MAPLETON; 
 
 O^^V f" I 1 (VA'Y * I/X 
 
 <wl0rh for iljc Jwanu 
 
 "The Inw vrhioh restrains a man from doing mischief to his fellow-citizens, thoudi it 
 diminish the natural, increases the civil, liberty of mankind." BLACKSTOXB. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 JENKS, HICKLING AND SWAN, 
 1853.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1853, by 
 
 JENKS, IIICKLINQ & SWAN, 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 STEREOTYPED BT 
 HOBABT k BOBBINS, 
 
 HKW ISQI.AND TYPB AND 8TEREOTTP8 POUNDERT 
 BOSTON.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE parabolic and dramatic style is as old as literature. It was adopted 
 by Him who had lessons of highest import to impart ; because truth in 
 action is far more effective than truth in abstraction. Humanity in the 
 story of the good Samaritan, and penitence in that of the Prodigal Son, 
 touch the heart as they could not in the most finished disquisition. 
 
 Those who brand every book of the kind as a novel, in an offensive 
 sense, are at war with the constitution of our nature. This form of litera- 
 ture meets an instinctive' want, which must be met in some way, if not 
 with sentiments to enlighten, enlarge and ennoble, then with those to 
 weaken, wither and debase. Instead of carping against light literature, 
 it were better to charge it with truths and influences purifying, profound 
 and enduring, and send it abroad on a mission of love to mankind. The 
 evil is not in the use, but in the abuse. 
 
 Not the rocks, mountains, and valleys of Greece, nor the physical 
 scenery of England, has made it what it is in the world of mind ; but the 
 creations of genius by which it is adorned. So, till a national literature 
 of our own has cast its diviner hues upon our scenery, not even Niagara 
 can rise to its proper position in the regards of mankind. 
 
 This work is a draught upon materials which have been some years 
 accumulating, in the author's endeavor to form a style coincident with 
 the habits and sympathies of the living age. The didactic and abstract, 
 much as he might prefer them, are not the weapons for a steam and light- 
 ning movement. If the mountain will not come to Mahomet, why, then, 
 Mahomet must go to the mountain. If witches can only be shot with 
 silver, what is the use of firing lead ? Are any grieved that the age will 
 not bear elaborate writing, " I more ; " but who is able to fight against 
 destiny ? 
 
 This story is not so extraordinary as the facts which it adumbrates. 
 The caricature is not here, but in real life. Had the author's sketches 
 reached the extreme limit of history, they would have lacked the essential 
 requisite of an air of credibility. 
 
 " A love-story on so grave a theme ! is this admissible ? " This objec- 
 tion the author can better meet than vouch for his tact in managing so 
 
 2090709
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 delicate a subject. It is only in the social relations of a drunkard's chil- 
 dren that the injury to them fully appears. Especially is this true of 
 those who are born to a higher destiny than their unfortunate domestic 
 connections will permit them to reach. They are eaglets with plucked 
 plumage and broken wing, falling prone from their native sphere. 0, 
 the pangs and tears thus extorted are too deep, too intense, too profuse, for 
 pen or pencil ! 
 
 The work is a humble contribution to a great reform in morals and 
 legislation. The profounder depths of the subject have not been reached, 
 much as has been spoken and written in the temperance reformation. 
 The alcoholic currents flow deep down under forms of religious manifesta- 
 tion, under inspirations of genius, under legislative, diplomatic and judicial 
 agencies, under military prowess and valor, under hereditary disease and 
 degeneracy, yea, under all the interests of humanity ; nor have they yet 
 fully gushed forth through any of the openings of a vastly accumulated 
 temperance literature. We see them not, we heed them not. The hissings 
 and convolutions of the many-headed dragon have been described ; but the 
 venom which he infuses into the sources of our blood, into the atmosphere 
 of thought and sentiment, and into all the subtler elements of life, what 
 painter can depict, what author or orator describe ? 
 
 Two hundred years of legislation against drunkenness have accomplished 
 comparatively little. Everywhere, under our old license laws, its seduc- 
 tive madness may be indulged in for a few cents. Had the liquor traffic 
 been as free as that of corn, cloth or cotton, drunkenness would have been 
 scarcely easier or cheaper. 
 
 What is to be done ? Shall we leave the traffic to its course, or control 
 it by stringent legislation ? If left to its course, or to the present licensed 
 causes of crime, humanity requires a kindlier provision for those who are 
 thus made criminal than prisons, penitentiaries, poor-houses and the 
 hangman's rope. Far better that the power now exerted in licensing the 
 temptation should exercise its undoubted prerogative in prohibiting, 
 under stringent and prompt penalties, the sale of intoxicating drinks as 
 a beverage.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. NOCTURNAL SCENE A GREAT DANGER, 1 
 
 IL THE GROGGERY A GREATER DANGER, 14 
 
 III. IT IS A FEARFUL NIGHT, 23 
 
 IV. THE NEW HOME, 3T 
 
 V. A TOWN WITHOUT ALCOHOL, 51 
 
 VI. THE OUTPOSTS OF THE ENEMY AT LENGTH APPEAR, 61 
 
 VII. THE ENEMY ENTERS AT LAST, 81 
 
 VIII. ALCOHOL AND RELIGION, 91 
 
 IX. THE ALCOHOLIC TRAFFIC REACHES A CRISIS IN MAPLETON, . 103 
 
 X. THE DESPAIR AND HOPE OF A DRUNKARD'S SON, 121 
 
 XI. THE INIQUITY OF A FATHER VISITED UPON THE SON, .... 136 
 
 XH. CONSERVATISM OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC, 168 
 
 Xm. WINE AND WITCHCRAFT, 183 
 
 XIV. THE FORCES RECONNOITRING, 195 
 
 XV. BLUDGEON FIGHTING THE DEVIL, 214 
 
 XVL LOVE BETTER THAN DENUNCIATION, 231 
 
 XVII. WOMAN'S MISSION, 242 
 
 XVm. HIGH LIFE BELOW STAIRS, 255 
 
 XIX. THE DYING CONFESSION, 265 
 
 XX. THE SKAMPTON MILL GRINDING INFLUENCE, 27? 
 
 XXI. THE PLOT THICKENS, 292 
 
 1*
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER , 1MGB 
 
 XXII. DUBIOUS PRESENTIMENTS 304 
 
 XYTTT. EXCURSION TO THE VALLEY OF THE WYOMING, 314 
 
 XXIV. WAR TO THE KNIFE, 326 
 
 XXV. TO THE WESTWARD, HO! THE MISTAKE DISCOVERED, . . . 343 
 
 XXVI. ANOTHER TRAGEDY IN MAPLETON, 358 
 
 XXVII. A LEAP FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS, 370 
 
 XXVIII. A DIVINE RIGHT TO DO WRONG, 384 
 
 XXIX. MISS HARCOURT'S ADVENTURES, 393 
 
 XXX. TO THE RESCUE, 407 
 
 XXXI. THE VICTORY, 419
 
 MAPLETON; 
 
 OB, 
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 NOCTURNAL SCENE A GREAT DANGER. 
 
 " As monumental bronze unchanged his look, 
 A soul that pity touched, but never shook ; 
 Trained, from his tree-rocked cradle to his bier, 
 The fierce extremes of good and ill to brook 
 Impassive fearing but the shame of fear 
 A stoic of the woods a man -without a tear." CAMPBELL. 
 
 "Mr dear Charles," said Mrs. Douglass, "how.have you 
 been, since you left us?" * 
 
 " Been, mother ! " replied the boy, witlTan effort to laugh 
 in spite of his tears, " been as well as I could." 
 
 " Why do you weep, my son? " 
 
 " I do not weep, do I? " said the boy, forcing his ruddy 
 face into a reluctant laugh. "What a great country, 
 mother ! noble trees ! ; ' 
 
 "And fine roads, too," added Mr. Douglass, forcing his 
 horses through a deep slough, which Charles, essaying to do 
 with his team, got fast in the mud. 
 
 "Ho, there, men!" cried Mr. Douglass; "bring your
 
 8 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 levers, seize a rail, anything to help this boy out of the 
 mire." 
 
 " He, ho, heave ! he, ho, heave ! all together, now 
 again try it! he, ho, heave!'' cried a dozen voices, while 
 crack, crack, went the whip, urging the tired horses to their 
 utmost endeavors, so that with difficulty at length the 
 wagon was lifted out of the slough. 
 
 Here began the migrating sorrows of the Douglass fam- 
 ily. All before had been mere anticipation. This begins 
 the rugged reality of an outcast life, remote from the scenes 
 of other years, driven out by the demon of intemperance, 
 which still haunted them with fears and forebodings for the 
 future, as it had robbed them in the past of all that the 
 heart holds most dear. Charles had left his native place in 
 full glee. The journey and new-country life were full of 
 excitement to his ardent imagination. He and his fellow- 
 teamsters had started the goods a few days in advance of the 
 family, whose lighter vehicle and fleeter horses had over- 
 taken them at this point. They had just descended a steep 
 hill to the level of the country below, a country stretching 
 off to a distance of ten miles, where it bordered on one of 
 the great western lakes, and, at the time of which we arc 
 speaking, was covered with a forest of unusual density. It 
 was a forest which began at this point to be interspersed 
 with an enormous growth of evergreens, beneath which day 
 was always dusky, and night gloomy and hideous. 
 
 " Charles, my child," said Mrs. Douglass, after they had 
 passed the slough, " I fear you are not so happy in moving 
 as you expected." 
 
 " 0, mother ! " replied the boy, " I never saw such times 
 as these. It seems to me our old hencoop is pleasanter than 
 any house I have seen since I left home."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 9 
 
 _< 
 
 " Where did you sleep last night, Charles ?" inquired his 
 father. 
 
 "We staid at Beach's, on the Ilissus, which was so 
 thronged with emigrants that we felt ourselves fortunate 
 to find a plank apiece to sleep on." 
 
 " The Ilissus ! " exclaimed Mr. Douglass ; "pray where 
 did you get that name ? Beach keeps on Mud Creek." 
 
 " Beach himself told me, with much pride," said Charles, 
 " that his was the oldest tavern-stand west of the Cayahoga, 
 and that it gloried in a location on the flowery banks of the 
 famed Ilissus." At this, father, mother and son, broke 
 forth into uproarious laughter, in spite of their gloomy con- 
 dition. 
 
 "Beach has a classic imagination," said Mr. Douglass, 
 " to convert the miserable fever-and-ague hole on which he 
 lives into so renowned a stream ; it will make the old Attic 
 poets mutter in their graves. That will be a fine story for 
 Harry, when you see him again." 
 
 "Well, there is one good thing," said Mrs. Douglass; 
 " Beach keeps a temperance house." 
 
 "How did you leave Harry?" inquired Charles, begin- 
 ning to weep again, at the mention of this most intimate of 
 his school companions. 
 
 " Cheer up, my son ! " said Mr. Douglass. 
 
 " Cheer up, father ! " rejoined Charles, still determined 
 to get the better of his home-sick feelings. 
 
 " Good-by, Charley, good-by, Charley, good-by ! " 
 cried the younger children, as their father plied the whip, 
 and left their eldest brother behind to the bitterness of his 
 own solitary reflections. 
 
 Though other teams were in advance of Charles, he was 
 the sole occupant of his own in bringing up the rear. It was
 
 10 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 near sundown, and five or six miles of the worst road ever 
 travelled remained, before reaching the inn where they pro- 
 posed to pass the night. The intervening forest was almost 
 unbroken, in which the darkness soon became so profound 
 that he could not see his hand before his face. Here the 
 wild beasts had their lair, and held nocturnal revels. Here 
 the hideous howling of wolves, with the humdrum sound 
 of the hedge-hog from his hollow tree, and a thousand dismal 
 voices, as of ghosts stalking in the gloom profound, soon 
 opened upon Charles a scene of fearfulness and terror of 
 which his susceptible imagination took an impression never 
 to be effaced. Dolefully crept his team along over the cor- 
 duroy bridges and through the splashing mud-holes, follow- 
 ing the leading of a lamp carried by the one at the head of 
 the defile. Thoughts of the past and of the future troubled 
 the poor boy's mind. He saw the lines of sorrow in his 
 mother's face as she passed him, and it went to his heart. 
 He knew how good and noble his father was by nature, but 
 how sadly fallen through the seductive habits of fashionable 
 society. He had drank as a gentleman, till it ended in his 
 drinking as a sot. He had stood in the highest rank of society, 
 till what was deemed honorable to his position had brought 
 him to the lowest, and sunk him and his family in the slough 
 of poverty and disgrace. He had reformed, it is true ; but 
 too late to recover caste in the cherished home of his ances- 
 tors, and was, therefore, driven to seek it in distant emigra- 
 tion. Charles was old enough to realize the cause of his 
 family's misfortunes ; and now it preyed upon his mind, and 
 added to the pain of his dark and dismal journey. 
 
 At length, his horses came to a dead stand. He plied his 
 whip, goaded, coaxed, and scolded them, but all to no pur- 
 pose. His manly feelings repelled the idea of betraying fear
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 11 
 
 by calling for help. He dismounted, to lighten the burden 
 and give him greater command of his dispirited horses ; but 
 still the immobility of a stone held them dead in their tracks. 
 He now lifted up his voice to the men with all his might; but 
 it was too late, he could not make himself heard. What to 
 do he did not know ; and yet his courage was roused to the 
 utmost, having increased with his increasing cause of fear. 
 But his danger was greater than he knew ; for near him, on 
 an uprooted tree which lay on a superincumbent mass of 
 underbrush several feet above the ground, a panther, the 
 fiercest of feline animals, was pacing to and fro. His eyes 
 shone in the darkness like balls of fire. Charles saw 
 them, though not with much alarm, because he knew not 
 their nature, supposing it to be phosphorescence ; and yet the 
 motion seemed to him strange and unaccountable. The 
 monster crept slowly along on his downy feet to the point of 
 the tree nearest his victim, where he " sat squat like a 
 toad," with an excited motion of the tail, such as is common 
 in this species of animals as they are about to pounce upon 
 their prey. Charles was now more alarmed, and called 
 lustily for help, though he was not aware of the imminence 
 of his danger, nor did escape seem possible, had he known 
 it ever so well. No response was given to his call, and there 
 the poor fellow stood in the very jaws of death, under the 
 impenetrable curtain of night's deepest gloom, in the bosom 
 of a howling wilderness. 
 
 0, horrible ! Alas, to what straits are innocent children 
 reduced by the recreant habits of parents ! Measuring with 
 his burning eyes the distance, the monster gathered up all 
 his mighty strength for a fierce and unfailing leap upon the 
 boy's throat, and then darted like lightning towards him. 
 when, lo ! a flash lighted up the gloom, a gun exploded, and
 
 12 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 he heard at his feet a heavy fall, with hissing, bounding, 
 snarling, gurgling blood spirting in his face, and all the signs 
 of a feline animal in the agonies of death. Before he had 
 time to collect his thoughts, all at once a torch flamed up, 
 revealing a tall, yellow man, with tattooed features, and the 
 cut rims of his ears hanging pendent, with coal-black eyes, 
 and a horrid mien. It was an Indian, who was reposing for 
 the night on a couch of evergreens after the fatigue of the 
 chase, and who, awakened by the loud outcry of the boy, had 
 caught sight of the panther's flaming eyes just in season to 
 level his trusty rifle and pierce him through the head at the 
 instant of his leap, so that he fell dead at the feet of his 
 victim. Charles had never seen an Indian before ; and now 
 to meet one at such a time, and under such circumstances, 
 made the blood leap through his veins with accelerated force, 
 and the agony of an imaginary danger was far greater than 
 the real one which he had just escaped. When the 
 savage, with his blazing torch, moved towards him, he was 
 almost beside himself with fear. 
 
 The guttural articulation of sounds which he could not 
 understand would have greatly increased his fears, had not 
 the motions and signs of the Indian soon assured him that 
 under his hideous appearance lurked only kindly intentions. 
 He explored with his torch the nature of the boy's trouble, 
 and set himself to the task of relieving him the best way he 
 could. By this time the men with the forward teams, having 
 missed their youthful charge, had reached the scene of action ; 
 and, after a due amount of astonishment at what had hap- 
 pened, they proceeded to whip up the partially rested horses 
 to an endeavor towards progress. 
 
 The Indian, whose name was Canaudeh, was the only relic 
 of a tribe which had perished in the all-consuming fires of
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 13 
 
 alcohol. He himself had been in the last stages of the same 
 infatuation ; but, coming to a sense of his danger, and 
 agonized by the death of his kindred, had resolved, with savage 
 firmness, never to taste another drop of the poison, and thus 
 had survived as the monument of an unwritten temperance 
 pledge. He now roamed, a solitary hunter, over those wilds 
 which, as the chief of his tribe, he had once ruled with regal 
 power. Thus rum's victims from the two extremes of 
 civilized and uncivilized life had met, in the persons of the 
 boy and the savage, and under circumstances of darkness and 
 danger suited to their own sad experience from this bane of 
 society. There grew up, after this, a mutual interest between 
 the two, which made them sharers in some of the events 
 we are now to record. 
 
 Onward the emigrant wagons trundled ; over roots, over 
 logs, through mud and through water, compounded into a 
 bottomless chaos ; heaving, pitching, rolling, tossing, man 
 and beast, as it .were, dead with fatigue, and seeking their 
 entombment in the inn and its stables to await the resurrec- 
 tion of brighter day. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE GROGGERY A GREATER DANGER. 
 
 " Drink and be mad, then, 'tis your country bids ! 
 Gloriously drunk, obey the important call ! 
 Her cause demands the assistance of your throats; 
 Ye all can swallow, and she asks no more." COWPER. 
 
 THE inn was a plain building, partly log and partly 
 framed, or an original forest-cabin, bought out by a wealthier
 
 14 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 proprietor, and wedded to a framed building in white paint, 
 presenting the contrast of Othello and Desdemona. The 
 bar was in the black or devil's part, as it was called, directly 
 adjoining the parlor in the framed building ; a common atmos- 
 phere of rum and tobacco exhalations and fetid breaths, per- 
 vading both rooms alike, as the door between the two was 
 ever on the swing. In one side of the bar-room was a 
 genuine log-cabin fireplace, with stone wall without jamb or 
 mantel-piece, reclining against the logs, and surmounted by a 
 chimney made of sticks and mud, in the form of a tunnel, 
 with the little end upward, serving the three-fold purpose of 
 funnel, ventilator, and skylight. The hearth was the house- 
 hold sewer, to which the disgusting overflowings of rum and 
 tobacco found their way. The bar itself was a strong enclosure 
 of boards and lattice-work, from which issued an incessant 
 stream of poison, carrying madness to the mind, disease and 
 death to the body, and poverty and woe to families. 
 
 One of the best apartments was occupied, on the night of 
 the Douglass' arrival, by two gentlemen ; one a great land- 
 holder, and owner of the inn, farm, and all its appurtenances, 
 while the other was his lawyer and a member of the legisla- 
 ture. Both had just come from their distant homes in the 
 East, the landholder to look after his own estates in these 
 parts, and the other to assist him, and also to attend to the 
 business of another client, who was expected soon to emi- 
 grate. The name of the landholder was Skampton, known 
 among his neighbors as the patron, or patroon ; that of the 
 lawyer was Marldon, and that of his other client Harcourt. 
 
 The room occupied by these gentlemen had a cheerful fire 
 blazing on the hearth, more to expel damp than cold ; two 
 single beds. the only articles of the kind in the house ; a 
 plain table in the midst of the room, with a mug of whiskey-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 15 
 
 punch smoking in the centre ; and a due allowance of chairs, 
 with a small looking-glass. This, for a new country, as they 
 say, was more than common doings. Marldon took the punch 
 which he had just ordered, and, filling a glass, offered it to 
 Skampton, saying, " Drink, my friend, and drive away dull 
 care ! " 
 
 " No, Marldon; excuse me, I never drink," said Skamp- 
 ton. 
 
 " What ! you never drink, and .make so much out of drink- 
 ing?" 
 
 "Well, no one is encouraged to drink by my example; 
 I 've that to say for myself, I 've a clear conscience here. 
 But every one to his taste. Because people are determined 
 to ' put an enemy into their mouths to steal away their 
 brains,' must I relinquish my business and my revenues? 
 Must I give up this house because people come here to drink? 
 If they are determined to have a place of the kind among 
 them, may not I, who am doing what good I can with my 
 money, reap the advantage as well as others, and thus convert 
 the income into channels of benevolence?" 
 
 " Your reasoning is sound, my worthy client, though your 
 example strikes me please excuse it as a little over- 
 strained. So long as Scotch whiskey and w 7 arm punch are 
 such acceptable libations to Morpheus, after a fatiguing day, 
 such abstinence is out of the question to me; " saying which, 
 he put the full glass to his own lips, quaffed its contents with 
 a gusto, and, smacking his lips, added, " Good, good ! fit 
 for the gods ! " 
 
 "By the way, Marldon, how does the Liquor Bill fare in 
 the House?" 
 
 " Dead and damned, I can assure you." 
 
 "You are too harsh in your language."
 
 16 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 " I only quote the words of our enemies, these renegade 
 lecturers, who say of one of us, when he kicks the bucket, 
 ' Gone to a drunkard's grave, dead and damned.' If they 
 say this of a man^ may I not say it of this confounded 
 bill? That cursed law has deprived me of more business, 
 so far as the states have been fool enough to adopt it. than 
 anything which has happened since I entered the profession ; 
 and I have sworn, by all the gods, good, bad and indifferent, 
 that our state shall not be fooled into it. It shall not, it 
 cannot pass ! " 
 
 "What makes you speak so confidently, Marldon ? Had 
 the House rejected it before you left? " * 
 
 " No, I left in the midst of the discussion, forced away 
 by Harcourt's business, as well as yours. (Poor fellow ! his 
 commercial speculations have exploded, I suppose you know.) 
 But, then, I found that not a few of the House are habitual 
 drinkers, and a man will not vote the cup from his mouth. 
 D' ye think I 'd vote away this comfort ? " he added, drinking 
 again. 
 
 "Is that your only reason 7 That don't strike me as 
 sufficient ; for they can lay it by in quantities, and keep their 
 own bar. These demagogues will do anything to court the 
 people. What do the people say ?" 
 
 " 0, they make an outcry to please these blackguard lec- 
 turers ; but we know how to bring them right. Influence 
 and money will knock them into pi." 
 
 "Then you think the representatives, left to themselves, 
 will go against the bill?" 
 
 "^STes, all but the fanatics ; and even they complain that it 
 is not stringent enough." 
 
 " Not stringent enough ?" 
 
 " No, not stringent enough. They go for pouring the
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 17 
 
 ' good cratur ' into the gutter. This is strongly mooted in 
 one of our Eastern states. These rascally lecturers have fed 
 them with cayenne so long, that they now demand fire. 
 They will go yet for burning the houses in which rum is 
 found. There is no end to the demand of these agitators." 
 
 "What are we coming to!" said Skampton, raising his 
 hands in blank astonishment. 
 
 " Coming to ! that 's as plain as the nose on a man's face : 
 coming to hanging up by the neck every rum-dealer ; coming 
 to burning his house over the heads of his family ; coming to 
 worse times than ever heretic-burning inflicted upon the 
 world* There is no telling what we shall come to, with the 
 public run mad." 
 
 " Was ever such persecution waged upon unoffending men! 
 What is to be done ? Is there no hope of protecting our- 
 selves and our business?" said Skampton, anxiously. 
 
 " I think there is," said the lawyer. " In the first place, 
 we have all the drinking members of the House on our side. 
 Then, the speaking is done chiefly by my profession, and we 
 understand too well which side our bread is buttered to go 
 against the interests of some of our best clients. Besides, 
 the liquor-dealers are all-powerful. Their gains were never 
 so great as since temperance times. The conscientious fools 
 who have given up the business turned their profits over to 
 those who are not so mealy mouthed ; and the present enor- 
 mous profits of these few make them rabid against stringent 
 legislation, and give them money to buy votes, newspaper- 
 squibs, and to do, in various ways, the most deadly execution 
 in opposition to it. The whole thing, depend upon it, ^11 
 prove an abortion." 
 
 "May a gracious Providence so order! " said Skampton, 
 2*
 
 18 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 with an expression that showed how much the subject had 
 preyed upon his mind. 
 
 In the midst of this conversation a gentle rap was heard 
 at the door. Skampton arose and opened it, when he was 
 surprised to meet a lady, whose countenance was one of in- 
 telligence and refinement, but overcast with anxiety and 
 distress. It was Mrs. Douglass, a lady now somewhat over 
 thirty, matronly in appearance, and dignified in deportment, 
 who desired a word with the gentleman that owned the inn. 
 
 "I am that gentleman." said Skampton; "walk in, 
 madam." 
 
 She did so, and occupied a chair which he politely handed 
 her. She hesitated a moment how to introduce the subject 
 that bore so heavily upon her heart. At length she said, 
 with an effort to restrain her tears, " I understand, sir, that 
 an order from you will be respected in this house." 
 
 "I own it, madam, but have nothing to do with its man- 
 agement ; that belongs to my tenant, our landlord. If you 
 have any business pertaining to the house, you must look to 
 him." 
 
 " I have seen the landlord, sir, but in vain, I am sorry to 
 say," she added, with a sigh ; and the tears now fell profusely 
 down her fine face, in which some old grief had evidently 
 written its deep lines. 
 
 "What troubles you, madam? what do you desire? has 
 anything happened since you came to the house?" inquired 
 Skampton, with an expression more repulsive than soothing. 
 
 " It is a delicate subject, sir, for a wife, especially one who 
 lias the best and most generous husband in the world, when he 
 is himself. But, alas ! he has not the power, under all circum- 
 stances, to be himself. He was born in affluence, and spent 
 his early years where custom made the use of strong drink
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 19 
 
 necessary to a manly character and gentlemanly position. 
 He had no natural propensity for it, it was rather disgust- 
 ing to him than otherwise ; he was pure, noble, and an honor 
 to human nature. Sir, you will excuse a wife's partiality in 
 saying to you, a stranger, what was a matter of notoriety in 
 our former home. But habit wrought such a change in his 
 nervous system, or created such an appetite for strong drink, 
 that he cannot resist the temptation to use it to excess, when- 
 ever it is brought within his reach, and he tastes it at all. 
 He went to all lengths in dissipation ; wasted my patrimony 
 and the most of his own, all except a farm not many miles 
 from this, inherited from his grandfather, and finally brought 
 on delirium tremens, from which he just escaped with his 
 life. So horrible were his sufferings that he did not return 
 to his cups when he recovered, but has lived now two years 
 without tasting a drop. The happiness of our house is 
 restored, and our affairs have become so prosperous that we 
 are going to our new farm, with the means of establishing our 
 young family in comfort, and to acquire for them, I trust, a 
 quiet home and a good reputation. My great anxiety is, to 
 guard my husband against the temptation to his former 
 habits, to which he cannot return without involving us all in 
 irretrievable ruin." 
 
 "Well, what of that?" said Skampton, in a dry and 
 withering manner. " If a man will make a beast of himself, 
 an angel cannot save him." 
 
 "But, sir," said Mrs. Douglass, with an expression of 
 grief that would have touched any other heart, "there is 
 everything to me and my little ones in it. If he were insane, 
 think you I could trust him in a room with deadly weapons ? 
 Should I not implore the occupant of such a room to be on his 
 guard ? A room where intoxicating drinks are freely dealt
 
 20 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 out is equally fatal to ray husband, whatever you please to 
 name him." 
 
 "Why then did you bring him here?" said Skampton, 
 with great nonchalance. 
 
 " that it had been possible to avoid coming! We must 
 emigrate, we must stop somewhere. Such a retinue as 
 ours could not be admitted to a private dwelling ; and there 
 was no alternative but to stop here or expose our famished 
 company supperless to the dews of the night. Necessity has 
 compelled us hither ; and now, to save my husband, this 
 this is all my concern. In the name of humanity, sir, I 
 beseech you to help me ! " 
 
 " What can I do, woman? Are you mad?" 
 
 " All I ask is, that you give orders to your tenant that not 
 a drop which intoxicates be allowed my husband, for money 
 or persuasion. Let all he would be likely to buy be added 
 to our bill, I will freely pay it ; but will you not, for my 
 sake, let the poison itself be withheld? Will you not take 
 pity on my helpless children, and do as much as this?" 
 
 "Why should this be necessary, if your husband has 
 become a temperance man?" said Skampton, with a sneer at 
 a movement which he always abhorred. 
 
 "0, he is not proof against temptation. This is his first 
 trial, I think ; and I see, by his movements, that he cannot 
 withstand it. The instinct of a wife has revealed to me this 
 dreadful truth. He is fatigued with a long journey ; is de- 
 pressed at parting from all the friends and associates of 
 former years; has been, for an hour or two, restive and 
 wretched, as if he felt himself spell-bound, held by the 
 serpent's bewitching eye, and the very odor of alcohol has 
 disarmed him of his powers of resistance ; so that I know he 
 will drink if he can get it, and we shall be ruined. He has
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 21 
 
 been, for some time, just as miserable as misery can make 
 him." 
 
 " Speak to the landlord, madam ; the house is his, and not 
 mine. I have contracted the use of it to him, and have no 
 more control over it than you have." 
 
 "I have done it, sir; but he only laughs, and insults 
 me." 
 
 " Every trade must live," said Skampton. " I have gone 
 to great expense in purchasing and fitting up this house for 
 the public accommodation. It is a great thoroughfare ; and 
 thousands have suffered just as you speak of, by depending 
 on private accommodations. I could not keep the house 
 myself, but let it to one who makes that his business. His 
 best profits come from his bar. If it were not for that, he 
 would have to charge what many could not afford to pay for 
 food and lodgings. Would you have him sacrifice all his 
 profits 7 If your husband is disposed to make a beast of 
 himself, I am not to blame. Would you have me cut in 
 upon the profits of the house ? If I do it once, I may again 
 and again, and there would be no end to it. I shall have 
 nothing to do in the matter." 
 
 Seeing that further remonstrance was useless, the grief- 
 stricken wife in silent sorrow rose and left the room. Alas ! 
 how numerous are the wives in Europe and America of whom 
 she is the sad, sad representative ! 
 
 "Served her right," said Marldon, sipping his punch; 
 adding, " It 's a scene ; women are made to weep, and it does 
 them good. She '11 feel the better for it. She has the 
 unction of feeling herself a martyr, and you her executioner. 
 I have had my trials with women's tears in my day, I can 
 assure you ; and I know there 's no way but to be firm, be 
 firm. Human nature is what it is. You and I did not make
 
 22 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 it so ; but, if we can make something out of its being so, we 
 should be confounded fools to let a woman's tears pick our 
 pockets." 
 
 "It would gratify me to please the woman," replied Skamp- 
 ton, a little shocked by this bold logic ; " but, then, Marldon, 
 I have no right. I might give up my profits ; but I have 
 made a contract with my tenant to give over to him tho 
 stand, with all its appurtenances, for him to make the most 
 he can out of its business, and it would not be right for me 
 to subtract from his income. I should violate my contract, 
 which, you know, I am not a man to do." 
 
 " No, not right, not legal neither," said the lawyer. "He 
 could sue you for damages on the terms of your lease. 
 Zounds ! I 'd like to manage his suit against you, if you had 
 listened to this piece of female impertinence. All bargains, 
 to stand, must show a quid pro quo, of which you would 
 take away the quid if you interfered with the business of the 
 bar." 
 
 This legal quid suggested the idea of his tobacco quid ; 
 whereupon, taking out his silver case stowed full of the 
 vegetable bane, like putrefaction in a gilded coffin, he 
 proceeded to surcharge one of his cheeks till it projected like 
 a wen, and then dropping his head, now soporific from alcohol 
 and tobacco, he sunk into a profound sleep.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IT IS A FEARFUL NIGHT. 
 
 " Shorten my days thou canst with sullen sorrow, 
 And pluck nights from me, but not lend a morrow. 
 Thou canst help time to furrow me with age, 
 But stop no wrinkle in his pilgrimage." SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 WHEN Mrs. Douglass reached the parlor, she found her 
 husband pacing to and fro in an excited manner, with his 
 eyes fixed upon the open door into the bar-room, which was 
 filled with people in the various stages of intoxication, from 
 the first fiery glass to beastly, unconscious helplessness. She 
 saw, she felt, that the fumes from this hell were fatal to his 
 better impulses, and that he was on the point of making a 
 hopeless plunge into the abyss. He heeded her not when 
 she entered, so intent was his mind upon the burning appe- 
 tite, and the means of its gratification. But she could not 
 give him over. Denied all protection from the house or its 
 owner, she now resolved to exert her utmost skill to save 
 her husband, thankful that not a drop of the maddening 
 liquid had yet mingled with his blood since they entered the 
 house. Wiping her eyes, and clothing her face in the win- 
 ning smiles of a wife's devoted love, the sweetest of earthly 
 passions, she took him by the arm and paced to and fro with 
 him, saying every winning thing which her ingenuity could 
 suggest, to divert him, and enable him to preserve the com- 
 mand of himself. 
 
 " My dear George/' said she, " this is certainly a beauti-
 
 24 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 fill country ; it is much pleasanter than I feared I should 
 find it." 
 
 " Glad of it," said he, laconically, as if hardly conscious 
 of what passed, from the fiery rage of one feeling within. 
 
 " I wish our Charles was here," she added ; "I desire our 
 children every moment under my eye." 
 
 " So do I, but I can't expect it," he rejoined, in the same 
 dry manner, still occupied with his one consuming idea. 
 
 " How far have we yet to go, George ? " 
 
 " Fifteen miles," he said. He had no sooner spoken than 
 a gentleman and lady entered, with three beautiful children, 
 and, gazing at them a moment, he rushed forward and seized 
 the gentleman by the hand, exclaiming, " Bless me ! Charles 
 Durham, is this you ? " 
 
 "Possible, Douglass!" said the man, staring intently; 
 " are you here ? How glad I am to meet you, after this long, 
 long time ! " 
 
 " Charles, you are a noble fellow," replied Douglass, " and 
 look as well as ever, only more manly ; and this is your wife, 
 I suppose." 
 
 " Mr. Douglass, my dear Amelia, of whom you have 
 heard me speak so often as my chum and dearest of all my 
 schoolmates," said the man, introducing his wife; "and Mrs. 
 Douglass, I suppose?" 
 
 " Yes, Mrs. Douglass, who has heard as much ,of Durham 
 as your wife has of Douglass." 
 
 The two groups of children were also introduced, each 
 falling into its place as naturally as if they had lived together 
 for years. Children and kittens are never strangers. 
 
 Mrs. Douglass assumed an air of the utmost civility to her 
 husband's friend, though the name of Charles Durham was a 
 thunderbolt to all her hopes of saving him, on account of the
 
 MORE AYOliK FOll THE MAINE LAW. 2o 
 
 much she had heard of their former convivial intercourse. 
 She feared that to part without drinking together would 
 be impossible ; and she knew that tasting one drop would 
 involve her husband in certain intoxication, to be continued 
 perhaps for days, till "delirium" came to end his wayward 
 career. 0, the agony of a wife with such a spectre before 
 her mind ! 
 
 Durham was a man of about thirty, several years younger 
 than Mr. Douglass, extremely elegant in person and manners, 
 and withal so well dressed, and apparently in such fine con- 
 dition, that it occurred to Mrs. Douglass, as an encouragement, 
 that perhaps he might have become a teetotaller. His wife was 
 a lady of twenty-five, with a lively and sparkling expression 
 of face, beautiful form and features, with a profusion of 
 rich auburn hair that hung in ringlets around a forehead of 
 marble polish and whiteness, and cheeks in which the lily and 
 the rose had blended their choicest hues. Though the mother 
 of three children, she still retained much of the freshness and 
 elasticity of "sweet sixteen." The children were tastefully 
 dressed, well-behaved, and altogether it was one of the most 
 engaging family groups. She had been considered an heir- 
 ess, and her husband, the only son of distinguished parents, 
 was thought " the greatest catch" in the whole community. 
 
 It was not customary then to make much account of the 
 occasional "sprees" of a young gentleman of fashion; and 
 hence the frequent aberrations of Durham were regarded 
 rather as evidence of spirit, or as an evil of which time would 
 effect a cure. But, unlike Douglass, his appetite for strong 
 drink was inherited both from father and mother, neither of 
 Avhom could be said to be drunkards, but whose temperate 
 drinking had so far wrought upon their hidden nature as to 
 taint the blood of this sole heir of their name and their for- 
 3
 
 26 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 tune. Charles would have his high times, even from child- 
 hood; though, -whether drunk or sober, he was always one 
 of the best-natured fellows in the world. His wife loved him 
 devotedly, though he had caused her much trouble, and had 
 wasted their fortune, except the means of a very moder- 
 ate beginning in the new country. She still clung to the 
 hope that, being there out of the way of temptation, he 
 would reform, and they should be a prosperous and happy 
 family. Indeed, there were many points of resemblance, as 
 well as of dissimilarity, in the domestic history and present 
 condition of these boon companions of college-life. For the 
 sake of his dear Amelia, whom Durham loved to adoration, 
 how did he curse his habits and his nature ! How did he 
 long to be where the bane could never reach him more ! 
 With what tearful eyes did he sometimes regard his children, 
 two girls and a boy, in \vhom he felt all a father's pride and 
 joy ! But still the serpent was coiled round his heart, and 
 no tears or resolutions of his own, no ties of family and 
 home, could disengage him from the folds and fangs of the 
 destroyer. Both these wives were sharers in the same fear, 
 the moment of entering this hell. Had they fallen into a 
 den of robbers, it would have been no more tormenting, no 
 more fatal in its consequences. 
 
 The two gentlemen soon became absorbed in conversation 
 on by-gone days, fheir wives saying or doing little except to 
 watch them with trembling solicitude, the more so from the 
 convivial associations revived by their remarks and allusions. 
 At length, Mrs. Durham was called to superintend her chil- 
 dren's retirement for the night, and Mrs. Douglass was left 
 to keep vigils alone. Her children were already in bed, 
 though the infant slept fitfully, after the fatigue and exposure 
 of so long a journey. A moment more, and it began to
 
 MOKE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 27 
 
 scream, as if it were in agony, and the anxious mother was 
 compelled to leave the parlor. She soothed the little one, 
 and, taking it in her arms, returned to her post, deter- 
 mined to throw herself and screaming child across her hus- 
 band's pathway to the bar, if that should be necessary to 
 save him from the charmed eye and deadly fangs of the ser- 
 pent which from that den lured to deceive and destroy. But, 
 alas ! it was too late. The moment she left the room, Dur- 
 ham said to his friend, " Come, we must have a treat over 
 this unexpected meeting." 
 
 Glancing his eye stealthily round the room, to make sure 
 that his wife was out of the way, Douglass replied, " Here 's 
 for you, then, in spite of the devil ! what '11 you take? " 
 
 " Brandy and water; plain doings, but what's better?" 
 said Durham. Whereupon to the bar they made their way 
 with nervous haste, and had swallowed each of them half a 
 glass of brandy just as Mrs. Douglass returned with her 
 screaming child. 
 
 "0, George ! my dearest George ! " she exclaimed, run- 
 ning into the bar-room, with her child still screaming. " You 
 know what the effect will be ; how can you take that poison?" 
 But the venom had already gone to his brain, and he was 
 stark mad, partly with excitement, and partly from the 
 effect of the brandy, after so long an abstinence. Lifting 
 himself up to his full length, he turned upon her his burning 
 eyes, and swore, by all the powers above, if she did not leave 
 the room instantly, he would be the death of her. " I '11 
 have no meddling here, wife ! " said he, with a stern counte- 
 nance. 
 
 ''That's right! no petticoat government in this room!" 
 growled the burly-headed, half-drunk landlord, from his 
 pigeon-hole.
 
 28 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 " An' faith, me lady, this is not seeming to your grace 
 with your squalling brat, and so I '11 hilp ye oot," said an 
 Irish laborer, with a tin dish in his hand, suiting the action to 
 his words, and giving her a push towards the parlor-door. 
 
 " That 's right, Pat," said the fiery-faced landlord. " Put 
 her out ; we '11 have no Jezebels here ! " 
 
 Durham smiled upon her benignantly, singing snatches of 
 bacchanalian songs, and beginning to dance about the room 
 in wild and frantic glee, so that, what with the screaming 
 of the infant, the cursing of Douglass, the singing and dancing 
 of Durham, the brutal remarks of the publican, and the still 
 more brutal conduct of his man, together with the general 
 demonstrations of a drunken brawl among the intoxicated 
 company crowding the bar-room, it was a scene not often 
 witnessed this side of the infernal regions. There was 
 this difference in the effect of strong drink on these two men, 
 that, while it inflamed Douglass' sense of personal conse- 
 quence to the state of a judge or a king, and made him com- 
 bative as a lictor, or executioner, it had directly the contrary 
 effect upon Durham, rendering him extremely bland, loving 
 and jovial, so that nothing was too good for him to give or do 
 for his friends. Both were alike mad, only the madness of 
 the one was terrific, making nothing safe in his presence, 
 whether limb or life ; while that of the other was harmless 
 and happy, full of mirthful romance and seductive song. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Durham, what is to be done 1 " said Mrs. 
 Douglass, as she met her new-made friend coming to the 
 scene of action. 
 
 "0, my dear, I don't know," replied Mrs. Durham, with 
 great concern ; " mad, both stark mad, I suppose ? " 
 
 ^Yes, perfectly so, and surrounded by madmen. I have 
 barely escaped with my life."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 29 
 
 '" What ! Charles offer you violence ? I never knew that 
 of him." 
 
 "No, no! it was not your husband, but mine, and this 
 miserable landlord and his man. Brandy always makes my 
 poor George furious ; and it is a miracle that our family are 
 all alive, after what we have gone through." 
 
 " I should not mistrust it, from his appearance. He don't 
 look like a man who drinks, and least of all like one to be 
 dangerous, if he did." 
 
 " Pie has not drunk a drop of intoxicating liquor for two 
 years till this fatal night. 0, my heavenly Father, what 
 shall I do? what shall I do? There 's no cure, no cure, 
 but death ! It was the delirium tremens that cured him 
 before, but he cannot survive another attack. Nor can he 
 drink without bringing it on, after the shock his constitution 
 has received. 0, it is so dreadful, as if all the evil spirits 
 had come in bodily shape to torment a man ! " 
 
 " Charles never had that terrible disease. His turns of 
 drinking are only periodical, lasting sometimes a week or two ; 
 and the intervals between them, at least latterly, have often 
 been long-continued. 0, I did hope, in this wilderness coun- 
 try, to get beyond the reach of an enemy which has been the 
 blight of our lives. But it is here, it is everywhere ! " 
 Saying this, she stepped to the bar-room door, and found 
 it fastened now that the prey was secure ; but the singing 
 of her husband she could distinctly hear, mingled with the 
 curses of Douglass, who had by this time quarrelled with all 
 who were in a mood for it ; and the medley of sounds from the 
 bar-room was more like the wailing and gnashing of teeth in 
 outer darkness, than like the scenes of earth. Owing to 
 their dissimilarity of disposition in the hours of madness, 
 Douglass and Durham never quarrelled between themselves, 
 3*
 
 30 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 but seemed united by a singular tie of affinity, as if alcohol 
 had kindled between them a morbid flame of artificial sympa- 
 thy and of fellow-feeling. Their wives, seeing how fruitless 
 were attempts to save them, now desisted, and resigned them- 
 selves to black despair. Mrs. Douglass' infant continued 
 still its incessant screaming ; and, in addition, her anxiety 
 about Charles added another pang to her already lacerated 
 heart. ! could one-millionth part of the misery occa- 
 sioned by alcohol come distinctly before the law-makers of 
 our land, they could not fail to see their duty to adopt and 
 prosecute a stringent course of legislation against the gigantic 
 evil! 
 
 Charles at length arrived, almost dead with fatigue and 
 excitement, from the labors and dangers which he had encoun- 
 tered. Leaving his team to the men, he hastened to the bar- 
 room door from without, and, entering, looked round upon 
 the drunken group, to find some one of whom he might 
 inquire for his family, his supper, and his lodgings. But, 
 before he was aware of what hurt him, he received from his 
 father's fist a blow which knocked him across the room and 
 felled him senseless to the floor. Mrs. Douglass heard tho 
 noise, and divined the cause, as she knew her husband's mad- 
 ness was always most embittered against his own family. 
 Resigning her infant to Mrs. Durham, she went out of the hall 
 door, and ran round and entered the bar-room where Charles 
 had just gone in. Her husband, seeing her, made a pass 
 at her head ; but the blow was parried by those of the drunken 
 crew who had some humane feelings left, who protected her 
 till she had carried out her child, and placed him all her own 
 bed. For half an hour she stood over him, rubbing his 
 limbs, bathing his head, making hot applications to his chest, 
 and doing everything for his restoration which a mother's
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 31 
 
 love could dictate. The first thing of which Charles was 
 conscious was his mother's tears falling like rain upon his 
 cheeks, as she stooped down to imprint the kisses of tender- 
 ness and concern. The agonized thought of their condition, 
 which now flashed across his mind, drove him almost to mad- 
 ness. His mother, brothers and sisters, with himself, the 
 hapless family of a drunkard, seemed to him the most miser- 
 able and the most hopeless of living beings. He wished 
 himself dead, and that they were all dead with him. 
 
 " 0, mother ! " he said, " such another night I never saw, 
 and I pray God I may never see again ! I have just escaped 
 death by a wild beast, to find in my own father a still more 
 dangerous foe." 
 
 " What do you say, my son? You are wild. not quite 
 yourself yet." 
 
 "Yes, mother," he replied, kissing her; "lam myself. 
 Would I were not, would it were all a dream ! " He then 
 related the adventures of his nocturnal drive through the 
 wilderness, at the recital of which she too felt the force and 
 horror of his reflections. 
 
 "0, my son ! my son ! God be praised that you are 
 spared!" she said, and again renewed her fond embrace. 
 " Perhaps it is that you may yet be a comfort to your mother, 
 and the salvation of the family. We must hope, yes, we 
 must; but for hope, the heart would break." 
 
 "0, mother! I see no hope. Better dead than alive. 
 Why had not the humane panther been left to put me out 
 of my misery ? Better die by a brute than by one's own 
 father. Why did you not save him from this riot? " 
 
 " I did all I could to save him, my dear son. I besought 
 the landlord and the owner of the house not to give him the 
 cup for any consideration. I wept, and begged, and entreated,
 
 32 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 but all to no purpose. We are in the hell, and, if we all 
 sink together, I shall have this to reflect upon, that I did 
 what I could to escape it." Mother and son now wept in 
 silence, "with arms closely folded round each other's neck, 
 seeming thus to resign themselves to their fate, the most 
 miserable fate that mother and son ever endured, that of 
 being a drunkard's wife and child. 
 
 " My dear Charles, you have had no supper." 
 " No, mother, I cannot eat ; I never wish to eat again." 
 <( You must eat, my child ; " and, calling the only servant 
 who 'was still up, she ordered tea and toast. The servant, 
 touched with sympathy, hastened to do as she was bidden. 
 After tea Charles revived a little, and soon sunk into a sweet 
 sleep. Mrs. Douglass then joined her new friend in the par- 
 lor. Neither of them could sleep. The horrid oaths, angry 
 blows, obscene songs and infernal fumes, of the den into 
 which their husbands had fallen, drove sleep far from them. 
 They walked the room, and wrung their hands in agony. 
 Description falls short of the reality. Imagination must sup- 
 ply the rest. " 0. thou invisible spirit of wine ! If thou hast 
 no name to be known by, let us call thee devil." Thou 
 art the incarnation of all devils, lust, revenge, pride, filthi- 
 ness, suspicion, envy, jealousy, murder. Thy march through 
 the Avorld is strewed with human bones. Thou art bap- 
 tized in tears and blood. Thy name is legion. There is no 
 wrong which thou dost not instigate, no lust thou dost not 
 inflame, no pang thou dost not render more poignant, no law 
 thou dost not violate, and no virtue nor joy thou dost not 
 despoil! Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath 
 contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds with- 
 out cause ? who hath redness of eyes ? They that tarry 
 long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 33 
 
 It was now three o'clock in the morning. Thick mists hung 
 over the face of the world. The stars shone feebly from the 
 ethereal expanse. Night had gathered all its forces to resist 
 the onset of coming day. The distant wolves, prowling over 
 nature's untrimmed and boundless domain, where their reign 
 had never been disputed, kept up an incessant howling to 
 make night hideous. The bat was on the wing, and the owl 
 from his tree-top gave forth his ominous note. The genius 
 of rapine and murder, ensconced in foul exhalations, awaited 
 its victims. The dense darkness of approaching dawn had 
 brought upon animated nature a deeper sleep, and a pro- 
 founder insensibility to danger. Charles felt the spell, 
 and lay in the lap of unconsciousness. The infant had 
 ceased its moans, and forgotten its sorrows. The household 
 was all quiet, except the wary publican and his hapless vic- 
 tims, to whom he was dealing out " liquid fire and distilled 
 damnation." The ladies, too, still kept vigil, awaiting they 
 knew not what. They could not sleep while the dearest 
 objects of their aifection were thus in the hand of the 
 destroyer. 
 
