having her near him. But I don't care any thing about 
 what I have got to suffer myself. It makes me feel as 
 if I was going to have a part in Orrin's great work, 
 when I see how much it will cost me. But, oh ! it is 
 dreadful to think of his being disappoinied and tired out 
 and having his nerves all unstrung, and not having any 
 little hand on his forehead. Do come as soon as you can, 
 Lissey dear. Uncle Psycho and Aunt Serena are just as 
 sweet and tender as anybody in the world could be. But 
 they are so high up that their love seems to drop down 
 upon me ; and I want it to come in sideways, as yours 
 would." 
 
 Both Mr. Jorman and his wife urged us to come upon 
 a second visit as soon as possible, and we had such a 
 feeling for Kitty that we lost no time in setting about the 
 necessary arrangements. Colonel Orlington was able to 
 exercise a general oversight of matters on my plantation 
 until the close of John's term at school ; and my mother 
 and Dolly were to spend their vacation at Ellermere. 
 Aunt Phyllis was to accompany us as nurse, and her
 
 MISS LOYALTY S AFFAIRS. 329 
 
 daughter was promoted to the charge of the kitchen. 
 But my wife did not postpone exertion on Kitty's behalf 
 to the commencement of our visit. As on many other 
 occasions, a prophetic spirit was engendered by her con- 
 stitutional hopefulness. Within two days of the time 
 when we received information of Orrin's self-martyrdom, 
 she said to me : " Loyey is going to be happy yet. I 
 know it as well as I know any thing in the world. Orrin 
 will get into such distress that he can't keep himself from 
 crying out for her. Then she will go to him, and he will 
 see that he can't do any good without having her to keep 
 his mind composed." Lissey reiterated this prediction 
 in her letters and urged upon Kitty the duty of keeping 
 herself strong in body and calm in mind, so that she 
 might be ready for the call which was sure to come. 
 
 We found, on our arrival in New York, that the effect 
 on Kitty's mind, of my wife's prediction, had been 
 highly salutary. " You have given me something to live 
 for," said the brave girl, when they were by themselves 
 for the first time. " I was all scattered about and 
 could n't see any way to be of use to anybody. I began to 
 lose my appetite and could n't get any sound sleep. I 
 knew I was making everybody in the house miserable, 
 and could n't help thinking what a good thing it would 
 be if I should die. I thought, one time, there would be 
 some satisfaction in my having a little of the same kind 
 of work that Orrin is doing, and I got Uncle Psycho to 
 take me, one Sunday afternoon, to what they call a 
 'ragged school.' He had the superintendent give me a 
 class of girls, and I tried to teach them. But some of 
 them were so dull, and the rest of them were so impu- 
 dent, that I lost my temper two or three times. Every 
 thing was so disagreeable that I had the biggest kind of
 
 330 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 a cry when I got home. I guess, though, I should have 
 determined to break myself into the work if your letter 
 had n't come. That made me see that I had no right to 
 worry myself to death over what I was so unfit for. It 
 ain't as though there were not aplenty of teachers for the 
 ragged schools who can do that work a thousand times 
 as well as I can. Now, I don't feel anywhere near as 
 sure as you do that Orrin will ever call for me ; but as 
 long as it \?> possible that he will, I ought to keep myself 
 ready all the time, and I am going to do it." 
 
 It was plain that Kitty, for the first time in her life, 
 had entered upon a course of rigid self-discipline. With 
 the design of preserving a " healthy mind in a healthy 
 body," she was exercising much of that practical common- 
 sense which was the most conspicuous characteristic of 
 her aunt ; and she was thorough-going in proportion to 
 the intensity of her emotional nature. The force of will, 
 resulting from the fervor of her impulses, gave her ex- 
 ceptional power for the management of her thoughts. 
 Her conceptions of Orrin, struggling, wearied, disap- 
 pointed, instead of causing her to fall into melancholy 
 brooding, impelled her to interest herself in all the be- 
 neficent work of her uncle and aunt, to gather in sub- 
 stantial knowledge and to seek such recreations as she 
 found to be salutary. Lissey found her very reticent on 
 the subject of devotional exercises, but became con- 
 vinced that she was " sustained and soothed by an 
 unfaltering trust." 
 
 The marriage of Orrin and Kitty was so complete a 
 prospective reality to my wife that it came to be treated 
 in conversation as an event that was sure to take place. 
 Then, of course, the two friends had their imaginations 
 much occupied with the married life which was to ensue.
 
 MISS LOYALTY S AFFAIRS. 331 
 
 They agreed that Kitty's missionary efficiency was to be 
 realized through Orrin's labors. She was to make his 
 place of rest delightful, to watch over his health, to en- 
 courage and advise him. They pictured to themselves 
 various difficulties which he would encounter and con- 
 trived solutions which they found highly satisfactory. In 
 recounting these things to me, Lissey commended Kitty's 
 practical wisdom in the strongest terms, and assured me 
 that Orrin would lean upon her judgment more and more. 
 Mr. Jorman and I were far from sharing my wife's 
 sanguine expectation of Orrin's recognizing his need of 
 Kitty. It seemed to us altogether probable that any 
 distress into which he might fall would serve only to 
 stimulate his misguided craving for total self-renuncia- 
 tion. Jorman said that a man's suffering for a line of 
 action, which he believed to be obligatory on him, was 
 like a mother's suffering for her child, that in both 
 cases the attachment was strengthened, and perse- 
 verance was made more probable. I went, one Sunday 
 morning, to hear Orrin preach, and found no warrant for 
 hopefulness on Kitty's behalf. His countenance pre- 
 sented an incipient haggardness which made me believe 
 that his splendid physical constitution could not long 
 endure the strain to which he was subjecting it. His 
 manner and intonations were governed entirely by the 
 topics which successively occupied his thoughts, but at 
 no time were they even suggestive of mental composure. 
 His text was : " Be filled with the Spirit," and his points 
 were : i. The conditions on which one can be filled 
 with the Spirit ; 2. The need of being filled with the 
 Spirit ; 3. The blessedness of being filled with the Spirit. 
 Under the first head, as I expected when I heard it 
 announced, he dwelt on the necessity of casting away
 