 Thus things were situated, when all at once they were 
 aroused from their dreamy despair by yells and screams 
 resounding through the darkness, and echoing from the con- 
 tiguous forest, as if murder, with all its myrmidons, were 
 indeed out upon its work of blood. The sound did not 
 reach the bar-room ; it was neutralized by the more terrible 
 medley within. Mrs. Douglass and her friend hastened to 
 the back door, from which quarter the noise seemed to come, 
 and, looking out, they saw lights from a log-cabin in the yard 
 a few rods back of the main building. They hesitated, irres- 
 olute as to what should be done. Blow after blow, accompa- 
 nied by the stifled shrieks of a female voice, convinced them
 
 34 MAPLETON ; OK, 
 
 that deeds of fearful import were enacting in the cabin. 
 Without reflection, they obeyed the dictates of humanity, and. 
 taking each other by the arm, they groped their way till they 
 could distinctly see, through the crevices of the unplastered 
 logs, a man dealing deadly blows upon the person of a woman. 
 Mrs. Douglass instantly recognized the man as the one with a 
 tin dish who had so violently ejected her from the bar-room. 
 His name, they afterwards learned, was Pat Tooney, the farmer 
 of the establishment, against whom his employer contrived to 
 make an annual liquor-bill equal to his wages, leaving his 
 wife and eight children to support both him and themselves. 
 When Mrs. Douglass saw him, he had come with his cup for 
 his evening pint of whiskey, which, added to what he had 
 drunk in the course of the day, made him quite mad. In 
 this state he began to catechize his wife about her provision 
 for friends whom he expected the next day. 
 "Have you kilt the turkey, Jenny? " 
 "Yes. Pathrick," was his wife's submissive reply. 
 " An' how have ye dhrissed it ? " added Pat, full of explo- 
 sive anger. 
 
 " I drew it, but could not get the sinews oot of the legs." 
 " That's beliking your husband's frinds, is 't, ye jade? " 
 replied Tooney, striking her a furious blow in the mouth with 
 his fist. Mrs. Tooney screamed from fear and pain, and this 
 it was that called the attention of the ladies. Determined to 
 prosecute the war to the knife, Pat began now to question his 
 wife about some change he had seen in her hands, and threat- 
 ened to kill her if she did not give a true account. The 
 poor woman tried to obey orders ; but, before she had spoken 
 three words, the frenzy took him again, and he struck her 
 so violently in the breast as to knock her down. He then 
 fell to kicking her stomach and side, as she lay on the floor,
 
 MOKE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 35 
 
 when the ladies made bold to break in upon him, and beg 
 him to desist. This only exasperated him the more ; and, 
 seizing his wife by the hair of her head, he dragged her 
 about till she was totally insensible. Seemingly alarmed at 
 this symptom, or perhaps the madness of intoxication begin- 
 ning to subside, he seized a pail of water, and dashed it in 
 her face, to revive her, twice repeating the application after- 
 wards from a pitcher. She gasped for breath a moment, and 
 then as it proved in the event, though not suspected at the 
 moment she resigned her spirit to the God that gave it. 
 Kneeling down over the head of his deceased wife, the wretch 
 began to say, in plaintive tones, " Jenny, you love me ! Do 
 you not love me? do I not love you?" But no voice 
 answered. All was still, awful, the wife of a drunkard 
 dead by his own hands ! The ladies did what they could to 
 restore her, but all to no purpose. Tooney was soon missing, 
 and could not be found. When this fact was made certain, 
 the whole group of children, who had remained hid, like 
 chickens from the hawk, came round the corpse of their 
 mother, uttering lamentations such as the impassioned Irish 
 alone know how to express. The ladies devoted the rest of 
 the night to laying out the corpse, and alleviating the misery 
 of those whose fate so much resembled their own. 
 
 Morning rosy-fingered, celestial, beautiful, true to its 
 promise of relief for the woes of the night came at length, 
 to greet the expectant emigrants, and to invite them from 
 their human den into the balmy air and sweet light of a new 
 day, to bask in the fragrance and loveliness of nature's 
 fresh and expansive luxuriance. The robin and blue-bird 
 were carolling from their pendent bough, and myriads of 
 dew-drops added lustre and brilliancy to the enchanting scene. 
 The repose without was as profound as if no tempest had
 
 36 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 raged within, and the dawn appeared not in the habiliments 
 of sorrow for the events of the night, but in all the brilliancy 
 of her jewelled and variegated robes. 
 
 On returning from the cabin to the inn, the ladies found 
 that the landlord had disappeared. His place was supplied 
 by a bar-keeper, who seemed more susceptible to the touches 
 of humanity. They were silent as to what had happened in 
 the Irish family, lest they should be detained as witnesses, 
 and prepared to hasten their departure. Those tenants of the 
 bar-room not .too much intoxicated to get away were gone : 
 and their husbands they found on the floor, in each other's 
 arms, dead drunk, and as helpless as they were unconscious. 
 Brandy has its sympathies, and drunkenness its fellow-feel- 
 ing. The bar-keeper kindly promised, if they awaked and 
 called for more, not to give them another drop. Charles was 
 refreshed by sleep, and, though much bruised, he was able to 
 walk. The whole neighborhood was astir about the murder, 
 but Mrs. Douglass and her friend kept their own counsel. 
 Skampton and Marldon, hearing of the occurrence, deemed it 
 prudent to be off as soon as possible ; and they drove away 
 together, before they got their breakfast. The ladies mutu- 
 ally agreed that their safest course would be to leave while 
 their husbands were yet insensible, and incapable of resist- 
 ance. They were all soon re-packed on board of their wagons, 
 having their drunken husbands stowed away in a place where 
 they could ride without injury; and thus, at length, they made 
 their escape from " this breathing-hole of hell."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 37 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE NEW HOME. 
 
 "Dun. This castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air 
 Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself 
 Unto our gentle senses. 
 
 "San. This guest of summer, 
 The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, 
 By his loved mansionry, that the heaven's breath 
 Smells -\vooingly here ; no jutty, frieze, buttress, 
 Nor coigne of vantage, but this bird hath made 
 His pendent bed and procreant cradle. Where they 
 Most breed and haunt, I have observed^ the air 
 Is delicate." SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 MRS. DOUGLASS set off with a heavy heart. She clung, 
 with the fondest feelings, to her husband. The scenes which 
 had deprived her of sleep the previous night only put her 
 womanly love to the test, and made it burn with increasing 
 constancy and tenderness. Her heart never went forth to 
 her dear George, her adored husband, with such perfect 
 abandonment. She realized how much it must have cost 
 him to deny for two long years an appetite of such over- 
 mastering strength ; and he had done it out of regard to 
 her and her children. Virtue practised against such force 
 of resistance seemed to her four-fold more praiseworthy. " 0, 
 my George, my dearest George ! at what a cost have you main- 
 tained so long your temperance ! Your appetite has become 
 your misfortune more than your crime. Your crime was in 
 first yielding to the preposterous customs of society. Your 
 wife will love you, George ; yes, she will teach her children 
 to love you. She will love you the more that others hate 
 4
 
 38 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 and despise you. Yes, George ! you are my own dear, gen- 
 erous, noble and faithful husband ; and all I desire, except 
 except what you cannot help an appetite for strong 
 drink, over which you mourn, more than wife or children, or 
 any one else. I will comfort you, George; yes, I will. 
 Duty and affection alike dictate that I should soothe your 
 anguished feelings." 0, who can estimate the purity and 
 strength of a woman's love? Still, she felt for her children. 
 They could not enter into her feelings as a wife. They were 
 more than orphans, and might, in future years, curse their 
 relationship to such a father. Alas ! it is far more fatal than 
 relationship to parents who have already died a virtuous 
 death. 
 
 As a dictate of more than usual tenderness, she felt that 
 she must have her whole family round her own person ; and 
 hence crowded them all with her into the same wagon, with 
 the addition of a driver, as Charles was too much bruised to 
 manage the horses. It was a large vehicle, whose bottom 
 she first covered with bedding, and laid her husband upon it, 
 carefully tucking him up on all sides, with the pillows and 
 bolsters, to prevent his being bruised. Above were two 
 seats, the forward of which she, with baby in arms, occupied, 
 beside the driver ; on the hinder one Charles and his two 
 brothers next to himself George and Samuel were seated ; 
 and the two little girls, Mary and Cornelia, insisted that they 
 would sit on the bottom, beside their papa, to keep him 
 steady. George and Samuel were old enough to have some 
 idea of the cause of their father's trouble ; both looked sad, 
 and were silent on the subject, often reaching forward and 
 kissing their dear mamma, as if it might be some mitigation of 
 her sufferings. Their lips would curl with grief, and the tears 
 would start, whenever they did it. Beyond this they gave
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAAV. 39 
 
 no signs of sensibility to what had happened. But the little 
 girls thought their dear papa was only sick ; and how full 
 of sympathy and caresses were they ! Mary sat on one Side, 
 and Cornelia on the other, pressed close against his head, to 
 hold it firm, bestowing kisses on his lips, cheeks, forehead, 
 chin. 
 
 "Mamma," said little Mary, "has papa got a fever? 
 his breath smells so ! " 
 
 " Don't disturb your father, my love," replied her mother, 
 stung to the quick by the child's allusion to the fetid relic 
 of the bane. 
 
 " Papa," said Nelly, "don't you know me? " 
 
 " How can he, when he don't see? " replied little Mary. 
 
 "Can't you hear me, papa?" inquired Nelly again. 
 " Why don't you speak, papa? Dear papa, do speak ! speak 
 to your Nelly ! " 
 
 Thus they travelled for several hours. Their road lay 
 through an unbroken wilderness, where nature's exuberance 
 was unrestrained by art. a scene of solemn grandeur, full 
 of the inspirations of poetry and romance. The dense shade 
 of enormous tree-tops, interwoven and intertwined, like an 
 over-hanging veil, had so effectually excluded the sun's rays 
 as to kill out the underbrush, and leave an unencumbered 
 surface between the large trunks of the trees which studded 
 the soil. Still, in passing over roots and knolls, the wagon 
 often rolled and pitched at a fearful rate, and all the efforts 
 of the children were necessary to hold their father in his 
 place. Not many minutes intervened when the mild and 
 tearful eyes of Mrs. Douglass were not turned towards him, 
 to see that all was right. At length, in one of those glances 
 of affection, she saw two streams of tears running down his 
 face, to assure her that his consciousness was restored, though
 
 40 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 chagrin and mortification kept his eyes closed and his lips 
 sealed. When his little daughters kissed his lips, he would 
 turn away his face, as if fearful of tainting their pure breath 
 by contact with such a mass of pollution as he felt himself to 
 be. 
 
 " I am the plague-spot of this innocent group ! " he thought 
 within himself. " that I were dead ! I am a grief to my 
 wife, and a shame to my children. I am not fit to be loved 
 by such angels." Ah ! could that landlord, and that propri- 
 etor of the miserable groggery in which these wounds had 
 been inflicted, could they have looked into that drunkard's 
 heart, at this moment of returning consciousness, how poor a 
 compensation for so much misery would their paltry gains 
 have appeared ! Such a quid pro quo is enough to make 
 avarice relent, and covetousness relinquish its gains. Even 
 Marldon might have been touched with pity. The profits 
 thus wrung out of human weakness and vice are a canker upon 
 the soul, to eat into it like fire. It is a merchandise of 
 woman's tears, a trading in worse than orphan grief, dealing 
 out infamy and hopeless ruin to a helpless group of little 
 ones, whom the winds had not otherwise rudely visited, 
 merely for the sorry satisfaction of having a golden stream 
 flowing into one's own purse. ! if one vault of final 
 despair is more dismal than the rest, it will be occupied by 
 the caterer to the drunkard's appetite, the promiscuous dealer 
 in intoxicating drinks, whether by wholesale or retail, by the 
 pipe or by the glass, from the distillery or from the bar, to 
 obtain the proceeds of vice and misery ! 
 
 We will now give Charles' impressions of his new home in 
 
 his own words. His recolfections are more graphic though 
 
 a little over-wrought than could be expected from a sec- 
 
 'ond-hand description. "We reached it at dusk," he says,
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 41 
 
 "having travelled but fifteen miles the last day, the roads 
 being rough, and father's condition so peculiar as to more or 
 less retard our progress. He poor, dear man ! was per- 
 fectly himself when we arrived, though miserable as misery 
 could make him. He seemed disappointed and shocked at 
 his own return to a vice which had cost him so much, and 
 against which he had fortified himself by so many resolves. 
 It was several days before he became at all reassured ; and 
 then it was more from the consciousness that he was in a 
 town without the accursed traffic in alcohol than from any 
 reliance upon his own virtue. We all gathered round him, 
 and loved him as we never did before. My mother was unre- 
 mitting in her attentions. My little sisters clung to him 
 every moment he was in the house, from an undefined feel- 
 ing that he had been unhappy, and might be again. And as 
 for myself and brothers, we were more than ever respectful 
 and obedient to him. Still, I could often detect him weep- 
 ing bitter tears, as if, however we might feel, he never could 
 forgive himself. But, gradually, our new circumstances and 
 new home, and, more than all, his yet unstained reputation 
 in town, wrought in him the confidence of a new life. 
 
 "I was charmed with our new home. The house, the 
 trees, the clouds, all to me had the charm of novelty and 
 romance. It was a block house, built of square beams, care- 
 fully hewed and adjusted one upon another, with a layer of 
 lime-mortar between, to make a solid wooden wall. It. had 
 three apartments, each eighteen feet square, standing in a 
 row, the whole building being fifty-four feet in length and 
 eighteen wide, not symmetrical, but convenient. It was 
 whitewashed without and within, thus contrasting beautifully 
 with the leafy canopy which waved above and around. The 
 family -room was the centre, while the right wing was used 
 
 . ' 4*
 
 42 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 for parlor, and the left for sleeping apartments. A half- story 
 above afforded space also for study, storage, and various 
 purposes. It was rural and romantic as a whole, and I 
 always had a home feeling in it to make me regret abandon- 
 ing it for a more stately mansion. It taught me how inde- 
 pendent our happiness is of architectural proportions or costly 
 trappings. This house, and a fifty-acre wheat-field, which 
 we found investing the earth in a rich mantle of green, were 
 the result of my father's attention to the farm before remov- 
 ing his family. He had preserved a young growth of maples 
 directly round the house, to beautify our home. Altogether, 
 it was a sweet place, which poetry might choose for its own, 
 had a man any in his soul. 
 
 " On the night of our arrival we laid our beds on the floor 
 in a promiscuous jumble, and cast our fatigued bodies upon 
 them without ceremony, and soon lost ourselves in a dream- 
 less sleep. My father was the only exception, whose heart 
 had evidently been preying upon itself through the night ; 
 though his thoughts were turned to account, probably as a 
 means of diversion, in excogitating the plan of a bay-window, 
 to give us a more commanding view of the lake which formed 
 the northern semi-circle of our sensible horizon. Our house 
 stood directly on the bank, and the said window was located 
 over our back or lake door, in the upper story ; and seemed 
 literally to overhang a glorious expanse of molten silver, 
 giving light to the room which was assigned to me for a 
 study. I was already, by the way, nearly fitted for college, 
 and here completed my preparation, under the tutelage of 
 my mother, whose father was a clergyman, and had carefully 
 trained her both in the classics and the exact sciences. This 
 bay-window, therefore, is connected in my mind with many
 
 MORE WORK FOR TIIE MAINE LAW. 43 
 
 tender and interesting associations, which must be my apology 
 for the minuteness of my allusions. 
 
 " The matter of the bay-window being settled, we plunged 
 at once into the turmoil of putting furniture into its place. 
 In the course of a week, each article and utensil had found 
 its proper nook and corner. As for myself, I was too much 
 excited to take an interest in such commonplace affairs. 
 The logging-field, the woods, beach, birds and beasts, had 
 greater charms. With my iron-wood lever I now lifted with 
 the men ; now ran to fasten the chain on a log, and watch 
 its reluctant movements as it found its way into the growing 
 heap ; now seized the goad, and, with genuine boyish pride, 
 exercised my authority over the oxen, wondering that such 
 huge animals should be so obsequious to my gee, hare, whoa ! 
 If ever boy lived on enchanted ground, I did, months after our 
 arrival. My father allowed me my bent, whether to work or 
 play, from an over-indulgence arising probably from the 
 peculiar state of his own mind. I leaped ; I ran among the 
 thick trees ; I plunged into the limpid lake to regale myself 
 with swimming; I gathered smooth pebbles along its shore; I 
 watched the gyrations of the eagle through the ambient air, 
 and saw him poising his wings to descry his prey, and from 
 his lofty elevation pouncing upon it like lightning, bearing 
 it from its watery home to nourish the ugly growth of his 
 young ; I climbed the tallest trees to sport myself with his 
 eaglets in their eyrie; I skimmed the lake in our family 
 yawl, with my younger brothers for oars-men ; I watched the 
 summer 'fallow as it gradually disrobed itself from its black 
 mantle of burnt logs, and put on the beautiful green of grow- 
 ing wheat. I waded brooks and threaded rivers, and gathered 
 nuts and berries, or listened to the evening note of the loon 
 from his hiding-place of mist, like a voice from the unseen
 
 44 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 world. I noted the water-spout stretching down from the 
 pendent cloud, like a vast line of pitchy hose, till it touched 
 the surface of the deep, through which the genius of storm 
 pumped a supply for his aerial reservoirs. I once saw a 
 corpse dashed ashore by the curling surf, asking the favor of 
 a forest grave. I gazed upon jostling clouds floating over 
 the watery expanse like the drift of mighty rivers. I beheld 
 stately forests bowing obsequiously to the imperious hurricane, 
 as the slave to the yoke that galls him. All these, and much 
 more of a like character, were among my new-country experi- 
 ences, charming my fancy and inflaming my imagination. 
 
 "My father's land had long been in the family, and known 
 as the Douglass tract; being included in a wider extent of 
 country, that went under the name of Mapleton, from the 
 number of its sugar-trees : an appellation too characteristic 
 and beautiful to survive the rage for a Grecian and Roman 
 nomenclature which afterwards prevailed. It was a large 
 town in its superficial area, including an extent of country 
 twenty miles in length and ten in breadth ; and was one of 
 those locations which Providence seemed to reserve, from the 
 foundation of the world, as a gift of special beauty and loveli- 
 ness to the men of the nineteenth century. The tide of 
 population began now all of a sudden to flood it, as if 
 impatient of the restraint which had so long withheld it from 
 the fair domain. 
 
 "I was naturally arbitrary and imperious. I did not 
 know it in my youth, till bitter experience taught me the 
 fact. I domineered over my brothers, who regarded me as 
 their oracle. They rowed the boat, while I, proud as the 
 captain of an Indiaman, sat perched on my little quarter- 
 deck, with helm in hand, ' the monarch of all I surveyed/ 
 When I think that one of these dear associates of my youth
 
 MOKE AVORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 45 
 
 is now no more, dying in a manner that makes me shudder to 
 remember, the victim of a parental madness which had been 
 induced by a nefarious traffic, my blood boils, my indignation 
 is kindled against law and legislation, and I sigh for one 
 sweet hour of converse with that dear brother, to express my 
 sense of the wrongs he suffered from me, and much more 
 from society. But, alas ! alas ! this is a work which must be 
 postponed to the unknown of eternity. We had our explor- 
 ing voyages, as we called them, in one of which we visited 
 the river that bounded Mapleton on the west. We started at 
 early dawn. The night had been rainy. I enjoyed as never 
 before the magnificence of lake-scenery : an unbroken wilder- 
 ness on the one hand, a waste of limpid water on the other, 
 with here and there a sail in the distance, which, through the 
 reflection and refraction of light from a hazy atmosphere, 
 seemed floating among the clouds, a glorious illusion. Beneath 
 us reposed the crystal lake, whose deep bottom was so dis- 
 tinctly visible, through the denser element, as to give our 
 yawl the appearance of being also upborne in air, hanging 
 poised like a sea-gull between heaven and earth. The rising 
 sun was veiled in a curtain of rosy clouds, while the shrill 
 note of the loon, and the piercing scream of the eagle, and 
 the songs of ten thousand meaner birds, floating over the 
 watery expanse from the contiguous shore like the music of 
 angelic harps, added to the deep bass of muttering thunder 
 grumbling and bellowing from a black cloud in the west, all 
 conspired to realize what the Arabian poet felt and sung : 
 
 ' Bright smiled the morn, till o'er its head 
 The clouds in thickening foldings spread 
 
 A robe of sable hue ; 
 
 When, gathering round day's golden king, 
 They stretched their wide o'erspreading wing, 
 
 And hid him from our view.
 
 46 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 ' The rain his absent beams deplored, 
 And, softened into weeping, poured 
 
 Its tears in many a flood ; 
 The lightnings laughed in horrid glare ; 
 The thunder growled in rage ; the air 
 
 In silent sorrow stood.' 
 
 " I urged my weary brothers to increase the force of their 
 oars, that Ave might hide ourselves from the gathering storm 
 in the channel of the river, which was already visible, and 
 which we were fortunate enough to reach before the blast 
 swept over us. I had never entered this inland channel, and 
 was not prepared for the grotesque scene which opened upon 
 my view. We floated between high banks of perpendicular 
 rocks, covered at the top with tall trees inclining inward, so 
 that their branches seemed to meet and mingle over the 
 channel, forming a vast vegetable arch, like that of an ancient 
 Gothic cathedral. Everything above, beneath, around, indi- 
 cated the reign of primeval nature ; as if some antediluvian 
 patriarch might have selected it for his altar and his shrine. 
 I had then thumbed my Virgil enough to feel the coincidence 
 of the scene with his description, beginning 
 
 ' Hinc atque hinc vastse rapes geminique minanter, 
 In coelum scopuli, quorum subvertice late,' &c. 
 
 On this side and that were vast ledges, and two rocks lifting 
 their menacing tops to heaven, under whose jutting summits 
 the secure sea far off reposes in silence ; while above was an 
 arbor in the brilliant trees, and a dark wood impended with 
 dismal shade. Under the opposite front a cave opened into 
 the pendent rocks, within which sweet waters are found the 
 home of the nymphs. Here no chains hold the weather- 
 beaten ships, and no anchor with curved fluke binds them ! 
 Was this backwoods scene reached by ^Eneas in his wander-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 47 
 
 ings ? thought I to myself. I fancied myself an Argonaut, 
 in pursuit of the golden fleece ; and lived over those charm- 
 ing days when navigation, cradled in its tiny craft of bark or 
 skin, embowered itself in deeply-wooded bays, and threaded 
 serpentine rivers, under the gloom of overhanging forests, 
 rarely adventuring the storms and quicksands of the open sea. 
 
 " My brothers here left me to return with the boat, while 
 I made my way on foot, partly to enjoy the forest scenery, 
 and partly to do an errand for my mother to Mrs. Durham. 
 I followed up the river a few miles, and was still more im- 
 pressed with its scenery. A deep gulf, ploughed by a giant 
 hand, intersected a comparatively level country, opening a 
 passage for the escaping waters, which leaped from crag to 
 crag, in a succession of thundering cascades, tumbling, 
 dashing, roaring, foaming, while the eternal forest rejoicing 
 in the sole monopoly of the river-god, gave back his voice 
 with exultant jubilation. The proud divinity was yet unde- 
 graded by the servile work of twirling wheels, turning stones, 
 forcing saws, or of ministering in any way to those lordly 
 conquerors who have since despoiled the forest of its ancient 
 rights. Here the bears and wolves had their lair ; and here, 
 too, wily troops of naked savages performed their nocturnal 
 orgies. Here blood has flowed under their teeming toma- 
 hawks. Ye ledges, trees and cascades, could ye speak your 
 tragic histories, what details of anguish and woe, what 
 notes of captive sorrow, what dire assault of embattled clans, 
 what visages of sullen despair and of cheerful hope, would ye 
 unfold ! 
 
 " Here I diverged from the river, following up a lateral 
 stream, which leaped and bounded at my feet on its way to 
 mingle with the river and the lake. I had advanced but a 
 few miles, before a beautiful valley, skirted with a circum-
 
 48 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 vallation of hills, opened upon my view, and, near its 
 centre, I saw the smoke of Mr. Durham's cottage rising 
 gracefully among the overhanging trees, and settling round 
 upon the contiguous hills. As I approached the cottage. I 
 met Mrs. Durham out among her plants, with trowel and 
 hoe in hand, loosening the earth, extracting weeds, training 
 creepers, and in various ways assisting the efforts of 
 nature. I had seen little of her at the inn ; and never, till 
 this moment, was so impressed with her extreme loveliness. 
 The abandon of her manner and dress, in such a neglected 
 place, may have added somewhat to the effect. One might 
 almost fancy her a Hebe, a Ceres, or a Juno escaped from 
 Olympus, to find a more congenial haunt towards the setting 
 of the sun. Her cheeks glowed with health, her eyes beamed 
 contentment ; and her whole manner was that of a beautiful 
 woman, who had long lived in peril of what was dearer than 
 life, hid in a castellated tower, or securely wandering abroad 
 to inhale the free air and enjoy the boundless prospect of 
 nature. The moment she saw me, she ran, with delight, and 
 caught me by the hand, saying, { Chai'les, I am delighted 
 to see you ! How is your mother 1 how are you all ? ' I had 
 not time to answer before Amelia and Lydia, followed by 
 little Charley, came running to give me a kiss, it seemed 
 to me of joy, at this relief of their solitude. 
 
 " ' We are all well, quite well,' said I, as soon as I could 
 disengage myself from the children. ' And how do you like 
 your new home ? ' 
 
 <:< It is everything we could ask, except society,' she 
 replied, with a look that revealed the keenness of her feel- 
 ings at such an exception. 
 
 " ' Can't have everything we want ! ' I replied. 
 
 " ' 0, no ! ' she added, with a tear ; ' but how hard it is to
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 49 
 
 be weaned from society ! Still, society is our great danger. 
 You understand me. How is your father 1 ' 
 
 "' Perfectly himself,' said I; 'attentive to his business; 
 seems happy; so we all are.' 
 
 "'One could wish,' she added, 'that society had fewer 
 temptations, that families like ours could live in it with 
 safety. But, so long as governments uphold and protect what 
 is our ruin, yea, get a part of their revenue out of our 
 insanity, our tears and our infamy, there is no alternative 
 but escape and hermitage. I am convinced of this; and, 
 therefore, am content to forego home and friendship, and all 
 I love, except the dear ones with whom .my being is iden- 
 tified.' The manner of her saying this went to my heart. 
 What ! laws such that a lovely woman, who would grace a 
 palace, is compelled to seek security in exile and banishment ! 
 Accursed legislation ! how long ere some truly Christian and 
 philanthropic Solon shall arise to stay thy barbarous hand ? 
 How long ere every tenth family of a community shall cease 
 to live in peril of character, property, limb and life, from 
 the legalized abominations in the midst of which they have 
 their home '? Never did I feel the iniquity of the alcoholic 
 traffic as I felt it at seeing this voluntary exile from the 
 circles in which she was born to shine, this living, but 
 immolated victim, thus sacrificed on principle, and by law ! 
 
 " ' My mother desired me to say,' I added, ' that she has 
 in her mind the plan for a Sunday-school in town, and wishes 
 you to join her in it.' 
 
 '" I am glad to hear that your mother's thoughts take a 
 direction so useful,' she replied; ' and shall be most happy 
 to aid her as much as I can. But are not the people too 
 much scattered ? ' 
 
 '"Yours is the only family,' said I, 'which is really 
 5
 
 50 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 isolated ; and my mother thought, if you could attend, others 
 would be likely to.' 
 
 " ' I know we are furthest from neighbors ; but then we 
 have good vehicles and safe horses. Mr. Durham, I know, 
 will be delighted to aid me all in his power. Where does 
 your mother propose to meet ? ' 
 
 " ' At the Gore School-house ; that is the most central.' 
 
 " ' But when does she begin? ' 
 
 " ' Next Sabbath she proposes to meet you and a few others 
 to arrange matters.' 
 
 " 'Very well, I will be there,' she added; when I thanked 
 her, and turned to go. 
 
 " ' No, don't leave yet ; walk with me into the garden.' 
 
 " I did so, and was delighted with the scene of beauty which 
 it presented. Mrs. Durham had brought with her the plants 
 of an amply furnished green-house, to which she had added 
 a great variety of flowering annuals, and almost all the wild- 
 flowers of the country. She led me round among them, and 
 called my attention to their varied beauties. Here the prim- 
 rose spread its open petals to the light ; there the variegated 
 japonica, with a delightful blending of red and white, exulted 
 in its gaudy attire. Here the alba plus, with its large flower 
 of virgin' whiteness, nature's token of purity and innocence, 
 seemed a direct offshoot of the plants which bloomed under 
 the hand of a sinless Eve ; there the japonicus elegans 
 lifted its lofty branches on high, all clothed in scarlet and 
 gold. Here the ranunculus revealed its incarnations, with 
 various hues of loveliness ; there the calla Ethiopica, the 
 verbena, and numerous varieties of the cactus, the geranium 
 and the rose ; and an assemblage of beauties, indigenous and 
 exotic, too great to be particularized, added its own pecu- 
 liar form of enchantment to the transporting scene. Her
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 51 
 
 husband had begun a plain but convenient receptacle for 
 those among them that could not endure the winter, where 
 his wife might still enjoy her plants and her flowers during 
 these lonely months of her exile and her solitude. He 
 appeared to have " been the more careful to provide for her 
 these means of alleviation, from a consciousness that he was 
 the cause of her banishment." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A TOWN WITHOUT ALCOHOL. 
 
 " When fierce Temptation, seconded within 
 By traitor Appetite, and armed with darts 
 Tempered in hell, invades the throbbing breast, 
 To combat may be glorious, and success 
 Perhaps may crown us ; but to fly is safer." COWPER. 
 
 MR. DURHAM'S farm was surrounded by lands held by 
 distant owners who would not sell, which accounts for the 
 extreme isolation in which his family lived. They had not 
 a neighbor within two miles. Their experience, after leaving 
 the groggery, was not unlike that of the Douglasses, except 
 that the temper of Durham himself was never moody, but 
 always cheerful and buoyant. He had so far recovered from the 
 effects of the poison by noon as to manage his own team, 
 and entered into free conversation with his wife on the events 
 of the preceding night. He said, "Will you believe me, 
 clearest, that I entered the miserable place with a fixed 
 resolution that I would not taste a drop? " 
 "Why, then, Charles, did you not keep it?" 
 " Because the smell of brandy produced a total oblivion
 
 52 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 of the motives to keep it. The associations revived by meet- 
 ing my old friend also had their effect." 
 
 " An oblivion of the motives to virtue, Charles, that is it. 
 It is the only explanation of what I have seen in you over 
 and over again. I cannot understand it. How could it 
 be so, if you really loved me and your children? How 
 could you do what you know disgraces us, and makes us 
 miserable?" 
 
 " Think not, my dearest Amelia, that it is a want of love 
 to you and our little ones. No ; I love you as I do my own 
 soul, I could die for you. I do verily believe that if a 
 loaded pistol were pointed at me, and I knew that the first 
 drop I tasted would discharge its contents into my heart, it 
 would be no restraint, in that state of mind, to my drinking. 
 I should be so exclusively absorbed by my appetite, and the 
 means of its gratification, as not to regard my own life more 
 than I regard you and the children. Nothing but a physical 
 impossibility, my dear Amelia, can keep me from drinking. 
 I am convinced of this, and rejoice more than I can express 
 that we are at length in these woods, so many miles from the 
 temptation." 
 
 "Well, Charles, I rejoice too. The sacrifice of friendship 
 and society is nothing compared with the pleasure of feeling 
 that you are free from the fetters which have so long held 
 you. I can work. I will do all in my power to help you 
 cultivate the farm. We can do it, Charles, we can do it. 
 We can be virtuous and happy. Yes, yes, we shall be, 1 
 know we shall be; and that reconciles me to the loss of father, 
 mother, brother, sister, yea, all the dear associates of my 
 youth;" and, as she said it, her eyes paid the tribute of 
 tears to her conjugal devotion. 
 
 " We shall not be safe, Amelia, if the serpent enters our
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 53 
 
 Eden. I blush to confess, what I know is true, that I cannot 
 be trusted with the enemy in town. My nature has no 
 security on this point. ' Lead me not into temptation' is a 
 prayer which can never be answered with the destroyer near 
 me. I am not proof against the temptation." 
 
 " I know it, Charles, and I will raise the cry of murder 
 against the man who introduces it. Making or vending the 
 poison by the glass or by the pipe is just as fatal to us, and 
 our children, as the assassin's dagger. Better kill us out- 
 right, than doom us to this disgraceful, protracted, tormenting 
 death." 
 
 Thus they whiled away the hours of their ride, till at length 
 they reached the cottage, which had been built for their recep- 
 tion by a faithful laborer, who had been sent on several months 
 in advance of them. It was of logs, hewed only on the insidej 
 with a large room for the family, and two contiguous ones 
 for sleeping apartments. Above, also, was a provision for 
 lodging laborers and servants, though their purpose was to 
 live within themselves as much as possible. Mrs. Durham 
 had resolved to be her own servant, and her husband his own 
 farmer, except so far as clearing the land was concerned ; 
 which could be done by the job, without increasing their own 
 family. It was a hard task for persons bred in the lap of 
 luxury and fashion ; but the security of being in a town with- 
 out alcohol more than compensated for the trouble. It was 
 not till several years after this that the enemy stole in upon 
 them, to deface the fair form of virgin nature. Till then, all 
 was prosperous. The population grew with unprecedented 
 rapidity. "The period decreed by fate" had arrived now 
 first from the world's foundation for man to "subdue and 
 replenish" this uncultivated wild. Men seemed to drop 
 down from the clouds, and every farm of fifty or a hun- 
 5*
 
 {.)! MAPLETON ; OK, 
 
 dred acres found a family to cultivate it. Axe resounded to 
 axe, crash to crash of falling trees, and horn to horn, calling 
 the weary vroodmen to their frugal meal. 0, woodman's 
 axe ! in what family escutcheon on our wide continent hast 
 thou not earned the first place ? The soul of poetry is in 
 the sheen of thy labor-polished face. Thou art the harbinger 
 of civilization, from Labrador to Mexico, and from the Atlan- 
 tic to California. Relic of rural life ! thy voice falls more 
 sweetly on my ear than lute or harp. Thou art the memento 
 of bold adventure, of hardy endurance, of rural virtue, of 
 coarse fare, and of new-country life, the incipient stages of 
 that process which has given birth to a great nation ! 
 
 The cottage of the Durhams stood by a clear running 
 brook, which rippled and murmured among the stones as it 
 passed, to lull to repose at night, and to form the interlude 
 and undertone of the bird-song of the morning. It afforded, 
 also, the' more substantial advantage of sweet water for the 
 use of the family. As it was seed-time when they arrived, 
 Mrs. Durham neglected the arrangement of her furniture till 
 she had sowed and planted her garden, of which we have 
 already taken some notice. An acre of land contiguous to 
 the house had been cleared of stumps and roots for the pur- 
 pose, and was now prepared to receive the vegetable seeding 
 and planting; and also the bulbous roots, roses and pinks, and 
 all the greenhouse treasures, with which Mrs. Durham had 
 come so amply furnished. The season was favorable, and the 
 virgin soil soon shot forth its forms of life, beauty and useful- 
 ness, to bless the eye and gladden the heart of its charming 
 cultivator. Flowers appeared in a few weeks, nor did they 
 fail till nipped by the frosts of approaching winter ; and then 
 Mr. Durham's unpretending conservatory was prepared to 
 perpetuate their bloom, in delightful contrast to the snow-clad, 

 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 55 
 
 tempest-stirring winter. Her dahlias were rich and beautiful 
 beyond anything she had ever seen. 
 
 A fine field of growing wheat was already on the ground, 
 to which Mr. Durham added corn, oats, potatoes, and what- 
 ever else seemed necessary to the subsistence or comfort of 
 his family. Much of the time of Mrs. Durham was devoted 
 to the instruction of her children, home education being now 
 more a matter of necessity than of choice. Her little Amelia 
 the eldest had all the fine points of her mother's char- 
 acter, added to the buoyancy and excellent temper of her 
 father. Lydia, her sister, was more sedate, and, withal, apt 
 to learn above children of her years. Little Charles, now 
 only two years old, completed the group ; and a happier is 
 rarely met with, apart from the single danger from which 
 they could never and nowhere feel themselves absolutely safe. 
 Lifting up his hands over his breakfast-table one morning, 
 Mr. Durham exclaimed, " Thank God ! I have not a drop of 
 the poison in my veins." 
 
 " Papa," said little Amelia, in her simplicity, " what makes 
 us so much happier here than we used to be in our old home'? 
 It is not so pretty, and I thought we should be homesick." 
 
 "It is because our ways please God better, my child," 
 replied her mother. "How does the Bible say it shall be 
 with a man, when his ways please the Lord ? " 
 
 " ! I remember," said Lydia ; "I learned it in my les- 
 son, last Sabbath : ' If a man's ways please the Lord, he 
 inaketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.' We don't 
 have any enemies now, do ^e, mamma? " added the child. 
 
 " What did you learn in your lesson, Milly ? " said Mrs. 
 Durham. 
 
 Milly's face fairly sparkled with smiles, as she repeated, 
 " There is no want to them that fear Him."
 
 56 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 "And it says, too," added Lydia, " ' 0, how great is thy 
 goodness which thou hast provided for them that fear thee ! ' " 
 
 ' ' That 's a nice child ! ' ' said her father, clasping her fondly in 
 his arms. "You do not forget your dear mamma's lessons ! " 
 lessons which show what a constant resort she found nec- 
 essary, in her loneliness, to the consoling promises of God's 
 word. Still, they were a happy family. Joy and gladness 
 presided at their board. Though shut out from the polite 
 world, they were still happy in each other, and happy in their 
 daily duties and labors. Mr. Durham read the Scriptures, 
 morning and evening, in his family ; but was too much im- 
 pressed with the guilt of his past habits to admit of his going 
 further, and acting as the priest of his own house. His wife 
 did all she could to encourage him, and to induce him fully to 
 commit himself before his family and the world to a religious 
 life. But it was all to no purpose ; for he felt, if he did not 
 say, "How will praying appear in a drunkard?" This 
 backwardness was a fault of his, indicating a secret reserve in 
 behalf of temptation, in the event of its becoming strong, 
 which may account in part for what follows. He ought not 
 only to have passed over the river into a land of temperance 
 and religion, but burnt the bridges behind him, and cut off 
 the possibility of escape. The associations of a decidedly 
 religious position, to say nothing of the help that it brings 
 from above, are a source of security to which men of such pro- 
 pensities have the more need to resort. But he eschewed all 
 such helps, and never rose above those motives to virtue 
 which are derived from prudential considerations. Genuine 
 piety to God did not enter into the list. 
 
 Still, both he and his old friend and present neighbor, 
 Douglass, were active in establishing public worship in their 
 town. Their wives, though five miles apart, felt themselves
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. - 57 
 
 near neighbors. Neighborhood, in a new country, compre- 
 hends a wider area than in more densely populated towns. 
 Persons at twenty or thirty miles remove, often associate as 
 neighbors. Mrs. Douglass and Mrs. Durham were much in 
 each other's society. They projected together, with the 
 advice of a few others, the plan of their contemplated Sun- 
 day-school, which became the nucleus of a church, and even 
 of a renewed attention to general education in Mapleton. It 
 first brought the children together on the Sabbath, then their 
 parents, and finally Mr. Douglass volunteered his services in 
 reading sermons to the assembled multitude. Few were more 
 competent or expressive readers than he. Sometimes exhort- 
 ations were given, and prayers offered, by those who had the 
 confidence for such services. These were only occasional. 
 The chief burden of giving interest to the gathering devolved 
 upon Mrs. Douglass and her accomplished friend, whose 
 sweetness of deportment, intelligence of conversation, and 
 unaffected piety of heart, won for her not only the affections 
 of the children, but the respect of their parents and of the 
 whole town. They collected a well-stored juvenile library, 
 which produced in almost every family a taste for reading, 
 and thus contributed not a little to the elevation of the peo- 
 ple. These ladies were the animating soul of the movement, 
 the Aaron and Hur to sustain its uplifted hands, and secure 
 for it the public confidence. Mrs. Douglass, who was the 
 senior of her friend by some years, and withal, as the daughter 
 of a clergyman, much more experienced in such matters, was 
 the priestess of the town. She was the ministering angel to 
 the sick, and the lady confessor, so to speak, of the dying. 
 She would say to her husband, who was always doubtful as 
 to their doing any good to the people, "We shall win them
 
 58 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 yet, there 's no doubt. No people are proof against kindness 
 and sincerity." 
 
 " 0, Mary ! " he would say, "all are not like you. I -wish 
 in my soul they were ; we should then have a happier world. 
 You are a prodigy, in your way ; you '11 do your part, there 's 
 not a doubt." 
 
 "My dear George, you are very complimentary," she 
 said ; " but I do not think there is anything extraordinary in 
 me. It is in my training. The same training would have 
 made nine in ten of the people as good or better than I am. 
 We do not consider how much we owe to circumstances ; and 
 what have we that we have not received? " 
 
 While things were thus in Mapleton, Providence kindly 
 sent help to those who were so assiduous in helping them- 
 selves. A man removed to town by the name of James Lit- 
 tlefield, not a preacher, but of a blameless life and exalted 
 piety, and withal of very respectable gifts as a public speaker. 
 He was poor in this world's goods ; had a feeble wife, with three 
 dependent children, AY horn he supported by day-labor, not 
 having means to purchase land of his own. So great was his 
 usefulness in conducting the public worship of the town, how- 
 ever, that the hearts of the people seemed to centre upon him 
 as their pastor to visit their sick and bury their dead ; and 
 they not only contributed to his support from the products 
 of their farms, but even made the first payment on a home- 
 stead for him, and put him in a way to pay the rest. It is 
 natural to a community to desire some one to have a special 
 care of their spiritual interests ; and, when they have no reg- 
 ular minister, it is highly proper to select one from among 
 themselves, in whom they may have confidence, to take this 
 office and ministration upon him. Mr. Littlefield was a mod- 
 est man, and used sometimes to say to Mrs. Douglass, "I
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 59 
 
 never rise to speak in public when my knees do not smite 
 together like Belshazzar's." 
 
 "Let them smite," said Mrs. Douglass; "it can do no 
 hurt, so long as your tongue does not forget its cunning, nor 
 your heart to indite good matter. You have succeeded thus 
 far beyond our hopes. I am no flatterer ; but, in my sober 
 judgment, Mr. Littlefield, you are more competent to teach 
 this people religion than nine-tenths of our preachers, take 
 them as they rise. I have no sympathy with those who meas- 
 ure the supply of laborers by the number of students in our 
 seminaries. Meagre supply, indeed, and many of them quite 
 inefficient, when you get them. You have more experience 
 of the truth, though less professional mannerism ; and all the 
 better for that. You understand the people, and they under- 
 stand you, because you are one of them. You touch their 
 sympathies, and suit yourself to their habits of thinking. I 
 always hated measuring off devotion by rule, as a merchant 
 does his cloth. I cannot endure sermons addressed to the 
 man in the moon, or to the people before the flood, or to a 
 collection of imaginary savans, instead of talking to the living 
 masses before you." 
 
 Mrs. Douglass was right. Her practical good sense looked 
 intuitively into matters of fact. The people were won. 
 They thronged the place of worship to hear the truth from 
 Mr. Littlefield's lips. Mapleton had a Sabbath, priest, sanc- 
 tuary, and ritual. It had a pastor, a library, an altar, and a 
 Sunday-school. But, thank God ! it had yet no groggery. 
 The poison was not sold within its limits, nor to be met with 
 in its families. ^The people were not all pious, it is true ; 
 but, in the absence of that universal agent of impiety and 
 crime, they were decent, orderly, and respectful to the insti- 
 tutions of religion. Schools were established at convenient
 
 60 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 places ; and, though a new country, the children availed them- 
 selves with much avidity of the means of instruction, and 
 became even more intelligent and better-behaved than in older 
 and more favored towns. 
 
 There were, indeed, infidel families, and plenty of combus- 
 tible material to kindle at the touch of one spark from the all- 
 consuming alcoholic furnace. One groggery one would 
 be enough to deface the fair aspect of things, and fill the town 
 with devils. Among the number of the above description was 
 a family by the name of Jollops. In a conversation with his 
 venerable neighbor, Robson, old Mr. Jollops remarked, "I 
 did hope I 'd got beyond the reach of this 'ere religion, when 
 I came into the woods; but it pursues me like a terrier." 
 
 " Get beyond religion ! " replied Robson. " Why not get 
 beyond air and sunshine ? Why not steal the march upon 
 your own nature?" . 
 
 " Fie on my natur ! " said Jollops ; " there 's no religion 
 in 't more than juice in a husk. Sabbaths, meetings, preach- 
 ing, and all sich, can't squeeze it into me, nor out on me, any 
 way." 
 
 " Are you a brute? None but brutes are without religion. 
 The trees, the birds, the clouds, the waterfalls, were here 
 before the Douglasses, Durhams and Littlefields, and did far 
 more to make us religious. The roar of the surf on the 
 beach has more worship in it than all their psalmody." 
 
 "Yes, heathen; that 's what Littlefield calls it." 
 
 " Well, it 's good enough for me; and you 'd feel so too, 
 if you had a soul in you as big as the point of a mosquitos' 
 probe." 
 
 "0 you 're a philosopher!" said Jollops, sneeringly. 
 " Guess my soul 's as large as your untempered mosquitos' 
 bills, ha, ha, ha ! " he added, alluding to a quaint theory of 

 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 61 
 
 Robson, that it took a young mosquito some time, after 
 coming out of his watery womb, to get his bill hard enough 
 to bite. 
 
 " Your skull is thick as an ass's ! " said Robson. 
 
 " Yes, too thick for your worship of trees. You never go 
 to meeting more than I. The woods and mosquitos are 
 your organ, priest, and Bible. Well, I care not how much 
 sich religion we have ; it won't stick to one's conscience, more 
 than water to a goose's back." 
 
 Thus the roots of vice and impiety were not dead, but 
 only kept under by the absence of alcohol, that bane of 
 social order, and by the predominance of another class of 
 influences. The smothered embers of vice were pot confined 
 to a Douglass or a Durham, but were latent in many a con- 
 stitution, by inheritance or by former indulgence ; and nothing 
 was necessary to make them flame up, with universal desola- 
 tion, but the vent and occasions of temptation. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE OUTPOSTS OF THE ENEMY AT LENGTH APPEAR. 
 
 " Wherever God erects a house of prayer, 
 The devil always builds a chapel there ; 
 And 't will he found, upon examination, 
 The latter has the larger congregation." DEFOE. 
 
 BY an accident, from which Charles escaped barely with life, 
 
 three things opened upon him. a little friend, a college course, 
 
 and a Mapleton groggery. The first caused pleasure, the 
 
 second labor, and the third ruin. Such are the ingredients 
 
 6
 
 62 MAPLETON; OH, 
 
 of which the cup of life is compounded, --pleasure, labor, 
 ruin. The circumstances which led to the accident we will 
 detail in his own words ; as who knows better than one's self 
 his boyhood's experiences? 
 
 "As to myself," he says, "I must confess to a foolish feeling 
 of 'mortification, that my mother's exertions and my father's 
 sermon-reading gave our family a sort of clerical reputation 
 in town. Perhaps the secret of it might be, in part, the 
 incongruity of my father's previous habits with his present 
 position. True, his Mapleton reputation was untarnished, 
 and his affairs prosperous ; but my mother and I knew we 
 were building on a volcano. The smothered embers of his 
 former vice, needed only the contact of a groggery to flame 
 up for the ruin of his family, and make him in the same 
 degree odious as he now enjoyed honor as a virtuous and 
 useful citizen. The experiment of new-country farming, 
 so far, succeeded beyond our hopes. We harvested fifty 
 acres of wheat the summer after our arrival, as the fruits 
 of a former seeding ; and we got in one hundred acres the 
 same autumn. The price of wheat was high, and our in- 
 come far exceeded our expenses. Our neighbor Durham 
 did as well accordingly, but had not an equal amount of 
 land or labor. 
 
 " My heart bleeds at the pangs of fear with which my 
 poor mother was afflicted, from her sense of the danger to 
 which prosperity would expose my father. She knew that 
 the more easy his circumstances, the more likely he would be 
 to drink, in case any strong temptation came in his way. 
 Our very success seemed to her a lure to destruction. I was 
 her eldest child, and the only person in town, except Mrs. 
 Durham, to whom she intrusted her thoughts. With tears 
 in her eyes, she said, ' Charles, my son, we must not flatter
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAIXE LAW. 63 
 
 ourselves ; we have no security. Next year, or even next 
 month, may plunge us into the abyss. There is no hope 
 that this wicked traffic, protected as it is by law, and licensed 
 by the state, will not find its way into a town becoming thus 
 populous and wealthy. We are building over a magazine of 
 po\vder, and men are encouraged by legislation to set it on 
 fire and blow us all to ruin. There is more safety in a battle- 
 field. Yes, Charles ; much as I hate war, I should feel more 
 secure if we were all soldiers drawn up in line of battle 
 than with this alcoholic traffic among us.' 
 
 " ' Mother,' I replied, ' is your piety no security? ' 
 
 " ' Yes, my son; if it is sincere, it may support me under 
 this trial of trials ; but it has no power over your father's 
 infirmity.' 
 
 " ' What! is there nothing we can do to secure him? Can 
 we not prevent the introduction of the traffic, by timely 
 remonstrance ? ' 
 
 "'This is more than I expect, an example without a 
 precedent in our state. Here is an open field, where money 
 may be made by selling intoxicating drinks ; and somebody's 
 cupidity must, sooner or later, discover and supply the 
 market.' 
 
 ' : ' But perhaps father has seen the evil of drinking so 
 much as to resist the temptation.' 
 
 " ' Had you seen what I have, my son, you would not think 
 so. There are tens of thousands, who have as many induce- 
 ments to temperance as he has, ruining their families by 
 drinking. Besides, he has never yet been exposed to a strong 
 temptation, when he did not fall. He thinks he will not, 
 before-hand, but he always does. There is no hope, with the 
 traffic amonof us.' 
 
 O 
 
 " ' What can be done ? Must we stand still and perish? '
 
 64 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 " ' My advice is that you leave soon for college. You are 
 now fitted for an advanced standing. You may thus turn 
 our present prosperity to the advantage of completing your 
 education, before adversity comes to defeat the hope of your 
 life. Better that our surplus means should go so, than to 
 be on hand to be wasted by and by.' 
 
 "I did not, at the time, realize our danger to the same 
 extent that my mother did. I only thought father had better 
 let preaching alone, and take more to practice. I agreed 
 with our neighbor Robson, that the religion of nature was 
 enough. I could not see why there should be so much effort 
 to cultivate a plant that grows spontaneously. At all events, 
 I had so much apprehension in reference to my father's 
 habits, that I felt a decided repugnance to his having any 
 very conspicuous share in the religious worship of our town. 
 I suppose it was foolish of me, but I could not help it as I 
 then felt. 
 
 " While things were thus situated, it happened, on a quiet 
 Sabbath morning, that I was awakened at dawn by the robins 
 and blue-birds warbling their matin song in the pendent 
 branches around our house. I listened for a time in a dreamy 
 state between sleeping and waking. My mind was the home 
 of beauty. I lived over a paradisiacal life. I thought of the 
 Fauns, and Naiads, and Nymphs, with which a Grecian 
 imagination had peopled earth and ocean. Passing droves of 
 deer, just escaped from their mossy couches, flitted before my 
 view. Instead of robins and blue-birds alone, I fancied that 
 all the birds of song, in the glory of their variegated 
 plumage, were serenading me ; and a dreamy conceit invested 
 them with intelligence, as if happy spirits from a higher world 
 were filling my soul with their more heavenly beauty and 
 melody. I shouted in an ecstasy of delight, and the effort
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 65 
 
 roused me to consciousness. I arose and looked out of the 
 bay-window, to survey the lake scenery. It had put on more 
 than its usual charms. It reposed before me sublimely calm, 
 as if conscious of its own dignity. ' The East had decked 
 herself in orient pearl and gold.' Sublime and beautiful as 
 the morning is in every other clime, it has here unusual 
 elements of loveliness. Whether from the nature of the 
 exhalations, the conflict of aerial currents, or other causes, 
 it is a fact -of general observation, that the solar rays, as they 
 approximate the horizontal plane, both in rising and setting, 
 produce, in this our new home, extraordinary combinations 
 of beauty. Their reflection from the lake, on this occasion, 
 lent enchantment to my mind. Painted clouds and over- 
 hanging forests, reflected from the quiet water, whose smooth 
 surface, here and there variegated with gentle ripples from 
 light flaws of air, like etchings on polished steel, altogether 
 produced a scene of loveliness to attract and entrance minds 
 far less susceptible than my own. How touching, how 
 truthful, how eloquent, are nature's appeals to the senses of 
 man ! Who, that should once inhale the pure vapors of such 
 a morning, could breathe again the infected haunts of riot 
 and dissipation 7 Who can turn away from the pure foun- 
 tains of joy and blessedness, which God has opened in this 
 sweet land, to those stimulating potions from which vice 
 derives its maddening inspiration 7 
 
 " My heart overflowed with the delightful associations of 
 such a morning. My dream was reality. Angels did, 
 indeed, nestle in the rosy clouds on which I was gazing. The 
 2Eolian breezes whispered in my ear notes from their lyres. 
 In the height of this ecstatic feeling the bark of our dog, 
 'Watch,' broke upon my ear. 'Watch never barks like 
 this,' said I to myself, 'when a deer is not in pursuit. Watch 
 6*
 
 60 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 will have him, for he never gives over.' Watch was a Bu- 
 cephalus among dogs, and equally deserving with that famed 
 steed of immortality. His spotted coat and noble form had a 
 charm to my eye which those will appreciate who know what 
 it is to love a dog. His bark was shrill as a silver trumpet, 
 clear and distinct as a vesper-bell, and was never heard with- 
 out touching my soul with fire to engage with him in his 
 favorite pursuit of the bounding deer. In an instant. I 
 passed from angelic communion to the fellowship of brutes 
 and the furor of the chase. I bounded from my room like 
 an arrow, and ran to a cove a mile east of my father's, where 
 I stood listening to the baying of a hundred dogs, who had 
 by this time joined the pursuit. 
 
 ' Yelled on the view the opening pack, 
 Rock, glen and cavern, paid them back; 
 To many a mingled sound at once 
 The awakened forest gave response.' 
 
 "The deer, as usual, sought the lake, to escape the dogs 
 by swimming. Canaudeh, my nocturnal acquaintance, met 
 him at the pass (as a certain part of a hunting-ground is 
 called), where he snapped his rifle, missed fire, and away flew 
 the buck like a thing of air. 
 
 "I stood for a moment, when the noble denizen of the 
 forest, with great branching horns, swept past me and plunged 
 into the lake. I sprang to the beach, crying out, at the top 
 of my voice, ' A deer, a deer ! ' Canaudeh soon appeared, 
 and, taking me into his canoe, we renewed the chase on the 
 lake. I reclined in the bow with withe in hand, as the 
 instrument to take the deer with was called. It was made 
 of a long, tough sapling, trimmed of all its branches except 
 the two principal ones, which were twisted together at the 
 ends so as to form a loop of sufficient capacity to go over the
 
 M011E WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 67 
 
 head of the animal, and hold him tight, being fastened round 
 his neck. We soon came up with the poor deer, whose pow- 
 erful sinews propelled him with such force that nearly half 
 his body was driven above the surface of the water, the surf 
 rolling from him either way, his mouth open, his tongue pro- 
 truding, his saliva foaming, and his desperation so great that 
 I fancied he became suddenly transmuted into a warlike Turk, 
 with his sabre in hand, who was in the act of striking me 
 dead on the spot. ! dying, dying, what is dying 1 Here 
 my thoughts tapered off to nothing, like the expiring vibra- 
 tions of a smitten bell, and I remembered no more." 
 
 The effervescing soul had sunk to rest. The over-strained 
 harp-strings had snapped, and gave no further vibration. 
 The instant that Charles put his withe over the head of the 
 deer, the poor animal uttered a plaintive bleat, like a death- 
 knell, and, driven to desperation, turned, and brought the 
 sharp hoof of his fore-foot down upon the boy, with such 
 force as to lay his skull bare, and knock him senseless to the 
 bottom of the canoe. With tender solicitude, Canaudeh now 
 betook himself to the care of his unconscious charge. He 
 folded him in his arms with the tenderness of a mother, blew 
 in his mouth, wet his temples ; but all to no purpose. Charles 
 lay pale and flaccid in his bosom. The savage had by this 
 time experienced much kindness from the Douglasses ; and 
 for Charles, in particular, he seemed to have a special liking. 
 Failing in all his efforts, he paddled his canoe to the shore ; 
 and there he was met by a beautiful little girl, who, from the 
 distance, had gazed upon the scene with rapt attention. As 
 soon as she saw Charles lying in the canoe, as if dead, she 
 exclaimed, with a sweet voice, " 0, father, father ! do come ! 
 do, do, do ! " at the same time running back into the thicket, 
 from which, after a short time, she returned, leading her
 
 68 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 father by the hand. Mr. Harcourt for such was the name 
 of this gentleman was equally moved with his little 
 daughter. 
 
 Having used upon the boy all his means of restoration, he 
 took him to his own house, which was near, assisted by the 
 Indian, and despatched a messenger for medical aid. Mean- 
 while, he put Charles into a warm bath, and then transferred 
 him to his bed ; and, after applying pungent stimulants to 
 his person, the signs of animation began to appear. At the 
 instant the boy opened his eyes, his father and mother entered 
 the room, and, seeing them, he said, 
 
 "Father, where am I?" 
 
 "You are here, in the house of this good friend, my son," 
 said his father, with an emotion of surprise at finding him 
 alive, as their worst fears had been excited. 
 
 " Where have I been?" said Charles. 
 
 "You can answer that question better than I," replied his 
 father. " You have not been with us, or this accident would 
 not have happened." 
 
 "0, I remember," said Charles. "Where is Canau- 
 deh?" 
 
 The old savage uttered guttural sounds, which seemed to 
 say how glad he was to see him alive. 
 
 " And the deer, where is the deer?" inquired Charles. 
 
 " Alas, my son ! " said Mrs. Douglass, " we have nothing 
 of the deer but this wound on your head." 
 
 "Wound on rny head?" said Charles, putting up his 
 hand, when he found, for the first time, that his head was 
 bandaged, and had been bleeding. " And this is Sunday, 
 too," he added, thoughtfully. 
 
 "Yes, this is Sunday," said his mother; "and the chase 
 is the last place where I should have looked for my Charles."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 69 
 
 " I had thought as much myself," he said, evidently hum- 
 bled at this abuse of a day which he had been religiously 
 trained to observe. 
 
 "Yes, my son," said his mother; "and we had thought 
 your death must be added to the list of Sabbath-day acci- 
 dents. We cannot be too thankful that our fears are not 
 realized." 
 
 Father, mother and son, were all much affected. 
 
 " 0, how happy we all are, Charles, that you have come 
 back from heaven ! Did you see my blessed mother there?" 
 said little Sarah, with genuine childish simplicity. 
 
 This was the first view Charles had of her ; and he was so 
 moved by her angelic sweetness and beauty, that, in his con- 
 fusion, he fancied her, for a moment, a spirit from a higher 
 world. 
 
 " Your mother is in heaven, my sweet girl? " he said, not 
 comprehending her meaning. 
 
 "Yes; my blessed mother went to heaven more than a 
 year ago ; and I want some one to come from there, to bring 
 me a kiss." 
 
 " Dear child," said Charles, " I am not fit to go to 
 heaven. I am a sinner. How could I go to heaven, to 
 bring you a kiss?" 
 
 "Sarah, my love," said Mr. Harcourt, "do not trouble 
 him." 
 
 "No trouble at all, sir," said Charles, holding her hand 
 gently in his. 
 
 "Watch now drew near the bed, with ears drooping, as if 
 partaking in the general aifliction. Charles patted him on 
 the head, and he shook his tail with so much force as to sway 
 his body to and fro, thus expressing, as well as he could, 
 how happy he was that matters were no worse.
 
 70 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 The medical gentleman now arrived, and made such pre- 
 scriptions as the nature of the case seemed to demand. The 
 name of this gentleman was Holliston, a man trained to two 
 professions, the medical and clerical, the latter of which he 
 had exercised over one of the largest New England congre- 
 gations, till his voice failed, when he resumed again the prac- 
 tice of medicine. He had lately arrived in town, in company 
 with his children, who had found it for their interest to emi- 
 grate. He hoped to m$ke himself still useful among a peo- 
 ple more needing, though less able to compensate, his ser- 
 vices. His dignified person and fine countenance were an 
 index of the noble sentiments which had actuated him through 
 life. He took his leave, with an engagement to meet at 
 dinner, the next day, some of his former acquaintances, whom 
 Mr. Harcourt was expecting in town. Indeed, this gentle- 
 man had long known the doctor, and they had come to town 
 in company ; which accounts for his being called, rather than 
 physicians who had been longer established. 
 
 Great preparations were going on in the family for this 
 dinner. John, the servant, was collecting from earth, air 
 and water, Avhatever might minister to appetite or to pleas- 
 ure. Mr. Harcourt was bred a free liver, and had trans- 
 ferred to the new country habits and means of luxury 
 unknown to most of its inhabitants. Dinner was the great 
 event of the day, towards which the skill and resources of the 
 house flowed, without stint or measure. He never left his 
 table without swallowing his bottle of claret, with such occa- 
 sional additions of brandy, Scotch whiskey, or other wines, 
 during the day and evening, as appetite seemed to demand. 
 Still, Mr. Harcourt was never intoxicated, as that term is 
 generally understood. He abhorred the thing more than 
 most men. He thought it beastly and degrading. Mrs.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 71 
 
 Douglass, mistrusting the habits of the family, took measures 
 to keep her husband away by staying away herself, intrust- 
 ing Charles to the care of little Sarah's nurse till he should 
 be able to come home. Mr. Holliston came early the next 
 day to look after his patient, in whom he seemed to take a 
 peculiar interest. 
 
 " My lad," said he, "it is time you were looking out for 
 something besides deer and foxes. Have you studied Latin 
 yet?" 
 
 "A little," replied Charles. 
 
 "And Greek?" 
 
 " Yes, Greek too." j 
 
 " And mathematics ? " 
 
 " My mother, sir, thinks me prepared to enter college." 
 
 "Ay, ay; your mother, eh? what does- she know about it?" 
 
 ' She is a classical scholar, sir, arid has assisted me in my 
 studies." 
 
 " Quite unusual, quite, quite. Where was your mother 
 brought up?" 
 
 " In New England, sir. Her father was many years the 
 clergyman of Paucatuck parish, who had a great desire for a 
 son, to try his peculiar notions of education upon ; but, disap- 
 pointed in this, he experimented with my mother, giving her 
 an education equal, I judge, to an ordinary college course." 
 
 " Old Pastor Rogers, was that his name? " 
 
 " Yes, Lebbeus Rogers." 
 
 "In Paucatuck parish. Yes, yes; I knew him well. 
 Eccentric, original, but a right-down good man, and gentle- 
 man of the old school. Was your mother Pastor Rogers' 
 daughter, eh?" 
 
 "Yes, sir; his only child." 
 
 "Well, my lad, you must step into the place of your
 
 72 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 grandfather's hoped-for son, and do his work to another gen- 
 eration. What is there to prevent your going to college this 
 autumn?" 
 
 "I cannot say, sir, "whether my father will feel himself' 
 able to sustain the burden." 
 
 " Never mind that. I can put you on a foundation. I 'd 
 rather pay all the bills than not have old Pastor Rogers' son 
 educated. Diddington College has a foundation for such 
 smart lads as you, of which I am a trustee. We '11 see ; 
 we '11 see. Diddington is just the place for you. How is 
 your head, my boy?" 
 
 " It is much relieved." 
 
 "Sleep well?" 
 
 " Pretty well. Started some, and had frightful dreams, 
 the first of the night, but got quiet before morning." 
 
 " All that is quite natural ; quite, very." 
 
 Physician and patient were now interrupted by the 
 entrance of Mr. Harcourt, accompanied by Skarnpton and 
 Marldon. 
 
 " Glad to meet you in the new country, at last," said 
 Marldon to his host; "you have had a long siege in getting 
 here." 
 
 "Yes, confounded long," said Harcourt. "You lawyers, 
 bailiffs, creditors, the devil and all, had liked to detain me 
 forever ; but, thank my stars, I escaped at last with a whole 
 skin." 
 
 "'All's well that ends well,'" said Marldon. "The 
 large deduction wrung out of your creditors ought to satisfy 
 you. Have you built yet? " 
 
 " No, not done. The work is going on. We have pitched 
 into this cabin the mean while, for the want of a better." 
 
 "A competence is left you, eh?" said Marldon, with a
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 73 
 
 chuckle at his own skill in fleecing creditors and enriching 
 client. 
 
 "Nothing to complain of," said Harcourt. "It's my 
 treat, I confess. John, bring on that old hock," he added, 
 calling to his man. " A drop from my grandfather's cellar 
 is as good to sharpen appetite as to clear the throat after 
 dinner." 
 
 " From your grandfather's cellar, and not in your assets 1 " 
 added the lawyer, with another chuckle. 
 
 " Yes; better be hung than lose one's wine. Here, John, 
 extract that cork. That 's right, man. Now for a glass of 
 this blessed old Rhenish, which is twenty-five years older 
 than any man in the company," said Harcourt, holding up 
 the bottle, and pouring the imprisoned enemy into a glass, all 
 sparkling and flaming with death. They drank, and offered 
 the cup to the doctor. 
 
 "I am a teetotaller, gentlemen," said the doctor; "don't 
 ask me to drink. I do not drink, on principle." 
 
 " I never drink, on inclination" said Skampton ; "I'm 
 none of your new-fangled principle men, who are wiser than 
 the Son of God himself, who both made wine and treated his 
 friends with it." 
 
 " What ! you not drink, Mr. Skampton," said Harcourt, 
 " and make your thousands out of drinking? " 
 
 "And loses his thousands, too, out of drinking," said 
 Marldon. " Is it true, my friend, that a drunken crew have 
 sunk a ship for you among the whales of Kamtschatka ? " 
 
 "They have sunk my ship, but not my funds. I was 
 insured." 
 
 " The whole amount? " said Marldon. 
 
 " More than I should have got in these times of light car- 
 goes and small pay." 
 7
 
 74 MAPLETON; OR 3 
 
 "Were the drunkards who went down insured ? " inquired 
 Harcourt, laughing. 
 
 "That is another thing," replied Mr. Holliston. "The 
 insurance offices cannot restore the poor fellows their lost 
 life. They cannot repair the damage to widows and or- 
 phans." 
 
 "The disasters of the sea are unavoidable," said Skamp- 
 ton. 
 
 " Those of rum are greater," rejoined the doctor. 
 
 " I hope you do not blame ship-owners, because sailors 
 will get drunk," said Skampton. 
 
 " I do blame them for furnishing the means," said the 
 doctor. "It is as sure death to them as weapons in the 
 hands of madmen. We have no right to put the cup to our 
 neighbor's lip. Ship-owners sink their own property, and 
 the sailors, too, by furnishing them strong drink." 
 
 " Not their own property, if they are insured," said 
 Marldon. 
 
 " Profits must be charged on -what is saved, to cover the 
 loss, where there is no insurance," said Harcourt. 
 
 " No doubt losses raise the price of the article lost, when 
 they are very heavy," said Skampton. 
 
 " The loss must fall somewhere," said Mr. Holliston. 
 " Besides, it is not a simple question of loss and gain. Ship- 
 owners are morally bound to watch over the life and health 
 of the sailors they employ; and they cannot do it where 
 intoxicating drinks are put into their hands. They will 
 drink, if we give them the means ; and we are bound, in con- 
 science and in humanity, not to do it. We are accessory to 
 their death, by doing it." 
 
 ' ' That 's perfectly preposterous ! ' ' said Skampton. ' ' Must
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 75 
 
 ships be sailed without ropes, because a crazy sailor, now and 
 then, hangs himself?" 
 
 " Ropes do not make sailors crazy, but alcohol does," said 
 Mr. Holliston. " Ropes do not create an appetite for hang- 
 ing ; but alcohol creates an appetite which is ungovernable, 
 and which, when indulged, sinks ships, drowns sailors, burns 
 houses, raises mobs, multiplies crime, and produces more 
 plagues than escaped from Pandora's box. How can you, 
 then, with the knowledge of these facts, do anything to pro- 
 voke or gratify such an appetite, without involving yourself 
 in the guilt of wholesale murder 1 " 
 
 " This old doctor is rowing against wind and tide," whis- 
 pered Marldon to his host, as they discussed a bottle of wine 
 together. " Skampton 's death upon teetotalism." 
 
 "A great benefactor, too ! " said Harcourt, with a shrug of 
 his shoulders. 
 
 " He knows how to get, as well as give ; and to give, too, 
 where it will bring a dividend in reputation, if not in money," 
 said Marldon. 
 
 " That 's it, that 's it ! " said Harcourt ; " I 've always said 
 charity is keen for dividends. She is a great sharper, the 
 painted old jade ! " 
 
 " Thank God, doctor, my conscience is not in your keep- 
 ing ! " said Mr. Skampton, at the same time jumping up, 
 and beginning to pace the floor. 
 
 Dinner was now announced, and served with all the sump- 
 tuousness of bankrupt opulence. They sat an hour over 
 their fruits and wines, some partaking of one, and others 
 of both, till Bacchus reigned supreme with his votaries. In 
 the midst of the good cheer, Skampton was waited on by his 
 land factor, a young man of a searching, sinister aspect, who 
 was the leader of a singular gang in town, that went under the
 
 76 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 name of money-diggers. His name was Samuel Gilfort, and 
 he was an alcoholic necromancer. His father was so before 
 him, but never turned his peculiar powers to any worldly 
 advantage, having always lived in extreme poverty ; whereas 
 the son was a man ever on the alert for the main chance, 
 looking out for something to turn up which would raise him 
 in the world. His vigilance in this respect had brought -him 
 into contact with the great land-holder, while his shrewdness 
 had commended him to Skampton as a suitable instrument to 
 be used. 
 
 "Draw up, Gilfort, draw up," said Harcourt, "and take 
 a glass of this old Madeira. It 's capital ; 't will whet your 
 faculties in this business of land-hunting." 
 
 Gilfort gladly obeyed the summons, and swallowed glass 
 after glass, till full half a bottle of the infernal nectar was 
 leaping and dancing among his veins and arteries. His eye 
 dilated ; he was collected in mind ; his perceptive powers were 
 whetted to their keenest edge. Not a trace of ordinary intox- 
 ication appeared in him, but he had more the aspect of a man 
 who felt the spell of inspiration, and the afflatus of a seer. 
 He was one of those on whom alcohol acts as the pharmacia 
 of the ancients, or those drugs used as charms, love-potions, 
 or to produce the sibylline frenzy by which events were fore- 
 told, and a sublimated state of the faculties was produced. 
 
 "Well, Gilfort," said Skampton, "how goes it? Have 
 you located 1 " 
 
 " Yes, I foresee a grand turn-up from the hit I have made. 
 The warrants marked A, B, C, D. I have located round the 
 Falls, a water-power to turn any quantity of machinery, 
 and which is sure to turn up a great city as time is to unroll 
 his scroll. A hundred acre lot, including the Falls, is already 
 taken up, and has some small betterments on 't ; but I have
 
 MOKE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 77 
 
 bargained for it at a moderate advance, on condition of your 
 approval. The rest all comes at government price, though 
 worth at this moment a thousand times its cost. We shall 
 thus have, in a body around the Falls, six hundred acres, 
 including a water-power which cannot fail to give birth to a 
 city. But, should that fail, which is impossible, or I am 
 no prophet, we have as good land for farming as can be got, 
 besides the water-fall. All agree it 's a magnificent pur- 
 chase." ^ 
 
 "Good! A brave fellow! Keen, real keen, Gilfort, 
 we '11 make a speck, I think. At any rate, our chance is 
 between well and a windfall." 
 
 " It '11 prove the stepping-stone, I trust, to a long-cherished 
 hope of doing somewhat for this crazy world," said Gilfort, 
 with an eye dilating with hope, and a mind laboring with 
 great ideas, such as they were, produced by the blending of 
 the alcoholic current with a peculiar constitutional necromancy. 
 
 " Crazy ! crazy!" said Harcourt to Marldon, in an under- 
 tone. " He transfers his own craziness to the rest of man- 
 kind. He 's mad as a March hare ! " 
 
 " Yes, he believes the earth is full of ingots of gold, I 
 learn, buried there by the dead generations," said Marldon. 
 " He 's a great digger ; but he '11 find a heavier chest in his 
 transactions with Skampton, I guess, than any that the earth 
 contains." 
 
 " He takes a share, then? " 
 
 "Yes, a quarter; and if his purchase turns out what it 
 seems, it '11 bring him thousands. Always in luck," added 
 Marldon, addressing Skampton. "Have you secured the 
 Gore lot, yet?" 
 
 "It is secured, sir, and the building is contracted for," 
 replied Skampton. " It 's a first-rate stand." 
 7*
 
 78 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 " Stand for what ? " inquired Charles, turning on his sofa, 
 \vith an anxious, excited look. 
 
 "A tavern-stand, child," replied Skampton ; "what else 
 d'' ye think?" 
 
 "0, God, have mercy on us! " exclaimed Charles, invol- 
 untarily. 
 
 . " Do you feel worse, my son ? " said the doctor, not com- 
 prehending what had been said. 
 
 " Not in body," replied Charles. 
 
 " In mind, then? " inquired the kind physician. 
 
 "To be honest, I have a horror of a groggery in our 
 quiet town," replied the boy. 
 
 "And so have I," said the physician. "We can't have 
 one, we must not have one." 
 
 " You do me wrong, my lad, to speak thus of my benevo- 
 lent exertions in behalf of strangers passing through your 
 town. Is a traveller's home a groggery?" said Skampton, 
 with aggrieved feelings at the imputation. 
 
 " What are travellers' homes, as a general thing, but grog- 
 geries ? " said Mr. Holliston. " The boy did right to call it 
 by the name it deserves. Will you obligate yourself not to 
 sell intoxicating drinks on the Gore lot? " 
 
 " I never sell them," said Skampton. 
 
 " Well, will you prevent their sale by the terms of your 
 lease?" 
 
 " I shall impose no restrictions. I shall leave my tenant 
 to consult his own interest. Would you have me proscribe 
 beef-steak ? " 
 
 " That 's right ! " said Marldon ; " I 'd be bound by none 
 of these new measures. If people make fools of themselves, 
 must you? Keeping rum, or beef-steak, compels nobody
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 79 
 
 to buy. And those who wish to buy will have it, whether 
 you keep it, or not. That 'a my logic." 
 
 " The more they buy, the jollier, as saith an old ballad," 
 said Harcourt, beginning- to sing, 
 
 " See ! the rain soaks to the skin ; 
 Make it rain as well within. 
 Wine, my boy ! we '11 sing and laugh ; 
 All night revel, rant and quaff, 
 Till the morn, stealing behind us, 
 At the table sleep will find us." 
 
 "Drinking will civilize these Mapleton dolts. From 
 drunken old Noah's day to this time, wine has been the 
 inspiration of generous souls." 
 
 Remonstrance was vain, and Mr. Holliston dropped the 
 subject. Indeed, his being found in such society was owing 
 to his acquaintance with these gentlemen when they were 
 not what they had now become, and in a new country he 
 was naturally attracted to them by the lack of society and 
 the ties of recollection. As for Skampton, a morbid con- 
 servatism, which clings to whatever is old and abhors what- 
 ever is new, united to an overweening desire for money, with 
 which to buy influence and reputation, was the root from which 
 branched off most of the evils of his character. Poor Charles 
 had no more rest. The wounds of his mind were deeper and 
 more dangerous than those of his body. His imagination 
 revelled amid scenes of domestic madness and murder. And 
 when the facts were imparted to his mother, she was still 
 more agonized. The Gore lot was the centre of attraction to 
 the town, and they had everything to apprehend from its 
 being made the seat of a traffic in alcohol. Their place of 
 worship joined it ; and now, to have it a Satan's seat, was too 
 abhorrent, too alarming to their domestic fears.
 
 80 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 The few days that Charles staid in the Harcourt family 
 had one charm which never faded from his mind, and that 
 was his acquaintance with little Sarah. It was the fairy 
 dream of a desolate night. To his ear the voice of Sarah 
 was sweeter than lute or harp, and her form seemed too 
 sylph-like and ethereal for a land of rugged realities. He 
 was surprised, also, at the order and elegance which reigned 
 around. The costly carpets, rich drapery, gorgeous furni- 
 ture and well-appointed domestics, relics of faded splendor, 
 contrasted strangely with the wild surroundings of new- 
 country life. Mr. Harcourt he saw not after the day of this 
 convivial dinner ; but Sarah was always present, watching him 
 like a guardian angel, and amusing him with her guitar. Oh 
 one occasion she sang, with great pathos, a little piece taught 
 her by her governess, which perfectly entranced him : 
 
 Gentle mother, what is here 
 Now my aching heart to cheer ? 
 Since you left me, all is sad, 
 What can ever make me glad ? 
 
 Let the blue-bird sing his lay; 
 Let the robin greet the day 
 With his notes so pure and clear , 
 Can / sing, a lone one here ? 
 
 On the cheek of me, your child, 
 Singing now my strain so wild, 
 May I feel thy gentle kiss, 
 Foretaste of serener bliss ! 
 
 One sweet word from thee above, 
 From the land of perfect love, 
 Sweeter far to me would be 
 Than earth's softest melody.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 81 
 
 Now I shed a burning tear, 
 That no voice from thee I hear ; 
 Oft I call, and call again, 
 But the stillness gives me pain. 
 
 Why not speak, my mother mild ? 
 Lov'st thou not thine orphan child ? 
 Have my woes no power to touch 
 Thee, who loved me once so much ? 
 
 " Sarah, you sing like an angel," said Charles, in a trans- 
 port. 
 
 " Did you ever hear the angels sing? " she inquired, with 
 great simplicity. 
 
 " No, Sarah ; but I 'm sure their music cannot be sweeter 
 than yours." 
 
 {i What ! did you hear no music in heaven ? " she inquired, 
 still possessed of the idea that, as he seemed like her dead 
 mother, he must have been in heaven. Here the governess 
 interposed, and before the conversation could be resumed 
 Charles was removed to his father's house. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE ENEMY ENTERS AT LAST. 
 
 " Every inordinate cup is unblessed, and the ingredient is a devil." 
 
 SHAKSPEAHE. 
 " And when, alas ! our brains are gone, 
 
 What nobler substitute than wine ?" BYRON. 
 
 As soon as Charles was able, Mr. Holliston took him home, 
 and had an interview with his parents on the subject of his
 
 82 MAPLETON ; OB, 
 
 entering college. He engaged his tuition out of the funds of 
 which he was a trustee, and more, if necessary ; but Mr. 
 and Mrs. Douglass were unwilling that he should depend 
 upon charity. Still, as it would be a matter of convenience 
 to have an advance of his tuition fees till they should find 
 it convenient to refund the amount, they accepted it. They 
 found occasion for all their funds in subduing a new farm, 
 and hoped that when that crisis was passed, they would 
 be easier in their circumstances. The ensuing October was 
 fixed upon for Charles to leave, the interval being devoted 
 to preparation. His own thoughts now took a more serious 
 turn, and he began to have earnest views of life. He felt 
 for himself, a creature of impulse as he was, and liable above 
 most to temptation ; he felt for his mother ; and they both 
 felt for his father, as none but the friends of an unfortunate 
 victim of intemperance know how to feel. 
 
 Days and weeks together, befpre Charles was old enough to 
 realize their condition, Mrs. Douglass had spent in constant 
 apprehension for her own life and that of her children. The 
 effect of alcohol upon her husband was not stupor and imbe- 
 cility, but madness of the most terrific kind, accompanied by un- 
 wonted muscular power. It was only after he was exhausted by 
 over-exertion that he became weak and unconscious. Hence, 
 the question of his returning to his cups was one of life or 
 death to the whole household. Even his years of abstinence 
 were years of constant apprehension. If he was delayed 
 beyond the expected time, or was out late at night, Mrs. 
 Douglass, and Charles, when he was old enough to realize 
 the danger, would sit watching and sleepless, to secure them- 
 selves and the other children against a murderous assault, in 
 case of his returning intoxicated. The torments of such a 
 family God only knows. 0, could the dealer in intoxicating
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 83 
 
 drinks realize what they suffer, his gains would burn on his 
 conscience like the fire of the pit ! Their security for the 
 few previous years was owing to Mr. Douglass' remove from 
 the poison. He was not a man to go far out of his way to get 
 it, especially after his attack of delirium tremens ; but when 
 it fell in his way he invariably lost the command of himself. 
 
 The fact that a groggery was now building in town, and soon 
 to be opened, filled them with alarm. Charles remonstrated 
 against leaving home at a time of such peril ; but his mother 
 insisted that it was the only time to complete his education, 
 and that the family would be quite as safe without as with him. 
 Their farm-laborers would have to* be called in on an emer- 
 gency, as neither Charles nor any of the family could control 
 the paroxysms of violence to which Mr. Douglass was subject 
 when he was intoxicated. It would simply cost them the 
 sacrifice of Charles' society, to which they must, in any event, 
 sooner or later submit. These considerations produced on all 
 sides a general acquiescence in the immediate separation. 
 Still, Charles' sensibility on the occasion was intense. His 
 was a nature to feel keenly what it felt at all. But it proved 
 a mental disturbance, like the evening shades distilling 1 dew, 
 to overspread his character with a genial influence. It led 
 him to prayer, in his own behalf and that of his family. It 
 made him watchful of himself, tender to his parents, brothers 
 and sisters, and altogether earnest to fulfil the hopes which 
 centred in him. 
 
 He was much in the society of Mr. Littlefield, and received 
 from that good man instruction which he deemed of the utmost 
 value to his subsequent career. "I began now to think of 
 God in good earnest," he says, in a paper now before us ; "I 
 never conceived Him so near before. My thoughts of Him 
 increased with the intensity of my emotions, ending in self-
 
 84 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 condemnation at the contrast of my character to His. I could 
 find no peace till I had a sense of pardoning mercy and aton- 
 ing love. I owed much to that good man, Mr. Littlefield. 
 He taught me the freeness and fulness of divine mercy, in a 
 way to make me take hold on them. He showed me how 
 unspeakabjy willing God is to pardon sinners on a simple act 
 of faith in Christ ; how unnecessary it is to torture one's self 
 with a sense of guilt, as if that would make amends or give 
 to God a ransom ; and, by the clearness of the views which 
 he presented of the finished redemption which already exists 
 for us in Christ, I was filled with all joy and peace in believ- 
 ing. Argument upon argument, in confirmation of God's 
 love to me, now flowed in upon my mind, like a sweet stream 
 of heavenly light, from every page of divine revelation, from 
 all the objects of nature, from the whole course of Providence, 
 filling me with the sweetness of a delightful surprise. I wept 
 for joy. I now had repose of mind in reference to father, 
 mother, brothers, sisters, and all my interests ; assured that, 
 in the final consummation of things, He would bestow upon 
 us all a portion with which we should see infinite reasons to 
 be satisfied. I saw, I felt, that God's policy is to rear the 
 best characters by the severest trials, and to punish the worst 
 by the very greatness of their prosperity : ' The prosperity of 
 fools destroys them.' ' ; 
 
 October at length came, and Charles launched his bark 
 upon the open sea of life. Tears were shed on all sides, but 
 they were tears radiant with hope. The mother committed her 
 son to the voyage of life with vows and prayers which were 
 the guarantee of his safety. The father poured forth his 
 stricken heart into the bosom of his son, and gave him a 
 blessing, with the gloomy foreboding that it might never 
 return upon his own head. Alas! the feelings of such a
 
 MOKE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 85 
 
 father, who can imagine? The children felt the gloom of 
 this first breach in their circle, and mingled their desires 
 with those of father and mother, that dear Charles might be 
 prosperous and happy. Even Watch seemed to whine with a 
 melancholy sympathy on the occasion, and retired to his 
 kennel in sullen despondency. The laborers on the farm felt 
 that the animating soul of their circle was gone. And", as 
 Charles himself whirred through the yielding air, amid the 
 clatter and rough breathing of the flying locomotive, sur- 
 rounded by living masses with whom he had no sympathy, 
 he found his only consolation in looking up, and committing 
 his ways to that beneficent Power who has an eye to pity 
 and a hand to save. 
 
 Three months after Charles left were the Christmas holi- 
 days, when the Mapleton groggery was dedicated to Bacchus ; 
 when all the town, not too young, nor too old, nor too pious, 
 nor too stringent in their temperance views, participated in 
 the maddening ceremony, and the drinking became deep and 
 universal. Old as he was, .lollops was present, with his two 
 sons, all three of whom were early laid away dead drunk ; and 
 the number disposed of in like manner went on increasing till 
 the break of day. The pride of character and respect for the 
 presence of ladies which, in more refined communities, hold 
 gentlemen under restraint, had little influence among the rude 
 and uncouth Mapletonians. The young men became intensely 
 heated and furiously pugnacious from strong drink, insomuch 
 that at twelve of the night a rivalship for position among the 
 ladies involved them in a regular set-to, from which they 
 barely escaped with life. A more horrible spectacle of dis- 
 figured features and bruised limbs, covered with gory clots 
 of blood, can hardly be conceived. 
 
 Thomas Bludgeon, the town bully, took the lead in this
 
 86 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 row. He was a short man, with iron sinews, a compact 
 frame, and a fearless spirit, whose strength exceeded that of 
 all his compeers, to whom blows and bruises were mere 
 matters of sport, and whose granite fist could lay the strongest 
 man low at a single stroke. Thomas swept the field of all 
 opponents, and returned to the ladies covered with glory. 
 They too, excited with wine and toddy, clapped him tumultu- 
 ously ; and the dance was renewed with furor, and continued 
 till the gray dawn dimmed their lamps and closed their orgies. 
 The next day the publican found two hundred dollars' worth 
 of his wares broken and strewn in fragments about his house. 
 He brought in. a bill for the same against the managers, who 
 refused payment, under plea of not being the parties to 
 occasion the damage. A law-suit followed, which was pro- 
 tracted through many months at an enormous expense, draw- 
 ing all the interests of the town in its wake, and producing 
 incurable feuds between those who had before lived in 
 Harmony. This was but the beginning of sorrows. The ties 
 of virtue were snapped where they were deemed soundest, and 
 men turned out drunkards who were least of all suspected. 
 The groggery swarmed with sots. Such a winter Mapleton 
 had never seen. The Sunday-school was abandoned of all 
 except a few families, 
 
 " Who faithful proved among the faithless." 
 
 Mrs. Douglass and Mrs. Durham persisted still in their 
 work, though the tide of influence was all against them. They 
 lived in constant jeopardy of their husbands. Their nights 
 were sleepless, and their days anxious and gloomy. They 
 had the address as yet, however, to keep them out of the way 
 of temptation. Their husbands seemed themselves conscious 
 of the danger, though not a word was breathed on the sub-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 87 
 
 ject. It was too delicate a subject for their conjugal com- 
 munings. The good Mr. Littlefield, encouraged by Mr. 
 Holliston, continued to lift up his warning voice to the few 
 that came to hear ; but it made no present impression on the 
 morals of the town. Bacchus was the sole divinity of the 
 masses ; riot, obscenity and drunkenness, were his litany and 
 his rubric. 
 
 An event occurred early in May which made a strong 
 impression. Old Mr. Jollops had been into the neighborhood 
 of the Gore Inn on a matter of business, where he lingered 
 through the day in a state of partial intoxication. About 
 ten at night he started for home, a distance of four miles, but 
 did not reach his destination. His sons went early next 
 morning in search of him, and found him about a quarter of 
 a mile from his own house, lying on the ground, with his neck 
 broken, by a fall from his wagon, in a state of intoxication. 
 This gave a momentary check to the general dissipation, 
 especially as Mr. Littlefield had the opportunity at his funeral 
 of addressing the assembled town an earnest and affectionate 
 remonstrance against the prevailing vice. . 
 
 But the impression soon wore off. The summer was even 
 more riotous than the winter, by reason of its greater facility 
 for out-door dissipation. All the interests of the town were 
 going to decay. A large part of the harvest of that summer 
 was left to return ungathered to the ground, because the 
 people were too intemperate and indolent to attend to it. 
 And, whereas there ought to have been an advance of one 
 or two tenths in the number of acres sowed that autumn, to 
 keep pace with the increasing population, there was, on the 
 contrary, a falling off of more than one third. Farms were 
 actually going to decay in a young town where the soil was 
 in the freshness of its strength, and repaid a hundred-fold.
 
 88 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 The Sabbaths were spent in the groggery, in strells along 
 the lake-shore, fishing, hunting, wrestling, fighting, pitching 
 quoits, and in other amusements still more debasing to 
 society. The teachers of common schools, finding few scholars 
 and little pay, were compelled to leave their occupation, 
 while the children ran wild in the streets and woods. The 
 poor-rate of the town, which had hitherto been merely 
 nominal, now ran up to the highest mark for towns of its 
 size, and families had to be provided for which had enjoyed 
 comfort and thrift. 
 
 An event occurred, on one of these riotous Sabbaths, in 
 which the devil outwitted himself, and, by urging an emissary 
 too far, converted him into a powerful assailant of his own 
 cause. This was Thomas Bludgeon. The riotous company 
 had amused themselves that morning by taking a deer which 
 the hounds had driven into the lake ; after which they had 
 strolled along the shore till they reached a grove which 
 crowned a high bank, its lofty tops rising more than a hun- 
 dred feet above the level of the water. Here fathers and 
 sons, mothers and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and 
 enemies, were congregated under the shade of the thick trees, 
 with a fresh supply from the groggery passing round in a 
 jug, to whet up their faculties, and prepare them for deeds of 
 folly and madness. Under the seductive excitement, Thomas 
 crept along on the trunk of a tree which jutted over the 
 abyss, till he reached the top, where, flapping his arms as a 
 cock his wings, he crowed cheerily to the company below. 
 This called the attention of his mother to his fearful position, 
 when, frantic with fear and rage, and not a little excited by 
 draughts from the jug, she commanded him, in furious 
 accents, to come down ; but the saucy fellow only derided 
 her authority.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 89 
 
 "I tell you there, Tom, come down from that tree, or 
 you '11 be killed! " again repeated Mrs. Bludgeon, in a louder 
 and more imperious tone. 
 
 "An't I old enough to do as I please, for all you, 
 mother?" hallooed Thomas, in an insulting manner. 
 
 "Tom, come down, or I '11 beat your brains out! " said 
 Mrs. Bludgeon, in a still more violent tone, and with a move- 
 ment of her athletic person, as if she felt herself competent 
 to deal with her son as she had done in his boyhood. 
 
 "You '11 find that a hard task, mother, I guess," replied 
 Thomas, still climbing higher. The poor woman now 
 screamed with rage and vexation, feeling the intense bitter- 
 ness of those who fail to govern their families in childhood, 
 or command their respect in riper years. Some of the more - 
 sober present besought Thomas to consider his mother's feel- 
 ings, and come down from his perilous situation. But it was 
 now too late to withstand his excited ambition, which could 
 scarcely have been greater had he been committed to a deed 
 that should spread his fame as far as morning diffuses its 
 light. Not satisfied with adhering to the trunk of the tree, 
 he now crept along on one of its branches, hanging in mid- 
 air, full a hundred feet above the yawning deep. This move- 
 ment rendered his mother frantic, and a scene ensued of a 
 comico-tragical kind, to make one laugh behind his tears. 
 Cursing and condolence were alternately blended in the same 
 breath, as the disobedience or death of her son alternately 
 preponderated in her view. 
 
 "You devil, you- torment, you fool-hardy villain, 
 Tom," said she, " die, and done with it! " Then a protracted 
 whine ensued, ending in the pathetic exclamation, "0, Tommy, 
 my dear Tommy ! how can I see you die so ? 0, Tommy ! 
 my son, my son ! " In a twinkling her anger would get the 
 8*
 
 90 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 better of her tenderness, and she would rage more furiously 
 than ever. " Come down there, Tom, or I '11 beat you as 
 long as I can see ! * * * 0, Tommy, my love, my 
 darling! dead dead dead ! 0!" when 
 she sunk down, alike insensible to anger, at the folly of her 
 child, and to lamentation over his lifeless form. 
 
 In regaining the trunk of the tree, Thomas came to a 
 sense of his awful situation, and was relaxed with fear. It 
 was soon seen that he must fall, and a few men ran round 
 with a boat in all haste, to do what they could to save him, in 
 case he emerged alive from the water. Fortunately, after 
 hanging to the limb as long as he could, he dropped feet 
 foremost ; so that when he emerged he felt no other injury 
 than a sense of suffocation. This fall left an impression on 
 the mind of Thomas Bludgeon of the evils of intemperance, 
 and of the pernicious traffic in ardent spirits, which made 
 him ever after a perfect thunderbolt in the cause of reform. 
 He mounted the stump, first in every neighborhood of his 
 own town, and then all abroad, attracting around him count- 
 less multitudes, whom he kept in peals of laughter by his 
 wit, or drenched in tears by his pathos, or burning with 
 indignation, even to mob violence, by his terrible assaults upon 
 classes and characters. 
 
 " How dare you speak so?" called out a friend of temper- 
 ance, under one of his scalding harangues. 
 
 He paused, and glanced his burning eye over the vast audi- 
 tory, exclaiming, " Speak so? speak so? how dare I speak so? 
 What dare I not do against a monster which is devouring us 
 by scores and by thousands ? If I were to uncap the pit, I 
 could not find in it a more detestable fiend than this factor in 
 rum. No, no," he added, with tears streaming down his face,
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 91 
 
 "our sons and daughters, and fathers and mothers, and magis- 
 trates and people, all, all alike suffer from the fell destroyer ! " 
 Upon this he stated an array of facts, familiar to his 
 audience, so dreadful and astounding that they no longer 
 wondered that he should dare to speak as he did. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ALCOHOL AND RELIGION. 
 
 " After three glasses of wine, I am no longer master of ^y actions. 
 Without being at the moment conscious of the change, I begin to see, and 
 feel, and hear, and reason differently. The minor transitions between good 
 and evil are forgotten ; the lava boils in my bosom. Three more, and I am 
 a madman." Harper's Magazine. 
 
 THE Mapleton groggery was, like honey to hees and flies, 
 the point of attraction to all kinds of contradictory characters. 
 Among others, the Gilfort family, to which Samuel, Skamp- 
 ton's factor, belonged, came to town, attracted hy their son's 
 prospects, and by the flattering account which he gave of it as 
 a field for money-digging. They had spent their lives in border 
 settlements, gradually receding as population advanced ; and, 
 so far back that "the memory of man runneth not to the 
 contrary," they had been affected by this most singular mania 
 to- be always digging for buried coin, or buried something, 
 which the previous races of men were supposed to have 
 deposited in caves now overgrown by wilderness trees. 
 Though they got nothing but poverty and disappointment for 
 their labor, yet this did not at all abate their superstitious
 
 92 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 zeal, inasmuch as they were never long enough free from the 
 disguising and bewitching influence of alcohol to admit of 
 their returning to the practical good sense of obtaining an 
 honest livelihood. It has been said by a late writer that 
 " it has ever been the mania of mankind to ascribe the actions 
 of their fellow-creatures to all motives but the true ; but if 
 they saw clearly, and spoke honestly, they would admit that 
 more heroes had been made by the bottle than the sword." 
 And the wildest freaks of fanaticism often owe their inspira- 
 tion to the same frantic divinity. 
 
 The effect of drinking on some constitutions is to make 
 them superstitious. They never manifest religious sensibility, 
 except when they are intoxicated. Then they are tender, 
 sympathetic, contrite, devout, and free to introduce high 
 discourse of religion and duty. The elements of religion are 
 in our nature, and whatever excites us at all is quite as apt 
 to show its effects here as at any other point. The volup- 
 tuous habits of Mahomet made him a visionary, and gave 
 birth to his sensual heaven. Joe Smith was indebted to the 
 bottle for his early inspirations. Byron's highest flights were 
 with an alcoholic Pegasus. No marvel, then, that an offshoot 
 of such a family as that of the Gilforts should give birth to 
 a new form of spiritual disease, adapted to propagate itself 
 among constitutions fitted to take the infection. Samuel 
 Gilfort had drawn in alcohol with his mother's milk. His 
 first ideas were shaped by money-digging, and his earliest 
 efforts were with the mineral rod, which, in his hands, was 
 supposed to work towards the buried ingots with great activity 
 and precision. He lived from childhood in a region of mys- 
 terious fancies. His dreams seemed to him an index of 
 destiny. If he lifted a stone, a spirit started from under it. 
 If he held a golden leaf from the autumnal forest, it was
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 93 
 
 written with enigmatical characters. If he heard the rum- 
 bling of distant thunder, or saw the fiery edge of lightning 
 cleave the sky, if the murmur of dashing surf, or the hum 
 of distant insects, jostled his nerves, they were angels or 
 devils imparting to him the secrets of a higher world. His 
 education and his habits, and, most of all, his constant pota- 
 tions, which had the singular effect of inflaming his absurd 
 spiritualism, had wrought in him so that he now came to feel 
 that he was not born for mere money-digging, from which he 
 was shrewd enough to perceive his family had gained nothing, 
 but to act in the higher character of seer, prophet, or in 
 some other capacity not yet distinctly defined to his view. 
 He was full of the mesmerism of alcohol and of divination, 
 and he was a " medium " in fact, though not yet in form. 
 