 332 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 every source of enjoyment which can possibly militate 
 against perfect self-consecration ; and, as he unfolded 
 his conception of the renunciation required, the lines of 
 his countenance, the tones of his voice, and all his atti- 
 tudes and gestures were so expressive of fierce determi- 
 nation and of readiness to be offered, that I said to my- 
 self : " It is folly to dream of his ever returning to 
 Kitty." In discussing his second topic he set forth the 
 sinfulness of his hearers and the consequences of its per- 
 sistence with such appalling vehemence and such terrific 
 imagery, that loud groans burst forth in all parts of the 
 room. When he began to speak of the blessedness of be- 
 ing filled with the Spirit, he faltered for some moments 
 and betrayed some confusion of thought. But this em- 
 barrassment had all the effect of a masterly oratorical 
 device. It gave his hearers time to recover from the 
 effects of the denunciations and warnings which had 
 just been poured out upon them ; and they were again 
 at his absolute control as soon as he was himself envel- 
 oped in the atmosphere of his new topic. In a short 
 time his imagination was all on fire, and its creations 
 were accepted by himself as the deliverances of con- 
 sciousness. " I testify to you at this moment," he ex- 
 claimed, " I demonstrate to you here and now, that the 
 soul of man has the high privilege of being filled with 
 the Spirit of God. I invite you all to stand with me on 
 this exalted plane. Come up ! Come up, beloved 
 friends ! Let us dwell in the light which blazes around 
 the throne of Omnipotence." 
 
 At the conclusion of the services I made my way to 
 the platform and shook hands with the preacher. He 
 was evidently pleased to see me, and referred at once 
 to the impression made on his mind by my remarks at
 
 MISS LOYALTY S AFFAIRS. 333 
 
 the prayer-meeting in Jacksonville. " I have always 
 believed," he said, " that the Lord made you largely in- 
 strumental in effecting my salvation. I have recognized 
 a special interposition in your being sent to that bar- 
 room for me. It has seemed to me that there was no 
 other man in the world with whom I should have gone 
 from the place voluntarily." 
 
 I expressed my gratification and the hope that his 
 rescue would redound greatly to the benefit of the world. 
 Then I told him that my wife was at Mr. Jorman's and 
 would be pleased to meet him. He clasped his forehead 
 convulsively with his right hand for a moment, and then 
 said, in a broken voice : " I should be very glad to get 
 acquainted with Mrs. Bidrop, but I am not yet strong 
 enough to call there." 
 
 " Well," I responded, " you will know my address, and 
 if I can aid you in any way while I am in New York, I 
 hope you will permit me to do so." 
 
 It was natural that my account of what I had wit- 
 nessed should occasion remarks concerning the termina- 
 tion of Edward Irving's career, and on the " speaking 
 with tongues " at his meetings. My wife's hopes were a 
 little shaken at first, but they soon rallied, and she said 
 to me in a very confidential tone : " You will see yet that 
 Kitty is going to save Orrin from Edward Irving's fate. 
 The cases are totally different. Mr. Irving gave up the 
 only woman he ever loved, and married another. That 
 alone was enough to make him crazy. It may not come 
 around just as I have been thinking it would. Orrin 
 may break down in such a way that it will be Kitty's 
 duty to go to him whether he calls for her or not." 
 
 Kitty shrank from receiving an account of the services 
 directly from me, but she questioned my wife on the
 
 334 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 subject. Lissey told her what I had said of Orrin's 
 wonderful eloquence and of the impression made upon 
 his hearers. She thought it best, also, to refer to our 
 conversation concerning Edward Irving, in order that 
 Kitty might be preparing herself for an intervention not 
 requested by Orrin. Mr. Jorman took measures for 
 being furnished with daily information of Orrin's pro- 
 ceedings and apparent condition. But a solution of 
 the whole problem was brought about in a way of which 
 no one could have dreamed beforehand. 
 
 Among the persons who were in the habit of dropping 
 in upon the Jormans whenever they were so inclined 
 was a lawyer by the name of Nextor. He was a slender, 
 wiry man, about fifty years old, with a mercurial temper- 
 ament ; and his manners and style of conversation were 
 altogether his own. He told us, one evening, that he 
 was to argue an important case before a jury the next 
 day, and Jorman and I determined to go and hear him. 
 There was much talk among frequenters of the court- 
 rooms about the effectiveness with which Mr. Nextor 
 handled testimony ; and we were convinced on this oc- 
 casion that his reputation was well founded. There was 
 no ambitiousness in his oratory. He spoke mainly in a 
 conversational tone, though he occasionally uttered two 
 or three sentences with great vehemence. We observed 
 that he drew illustrations from several lines of business, 
 and inferred that he was aiming to make his points clear 
 to men engaged in those pursuits. Then he surprised us 
 by entering all at once on abstractions and delivering an 
 a priori argument in which we could see no great force. 
 But this was followed by a masterly recapitulation of all 
 the preceding arguments ; and they were left in a solid 
 array which seemed to us invincible. We stopped to
 
 MISS LOYALTY'S AFFAIRS. 335 
 
 congratulate Mr. Nextor, and Jorman said to him : " I 
 want to talk this over with you. Come in this evening, 
 won't you ? " 
 
 " O yes," was the reply ; " I '11 come. I 've been 
 hungering for a little flattery a long time." 
 
 The desired commendation was bestowed, that even- 
 ing, very freely and with entire sincerity. " But I want 
 to ask you," said Jorman, " what induced you to work in 
 that a priori argument ? " 
 
 " O," said Nextor, " I had a metaphysical crank on 
 the jury, and it was necessary to humbug him. Com- 
 mon-sense reasoning has no weight with him. We have 
 to be philosophical with such fellows, and the further we 
 are from understanding our own arguments the surer we 
 are of having the cranks on our side. They take it for 
 granted that a lawyer has a good case when he treats 
 them with mystification and waddles around a little while 
 in their fog-bank." 
 