 Gilfort was a genius in his way, and had a wonderful power 
 of fascinating those who fell under his influence He never 
 lost the command of himself through strong drink, but his 
 potations seemed to supply a necessary stimulus to the 
 shrewdest, highest exertion of his faculties. He could stand 
 more than any living man. Alcohol was to him, as we before 
 hinted, the pharmacia of the ancients ; a word which hangs, 
 in medio, between a physical and a spiritual meaning, a 
 drug for the body and an inspiration for the mind. Opium 
 and alcohol have always been celebrated for this double 
 influence. Human nature is a mysterious thing, especially 
 in its spiritual elements. It has nothing so purely divine as 
 not to blend in with the carnal and worldly ; and sometimes 
 even with craft, cunning, fraud and superstition, insomuch 
 as to make it difficult to tell where the one begins or the other 
 ends. Samuel Gilfort was never so far merged in his intense 
 fanaticism as to lose sight of the chances of bettering his 
 condition in the world. In him the burning enthusiasm of
 
 94 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 an anchorite, or the narcotic and alcoholic inspiration of a 
 De Quincey, a Burns, and a Coleridge, was Yankeeized, 
 or conjoined to the shrewd tricks of a Connecticut pedler, in 
 securing as much worldly good as possible from the exercise 
 of his extraordinary powers. 
 
 Gilfort had around him a gang of worthless fellows, whom he 
 had deluded into his own wild ideas about buried coin, the 
 mineral-rod, and his own exalted functions, known in town 
 under the general appellation of money-diggers. They 
 all lived in habitual expectation that, through their leader, 
 something would turn up to their advantage. This hope was 
 further strengthened by the shrewdness of his measures, 
 especially in his partnership with Skampton in the purchase 
 of the Falls tract, which had already brought him some 
 thousands, and promised a still richer harvest. Still, money 
 alone did not satisfy the demands of Gilfort's ambition. He 
 desired position, influence, and a great leadership. He would 
 make himself captain of something and of somebody, to 
 enjoy the sweets of power and the luxury of dominion. 
 
 In this state of mind he and his gang set off to renew the 
 search for money, or something they hardly knew what 
 which they supposed was hid in the bowels of the earth. Their 
 potations, before starting and by the way, were deep, which 
 the more inflamed superstition, and frenzied the imagination. 
 The place of digging was Forest Point, a long, narrow arm 
 of the continent, jutting into the lake, covered with thick 
 trees. The hour was midnight, solemn, gloomy, profound. 
 Gilfort and his company had dug there before, but found, to 
 their surprise, that the earth had been replaced ; which led him 
 to exclaim, " Eh ! the devils have been meddling; but we '11 
 see who beats, this time ! " This he said from the common
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 95 
 
 notion among money-diggers that to get buried coin involves 
 a battle with its guardian spirits. 
 
 " Where shall we place the lamp?" inquired one of the 
 company, all of whom seemed awe-struck and spell-bound as 
 soon as they reached the spot. 
 
 "We'll see," said Gilfort, taking the mineral-rod and 
 holding it in a semi-circular form, tightly pressed by one 
 hand near one end, and the other near the other end. Soon 
 the rod commenced twirling and crawling like a serpent, by 
 the art of the holder more than his magic, till at length it 
 became quiet, with one end pointing obliquely to a mound of 
 earth, like a grave, in the centre of the replaced dirt. 
 "There, hang your lamp directly over that mound," added 
 Gilfort. Accordingly a blue taper was suspended to an over- 
 hanging branch to afford light in digging, the odor from which 
 was strongly tinctured with brimstone, as if they had to do 
 with beings accustomed to that element. Now not a word 
 was spoken, and no sound was heard except that of the shovel 
 and the falling dirt, united to the surf, the cries of the 
 screech-owl, the howling of distant wolves, and some such 
 dismal notes of the midnight chorus in a boundless wilder- 
 ness. 
 
 At length the diggers struck upon something which 
 rumbled like a coffin, or some such deposit, in the bosom of 
 the earth. A shudder went through the company, the more 
 so from a superstition among them that, when a chest of 
 money is touched, all the devils set to guard it exert their 
 powerful incantations to wrest it from those who would secure 
 it, and, if they do not succeed in breaking the spell in some 
 way, the treasure will escape their hands, and will be sunk 
 still deeper in the earth. The diggers felt, therefore, that 
 the hole swarmed with watchful fiends ; cold horror curdled
 
 96 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 their blood, and Gilfort seemed in an -agony, as if grappling 
 with some power which was more than a match for him. 
 Seizing a canteen of whiskey, he quaffed a luscious draught, 
 and handed it round to his men. Still, his spirit was greatly 
 perturbed, the perspiration started from every pore, his 
 countenance was hideously distorted, and he seemed on the 
 point of going into convulsions. Whether it might not have 
 been a premonitory symptom of delirium tremens is a question. 
 Certain it is, that disease when produced by alcohol, and only 
 then, is allied, more than all other diseases, to Satanic agency. 
 The whiskey enabled him to breathe easier, and he exclaimed, 
 "Victory, victory! you 're floored, you 're floored! Offj 
 devils, off! I conjure you, by all the powers, be off! Strike, 
 boys, strike! dig, dig, dig, with all your might!" 
 
 The dirt now flew up more rapidly than ever. The men, too, 
 felt the quickening of the canteen spirit. Each stroke of 
 the shovel gave indubitable evidence of something under 
 their feet more sonorous than earth and stones. It sounded, 
 it rumbled, now from the stroke of the spade, now from 
 falling stones, and now from the feet of the men, till, at 
 length, a deep, hollow groan came up from the bowels of the 
 earth, as from an imprisoned spirit in his adamantin^dungeon. 
 The men were mad with fright, and Gilfort could restrain 
 them no longer. They all fled, and he after them : but a 
 happy thought occurred to him, and he returned, and, by dint 
 of persuasion, succeeded in bringing two or three of his most 
 courageous followers with him. They stood listening in 
 solemn stillness, with their heads bowed over the pit, when 
 they distinctly heard a voice muttering, under ground, "Be 
 off, by St. Pathrick ! be off, or I '11 be the death of you, I 
 will! Murther murther murther!" was next shrieked 
 out from stentorian lungs, but stifled and suppressed by a
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 97 
 
 sense of suffocation. Then all was hushed, and they listened. 
 The stillness was horrible. The hearts of the men smote 
 their sides with four times the usual strength. We have it 
 from one who confessed the facts. He said it seemed as if 
 his heart would leap out of his mouth. Whatever were Gil- 
 fort's previous ideas, the thought now occurred, "There's 
 flesh here, as well as spirit. It 's a godsend. Now 's my 
 time, and I must make the most of it. Who knows but we 
 may have a resurrection ? Yea, if not one thing, then an- 
 other. My men '11 be witnesses, and it ' 11 be seen whether 
 I 'm a mere adventurer." 
 
 This was no sooner thought, than the muttering, or rather 
 soliloquizing, began again. " Och, Pat, yer com'd up with, 
 at lingth, for that ye kicked the blissed life out on her, ye 
 did. Jenny, daer, don't I love ye? don't ye love me'? 
 Fait, bad luck to ye, Pat, to be dead as yet ye live ! Upon 
 me sowl, there is no brathin ; me brith laves jist as I 'd be 
 after catching it, and my chist lapes out and in, like a hoss 
 with the haves." There was a solemn stillness again, and 
 the men still listened, more dead than alive. Then followed 
 a furious exclamation, ' ' The sarpent ! the sarpent ! There, 
 he 's comin' ; he^d be after choking me ! ! ! " resound- 
 ing upon the canopy of night with suffocated violence, like a 
 man who feels a serpent entwining around his neck. They 
 seemed the yells of a disturbed ghost, to frighten the wild 
 beasts from their native haunts. 
 
 Gilfort got down upon his hands and knees, put his head into 
 the hole, and uttered a piercing cry, hoping to get a response ; 
 but in vain, the muttering being again resumed. "What 
 mother's son ever lived to see hiself dead? Och, you ugly 
 baste with a divel's head, what brings ye again? Do ye 
 think to stop me brith ? By Saint Pathrick, I '11 bate your 
 9
 
 98 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 brains out, I will ! Take that, yer divil's head ! " when a 
 powerful kick followed, upheaving the lid of the unnailed 
 box, in which a man in grave-clothes was revealed in the blue 
 light. 
 
 "By all the saints, where am I?" said the man, now 
 speaking more freely, from the admission of air. 
 
 " In hell," said Gilfort, in a guttural, unearthly tone. 
 
 " Measther, plase yer honor, who be you 1 " 
 
 "The devil," said Gilfort, in a horrible tone. 
 
 "Yer riverence, Measther Divil, where 's the praest?" 
 
 " It 's too late for the priest to help you ; you are already 
 in hell ! " 
 
 " Fait, bad luck to ye, Pat ! It 's an ill bargain ye have 
 made, to get out of purgatory. What 's a praest good for, 
 upon me sowl?" 
 
 "There 's no help for you," said Gilfort, keeping up the 
 illusion, for some cause not easily explained. 
 
 " Och, Pat, be asy," said the man, "and take a wee dhrap 
 for yer thirst. Ulaloo, yer riverence ! do you kape anything 
 to dhrink ? " 
 
 "Yes; melted brimstone and liquid fire," replied Gilfort, 
 not comprehending his meaning. 
 
 " Och, on my sowl, what mother's son can drink the like 
 of that? No gin, brandy, rum or whiskey, in all hell, to 
 hilp a man that 's not to be hilped? " 
 
 Gilfort now understood his customer ; but to the unfortu- 
 nate man the illusion was complete. He really thought, from 
 the hue and odor of the light, from his sense of suffocation, 
 from the devils that haunted him, and from the tone and 
 manner in which Gilfort addressed him, that he was in hell. 
 But, conscious still of the raging appetite of the drunkard, no 
 fear, no horror, no sense of the soul's infinite and eternal
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 99 
 
 loss, could extinguish the desire which had become the all- 
 absorbing, the all-consuming impulse of his being. Gilfort 
 saw that now was his time ; and, casting his gleaming eyes 
 upon his men, he said, in a tone of command, " Stand still, 
 and see the salvation of God. The end of our money-dig- 
 ging is gained. A man redeemed is of more value than 
 chests of gold. It is an intimation from above, that men, not 
 money, should be the object of our pursuit." He then 
 uttered a shrill sound, like the whistle of a locomotive, which 
 jarred frightfully upon the buried man's nerves, and threw 
 him into a tremor from head to foot. " In the name of God, 
 man, come forth ! " he added. At this the buried man 
 started up, threw off his grave-clothes, and, receiving a 
 draught from the canteen, he soon recovered his conscious- 
 ness, and was lifted out of his grave by Gilfort's followers. 
 
 The sequel proved that it was Tooney, who, after killing , 
 his wife, ran. away, and enlisted in the United States army. 
 He remained long enough to get his bounty-money and first 
 pay of wages, when he deserted, and strolled back towards 
 his former home, as fast as perpetual drunkenness would 
 allow. On the beach of Forest Point he was taken with a 
 fit, and \vhen found was supposed to be dead, and to have 
 been washed up by the surf, as he was drenched with water 
 and covered with spray. A few persons had collected, at an 
 early hour of the previous night, put him into a rude coffin, 
 and buried him in a hole which they found already dug to 
 their hand. It was no uncommon thing to bury bodies thus 
 washed up, without jury or coroner, in a partially organized 
 community, like that of Mapleton ; and to do it at night, as a 
 partial relief against offensive odors. In this case, it was 
 done more from habit than necessity. Whether Gilfort 
 anticipated the result is an unsettled question. He cer-
 
 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 tainly could not know that the man would revive, and it was 
 doubtless purely accidental that he should have found him. 
 Men find what they seek. If they prowl about at night in 
 pursuit of prodigies, prodigies will not be wanting. Gilfort's 
 passion in this line amounted to a disease, the fruit no doubt 
 of artificial excitement and preposterous training. 
 
 Distorted statements of this matter got abroad, and pro- 
 duced intense excitement among the Mapleton people. The 
 friends of Gilfort insisted that he had raised a man from the 
 dead, which served the more to increase the magic and mys- 
 tery which invested his name. The neighbors testified to the 
 fact of having buried a man whose personal appearance 
 answered to that of one whom they now saw at Gilfort's 
 alive. The vacated grave on Forest Point, also, bore testi- 
 mony that he was not there. The man himself affirmed that 
 he had been in hell, and had been delivered by Gilfort. The 
 money-diggers added their testimony, carefully stating only 
 so much as to invest the scene with mystery and miracle. 
 The ignorant Mapletonians, fond of the marvellous, as a gen- 
 eral thing leaned to that view of the subject. A small minor- 
 ity of the more sober and discerning accepted the facts as 
 they were, simply giving credit to the money-diggers for hav- 
 ing, by accident, released a man, who had been incautiously 
 buried alive, from the most dreadful of all situations. There 
 was a great commotion on the occasion ; and Bludgeon, whose 
 stump oratory now wielded a strong influence in town, pro- 
 cured the appointment of a committee to investigate and 
 report the facts, of which he was made chairman. The com- 
 mittee met at Gilfort's both the raised man and the whole 
 money-digging fraternity. 
 
 Bludgeon began the investigation by inquiring of the man 
 his name.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 101 
 
 " Pathrick Tooney, plase yer honor." 
 
 " "When did you come to town? " 
 
 " The dael knows, sure not meself." 
 
 " What brought you here 1 " 
 
 "The sarpents driv me. There's them now, by Saint 
 Pathrick ! Be off, ye ill bastes, or I '11 be the death of ye ! " 
 he exclaimed, kicking and striking with great violence, so 
 that it was with difficulty that the sturdy money-diggers kept 
 him from injuring himself. 
 
 "The man 's crazy," said Bludgeon, having never before 
 seen a case of delirium tremens. 
 
 "No, he's possessed," replied one of Gilfort's followers, 
 " but the power that called him from the grave can cast out 
 the devils." 
 
 "Can one rum devil cast out another rum devil? " said a 
 member of the committee, who suspected the nature of the 
 disease. 
 
 "I shall suffer no slanderous imputations in my own 
 house," said Gilfort, with a tone that roused his followers, and 
 made it unsafe for the committee to pursue its investigations. 
 
 "Truth demands the investigation, and I'll have it, if I 
 die ! " replied Bludgeon, with a movement of his iron frame 
 that made the company cower before such a battery of bodily 
 strength. " The story is abroad that you, Gilfort," he added, 
 " have raised this man from the dead, and I am determined 
 to know the truth of the matter." 
 
 "Glad to have the truth known," said Gilfort, "but I 
 must not be insulted." 
 
 " No offence intended," said the committee-man whose 
 remark had raised this flurry. 
 
 "You, then, have no recollection of coming here? But 
 where did you come from? " said Bludgeon to Tooney. 
 9*
 
 102 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 " I com'd from the barracks," said Tooney ; " and I tuk a 
 dhrap for me hilth at Clare ville [ Clear ville, a little town on 
 the eastern border of Mapleton], and those bastes began 
 laping, and walluping, and skolloping, roond me head like 
 divils; and I run, run, run, till I run " 
 
 "Well, -where?" interrupted Bludgeon. 
 
 " To hell ! " said the man, with a shudder of horror. 
 
 "He means that he run till he dropped dead on Forest 
 Point," said one of the money-diggers. 
 
 " What kind of a place is hell ? " said Bludgeon. 
 
 " An' faith, it 's beyond me spaking: so dark, so boond 
 as to me hands and fate, so crawlin' all over with snakes, 
 so tight, tight ! ! there 's no brathing." 
 
 "And how did you escape 1 " 
 
 " In fath, I thought to get a dhrap for me thirst, and to 
 find a praest to get the worth of me money ; but not the divil 
 of a bit did they hilp me, till that man, blessed sowl he is! " 
 pointing to Gilfort, " guv me relase, and withal a dhrap that 
 ased me much." 
 
 " Then whiskey raised you from the dead?" said Bludgeon, 
 with a sneer. "What agency had you in the matter, Mr. 
 Gilfort?" 
 
 " I claim simply to have had a presentiment that I must 
 dig that night on Forest Point," said Gilfort, with great 
 apparent fairness. " I obeyed, and the dead man was 
 brought to life, and, he says, delivered from hell ; which I am 
 prepared to believe, from the spectres which have haunted him 
 since." 
 
 Thus Bludgeon elicited nothing to shake the confidence of 
 the vulgar rabble in Gilfort's mysterious powers. 
 
 " There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
 Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 103 
 
 So it proved with Gilfort. His Falls tract speculation gave 
 him money, which he invested in an enormous tract of gov- 
 ernment land beyond the Mississippi. And this resurrection 
 hoax operated like magic to draw colonists around him, who 
 not only paid him a large advance on the cost of his lands, 
 but raised him to a peerless elevation as the ruler of their 
 destiny. But, whatever spiritual hold Gilfort may have 
 taken on the deluded people, it is certain that the physical 
 ones of rum and illicit love were far more powerful. Venus 
 and Bacchus were notoriously the divinities of his colony, and 
 the great charm to those of a voluptuous imagination. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE ALCOHOLIC TRAFFIC REACHES A CRISIS IN MAPLETON. 
 
 " It may be so ; but yet my inward soul 
 Persuades me it is otherwise. Howe'er it be, 
 I cannot but be sad : so heavy sad, 
 As though, in thinking, on no thought I think 
 Makes me, with a heavy nothing, faint and shrink. 
 
 SHAKSPEAEE. 
 
 IT had by this time come to be whispered in Mapleton that 
 Messrs. Douglass and Durham had nothing to boast of, over 
 their neighbors, on the score of drunkenness. " They are at 
 heart as bad as we," was the consoling unction which many a 
 tippler took to his conscience. " They need n't think to set 
 themselves above us ; we know all about them. Gumpton 
 (the innkeeper, where they were intoxicated on the way) has
 
 104 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 told us, and it 's not worth while for them to play the hypo- 
 crite. Mr. Skampton, too, says he has seen them both drunk ; 
 and they'll be drunk again, without a doubt. Their families 
 need n't set themselves up in this way." 
 
 The pains which Gumpton and Skampton had taken to 
 propagate this scandal looked two ways ; first, to destroy the 
 effect of remonstrances from those families against the liquor- 
 traffic, and, second, to reveal the danger that lurked within 
 their own doors. Every measure was taken by interested 
 persons to involve Douglass and Durham in the common dis- 
 sipation. They were invited on all convivial occasions, were 
 offered a treat at every trifling pretext, and were exposed to 
 all those arts by which drinkers know so well how to decoy 
 those whose appetites are like their own. But, as yet, their 
 efforts availed nothing. Temperance yet overspread these 
 families with a peace and prosperity which made them a green 
 oasis amid the general desolation. 
 
 Still, the fears which reigned within their doors none knew 
 but themselves and their God. Mrs. Durham was in that 
 condition to make a wife feel more than ever dependent on her 
 husband, and was rapidly approaching her crisis of pain and 
 agony. The winter had been unusually cold, thus far, and 
 the snow, in Mapleton, had fallen deeper than ever before. 
 Mr. Durham attempted little business, beyond the care of his 
 stock, and the provision of fuel, to cope with the rigor of the 
 season. The most of his time he spent within doors, to cheer 
 his wife's despondency by reading and enlivening conversation. 
 Their little Amelia said, one morning, at the breakfast-table, 
 
 " Mamma, I had a queer dream last night." 
 
 " What was your dream, my love?" inquired her mother. 
 
 " I thought the snow fell and fell, till it got as high as the 
 top of the trees, and that our house was covered with it so deep
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 105 
 
 that we could get no wood. I thought the fire all went out, 
 and then the sun went out too, and did not shine any more; 
 and it was so cold, cold, 0, how cold ! I thought I put 
 my hand on you, and you was cold as ice ; and then on dear 
 Charley, and he was cold as ice ; and then on Sis, and she 
 was cold ; and I felt myself getting to be ice, too, and shiv- 
 ered all over, dreadfully. Then I thought papa came home ; 
 and he was changed into ice, and we were all ice together." 
 
 " My sweet Milly," said her mother, "you got the clothes 
 off, no doubt, and slept cold; that made you dream so." 
 
 " No, mamma; when I waked up, I was just as warm as 
 I am now." 
 
 " Milly has seen so much snow this winter, no wonder she 
 dreams so," said her father. "I think it's a sign we are 
 going to have warm weather ; for dreams go by contraries, 
 you know." 
 
 " I guess mamma don't think so," said little Lydia, look- 
 ing up, with a cunning and embarrassed look, out of her glis- 
 tening eyes, as if she were saying something she ought not. 
 
 "Why not, you black-eyed pet?" said her father, gayly. 
 
 "Because she weeps; I saw her weep to to-morrow." 
 added the child, hesitating whether to use that word or 
 "yesterday." 
 
 u No; yesterday, you mean, dearest," said her father. 
 
 "Yes, she weeps sometimes," replied Lydia. 
 
 "My dear wife," said Mr. Durham, with genuine tender- 
 ness, "I have mistrusted what this little witness testifies of 
 you. I am afraid you have some grief at heart which you 
 do not tell me of." 
 
 "No, Charles, none, except that, in my present condition, 
 I cannot bear to have you a minute out of my sight. We 
 are so far from neighbors, and I am now so helpless, that, if
 
 106 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 you are gone an hour, I tremble all over, like an aspen-leaf. 
 I am all the time thinking that something may happen to 
 you when I could neither relieve you nor help myself, nor do 
 anything for our dear little ones, so perfectly powerless do I 
 feel myself to be. These are foolish feelings, I know ; *but I 
 cannot help them. They will come up, in spite of me ; and 
 I suppose they may have caused me to shed the tears which 
 dear little Sis has brought into court against me." 
 
 " That reminds me to say what I have had in my mind 
 some days that I think we had better get Ma'am Tobey to 
 stay with you till after your confinement. She is said to be 
 an excellent nurse, and, withal, a very agreeable companion. 
 This will relieve your feelings, my dear Amelia, during the 
 few hours of the day I am compelled to be out of the house." 
 
 "You are very kind, my husband," replied Mrs. Durham, 
 with tears of gratitude glistening in her eyes. "Perhaps it 
 would be advisable. We cannot tell what may happen to 
 one in my circumstances ; and I cannot overcome my fear of 
 being left alone with the children." 
 
 " Well, I will attend to a few things about the farm this 
 morning, and then will go, with the sleigh, and bring Ma'am 
 Tobey. I know she will take it as a favor to come, in her 
 present dependent situation. Her husband and sons, having 
 sunk together into the slough of our town drunkery, are gone 
 all the time ; and I am told that she, poor thing, has neither 
 food to eat nor fuel to keep her warm." 
 
 Accordingly, Mr. Durham left immediately after dinner, 
 kissing his wife and children tenderly, and assuring them that 
 he would be back before dark, and they need not fear. Still, 
 Mrs. Durham felt a timidity she could not overcome. A 
 heavy cloud hung upon her spirits, for which she could not 
 account. She betook herself to prayer, in which she found
 
 MORE WOKK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 107 
 
 strong consolation from the hope of a better world, where 
 maternal solicitude would visit her no more, where the storms 
 of winter, then howling fearfully around her dwelling, would 
 no more overcast her serene sky, and where anxiety for hei 
 husband's safety, in person or morals, would not hold her in 
 suspense and torture, but where all would be security, peace 
 and joy, transporting and immortal. Her hopes and aspira- 
 tions acquired a mysterious unearthliness, as if nothing more 
 awaited her in this region of death, but only in the bright 
 reversion of angelic life and immortal day. 
 
 To amuse herself, she gathered her little ones around her, 
 and spent several hours in teaching them to read, in talking 
 to them of heaven, of the happy circles there, where father, 
 mother and children, all meet, and mingle in sweet discourse, 
 to sin no more, to suffer no more, to part no more. Her 
 words were words of inspiration to the dear little group, and 
 they sat listening in rapt meditation, with clasped hands and 
 uplifted and adoring eyes. Night drew on, and the storm 
 raged more and more fearfully. The snow, which began to 
 fall soon after her husband left, had added one or two feet 
 to the underlying accumulation of previous storms, so as to 
 create the most serious apprehension as to whether he could 
 make his way through the drifts. She summoned all her 
 firmness, and all her stock of courage, for the sake of her" 
 children. It would have gratified her to see them remain 
 awake, as a relief to her loneliness ; but, at their appointed 
 hour, they were sinking into the sweet, profound forgetfulness 
 of childhood's sleep ; and she put them into their beds, after 
 hearing them say their prayers. 
 
 What next? She strained her eyes at the window, to 
 penetrate the gathering storm and darkness, if possible to 
 catch a glimpse one hope-inspiring glimpse of his loved
 
 108 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 and adored form ; but all, all in vain. No husband came. 
 She listened to hear the familiar tones of his voice, in speak- 
 ing to his horses ; but no sound greeted her, except those of 
 the raging tempest and creaking forests, with the occasional 
 crash of a frost-bound tree or limb, in sinking into the under- 
 lying snow. She bethought herself of Charles Douglass' 
 last letter, which she had not answered ; took it from her 
 portfolio, and began reading and writing, to divert her thoughts 
 from the horrible ideas which had caken possession of her 
 mind. Young Douglass had been her constant correspondent 
 from the time of his leaving for college ; and his last letter 
 contained facts in which she had the liveliest interest, and 
 which, for the moment, had the effect of diverting her mind. 
 It seems that, when he had nearly completed his senior 
 year, the college was visited by the Honorable Michael 
 Skampton, as this gentleman was called in those parts ; or, 
 rather, he passed more frequently as the patron, or patroon, 
 or, as his enemies would have it, the patron saint, quali- 
 fying terms, except the last, more gratifying to his pride than 
 his civil distinctions, because they touched the point of his 
 character where lay his ruling passion. He lived, and earned, 
 and ground the face of the poor, and trampled on the laws of 
 humanity, and preyed like a vulture on the vices of society, 
 to get the means of buying, on a large scale, reputation and 
 influence as a benefactor. The whole college was called 
 together in the chapel, in anticipation of his arrival ; and, 
 when he entered, escorted by the faculty, the assembled 
 students and functionaries rose to do him honor. He was 
 shown the seat usually occupied by the president, the latter 
 gentleman taking a subordinate place to the greatest patron 
 Diddington College had ever enjoyed. Charles, having 
 learned, by this time, the wreck to which he had reduced his
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 109 
 
 own beautiful Mapleton, by means of his detestable groggery, 
 would not rise with the rest, which exposed him to the repri- 
 mand of the faculty, and to the indignation of this modern 
 Haman. 
 
 Young Douglass had signalized himself more than any 
 of the students in the cause of temperance. He had 
 induced a large number of them to sign the pledge. Ho had 
 delivered many temperance lectures in Diddington, and had 
 spent his vacations in lecturing wherever there was an open 
 door. He had had such a fearful home experience of the 
 evils of drinking, that he committed his energies to this cause, 
 and determined to prosecute it by all the means in his power. 
 He made it a point of conscience, however, never to infringe 
 upon college laws or study hours, in doing it. The faculty 
 had no charge of neglect or insubordination to allege against 
 him. True, he had made himself obnoxious to the wine- 
 bibbing students, and particularly to his old friend and school- 
 fellow, Harry Howard, whose habits were very dissipated. 
 Harry's parents were wealthy, and furnished him all the 
 money he desired to expend, which was not a little. Money, 
 not study, preserved his standing in his class. His nights 
 were spent in revelling, in spite of college law or discipline ; 
 his lessons were neglected, and he was the ringleader in mis- 
 chief. Charles felt all the tenderness for Harry of his 
 childhood's recollections, and, for a time, associated with him 
 on terms of too much familiarity. This brought him 
 acquainted with many of Harry's tricks, which, when ques- 
 tioned by the faculty on the subject, he found he must con- 
 ceal by lies or confess with honesty. In an alternative like 
 this, he had but one course before him, and that was to speak 
 the truth. This brought upon him the malignity of young 
 Howard, and of the* rowdies under his influence, who let no 
 10
 
 110 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 opportunity slip of treating him with abuse and slander. 
 Their stories ta the faculty had little effect, because the 
 motive of them was too well understood. 
 
 But Skampton, who was president of the board of trustees, 
 and more powerful than the faculty, drank in their stories 
 with avidity. He collected the names of the students who 
 were known to be associated with Charles in the temperance 
 cause, all of whom, as it appeared, were also on the same 
 foundation to which he had been admitted, and gave them a 
 formal reprimand for their course, and particularly for slander- 
 ing Master Howard. There were twelve of the students 
 whose names Skampton had on a bit of paper before him, 
 that of Douglass being at the head of the list. Reading over 
 these, names, he said, " Youpg gentlemen, I call you together 
 to let you know that you are dependent on my bounty for a 
 place in this college ; and, if you do not cease from these tem- 
 perance lectures and agitations, I '11 drop you at once, and 
 leave you to shirk for yourselves." 
 
 The blood flushed in Charles' face, and with ill-suppressed 
 indignation he exclaimed, " It is new to me, sir, that I have 
 received a cent of your money. But it shall not be so another 
 day ; I will refund it. I will not receive the bounty of a man 
 who has lived by demoralizing society, and whose very money 
 is the price of blood ! " 
 
 "What do you say, sir?" said Skampton, boiling over 
 with rage. 
 
 (< I say I will not have your money. I know too well how 
 you get it. I am familiar with the tears, poverty and mur- 
 der, which it has occasioned in my own town, and among my 
 own friends." 
 
 "You are a dirty little dog!" said Skampton, trembling 
 with excitement. " You shall be expelled this college before
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. Ill 
 
 the sun goes down, and I '11 prosecute your father for 
 slander!" 
 
 " Not my father, sir," said Charles; "I am of age, and 
 can answer for myself." 
 
 With this Skampton flew out of the house, and left the 
 assembled group to their own way. Charles called on a 
 temperance friend in town, stated the facts of the case, 
 and asked a loan of money to pay up all he had drawn on the 
 Skampton foundation, interest and principal. This was freely 
 granted him ; and that night, when the officer came to take 
 him on a charge of slander, he was able to stand up with the 
 proud consciousness of owing nothing to a fund collected by 
 means so detestable, so abhorrent to humanity. The suit fell 
 to the ground by a nolle prosequi, Marldon advising his 
 client that the facts following the opening of his Mapleton 
 tavern, which would be magnified to justify what defendant 
 had said against him, rendered such a suit hopeless before 
 any jury to be empanelled in these temperance times. But 
 in the matter of the expulsion Skampton was more successful, 
 because, much as the faculty and trustees regretted it, they 
 felt the leanness of their treasury, and were willing to burn 
 incense to the indignation of a man on whom they were so 
 dependent. For this act, however, Charles did not care a 
 copper, so far as he was concerned. He felt the strength of 
 his own position as a student. He knew he was far in 
 advance of what his class would be when their senior year had 
 expired. Besides, he could study as well out of the walls of 
 a college as in, and much more to his own satisfaction. The 
 loss of a degree he did not value a straw, as the country was 
 filled with graduated dunces ; and he gloried in a non-gradu- 
 ating preeminence. There may have been some human feeling 
 in all this ; but then it was natural, under the circumstances,
 
 112 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 to a young man in the warm blood of his first month's majority, 
 and exposed to such indignities and provocations. Corpora- 
 tions that suffer themselves to he controlled by mercenary 
 considerations and designing men must expect to have the 
 wares in which they deal depreciated in the market, and a 
 loathing to noble minds. So capricious are their doings, in 
 ,many cases, that it may be said of them, as the lawyer said 
 of the decisions of a petit jury, that, though he believed that 
 God fore-knew whatever comes to pass, he < thought such 
 decisions must be excepted from the remark, for they were 
 too uncertain to be fore-known. 
 
 The letter which poor Mrs. Durham was amusing herself 
 with detailed, these facts. She read it over and over again, 
 listening to the storm as she read, trembling with fear, and 
 tormented with apprehensions, which none can realize who 
 have not been in her condition ; not the least of which was, 
 that her husband might have fallen into this very grog- 
 gery which had been a cause of so much trouble to young 
 Douglass. She at length took her pen and wrote her full 
 approval of Charles' conduct in the matter, and then pro- 
 ceeded to detail the more recent doings of the alcoholic traffic 
 in Mapleton. She stated the sufferings of poor Ma'am Tobey, 
 and that her husband had then gone to bring her to their 
 house. She informed him that the worthy and venerable Mr. 
 Robson, after inveighing against the groggery with all his 
 might, had been drawn in, and added to the number of its 
 victims. He had been an early prey to intemperate habits, 
 from which he refrained for some years, but was now taken 
 the more easily by the destroyer. His age and infirmities 
 could not withstand this late return to the vice, delirium 
 tremens soon ensued, and he had died in the most dreadful 
 torments. ." He begged his friends to kill him at a blow, for
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 113 
 
 the devils that tormented him were more unendurable than 
 hell itself. Charles, Charles ! what are we to say to these 
 things 1 How happens it that this alone, of all our diseases, 
 produces such a sense of being tormented by devils ? Is it 
 real, or is it altogether imaginary ? Do tell me, in your next, 
 AY hat you think." 
 
 Then her pen seemed to float at random, as if to divert her 
 own corroding thoughts, more than from any intention of 
 transmitting the un copied document. " Charles, Charles ! 
 what are we to do? Dear me! dear me, husband ! why don't 
 you come, come to your agonized Amelia! The storm 
 howls, howls! 0, God! when will he come? The clock 
 strikes eleven. Eleven ! 0, ! eleven of this dismal night ! 
 and I, I and my little ones away in this howling wilderness ! 
 alone, so many miles from all help and all relief! I can't be 
 quiet ! No ! no ! no ! I scream, I can 't help screaming ! 0, 
 my husband ! where are you, dearest, that you come not to 
 the help of your terrified wife, who loves, who adores you ? 
 My God, take care of him, take care of me, take care of 
 my little ones ! Do ! do ! do ! yes, to heaven take us all ! 
 all, if one must go ! 0, ! there, I 'm screaming again ! 
 I can 't help it ! 0, 0, ! mad, mad, mad ! I must 
 to bed." These broken sentences were almost illegible from 
 the tears with which they were bedewed, #nd doubtless fol- 
 lowed by convulsions. 
 
 The explanation of thia sad delay was as terrific to Mr. 
 Douglass as to poor Durham. It seems that these two 
 gentlemen had unfortunately met nearly opposite that hell of 
 the town, the groggery. It was cold, and snowing fiercely. 
 They sat a short time talking from each other's sleighs, when 
 that emissary of the devil, the landlord, came running out, with 
 his face covered with seductive smiles and hia tongue dropping 
 10*
 
 114 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 sweet words like honey-dew, and saying to Mr. Douglass that 
 he had been striving many days to see him, upon a pressing 
 matter of business, and if that gentleman and Mr. Durham 
 would come in and' warm themselves a single moment, he 
 would see their horses well cared for, and it would be much 
 to their own comfort. " With his much fair speech he caused 
 them to yield ; with the flattery of his lips he forced them ; 
 and they went straightway as an ox to the slaughter, or as a 
 fool to the correction of the stocks ; till a dart struck through 
 their liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knew not 
 that it was for their life." The winds swept over the plain, 
 the lake roared in the distance, with waves as sluggish from 
 anchor ice as a boiling caldron of quicksilver, and the whole 
 scene of wintry cold and desolation without conspired to give 
 point and power to the serpent's charm within, and to the 
 deadly coil in which he was enfolding their hearts. 
 
 Their horses all sweating with fatigue in wallowing through 
 the snow, they finally reined up under the shed, and followed 
 their tempter into his hell. Durham hesitated, and hesitated ; 
 said his wife was alone, and peculiarly needed his presence; 
 but still he followed. The landlord offered them something 
 to drink, and expatiated on the necessity of it on so cold a day, 
 and after so much exposure. They at first declined, seeming 
 to feel their danger, and to be conscious that they stood on the 
 brink of a precipice. But, after warming themselves a while, 
 and being further plied with fair words by their host, Doug- 
 lass said he was all in a tremor and chilled to his very vitals ; 
 he believed a mug of hot gingered cider would do him good, 
 and he ordered it. He poured a glass for his friend, and also 
 for himself, and they drank it together. 
 
 But no sooner had the poison entered their veins than they 
 lost sight of every motive to sobriety, and alcoholic fancies
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 115 
 
 swarmed around them, like devils in the plumage of paradise. 
 Glass after glass of brandy was called in ; Durham began to 
 sing, and Douglass to fight ; and the inn was a hell indeed, 
 and they its devils. Douglass staid till twelve of the night, 
 when his two sons, George and Samuel, with a posse of men 
 from the farm, came to hunt for him, suspecting the fact, 
 and, by main force, drew a strait-jacket over him, and took 
 him home, howling to the wintry winds like a fiend from the 
 realm of darkness. That incarnation of evil, the publican, 
 finding Durham peaceable, and, withal, flush of money, hus- 
 tled him into another room when the young Douglasses came, 
 so that they left without the knowledge of his presence. Nor 
 did their father, in the long-continued series of drunken fits 
 which ensued, mention the fact. The consequence was, that 
 Durham laid two weeks drunk in the groggery. At the expi- 
 ration of this time, he fell into a profound sleep, from which he 
 did not awake for twelve hours ; and, when he did finally awake, 
 the insanity of intoxication had passed, and the first thought 
 he had was of his wife and children. He had no idea of the 
 time of his separation, more than if he had laid all these days 
 in a fit. He sprang convulsively to his feet, and hastened to 
 the shed ; but found his horses so nearly starved by the ava- 
 ricious landlord that he could not trust to tljir taking him 
 home through the snow. His next thought was to run to 
 Mr. Holliston's, which he did, and acquainted him with the 
 state of his affairs, trusting he might prove a comfort to his 
 wife, both as physician and minister. Mr. Holliston got up 
 his own horses, and took poor Durham to his family with all 
 despatch, being also ignorant of the length of time that he 
 had been absent from them. They passed Ma'am Tobey's, 
 but found the house sunk in a snow-drift, and not a soul in 
 it. This excited alarm in Durham's mind. They then hur-
 
 116 MAPLBTON; OR, 
 
 ried as fast as the unbroken road would admit, struggling on 
 till sundown, when they succeeded in reaching the house ; 
 but found it also buried in the snow, and no sign of life near, 
 except a few half-starved and half-frozen cattle. Durham 
 jumped out of the sleigh, and, rushing ahead, pushed his way 
 by force through the closed door, when he found the interior 
 a complete drift, that had come down chimney, and sifted 
 through every unguarded crevice. By this time Mr. Hol- 
 liston was upon his heels, anxious to find how matters stood 
 within. 
 
 But, 0, horror ! horror ! God have mercy on the drunk- 
 ard's family ! There lay Mrs. Durham on her own bed, 
 cold and stiff, with a new-born infant, naked, at her side, also 
 dead and frozen ! Behind the mother, and pressed close 
 against her person, was dear little Charles, with his icy arms 
 enfolding her, and every drop of blood congealed in his veins. 
 They then hastened to the little girls' room, and found them 
 in their bed, emaciated to mere skeletons, but not so long 
 dead as to be completely frozen. They, too, were locked in 
 each other's little arms. The fears of poor Mrs. Durham 
 had evidently brought on a premature birth, ending in con- 
 vulsions, the very night of her husband's departure, and she 
 and the infant had frozen together. Little Charles, with a 
 child's instinct, had clung to his dead mother, and his arms 
 were soon frozen by the icy contact, from which point the 
 frosts of death gradually spread over his whole Jbody. The 
 little girls had kept up as long as they could, without wood 
 or food, and then had crept together into their bed, to find an 
 icy grave. Poor little Amelia's prophetic dream was more 
 than fulfilled. 
 
 No words, no description, can reach the reality. It was a 
 charnel-house of the horrible traffic in intoxicating drinks.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 117 
 
 The frozen victims of this worse than Moloch, in his thirst 
 for innocent blood, with the lines of sorrow still visible in 
 their indurated features, uttered, in the dumb accents of 
 death, such a remonstrance against our legislation on this 
 subject, as to appal and confound those who have given their 
 voice and vote in its favor, 0, detestable legislation ! who 
 can number thy dead ? Who can estimate thy crimes ? 
 Who can tell the extent of the pauperage, the poverty and 
 the wretchedness, which owe their being to thee 1 
 
 Mr. Holliston was silent, and so was Durham. It was a 
 case to baffle feeling, and beggar language. They dug some 
 wood from under the snow, and lighted a fire. Durham was 
 helpful in all this. Mr. Holliston then proposed to go and 
 bring in the neighbors. 
 
 "Mr. Durham," said he, "perhaps you will feel better to 
 go with me." 
 
 "No," said Durham, quietly, "you go, and I'll stay and 
 watch the fire and keep the house." 
 
 "Very well; I'll be back soon," said Mr. Holliston, not 
 a little surprised at the self-possession of the miserable man. 
 But, had he looked cautiously, he would have seen in it the 
 suicide's calmness. His eyes were glassy and fixed. It was 
 the repose of despair ; it was the self-possession of one to 
 whom living was death, and death his only life. Not a tear 
 did he shed, not a groan did he utter, not a complaint did he 
 make. As soon as Mr. Holliston was gone, he took the pen 
 that had dropped from the fingers of his dying wife, thawed 
 out the inkstand, and wrote on the paper, under the last 
 tear-besmeared lines of her agitated hand, the following note : 
 
 " This world is my hell. There can be no worse. I have 
 a duty to do to my departed wife and children, which I go
 
 118 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 to discharge. I must confess at their feet my crime, and 
 beseech them to forgive me. Dear, dear ones, I follow you 
 to the spirit-land ! CHARLES DURHAM." 
 
 When Mr. Holliston returned, with the neighbors, they 
 found him hung with a rope to one of the beams of his house, 
 and quite dead. 
 
 At the funeral, which was attended by the whole town, 
 yea, by neighboring towns, also, Mr. Holliston delivered an 
 address on the evils of the liquor-traffic, in which he detailed 
 its sad ravages in their once peaceful and prosperous town. 
 They then buried the whole family in one grave, laying the 
 dear little infant on the breast of its sorrow-stricken mother, 
 and the others side by side, according to their ages. After 
 the burial, Thomas Bludgeon harangued the assembled mul- 
 titude. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said he, "what's to be done? Here is a 
 den in our town which the sober, respectable and industrious, 
 enter, to come out drunkards, paupers and beggars. Here is 
 a den into which our children are decoyed, and come out a 
 blight to parental hopes. Here is a den which the happy 
 wedded couple visit, only to violate their plighted vows, and 
 become a curse to their children. Here is a den to sink for- 
 ever the hard earnings of labor ; yea, worse, to make them a 
 blight and curse to those by whose sweat they were acquired. 
 This den is inhabited by a sorcerer, the touch of whose wand 
 converts ministers and churches into hypocrites, Sabbaths 
 into scenes of bacchanalian riot and revelry, school-houses 
 into kennels, and earth into hell. Here is a monster before 
 whom law is a rope of sand, and the bonds of society a gos- 
 samer web, to be blown to the winds. Here is a school 
 which graduates moderate drinkers confirmed drunkards,
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 119 
 
 honest people knaves, cut-throats and assassins. Will you 
 suffer this den longer to exist among you ? Will you allow 
 this sorcerer to exercise his damnable magic? Will you 
 allow this monster to seize more victims, and this school to 
 multiply among us its detestable pupils?" 
 
 " No, no, no !" cried many thousands, all bathed in tears 
 at the spectacle they had witnessed, and mad with indigna- 
 tion against its guilty cause. " Law or no law, no, no, no ! 
 Down with the groggery ! " 
 
 " Yes, law or no law ! " replied Bludgeon ; and, raising his 
 hands to heaven, shaking his iron frame in defiance, and 
 casting his flaming eyes in the direction of the inn, he added, 
 "I swear, by the eternal God, that hell shall not pollute this 
 town another day. Who dares stand by right against law ? 
 Let him speak." 
 
 " I dare ! " " I ! " " I ! " " I ! " cried innumerable voices. 
 " Down with the groggery ! down with the groggery ! down 
 with the groggery ! " 
 
 "Come on, then!" said Bludgeon; "come on, come on, 
 ye men of Mapleton, who are for casting out the devil in 
 spite of\)riests and lawyers ! follow me to the assault ! " 
 
 " To the assault ! to the assault ! lead on, and we '11 fol- 
 low ! Down with the groggery ! down with the groggery !." 
 repeated a thousand stentorian voices, in tones that made the 
 welkin ring. Off rushed the infuriated multitude, headed by 
 Bludgeon, and began their work by emptying the detestable 
 sink of all its valuables, pouring its alcohol into the gutters, 
 and ending by making a bonfire of the building. 
 
 "Where's the landlord? this hell-hound, where is 
 he? where is he?" cried innumerable voices. 
 
 " Here he is ! here he is ! hid in the stable ! " replied some. 
 
 " Bring him out ! bring him out ! " was the imperious de-
 
 120 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 mand on all sides. The trembling publican was brought out, 
 and, after a mock trial, was condemned to a coat of tar 
 and feathers, and to be rode out of town upon a rail. The 
 decree was no- sooner passed than executed, and the miserable 
 wretch was dipped into a cask of tar, and then rolled in the 
 feathers of one of his own beds, and, in this plight, was 
 mounted on a rail, which was carried, in solemn procession, a 
 distance of seven miles, where he was placed out of town, 
 with a threat of being worse dealt by if he ever entered it 
 again. 
 
 Skampton sued the town, laying his damages at ten thou- 
 sand dollars. Marldon pleaded his cause, urging the respons- 
 ibility of government to protect the property of its citizens 
 against mob violence. "Government," he said, "pledges 
 itself to this, by levying and receiving taxes. The tax-payer 
 would have no quid pro quo, if he could not claim indem- 
 nity against the depredations of a mob. Hence, the state or 
 town is in equity bound to make good the losses thus sus- 
 tained." It was in vain that the opposing counsel pleaded the 
 law of nuisances against the groggery, because the license of 
 the state, by which it had been established, was urged, on the 
 other side, as an express guarantee of protection, over and 
 above what could be claimed for property in general. " Do 
 you mean to make the state answerable for all the pauper- 
 age, misery and murder, which this groggery has introduced 
 into our town?" said the counsel for defendants. "If so, 
 your honors," he added, addressing the court, "nothing 
 remains but to prosecute the state for locating among us a 
 nuisance so destructive to its own laws, so prejudicial to 
 our interests." The cause went against the town, it being 
 mulcted in the sum of five thousand dollars, by means of 
 which Skampton, in due time, restored his groggery, and 
 renewed his work of ruin among- the people.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 121 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE DESPAIR AND HOPE OF A DRUNKARD'S SON. 
 
 " Go feel what I have felt, 
 
 Go bear what I have borne ; 
 Sink 'neath the blow a father dealt, 
 
 And the cold world's proud scorn. 
 Then suffer on from year to year, 
 Thy sole relief the scorching tear." 
 
 CHARLES' return to Mapleton was attended by a melancholy 
 pleasure. He rejoiced to meet his friends, but mourned 
 0, how bitterly ! at the corrupted state of society and 
 family wrecks which the traffic in intoxicating drinks had 
 occasioned. He visited the desolated home of the Durhams, 
 and found the house occupied by cattle, the conservatory a 
 resort of swine, the garden overrun with weeds, and all its 
 beauty defaced, all its glory departed. He remembered his 
 first visit to the place, and the scene of domestic beauty and 
 bliss over which Mrs. Durham then presided as a divin- 
 ity, a voluntary exile from that society whose laws and cus- 
 toms were so fatal to her happiness. But there was no hiding 
 from the demon. It had pursued her even in exile ; and 
 here, even here, so far away from neighbors, so hid from civil 
 society, that society had pursued her with its ruinous legisla- 
 tion, and consigned her and her beloved family to one common 
 grave. He walked a little beyond the house into a beautiful 
 grove of young maples, and there he found the new-made 
 grave surmounted by a white marble slab, erected by the con- 
 tributions of the people, and inscribed as follows : 
 11
 
 122 MAPLETON; OK, 
 
 " CHARLES DURHAM and his Wife. 
 