 "You were acquainted with the man, were you?" 
 " No ; I never exchanged a word with him. But I. al- 
 ways know all about my juries. We have a man in our 
 office who devotes nearly all his time to gathering the 
 necessary information and writing them up. You would 
 be amused at some of the annotated lists that he hands 
 me. He usually has them complete before the evidence 
 is all in. If he needs more time I get it for him by re- 
 calling witnesses, or raising a nonsensical objection to 
 some question and arguing on it very profoundly. I 
 seldom address a jury before understanding its composi- 
 tion thoroughly." 
 
 Mr. Nextor was led on to speaking at length on the 
 argumentative devices which he had learned to employ ; 
 and he wound up by saying : " When I have a good case
 
 336 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 and know my men I am always sure of a verdict." Then 
 he turned abruptly to me and asked what I had been 
 reading when he came in. I was sitting by the drop- 
 light with one of Froude's " Carlyle books " in my hand. 
 " Well," he said, as I gave him the title of the volume, 
 "begin where you left off, and let 's see how it runs." 
 
 After reading several pages I came upon the passage 
 in which it is related that Jane Carlyle said, in speaking 
 of Edward Irving's vagaries : " There would have been 
 no ' tongues ' if he had married me." 
 
 " Hold on there ! By George !" Jorman exclaimed, 
 from a thoughtless impulse. This threw Kitty off her 
 balance, and she sputtered out : " You need n't hold 
 on at all. It 's all nonsense. She had no business to 
 say any such thing ; and I don't believe she ever said it. 
 Old Froude don't know beans anyway." She rushed to 
 the piano and began to bang it furiously. 
 
 " I think a little music is what we want," said Mrs. 
 Jorman, with forced composure, as she took the vacant 
 stool at Kitty's side. " Sha' n't we try that duet again, 
 darling ? " 
 
 They managed to get through the piece, and then 
 Kitty wondered what made her so sleepy, and left the 
 room. In a few minutes my wife followed her. Mrs. 
 Jorman sat buried in thought, and her husband was so 
 chagrined at his blunder that he had nothing to say. 
 Nextor and I tried to force a little conversation on what 
 I had been reading ; but we made poor work of it. At 
 length Mrs. Jorman lifted her eyes from the floor ; and 
 her expression was that of one who has reached a satis- 
 factory conclusion. 
 
 " You have made up your mind to forgive your blunder- 
 ing old husband, have you ? " said Jorman.
 
 MISS LOYALTY'S AFFAIRS. 337 
 
 " There is nothing to forgive," she answered, as she 
 came and placed her hand on his shoulder. " I think it 
 very fortunate, no, I will say what I mean, I think it 
 providential that all this conversation, with the reading 
 and what followed it, has taken place. I hope you will 
 employ Mr. Nextor to secure a verdict for us. He can 
 get a chance to argue the case by sending a note to the 
 the jurymen, saying that a client authorizes him to 
 give five hundred dollars to some mission, and asking 
 for a personal interview. I believe lawyers don't like to 
 have ladies present when they are talking with their 
 clients. It is so hard for us to keep secrets, you know. 
 Good-night." 
 
 "Hurrah for us !" Jorman exclaimed. "Won't you 
 be kind enough, my dear, before going to bed, to step, 
 out into the middle of the street and shout ' Eureka' 
 two or three times ? " 
 
 The case of Orrin and Kitty was explained to Mr. 
 Nextor as fully as possible, and he became deeply in- 
 terested in it. " This promises to be a ' cause cleberej " 
 he said. " The saving of that young man is the point to 
 keep in view. Our little friend, Miss Loyalty, is already 
 saved. She is all right for this world and all the other 
 worlds. But this marriage is the only thing that can 
 keep the preacher from going to hell in short order. He 
 is to be convinced of his duty in the matter. Where is 
 his spouting-place ? I want to see him on the rampage 
 before I meet him privately. I shall be likely to call on 
 you next Sunday afternoon, to get some of his gospel 
 explained to me ; I 'm not very well up in such matters." 
 
 When my wife slipped away from us she went imme- 
 diately to Kitty's room and found her weeping and 
 angry. She was angry with Mr. Jorman and more so
 
 338 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 with herself. " It was so stupid in Uncle Psycho to 
 bawl out in that way," she said. " But that would n't 
 have done any harm if I had n't had to be a little spite- 
 ful dunce myself. Oh, I wish somebody was to blame 
 for my not having any sense, so that I could scratch his 
 face for him. Nobody has any business to know that I 
 care any thing about what Jane Carlyle said, but I had to 
 let it all out. I 've made it look as if I got into tan- 
 trums because Orrin would n't marry me, and was so 
 conceited that I thought I could keep him from going 
 crazy if I was his wife." 
 
 Lissey convinced the poor girl that there was no 
 reason for her distress, since she had exhibited nothing 
 but the strength of her unselfish feelings. " You have a 
 sacred mission, dear," said the comforter, " and such 
 little accidents as this are not worth looking at for a 
 moment." 
 
 Mr. Nextor came to us early in the afternoon of Sun- 
 day, and made it evident at once that he had been 
 profoundly impressed. " The case opens up splendidly," 
 he said. " That Barleck is worth saving. He is tre- 
 mendously eloquent and has a plenty of brains. The 
 best of it was that he did n't have a thought of the figure 
 he was cutting. He was driving away at his work, and 
 all taken up with trying to make his hearers see what was 
 best for them. He 's a splendid fellow, but he '11 go all 
 to pieces very soon unless I can win my case. Before 
 he got through there was a gleam in his eyes that I 
 did n't like, and he showed that he was aspiring to such 
 a spiritual condition as would be entirely incompatible 
 with sanity." 
 
 The text, it appeared, had been : " Be ye therefore 
 perfect." Mr. Nextor gave us an extended account of
 
 MISS LOYALTY S AFFAIRS. 339 
 
 the discourse, but it is sufficient to say here that Orrin 
 treated perfection as identical with sinlessness, dwelt at 
 great length on the necessity of crucifying sin, and as- 
 sumed, throughout, the possibility of living sinlessly in 
 this world. " Now," said the lawyer, " I am sure that 
 he is wrong, and that the spiritual condition which he 
 describes so glowingly can't be obligatory on us here, be- 
 cause it is simply impossible and would unfit us for the 
 duties of life if we could get into it. But it won't do 
 for me to engage him in argument till my own notions 
 are cleared up a little. Now, Jorman, what is the Bible 
 view of sin when you get to the bottom of it ? " 
 
 " Well," my friend replied, " according to the ety- 
 mology of the word in the Greek Testament sinning is miss- 
 ing the mark, and sin is that which causes us to miss the 
 mark what jogs the soul's elbow when it is taking aim." 
 
 " Very well. Now, what is the mark ? " 
 
 " What is best ; the highest attainable good. The old 
 pagan Greeks assumed that every man kept that mark in 
 view. Even Socrates held to this doctrine, and, conse- 
 quently, ascribed every man's misdeeds to errors of un- 
 derstanding as to what was best for him. " Well, all the 
 Greek thinkers saw very clearly that the highest attaina- 
 ble good could not be realized without the observance of 
 certain ethical rules, and that the mark was missed 
 by every infraction of such a rule. In this way, I 
 suppose, unrighteous conduct came to be spoken of as a 
 missing of the mark. Then the New Testament writers 
 took up the word and broadened and deepened its mean- 
 ing, as they did the meanings of many other words 
 which they found in the Greek vocabulary. They lo- 
 cated righteousness and unrighteousness in the mental 
 nature, and called upon us to observe rules for the regu-
 
 34 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 lation of our emotions, impulses, and faculties. They 
 taught us that missing the mark resulted from the non- 
 observance of the rules pertaining to our inner lives, and 
 they extended the same figure to the tendency which 
 causes these rules to be disregarded." 
 
 " Well, what is your conception of that tendency ? " 
 
 " It is a tendency to subordinate all other ends to 
 speedy gratification. In other words, it is a perverted, 
 pampered, overgrown, tyrannical desire of pleasure, 
 which benumbs our higher impulses, contaminates our 
 emotions, and cripples our understandings." 
 
 "You make it out a pretty tough customer to deal 
 with. Barleck spoke a great deal about crucifying sin, 
 but I could n't see just how he proposed to do it." 
 
 " The only effectual way is through such invigoration 
 and activity of the higher impulses as will force the 
 desire of pleasure to keep within its legitimate sphere." 
 
 " I see. It looks to me as if I ought to be able to 
 show Barleck that he is going at this thing in the wrong 
 way. He needs to give some of his affections a better 
 chance to grow. He ought to have the help of other 
 associations and new ties. Well, what about being per- 
 fect ? " 
 
 " Orrin is all wrong in making perfection identical 
 with sinlessness. In his text the word ' perfect ' means 
 fully developed, or full-grown. But it is sometimes em- 
 ployed to designate attainment to a certain stage of 
 development, although much growth is still to take 
 place. In such cases it has a meaning analogous to 
 what we have in mind when we call a baby ' perfect.' 
 We mean that it is symmetrically formed. The ultimate 
 perfection toward which we are exhorted to struggle is 
 the symmetrical completeness of our personalities."
 
 MISS LOYALTY S AFFAIRS. 34! 
 
 " There, that 's all I want, if you will equip me for 
 proving that your interpretation is correct. I can show 
 Barleck that he is getting further and further away from 
 such perfection as that every day. He 's wretchedly 
 one-sided already. I can describe the atmosphere he 
 needs to be in, and the surroundings that such a fellow 
 as he is must have, before he can experience any normal 
 growth." 
 
 Two or three hours were then spent by Jorman and 
 Nextor over a concordance, the Greek and English 
 versions of the New Testament, and a Greek lexicon. 
 The note was sent to Orrin on Monday, and he was 
 requested to call at Nextor's office the next morning at 
 ten o'clock. On Tuesday evening Jorman and I went 
 around to Nextor's house to hear his report of the first 
 interview. My statement of what had taken place must 
 be a condensed one. The lawyer made minute inquiries 
 concerning Orrin's enterprise, and the uses for which he 
 needed money, and drew out a full account of what he 
 hoped to accomplish. Then the importance of the work 
 was discussed, and Nextor expressed his appreciation of 
 it in very strong terms. " But, Mr. Barleck," he said, 
 when he thought his way was sufficiently paved, " I am 
 afraid that you will wear yourself out before you get the 
 movement under such headway that your personal lead- 
 ership will not be indispensable to its further progress. 
 In that case it would amount to very little. Don't you 
 think that you ought to economize your strength and 
 preserve the elasticity of your powers by providing your- 
 self with surroundings and associations favorable to 
 repose ? " 
 
 To this Orrin replied : " No particular worker is nec- 
 essary to the Master. He will determine the length of
 
 342 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 my period of labor, and dismiss me from the field when 
 it shall seem to Him good to do so. For myself, I have 
 only to be fully consecrated, to work while it is day, and, 
 whatsoever my hands find to do, to do it with my might." 
 
 Nextor argued that a man could not be fully conse- 
 crated unless he placed all the powers of his understand- 
 ing at the service of his Master. He insisted, also, on 
 the obligation of a minister to economize his resources 
 of every kind by the constant exercise of the same 
 common-sense which a successful man applies to his 
 business. But Orrin replied : " The wisdom of this 
 world is one thing, and the wisdom that comes from 
 above a very different thing." 
 