 AMELIA DURHAM and their Four Children. 
 
 AMELIA CAROLINE. 
 
 LYDIA DOUGLASS. 
 
 CHARLES, Junior, and 
 
 BENONI. 
 
 All victims of the traffic in alcoholic poisons." 
 Underneath Charles wrote, " MURDERED BY UNRIGHTEOUS 
 LEGISLATION." 
 
 Young Douglass lingered long in this grove, weeping bit- 
 ter tears over the associations of the place. He thought of 
 the buoyant, girlish days of Mrs. Durham, when she Avas the 
 hope of her family, the belle and pride of her town ; and 
 also of the fatal steps which led to her marriage with one so 
 noble in character, and yet so hopelessly doomed by a predis- 
 position to vice inherited from the drinking habits of a former 
 generation, and by the gins and snares provided by state leg- 
 islation to insure his ruin. And these dear little ones, whose 
 only crime was to be born of such a father and under such laws, 
 thus given over to a mode of death which, to think of, makes 
 the blood curdle with horror ! 0, God ! how mysterious arc 
 thy providences, and thy ways past finding out ! He thought 
 of the constant peril in which his own family lived from the same 
 cause, a peril which, though just then somewhat diminished 
 by mob right against legal and organic wrong, yet which would 
 return upon them, perhaps, with more fearful results than ever, 
 as soon as some licensed emissary of the state had the oppor- 
 tunity to renew among them the cruel traffic. He was 
 affected by the evidence furnished that the last rational 
 thoughts of poor Mrs. Durham were directed to himself. 
 The answer of his letter, begun in a sound mind, but ending 
 in distraction, to be followed by convulsions and the pains
 
 MOEE -WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 123 
 
 of child-birth, endured all alone, and terminating in her 
 own death and that of all her family, this seemed to 
 Charles too dreadful to think of. He spent days in weeping 
 over the fate of the family. Nor was he alone in this. The 
 whole town and country manifested the liveliest sensibilities 
 on the subject ; and for a time it produced almost a total 
 suspension of those drinking habits which had caused all the 
 trouble. Indeed, the temptation to drinking had, to a great 
 extent, perished with the groggery. The poison was not now 
 obtruded upon them as before, and the families which had sur- 
 vived the wreck returned to their occupations, and were pros- 
 perous again. Mr. Littlefield's meetings were fuller, and his 
 labors better appreciated. The children returned to the neg- 
 lected Sunday-school. The memory of their former teacher 
 the good and beautiful, but now so sadly unfortunate, Mrs. 
 Durham lived in their minds as a sweet relic of the past, to 
 awaken in them bitter regrets at their own defection, which 
 had been to her a cause of so much anxiety. 
 
 Charles found his father wonderfully altered in appear- 
 ance. His long-continued course of dissipation after that first 
 fatal night, and, most of all, his share in the sad catastrophe 
 of the Durham family, preyed upon his mind, and he rarely 
 ever smiled. His downfall had deprived him of the high 
 position which he had enjoyed in town, and made him an 
 object of loathing to himself. Mrs. Douglass and Charles 
 did all they could to reassure him. They saw, they felt, that 
 the evil of his case did not so much consist in his present 
 occasional aberrations, as in those habits of what is called 
 temperate drinking, wherein the appetite originated which 
 was now so uncontrollable. That in which the wrong really 
 lay had made him respectable, a boon companion, a fine gen- 
 tleman, whose society was courted, and who was deemed
 
 124 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 every way worthy of respect and confidence. But the con- 
 sequences, wherein he was comparatively innocent, and more 
 to be pitied than blamed, caused him to be despised and 
 abhorred. His wife and son took more just views of the sub- 
 ject, and never remitted their kindness to him, even when 
 most deteriorated and degraded. They felt and deplored the 
 wreck of a husband and father which the drinking customs 
 of society had entailed upon them. But, inasmuch as this 
 was their unhappy lot, in common with thousands of other 
 families, they felt it a call in Providence to watch over him, 
 to bear with his infirmities, to alleviate his sufferings, to for- 
 tify him, against temptation, and to do their utmost to repair 
 the evil which society and the laws had done upon one in 
 whom they had so tender an interest. This was right. 
 There is nothing left to the unhappy victims of the drinking 
 customs and license laws of society but to bide their time, 
 while they pray, with the souls under the altar, " How long, 
 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our 
 blood on them that dwell on the earth ! " 
 
 The person of Charles, during his years of absence, had 
 grown into manly proportions, with a head that bore marks 
 of a vigorous intellect, a countenance of fine expression, and 
 an eye through which flashed the fire of his soul. The 
 reserve of manhood had succeeded to the loquacity of youth, 
 and he was now demure and taciturn, especially on all sub- 
 jects relating to himself and his future course. He courted 
 retirement, and spent much of the year of his stay at home 
 in his old study, extending his reading and investigations on 
 various subjects ; and what time he was not there he was out 
 among the groves, hills and ravines, of his beloved Mapleton. 
 All the places endeared to him by recollection he visited 
 over and over again ; Forest Point, where Tooney was
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 125 
 
 exhumed ; the ruined house \vhich the Harcourts had occupied 
 during their short stay in town, thinking of little Sarah, of 
 whom he had never heard since their departure, and dwelling 
 fondly on the associations of days now departed never more to 
 return. To him it was enchanted ground. Occasionally he 
 would enter the circle of former friends, but always with a 
 brow clouded by care, and a look of anxious thoughtfulness. 
 The part he took in conversation appeared to cost him an 
 effort, and he contrived to elude inquiry in reference to his 
 own purposes or prospects. He was deeply meditating his 
 future plans in life. 
 
 Thus time passed till the second autumn after his return 
 home, when he gave his parents to understand that he should 
 adhere to a secret but long-cherished purpose of entering the 
 ministry. Unpropitious as he felt his relations to be as the 
 son of a drunkard, and galling as that thought was to his 
 towering spirit, a thought which had done more than any- 
 thing else to keep him back so long, still, the obligations 
 to the ministerial calling had so wrought themselves into his 
 convictions, that he could frame to himself no sufficient excuse 
 for turning to a secular occupation. Messrs. Holliston and 
 Littlefield were called in to advise as to what steps should be 
 taken in the case. The former gentleman advised that, with 
 the approval of his church, Charles should betake himself at 
 once to some retired place, and there exercise his talents in 
 teaching the people religion, in visiting from house to house, 
 in promoting schools, and otherwise advancing the cause of 
 piety and intelligence. He said " that a professional educa- 
 tion for such a calling should not be sought till the heart had 
 been fully tested and the ability proved ; that the haste with 
 which young men, of feeble capacity and no intelligent obli- 
 gation to the work, had of late years been placed upon a course 
 11*
 
 126 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 of education for which they had no fitness, had filled the pul- 
 pits with a mere apology of men, educated asses to bray non- 
 sense by rule ; and that there were hundreds of uneducated 
 farmers and mechanics, whose piety and talents fitted them to 
 go directly from their secular occupations into the pulpit, and 
 do there a far more effective work. Even ability," he added, 
 "is no guarantee of success in a work which depends so 
 entirely upon a certain moral and spiritual fitness, which no 
 education can impart, and no process can satisfactorily ascer- 
 tain but that of actual trial. Besides, there is no training 
 that your son can enjoy which promises so much to himself 
 as an actual contact with human ignorance and misery, with 
 a view to their alleviation. This, if anything, will school a 
 young man's heart and character, to act as the cure of souls. 
 Practice makes perfect." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Douglass fully concurred in these views, nor 
 were Mr. Littlefield and his church backward in giving their 
 consent. Forestdale was selected as the scene of Charles' 
 present efforts. The people were exceedingly destitute, and 
 he opened schools among them, both secular and Sabbath, 
 and expounded to them the word of God. They were poor 
 and miserable, and therefore the more readily flocked around 
 him as their spiritual adviser. To a young man for year.-* 
 accustomed to literary society and pursuits, the seclusion of 
 a hidden and unlettered neighborhood is sombre and oppress- 
 ive. Some alleviation may be found from books ; or, if ho 
 be a spiritual man, from the communion of devout hearts. 
 But young Douglass had not gone there for the sake of 
 books ; nor was his mind sufficiently relieved of the corroding 
 anxieties which had so long preyed upon him and his family, 
 to be happy in communion either with himself, his fellow- 
 men, or his God. He had no power to resist the current of
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 127 
 
 unhappy sensations, which, from the one ever-present, ever- 
 corroding idea of being a drunkard's sou, had worn for itself 
 a channel through his heart. 
 
 Those who describe the red, bloated face, the watery and 
 inflamed eye, the diseased and trembling frame, the ruined char- 
 acter and blighted fortune, of the drunkard himself, or even 
 the withered plant of conjugal love in the bosom of his wife, or 
 the wretchedness of her infant group, as evincing the w< >rst 
 evils of intemperance, have but gross and imperfect views of 
 the subject. It is after this group have grown to manhood, 
 to take their place in society as young ladies and gentlemen, 
 that the climax of the damning process is reached. Then 
 that wife feels over again all her pangs, with added strength, 
 in the disgrace of her children ; while they, fluttering for a 
 time with the vain endeavor to rise above the domestic infamy, 
 too often settle back into the habits of the father, and drown 
 an incurable sorrow in the maddening cup which had pro- 
 duced it. 
 
 These feelings of disgrace and infamy, at being a drunkard's 
 son, acting upon a soul of towering ambition, and too little 
 disciplined to restraint and control, made the bosom of young 
 Douglass more desolate than any hermit's cell, more tem- 
 pestuous than a chaotic world. He rather yielded himself to 
 them, and found a dismal pleasure in brooding over his pains. 
 He spent much time in the thickest of the forests, uttering 
 ejaculations of anguish and woe, and struggling for relief, 
 but without power to surmount his mind-consuming grief. 
 And, when kept within doors by the howling of autumnal 
 storms, he would lie prostrate, hours together, upon the floor 
 of his room, wishing for death as the end of a disgraced and 
 burdened life. His nerves were so excited and enfeebled, by 
 the severity of past studies and conflicts, and by a morbid
 
 128 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 sense of the social disadvantages under which he labored, that 
 he could not sleep; longing for a fever, or some organic 
 disease, to interrupt the course of those excruciating thoughts, 
 which he feared would otherwise drive him to madness. 
 Though he continued his services among the people as usual, 
 so that they saw no signs of the fearful tempest raging within, 
 except in his haggard and emaciated looks, of which they 
 took little notice, thinking them the badges of his profession; 
 yet, whenever he came before them, it was with a sense that 
 they were all thinking " there comes the drunkard's son," 
 and with a certainty that he could not face them long enough 
 to say a word. Though there was no real cause for all this 
 in anything said or thought among the people, yet his mind 
 had become morbid on a subject which had so long corroded 
 within, and there was no such thing as shaking off the 
 incubus. And, indifferent as might be his public efforts, it 
 always seemed to him a matter of surprise, when he closed, 
 that he had done as well as he had. Speaking had the effect, 
 for the time being, of diverting his mind from its horrid 
 ideas. 
 
 He became, at length, convinced that he must either sink 
 into nothing, and disappoint the hopes of his friends, or else 
 make an effort to dismiss a subject which had taken such hold 
 upon him. He resolved on the latter course ; bethinking him- 
 self that no blame could attach to him on account of his father's 
 habits, and that, as to the disgrace brought upon him as a 
 consequence of them, that might prove a salutary thorn in 
 the flesh, to gain the ends of moral discipline, and increase 
 his usefulness. He found it easier to think this, however, 
 than to repair the breach upon his mental and nervous con- 
 stitution which had been already inflicted. As a curative 
 process, therefore, he resolved upon three things : first, visit-
 
 MOEE WORK FOB THE MAINE LAW. 129 
 
 ing the afflicted, and doing the offices of humanity ; second, 
 taking frequent rides on horseback ; and third, trusting more 
 implicitly in his heavenly Father, for the management of his 
 domestic sorrow and all its consequences. The first made 
 him familiar with those who had far greater causes of sorrow, 
 and taught him reconciliation by the contrast ; the second 
 improved his health and spirits ; and the third shielded him 
 under a higher power, insomuch that, under this regimen, his 
 spirits soon began to acquire tone, his feelings elasticity, and 
 the roses of youth to bloom upon his cheek, and peace and 
 contentment to beam in his eye. The happiness he conferred 
 on others reacted upon himself, and he found in the im- 
 proving condition of the people unmingled satisfaction. 
 
 Things went on thus till late in October, when, the day 
 being unusually fine, he continued his morning ride full ten 
 miles from his lodgings. Here the country dropped down to 
 a level full sixty feet lower, to which, as he descended, he 
 saw the smoke curling up among the tree-tops on his right, 
 while directly before him a magnificent plantation opened 
 upon his view. The smoke, he soon saw, came from a 
 spacious mansion, with piazzas encircling it, and an observatory 
 surmounting the top, which commanded a view of the whole 
 plain in which the plantation was located. The lanes, fields, 
 and houses of the tenantry, were arranged with reference to 
 the mansion, immediately around which were original forest- 
 trees in clusters, with cleared spaces between, occupied 
 by lawns and gardens. As the morning was mild and misty, 
 the smoke from the houses of the distant tenantry was slowly 
 rising, circling round and round as it mingled with the pen- 
 dent clouds. Flocks of sheep and herds of cattle were 
 performing their morning gambols over the rich pastures 
 which extended across the ample circumference of the plain.
 
 130 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 Douglass was enraptured at the view, and, midway of the 
 declivity, he sat, poised in his saddle, gazing upon this 
 enchanting picture of country life. 
 
 Fatigued with his ride, he could not resist the temptation 
 of alighting at the base of the hill, and paying his respects 
 to the family at the mansion, in order to acquaint himself 
 more fully with the possessors of such a beautiful domain. 
 Fastening his horse at the gate which opened upon the lawn 
 that extended back to the mansion, a distance of about fifteen 
 rods, he walked leisurely along between rows of mast-trees, 
 which were dropping their ripe fruit in great abundance. As 
 he arrived opposite the garden, he heard the soft tones of a 
 female voice saying, "John, be careful, man! don't break my 
 roots ! " 
 
 " Indade, miss, it '11 pain me much to destroy these pretty 
 flower-bearers," said a gruff voice, in Hibernian accent. 
 
 "Charming! excellent!" added the female voice. "All 
 safe ! You have done right well, my good fellow ; not a root 
 is broken. It would be a pity not to use well what adds so 
 much beauty to our home." 
 
 "An' faith," said the man, " I 'm thinkin' as much." 
 
 By this time Charles had reached a point to see the actors 
 in this dialogue, who he found to be a laboring man, with a 
 basket of bulbous roots, and a young lady, who seemed to be 
 superintending their removal to a place of safety for the 
 winter. The lady, in a neat morning dress and straw hat, 
 strongly impressed him with an idea of extreme beaut}', 
 gentleness and serenity. Her complexion was so clear, her eye 
 so soft and yet so brilliant, her form so sylph-like and 
 symmetrical, her expression so sweet and intelligent, and 
 her movements so natural and graceful, that Douglass stood 
 entranced, more charmed by the tenant than he had been
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 131 
 
 by her home. At that instant she caught his eye, and he' 
 nodded a respectful "good-morning." She replied by a slight 
 inclination of the head, a little confused at his unexpected 
 appearance. 
 
 "Excuse this interruption, madam," said Charles. "In 
 taking a morning ride, I have been so much attracted by the 
 uncommon beauty of this place, that I could not resist the 
 temptation to a nearer inspection." 
 
 "Sir, you are quite welcome at Terracegreen," said the 
 lady. 
 
 " Your family must have settled here at an early period." 
 
 " No, only a few years ago." 
 
 " But how should it be possible in a few years to raise a 
 wilderness to such a pitch of cultivation? " 
 
 " My father, sir, had tenants on the farm several years 
 before we occupied it ourselves ; and, having a great fondness 
 for rural pursuits, he has done much since he came to 
 beautify the place." 
 
 ' ' Your father must be a man of taste. I see on this 
 plantation what, I confess, has before occurred to me as a 
 picture of imagination, occasional remnants of forest-trees in 
 clusters over the cleared parts, to diversify the scenery. The 
 axe, as a general thing, you know, takes all." 
 
 " My father took the idea from English scenery. He was 
 travelling abroad when our tenants began to clear the farm, 
 and he wrote, ordering them to leave no space large enough 
 for a field bare of these shady clusters." 
 
 " How opportune the idea ! They are a great ornament 
 to the place." 
 
 " They are more ; they relieve the heat of summer to our 
 horses, cattle and sheep,"
 
 132 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 " To be sure," replied Charles ; " and they are entitled to 
 have their comfort considered, as well as our own." 
 
 "Yes, I see not how we can answer it to our consciences 
 to be neglectful of them, when they are so faithful in serving 
 us. Their approach to us is far nearer than ours to the 
 supreme Benefactor on whom all alike depend." 
 
 " Such sentiments are the brightest ornament of your sex 
 and your person," replied Charles, with an impulse to be 
 complimentary without knowing how. 
 
 " The right of the thing is more to me than the ornament," 
 she said, a little doubtful as to the motive of his remark. 
 
 "No doubt, no doubt," added Douglass, blushing with 
 apprehension, lest he had too freely betrayed his admiration 
 of. her person. 
 
 "Will you please walk in, sir? " she said, moving towards 
 the house. 
 
 " I thank you," said Charles, following ; " I am too much 
 charmed by the place and its occupant to refuse such a 
 request." 
 
 " Compliments are cheap things," she added, still doubtful 
 whether he was in earnest. 
 
 "You mistake, if you think me capable of using them 
 insincerely. What I fe*el I speak. Pardon the freedom in a 
 stranger." 
 
 " Never mind," she replied, stepping upon the balcony, 
 where they were met by the melodious notes of a canary. 
 " Tiny, sweet Tiny ! how soft and cheerful is your morning 
 song! You are happy, happy, and love to make us so." 
 
 " You are fond of birds? " 
 
 " Who is not fond of birds ? " 
 
 " Did it never strike you as cruel to deprive them of 
 liberty?"
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 133 
 
 " Perhaps so," said she thoughtfully. "Still, habit makes 
 confinement second nature to them, and I believe my Tiny as 
 happy as any bird in his native forest ; " to which the bird 
 seemed to assent by pouring forth one of his most joyous 
 strains. 
 
 "If he is not, it will not be for lack of an attentive 
 mistress." 
 
 " True, I could not neglect him. It would be an ungrate- 
 ful return for the pleasure he affords. Be seated, sir," said 
 she, showing him into the parlor. 
 
 " No, no. I must return; I have already exceeded my time." 
 
 " Sir, we cannot consent to your leaving so abruptly. Our 
 breakfast is this moment on the table. I will call papa ; he 
 will be happy to speak with you." 
 
 With that she ran to call her father, while Douglass 
 glanced around the room in which he was seated, and was 
 struck with the air of neatness, simplicity and elegance, 
 which seemed to preside over all he saw. In a few moments 
 she returned, with evident discomposure at learning that her 
 father had been called out on public business, and would not 
 breakfast at home that morning. 
 
 "I am surprised to find myself deserted by my father," 
 she said, upon returning; "he has left me to breakfast 
 alone." 
 
 " I think, my kind hostess, you must now excuse me; and, 
 with your leave, I will call again, and make the acquaintance 
 of a father whose daughter has inspired me with so many 
 sentiments of gratitude." 
 
 " Gratitude ! no, if you do not breakfast with me." 
 
 " Well, since you insist upon it, I must yield." 
 
 The breakfast-bell now rang, and, rising, she conducted him 
 to the breakfast-room. Douglass was surprised to find no 
 12
 
 134 MAPLETON; OE, 
 
 one at the table but the young lady and himself, and re- 
 marked, " Your family is small." 
 
 "There are none in it but my father, myself and the 
 servants." 
 
 " No mother?" 
 
 " My blessed mother went to another and better -world 
 when I -was a child, and my little brother died about the 
 same time." 
 
 " Indeed, and not lonely? " 
 
 "No; habit has taught me to find company in myself, 
 not the best, it is true, but such as I contrive to recon- 
 cile myself to." 
 
 " I should doubt whether you could find better," said 
 Douglass. 
 
 "You seem determined to flatter me," said the young 
 lady ; "but what do you think of my father, who has been 
 here entirely by himself during the years of my absence at 
 school?" 
 
 " I am no flatterer," replied Charles ; "but, if this were 
 my house, and I your father, it would require more philoso- 
 phy than I have to endure the absence of such as you are in 
 my view."- 
 
 She blushed at this speech, and even Charles was confused ; 
 for his language never before took a complimentary turn toward 
 a young lady. But his character partook too much of sim- 
 plicity and impulse to admit of his disguising his feelings. 
 Besides, the freedom of conversation on both sides arose from 
 a sort of home-feeling between them, from a secret im- 
 pression of previous acquaintance. The cases are not 
 infrequent in which a familiarity at once arises between those 
 who are linked by no tie of recollection, because the heart's 
 facility of reviving former impressions is greater than the
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 135 
 
 mind's power of tracing the continuity of its ideas. This 
 illusion is sometimes produced by the similarity of the new 
 acquaintance to an old and tried friend, leading strangers 
 upon a first meeting to glide into a familiarity at which they 
 themselves are surprised. There may also exist between 
 persons in nature such a fitness of taste as to lead to this 
 result, in spite of calculation and endeavor to maintain greater 
 reserve. Love at first sight is by no means impossible. 
 
 Breakfast concluded, Charles, about to take his leave, 
 remarked, ' ' When shall I have the pleasure of another such 
 entertainment?" 
 
 "I was about to ask you to call and make my father's 
 acquaintance, but but " 
 
 " 0, I see; my promptitude in forestalling your invitation 
 embarrasses you. I ask to come for your sake, and you was 
 about to invite me for your father's sake. Perhaps some 
 third person might interfere with my 'request, but none can 
 object to yours." 
 
 "It is enough that the parties directly concerned are 
 satisfied," she replied ; "let others take care of themselves. 
 When will you come to see both my father and me, if you 
 please?" 
 
 Taking out his memorandum-book, Douglass looked a 
 moment along the line of his engagements, saying, or rather 
 thinking abstractedly, "This is Monday; well, Thursday, 
 Thursday is a great way off, will Thursday morning please 
 you?" 
 
 "Yes, if you will arrange to pass the day with us." 
 
 " A day ! Would it were a week, in such an Eden, with 
 such an Eve ! " 
 
 " 0, you mock me by your flattery ! " 
 
 "You will never say that, when-you are better acquainted
 
 136 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 with me ; so I must trust to my future good behavior to 
 redeem my character. Good-morning." 
 . " Good-morning," she replied, with an expression of 
 simplicity and innocence that would have given him pleasure, 
 but for the feeling which it awakened of the gulf that existed 
 between him, a drunkard's son, and one of a character and 
 associations which seemed to him so far above his own. The 
 disadvantages of such a relationship are never so keenly felt 
 as when they come in to crush the heart's fondest hopes and 
 aspirations. We can endure its poverty, the scorn and 
 neglect of society on its account, and almost any other of 
 the accruing disadvantages, better than the barriers which it 
 interposes to an affair of the heart. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE INIQUITY OF A FATHER VISITED UPON HIS SON. 
 
 " My spirits, as in a dream, are all fcound up. 
 My father's loss, the weakness which I feel, 
 The wreck of all my friends, or this man's threats 
 To whom I am subdued, are but light to me, 
 Might I but through my prison once a day 
 Behold this maid." SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 THE impression of previous acquaintance, which was the 
 real cause of the freedom of the foregoing interview between 
 Charles Douglass and the young lady therein introduced to the 
 reader, existed in both their minds as the relic of a forgotten 
 dream. But, with all their efforts, they could not revive the re- 
 collection of each other. A mysterious enchantment hung 
 round this new acquaintance in the mind of Douglass, and he
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 137 
 
 would sit musing for hours together, like a man upon -whom 
 some half-formed conception of future good has begun to dawn, 
 and he dwells upon it continually, lest the fugitive idea should 
 escape, and merge him in his former darkness. When Thursday 
 came, he was up earlier than usual, and mounted his horse 
 with more than his wonted elasticity. Even the noble horse 
 seemed to partake of his enthusiasm, prancing and neighing, 
 and looking wistfully in the direction of the plantation. A 
 servant was in waiting at the gate to conduct him to the man- 
 sion ; and, as Douglass advanced up the lawn, he was more 
 than ever struck with the beauty of the place. The rocky 
 defile along the north of the house seemed to render it im- 
 pregnable against wintry winds, imparting to the whole an 
 aspect of snug comfort, peculiarly propitious to a Northern 
 imagination; while the expanding plain that opened to the 
 south was beautifully diversified with groves, meadows, broad 
 acres of green and luxuriant wheat, and all the charms of a 
 highly-cultivated plantation. His horse he delivered to the 
 man in waiting, and, being promptly answered at the door, 
 was soon seated in the parlor. As the daughter had no means 
 of introducing her guest, she thought it prudent to send her 
 father to reconnoitre, who accosted Douglass with " Sir, good- 
 morning; be seated, sir." 
 
 "Good-morning," rejoined Douglass. "I was so much 
 struck with the beauty of your plantation, the other day, that 
 I begged of your daughter the privilege of making the 
 acquaintance of its owner." 
 
 "Our house is always open to those who deserve our 
 respect." 
 
 "In the absence of such desert, I could not hope to com- 
 mand respect from a gentleman of your discernment." 
 
 "I harbor no suspicions, you are welcome," added the 
 12*
 
 138 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 host, at the same time casting upon his guest a searching 
 look ; and, detecting the scar left by the deer on Charles' 
 temple, he exclaimed, " Bless me ! is this you, Charles 
 Douglass?" 
 
 {: That is my name, sir ; but pray how should you know 
 me?" 
 
 " Was you not struck senseless, some years since, by the 
 blow of a deer on your temple ? " 
 
 " I was." 
 
 "Well, have you forgotten the agency which one Har- 
 court and his daughter had, on that occasion? '' 
 
 " No, I can never forget it ! And you are that person? " 
 
 " The same. I should have known more of you, and your 
 family, but that I was called to attend to the building of this 
 house.- I believe you saw more of my daughter." 
 
 " Mr. Harcourt, you are greatly changed in appearance, 
 much more corpulent, and I should not have mistrusted the 
 identity. I felt that I knew your daughter ; but she was then 
 a child and is now a woman, and I could not quite recall her. 
 Your man John, too, I thought I had seen ; but Irish 
 laborers are so much alike I can never tell them apart. I 
 have been in a maze ever since I was here the other day. but 
 now all is plain. I owe my life, sir, to you and Canaudeh." 
 
 " Canaudeh ! yes, that 's a noble Indian. I suppose you 
 know that I have him here on my farm? " 
 
 " Canaudeh here ! I thought he was at Green Bay. What 
 providence has brought him here?" 
 
 "He did emigrate, but longed so much for the country of 
 his fathers' sepulchres, that last spring he returned, and was 
 lingering about in the woods of this neighborhood like a man 
 among the tombs, obtaining a precarious subsistence by hunt- 
 ing. I pitied him, and, at the suggestion of my daughter,
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW.. 139 
 
 offered him a home on my plantation, and a supply from my 
 table. And he has accepted it, at least, so much of the 
 time as he does not give to hunting." 
 
 " Has he learned to talk English yet ? " 
 
 " He rarely attempts it, though he understands much that 
 is said to him. My daughter, who has come to be of a pious 
 turn of mind, and visits him every week to talk her doubtful 
 notions in his ear, thinks he understands all. But I doubt 
 it ; for it is more than I can do." 
 
 "Then he has maintained his pledge, I suppose?" said 
 Charles. 
 
 " What pledge ?" inquired Harcourt, with a sneer which 
 indicated that he knew without asking. 
 
 " The pledge of total abstinence. Have you not heard the 
 story?" 
 
 " No, no ! " said Harcourt indignantly. " I did not think 
 Canaudeh such a confounded fool as to sell his freedom to 
 these cursed fanatics." 
 
 " Fool or no fool, it saved him from the fate of his tribe. 
 Every man, woman and child of them had died of drunken- 
 ness, directly or indirectly; and the old chief was rapidly 
 going the same way, when he saw the evil, and came under a 
 solemn pledge never to drink another drop that intoxicates, 
 though there was at the time little hope that he would keep it." 
 
 " That explains the old ninny's conduct the other day. 
 I said to him, ' Canaudeh, this beer is excellent ; will 
 you taste it?' when he stared, and at length said, in his 
 broken way, l You me not know ; fire-water devil, drink and 
 Indian make mad. Me know Indian well. Taste beer, then 
 taste rum. then get drunk, then fight and kill, then in street 
 lie and get sick, then die.' Then he added, with tears, ' My 
 fathers, my brothers, ugh, ugh ! ' which means something
 
 140 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 beyond my depth. { No give Indian drink no more ! ' 1 
 thought it queer, but did not understand it before." 
 
 " I think you will now confess him a wise man." 
 
 " No, he is a fool, and so is any man who has not self- 
 command enough to drink without drinking to his injury." 
 
 " Is your daughter at home? " inquired Douglass, desiring 
 to change the subject, and avoid all seeming rudeness to a man 
 in his own house. 
 
 "Go, call your mistress," said Harcourt to a servant in 
 waiting. Miss Harcourt soon appeared, and the young couple 
 were formally introduced by the father. A feeling of natural 
 embarrassment came over them at meeting as gentleman and 
 lady, who had previously known each other only as children. 
 
 " My little friend, as I used to call you," said Charles, 
 " how little did I suspect, the other morning, that I was break- 
 fasting with you ! " 
 
 "And I was as much in the dark as yourself, though, I 
 confess, a mysterious impression of previous acquaintance 
 lingered round my mind." 
 
 " So I felt, and have taxed my brain not a little to 
 identify you. And Canaudeh too here, how strange ! " 
 
 " Yes, Canaudeh, and no more the bloody warrior, but the 
 true Christian." 
 
 " That favorite idea of yours, my daughter, is harmless, 
 whatever may be said of its truth." 
 
 "You do not deem it impossible, Mr. Harcourt?" said 
 Charles. 
 
 " I am no judge in such matters. I leave those to deter- 
 mine them who can. I only say I cannot, and I am no 
 hypocrite." 
 
 " Do you not remember Samuel Gilfort?" inquired Miss 
 Harcourt.
 
 MORE WOHK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 141 
 
 " Yes, as great a cheat as ever lived. So think the Maple- 
 ton people," said Charles. 
 
 " Are you sure of that ? " said Harcourt. 
 
 " Perfectly sure; as sure as a tree is known by its fruits." 
 
 " Well, he has made a great figure in the world," said 
 Miss Harcourt. 
 
 " And seems very much improved," added her father. 
 
 " What ! have you any direct intelligence of him, of late 1 " 
 inquired Douglass. 
 
 "I? Yes," said Harcourt ; "I meet him daily." 
 
 "What! in this neighborhood ?" inquired Douglass, with 
 surprise. 
 
 "Yes, in this neighborhood, and several times in this 
 house." 
 
 " Is it possible, Samuel Gilfort in this neighborhood, and 
 in this house recently ! Where are his colony, his cosmopolis, 
 his palace, and the possessions he is said to have acquired in 
 the far West?" 
 
 " 0, I learn he has left them in a prosperous way, for the 
 purpose of relieving himself from the weight of his great 
 affairs. Princes find it necessary to rusticate, to recruit their 
 exhausted energies," added Harcourt, laughing. "Is it not 
 wonderful that be should have the control of twenty thousand 
 hands in building his seat of empire ? " 
 
 "Wonderful, if true," said Douglass. " I do not believe 
 he has half that number. Stories magnify, like flocks of 
 pigeons, with the extent of their flight. Pray how does he 
 appear?" 
 
 " Like a gentleman, that he does," said Harcourt. " Two 
 or three servants, apostles, or secretaries, attend him. His 
 person has grown into graceful proportions, and his carriage
 
 142 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 is manly and dignified. They even talk of him for our next 
 President." 
 
 " Our next President ! " said Douglass, with a sneer. 
 " Talk of Lucifer as well ! Does he drink as much as ever 1 " 
 
 "He is no drunkard, sir; he is always himself; he can 
 stand as much as Alexander the Great, or any of his court. 
 I think the more of him for that." 
 
 "Dear father," said Sarah, "how can you speak so? 
 Dress, equipage and good living, have taken off the rough 
 edges of his appearance ; but he has the same snaky eyes, 
 and the same sinister look, as ever ; and to me he seems more 
 hateful than formerly in his poverty, because I am thinking 
 of the frauds by which he has raised himself to his bad emi- 
 nence ; and because strong drink does not produce in him the 
 same degraded exterior as in some others, it does not prove 
 that its moral or inward effects are any the less abhorrent." 
 
 " But what are the peculiar principles on which he has 
 gathered his colonists around him ? " inquired Douglass. 
 
 " They are a sort of mongrel combination of politics and 
 religion. The first article is: Samuel Gilfort, the great light 
 of the universe. This makes all others satellites, to revolve 
 around him and do his bidding. Then, you have only to 
 picture to yourself the course such a will as Gilfort's would 
 be likely to take, in filling up the outlines of his creed, to 
 understand the whole. That he has the right to control every 
 man's purse would naturally stand second. The rest is made 
 up of a doggerel litany, hypocritical cant, and a round of cere- 
 monies, in the formation of which Moses and Solon, Jesus 
 and Voltaire, the Pope and Mahomet, Washington and Bene- 
 dict Arnold, have lent their appropriate share of influence. It 
 takes all kinds of bait to catch all kinds of fish. The more
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 143 
 
 contradictory the compound, the more captivating to the mul- 
 titude who are born to be the dupes of the designing." 
 
 " But perhaps he hopes by his visits to you to make a con- 
 vert," said Douglass, laughing. 
 
 " No, not of me, but of Sarah. Me he knows to be incor- 
 rigible ; but my pretty daughter, as he calls her, he supposes 
 more susceptible in such matters." 
 
 " Father, how can you speak of me in such an odious con- 
 nection?" said Sarah, with an expression of injured feeling. 
 
 " Think not, my daughter," said Harcourt, with genuine 
 tenderness, " that I am representing you, but him of whom 
 Mr. Douglass is so curious to learn. His vile schemes, I know, 
 can never touch you otherwise than with disgust." Breakfast 
 was now announced, and Sarah, taking her father's arm, led 
 him aside, to request that he should ask their visitor to say 
 grace, as she knew, by a woman's instinct, that he must be a 
 clergyman, in fact or in prospect. 
 
 "How do you know there is any grace in him?" said 
 Harcourt, facetiously. 
 
 "Papa, you know how I delight to please you, and do 
 gratify me in this ! " 
 
 " Certainly, my daughter, you shall be gratified." Accord- 
 ingly the service was politely requested, and as promptly per- 
 formed. Though Harcourt was an avowed infidel, yet it was 
 his study and his life to please his daughter, whose position 
 was directly the opposite of his own in this respect. No 
 father could be more affectionate or assiduous. 
 
 " I admire your selection of a place for building," said 
 Douglass. "It is not uncommon for farmers to perch their 
 houses on the bleak point of the hills, where the winds do 
 battle upon all that comes in their way. I confess the sight 
 of such domiciles freezes me, even in the heat of summer. I
 
 144 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 choose to be hid, as you are, under this rocky defile, from those 
 aerial enemies which attack us so fiercely in this climate." 
 
 "It is true, sir, I have more respect for the gods of the 
 air, Boreas, Notus and the like, than for all the saints in the 
 calendar. I have made it the study of my life to guard 
 against these princes of the air, by whom my fences are 
 sometimes shattered, and my fields laid waste." 
 
 " Well, you have been fortunate in locating your castle." 
 
 " Our ideas of comfort," said Miss Harcourt, " take their 
 cast from the climate in which we live. At the South, their 
 houses can hardly be said to be places of protection against 
 anything but sunbeams." 
 
 "Yes, they want air; we want protection against wind 
 and cold," said Douglass. " Perhaps our confinement may 
 be more favorable to civilization, though I confess I often 
 sigh for the velvet atmosphere of those more voluptuous cli- 
 mates. We have retirement and reading, however, to com- 
 pensate our lack of the freedom of out-door life ; and, upon 
 the whole, our condition is most favorable." 
 
 " So we think; and so thinks the Esquimaux, who wraps 
 himself in furs, and resorts to the snowy caverns of his 
 native land, to spend his six months' winter on oil and seal's 
 flesh, thanking his gods for a country so superior to all oth- 
 ers," said Harcourt. 
 
 " Custom has, indeed, much to do with our predilections," 
 replied Douglass. " Still, no one can doubt that temperate 
 climates have greater advantages for individual and social 
 elevation than any other. Facts are independent of local 
 prejudices. The things which really ennoble mankind are 
 found for the most part with us." 
 
 " How, then, should Egypt, the warmest and most insalu- 
 brious country in the world, have been the cradle of European
 
 MOKE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 145 
 
 civilization?" said Harcourt. " Its colonists converted the 
 Greeks from swine to men, and from living on acorns to quaff 
 the generous cup and drink the flowing bowl." 
 
 "Do you think the old Egyptians wine-bibbers?" in- 
 quired Charles. 
 
 "They must have been, or they could not have been an 
 elevated people,'* said Harcourt. "Where did refinement 
 of sentiment ever grow up without wine?" 
 
 " I remember," said Douglass, " the picture of a drunken 
 man among the paintings or hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt, 
 but never till now heard it mentioned as an evidence of 
 refinement." 
 
 " Nor does papa think it so, more than Mr. Douglass," said 
 Sarah. " He knows as well as the rest of us that it was not 
 wine, but the Nile, that gave the Egyptians precedence in 
 civilization. That did the work of the plough, spade and 
 hoe, ages before they were invented, which is reason enough 
 for their early advancement." 
 
 ' ' Yes, Miss Harcourt, you have the right of it. The Nile 
 was in itself a greater civilizer than all other outward agents. 
 Wine debased the people, and undid the work the Nile had 
 done." 
 
 " Two against one," said Harcourt, " proves nothing. 
 There never was a generous people that did not dip deep in 
 the juice of the grape, from old Noah's drunken fit to this 
 day. The old barbarian patriarchs before the flood knew 
 nothing of this drink to cheer both God and man ; and hence, 
 the old dolts, what were they fit for but to be drowned ? As 
 soon as the race learned from the ark-man how to make wine, 
 they began to shoot ahead ; and Ham, stealing the art of his 
 father, went into Egypt, and gave it both wine and a name, as 
 13
 
 146 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 you know it is called Cham, throughout the Old Testament, 
 after this wayward son of Noah." 
 
 "Your reasoning, sir, strikes me as more amusing than 
 logical," said Douglass, laughing. 
 
 "Well, you Christians are bound to speak well of Egypt, 
 because it gave you your Moses and your laws," said Har- 
 court. 
 
 " God gave them to us, in spite of Egypt, you mean," said 
 Charles. 
 
 " By the way, do you accept Homer's description of 
 Egyptian Thebes as fact, or fiction? " inquired Harcourt. 
 
 " What description do you refer to ? " 
 
 " ' wf ITU. e/2*c 
 
 a xTN/uaret 
 
 t <T' CC1 'ntUtTT 
 
 "0, father! " said Sarah, mortified by this literary exhi- 
 bition, " do not give us these barbarous sounds ! " 
 
 " Well, here you have it in the elegant English of Pope," 
 replied her father, still anxious to maintain his credit for lit- 
 erature : 
 
 " Not all proud Thebes' unrivalled walls contain, 
 The world's great empress on the Egyptian plain, 
 That spreads her conquests o'er a thousand states, 
 And pours her heroes through a hundred gates ; 
 Two hundred horsemen, and two hundred cars, 
 From each wide portal issuing to the wars." 
 
 "Really, Mr. Harcourt, you have reserved some time for 
 literature amid the cares of business," said Douglass. 
 
 "I remember a thing or two of my youth," said Har- 
 court.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 147 
 
 " I consider this description of Homer a literal matter-of-fact. 
 The present ruins of Thebes prove this," added Douglass. 
 
 "Dear father, please excuse my interrupting; 'but I have 
 an engagement," said Sarah. Her engagement turned out 
 to be "with Canaudeh, in fulfilling which she invited Charles 
 to accompany her. She retired to get herself in readiness, 
 and soon returned, followed by a lad with a basket of nice 
 things for their favorite son of the forest, and bringing also 
 two fish-poles, with hook and line, that they might give an 
 idle hour to angling. "You will smile at my apparatus, so 
 unusual in this land of wheat, and cattle, and labor. But I 
 learned to amuse myself in this way at my boarding-school 
 on the Atlantic ; and we have a babbling brook abounding in 
 trout on our plantation, where I sometimes spend a leisure 
 hour." 
 
 "A happy thought. No better could be imagined. But I 
 am unskilled in business of this kind, and must learn of you." 
 
 " Very well; I can teach you to catch trout." Thus fur- 
 nished, away they flew, leaving Harcourt to his occupations, 
 whose eye followed the airy footsteps of his daughter with all 
 a father's pride and joy. She ran meandering through the 
 shrubbery and lawns of the plantation, while Charles followed 
 with his delicious burden, feeling for once the buoyancy of 
 young spirits, and the delight of an overflowing heart. With 
 all the excellences of puritanic piety, does it not take too little 
 account of the necessity of recreation to health and happiness ? 
 Douglass had made a conscience of brooding over his sorrows, 
 as if that might be some atonement for his own faults, or some 
 relief for the unfortunate habits of his father. He journalized, 
 struggled with irresistible emotions, and gave himself to 
 unrelaxed labor and unmitigated asperity, not considering how 
 much he needed a counter-irritant, as the physicians say, or
 
 148 MAPLETONJ OR, 
 
 excitement from another quarter and in another channel, to 
 diversify his emotions, and turn his mind from the horrid 
 ideas which preyed like vampires on his spiritual being. Di- 
 version was his great want ; though, alas ! it could not cure 
 him, exposed as he was to the officious intermeddling of those 
 who were jealous of his happiness, and bent upon spoiling it, 
 as we shall see, by driving him into, not the imaginary, but 
 the real, disadvantages of being a drunkard's son. Arriving 
 at the border of the unbroken wilderness, Miss Harcourt 
 paused, and, pointing in the distance to Canaudeh's wigwam, 
 she said, " My way lies through this forest, which is more 
 convenient than climbing the fences of the open field. But, 
 Mr. Douglass, you must follow hard after me, or you will be 
 lost among the thick trees." 
 
 " No, I shall not lose you, unless you vanish, like wood- 
 nymphs, who are said to be rather coy of being seen by men." 
 
 "Well, nymph or no nymph, if you lose me, it shall be 
 your own fault." 
 
 " I take you at your word, lead on." With that, she 
 plunged into the gloom of the forest, turning now this way 
 and now that, to avoid the impassable thickets, while he pur- 
 sued like a hound on the track of a hare, and was pleased to 
 find everywhere the signs of her former footsteps on a simi- 
 lar errand of love. 
 
 "Here we are at last," she said, " and Canaudeh within, 
 I see by his dog." 
 
 Charles was sensibly affected, as he approached the savage, 
 by the vivid recollection which it revived of that night of 
 nights, when his sable form was first revealed to him amid 
 the nocturnal gloom of the forest, and when, but for his well- 
 aimed gun, he would have died on the spot. Often, in his 
 subsequent days of agony, had he regretted Canaudeh's inter-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 149 
 
 ference, as then the panther -would have soon put him out of 
 all worldly misery. 
 
 "What an humble house," said Douglass, as they ap- 
 proached the wigwam, " for one too good for a palace ! " 
 
 " None too humble, since it makes him happier than a pal- 
 ace could. Happiness, Mr. Douglass, is what the heart 
 craves ; and why should the reality be sacrificed to the 
 appearance ? You know how tenacious the Indians are of 
 this wild mode of life." 
 
 "Yes, the white captive who lives long among them 
 becomes also so attached to it as to be with difficulty dis- 
 suaded from it. His rude freedom, once tasted, intoxicates 
 the feelings, and not unfrequently makes civilized life tasteless 
 and insufferable." 
 
 The barking of the dog had by this time brought Canau- 
 deh to the door, and, seeing his benefactress, his countenance 
 beamed delight ; but, upon discovering that she was accom- 
 panied by a stranger, he relapsed into his usual reserve, till 
 his practised eye recognized his quondam friend, which Doug- 
 lass, perceiving, rushed to his arms, when a greeting ensued 
 as tender as between father and son. The savages are 
 
 O 
 
 remarkable for never forgetting a friend. All the sympa- 
 thies of the chief's noble soul for once gushed up ; and the 
 remembrances which intervened between this and their last 
 meeting, including his painful migration to the distant west 
 and his late return, caused the mingled tears of agony and of 
 love for once to trickle down his brawny cheeks. And a 
 rare circumstance for him he exclaimed, in broken Eng- 
 lish, "Me bliss," putting his hand upon his heart, 
 "Great Spirit me tank; him great good; me see my dead 
 boy; bravo! him grow like tall pine." The last remark 
 13*
 
 150 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 referred to the manly proportions into which Charles had 
 grown since he last saw him. 
 
 "0, Canaudeh, these sentiments of pious gratitude from 
 your lips are like music to my ears ! " said Douglass, with 
 emotion. 
 
 The noble savage then, stretching up his tall form to its full 
 length, while his long gray locks waved in the wind, laid one 
 hand on the head of Sarah, and with the other pointed to 
 heaven, to signify that there was his destined home, and she 
 was the one who had taught him the way. The first gush of 
 feeling passed, the Indian relapsed into his wonted silence, 
 while Miss Harcourt went on with her usual task of making 
 him understand a portion of God's word. The lesson of this 
 morning was the scene of Gethsemane, which, as she pro- 
 ceeded to unfold it to his view, threw an air of solemn devo- 
 tion over his features ; and, pointing to an uprooted oak, he 
 showed by signs that, as the winds had rudely dealt with 
 that, so he should soon fall, as the only relic of his tribe ; 
 but it would be to find salvation by Him who thus suffered in 
 the garden, and expired upon the cross. 
 
 " How my heart bleeds at the injuries which this noble 
 race has suffered at our hands ! " said Charles, as they left 
 the wigwam. " We have given them our inventions, without 
 teaching them how to use them. We have given them rum 
 and gunpowder, but without the gospel. Poor fellow ! he 
 seems not to be insensible to his wrongs." 
 
 "Insensible? No, he feels them keenly. His red brethren 
 also feel them. But our wrong, I think, does not so much 
 consist in withholding the gospel, because, from the days of 
 their apostle Eliot to this time, we have done much to Chris- 
 tianize them, but in not living it, in not practising it, in our 
 intercourse with them. Besides, alcohol to a savage appetite
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 151 
 
 is more certain death than arsenic ; for it begets a fatal thirst, 
 which the latter does not. They can taste the one without 
 craving it to their death, but not the other." 
 
 "Yes, yes; alcohol has swept from this continent the 
 noblest of all the races," said Douglass' with feeling, derived 
 from his own sad experience. 
 
 " The severest part of my task, Mr. Douglass, has been to 
 impress Canaudeh with the difference between Christianity 
 and Christians. As soon as he took hold on this, and learned 
 to look at Christ and the gospel as distinct from the white 
 race, his heart was open to the truth and love which shine in 
 the character of our Saviour." 
 
 " And the same is true of all men. Christianity has in it 
 the force of universal conviction. It is a religion of love ; 
 and love to the soul is what light is to the eye. It subdues 
 the untractable, softens the obdurate, and does more than the 
 fabled harp of Orpheus, which stayed the flow of rivers, made 
 savage beasts forget their wildness, mountains dance to its 
 strains, and charmed the prince of hell into clemency. ! 
 the love of Christianity, as disconnected from the animosity 
 of Christians, is a miracle-worker in the cause of virtue and 
 civilization." 
 
 ' ' I like the temperance pledge, Mr. Douglass, but I am 
 satisfied that that alone could not save Canaudeh from a 
 drunkard's grave. Christian principle must come to its sup- 
 port ; and mental, moral and social excitements, must supply 
 the place of the bottle." 
 
 " But, without the pledge of total abstinence, what can 
 they do 7 It is healing a wound without extracting its viru- 
 lence, and thus leaving it to break out again. One daily 
 dram is enough to break the ties of principle, mental excite- 
 ment, and of social or religious influence. I know it, I know
 
 152 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 it, Miss Harcourt ; I have seen it over and over again, and 
 never more than in our dear Mapleton, within a few years 
 past." 
 
 " What has happened in your town 1 " 
 
 "Ah me!" said Douglass, with a sigh, "I'll tell you 
 another time ; it is too long a story before my lesson in fish- 
 ing." 
 
 " Well, here is our babbling brook; but we must follow it 
 down to my favorite place. The fish are too coy for me else- 
 where." 
 
 "A babbling brook, indeed! How clear! how lively! 
 how beautiful ! I wonder not that you love such a brook as 
 this ; I should love it now, for its own sake, if I had not loved 
 it before for yours." 
 
 "Here, then, in this deep place, I always succeed best; 
 but I resign it to you, for your first lesson, and I will station 
 myself near." 
 
 " You are very kind," said he, preparing to drop his line. 
 
 "No, stop; here's a drug that Canaudeh taught me to 
 scent the bait with," she said, dropping a little upon his bait. 
 "Now, here, here; disengage your line; do as I tell you, 
 and be sure and move the hook gently, to take the attention 
 of the fish. A moving mouse is far more tempting to pussy 
 than a dead one." 
 
 He obeyed orders, while she went a short distance, and 
 commenced angling. In a few moments, out bounded her 
 hook, with a pendent trout, all spotted with gold. 
 
 " Charming preceptress, how shall I catch your art?" said 
 Charles, laughing. 
 
 " Good reason why you do not catch it; you are all the 
 time looking round at me. You must keep your eyes upon 
 your line, and move it as I tell you."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 153 
 
 " This is the hardest part of my lesson. How can I help 
 looking round?" 
 
 " You rogue ! do as I tell you, and it will be easy," said 
 she, laughing, when out leaped her hook again, with another 
 fish. 
 
 " Now, this is too bad ! It is not Canaudeh's medicine, 
 but your witchery, that allures the fish. If I were a fish, I 
 am sure I could not help biting such a hook." 
 
 " 0, you must be complimentary ! " she said, with a hearty 
 laugh, in which he joined ; and the woods rang with the music 
 of their mirth. "Your motions are not gentle enough, Mr. 
 Douglass. You scare the fish by splashing your line." 
 
 "Gentle? How can I be gentle enough for these timid 
 little things ? My shadow scares them. They have basked 
 too long in your superior gentleness to endure me." 
 
 "You mock me, Mr. Douglass. I do not like your flat- 
 tery." 
 
 " I do not flatter ; I speak sincerely ; my heart will out." 
 
 "If your heart is out, keep your hand steady," she replied, 
 gayly. "There comes another noble fellow! Poor fishy! 
 isn't it too cruel?" 
 
 "Yes, Miss Harcourt; my heart is touched. I could n't 
 perpetrate such a deed." 
 
 " Then your heart is about you yet, it seems ; and, I sup- 
 pose, would be touched with joy, as much as it now is with 
 pity, if the fish would deign to bite your hook. You must 
 mend your ways before you arraign my cruelty." 
 
 " You cruel? It's impossible. It is a mercy to the fish 
 to die by such hands. There ! I have a bite ! " added Doug- 
 lass, snatching his hook with such violence as to tear it from 
 its fastenings, and the fish fell into the stream. 
 
 " Well, let it go. I have a supply for both. One o'clock,"
 
 154 MAPLETON: OR, 
 
 added she, looking at her watch. " Dear me ! it is so late . 
 Come, Mr. Douglass, we must go." 
 
 " What ! before I catch one fish?" 
 
 " 0, you will do better next time. You could not be 
 expected to advance far in your first lesson." 
 
 " If I do not, it '11 not be the fault of my teacher." 
 
 "Perhaps you are more successful in Peter's occupation 
 of catching men," said Miss Harcourt, who suspected Doug- 
 lass' destination. 
 
 "If that should prove true, Miss Harcourt, the cherished 
 hope of my life will be realized." 
 
 "No hope could be better. 'He that winneth souls is 
 wise.' 3: 
 
 " This destination too exalted for the aspirings of one so 
 humble has, for some mysterious cause, been long before 
 my mind." 
 
 " And your education has been directed with reference to 
 it?" 
 
 " Not formally, but really. My engagement in Forest- 
 dale has no other object." 
 
 " Precisely as I suspected. You live there as a teacher 
 of religion." 
 
 "Yes; as a teacher of religion, but not with the grave 
 responsibilities of a pastor. This is a calling in which prac- 
 tice must concur with theory, to prepare one for it ; and my 
 friends advised this course, to settle my mind, and test my 
 fitness to make myself useful in it." 
 
 " Something more than practice or theory seemed to be 
 necessary to the apostles. They had to be endued with 
 power from on high; and are we less dependent in this 
 respect?" 
 
 " No, none the less; but how are we to obtain it? that is
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 155 
 
 the question. By what means did you come to have views 
 of this subject so just 7 " 
 
 " I cannot say that they are so; but I will tell you how I 
 came to think as I do, when you have told me more about 
 Mapleton." 
 
 This conversation was terminated on the balcony of the 
 mansion, where they parted, Miss Harcourt to look after her 
 household affairs, and Douglass to muse on the incidents of 
 the day. To a young man of Charles' habits and unhappy 
 domestic relations, nothing can be conceived more invigorat- 
 ing to head, heart and health, than these hours of rural 
 relaxation, in such society. When he was alone, his dreary, 
 soul-consuming years came peering up to his view, like the 
 dashing -wreck from which the storm-smitten sailor has 
 escaped, with the loss of all but his life. But, alas ! there is 
 no repose to a drunkard's son. The more he felt himself 
 becoming interested in this new and delightful acquaintance, 
 the more he feared the effect of having his father's character 
 known. It was a sun-dog to breed a storm, and not a rain- 
 bow to harbinger a clear sky, that seemed to lure him on. 
 
 Dinner was soon announced, and Douglass met father and 
 daughter again, at table. Health lent its charms to her per- 
 son ; exercise in the open air made her spirits elastic ; piety 
 overcast her with grace and loveliness ; and no feature was 
 wanting to complete in her the ideal of a model Christian 
 female. No sombre airs, no whining cant, no incapacity to 
 please or be pleased, no prudish affectation of gravity in 
 dress, nothing of the kind, to eclipse the lustre of her char- 
 acter; but all was bland, frank, social, cheerful. Little 
 passed between them at table. They were too happy in their 
 own reflections to talk, and too much interested in their antic- 
 ipated disclosures to fit them for conversation in the pres-
 
 156 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 ence of a third person. Harcourt sipped his wine freely, and 
 offered the cup to his guest, but it was politely declined. 
 
 " What, Mr. Douglass ! a teetotaller ? " 
 
 " I never drink anything that intoxicates," replied Charles. 
 
 " Excuse me, sir; but that always looks to me suspicious, 
 as if a man did in secret what he was ashamed to do openly." 
 
 "It is a suspicion without foundation in my case, Mr. 
 Harcourt, for I never drink at all." 
 
 " 0, ah, yes, yes; not at all ; and the meaning is, I sup- 
 pose, that nobody else shall drink. That, I believe, is the 
 motive of your teetotal principle." 
 
 " We leave every one to do as he pleases ; but our convic- 
 tion is, that the total disuse of intoxicating liquids as a bev- 
 erage would save the world an untold amount of crime, pov- 
 erty and wretchedness." 
 
 " No doubt, no doubt; but my principle is, that those who 
 are so weak as not to be able to drink without injuring them- 
 selves would be in some other way criminal, poor and wretched, 
 if wine were given up. Your teetotalism can't save them." 
 
 " Perhaps not all, but the greater part of them." 
 
 "But, if I gave up one good thing because others abused 
 it, then I may another ; and where shall I end ? I must 
 reduce myself to absolute hermitage; because there is no 
 possible comfort that somebody does not abuse." 
 
 " But we do not consider alcohol, as a beverage, among 
 our good things. We are all better off without it. Besides, 
 there is this difference between your wine and our real com- 
 forts, that it generates, in a large proportion of those who 
 use it habitually, a dangerous appetite, which is with diffi- 
 culty controlled, and which, when indulged, leads to the 
 greatest evils of which flesh is heir. It alienates the reason ; 
 which cannot be said of our real comforts."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 157 
 
 
 
 "A precious little reason does it alienate; for the fools 
 who use it in that manner have no reason. They are not 
 worth saving. I would not give up my wine to save as many 
 as you could shake a stick at." 
 
 " Dear father," said Sarah, "you speak more than you 
 mean. You have a tender heart, and would make great 
 sacrifices to render the miserable happy, I know." 
 
 "Certainly, certainly, my daughter; but the thing is, to 
 be convinced that giving up my wine would have this effect. 
 Nobody but a fanatic would ever have thought such a thing." 
 
 Sarah Avas everything to her father, and he, apart from his 
 infidel and worldly views, was everything to her that a 
 daughter could desire. It was his life to please her, the im- 
 age of that dear departed one who was ever present to his 
 view, and whose influence, but for his unfortunate drinking 
 habits, might have elevated him to the same spiritual hopes 
 which greeted her in her death. But this habit, though 
 never indulged to the extent of what the world calls intoxica- 
 tion (which he despised more than most men), kept his moral 
 feelings in a disguised state, and he did not reason nor feel on 
 religious subjects as he probably would if the bane had never 
 entered his blood. 
 
 Dinner ended, the young couple sought retirement to com- 
 plete their explanations. It was one of those warm days of 
 November that pass for Indian summer. The autumnal flies 
 were sporting in the sunbeams in clusters like moving aerial 
 pyramids, the second-growth lettuce and spinage were ex- 
 panding their green leaves in the garden, the cricket was 
 singing his monotonous ditty, the flocks and herds were crop- 
 ping the mown grass, and all was serene and lovely, like the 
 old age of a well-spent life. 
 
 " 0, Mr. Douglass, I must take you to our spring arbor, 
 14
 
 158 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 the loveliest spot on the plantation ! " exclaimed Miss Har- 
 court. 
 
 " Do call me Charles, Miss Harcourt. I have had it at 
 my tongue's end to say this, all day ; Mr. Douglass is so 
 stiff!" 
 
 " I should make a fine figure calling you Charles, when 
 you this moment called me Miss Harcourt. Call me Sarah, 
 and try the effect of example before you correct me." 
 
 "Agreed, Sarah, sweet Sarah! that has always been a 
 favorite name to me. I called you so during those happy 
 days of our childish acquaintance." 
 
 " Here we are at Spring Arbor. How do you like it? " 
 
 " Delightful ! a perfect Elysium ! I never before imag- 
 ined a spot of earth so beautiful." Nor was the guise of 
 fancy necessary to extort this confession. A little west of 
 Mr. Harcourt's house, the rocky defile curved round to the 
 north, so as to form a semi-circular space begirt by a natural 
 wall, like the intersected half of an amphitheatre, it being 
 from the plain below to the level of the country above the 
 rocks full sixty feet. The open side of the semi-circle looked 
 to the south- west,, so as to command a full view of the descend- 
 ing sun of autumn, while in its bosom gurgled up from the 
 cavity of the mountain a copious spring of pellucid water, 
 which formed itself into a pond of a hundred yards in cir- 
 cumference. Between this pond and the rocky defile on the 
 north side of it Mr. Harcourt had planted a vineyard, the 
 ample tendrils of which stretched themselves over the trees, 
 shrubs and artificial supports, so as to form a spacious arbor 
 covered by a thick vegetable awning, and looking out upon 
 the glassy surface of the fountain, which he had peopled with 
 a great variety of water-fowl. 
 
 What may seem extraordinary, the young couple, who
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 159 
 
 thought themselves alone, were not so, but in the presence of 
 a third person. That person was no other than Samuel Gil- 
 fort, the skulking serpent, who, from motives which will here- 
 after appear, gladly availed himself of the opportunity to 
 learn the probable tendency of an acquaintance so purely 
 accidental as far as the parties were concerned, which could 
 have as yet no other motive than that of the pleasure they 
 felt in each other, as the gushing up of their childish recollec- 
 tions. If there was anything beyond this, it must be set to 
 the account of a certain fitness of person, taste and character, 
 which interference might be expected to develop rather than 
 repress. Whether this eavesdropping was from accident or 
 design, on the part of Gilfort, is not a well-settled question. 
 He had been that morning gaming in a contiguous forest ; 
 and, it is said by some, had returned late and sat down to 
 rest himself under the shade of a rock enclosed by vines and 
 shrubbery back of the pool, and would have escaped when he 
 saw the young couple enter the arbor, if he could have done it 
 without exposure ; but, as he could not, he laid still, where 
 he could see and hear all that passed, without being himself 
 detected. Others affirm that he had been cognizant of Doug- 
 lass' previous visit, and that he took this clandestine method 
 to ascertain whether a rival was likely to spring up to his 
 own fondly-cherished hopes. It is not material to our pur- 
 pose that we should vex ourselves with the real facts of this 
 singular instance of meddling with other people's business. 
 
 Upon seating himself beside Miss Harcourt in the Arbor, 
 Charles exclaimed again, looking out upon the glassy surface 
 of the pool, " A perfect paradise, an Eden ! " 
 
 "And I'll be the serpent," whispered Gilfort, inaudibly. 
 
 " What is that ? " said Sarah, with a start of surprise. 
 
 "Nothing but a cricket; I heard a cricket peep," replied
 
 160 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 Douglass. "What a beautiful idea of your father to people 
 the pool with such charming tenantry ! See how gracefully 
 those swans move their arched necks ! How enchanting 
 their aquatic evolutions ! Not Joseph's many-colored coat 
 could equal the multiform plumage of these eider-drakes. 
 How elaborately are the minutest things in nature adorned 
 for our use! " 
 
 "That young ass thinks he brays beautifully," thought 
 Gilfort, loud enough to excite Sarah's fears again ; and she 
 said, "There! what is that? I certainly heard something 
 strange." 
 
 "Yes, a cricket again; it is sweet in my ear. Don't you 
 love the music of crickets?" 
 
 " I do not object, if it is that." 
 
 " Tell me, Sarah, do you not spend much time here? " 
 
 " 0, yes, I do, not to look at what you so much admire, 
 but to think of my dear mother, who is now in heaven. The 
 mind has in it imagery so transcending all outward loveliness, 
 that we forget the one in our contemplation of the other." 
 
 " Pray, Sarah, what are the facts in reference to your 
 mother ? She seems to live in your mind as an ever-pervad- 
 ing presence, and I have always been curious for an explana- 
 tion." 
 
 " The story is short, but full of meaning to an orphan's 
 mind. My mother was to me, while she lived, the oracle of 
 God. Thoughts of God's goodness and Christ's love were 
 interwoven with the lullaby of the cradle and with the stories 
 of the nursery. Nor were her pious assiduities in vain. 
 Her words dropped upon me like the gentle showers on the 
 spring grass. My earliest ideas were ideas of God, my first 
 words words of prayer, and my childish enthusiasm was to
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 161 
 
 be as good as my mother was, yea, as good as she repre- 
 sented Jesus to my young imagination. 
 
 " She died when I was eight years old ; and such a parent's 
 death no child ever witnessed. She was so calm, so sweetly 
 submissive, so charmingly lovely, in her sickness, that my 
 whole soul was wrapped up in hers, and it always seemed to 
 me a miracle of unbelief that my dear father was not won to 
 her faith.' ' Douglass thought within himself that the mystery 
 was fully revealed in the drinking habits of her father. The 
 serpent-cup held him with its charmed eye. It corrupted all 
 his moral judgments. While he despised drunkenness, no 
 drunkard could be more wedded to his cup, or more constantly 
 disguised by it. This accounted for his singular unbelief, 
 amid evidences of Christian truth, in the life and death of 
 his wife, which were overwhelming. What is the more 
 remarkable, was the perfect adoration with which he cher- 
 ished the memory of his wife, indisposing him to another 
 marriage, and rendering him so fond of Sarah from an idea 
 that she was like her mother. But still, all this mighty array 
 of Christian domestic influence was more than counterbal- 
 anced by the irresistible incantation of wine. These thoughts 
 passed through the mind of Charles, though delicacy re- 
 strained the expression of them. 
 
 " It was midnight," continued Sarah, "when my blessed 
 mother breathed her last. At her request, I was awaked an 
 hour previous. When I came to her bedside, she said, ' My 
 sweet Sarah, your mamma is dying ! ' I sobbed as if I 
 would break my heart. ' My tender daughter,' said she, 
 ' come once more to your dear mamma's arms.' With that, 
 the nurse set me on the bed by her side, and she clasped me 
 in her cold arms, imprinted the kiss of her clammy lips upon 
 my cheek, and said, ' 0, Sarah, my darling child, remember 
 14*
 
 162 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 your mother died a Christian. She loved Jesus. She prayed 
 to him continually. She trusted his atoning blood. Remem- 
 ber your mother said her dying hour was the happiest of her 
 life. Yes, full of happiness, and full of hope. There is no 
 happiness, and no hope, without holiness, my darling daugh- 
 ter. I leave you in God's hand. I know He will take better 
 care of you than your mamma could. I have his promise. 
 I can trust him. My breath is short,' she added, panting. 
 ' I am away, I am away ! Angels beckon me. Jesus 
 smiles me into heaven. Glory, glory, glory ! ' and with her 
 last word her breath was exhaled upon my cheek, her arms 
 still clasping me in the cold embrace of death." 
 
 Gilfort, moved by this recital, could not restrain his tears, 
 ejaculating, "Sweet! beautiful! divine! Now I feel 
 the charm of innocence. that I had been born to a like 
 inheritance ! Cursed training ! incurable habit ! " Steeped 
 as he was in infamy, born to a money-digging, whiskey-drink- 
 ing, night-walking inheritance, still his heart had its tender 
 points. Whose has not ? The evil spirit of alcohol, indulged 
 from youth, with habits in other respects to correspond, is 
 enough to make a fiend of any man. " My father," contin- 
 ued Sarah, "looked upon the scene in tearless anguish. He 
 felt too much to weep. Since that I have been his bosom 
 friend. His love to me, I sometimes fancy, arises chiefly 
 from his idea that I resemble my mother. 0, Charles, I can 
 never forget that scene ! It made me what shall I say '? 
 a child of faith. Faith gives substance to unseen things, 
 rests upon the word and providence of God, and peoples the 
 spirit-land with living forms of light and love. Were I 
 rudely visited with the trials of life, I know not how they 
 would affect me. But ours is a faith that overcomes. 
 Greater is He who is for us than all they that can be against
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 163 
 
 us, and I will not yield to fear. Still, faith is a delicate plant, 
 and must not be rudely handled. When once broken, it is 
 hard for it to send forth its shoots." 
 
 "That is it," replied Charles; "break it, and it cannot 
 bloom again. Mine is broken, broken by sorrow, broken by 
 wrong, wrong in myself and others, broken by a burden 
 of our Mapleton' history which it was too Aveak to sustain. 
 How shall I make it green and blooming again ? " 
 
 " Pray, what has happened in Mapleton? I have a dear 
 recollection of the place, having passed one year there while 
 our house was building." 
 
 Douglass here detailed the facts in reference to the grog- 
 gery and its effects, which, especially that part which con- 
 cerned his own father and the Durham family, perfectly 
 appalled her. The part of the story that concerned the 
 money-diggers exasperated Gilfort almost to madness, as he 
 had a great interest to stand well with the Harcourts ; and he 
 would have pounced upon the young couple at once, dagger in 
 hand, but for the hope of sweeter revenge on Douglass, and 
 even of success with Miss Harcourt, by some future turn of 
 fortune's wheel. 
 
 " Charles, your case is not so bad as you think," said 
 Sarah. " No, no, it admits of hope. Faith can conquer 
 difficulties even great as these. Dear, dear Mrs. Durham ! 
 I remember her well. I, too, was her Sunday-school scholar 
 for a short time. A perfect gem of a woman. But it is a 
 gem better fitted to shine in heaven than upon earth. The 
 Wisest and Best saw this, and took her home in a manner so 
 shocking to our feelings. The dark picture has a bright side 
 to the eye of faith. It is spanned by the bow of hope. 
 Charles, you will conquer all your difficulties, and rise yet to
 
 164 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 a higher and serener life. It is good to wear the yoke in 
 one's youth." 
 
 The tones in which this was said were so soft, so gentle, 
 so unaffected, and, withal, so musical, being sustained also by 
 a demeanor that seemed such a genuine reflection of heavenly 
 light, that it infused new life and hope into the petrified heart 
 of Douglass. He sat for a moment, buried in deep thought- 
 fulness, and then, half unconscious of what he was saying, he 
 broke forth into a passionate exclamation to the following 
 effect : 
 
 "0 for such a friend, to be the constant prompter of my 
 faith, the healer of my woes, the light of my erring reason, 
 the restorer of my wrecked life ! " and, seizing Miss liar- 
 court by the hand, passionately, he added, " Will you be all 
 that tome?" 
 
 " Hands off! hands off ! " muttered Gilfort, " or I '11 be the 
 death of you ! Take off the checks of my conscience ! con- 
 vert me into gall ! steep me in malice ! let not relenting sym- 
 pathy hold me back!" meanwhile flourishing furiously a 
 poniard which he always carried about his person. But, as 
 usual with him, wiser counsels prevailed, and he was content 
 to bide his time of revenge. His mutterings and motionings, 
 however, excited so much alarm in the young couple, that, 
 choosing the better part of valor, they escaped, without any 
 clear idea as to the cause of the commotion. 
 
 It was arranged at parting, that evening, that Douglass 
 should soon visit the plantation. In this he was disappointed 
 by the increasing demands upon his time among his people. 
 He visited the schools, did what he could to procure for them 
 suitable teachers, excited the emulation of the pupils by 
 means of prizes, encouraged the establishment of libraries, 
 took pains to excite a taste for reading, formed a temperance
 
 MORE WOEK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 165 
 
 society, and was the means of reclaiming numbers to sobriety, 
 and, at the same time, ministered to the spiritual edification 
 of the people. He had frequent momentary interviews with 
 Miss Harcourt, as she now became one of his hearers, it 
 being the first and only religious meeting at all accessible to 
 her new-country home. She even taught a Bible-class, and 
 gathered around her the principal young ladies of the town, 
 over whom she exerted a happy influence. She doubted the 
 propriety of this step at first, lest it should afford food to 
 scandal, and consulted Douglass on the subject. 
 
 " Scandal would soon starve on such food," was his reply. 
 
 Her father was the only obstacle that remained, but this 
 was removed by his obliging reply to her inquiry on the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 " Yes, teach the misses anything, conic sections, an old 
 almanac, or the Bible, rather than leave their minds a 
 stagnant pool, to breed absurdities. John, and the old grays, 
 and the close carriage, are always at your service, my daugh- 
 ter. Do not think I am going to leave you exposed to the 
 elements, in going to Forestdale, lest you too soon follow your 
 departed mother." 
 
 Sarah wept at the kindness of her father, and Douglass 
 could not but honor his parental devotion, whatever he might 
 be in other respects. Thus the two became co-laborers ; and 
 it contributed not a little to the success of the work. The 
 social and spiritual affections stand related to each other 
 somewhat like matter and mind, in the constitution of man ; 
 the one not being healthy while the other is diseased. 
 
 Things went on thus a few weeks, when Douglass paid 
 another visit to the plantation, and came to a formal under- 
 standing with Miss Harcourt, conditioned on the father's 
 consent. This was Friday, and he was to be consulted on
 
 166 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 the subject the ensuing Monday. As the night was stormy, 
 Douglass did not leave till Saturday morning, when, as4e was 
 about to mount his horse, he expressed some surprise to Miss 
 Harcourt that he had not seen her father since entering the 
 house the former evening. Sarah then first awoke to the fact 
 herself, but added, 
 
 "I rather think papa has a cold, and deems it prudent to 
 keep his room." 
 
 " My dear Sarah, you look depressed this morning. Is it 
 that our destinies have become involved?" 
 
 " No ; it is the fear of having them divided." 
 
 ',' That 's impossible. There is one, at least, who could not 
 endure it. His existence apart from you would not be worth 
 a song." 
 
 " We will not indulge unnecessary fears. I see no cause 
 for our thoughts taking such a gloomy turn." 
 
 " No, there can be none, if we are only sound at heart and 
 fixed in mind. All other sorrows would be more than 
 summed up in the loss of you. A kind Providence, who sees 
 how unable I am to sustain such a load, will not impose it 
 upon me." 
 
 "Charles," said she, "I have just received this package 
 of books, which I have promised to distribute among my class 
 to-morrow, and so you may rely upon seeing me early." 
 
 " Early, my love ! " he added, and so they parted. 
 
 The Sabbath came, the class met, and sat looking wistfully 
 at each other ; but no teacher came. Douglass was surprised 
 and confounded. He said to the young ladies that Miss 
 Harcourt was no doubt sick, as she had their books, and was 
 fondly awaiting this hour to deliver them. His heart sunk 
 within him, and he could hardly wait till Monday morning for 
 an explanation of the mystery. As soon as it was light, he
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 167 
 
 was on his way to the mansion. But, lo ! he found the 
 shutters closed, the doors locked, and, when he rang, there 
 was no response. He hastened round back of the main build- 
 ing, when he saw smoke rising from the wing in which the 
 kitchen was situated, and met a servant at the door, who told 
 him that Mr. Harcourt and daughter had left, the previous 
 Saturday, to return no more : and that his family were the 
 sole occupants of the house, with which they had been left in 
 charge. 
 
 "Where have they gone?" inquired Douglass. 
 
 "How d'ye s'pose sich as me knows? They be great 
 folk, that has more housen as one." 
 
 " Still, Charles thought some one on the plantation must 
 be able to inform him where they had gone ; and he went 
 round to inquire of the tenantry, but found them all as much 
 in the dark as himself. Canaudeh's wigwam was vacant, and 
 he could get no intelligence from that quarter. The failure 
 of supplies from the mansion had probably driven him to the 
 woods in search of game. When Charles reached Spring 
 Arbor, he found the pool ice-bound, the vines encumbered 
 with frozen snow and rain, and it presented altogether a scene 
 of utter desolation. But the winter of his own heart was far 
 more bleak, and howling, and dreadful. " God ! have 
 mercy ! " was, for a length of time, the extent of his prayer. 
 Words were a poor relief to his burdened heart and shattered 
 reason. His homeward ride was a journey into the hopeless 
 depth of a polar winter, no more to greet the land of bloom, 
 beauty and hope. " I am doomed, doomed ! " this was all 
 he could utter. His dream of bliss had ended in the rugged 
 reality of pain and despair. He wrote many letters, to learn 
 the location of Harcourt and daughter, to all of which the 
 answer was, "We know positively nothing;" except the one
 
 168 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 addressed to Skampton, which was never answered. He 
 examined the published record of passengers to foreign coun- 
 tries, thinking they might have gone abroad ; but could meet 
 with no such names. An impassable gulf was between him 
 and his dearest earthly hopes, across which no carrier pigeon 
 brought him a word of intelligence. And what added intens- 
 ity to his sufferings was the suspicion of its being altogether 
 owing to the reputation of his father, and that he was now 
 beginning to realize his worst fears in reference to the disad- 
 vantages of his social position. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CONSERVATISM OF THE LIQUOR-TRAFFIC. 
 
 " Those things which we reverence for antiquity, what were they at 
 their first birth ? Were they false ? time cannot make them true. Were 
 they true ? time cannot make them more true. The circumstance, there- 
 fore, of time, in respect of truth and error, is merely impertinent." 
 JOHN HALES. 
 
 THE suspicions of Douglass as to the cause of the Har- 
 courts' escape were not only well founded, but it had been 
 brought about by the man who had done most of all to seduce 
 his father into vice again, and to attaint his Mapleton reputa- 
 tion. The man who had held the cup to his neighbor's lips, 
 in spite of a mother's tears and entreaties, was the first to 
 visit the consequent disgrace upon her children. Not con- 
 tent with the ruin of parental character, he proceeds, with 
 wanton hand, to deprive the children of position in society, 
 and to make them the sufferers for deeds in their father of
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 169 
 
 which he had been the instigator. How can society longer 
 tolerate such perfidy, such villany ? Soon after the Spring 
 Arbor scene, Gilfort imparted the result of his eavesdropping 
 to Skampton ; and the latter gentleman took sweet revenge 
 upon his refractory dependant, by sending the following let- 
 ter to Harcourt : 
 
 " SIR: I understand that a young man by the name of 
 Douglass is attentive to your daughter. I know him well ; 
 and deem it my duty, as a friend, to inform you that he is a 
 worthless fellow. Besides, his father is a drunkard. 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 "MICHAEL SKAMPTON." 
 
 How characteristic is this fact ! The drunkard- maker 
 visiting his own work upon an unoffending family ! Those 
 who had wept bitter tears over the infamy of a father, com- 
 pelled to suffer over the same in their own persons, and that, 
 too, by the very authors of this infamy ! Wisconsin has 
 passed the just law of imposing all charges for the support of 
 criminals and paupers, made so by intoxicating drinks, upon 
 those who deal in the article. But this is not enough. The 
 infamy, as well as the pecuniary loss, belongs to them, and 
 they ought to be made to bear it. Why should this most 
 grievous of all burdens be imposed upon the wife and chil- 
 dren of the drunkard, who have already suffered so much 1 
 
 Herein society is utterly at fault. Those whom it exposes 
 to the danger of fighting its battles it honors and pensions. 
 Their wounds are honorable, and their death glorious. Their 
 wives and children too are pensioned, and admitted to a distin- 
 guished position. Processions are instituted to their honor, 
 and their names are emblazoned to posterity on monumental 
 15
 
 170 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 marble. But how does society deal with chose whom it 
 exposes to the greater danger of the licensed liquor-traffic ? 
 Alas ! their wounds are plague-spots, to warn all to escape 
 them who can. The bloated, crimsoned face, the blood-shot 
 eye, the trembling, tottering step, the filthy, squalid dress, 
 and the relics of a night in the gutter, these wounds and 
 mementoes of the alcoholic war, which society has waged by 
 its law of license, are they illustrious? Are they honored 
 by pension, place, position? Are they a passport, in the 
 drunkard's family, to distinguished society ? No, no ! the 
 drunkard's only procession is a retinue of constables, bailiffs 
 and police-officers, conducting him to prison. His children 
 are sent to the penitentiary, his wife to the poor-house ; and 
 none so poor or so mean as to do them reverence. 0, unjust 
 and cruel society ! why this disparity in the treatment of 
 those whom your laws expose to danger ? Is it that men are 
 free to buy or not buy in* your licensed hells ? But are they 
 not equally free to fight or not fight your battles ? Is it 
 that the danger of your hells is less than that of your embat- 
 tled legions ? Directly the contrary is the fact. The United 
 States sacrifices the lives of thirty thousand drunkards annu- 
 ally in the alcoholic war, which it has never done in any of 
 its sanguinary conflicts. The danger to which our liquor- 
 laws expose men is ten-fold greater than that of national war- 
 fare. And yet we leave the memory of the drunkard to rot, 
 while that of a fallen hero is emblazoned to all ages. The 
 landlord turns out his drunken customer to die in the streets, 
 and refuses his children an equal position with those whose 
 parents denied him their patronage ! Such is the justice of 
 our present liquor-laws and drinking-customs ! 
 
 While poor Douglass is writhing under the infliction of 
 this lordly rum-factor, how distinguished his position ! His
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 171 
 
 enormous gains, especially since the temperance movement 
 had diminished the number of rum-dealers and increased the 
 profits of the poisonous traffic, might be seen in the splen- 
 dor with which Skampton had surrounded himself. He had 
 selected for his home the right bank of one of our most pic- 
 turesque and renowned rivers, in the little town of Riverton, 
 which lies so near one of our large cities as to be a suburb, 
 a delightful one too. He had purchased a woodland domain 
 of many hundred acres, near the centre of which he had 
 built his palace, surrounded by conservatories, gardens and 
 pleasure-grounds. A massy gate and lodge, with bell so 
 contrived as to be rung by the approach of a carriage, to 
 warn the porter to be on hand, were an index to the sump- 
 tuous scene. The gate passed, the visitor found himself on 
 a macadamized carriage-way, which wound round and round 
 through a deeply-shaded ravine, rising upward and still up- 
 ward, enclosed on either hand by forest-crowned elevations 
 and a carpeting of greensward, which droves of deer were 
 quietly cropping, while birds, in great number and variety, 
 were singing in the overhanging branches. This way term- 
 inated in an undulating surface of many acres, a sort of 
 mountain terrace, on which the house and its appendages 
 were tastefully arranged ; and then, back of this terrace, the 
 hill reached a still loftier altitude, on which an observatory 
 had been built, commanding a wide prospect of earth and 
 heaven. Even at the point where the house stood, many 
 miles of the river, with its infinite variety of craft, appeared 
 in perspective like a vast moving panorama. On a lower 
 elevation, in the far-off view, the buildings of Riverton 
 Seminary might be seen, on which Skampton lavished a part 
 of his surplus income, and where he manufactured young 
 men to increase the stock of his reputation and influence.
 
 172 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 The house was rural and beautiful in its architecture, and 
 adapted to increase the general effect. First, a porch, suited 
 in its proportions to the magnificent structure ; then a hall, 
 broad, long and lofty, terminated in a piazza "with fluted 
 columns, the whole breadth of the house, which commanded 
 a view of the river, seminary, and a wide extent of rural 
 scenery, eminently beautiful, from the contrast of land and 
 water, of sails and houses, of steam-cars and steamboats, of 
 hill and dale, of field and forest, and of city and country. 
 Arranged along the hall, on either hand, were library, par- 
 lors, breakfast-room, dining-room, nursery, and other recep- 
 tacles of convenience, ornament and luxury. The second 
 and third stories were in keeping with the first ; the house 
 being furnished throughout with Wilton carpets, lofty mirrors, 
 costly sofas, divans and . chairs, all indicating a degree of 
 wealth and splendor which princes might envy. The first 
 door on the left opened out of the hall into the library, with 
 a rich collection of books, prints, paintings, statuary, and 
 carved work. This was Skampton's throne. Here he con- 
 trived his plans of acquisition, here he studied out the 
 most successful modes of profiting by human infirmity ; and 
 it ought to have been full of death-heads, human bones, 
 bottled tears of widowed and orphan wretchedness, paintings 
 of drunken brawls and bloody riots, with the estimated 
 profit accruing from each to the owner written underneath. 
 Prominent among the group ought to have appeared the 
 Genius of Intemperance, with Sir Christopher Wren's monu- 
 mental inscription: 
 
 Si monumentum quseris, 
 CircumSpice. 
 4 If you ask for my monument, look around ! ' 
 
 In this room it was that Gilfort and Skampton met, a few
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 173 
 
 weeks after the concluding events of the foregoing chapter, 
 and had a consultation as to what should be done to ward 
 off a more stringent legislation against the liquor traffic. 
 After the usual salutations, Skampton inquired, "Pray, 
 Gilfort, where d' ye hail from?" 
 
 " From Terracegreen. I have remained there ever since I 
 wrote you last." 
 
 " Ay, ay ! and had an eye, I hope, to the lovers. Pray, 
 what effect had my letter? " 
 
 " Good, good ! It was the right medicine. It knocked 
 the disease on the head. It saved an innocent girl from the 
 grasp of a tiger, and laid the tiger himself sprawling. I saw 
 him before I left, and his face was as long as my arm, and 
 black as thunder." 
 
 " How so ? How did Harcourt worst the fellow?" 
 
 ' ' By the better part of valor ; he escaped. He swore 
 he 'd be the death of his daughter, before she should marry 
 a drunkard's son." 
 
 " What ! left the country?" 
 
 " The country of this fellow, where he '11 see him no 
 more." 
 
 " That 's enough ; it 's all I ask. I am thankful that I 
 did my duty, and saved an innocent family. He is a piece 
 of impertinence, and I 'd sacrifice every cent I have before 
 I 'd see him married to such a wife as Sarah Harcourt. How 
 the fool could think to succeed, drunkard's son as he is, 
 temperance lecturer, college scapegrace, expelled for bad 
 conduct, is more than I can divine. His teetotal pledge is 
 enough to wind him up, with a man of Harcourt's spirit." 
 
 " Yes, Harcourt despises him. I stated to him the facts 
 in my possession, and his mettle ran high, that the rascal 
 should presume so far. But he is so controlled by his 
 15*
 
 174 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 daughter that he did nothing till your letter came ; and 
 then he was off in a trice, and is to be seen there no more." 
 
 " That is a good fellow, Gilfort, and entitles you to a bottle 
 of champagne." Rings, and a servant enters. " Sambo, 
 bring me a bottle of our best." 
 
 "To be sure, massa, de berry best, dat any gemman '11 
 say," replied Sambo, hastening after the champagne, and 
 soon reappearing, with bottle in hand. 
 
 "Here, Gilfort, drink, drink freely; you need it, after 
 BO much fatigue." 
 
 "With you, sir." 
 
 " No, no, Gilfort, you know I never drink. I know the 
 best, as well as any man ; it don't agree with me ; we are 
 differently constituted ; I never drink." 
 
 "What! yoked to this cut-throat pledge?" said Gil- 
 fort, drinking. 
 
 "Don't insult me by such a question. I should be in 
 chains with that fanatical device. What madness has seized 
 upon the people? Just as if we are wiser than the hun- 
 dreds of generations which have preceded us, who never 
 dreamed of its being criminal to take a social glass ! I would 
 drink, for there is good cheer in 't, but it always gives me a 
 thumping head-ache, and unfits me for anything." 
 
 " Well, I am thankful it has the contrary effect upon me. 
 My head is always clearest, and my heart always best, with a 
 little wine in 't. If I wished to think deeply, feel profoundly, 
 pray sincerely, act coolly, bargain skilfully, and do anything 
 effectively, it would be with bottle in hand," he added, drink- 
 ing off another glass. 
 
 "By the way, we are getting a haul out of our Falls 
 tract." 
 
 "Yes, we are just approaching the harvest. We have
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 175 
 
 had, hitherto, only the premature ears, hardly a specimen of 
 what is to follow. We have there a large village growing 
 into a city. One object I have this way is, to blow up our 
 lots in the Eastern market. To furnish myself with wind, I 
 set the bellows in motion before I left. I got up a perfect 
 rage for buying. I sold the Lion Corner, the other day, 
 for ten thousand dollars, and took pains to have it purchased 
 of the buyer, the day following, for twenty thousand, and 
 the day following that for thirty thousand ; and that is a 
 specimen of how things go." 
 
 " You made a loss, then, by selling so low?" 
 "No, not I. I see you don't understand the game. 
 Nothing was paid me, and nothing to those who sold after 
 me. Money is not necessary to get rich in this way. I was 
 never so confounded hard up as now. But, then, we shall 
 reap a harvest in the end. These sales, which I have had 
 duly certified, will tell on Wall-street. The property is not 
 alienated from us by means of them, for the right of soil is 
 secured to us by mortgage. We have a clear title ; and 
 when the last purchaser fails, it '11 come back upon the next 
 to him, and the next, till it falls again into our hands, with all 
 its improvements. And, by that time, capitalists abroad will 
 be induced to invest among us, and a flow of gold will set in 
 upon our city, that cannot fail to find its way into our pockets, 
 as the great reservoir. This is between us." 
 
 "My affairs are vastly extended, Gilfort; I must have 
 funds out of the concern, or I shall kick the bucket. If this 
 cursed liquor-law should succeed, I 'm a dead man. Then 
 my capital goes to the gutter, and I to bankruptcy. My 
 public houses will become sheep-cotes; my ships in the liquor- 
 trade will rot at the wharves ; my distillery- worm will cease 
 its flow ; my enormous charities will vanish into air ; and I,
 
 176 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 a stranded whale, shall be the prey of crows and harpies. 
 This is between you and me, as you say." 
 
 " That 's the point, the exact point, upon which I have 
 come to talk. First, we must blow up our lots in the market. 
 Then for the battle on the liquor-bill. Your legislature meets 
 here soon, and the contest comes on in due form, and we must 
 be ready for it. That madcap Bludgeon is setting the state 
 all on fire against us, and is to begin his onset here the first 
 of March. We must be ready to knock him in head. If 
 the liquor-bill succeeds here, it will in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
 and then it will over-leap the Mississippi and invade my 
 colony, where I am manufacturing the article on a large scale. 
 This done, and I might whistle for emigrants ; for the great 
 attraction, to those who are annoyed by this Maine legislation, 
 is our freedom to make, sell and drink, what we please. If 
 we do not gain the battle here, we lose it everywhere else." 
 
 " Well, what do you propose? " 
 
 " I propose that we send out agents enough to array on 
 our side all the wealth, talent and power, which we can. possi- 
 bly command. Then, that we have here in your city a con- 
 sultation of the principles, arguments, measures and influences, 
 to be used with the legislature to defeat this Maine law. This 
 should take place as early as February, to be ready for the 
 Bludgeon tornado. And then, during his campaign, let our 
 ablest speakers be employed, to hold counter-meetings, to 
 divert public attention, and to pour their hot shot upon his 
 camp. With these plans duly carried out, we shall array on 
 our side an extent of prejudice, passion and interest, that 
 must insure success." 
 
 " A capital idea, and I have with me the man to head the 
 agency. Mr. Saphead can drum up more people in a given 
 time than any man I know. Sambo, go call Mr. Saphead."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 177 
 
 This gentleman soon appeared, very much out of breath, for 
 the good reason that inward fat had nearly deprived him of 
 breathing capacity. He was a man five feet six, and greater 
 in circumference than in height. His gait was like that of a 
 duck in the mud. We sometimes say of a man that he is the 
 breath of another. But breathing denotes continuity, which 
 Saphead had not. He was rather the puff of Skampton, 
 which he blew off occasionally to serve a purpose. Saphead 
 was the generalissimo of all enterprises requiring money and 
 action ; Skampton supplying the one and he the other, so that 
 the two together were the parts of a pair of shears, and a 
 keener instrument never fleeced the public. 
 
 " Saphead, such and such are Mr. Gilfort's plans," said 
 Skampton, detailing to him the particulars. " What do you 
 think ? " 
 
 "I think two wiser heads do not rest on shoulders, and 
 what you approve I go for," said Saphead, with labored 
 breathing. 
 
 " You deserve a drop for that," said Gilfort, pouring out 
 a glass of champagne, which Saphead swallowed with a gusto, 
 it put life into his sluggish corporosity. 
 
 ' ( You will then undertake to drum up recruits for the 
 Campaign in February and March, will you, Mr. Saphead? " 
 said Skampton. 
 
 " I will, sir. I'll go first to all the liquor-dealers, and get 
 a large subscription ; for it 's money makes the mare go. 
 Then, I 'd get every conservative man's influence on our side ; 
 I mean yours, as you are men skilled in all matters of law 
 and legislation. They '11 go for us, to a man. Then all the 
 liquor-drinkers a numerous host will bring up the rear, 
 with their petitions, to scare the dough-faces into a vote on 
 the right side."
 
 178 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 "You understand the thing, Saphead," said Skampton. 
 " We shall need a large subscription to buy over the papers." 
 
 At that moment the door-bell rang, and Peter Pegan, Esq., 
 a conservative editor of distinction, was ushered in. " Just in 
 time, Mr. Pegan," added Skampton, detailing the several 
 features of the plan. " Can we rely upon your able and influ- 
 ential journal?" 
 
 " That 's the very object of my coming," said Pegan, with 
 an involuntary twist of his meagre person. " The battle 
 waxes hotter and hotter. I have just heard that Bludgeon 
 has set the north and west of the state all in a flame. They 
 have already begun to empty the liquor-casks by mob vio- 
 lence, and are confident of being sustained in their van- 
 dalism by the coming legislature. I am prepared to lead off 
 with all my power in favor of law and order ; and have come 
 to put you on your*guard, and to request you to rally as many 
 as you can to my help." 
 
 " You see, my good Pegan," said Skampton, " we have 
 anticipated you." 
 
 " Yes, I go to New York this very night," added Saphead. 
 "I'll kindle in the great metropolis a counter-flame, which 
 will consume Bludgeon and all his combustion." 
 
 "I'll keep my host here to assail the coming members of 
 both houses," said Gilfort. 
 
 " And I '11 help you," added Skampton. 
 
 Who has not remarked the conflict of the conservative 
 principle with the genius of change ? The Old cannot main- 
 tain her hold without resisting the encroachments of the New; 
 and the New cannot rise except on the ruins of the Old. 
 The one looks with jealous concern on her time-hallowed 
 prerogatives ; while the other, bearing on her bold front the 
 motto of utter demolition, finds in the antiquity of a thing
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 179 
 
 sufficient reason for beginning her work of destruction. The 
 one would chain the future within the limits of the past ; the 
 other would drive the triumphal car of change over all that 
 is guilty of an origin prior to her own. 
 
 These conflicts must go on. There is no avoiding them. 
 We can dispense with neither the one nor the other of the 
 belligerent powers. The one is as necessary to guard what- 
 ever is valuable in the past, as the other to introduce improve- 
 ments. Neither the forms of society, nor the maxims of 
 legislation, nor the institutions of civil government, nor creeds 
 in religion, nor the conceptions of virtue and obligation, nor 
 the arts and sciences, nor anything, in fact, which at all depends 
 upon the faculties of man, is too perfect to admit of improve- 
 ment. To rectify present defects is as necessary as the pre- 
 servation of what is excellent. 
 
 But, unfortunately, the conservative principle often protects 
 the evil, as well as the good. It is as tenacious of slavery as of 
 liberty, and of a traffic which corrupts mankind as of one which 
 has proved itself the most harmless and beneficent. She is a 
 blind, imperious, and blood-thirsty divinity, whose temple is 
 prejudice, whose altar malignity, and whose victims are the 
 greatest and best of mankind. The Son of God himself, with 
 his self-denying associates, and the martyred reformers, as 
 well as Socrates, Seneca, and a long line of kindred spirits, 
 forced to her shrine, have died to appease her inexorable ven- 
 geance. And the genius of change is scarcely less arbitrary 
 and blood-thirsty. A despotism is demolished to make way 
 for anarchy and misrule. The feudal tyrannies are sup- 
 planted by the Bonapartean thrones, standing amid the blood 
 and carnage of slaughtered millions ; the virtues of defect are 
 followed by those of excess, as the miser is merged in the 
 voluptuary ; and thus innovation is as reckless as conserva-
 
 180 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 tism is cruel and relentless. Yet change must go on. Wise 
 and good men should understand this, and take the lead in it, 
 instead of leaving it to the intemperate and the lawless. 
 
 In reference to Skampton, as a faithful historian we are 
 bound to say that his great error was his ultra conservatism. 
 He was not inherently cruel, nor excessively avaricious, nor 
 capable of an out-and-out fraud ; and, as to the government 
 of his own appetites, no man could be more rigorous. But 
 he was so wedded to all existing opinions and usages, as to 
 feel that those who rose up against them were enemies to 
 society, and to be dealt with as such. When poor Mrs. 
 Douglass besought him to interfere to turn away the cup 
 from her husband's lips, he felt that she was some way linked 
 with the temperance innovations, and was to be treated as a 
 disturber of the public tranquillity. Her son's temperance 
 efforts while in college exposed him, also, to the same feeling, 
 and led Skampton to exercise against him the arbitrary power 
 to which his position and enormous gratuities entitled him. 
 And, as Charles could not be brought to his standard, he must 
 be hurled into the abyss of infamy which his contumacious 
 treatment of so great a benefactor deserved. Hence, the 
 ambition of arbitrary control, natural to a weak mind which 
 had so many things to bolster up its pretensions to power, 
 stands side by side with ultra conservatism, as the key to 
 Skampton's character. We say these things in favor of the 
 man, under the full impression that in nothing is history so 
 much at fault as in revealing motives, and in its inquiries after 
 the ruling passions of the great actors in the world's drama. 
 
 Besides, the early life of Skampton was full of mitigating 
 facts, to soften the shading of his character. He was born in 
 a mountain defile of the ancient town of Undercliff, on a farm 
 wedged in by inaccessible ledges, on which his ancestors,
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 181 
 
 from the early time of the colonies, had sustained a preca- 
 rious subsistence. He inherited their staidness, early became 
 a member of their church, was scrupulous in little things 
 but careless of great ones, and was as averse to expansion as 
 the rock-bound farm on which he was raised. The deacon, 
 his father, ruled the church, minister and all, or rather his 
 wife ruled it through him ; for the Mercury, or rather Mars, 
 was all on her side. Michael was vulgarly called the tell-tale 
 of the school under Master Tody, who early conceived a pas- 
 sion for him, and made him his right-hand man. The more 
 Master Tody loved him, the more his school-fellows hated 
 him ; and the more they hated him, the more Mrs. Skampton 
 and Master Tody thought he was a genius ; and tKe more they 
 thought so, the more they told him so. Hence Michael began 
 life under circumstances to insure in him a false estimate of 
 himself and of everything around him. 
 