 The lawyer saw that he was making no impression 
 with his first point, and was a little vexed by the air of 
 conscious superiority with which his arguments had been 
 waved aside. He said, therefore : " I suppose you do 
 not claim to be infallible. You are ready to admit, are 
 you not, that it is possible for you to be mistaken, and 
 possible that you might gain a better knowledge than 
 you now have of the New Testament ? " Orrin was evi- 
 dently much startled by these words, and uttered a dis- 
 claimer with great emphasis. 
 
 " Well," Nextor resumed, " I heard you preach yester- 
 day, and I am very sure that you presented one or two 
 views which are not in harmony with the teachings of 
 the Bible. They are points which I have taken occasion 
 to investigate very thoroughly, and I feel a great interest 
 in them." 
 
 Orrin's unconscious assumption of infallibility had 
 just been so much disturbed that he was now eager for 
 an explanation ; and the lawyer proceeded to unfold the 
 arguments on Sin and Perfection, for which he had
 
 MISS LOYALTY'S AFFAIRS. 343 
 
 gathered materials Sunday afternoon. He said to Jor- 
 man and myself, in reporting the discussion : " The 
 preacher let me take my own course. He did n't get 
 into a polemical attitude for an instant, and only inter- 
 rupted me with a few questions for the obvious purpose 
 of getting me to make myself clearer. In winding up I 
 went at him with what the dominies used to call ' an ap- 
 plication ' when I was a boy. I described the associa- 
 tions which he ought to have in order that sin might be 
 precluded by the growth and expansion of pure affections, 
 and I dwelt very earnestly, but not long enough to arouse 
 suspicion, on the help which a loving wife could give 
 him in his struggle for symmetrical completeness. He 
 was very much agitated when I was on this point ; but I 
 tried to avoid the appearance of noticing it, and so I 
 can't tell just what turn his feelings were taking. I told 
 him I should make a favorable report to my client, and 
 had no doubt that I should have the five hundred dol- 
 lars ready for him if he would call at ten o'clock to- 
 morrow. Suppose you come to my office at two, and 
 see how near I am to my verdict." 
 
 . Jorman was hopeful, on the whole, but not at all san- 
 guine. " The shaking of his confidence in his own 
 convictions," he said, " is a great thing for the fellow. 
 And his being brought into an inquiring frame on Sin 
 and Perfection is an excellent indication. He has heen 
 unconsciously assuming that it is impossible for him to 
 receive any new light on those subjects. But that idea 
 of renunciation has got a tremendous hold upon him, 
 and will stir him up against any plan which embraces his 
 temporal welfare." 
 
 When we called at Nextor's office, Wednesday after- 
 noon, we found him much disturbed. " I don't know
 
 344 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 how it is coming out," he said. " The case took an 
 unexpected turn, and I had to adopt a new line on the 
 spur of the moment. Barleck came in promptly at ten 
 o'clock. He was pale and haggard ; but his self-com- 
 mand appeared to be complete. I told him I feared he 
 had not enjoyed a good night's rest, and he answered 
 that he had not rested at all. He said that he had been 
 passing through a fearful struggle, but that the grace of 
 God had brought him out triumphant. I asked him if 
 he was willing to explain the nature of that struggle to 
 me, and he proceeded to do so. He said the adversary 
 had been making use of the views which I presented 
 yesterday in a terrible assault upon him, with the design 
 of seducing him into disloyalty to his Master. ' You 
 brought back to my imagination,' he said, ' a vision of 
 conjugal bliss which I had formerly cherished for years, 
 as I never cherished any other vision ; and I felt such 
 an inexpressible longing to make that dream a reality 
 that my steps had wellnigh slipped. I recalled all your 
 arguments, and weighed them one by one again and 
 again, and was on the point of accepting them as con- 
 clusive, when the Spirit of God recalled to my mind the 
 fact that I had already been given to see, by a light as 
 clear as that of heaven itself, the incompatibility of con- 
 jugal happiness with such a self-consecration as my 
 Master required of me. Then I saw that the only 
 question was whether I would be false to my Master 
 or not ; and the grace was given me to answer in the 
 negative.' " 
 
 " That," the lawyer continued, " was a stage of the 
 proceedings which I had not anticipated. I could take 
 only a minute or two for reflection, and so I had to 
 think pretty fast. I had, in the first place, to decide a
 
 MISS LOYALTY'S AFFAIRS. 345 
 
 point which comes up with me pretty often. I was get- 
 ting mad as a hornet, and the question was whether I 
 should choke down my anger, or let it slide. I decided 
 on the latter course, and said to the preacher : ' I have 
 no doubt that you have had an interview with the Devil. 
 But he did n't strike you where you think he did. His 
 trick was to stimulate your self-righteousness and urge 
 you on to persist in a suicidal course that you could be 
 pharisaic over. He wants you to kill yourself or go 
 crazy, as soon as you can. In those days when you used 
 to entertain that vision that you speak of, did you want 
 any particular woman for your wife, or was it all an 
 abstraction ? ' 
 
 " ' I loved the most precious girl on earth,' he an- 
 swered, ' and loved her with all my heart.' I then 
 asked him if his love was returned, and he said it was, 
 most fully. I drew out the fact of his engagement and 
 the fact of his abandoning the young lady without any 
 fault on her part. Then I asked him what excuse he 
 could offer for his conduct, and he answered : ' My duty 
 to my Master.' 'Well,' said I, 'if your Master wants 
 you to act like an infernal scoundrel towards a woman, 
 he can't be my Master. I don't want to hear another 
 word on the subject. I 've got something better to 
 attend to. I 've got a case of a poor widow against a 
 cursed old Shylock who is trying to cheat her, and God 
 Almighty wants me to get justice for her. There 's the 
 check for your five hundred dollars.' I pushed the 
 check across the table and began to fumble my papers. 
 He stared at me for a minute, as if his wits had all left 
 him, and walked out of the room, leaving the check 
 where it was." 
 
 " Well," said Jorman, " you have given him a shock
 
 346 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 which will either bring him to his senses or send him to 
 an asylum. I am glad that I have got a man looking 
 after him. If this don't set him right, there is no hope 
 for him. What is the reason that I never had sense 
 enough to make him see his conduct toward Miss Loyalty 
 in its true light ? " 
 
 We returned to Thirty-fourth Street, but had not been 
 there more than an hour when the telephone-bell rang, 
 and I was told that Mr. Bidrop was called for. I an- 
 nounced my presence at the instrument and asked " Who 
 is there ? " 
 
 " Orrin Barleck," was the answer. "Will you come 
 immediately to Mr. Jorman's room on Tenth street ? " 
 
 "I will come at once," I replied, and stepped into the 
 library for the key. As I came back into the hall, my 
 wife was standing in the parlor door-way, and I told her 
 that Orrin wanted me to meet him on Tenth Street. 
 
 "Put your arm around me, Lissey," said a broken 
 voice, " and keep it around me. Take me into auntie's 
 working-room." 
 
 It should be borne in mind that Kitty had been kept 
 in complete ignorance of our arrangement with Mr. Nex- 
 tor. But the simple fact of Orrin's summoning me to an 
 interview made her feel that a momentous crisis had 
 arrived. 
 
 I found the young man at the foot of the stairs, and 
 he leaned heavily on my arm as we ascended to Jor- 
 man's room. We took seats on opposite sides of the long 
 table, and he began to talk in a trembling voice, with his 
 head resting on his hand, while his features betokened a 
 distress which excited the deepest pity of which I was 
 capable. " I have got to have advice," he said. " I am 
 convinced that it would be wrong for me to trust to my
 
 MISS LOYALTY S AFFAIRS. 347 
 
 own judgment, for I can't see my way clear in any direc- 
 tion. As soon as I admitted to myself that I needed 
 counsel, my thoughts turned instantly to you. I know 
 you to be a conscientious Christian man, and I have 
 great confidence in your practical understanding. You 
 have no such crotchets and strange theories, as Mr. 
 Jorman is always putting forward. I want to know what 
 my duty is. As God is my judge, I am conscious of 
 being ready to do His will if I can only have it made 
 clear to me." 
 
 He then gave me an account of his interviews with 
 Mr. Nextor, and concluded with the charge that he had 
 acted " like an infernal scoundrel towards a woman." 
 
 " Now, Mr. Bidrop," he said, " I want to know if my 
 treatment of Kitty appears to you in the same light in 
 which Mr. Nextor sees it. Have I been acting wickedly 
 towards her ?" 
 
 I hesitated to answer, because my pity for the young 
 man made the truth appear cruel. But he begged me to 
 be entirely sincere and plain with him, and I said : "We 
 all know that your conduct was dictated by a desire to 
 do what you supposed to be the Lord's will, and that it 
 cost you such a sacrifice as human beings have seldom 
 equalled. But, putting your motives out of sight and 
 applying the rule of rectitude to the line of action which 
 you adopted, I am compelled to say that I can see no 
 justification for your course. If I had broken off my 
 own engagement with the woman who is now my wife 
 while there was no fault to be alleged against her, I 
 should have been guilty of deliberate and atrocious 
 wickedness. In my view such action, under such cir- 
 cumstances, is not only contrary to the rules of Christian 
 morality, but it is entirely inconsistent with the honor of
 
 348 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 a gentleman. In saying this, I am merely giving ex- 
 pression to sentiments which are general among thinking 
 men in all Christian lands ; and it is very difficult, if not 
 impossible, for a man who is known to have broken an 
 engagement of that kind, without fault on the woman's 
 part, to gain recognition as a conscientious person." 
 
 " Do you say then," he asked, as he struggled to bear 
 up under the blow which I had given, " that even a 
 special call from the Master cannot justify such con- 
 duct ?" 
 
 " I say it is impossible that the Master should put 
 forth a special call to unrighteous action. I cannot con- 
 ceive of the meek and lowly Jesns requiring a man to 
 break a loving heart." 
 
 He sat for some minutes in silent agony, and then ex- 
 claimed : " I see it all. Oh, how blind I have been ! 
 My poor, poor Kitty ! Have I murdered you ? Oh ! is 
 there any mercy for me ? " 
 
 " ' A bruised reed shall he not break.' Those words 
 are for you, Orrin, as well as for Kitty. Remember the 
 Divine commiseration which is never withheld from a 
 contrite sinner. Besides, reparation is still in your 
 power, and it may turn out that all these experiences 
 have been serving to fit you both for higher usefulness." 
 
 " Do you think that Kitty will let me come back to 
 her ? " he cried, springing to his feet, with staring eyes. 
 
 " It would not be right," I answered, " for me to ex- 
 press an opinion on that subject. Nothing is required 
 of you except what lies in your own power. The repara- 
 tion will be complete when you manifest a desire to go 
 back to her." 
 
 " Desire to go back to her! " he exclaimed with an in- 
 describable pathos in his tones. " Oh, how I have
 
 MISS LOYALTY'S AFFAIRS. 349 
 
 struggled and writhed and prayed for the annihilation of 
 that desire ! But it lost none of its strength, and I 
 settled down at last in the conclusion that it was given 
 me as a ' thorn in the flesh ' which I must carry to my 
 grave. I want to thank God for showing me how blind 
 I have been." 
 
 I knelt with him, and he poured out a prayer, which I 
 will not attempt to describe. When he rose from his 
 knees he was entirely calm, and a subdued thoughtful- 
 ness was expressed in his eyes. 
 