 Through the persuasions of Mrs. Skampton and Master 
 Tody, the deacon was compelled, against his will, to send 
 Michael abroad, to try the fortunes of literature. But the 
 thing would not go. Michael would strike his head furiously 
 with his fist, to drive in a thought, or to make it stick after 
 he got it in. But the recreant thought would escape him, 
 after all. He plodded on a few years in this way, till it was 
 found tha* dulness is a disease not easily cured, when he 
 was put to business, in which he acquitted himself more cred- 
 itably. Fortune, of which he was always a favorite, perpe- 
 trated one of those freaks upon him which introduced him 
 into a widely different field from what he had a right to 
 expect. A maternal uncle of wealth, dying in the West 
 Indies, left the bulk of his property to young Skampton. 
 To this he added still more by his marriage. Hence he had 
 at once large sums to invest, which he prudently distributed 
 16
 
 182 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 among a variety of objects that brought large returns. From 
 the silks of Broadway to the whales of Kamtschatka, from 
 lots in the city to the new lands of the West, from the sump- 
 tuous hotel to the humblest groggery, all shared his attention, 
 and supplied the rills of his wealth. His preference for the 
 liquor business was always decided, not so much on ac- 
 count of its profits, as his desire to maintain a great principle, 
 which had been acknowledged from Noah's wine- press to this 
 day, he said, but was now assailed and invaded by these fanat- 
 ical temperance innovations. His wealth had grown upon 
 him, till his annual income had risen to thirty or forty thou- 
 sand dollars. 
 
 Still, Skampton was moderate, lived with simplicity, was 
 as unassuming as one under his circumstances could well be ; 
 and his homestead investment was made more with reference, 
 he said, to the rise in its value, and the greater means he 
 should thus have in the end to do good with, than to any ideas 
 of personal luxury or splendor. What had done most of all 
 to delude and debase him was his falling into the hands of 
 flatterers, who desired to divide with him the spoils of his 
 wealth. A man with money is like a king in the midst of 
 his courtiers, befooled for the public good. He was never 
 approached save with hat under arm and head doing obei- 
 sance, and was daily surrounded by a class of men who sought 
 money from him for this, that, and the other charity ; and 
 who, to accomplish their purpose, would make him believe 
 that the hope of the world, in these days of innovation, was 
 wrapped up in him and in his purse. A mind weak, preju- 
 diced and compressed, like that of Skampton, was just the 
 one to drink down the delicious bane, and suffer from it the 
 worst imaginable consequences. He was liberal, and gave 
 very largely ; but manifestly not as a gratuity, at least in
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 183 
 
 the feeling and motive by which it was dictated, but to buy 
 influence, and create in as many as possible the obligation to 
 do and think as he wished, and to bow down to his over- 
 whelming power. Other rich men invested to bring a return 
 in kind; but he, in reputation and influence. The social 
 supremacy of the Honorable Michael Skampton cost him 
 thousands a year. How much more a gift is money thus 
 bestowed than in buying lands or stocks ? It was the sys- 
 tem of coercion which he employed with young men depend- 
 ent on his bounty that involved him in a quarrel with Charles 
 Douglass. That young gentleman had too much spirit to 
 submit to his dictation, and too much reason to detest his 
 alcoholic traffic to receive his benefactions. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 WINE AND WITCHCRAFT. 
 
 " Be 't whiskey gill, or penny-wheep, 
 
 Or any stronger potion, 
 It never fails, on drinking deep, 
 To kittle up our notion, 
 
 By night or day." BURNS. 
 
 " For, if the devil may form what kind of impression he pleases in the 
 air, why may he not far easier thicken and obscure so the ait that is about 
 them, by contracting it straight together, that the beams of any other 
 man's eyes cannot pierce through the same to see them?" KING 
 JAMES I. 
 
 THE parties in consultation at once set about their work. 
 Pegan's columns flamed with articles against the Maine law. 
 A hundred inferior sheets lighted their censers at his altar.
 
 184 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 Dolorous waitings resounded on every hand against oppres- 
 sion, invasion of the rights of trade, the folly of decreeing 
 what a man shall drink, the impossibility of carrying out 
 such a bill, priestly interference, malignant fanaticism, legis- 
 lating against all precedent since Noah began the wine busi- 
 ness, the ruin of fortunes to those whom the present laws had 
 drawn into the liquor traffic, conflict with constitutional law 
 which entitles a man to trial by a jury of his peers, and 
 much more in the same line. Peal after peal of Pegan thun- 
 der resounded through the land, reverberating from hill to 
 valley, and from mountain to plain. The gathering law- 
 makers were taken all aback, and dared not move to the 
 right or left, at the peril of their popularity. Those who had 
 obtained their election by the pledge to support the Maine 
 law could not stand against this volleyed thunder of Pegan' s 
 pen, and covered themselves from danger under silence, 
 absence, or any subterfuge they could invent. Meantime, 
 Saphead had swelled his golden accumulation to many thou- 
 sands, at the expense of the liquor-dealers, to flood the coun- 
 try with documents, to hire public-sentiment makers to exer- 
 cise their function all abroad, and to buy influejjce in any 
 form under which it might be offered in the market. Skamp- 
 ton plied his arts of personal suasion with the members of 
 the legislature in detail, and did most effective execution ; 
 while, on the other hand, Bludgeon and his host waxed hotter 
 and hotter, more and more numerous and powerful, and both 
 the Senate and Assembly were deluged with petitions in be- 
 half of the Maine Law, which they dared not grant, and yet 
 feared to resist. They were literally toads under a harrow, 
 not knowing which way to hop. 
 
 Necessity knows no law. This poor Gilfort found, to his 
 cost. He desired to lead off his division, and stand foremost
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 185 
 
 in the impending battle, but lacked the sinews of war 
 money. The funds he brought from the far West were gone. 
 His late windy speculations yielded no supplies. There were 
 delicate considerations against looking either to Skampton or 
 Saphead, in this exigency. The former gentleman he knew 
 was hard up, and to draw on the latter's purse would be sub- 
 mitting to a charity pension. No, no ; he must appeal to his 
 wits, which, when duly sharpened by the " 0, be joyful," had 
 never failed to coin the needful out of something, or nothing. 
 He had lodgings a little out of the city with one of his creat- 
 ures. He never failed to have around him this kind of ani- 
 mals, a class of men to whose conscience ho was the all-in- 
 all, and whom he could rely upon for any dirty service to 
 which he might send them. His host was as destitute of the 
 needful as himself ; but another man near by, a Dutchman, 
 by the name of Roderick Dobson, who had once been one of 
 his creatures, but had fallen away through an over-love of 
 managing his own purse, instead of leaving it for Gilfort to 
 finger, he knew abounded in money. 
 
 Gilfort, therefore, applied to Dobson for the favor of a 
 loan, proposing to secure him with his Falls property, or in 
 any way he should ask. "I an't able, anyhow, to give you 
 the money," said Dobson, with a grin which revealed a 
 sparse supply of teeth, and a shrug of his round, Dutch 
 shoulders, which betrayed the strength of his hold upon the 
 fruit of his labor. 
 
 "What! ten per cent, and good security nothing to you, 
 Dobson ? Your money, at that rate, will earn more than you 
 can." 
 
 " It arns more in my hand, where I sees it, and knows 
 where it is." 
 
 " Well, if you won't accommodate me, I '11 render good for 
 16*
 
 186 MAPLETON ; OR; 
 
 evil, and pay you off with a drink of capital whiskey, just 
 sent me from my distillery in the west," said Gilfort, taking 
 out of his pocket a little bottle full of the intoxicating poi- 
 son. Dobson's eyes glistened at the sight, for he was a man 
 given to strong drink, though too covetous to indulge in it 
 unless at another's expense. He took the bottle, and, holding 
 it to his mouth with his head turned back, he quaffed a heavy 
 dram. This he repeated again and again, till the leaping blood 
 " put life and mettle in his heels ; " and he fell to dancing 
 right merrily, as if penury and plenty, little and much, were 
 all alike to him. Gilfort was now confident of success, and 
 renewed his suit for the loan. But Dobson's fists were more 
 firmly clenched than ever. He was one of those rare cases 
 in which drunkenness makes a man more rabid after money, 
 and more careful in keeping it. Nothing could be got out 
 of him at such times. Gilfort failed altogether. 
 
 But he was not a man to give up a thing so easily. He 
 thought and thought how he should help himself to money 
 out of Dobson's stores. He conned over the subject at 
 night; he whetted his faculties with "wine and wassail;" 
 but it was not till after the most agonized mental throes, 
 that, starting up at midnight, he exclaimed, "I have it ! I 
 have it! Dobson is superstitious, and I '11 pull that string. 
 I '11 scare the old miser out of his money. I '11 haunt him by 
 day and by night. I '11 fill his chamber with ghosts and dev- 
 ils. Sleep shall not press his eyelids till he has disgorged 
 his hoarded wealth. The Lord hath need of it. I am the 
 Lord's servant. I have great interests at stake. So many 
 thousands in the far West who worship me as a divinity, and 
 the number constantly increasing, what a responsibility ! 
 I must consult their interest. I must uphold truth, and 
 break down this pagan priesthood. I should have a right to
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 187 
 
 this old apostate's money, even if I never paid him ; but that 
 I can and will do, at my convenience. What good can it do 
 him to lie rusting in his coffers ? It will be a mercy to him, 
 to me and to mankind, to relieve him of it." 
 
 So soliloquized Gilfort, and, as we shall see, not in vain ; 
 for, with all Dobson's avarice and drunkenness, he was a 
 great believer in witches, spooks, incantations and invisible 
 agencies, insomuch that he never rested without the protec- 
 tion of horse-shoes nailed to his door-sill, which many igno- 
 rant people suppose a witch cannot pass. Having hit upon 
 his plan, Gilfort penned the following blasphemous missive : 
 
 " In the name of God, Amen. To my servant, Eoderick 
 Dobson, these presents come, to command thee, Roderick 
 Dobson, to deliver over, for my use and behoof, the sum of 
 two thousand dollars, the same to be deposited under the 
 bridge near thy house, towards the sun-rising, by the tenth 
 day of the first month, before the cock goeth forth of his 
 roost, or men to their labor. And, in default hereof, blight 
 and mildew shall come upon all thou hast, rottenness shall 
 waste the flesh from thy bones, thy children shall be killed 
 with death, and all the devils in hell shall wreak their infer- 
 nal malice upon thy soul. In the name of the great Jehovah, 
 by his SERVANT." 
 
 This letter was deposited by one of Gilfort's emissaries 
 where it reached the eye of Dobson before night. As the 
 poor old fellow read it, every hair of his head stood up, his 
 teeth chattered, so many as. came in contact, and he passed 
 the night without a wink of sleep. The unearthly style, 
 appearance and handwriting, of the letter, as also the extraor- 
 dinary manner in which it reached him, as if it might have
 
 188 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 dropped down from the clouds, all conspired to assure him 
 that it was what it purported to be, an epistle direct from 
 heaven transmitted by the hand of an angel. How to elude 
 the demand was all his study. Subtracting dollars was tear- 
 ing out his heart-strings. He waited, conned over the mat- 
 ter in his mind, tortured himself almost to madness, and 
 finally determined to sell soul, body and all, to " den duyvel," 
 to use his own expression, rather than give up his money. 
 The throes of poor Dobson's soul, in coming to this terrible 
 conclusion, may be better imagined than described. The 
 strength of his conviction that the powers above were mak- 
 ing this draught upon his purse was only equalled by the 
 grasp of his avarice, which could not be relaxed by the 
 certainty of jeoparding the highest interest of which it is 
 possible for mortal man to conceive. Alas ! what dangers 
 will not money make a man incur ! The day came and 
 passed away, but no money was deposited under the bridge, 
 toward the sun-rising. What was a little remarkable, how- 
 ever, four of Dobson's best cattle died before night, and there 
 were fearful signs of sickness within his doors. To add to 
 his consternation, another letter reached him. more dreadful 
 than the first : 
 
 " The great God to Roderick Dobson, showeth that, in the 
 plenitude of my mercy, I have added further space for thee 
 to repent, and thus avert impending woes. Though I might 
 in justice cut thee off and all thou hast, as thy cattle have 
 this day died by my visitation, and thus punish without hope 
 thy contempt of my authority in withholding the money of 
 which I have need ; yet, now appoint I unto thee the fifteenth 
 day of the first month, as the time wherein thou mayest 
 redeem thy body from pestilence, wasting and death, and thy
 
 MOEE WORK FOB THE MAINE LAW. 189 
 
 soul from outer darkness, by depositing thy money under -the 
 bridge as aforesaid, early in the morning, before the first rays 
 pencil the east, while the ox is yet in his stall, and the labor- 
 ing man in his couch. And, in default hereof, thy dwelling 
 shall be consumed by lightning, murrain shall smite thy cat- 
 tle, thy flocks shall perish with destruction, thy wife shall be 
 given to another, thy children be vagabond and beg, and thy 
 soul shall be the sport of demons to all eternity. In virtue 
 of my Godhead, by the hand of my SERVANT." 
 
 By this time Dobson had become extremely nervous, from 
 his superstitious fears, the death of his cattle, the want of 
 sleep, and, most of all, from continued drunkenness. A sus- 
 picion is also abroad that the whiskey Gilfort gave him was 
 mixed with a maddening drug, as, from that moment, he was 
 never himself again. But we see no necessity for such a 
 conclusion. Continued drunkenness operating upon a mind 
 habitually superstitious, as the Dutch are, is sufficient to 
 account for all. Besides, the evil eye of Gilfort was never 
 brought to bear upon a weak man like Dobson, when it did 
 not bewitch him. Hence, the effect of this second missive 
 was far more decided than the first. He immediately ar- 
 ranged to deposit the money. But, upon counting his funds, 
 he found they fell short of the demand. This did not dispel 
 the delusion, but rather prompted him to supply the deficiency 
 by borrowing. The neighbor on whom he called for the 
 purpose was surprised at such a request from Dobson, who 
 was known to overflow with cash. " What possible necessity, 
 Mr. Dobson, has driven you to this? " said the man. 
 
 Dobson, with a wild stare out of his bloodshot eyes, stam- 
 mered an excuse for waiving the question. "You knows,
 
 190 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 neighbor, that a a a body can't have, one's fam-. 
 ilj, you knows." 
 
 " What ! your family, Dobson, drive you to this? That 'a 
 more than I believe. You are not a man to be filched." 
 
 " No, not a man to be filched, because I takes caro of my 
 own. But there is a God above," he added, with an earnest 
 expression of his rubicund face, " and I 'm afeard to filch 
 from Him." 
 
 "To filch from your Maker! Pray what has that to do 
 with your want of money? " replied the man, now more sur- 
 prised than ever. 
 
 " Why, here, here," holding up his two letters, with a 
 trembling hand ; " here 's my warrant for the money." The 
 man read the letters. "What does you think of them ?" 
 inquired Dobson, with an agonized expression. 
 
 " Think ! I think they are a blasphemous device of some 
 swindling hypocrite, attempting to profit by your supersti- 
 tion." 
 
 "By Saint Nicholas, I'd like to think so too!" said 
 Dobson, incredulously. 
 
 " Think so ! Pray, why have you come here to borrow ? " 
 
 " Because I has n't the money by me." 
 
 "What! are you such a fool as to suppose that the 
 All- wise don't know how much money you have ? Would he 
 command you to put under that bridge what he knows you 
 have not?" 
 
 This did not satisfy Dobson. The poison of whiskey and 
 of Gilfort's incantation had gone too deep, and wrought too 
 powerfully upon his nerves, to admit of his feeling the force 
 of such reasoning. His neighbor, therefore, lent him the 
 money, determined to watch the bridge, after the deposit was 
 made, to see what would become of it.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 191 
 
 Dobson felt that he was haunted. His house was full of 
 spooks, which were yawling like cats through its rooms and 
 passages, during the live-long night. He knew they were 
 spooks, he said, because there were no cats in it, and he con- 
 trived to be from home as much as possible. The night before 
 depositing the money, he was away on a drunken brawl, and 
 did not return till twelve o'clock. He was so overcome with 
 liquor as to have just strength enough to put out his horse. 
 He reached his barn, removed the saddle, and placed it on 
 the ground, while he tied the horse and went up into the 
 mow to get hay. As he clambered up, he saw, or thought he 
 saw, a spectral image, wrapped in a white sheet, standing in 
 the corner of the hay-mow, and looking down upon him with 
 flaming eyes ; which so terrified him that he well-nigh fell 
 senseless on the floor, and had barely life to escape, leaving 
 the saddle, the open barn and all, a prey to his cattle. He 
 ran home and crept into his bed, more dead than alive. After 
 an hour of feverish restlessness, the liquor in his blood induced 
 a fitful sleep, from which he was soon awaked by a brilliant 
 light in his room. He sat up in bed and looked to see what 
 it meant, when he saw three men, two in middle age, one of 
 whom seemed to be sick, and the other was supporting him, 
 while the third was an aged man, with gray locks hanging 
 down upon his shoulders. Dobson gazed a moment in wild 
 affright, when the old man came to the foot of the bed, and 
 looked him direct in the face, and lo ! who should it be 
 but the ghost of his own father, who had been dead some 
 years ! Dobson tried to speak to him, but his tongue refused 
 its cunning. He then tried to cry out, but his voice would 
 not come. In a moment all vanished, and his room was dark 
 as before. 
 
 It was now three of the fatal morning. Not a wink had
 
 192 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 poor Dobson slept, after this frightful vision. Still, he could 
 not bring himself to deposit his money under the bridge. 
 The miserly cords of his heart grew tighter and tighter, as 
 the hour of parting with his idol approached. It seemed to 
 him worse than death. He was more than half resolved to 
 let the spooks take his soul,, rather than his money. While 
 these dreadful thoughts were revolving in his mind, and every 
 nerve of sensation was strained to its utmost tension, he heard 
 the rumbling of distant thunder. It came nearer and nearer, 
 was more and more terrific, and he looked every moment for 
 the lightnings to kindle on his house, according to the threat- 
 ened vengeance of one of his letters. At length it broke 
 directly over him in a terrific volley, and he believed that all 
 his wealth would instantly be converted to ashes. He feared 
 it was already too late to avert the doom ; whereupon, leap- 
 ing out of bed like a maniac, he ran half-naked through the 
 snow and winds of a dreadful morning, and left his bag of 
 money under the bridge, and then made his escape, relieved 
 of the intolerable burden upon his conscience. 
 
 Gilfort watched every movement ; and, no sooner had the 
 deposit been made, than he crept from his lurking-place in 
 disguise, to make sure of his prey. Nor did the neighbor 
 of whom Dobson effected the loan reach the spot till Gilfort 
 had pocketed the money, and was creeping from under the 
 bridge. As he arrived at one end of the bridge, lo ! a spectre 
 of horrid mien presented itself to his view, which made him 
 quake with fear, and excited images in his mind most dread- 
 ful to conceive. He saw through the deep, dusky morning, 
 the dim outlines of what seemed a being of immensely tall 
 proportions, covered with hair and surmounted above with 
 horns, while a prodigious length of tail dangled behind, as he 
 crept from under the bridge. Withal, there was a limp and
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 193 
 
 amble in his gait that left the man no reason to doubt that it 
 was cloven-foot himself. Choosing to avoid such an en- 
 counter, and trusting to nimble feet, he took to his heels. A 
 second thought restored his vapid courage, and he turned 
 back to try upon Old Scratch the virtue of a club with which 
 he was armed. He met the mysterious being as he was 
 mounting the bank of the creek, and levelled at him a pro- 
 digious blow, which sent him tumbling upon the ice. Here 
 he gathered up his huge length, ran under the bridge, and 
 made his escape another way, the man being too much agi- 
 tated by doubt and fear to make good the advantage which 
 he had gained. 
 
 How much of this scene of enchantment was owing to 
 Dobson's inbred superstition, inflamed by whiskey, which has 
 a mysterious connection with spiritual agency, as we have 
 before stated ; or how much of it was brought about by Gil- 
 fort's contrivance, as the ghosts and thunder, for instance ; 
 or how much was real, we must leave the reader to judge. 
 The appearance at the bridge was afterwards explained by 
 the fact that Gilfort had gone to a tannery, pilfered an ox- 
 hide, put it over him from head to foot, with horns projecting 
 above and tail dangling at the other extremity, and in this 
 disguise had appeared as the servant of the Most High, to 
 fill his pockets with poor Dobson's money. The blow which 
 was inflicted left an indelible mark on Gilfort's face just below 
 the eye, which he afterwards gloried in as one of the x wounds 
 of an honorable warfare. 
 
 The robbery made much talk. Sundry innocent persons 
 were taken up and examined, but, in default of proof, they 
 were discharged. At length, suspicion fastened strongly 
 upon Gilfort, from the fact of his attempt to borrow money, 
 and a report that he had a sore face and a black eye about 
 17
 
 194 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 those days. Besides, vrhen the man who gave the blow saw 
 Gilfort, he made oath that he believed him to be the man. 
 On this evidence he was taken up, and it would have gone 
 hard with him, had he not found persons to swear to an 
 alibi, whose testimony was thought to have been received 
 with the greater readiness, on account of the influence of 
 certain persons in conducting the prosecution, with whom 
 Gilfort was united in a secret society. 
 
 Thus we have endeavored to sketch faithfully this extraor- 
 dinary case, in which there is much more of fact than 
 of fiction, not only as showing the witchcraft of wine, but 
 also the blighting influence of a successful religious impos- 
 ture. In justice to Skampton, it must be said that his 
 relations to Gilfort were solely of a business kind, and he had 
 no suspicion of his real character. Gilfort's spiritual nature 
 was thoroughly corrupted by his parentage, by his training, 
 by wine, and by all his habits of thinking, feeling and act- 
 ing. There was no congruity in his imposture, it is true ; 
 but there was craft, cunning, intensity, and a bold spirit, rich 
 in expedients to push on his great work in life, by any 
 instrumentality that might chance to fall in his way. 
 
 No corrupt influences are so much to be dreaded as those 
 which assume identity with invisible power. The work of 
 the Jesuits, in brutalizing the reason and conscience, is more 
 fatal than a depopulated and devastated country in the train 
 of conquering .armies. These physical evils may be re- 
 paired and restored by the innate energy of man and 
 advancing population. Not so with the dark traces which a 
 triumphant fanaticism leaves on the subject mind. Its 
 perversions are written on a basis of adamant, and will not 
 yield to the abrasion of time and improving reason. Errors of 
 religion intrench themselves in those deep and powerful sym-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 195 
 
 pathies which wax as the other passions wane, and grow with 
 their decay. After connubial love is quenched in man's heart ; 
 after death has unclenched the iron grasp of his avarice ; 
 after ambition has ceased to pant for new laurels ; yea, after 
 all the most active impulses are cold and dead, then, with a 
 palsied hand, he writes his scarcely legible name, devising his 
 goods, and estates, and honors, as a sacrifice upon the altar 
 of his fanaticism, to insure the rest of his soul in that 
 unknown land which lies beyond. Then, amid the wrecks of 
 his earthly being, the diseased and distorted elements of his 
 spiritual nature appear in their greatest activity, and achieve 
 their mightiest victories. The clenched hand of avarice 
 cannot withstand a power like this. Even Dobson is made to 
 give his thousands, when, through liquor, or the incantations 
 of an artful heresiarch, he comes distinctly to feel his con- 
 nection with the spirit-land. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE FORCES RECONNOITRING. 
 
 "There are no tricks in plain and simple faith: 
 But hollow men, like horses hot at hand, 
 Make gallant show and promise of their mettle, 
 But, when they should endure the bloody spur, 
 They fall their crests, and, like deceitful jades, 
 Sink in the trial." SHAKSPEAEE.. 
 
 RELIEVED of pecuniary embarrassment, Gilfort now ap- 
 plied to the main work in hand. He had peculiar advantages
 
 196 MAPLETONj OR, 
 
 as a lobby member. His position in the West, his colonial 
 fame, the mysterious enchantment which invested his name, 
 and his great powers of personal address, made his ante- 
 room dominion irresistible and overwhelming. The members 
 felt themselves flattered with the court paid to them by such 
 a man. He shrewdly took them, one by one, and made each 
 feel that he was a special favorite, and the chief reliance for 
 the success of his suit against the Maine Law. The member, 
 supposing himself the only one thus honored, freely gave the 
 required pledge as an act of courtesy, reflecting within him- 
 self that his solitary vote could not materially affect the 
 result one way or the other. In this manner Gilfort artfully 
 tied the hands of a majority in both houses from supporting 
 the bill. He laughed in his sleeve at such a collection of 
 dough-faces in the place of power over a great people. 
 
 Meantime, the public mind was in a state of excited 
 expectancy in reference to the battle between Bludgeon and 
 his enemies. Some said one thing, and some another. Betting 
 ran high on both sides. If men stopped to talk at the corners 
 of the streets, this was the subject. In the theatres, operas, 
 hotels, barber-shops, counting-rooms, printing-offices, every- 
 where, all the words, aside from the business in hand, were 
 of the Maine Law, Saphead, Bludgeon, Skampton, Gilfort, 
 and the great contest of which their city was to be the seat. 
 Stories of Bludgeon were hawked about in the penny sheets, 
 and newsmongers were reaping a golden harvest out of the 
 excitement. But at no place was more felt or said on the 
 subject than at Buck's Saloon. This was, externally, an 
 unpretending-looking place near the capitol, where the mem- 
 bers went to " liquor." Many a thundering oration found 
 here its inspiration. Buck's Saloon was a powerful agent 
 against the Maine Law. Its alcoholic fountain flowed to
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 197 
 
 many a legislative gullet, to give mettle and motion to the 
 anti-temperance enterprise. The front door of Buck's was a 
 plain one, with a screen standing within, to cast a shading 
 over the splendid drinking saloon into which it opened, the 
 entire back end of which was occupied by the bar, from which 
 the tempting bait presented to longing eyes every variety of 
 hue, from pale ale to brown stout and London porter, and 
 from Scotch whiskey to cloudy port. A row of men, swallow- 
 ing down the mind-killing potion, were arranged in front, like 
 a forlorn hope in the very teeth of the enemy's batteries. 
 
 In a side room, which had its own entrance from the street, 
 and from which the drinking saloon was cautiously concealed, 
 might be seen rows of white marble circular tables, at each 
 of which, at almost all hours of the twenty-four, might be 
 seen as also at a succession of side-tables of like material 
 parties of ladies and gentlemen, over ices, sherbets, oyster- 
 soups, roast oysters, fricasseed chickens, tarts, jellies, pies, 
 nuts, raisins, cakes, according to the liking of each; with 
 here and there a modest glass of wine, like a cat in a strange 
 garret. This was a beverage allowed in this room only for 
 special purposes, that temperance customers might not take 
 the alarm, and withdraw their patronage. Directly back of 
 these rooms, shaded passages led to a splendid bowling-alley, 
 on the right of which was a drinking recess to accommodate 
 the bowlers, and also to stow away those who had become 
 decidedly tight in the drinking saloon ; while to the left was 
 a gambling haunt, the sanctum, sanctorum of the hell, 
 to which only its consecrated priests were admitted. Here, 
 from morning to night, and night to morning, week in and 
 week out, year in and year out, the landsharks preyed upon 
 their victims, to whom they dealt out robbery, suicide and 
 murder, by wholesale. 
 
 17*
 
 198 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 These haunts were unusually full, as the time of Bludgeon's 
 appearance drew on. In the drinking saloon discussion ran 
 high, and sometimes ended in blows. On one of these even- 
 ings, Mr. Meserve, the member from New York, met Mr. 
 Whittemore, a senator from the country. "What will you 
 take ? " said Meserve. 
 
 "I'm a temperance man, sir," replied Whittemore. "I 
 never take anything." 
 
 " Confound you ! what are you here for, then ? A spy, eh ? 
 to get ammunition for this cursed Bludgeon's gun ! " 
 
 "So long as I behave like a gentleman, Meserve, I'm 
 entitled to be treated with respect. Are you a secret police, 
 to inquire into men's motives? " 
 
 "No; only, if you are a Bludgeon man, this is no place 
 for you." 
 
 "lam a friend of temperance; I owe my place in the 
 Senate to my being so, and I am never ashamed to own it, 
 here or anywhere. But this does not preclude me from a 
 little bowling exercise, after so many hours of confinement to 
 my seat in the house." 
 
 "Ay, ay; if that's your object, I'll join you. Cath- 
 burt, how are you? " added Meserve, to a young man who 
 at that moment entered. 
 
 " Nicely, thank you." 
 
 "No, Cathburt, you are not nicely; you needn't think 
 to deceive me ; your face looks lightning-struck. Have you 
 been in a thunder-storm ? " 
 
 " What will you take, Meserve?" said the young man, 
 anxious to elude this catechetical scrutiny, as his haggard 
 face, his wandering, restless eye, his parched lips, and excited 
 demeanor, told too plainly that his mind was the seat of tor- 
 menting ideas, which, in default of a tongue to make them-
 
 MORE WORK TOR THE MAINE LAW. 199 
 
 selves visible, were thus pushing themselves into notice through 
 all the cracks and crevices of the soul. 
 
 "Mint-julep, I think," replied Meserve. "'Twill cool 
 the heated brain, and make us ourselves again. Let 's be 
 merry while we can. Bludgeon 's at hand, to blow us sky- 
 high." 
 
 " Would he 'd come a week sooner ! " replied Cathburt, with 
 an involuntary sigh. 
 
 " What ails you, Cathburt ? In love ? Heard from your 
 father of late ? Anything the matter ? " 
 
 " Come, here 's for you," said Cathburt, taking a julep 
 from the waiter, and handing it to Meserve, and beginning to 
 sip his own. 
 
 "Do you know this Bludgeon, Whittemore 'I " inquired 
 Meserve. 
 
 " Yes, like a book. He 's a roarer. Meserve, I want you 
 to pledge me that you will not drink a drop that intoxicates 
 for one week, and that you '11 give up that week to hearing 
 Bludgeon. Then see if you '11 laugh at the pledge any more. 
 I much doubt if you didn't stick it on your hat, and wear it 
 as a cockade." 
 
 " Go to destruction ! I 'd as soon have a thief's mark." 
 
 " Yes, a cropped ear would be honorable in the comparison," 
 replied Dumble, another man from the country, who had just 
 joined the party. 
 
 ' ' Confound Bludgeon ! I '11 drink in spite of him and all 
 his crew, that I will ! " said Meserve, sucking the last drop 
 of his julep. " Now, gentlemen, I 'm ready for a round." 
 
 The party adjourned to the bowling-alley, and commenced 
 rolling. Whittemore felt himself in an awkward position, as 
 well he might, and could get up no spirit for the game. 
 Cathburt was still more spiritless ; the left door which the
 
 200 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 others did not understand occupying all his attention. A 
 siren voice seemed luring him upon the gambler's dangerous 
 coast, against which his principles and his vows remonstrated, 
 but towards which a mysterious spell was urging him by its 
 fatal enchantments. At length he excused himself, and entered 
 the dangerous door. This broke up the party, and the 
 others stepped into the drinking recess to rest themselves. 
 Here they found twenty or thirty persons in the various 
 stages of intoxication, from the excitement of the first glass, 
 to stolid, beastly insensibility. " Gentlemen, let 's eat and 
 drink, for to-morrow Blugdeon comes!" said Meserve, 
 with a laugh. 
 
 " To-morrow we die, you mean rather," added Durable. 
 " It 's hard to tell which is the worse, dying or being choked 
 by this blood-hound. He 's ruined my business." 
 
 " Then you, too, know Bludgeon, Durable ? " said Meserve. 
 
 " Yes, to my cost. He has been to our town, and, by his 
 endless clatter, has spoilt my tavern-stand. Othello's occu- 
 pation 's gone, and he 's here looking for business." 
 
 "Is your name Othello ?" inquired a half-drunk, stupid 
 looking fellow. " I I I have a friend of that 'are name." 
 
 "No," said Durable, laughing, " I mean, by Othello, any 
 man who is driven out of the liquor-business by this cursed 
 temperance movement." 
 
 "Yes, 'pon my honor," said the fellow, "this reformed 
 drunkard, Bludgeon, is drunker than any of us. That 's my 
 opinion." 
 
 " Down with Bludgeon ! Down with Bludgeon ! " was 
 now the general cry. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said Whittemore, " though I am not in the 
 habit of betting, I '11 wager ten dollars against one, on every 
 person in the room, that, if he will follow up Bludgeon, in
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 201 
 
 every discourse, for one week, and will not drink a drop that 
 intoxicates in the mean-time, he will take the pledge, and 
 become a temperance man." 
 
 " I '11 take you up at that," said Meserve ; " plank your 
 dollars, and I will mine ! " 
 
 " You '11 lose your money, Meserve," said Dumble. " You 
 have no idea of this man's thunder. He 's an iron battery, 
 whose guns always hit. Besides, the victory is in the condi- 
 tion of this bet : not to taste liquor for a week. That 's 
 enough to put any man in the notion of drinking no more." 
 
 "I cannot plank my money," said Whittemore, "till I 
 see how many will stand to the conditions." 
 
 " I'll stand." " And so will I." " And I," " I," " I," 
 until all were pledged, except those who were too far gone 
 to understand the question. 
 
 " I'll hear Bludgeon," said one, " and I wish to God it 
 might make me a temperate man ! " 
 
 "My sufferings, in body and mind," said another bloated, 
 trembling victim, " no tongue can express. I 'd give worlds 
 to be as I was before I ever drank ! " 
 
 " My mother prayed, with -her dying breath, that I might 
 be saved from rum, of which my father Avas a victim," said 
 another, beginning to weep at this recollection of his mother. 
 
 Ah, how little do we consider the miseries of the vicious ! 
 The tendencies to reformation underlie the most unpromising 
 characters. The silent workings of conscience ; anticipations 
 of a coming judgment ; the heart-sickness which vice induces ; 
 the sweet memory of days of comparative innocence, when a 
 mother's fond eye, a sister's love, and a brother's confidence, oc- 
 cupied the place of present scorn, neglect and infamy ; all these, 
 and many other causes exist, to predispose to virtue even those 
 now most abandoned ; provided the hope of securing so pre-
 
 202 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 cious a boon were once to get possession of the mind. The 
 hopelessness of vice is one of the great reasons of its per- 
 petuity. Can the harlot expect to be otherwise than a harlot 
 still ? If in conduct she amends, in social position she is the 
 same. The hope of retm-ning to innocence, or justification, 
 is the great desideratum of Christianity. So, hope is what 
 our temperance reformers must carry with them, when they 
 visit earth's hells, and deal with its lost spirits. All that is 
 wanted, in many cases, is the encouragement that friends, 
 health, peace and prosperity, will surely follow the total aban- 
 donment of the cup. To supply a hope like this is a part of 
 philanthropy's work, of which we find the highest precedent 
 in the religion we profess. 
 
 Cathburt found the gambling company in full blast. T^YO 
 noted gamblers, Gripe and Bobbin, were the ruling geniuses 
 of the place. They were cool, collected, sharp-sighted, deep- 
 seated villains, who could read cards as well on the back as 
 the face, and who could conjure them into just such a position 
 in the pack in shuffling as they desired. Their business was 
 to decoy in those who had money, young men, for the most 
 part, who were fond of cards, and adepts in them in their own 
 estimation, but who had never gambled, except occasionally 
 to stake the liquor they needed to give them inspiration. 
 Gripe and Bobbin would take care that the game should go 
 against themselves so long as this liquor-betting continued ; 
 but, as soon as the excitement ran high enough for dollars by 
 the ten and the hundred, then they were on hand, and the 
 tyro gambler would be sure to come off minus all he had. 
 Cathburt had been thus taken in, which was the cause of his 
 haggard and excited appearance. Night after night he had 
 followed up the damning game, losing, but hoping to regain 
 all by the next cast, till every cent was gone, except five
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 203 
 
 thousand dollars, which his father had sent him to take up a 
 mortgage with, that had long encumbered the family estate, 
 to the unspeakable annoyance of all the household. His 
 labor-stricken parents had toiled, and saved, and economized, 
 and stinted themselves to the lowest supplies of their personal 
 wants, in order to relieve the property, out of which they 
 hoped to live in their extreme old age, of this encumbrance. 
 As soon as Cathburt lost all his own money, he resolved he 
 would go no further. He would not plank a cent of the five 
 thousand dollars which his father had intrusted to him. But 
 Gripe, who divined the state of the case with him, as soon as 
 he entered the room again, abandoned all other customers, 
 and bestowed upon him his sole attention. He was all smiles, 
 spoke of the loss of Cathburt' s money as the merest accident, 
 and was sure so accomplished a player would win it all back 
 again, and especially at cribbage, in which he knew he was so 
 very expert. " Let us try our hand at crib, Mr. Cathburt, 
 which you like so much, and which we two can play together. 
 It is a scientific game, and the discipline I hope to acquire 
 by means of it will reconcile me to the money which I know 
 you cannot fail to win from me." 
 
 " No, Gripe, my vow is taken, and you need not per- 
 suade." 
 
 " Well, if you have grown so puritanic all at once as not 
 to play for money, I'll stake with you a bottle of Buck's 
 best," an excellent quality of old Madeira, to be had only 
 at Buck's. The temptation took with the excited Cathburt, 
 and he accepted and won the bet at cribbage. Cathburt drank 
 more than his share of the wine ; and, alas ! it proved to him 
 gambling wine indeed; exciting the most brilliant hopes of 
 winning a fortune at cards, and overcoming all his repugnance 
 to planking his father's money. At it they went, betting
 
 204 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 small at first, then larger and larger, until the last cent of 
 the five thousand dollars melted away under his hand. It 
 was now three of the lurid morning. The consciousness of 
 the full extent of the dreadful calamity rolled over him like 
 a crushing mountain. His head was giddy, and he reeled 
 towards a door opening into the back-yard, through which he 
 disappeared. 
 
 " Suppose our doings were revealed to Bludgeon," said 
 another young man, who had fared little better in the hands 
 of Bobbin. 
 
 " The scoundrel that does such a deed will get that through 
 his heart! " said Gripe, drawing a gleaming stiletto blade from 
 its concealed scabbard in his bosom. "Better have all the 
 New York police upon us than that blackguard ! " 
 
 "But I'll send daylight through him, the moment he 
 moves his viper tongue against Buck's Saloon!" said Bobbin, 
 drawing a sword-cane, and flourishing it around his head. 
 
 The young man cowered under arguments like these, of 
 which he had no mistrust till this moment. 
 
 Morning came, but no Cathburt appeared. The search 
 became exciting and universal. Meantime, Saphead returned 
 at the head of his marshalled legions, and they went into 
 session, with the Honorable Michael Skampton in the chair. 
 The first meeting was enormous, and, being for the most part 
 men variously connected with the liquor business, interest had 
 whetted them to malignity against the Maine Law and its 
 friends. Skampton, in his opening speech, breathed out the 
 rabid conservatism of his spirit in general, more than against 
 this specific law. "We are met," he said, "to devise a 
 remedy for the innovations of the age. All the old land- 
 marks of doctrine, usage, legislation and business, are in 
 danger of going by the board. It has come to that, that a
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 205 
 
 man who retires at night an honest tradesman earning his 
 bread by the sweat of his face wakes up in the morning 
 and finds himself a criminal before the law and public opinion. 
 He has no alternative but to change his business, and leave 
 his family to starve, or submit to fine and imprisonment. My 
 old uncle made a large fortune by importing servants from 
 Africa ; but, if I were to do it, I should be punished as a 
 pirate and an outlaw. And now there is a restless set of 
 vagabonds among us, who are determined to place in the same 
 category those who hold slaves and deal in- liquor. Will you 
 submit to these innovations, gentlemen, will you?" 
 
 " No, we '11 die first ! " was the murmured response from 
 a thousand voices. 
 
 " It is not a question of money, gentlemen, so much as of 
 character, of right, immutable, inalienable, and eternal 
 right. Will you submit to have your names handed down to 
 posterity, blackened and 'anathematized, to be the reproach of 
 your children, as those who had held property, and prosecuted 
 trade, and amassed fortunes, in contempt of justice and law 1 
 Will you submit to be accused of instigating crime and 
 producing pauperage by the wholesale? This, gentlemen, 
 this is what our enemies are attempting to bring upon us. 
 This is the gist and. animus of this detestable Maine Law. 
 The myrmidons of this law, if it pass, will enter our shops 
 and pour our capital into the gutters. They will pick our 
 pockets with fines. They will confine our persons among 
 felons. They will beggar our wives. They will blight and 
 blast our unoffending children. Gentlemen, will you bow 
 your necks to such a yoke? " 
 
 "No; we'll take the sword first!" resounded from a 
 moving sea of heads, with eyes of fire turned upon the speaker. 
 
 The first meeting resulted in little more than the appoint- 
 18
 
 206 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 ment of a committee to draught resolutions to be embodied in 
 a memorial to both houses of the Legislature. This committee, 
 which was large, held its sessions in Skampton's library. 
 The arrangement was for each member to write one resolution, 
 and then, out of the whole, to make their report. The 
 sentiments found on the collected papers were to the follow- 
 ing effect: 
 
 " That the Maine Law is a warfare upon the manufacture, 
 sale, use and enjoyment, of all those accustomed beverages 
 of the civilized world, from time immemorial, such as wines, 
 liquors, cordials, beer, ale, porter, cider, and the like; sub- 
 jecting to fines, imprisonments, and other penalties, one of 
 our most ancient and necessary sources of comfort and 
 wealth." 
 
 " That it is our natural, primary, and irrevocable right to 
 use the fruits of the earth, whether naturally produced or 
 artificially prepared, both for meat and for drink, at our own 
 personal discretion and responsibility." 
 
 In penning this resolution, the venerable committee lost 
 sight of its injurious bearing upon present laws, as well as 
 the one proposed. In denying the right to sell without a 
 licensej the state long since assumed that we are not at 
 liberty to use the fruit of the earth as we choose, but that 
 we may be placed under restraint, when such use is found 
 prejudicial to the public weal. If the state may license, it 
 may refuse licenses to as many as it pleases, or to all ; or, 
 it may place a license under such restrictions as it pleases. 
 It may refuse licenses to sell as a beverage, and give them to 
 sell for other purposes ; and, if it may do thus, then it may 
 enact stringent penalties, if its legislation cannot be carried 
 out without. All this is involved in our present legislation, 
 as much as by the Maine Law.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 207 
 
 " That the enactment of such a law by any legislative 
 majority, however great, would be the usurpation of despotic 
 powers, and an invasion of constitutional rights." 
 
 Are not any laws prohibiting the liquor traffic without 
 license equally so? 
 
 " That we regard this law as the audacious, unscrupulous, 
 and fanatical project of certain conventional associations, 
 known as Temperance or Total Abstinence Societies, acting 
 in concerted combination, and actuated by a prurient, perverted, 
 and reckless zeal to effect, by legislative coercion, and the 
 ultimate physical force of the law, extreme and impracticable 
 purposes, which their moral influence has confessedly failed 
 to accomplish. These societies have incurred the just indig- 
 nation and political resistance and hostility of every enlight- 
 ened freeman of the land, as the chief instigators and abettors 
 of a despotic usurpation, more degrading to the moral volition 
 and dignity of a free people, and more atrocious in its 
 political character, than anything which history records." 
 
 More so than the law of nuisances? Yet, no nuisance 
 known to legislation can equal, in its aggressions upon the 
 well-being of society, the present liquor business and drink- 
 ing customs. Despotic to prevent the crimes we so rigorously 
 punish ? Despotic to place our greatest cause of pauperage 
 and wretchedness under restraint? Despotic to say to such 
 a man as Skampton, "You shall not corrupt Mapleton 
 society by introducing a groggery"? Equitable and right 
 to .encourage, by license of law, the ruin introduced into the 
 Durham and Douglass families, and the deeds of death at 
 Bucks' Saloon, and despotic to prevent them ? To what 
 absurdities will not interest impel us ? 
 
 "That the accustomed beverages of civilized men, interdicted 
 and rendered unobtainable by this threatened law, are essen-
 
 208 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 tial to the health and comfort, the social enjoyment, and the 
 beneficial intercourse, of a large number of persons in every 
 community, and who now use them unobjectionably and wor- 
 thily, for these desirable purposes." And yet, from this 
 unobjectionable and worthy use come drunkenness, insanity, 
 crime, pauperage, and six or eight tenths of the consequent N 
 expense to the tax-paying community ! 
 
 " That man, as a superior, social and moral being, exercis- 
 ing a rational intelligence and choice as to what is most bene- 
 ficial and agreeable to himself, can no more be confined, by 
 restrictive legislation, to the drink of the inferior animals, than 
 to their food or clothing ; and requires neither medical nor 
 legislative prescriptions for the ordinary preservation of his 
 health, or recuperation of his strength, nor the example either 
 of drunkards or reformed drunkards to protect his morals." 
 
 This was a first gun at Bludgeon. 
 
 "That we are convinced, both by observation and reflec- 
 tion, that the infatuated total abstinence from agreeable, nutri- 
 tious and renovating beverages, under conventional and 
 unmitigated obligations, has caused, and is still causing, a 
 greater sacrifice of health and life than even the intemperate 
 abuse of them ; the former victims, of both sexes, being far 
 more numerous than the latter, though less publicly known." 
 Men dying for the want of alcohol, to whom God has opened 
 the boundless stores of animal and vegetable nature ! Why 
 has not poor Skampton, and many like him, who never taste 
 the bane out of which they make their wealth, long since died 
 of abstinence? There is no reasoning with this venerable 
 committee. They are mad upon their idols. 
 
 " That it is undeniable and obvious that but comparatively 
 few persons, in any community, immoderately and immorally 
 abuse these beverages, out of the vast majority who moder-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 209 
 
 ately, virtuously and beneficially, use them; and that their 
 abuse by the few is no just reason for their being interdicted 
 to the many." This comparatively few make an aggregate 
 of thirty thousand drunkards that die annually in the United 
 States. " It has cost our country, in ten years, for alcoholic 
 beverages," says Edward Everett, "one hundred millions of 
 dollars; has burned five millions more of property; has 
 destroyed three hundred thousand lives ; has sent one hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand to the prisons, and one hundred thou- 
 sand children to the poorhouse ; caused fifteen hundred mur- 
 ders, two thousand suicides, and has bequeathed to the country 
 one hundred thousand orphan children." 
 
 " That the abuse of them, however sincerely and deeply to 
 be deplored, is grossly and ridiculously, though systematically, 
 exaggerated, as a source of pauperism and crime ; nearly all 
 the evils of society being fanatically ascribed to this cause, to 
 the exclusion of all other causes inherent in human nature 
 and its imperfect social condition, and in impudent defiance 
 of the notorious fact that these evils prevail, to at least an 
 equal extent, in those countries where such beverages have 
 been absolutely interdicted, both by civil and religious law, 
 and total abstinence established for more than a thousand 
 years." Figures cannot lie. Of five thousand three hun- 
 dred and twelve arrests in Montreal, the police report says 
 " the greater number resulted from the too free use of intox- 
 icating drink." And this accords to the municipal history of 
 every city on the continent. Opium-eating, bad govern- 
 ment, false religion, and other causes of social misery and 
 crime, no doubt exist in Turkey, to produce a worse state of 
 things than with us ; though those peculiar forms of crime 
 which are here produced by drunkenness are there quite 
 18*
 
 210 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 unknown. Our committee, in this resolution, are not sus- 
 tained by facts. 
 
 "That these beverages are not necessarily intoxicating, as 
 is falsely and fanatically assumed by the conventional advo- 
 cates of the proposed law, in the face of common experience 
 and observation." They only necessarily lead more or less 
 to intoxication, where they are freely used as a beverage. 
 
 " That the vice of intoxication, now rapidly diminishing 
 among all classes, under the influence of moral suasion and 
 example, would be aggravated by clandestine indulgences, 
 under the proposed law ; while the laws now existing, properly 
 enforced, would be fully adequate to suppress its grosser 
 manifestations and consequences." They are not enforced, 
 nor can they be, for the lack of effective penalties. 
 
 " That the enforcement of the proposed law would cause a 
 loss of many millions invested in the liquor business." Lost ! 
 No ; but turned into safer and better investments. 
 
 "That the Maine Law cannot be enforced, except amid 
 scenes of riot and bloodshed, in which, though its reckless 
 advocates would be the chief sufferers, vast multitudes of the 
 population would be involved, and which would be too fright- 
 ful in their results for any but callous fanatics to contemplate 
 without horror and dismay." It has been enforced in Maine 
 without the loss of a single life, and with a vast diminution 
 of crime and pauperage, and why may it not be elsewhere? 
 
 Some other sentiments were proposed, but rejected, because 
 they were deemed inappropriate to the committee as a whole. 
 One was, " That church-members have no right to associate 
 with worldly men in carrying out temperance measures; 
 because they thus neutralize their religion by mixing it with 
 human ingredients, and seek to do by a worldly organization 
 the work which Christ has assigned to his church.'"' But, if
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 211 
 
 we may belong to that civil society which upholds the liquor 
 traffic, may we not to an organization for pulling it down? 
 If worldly men will go with us in a Christian reform, are we 
 authorized to forbid them? " Forbid them not." 
 