 " Have I been entirely mistaken," he asked, " in sup- 
 posing that a renunciation is required of me ? " 
 
 I replied : " I am not capable of going into such a 
 subject very deeply ; but I have the impression that a 
 general renunciation is required of us all, and that it has 
 its place in a steadfast purpose to deny ourselves all 
 gratifications incompatible with fidelity to the Master. 
 If we maintain that purpose, opportunities for particular 
 renunciations will come to us fast enough. But let me 
 ask you, Orrin, if it is not going to cost you a struggle to 
 banish the dream of making your external life a close 
 imitation of the life of Paul ? Have you not been am- 
 bitious to realize a homelessness, and to encounter trials, 
 similar to his ? And then, it is not improbable that, after 
 looking the ground all over dispassionately, you will see 
 that your highest usefulness involves the turning of your 
 back on fame and other glittering prizes which are un- 
 doubtedly within the reach of a man possessing your 
 gifts. There will be enough for you to renounce." 
 
 He admitted the correctness of my impression as to 
 his desire to follow in the footsteps of Paul, and saw 
 plainly that there would be no lack of opportunities for 
 self-denial. He was clearly of the opinion that he should
 
 350 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 see it to be his duty to continue laboring in the field 
 which he had first selected, but declared his purpose to 
 keep his mind open to new light on the probabilities of 
 usefulness in other spheres. " I will not treat any sub- 
 ject of that nature as finally closed," he said, " but will 
 endeavor to give due weight to all considerations which 
 may come to my notice." 
 
 This remark led us to recur to what Mr. Nextor had 
 said concerning the importance of economizing one's 
 strength and the necessity of consecrating one's under- 
 standing. We talked on that line at considerable length, 
 and Orrin confessed that he had been squandering his 
 power and had been greatly at fault in not availing him- 
 self of needful relaxation. In speaking of his future 
 course I mentioned association with Mr. and Mrs. Jor- 
 man as a valuable resource for him. His response, 
 however, convinced me that he had a very erroneous 
 conception of my friend's character, and I took occasion 
 to state some facts illustrative of his sagacity and of his 
 elevated impulses. I gave an account of Jorman's con- 
 version, the Advanced Epicureans, and the Tuesday 
 Afternoons, and expressed what I felt in regard to the in- 
 tellectual and moral rnfluences which pervaded the 
 household. Then I pointed to the Greek inscription : 
 " Ouk diakonethenai, alia diakonesai," and told how 
 Jorman's choice of that motto was making itself felt as 
 far away as South Carolina. 
 
 " I thank you for telling me all this," Orrin said. " It 
 makes me feel that I have discovered a new treasure 
 belonging to my Master. There is a luxury in contem- 
 plating such beneficence, and I trust it will find a new 
 channel in making me better qualified for my work." 
 
 By this time the growing darkness had attracted my
 
 MISS LOYALTY'S AFFAIRS. 351 
 
 attention, and I said : " Come, let us go up to Thirty- 
 fourth Street." 
 
 " Do you think I had better go there to-night ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " By all means," I answered. " Nothing else is to be 
 thought of. You must go and stay with us till you get 
 fully rested." 
 
 He rose and took my arm, with the remark : " The 
 sooner I learn my fate" the better it will be for me." 
 
 Lissey was watching for the click of my latch-key and 
 met us near the door. " I knew you would bring him," 
 she said. " I am very glad to see you, Mr. Barleck." 
 
 " I will introduce Mr. Barleck to you after you have 
 talked with him an hour or two," I said. But Lissey was 
 too happy to suffer much from my comment on her im- 
 pulsiveness. She seated us in the library and then 
 passed into the working-room. In two or three minutes 
 she reappeared, and beckoned to Orrin. He obeyed her 
 with a visible lack of composure, and she closed the 
 door upon him and flew to a seat in my lap. " If I 
 had n't known all the time," she said, " that some thing of 
 this sort was coming, I don't believe I should have been 
 able to stand it. O what a dear old ridiculous Nolly you 
 are ! " 
 
 I pass over the two happy days during which Orrin 
 was recovering from what he called his " spiritual de- 
 bauch." On Saturday morning he announced his inten- 
 tion to go to the room on Tenth Street and prepare a 
 sermon. He had previously asked me if I thought it his 
 duty to make a public confession as to the spirit in 
 which he had been working, and I had advised very em- 
 phatically against such a course. Jorman and I accom- 
 panied him to his hall on Sunday morning. His text
 
 352 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 was : " Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy 
 laden, and I will give you rest." 
 
 " That is preaching" said Jorman, as the sermon 
 ended. " There is no such thing as measuring the bene- 
 fit which these people will receive from such talking as 
 that. Orrin is on the right track now, and I guess he 
 will stick to it. But I want to see him and Miss Loyalty 
 yoked up as soon as possible. He never will be found 
 among the tombs, cutting himself with stones, while he 
 has her to watch over him." 
 
 Before the next Sunday Orrin and Kitty were married 
 and had gone to a quiet retreat among the Adirondacks. 
 It was evident that the gifted young preacher's condition, 
 both physical and mental, required a prolonged period of 
 repose, and Jorman volunteered to take the general 
 oversight of his mission during his absence, and see that 
 services should be kept up in the hall. Although it was 
 still mid-summer, my wife and I had conclusive reasons 
 for returning at once to our home, and Aunt Phyllis was 
 sure that the baby would be better off at Ellermere than 
 anywhere else. The strongest motive for our immediate 
 departure was our desire to be with my mother and 
 Dolly during the remaining weeks of their vacation. 
 We found John Orlington quartered at Ellermere for his 
 better convenience in managing the plantation, and we 
 had our thoughts about what the future might have in 
 store for Dolly. 
 
 Two or three months after the return of Orrin and 
 Kitty to New York, Mr. Jorman wrote me as follows : 
 
 "All our hopes for Miss Loyalty are more than re- 
 alized. She and her preacher will stay with us through 
 the winter, but she aspires to the charge of a home of 
 her own and says she must be in that dignified position
 
 MISS LOYALTY'S AFFAIRS. 353 
 
 before she can think of herself as any thing but a snub- 
 nosed midget. Miss Cutterra has taken a great fancy to 
 her, and is drawing her out wonderfully and making her 
 quite active at the Tuesday Afternoons. Under this 
 training Miss Loyalty is disclosing intellectual treasures 
 for which Serena and I never gave her credit. We knew 
 that she spent a great deal of time with books, but she 
 never had any thing to say about what she had read. 
 Did you ever hear of such reticence combined with such 
 impulsiveness ? The truth is that her dissatisfaction with 
 her size, complexion, features, and temper, grew into a 
 general self-distrust. 
 
 " Orrin is getting to be one of the most level-headed fel- 
 lows in New York. The remembrance of his experience 
 is making him very careful and conscientious in trying 
 to get at the truth on all sides of every matter with 
 which he has to deal ; and his intellectual clamps are 
 reaching out in all directions and acquiring vigor very 
 rapidly. He and I are going through a regular course 
 in Psychology, and he is already convinced that a man 
 who don't know much about human souls has no 
 business to meddle with them. He is greatly interested 
 in the reciprocal operations of the susceptibilities and 
 the intellectual faculties. The Advanced Epicureans 
 have taken his mission in charge and become responsible 
 for all its expenses, on condition that he shall permit 
 them to fit him up a home according to their own no- 
 tions. Tom Clonmell keeps on the watch for the scamps 
 who think they can make a ' good thing ' out of the mis- 
 sion. Tom has undertaken, also, to furnish the Epi- 
 cureans with the information necessary to the defeat of 
 rascally schemes for plundering the city treasury and for 
 crushing villains who become candidates for elective
 
 354 THE PSYCHOLOGIST. 
 
 offices. We are working up an understanding with a 
 body of citizens without whose consent no man can have 
 a majority at the polls in New York. There is a great 
 deal of good work going on in this world of ours, Nolly, 
 and we will take a great deal of comfort in looking at 
 it. There is a plenty of evil, too, but we won't allow it 
 to worry us. When we see that we can't do any thing 
 with it, we '11 turn away and find an excellent pillow for 
 our heads in the celestial regulations." 
 
 THE END.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKER SERIES 
 
 OF 
 
 CHOICE AMERICAN NOVELS. 
 
 Price per Volume: Paper, 50 cents; Cloth, $1. 
 
 I. THE LE AVENWORTH CASE. By Anna Katharine Green. 
 II. A MAN 'S A MAN FOR A' THAT. 
 III. THE BRETON MILLS : A Romance of New Eng- 
 land Life. By Charles J. Bellamy. 
 
 IV. CUPID AND THE SPHYNX. By Harford Flemming. 
 V. A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE. By Anna Katharine 
 
 Green. 
 VI. THE HEART OF IT : A Romance of East and West. 
 
 By William O. Stoddard. 
 VII. UNCLE JACK'S EXECUTORS. By Annette Lucille 
 
 Noble. 
 VIII. THE STRANDED SHIP : A Story of Sea and Shore. 
 
 By L. Clarke Davis. 
 
 IX. NESTLENOOK. By Leonard Kip. 
 X. MR. PERKINS' DAUGHTER: An International 
 
 Novel. By the Marchioness Clara Lanza. 
 XI. GYPSIE. By Minnie E. Kenney. 
 
 XII. EUNICE LATHROP, SPINSTER. By Annette Lucille 
 Noble. 
 
 XIII. THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES. By Anna Katharine 
 
 Green. 
 
 XIV. HAND AND RING. With Illustrations. By Anna Katharine 
 
 Green. 
 XV. THE B ASSETT CLAIM : A Story of Life in Washing. 
 
 ton. By Henry R. Elliot. 
 XVI. THE MILL MYSTERY. By Anna K. Green. 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 27 & 29 W. 23d St., New York.
 
 THE TRANS-ATLANTIC SERIES. 
 
 Select English and Continental Novels, issued in authorized American 
 editions, handsomely printed in square i6mo. Price per volume, 
 Paper, 50 cents; Cloth, $1.00. 
 
 I. CAPTAIN FRACASSE. By Theophile Gautier. Trans- 
 lated by E. M. Beam. 
 II. THE AMAZON. By Franz Dingelstedt. Translated by James 
 
 Morgan Hart. 
 
 III. MOTHER MOLLY. By Frances Mary Peard. Illustrated. 
 IV*. THE LOST CASKET. Translated from " La Main Coupee " 
 
 of F. du Boisgobey, by S. Lee. 
 
 V. MADEMOISELLE BISMARCK. By Henri Rochefort. 
 VI. ROMANCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 By William H. Mallock, author of "Is Life worth Living?" 
 etc. 
 
 VII. THE VICAR'S PEOPLE. By George Manville Fenn. 
 VIII. JOHN BARLOW'S WARD. By a new writer. 
 IX. THE GOLDEN TRESS. By F. du Boisgobey, author of 
 
 " The Lost Casket," etc. 
 
 X. JOSEPH'S COAT. By David Christie Murray. With Illus- 
 trations by Barnard. 
 .XI. ESAU RUNSWICK. By Katherine S. Macquoid, author of 
 
 " Patty," etc. 
 XII. THE DINGY HOUSE AT KENSINGTON. By a new 
 
 writer. Illustrated. 
 XIII. LADY BEAUTY; or, CHARMING TO HER LATEST 
 
 DAY. By Allen Muir. Illustrated. 
 'XIV. AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR. By Annie Edwardes, 
 
 author of "Archie Lovell." 
 XV. ABBE CONSTANTINE. By Ludovic Halevy. From the 
 
 2oth French edition, by Emily H. Hazen. 
 
 XVI. MY TRIVIAL LIFE AND MISFORTUNE. A Gossip 
 with no plot in particular. By a Plain Woman. 
 
 Part I. SPINSTERHOOD. 
 
 XVII. MY TRIVIAL LIFE AND MISFORTUNE, etc. 
 Part II. MEUM AND TUUM. 
 
 XVIII. HER SAILOR LOVE. By Katherine S. Macquoid. 
 XIX. KING CAPITAL. By Wm. Sime. 
 XX. THE WORLD WE LIVE IN. By Oswald Crawfurd. 
 
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