 Peter Pegan, our conservative editor, being one of the 
 committee, now gave signs of having something on his mind. 
 His meagre, misshapen person, after various contortions, 
 assumed a position as erect as the burden of its responsibili- 
 ties would admit, and said, 
 
 " Gentlemen, you know how many subscribers I have lost 
 by means of these temperance fanatics. I cannot, of course, 
 expect pecuniary compensation ; but it would be an unction 
 to my burdened mind to know that I had your approbation, 
 and that you were disposed to give my paper the position to 
 which my labors and sacrifices entitle it. It is the oldest, . 
 has the largest circulation, and, withal, is more central to 
 those who act with us. For these reasons, is it too much to 
 ask that it should be made the oracle of the conservative 
 movement?" 
 
 " Certainly not; certainly not," responded various voices. 
 
 " Moreover, gentlemen, it is but just that I should acquaint 
 you wifli the perfect system to which, after much experience, 
 I have reduced the powerful enginery of the periodical press. 
 Take the matter of puffs, caustics and blanks, for instance, 
 and you will see how impossible it is for the public to with- 
 stand my well-charged artillery. I suppose twenty thousand 
 persons are looking to me for that food for their vanity which 
 is dealt out through the columns of a newspaper. Hence, I 
 am obliged to drive a great trade in puffs ; and, to do it most 
 effectively, I have arranged the matter to be included in them 
 into a hundred divisions, and have written that number of 
 puffs, and had them stereotyped, with vacant places for such
 
 212 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 names as I please to insert. These puffs I keep constantly 
 in use, as the most popular branch of my business. In some 
 plates I stereotype name and all, and keep them as constantly 
 before the public as quack advertisements. You cannot 
 imagine, gentlemen, the facilities for my business which I 
 derive from these plates. I can cater to the public vanity at 
 half the expense. 
 
 " Besides, I have fifty plates, which, in the parlance of my 
 office, are called caustics, because they vex and cauterize as 
 much as a puff soothes and pleases. These caustic-plates rise 
 in severity, so .that the last is fifty times as severe and abusive 
 as the first. All above forty I consider a dead shot, ruin- 
 ing forever those at whom they are aimed. They are equal 
 to the racks of the Inquisition, and make me as formidable. 
 . Most men will bow rather than submit to a shot. But, as to 
 the few that set them at defiance, I dispose of them with a 
 blank, which consists in simply omitting their names wholly 
 from my columns. There are those who prefer to stand fifty 
 caustics to one blank, so strong is their passion for notoriety. 
 To be the devil, and known, is to them better than being an 
 angel, incognito." 
 
 Whereupon, another resolution was added, to recommend 
 Pegan's paper as the universal organ of conservatism. 
 
 Mr. Saphead thought the resolutions were not severe 
 enough. "Gentlemen," said he, "I go for David's policy 
 of scratching out the eyes of a foe. He says, ' He maketh 
 my feet like hens' feet.' " 
 
 There was now a great commotion of the risibles in com- 
 mittee, one saying hinds' 1 feet, and another, and others still, 
 repeated HINDS' feet, accenting the mistaken word with great 
 distinctness. Saphead, perplexed at the interruption, and not 
 yet comprehending the cause, yelled out, with all his might,
 
 MOKE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 213 
 
 "Didn't I say HENS' feet?" at the same time smiting his 
 huge chest, and making it shake like a pot of jelly. 
 
 "Very well," said one and another, "let him go on. 
 Saphead is a good creature ; he is one of us, and always 
 means right." 
 
 " Those who can scratch, dirt, eyes, anything that needs 
 scratching, are the men for me," continued Saphead. " 'He 
 maketh my feet like hens' feet.' 
 
 " Howsomever, gents, as you do not like figures of speech, 
 I offer, in plain English, the following sentiment, that we 
 appeal to Judge Lynch. His is the only court to do justice 
 in such cases. With the encouragement of my betters, I '11 
 take off Bludgeon within twenty-four hours. A score of 
 sturdy fellows from Buck's Saloon, well charged with Buck's 
 best, will do the work in a flash." 
 
 "No, no, that'll never do," responded some. "It'll 
 insure the passage of this detestable law," added others. 
 " Saphead, you 're too bad." 
 
 " What ! is 't worse for us to tar and feather Bludgeon, and 
 rail him out of town, than for him to do this to Mr. Skamp- 
 ton's tenant in Mapleton 1 " replied Saphead, anxious to 
 soften down his proposition as much as possible ; whereupon 
 he resumed his seat, with labored breathing, like a harpooned 
 whale. To the honor of the committee be it said, this sug- 
 gested assassination received no countenance from them.
 
 214 MAPLETON J OB, 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 BLUDGEON FIGHTING THE DEVIL. 
 
 " Now storming fury rose, 
 
 And clamor such as heard in heaven till now 
 Was never." 
 
 " Dire was the noise 
 
 Of conflict. Overhead the dismal hiss 
 
 Of fiery darts in flaming volleys flew, 
 
 And flying vaulted either host with fire." MILTOK. 
 
 MEANTIME Bludgeon had commenced the onset. Expecta- 
 tion, curiosity and the surging waves of excitement, were his 
 harbingers. His place of meeting was the largest the city 
 could afford, and was thronged to its utmost capacity, from his 
 first lecture to the last. Bludgeon's position included much 
 more, by this time, than that of reformed drunkard, or trav- 
 elling lecturer. He spake as one having authority. He had 
 dwelt upon the woes of mankind till they all found a response 
 in his glowing heart. He poured out scalding tears in secret 
 over this sin-blighted world. He had a divine commission to 
 redress the wrongs of society. If he began as a blackguard, 
 he ended with the spirit of a saint and a martyr. He felt the 
 insufficiency of worldly or prudential considerations, in deal- 
 ing Avith the evil passions, opinions and customs of mankind, 
 and had intrenched himself within the higher sanctions of 
 religion, God, and eternity. His satire was scathing, but 
 was evidently pointed with love. He had come to rely 
 mainly upon appeals to the conscience, by means of those 
 truths and motives which Christianity supplies, in which, on 
 some occasions, his pathos and power equalled those of White-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 215 
 
 field, or any of the clerical lights of a former age. And yet, 
 he never merged himself in the staid habits and professional 
 sanctity of a clergyman ; but was free, excursive, sometimes 
 low and vulgar, and altogether more effective with the un- 
 thinking rabble than he would have been with less to offend 
 good taste, and more to gratify a fastidious refinement. 
 
 Though Bludgeon began as a temperance lecturer, he had 
 become a battle-axe upon all mal-practice in individual and 
 community, in family and neighborhood, in church and in 
 state, in slavery and in freedom, his lectures being desultory 
 harangues against general and specific evils. His beginning 
 was in a subdued tone, cool, unimpassioned, and apparently in 
 a chastened and benevolent state of feeling. His tonsils, 
 swollen by much speaking, rendered his voice hoarse and 
 husky, like the croaking of a crane, or like the tones of a 
 cracked bell muffled ; and yet it had a marvellous effect on 
 the nerves of an audience. No matter how crowded, how 
 discordant its elements, or how bitter the malignity raging 
 against himself, a few sentences, pronounced in his peculiar 
 manner, would produce the stillness of death. In manner 
 he was rough, uncouth, and eccentric. His training, under 
 such a mother and in such a family, was but too visible. A 
 delicate mind heard him with more pain than pleasure. But 
 these disadvantages, strange as it may seem, rather increased 
 the effect, just as sawing off a muscle jars more terribly than 
 dissecting it by means of a keen surgical instrument. Dis- 
 gusted or otherwise, the cases were rare in which persons, 
 cultivated or uncultivated, hearing him once, did not feel a 
 mysterious desire to hear him again. The magic of his in- 
 fluence was so irresistible that, in rain or sunshine, in snow 
 and sleet, in mud and water, his audiences were alike over- 
 whelming. His harangues were at first plain and practical,
 
 216 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 delivered in the spirit of love and zeal, and of a character 
 deeply to impress the heart. They were faithful, pungent, 
 and powerful in application. He was minute in describing 
 the various phases of a man's downward career in vice. The 
 effect of alcohol upon the vital organs, in changing them from 
 scarlet to crimson, and from crimson to purple, and from pur- 
 ple to blue, and from blue to the black of gangrene and 
 putrefaction, was represented to the audience in a succession 
 of drawings, on which his remarks were always graphic and 
 powerful. He not only developed the anatomy of intemper- 
 ance, but its moral feelings, tracing, with terrible accuracy, 
 the ten thousand windings of the human heart, accompanied 
 by appeals so searching, excoriating and irresistible, that 
 every dormant fear was awakened, every latent memory of 
 violated vows suggested, every smothered aspiration after 
 temperance and virtue was inflamed to the highest pitch of 
 intensity. Thus, in a short time, he had gathered around 
 him an invincible band, whose confidence in their leader was 
 unbounded, whose zeal had the fault of being excessive, if 
 that were possible in such a cause, and who were prepared to 
 go with him to death in doing battle upon the rampant wick- 
 edness of the world. 
 
 This spirit Bludgeon fanned by all the arts at his com- 
 mand, pouring out vials of scalding wrath upon those who 
 came not up to the measure of his own views as to the evils 
 of intemperance, the necessity of the Maine Law, and the obli- 
 gation and power of the total abstinence pledge, as a specific 
 against this vice. His body-guard he" gathered up, for the 
 most part, from the gutters, and from the hells of intemper- 
 ance. They were men that felt the evils of the monster, as 
 nothing but experience can make one feel. Buck's Saloon 
 contributed a large proportion of them, and Whittemore more
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 217 
 
 than won his bet. Some of them gave up their whole time, 
 going from house to house, groggery to groggery, and scat- 
 tering the fire of feeling on the all-absorbing topic in every 
 direction. The pathos and interest which they breathed into 
 their work exceed our powers of description. The woes of 
 the world had become their own. Their sympathy in drunk- 
 ards and drunkards' families derived intensity from their own 
 bitter recollections. Contact with them was sure to impart 
 the infection of their zeal for reformation. The flame of 
 feeling followed in their train, as burning hamlets and vil- 
 lages a stream of volcanic fire. The harangues of Bludgeon 
 were the impulsive centre of the mighty movement. His 
 very person was a battery which his enemies feared to en- , 
 counter. It was an iron frame, set on fire by a mighty idea, 
 and the pregnant lightnings played around his features and 
 flashed from his eyes in volleyed power. Bullets are not the 
 most effective missiles to be hurled at a foe. The genius of 
 Napoleon was reckoned equal to a hundred thousand charging 
 grenadiers. The intellectuals and morale have a force ex- 
 ceeding all physical warfare. Thus with Bludgeon's shots. 
 They were aimed with more than the deadly certainty of 
 modern artillery, taking effect upon the strong-hold in which 
 vice and sin have intrenched themselves. Public sensation 
 rose so high, through the efforts of his forlorn hope and his 
 own excoriating appeals, that all the nerves of feeling among 
 a hundred thousand people were twinging and twanging like 
 the overstrained chords of a harp, giving forth notes of acqui- 
 escence, or resistance, according to the character and social 
 position of those from whom they came. Already the num- 
 ber who had taken the pledge amounted to many thousands. 
 The groggeries were abandoned, and the liquor-dealers were 
 in the greatest consternation. 
 19
 
 218 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 Now, therefore, Bludgeon felt himself prepared for a bold 
 push, and accordingly gave hotice that on a certain evening 
 he should expose by name those who were in various ways 
 lending themselves to the vices of alcohol. He should attack 
 certain public houses in which the monster kennelled, and 
 should reveal' deeds of which the public had no mistrust. 
 This notice was received by the abandoned, far and near, and 
 especially by hotel-keepers, as a formal challenge ; and, dread- 
 ing exposure by their fearless assailant, they were driven to 
 desperation, and prepared for a sanguinary defence. Society 
 was stirred up from its deepest caverns, and its troubled ele- 
 ments dashed, and foamed, and raged, and lashed their ada- 
 mantine barriers, as when an earthquake breaks up the bed 
 of the sea, and drives its waters into new channels and 
 cavities. 
 
 Two events now occurred to increase the power of the 
 movement, and to render the community the more disposed to 
 tolerate this dangerous expedient of attacking private charac- 
 ter, upon which Bludgeon had been precipitated, in the intem- 
 perance of his zeal. One of these events had respect to the 
 Skampton convention, and the other to Buck's Saloon. That 
 convention had suffered a most mortifying depopulation, 
 through the general rush to Bludgeon's lectures. The lead- 
 ers, galled by their waning influence, employed the most 
 attractive and distinguished speakers to discuss their founda- 
 tion principles, and thus restore to themselves the errant pop- 
 ulace. But it would not work. There was no thunder in 
 their principles, and none in their souls. At length, one of 
 those untoward events happened to which all deliberative as- 
 semblies are subject, to turn the laugh upon them, and to an- 
 nihilate their little remaining influence. In the progress of 
 these brilliant speeches on the refining and ennobling effects
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 219 
 
 of alcoholic beverages, on the social amenities of which they 
 are the instrument, on their influence upon our civilization, 
 and the certainty that we shall revert to barbarism without 
 them, on the health they promote, and the diseases inevitable 
 to their disuse, and much more in the same strain, Sap- 
 head, animated by the discussion, got the floor, and perpe- 
 trated one of those bulls which were common to him. Think- 
 ing to be very impressive, he began abruptly, saying, 
 
 "Friends, did you ever see a railroad start? Yes; I 
 s'pose you have. Well, they goes glib ; so this ere business 
 goes glib ; wine goes glib ; Buck's best goes glib ; it makes 
 us feel nice; it gi's strength to the weak; it gi's health to the 
 sick ; it gi's motion to the tongue ; it gi's ideas to the mind ; it 
 gi's good cheer to the faint. ' Give strong drink to the heavy 
 heart,' says Paul ; and he knows better than fifty Bludgeons." 
 
 As if this speech were not enough for the mortification of 
 the rum leaders, it was followed by one from Tooney, whose 
 bacchanalian travels had brought him to the city, where he 
 did enough to get the means of keeping himself drunk. In 
 squalid wretchedness, without collar or cravat, and in the 
 filthy attire of a drunkard throughout, bloated in face, inflamed 
 and watery in eye, and trembling in his whole frame, he rose, 
 staggering to the top of his seat, and, in spite of efforts to the 
 contrary, delivered himself thus, in confirmation of Saphead's 
 speech : 
 
 " Yer honors, that 's my mind, 'xactly. I have had more 
 'xparance than any ither mother's son o' ye. On me sowl, 
 I lif by the good cratur. He makes me cha'ary ; he gifs me 
 stringth; plase yer honors, he do." 
 
 This speech was followed by a roar of laughter, and, 
 appearing in the dailies of the next morning, it set the wholo 
 city agog, at the expense of Skampton and his convention.
 
 220 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 The other event was thus related to Bludgeon in a note, 
 which reached him just as he was rising to begin his lecture. 
 
 " SIR : Cathburt is found. A servant at Buck's went 
 into the back-yard, to draw water, and found his body float- 
 ing in the well. He has this moment been taken out. He 
 lies in the room where the gamblers, it is supposed, made him 
 their victim. His poor father and mother are frantic with 
 grief." 
 
 Bludgeon began his lecture by reading this note, and an 
 assault upon Buck's Saloon the most scorching and terrible. 
 From that day forth, Buck wandered as a ghost in his own 
 abandoned haunts, till be was ejected, and committed to 
 prison for forging a draft to relieve himself from debt. The 
 greatest nuisance in the city thus perished, without hope. 
 The parents of Cathburt had come in search of their son, and 
 stood at the top of the well when his lifeless body was drawn 
 up. Such a scene is easier imagined than described. The 
 loss of their only son, the robbery of his money, now first 
 ascertained by searching his pockets, a childless old age of 
 penury in prospect, and, more than all, the self-accusation of 
 having ever allowed their son cards as an amusement, which 
 had fitted him to be taken in the snare, all together concurred 
 to inflict wounds on their parental feelings which could never 
 be healed. Bludgeon set on foot a subscription to take up 
 their mortgage, and headed it with the liberal sum of five 
 hundred dollars, more than all he was worth, but which he 
 was enabled to pay through the contributions of his friends. 
 The five thousand dollars were soon raised, and enough in 
 addition to pay all expenses ; and the poor old people were 
 sent on their way with all the alleviation to be derived from
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 221 
 
 such an act of benevolence. The faithfulness, zeal and liber- 
 ality of Bludgeon, in this case, tended immeasurably to 
 increase his power. 
 
 The time at length arrived for Bludgeon's appointed onset 
 to begin. Skampton and his followers, having now no other 
 resource left them, resolved to attend on the occasion in a 
 body, confident that his attacks on personal character would 
 furnish the means of silencing their enemy by suits at law. 
 Consequently, the audience was immense. The largest rail- 
 road depot had been obtained to accommodate it, and it was 
 thought that not less than eight thousand persons were 
 crowded into it. Expectation was on tiptoe, and excitement 
 up to welding heat. Indeed, what was said owed its effect 
 not so much to anything in itself as to the previous train of 
 events, and the absolute confidence of success which animated 
 the leader and his assailing host. There is no courage like 
 that which arises from the sense of maintaining right against 
 wrong. " The righteous are as bold as a lion." 
 
 When the rum convention arrived, in all the pomp of pro- 
 cession, they were surprised to find seats reserved for them 
 in a body, and no signs of timidity evinced on account of their 
 presence. They expected to see Bludgeon cower before so 
 august a presence ; whereas he seemed hardly aware of it, so 
 intently was he absorbed in higher interests. The audience 
 was made up of all kinds of characters, drunkards, gam- 
 blers, extortioners, liars, infidels of every grade, scoffers, pro- 
 fane swearers, libertines, and all the wrecks and pests of soci- 
 ety, as well as of the decent and the virtuous. The latter 
 had come from curiosity, or to aid the cause of reform, while 
 the former determined to protect themselves from the dreaded 
 exposures, even if they had to do it with the blood of him who 
 should venture to make them. Interspersed among the out- 
 19*
 
 222 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 cast multitudes, here and there, were Bludgeon's forlorn 
 hope, or body-guard, with whom he had arranged to help 
 him, in the event of a tumultuous outbreak. The audience 
 being duly seated, and ready, Bludgeon rose coolly and fear- 
 lessly, while the stillness of death reigned on every hand. 
 He stood on a platform, near the centre of a sea of heads. 
 The bleak winds of March howled around the vast structure, 
 and, amid the awe-inspiring sounds, now distinctly audible 
 from the deep silence, Bludgeon exclaimed, abruptly, 
 
 " I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven ! " 
 
 His eyes flashed fire as he spoke, and his pale, haggard 
 face, and croaking voice, betokened a man from the tombs 
 rather than from the activities of the living world. The 
 audience were electrified by the first onset. 
 
 " Such, my friends, is what I behold in you this night," 
 said Bludgeon, his action giving the impress of reality to his 
 words. " This is as clear to me as the fall of Satan was to 
 our great Master. Falling from pleasure, from wine, from 
 lust, from honor, from virtue, from hope, sweet hope, that 
 comes to all, down, down, down, to deep, dark, eternal 
 infamy, where pleasure is pain, where wine becomes a burn- 
 ing pestilence within, where lust ends in rottenness, honor in 
 shame, virtue in incurable vice, and hope in the blackness of 
 despair ; where the scalding drops of incensed justice will fall 
 upon you forever ! " 
 
 Starting up, with a shudder, at what he had depicted, with 
 streaming eyes, and a countenance now beaming love and 
 solicitude, he added, 
 
 " I come to-night, my friends, to arrest you in this dan- 
 gerous fall. I come to-night to assure you that total absti- 
 nence from the vice which kills will be its cure. But you 
 hate me ; you lie about me. You say that Bludgeon is a
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 223 
 
 knave and a deceiver ; that he is after your money, and not 
 your happiness. 0, my friends ! if your slanders were true, 
 think you I should stand pleading with you till my lungs are 
 so sore that when I have spoken one word, I know not that I 
 can speak another, and laboring so constantly that if I get 
 four hours' sleep in the twenty-four I think myself well off?" 
 
 " Here 's two lies for you to nail, Pegan," said Skampton, 
 in a low voice ; " lungs too sore to speak, yet all the time 
 bawling ; four hours' sleep ; mark, Pegan ! " 
 
 "Yes, yes," said Pegan, with a start and a twitch, "I'll 
 nail 'em ! " 
 
 " And all this," continued Bludgeon, " for what? For my 
 bread, and clothes, and lodging, which, I protest, is all I have 
 had so far." 
 
 "Another lie, Pegan," said Skampton; "mark it! mark 
 it!" 
 
 " It 's marked," rejoined Pegan; "I shall get ammuni- 
 tion for my gun to-night." 
 
 By this time Bludgeon had conciliated every feeling in the 
 house, except those of the rum convention, so far as such 
 characters were capable of conciliation by such a speaker. 
 
 The history and fall of Satan were now announced as his 
 theme. Satan, he said, was an impersonation of evil in man, 
 and more especially of alcohol, which was the soul of wicked- 
 ness; and if that could once be exorcised, the body and 
 members of the monster would die ; an ultraism natural to 
 one so exclusively occupied with a particular cause of crime 
 and misery. Bludgeon's logic and theology are far from 
 being models. In giving a history of Satan, he touched upon 
 every recollected case and form of the abuse of wine or alco- 
 holic drinks, from Noah's drunkenness to this day ; a theme, 
 any one may imagine, as graphic and powerful as could pos-
 
 224 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 sibly fall to the lot of such an orator. It was a night of 
 drunkenness that erased great Babylon's walls from their firm 
 foundation. It was as the consequence of drunkenness that 
 Canaan's posterity were accursed ; and every slave that clanks 
 his chains, from Mason and Dixon's line to Cape Horn, is a 
 memento of this damning sin. These loose positions of 
 Bludgeon, in the manner of his using them, were not without 
 their effect in his discourse as a whole. It was a graphic 
 generalization, under which all the specific evils of alcohol, in 
 the historv of nations and races, were made to fay in like the 
 inferior stones of an arch, to give strength and stability to 
 the whole. His description of its effects in individual cases 
 was more reliable, searching, and powerful. He followed 
 the drunkard from his first glass, till found wallowing in the 
 gutter, haunted by devils in a fit of delirium tremens, or dis- 
 solved into the lurid fires of hell by spontaneous combustion. 
 He pointed out its effects upon the nervous system, in creat- 
 ing desire and appetite over which the drunkard has no con- 
 trol, and which is sure to precipitate him upon his ruin, unless 
 a physical impossibility is interposed to intercept the flow of 
 the bane to his lips. Nothing but the Maine Law, executed 
 by vigorous hands, in pouring the damning bane into the gut- 
 ter, and in remanding the harpies to prison who prey upon 
 the vices of society, he said, can meet the exigences of a 
 case like this. These and all of his points he illustrated by 
 pertinent anecdotes, which now convulsed his audience with 
 laughter, and now bathed it in tears, thus swelling the tide 
 of excitement, till it rose above all bounds, and defied re- 
 straint. His own feelings, also, waxed more and more 
 intense with his advancing argument, his manner became 
 more and more vehement, and his hearers seemed to have lost
 
 MORfr WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 225 
 
 sight of the relations of time and place, in their absorbing 
 interest in the images presented to their view. 
 
 By this time, to compare great things with small, Bludgeon 
 had a ten thousand horse power all concentrated in himself, 
 and which he could wield with one of his fingers. What was 
 remarkable in his case, his self-possession increased with the 
 excitement, and he had more shrewdness in wielding his ter- 
 rible machinery than any other man, or even himself, in the 
 calm of his retirement. Now he was ready for his assault. It 
 was nine of the night. The winds still breathed, and whistled, 
 and raged without ; and, in the excited, apprehensive state 
 of tke audience, the very creaking of the building in which 
 they were assembled seemed the shriek of some falling 
 drunkard, as he made the final plunge of his hopeless vice. 
 The images of agonized fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, 
 children, deploring the doom of rum's victims, and of devils 
 exulting over it, seemed depicted in the air ' they breathed, 
 and to swarm around them like the flies of summer, to preclude 
 all possible objects besides, and to overwhelm them with a sense 
 of this greatest of national calamities, drunkards, drunk- 
 enness, and the detestable liquor-traffic. Bludgeon paused. 
 All was still, but it was the stillness that portends the hurri- 
 cane. Half-suppressed groans and wailings were heard from 
 those who now felt, as never before, the danger to their 
 drinking friends. The speaker's burning eyes glanced and 
 flashed from one end of the vast concourse to the other, as if 
 searching for the point where to begin his personal onset. 
 
 At length, catching the features of Gilfort, who sat trem- 
 bling by the side of Skampton, he called out his name with a 
 voice like the sound of doom, saying, " You hypocrite, you 
 deceiver, you human devil, rioting in the spoils of innocence 
 and the wrecks of character, where are the souls whom you
 
 226 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 have ruined, by rum ? The gutter already swarms with your 
 victims. The prison, where you ought to be yourself, holds 
 those whom you have tempted to crime. Your dark schemes 
 of money-digging, your nocturnal orgies, your extortions of 
 money in the name of the Lord, your religious fraud to cheat 
 men into the purchase of your lands, and all the black arts 
 by which you have hitherto sustained an accursed existence, 
 testify against you. Is it not better for you to come to a 
 solemn pause, and take the pledge not only not to drink more, 
 but not to cheat, not to lie, not to palm off upon the ignorant 
 your pious tricks, but to become henceforth a man of tern 
 perance and of virtue ? But you fall, I see you fall, from 
 pleasure, from influence, from hope, from your schemes ot 
 self-aggrandizement and all the alluring baits of this nether 
 world, into a drunkard's grave and a drunkard's hell ! " 
 
 Gilfort, pale with excitement, and lost to the consciousness 
 of himself or his position, muttered, incoherently, "God have 
 mercy on me ! I 'm a devil, sure enough ! Cursed life, this ! 
 Alas, for my miserable training! " meantime jumping up, 
 to do he knew not what. 
 
 " Sit down, Gilfort," said Skampton, not comprehending 
 the cause of his excitement; "don't mind the braying of 
 that ass!" 
 
 The commotion was now general. Skampton's voice recov- 
 ered Gilfort to a sense of his position, and he started to go 
 out. But Bludgeon, mistaking it for a desire to come forward 
 to take the pledge, no uncommon thing with an audience 
 under great excitement, called out, "Make way for him! 
 Open there to the right and left ! Let the stricken wolf 
 relieve his conscience ! He may become a sheep, yet. But 
 no, he goes! he goes! " added Bludgeon, as he saw him
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 227 
 
 making for the door. "All is over with him. He'll come 
 to a miserable end ! " 
 
 At this, a cry of "Stop thief! Stop thief!" resounded 
 through the vast area. All eyes looked whence it came. 
 It was Dohson, who, rapt in the magic of the speaker's 
 influence, believed him -supernaturally directed to Gilfort as 
 the swindler of his money. In this he was confirmed by 
 Gilfort escaping ; and, with head bare, locks dishevelled, and 
 eyes flaming with insanity, he started in pursuit, floundering 
 through the throng, and at the same time calling out, at the 
 top of his voice, " Stop thief ! Stop thief! Seize him ! He 's 
 taken my money ! Seize him ! " The violence of the outcry 
 excited the rabble round the door to attempt the arrest of 
 Gilfort, thinking him a pickpocket who had just perpetrated 
 some depredation within. But Gilfort, by dint of strength, 
 forced his athletic form through the midst, and thus made his 
 escape by one of the doors. 
 
 ' ' Where is he 1 where is he 1 " cried a hundred tumult- 
 uous voices, as he vanished from view. 
 
 " He 's here," cried one, with an oath. 
 
 "No, he's here," said another. "Come on! come 
 on!" 
 
 "No, by all that's good and gracious!" cried a third; 
 " he went out by this door." 
 
 " He 's a pickpocket ! " said one. 
 
 " You 're a liar ! " rejoined a stout fellow; " and, if you 
 say that again, I '11 gouge your eyes out." 
 
 "He's a villain!" said twenty voices at once; and 
 as many more affirmed him to be an honest man, whom 
 Bludgeon had slandered. 
 
 "Can't slander such as he," replied another, and received 
 a blow in the face for answer, which he returned ; and thump.
 
 228 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 thump, thump, went the fists, and bruised noses and flowing 
 blood mingled in the dismal melee. Now Dobson entered 
 the lists, still vociferating "Stop thief! stop thief!" when 
 he received a thrust from a bowie-knife from a secret hand, 
 which changed his cry into the doleful exclamation of " Mur- 
 der ! murder ! murder ! God have mercy on my soul ! I am 
 a dead man! " 
 
 All this was done sooner than the telling, Bludgeon mean- 
 while maintaining his position with unwavering self-posses- 
 sion, and holding with magic eye the sympathies of the 
 audience, till quiet was restored. He prepared to resume. 
 His eye now rested on Pegan, who was posted in a conspic- 
 uous position, for the convenience of taking notes. Pegan 
 had admitted to his paper many scandalous things against 
 Bludgeon, which infused the more gall into this assault. 
 Fixing his searching gaze on the little great man, he said, 
 " Thou enemy of all righteousness, thou child of the devil ! 
 What ! here to gather lies for your polluted columns ? 
 Your intrigues are known. Your pufis, caustics and blanks, 
 I defy them all ! When has alcohol instigated a crime of 
 which you was not the abettor ? Buck's Saloon owed its 
 power to your pen. You have written Cathburt dead, his 
 parents childless and penniless, and filled the land with the 
 victims of your dark conservatism!" Pegan dropped his 
 pen, and hopped about the floor like a decapitated hen, till he 
 finally escaped. 
 
 Next came Skampton's sentence, to whom Bludgeon cried 
 "Blood! blood! blood!" with a thrilling effect that no 
 other mortal knew how to produce with that word. " Blood 
 from the grave of the Durhams cries against you for ven- 
 geance. Blood from the dust of Robson, blood from the 
 dust of Jollops, blood from the maw of the Kamtschatka
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 229 
 
 whales, blood from pole to pole, has sealed your doom ! " 
 This, with the excitement of the occasion and the scrutiny 
 of so many thousand eyes, was more than Skampton could 
 endure, and he too escaped, muttering, "Law, law, law '11 
 silence that ass ! " 
 
 By this time the young men who were witnesses to the 
 Cathburt robbery had acquainted Bludgeon with all the facts, 
 to which Senator Whittemore had added those which passed 
 under his observation. All these he proceeded now to detail, 
 that the citizens might understand the real nature of the resort 
 which legislation and the laws had licensed and established in 
 the midst of them. A darker picture cannot be conceived 
 than the one now sketched to the audience, which produced 
 an involuntary response, "Down with the license law ! Down 
 with the license law ! Give us the Maine Law ! Break up 
 the hells ! Pour the poison into the gutter ! " 
 
 Gripe, Bobbin and their crew, were present, and whetted 
 to the keenest edge of exacerbated feeling. Murder was in 
 their hearts. They called to one another to assist in drag- 
 ging the scoundrel from the stand. "Do it! -do it!" 
 said Bludgeon. " I defy you all ! I will die on the spot, be- 
 fore I '11 yield ! Ye vipers ! ye sharks of society, whose 
 breath is pestilence, and whose words are daggers, come 
 on ! come ! I dare you to the attack ! My blood will seal 
 your doom ! " 
 
 His courage produced a panic among them, and they with- 
 drew. But when they reached the open air their daring 
 revived, whetted up by their comrades, who had remained 
 without the most of the evening, and had not felt to an equal 
 extent the magic of Bludgeon's influence. Here they all 
 entered into a solemn oath to assassinate him before he left 
 the stand. One of their number, more conscientious than 
 20
 
 I 
 
 230 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 the rest, seeing how things would go, caused the following 
 note to be slipped under the eye of the speaker : 
 
 " SIR : More than three hundred stand without, ready to 
 assassinate you at a preconcerted signal. The signal is the 
 firing of a pistol. ONE THAT KNOWS." 
 
 Bludgeon read the note to the audience, and called on his 
 friends not to be alarmed, to stand to their post, and deliver- 
 ance would certainly come. 
 
 " Prudence dictates your escape," said a friend, privately. 
 
 " Shall such a man as I flee ?" exclaimed Bludgeon, aloud. 
 
 In a moment the pistol exploded. A shriek rose up from all 
 parts of the vast concourse, as a band of assassins, with their 
 gleaming steel, rushed through the passages. Bludgeon com- 
 manded and produced a profound silence, great as the danger 
 was. The mesmerism of his eye was proof against steel. 
 Gripe, the leader of the band, felt it as a bear is said to feel 
 the power of an unflinching human eye, and he cowered 
 before the undaunted champion of temperance. 
 
 "I know your plans," said Bludgeon. "It is to stain 
 your polluted souls with my innocent blood. I see your 
 gleaming daggers, but I heed them not. No ! I had as lief 
 die to-night as at another time. Let my blood seal my 
 message against the rum traffic. I love the people whom you 
 rob. God is near, and his shield is my protection. He will 
 not let me die by your hands. He has more work for me. 
 He will smite you." 
 
 By this time they had reached the open space around the 
 platform, and were screwing up their courage to mount it ; 
 when, overawed by the associations of the scene, and still 
 more by the dauntless spirit of their victim, they hesitated.
 
 MOKE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 231 
 
 " God Almighty smite thee ! " said Bludgeon to Gripe, as 
 their eyes met, when the latter, through excitement and 
 panic, reeled, staggered, and fell to the floor. This terrified 
 the rest of his crew, and they slunk away from view, and 
 left Bludgeon in the undisputed possession of the field. 
 Gripe was carried to the hospital, where he died before morn- 
 ing, it was thought by the special visitation of God. But 
 the drinking habits of the man, the guilt of Cathburt's death, 
 the breaking up of Buck's Saloon as his only remaining 
 haunt, and his nocturnal revels and habitual sleeplessness, all 
 concurring with the tempest of his mind during Bludgeon's 
 harangue, are sufficient to account for his sudden and awful 
 death, without the intervention of miracle. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LOVE BETTER THAN DENUNCIATION. 
 As we fall in various ways, and sink, 
 
 So manifold and various are the ways 
 
 Of reformation, fashioned to the steps 
 
 Of all infirmity, and tending all 
 
 To the same point, attainable by all, 
 
 Peace in ourselves, and union with our God." 
 
 WORDSWORTH. 
 
 SARAH HARCOURT was as ignorant as Charles Douglass 
 of the real cause of their separation. The facts, so far as to 
 her appeared, were these : Not fifteen minutes after their
 
 232 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 last parting, her father entered her room, and inquired, 
 "Where is Douglass?" 
 
 " Just gone, dear father, and not to return till Monday." 
 
 "Not till Monday!" he said, with apparent surprise; 
 "then it 's all over. "We shall not see him again, at present; 
 for we must leave in an hour for New York." 
 
 "For New York, father? In an hour? What do you 
 mean?" said Sarah, perfectly thunderstruck. 
 
 " Mean, my love ? I mean this, that if we are not there 
 as soon as steam can carry us, you will be shuffled out of 
 your maternal inheritance. I have this moment received 
 intelligence to that effect." 
 
 "I cannot go, father. You can go, and do the business 
 for me. I had rather lose it all than go at this time." 
 
 " That 's out of the question, my daughter. Your 
 presence is necessary to prove your identity by a living wit- 
 ness there, as the Sarah Harcourt who inherits, in her 
 mother, Louisa Selden's right. As to your throwing away 
 this property, Sarah, I shall not hear to it a moment. Go 
 you must." 
 
 " I have an engagement with Mr. Douglass on Monday, 
 and cannot go till I see him." 
 
 " You can write him, Sarah, and explain all. Mr. 
 Douglass is a reasonable man, and cannot fail to be satisfied. 
 If he had been here when I entered the room, as I supposed, 
 he would have urged your departure as earnestly as I do. 
 Go, Sarah, we must, and that, too, within an hour, or we 
 shall not reach the cars in time. Sit down this moment and 
 write Douglass your explanation. A servant shall carry your 
 note this very afternoon." 
 
 Sarah saw there was no alternative, and she wrote, stating 
 the cause of her leaving so suddenly, promising to write him
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 233 
 
 again soon, and beseeching him to have a letter in waiting 
 for her in New York when she arrived, as she might be com- 
 pelled to rest by the way. This matter disposed of, they set 
 off, with all possible speed, by private conveyance, for the 
 railroad station, a distance of twenty-five miles. Mr. Har- 
 court took the precaution of going by a way to elude detection 
 as much as possible, nor did they stop till the carriage set 
 them down at the station. They rode all that night ; and 
 yet the first thing that Sarah did at the hotel where they 
 breakfasted was to despatch a letter to Douglass, informing 
 him of the kind manner in which her father had spoken of 
 him, and that he might rest as secure, she thought, as if they 
 were formally betrothed with the parental consent and bless- 
 ing. She concluded with saying, "Though my body is 
 weary and my eyes heavy with sleep, and though this, tmr 
 unexpected separation, is a trial of trials, yet I have the 
 sweet assurance that my mother's God will watch over me 
 and over you, and that we shall yet be made useful and 
 happy in each other's society." 
 
 After a hasty breakfast, she retired to rest, and slept calmly 
 and sweetly over one train, when they entered the cars again, 
 and did not leave them till they reached the endless din of 
 the great metropolis. Sarah found things to correspond, so 
 far as to her appeared, to the previous representations of her 
 father. An old lady examined certain marks of her person, 
 and gave in, under oath, that she was the veritable daughter 
 of Louisa Selden, the wife of James Harcourt, and heiress 
 to the Selden estate. The forms of law gone through with, 
 Mr. Harcourt took possession of the estate in due form. 
 Miss Harcourt' s maternal family was one of the most dis- 
 tinguished of the early Puritan emigrants. The homestead 
 of her grandparents was an old-fashioned mansion on the 
 20*
 
 234 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 banks of the Hudson, some distance above the city. It was 
 invested with cultivated groves of nearly a century's growth, 
 through which the antique structure looked down with im- 
 posing effect on the beautiful river. They found it, on their 
 arrival, in a state of majestic decay, from having been long 
 occupied by aged persons, who felt little interest in the im- 
 provements of present luxury and splendor. The faded 
 glory of a former age was more congenial to its occupants 
 than modern ornament and invention. Harcourt proceeded 
 at once to make such changes as his fancy dictated. The 
 rooms were fitted up in the most costly style ; the walls lined 
 with magnificent mirrors ; the floors provided with the richest 
 quality of Turkey carpeting for winter, and with the finest 
 Indian matting for summer; all after the newest and most 
 approved models. Splendid chandeliers hung from the ceiling; 
 musical-boxes stood on the brackets and side-tables ; the win- 
 dows were hung with costly drapery ; the gilt balconies were 
 filled with the rarest exotics and flowering plants ; and sing- 
 ing birds were provided, to pour their mellifluous notes through 
 the rooms and halls, to regale and delight the luxurious 
 inmates. 
 
 "Alas ! no letter from Charles. Why does he not write? 
 Is he sick? Have my letters failed? Impossible! some must 
 have reached him. 0, my heart of hearts ! where is Charles, 
 that he deigns no token to his doting Sarah? no word, no, 
 not one not one ! " 
 
 Such were the plaints of Miss Harcourt, amid all these 
 splendid preparations. Her father met the case with all his 
 address ; said he would make immediate inquiries ; presumed 
 that Douglass meant soon to surprise her with a visit, or that 
 he was devoting himself to his profession ; or something of 
 the kind prevented his writing.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 235 
 
 "You are young, my daughter, and Mr. Douglass has 
 years of preparation yet before him. If you should not hear 
 from him till he gets through, it cannot prevent your union, 
 if you are destined for each other. Be patient, my child, be 
 patient; this is .just the ordeal you need, and you '11 both see 
 whether the root of the matter is in you, and you really have 
 the foundation for permanent esteem. This misgiving in 
 you is a doubtful omen; but we shall see." 
 
 Sarah cherished too fondly the hope of returning to the 
 plantation to admit of her feeling much pleasure in these 
 costly preparations. That was her home. She loved its 
 seclusion. It was associated with her fondest recollections ; 
 and though her father had given no intimation of a design to 
 remain in New York, yet all these repairs but too clearly 
 revealed what was in his mind, and were consequently less 
 interesting to her. Besides, her tastes did not incline her to 
 such a use of money. Intellectual, moral, and religious 
 pleasures were far more captivating to her feelings. The 
 claims of the poor were also ever present to her thoughts. 
 A large number of them were now near her home, and could 
 be reached in her daily walks. Some were intemperate, and 
 needed the soft hand of love to conduct them to virtue. 
 Money would be a great solace to their needy families, some 
 of whom were sick, and all in a state of destitution such as 
 had never before fallen tinder Sarah's observation. She set 
 about doing what she could in their behalf, and the event 
 proved how much more effective a personal care of the 
 drunkard's habits and wants, to convince him you love him 
 and desire to do him good, is, than sweeping denunciations, as a 
 means of reclaiming him to . temperance. Denunciation may 
 plough the ground, but it is the watch-care of love and 
 charity that sows the seed, that waters the plants, that pro-
 
 236 MAPLETON; OK, 
 
 tects them against incursive enemies, and reestablishes the 
 prostrated mind and character of a drunkard in virtue and . 
 peace. No vice has hitherto been deemed more hopeless than 
 this, for the good reason that we had failed to estimate the 
 utter inability which it induces to a life of temperance, so 
 long as the cup is offered at every turn, and nothing is done 
 to restore its unhappy victims to their lost position in society. 
 As soon as the cup is made more inaccessible by stringent 
 temperance laws, and friendship supplies to the inebriate the 
 requisite stimulants to sobriety, by exercising a care over him 
 and by giving him the place among us which we assign to a 
 loved one who has become feeble in mind or in body, then this 
 vice will no longer be considered hopeless. Miss Harcourt's 
 efforts tended this way, and, so far as they went, for a lady, 
 of course, could not be expected to do all the case demanded, 
 they were far more hopeful than the bold and excoriating 
 denunciations of Bludgeon. 
 
 She soon found herself with so much work of this kind on 
 hand, in the thronged population near her new home, that 
 she felt jealous of the money which her father was so pro- 
 fusely lavishing upon their ancestral mansion. Had her 
 wishes been consulted, it would have been expended in carry- 
 ing out her plans of relief for the suffering, and of reform to 
 the vicious. Her own room, in which she spent most of her 
 time, was a little one-story wing, extending back from the 
 main building in a circular form, with corresponding furni- 
 ture; while externally it was enclosed by a conservatory, 
 whose beautiful foliage and flowers diffused an odor around 
 like the breezes of " Araby the blest." It was neatly fur- 
 nished, but not on the costly scale of the other rooms, as she 
 protested to her father that her taste must here be consulted. 
 This was her Bethel. Here her books of instruction, enter-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 237 
 
 tainment and devotion, were collected. Here she found from 
 prayer her only means of reconciliation to the late shock to 
 her sensibilities. What right have we to yield to moping 
 melancholy when our wishes are crossed, so long as the Cre- 
 ator, with his infinite resources, is left to us, and is willing to 
 honor our draughts of confiding faith and importunate prayer ? 
 A love-becrazed mind is one in which God is dethroned and 
 an idol substituted in his place. Such was Miss Harcourt's 
 reasoning. Never was devotion more deep and sincere than 
 hers to Douglass, resulting from a mysterious sense of fitness 
 to each other, which began in childhood ; but then, with her 
 it was subordinate to the higher claims of Him whose they 
 both were, and whom they were bound to serve. 
 
 Many young persons, in entering a great city with every 
 advantage of wealth, personal accomplishments, and distin- 
 guished family connections, would have yielded to the rush 
 of worldly and selfish desires, would have merged themselves 
 in the joys of sense, and, after a round of years, would have 
 come out with a wasted constitution, a corrupted heart, and 
 with every imaginable disqualification for peace or usefulness. 
 The faith of Miss Harcourt was her security, an inheritance 
 of brightest promise from her sainted mother, whose memory 
 was the bow of hope, spanning the clouds of sorrow and dis- 
 appointment. Besides the poor, she had no acquaintances in 
 her own immediate neighborhood, except with the family of a 
 resident from a foreign court, to whom she was introduced 
 rather by accident than design. In this family was a daughter 
 of princely character, whose manners had taken their cast 
 from the intercourse of distinguished European society. A 
 young man by the name of De Lisle was a frequent visitor 
 in the same family, and the means of introducing Sarah to it. 
 De Lisle was born to a titled inheritance and to great wealth,
 
 238 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 but was one of those rare cases in which republican principles 
 are made the occasion for abjuring such advantages, in order 
 to return to the level which nature has established between 
 man and man. 
 
 " A natural aristocracy," he would say, " I do not object 
 to. Those who are really the best ought to be esteemed so. 
 But to flourish through life in the borrowed drapery of the 
 dead, and assume supercilious airs from the mere accident of 
 birth, is too much for my pride." And, finding his native 
 country uncongenial to the growth of such sentiments, he had 
 abandoned it to try his fortunes in the New World, and to 
 work his way to a distinction which he was too proud to 
 borrow from his ancestors. De Lisle assumed, therefore, 
 an untitled name, and cautiously concealed the accident of 
 his birth. He was a young man of truly noble principles, 
 who had drunk deep into ancient and modern learning, and 
 whose republicanism, like Milton's, was derived from the 
 communion of mind in all ages. 
 
 This young man had frequently met with Mr. Harcourt 
 and his daughter in their morning walks. Sarah still retained 
 her love of out-door life often taking long walks with her 
 father, sometimes going along the margin of the river, and 
 sometimes among the contiguous farms and groves. On 
 these occasions De Lisle would often fall in with them, 
 attracted at first by the engaging person of Miss Harcourt, 
 but afterwards by the extraordinary turn of her conversation. 
 It was a page he had never read, and he wished to study it. 
 As Sarah's heart always overflowed with a piety and benevo- 
 lence which seemed to have become her very life, so her 
 conversation spontaneously partook of the same, and even her 
 countenance and whole being were continually throwing out, 
 without effort or design on her part, the coruscations of
 
 MORE AVORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 239 
 
 heavenly light. No one who has seen the utmost that Chris- 
 tianity has done and is doing for personal elevation, will 
 deem this an overwrought picture. 
 
 De Lisle had seen the pomp and ceremony of religion. He 
 had felt the inspiration of massy pillars, time-hallowed cathe- 
 drals, the deep gloom of their shaded windows, the thunder- 
 ing bass of their organs, the chime of pealing hells, deluging 
 the landscape with sound, and all these magical contrivances 
 for overawing the sense and imagination. He had been 
 familiar with the cant of dissent, and the various forms in 
 which sect and schism offer to Heaven their conflicting devotions. 
 But the purity of the evangelical spirit, apart from cant and 
 sectarian contrivance, he had never seen, till he witnessed it 
 in the person of Sarah Harcourt. The contemplation of it 
 charmed, astonished, and confounded him. It had depths 
 which he felt himself unable to fathom, heights he could not 
 surmount, and a width and length which he could not com- 
 prehend. How a young person, with every endowment of 
 wealth, and every accomplishment of person, unscathed by 
 disease and unblighted by sorrow, should withdraw from all 
 those circles in which she was so eminently fitted to shine, 
 not from the morbid promptings of a perverted conscience, 
 not from the dread of divine vengeance, not from the ascetic 
 ambition of a saint's renown, but because she professed herself 
 too happy to need them, he could not understand. "What 
 is the nature of this happiness, which is so independent of the 
 ordinary sources of enjoyment? and whence comes it?" were 
 questions which he often revolved in his mind. " If there is 
 anything of the kind which is real, and not fictitious, then we 
 have something to put in the place of those pleasures which 
 are the great lure to vice. We have a counter excitement of 
 felicitous feeling, to meet those mental cravings which seek to
 
 240 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 slake themselves in wine, in scenic representations, and in a 
 thousand ways, which to untold multitudes end only in crime 
 and misery." So reasoned De Lisle. 
 
 He hoped to unravel the matter by means of Miss Julia, 
 the young lady to whom we have alluded, and hence said to 
 her : " I am surprised you do not make the acquaintance of 
 Miss Harcourt." 
 
 " What ! in love ? " said Julia, laughing. 
 
 " No ; not till I know what I am loving." 
 
 " Why, you will love as pretty a girl as the world affords, 
 if I may judge from my occasional glimpses of her." 
 
 " If that were all that was needed to elicit one's love, I 
 need not look beyond present company." 
 
 " you are so complimentary ! But love, you know, is 
 blind, and has his freaks." 
 
 " I will venture his freaks, Miss Julia, if you will unravel 
 the mystery of a happiness so independent of the ordinary 
 food by which happiness subsists. Miss Harcourt seems to 
 have a happiness that makes yours and mine tasteless, and I 
 would be glad to know what it is." 
 
 " Does she assign this as a reason for keeping aloof from 
 the gayeties of the town ? " 
 
 " She does, and that too with so much sincerity, that I am 
 bound to believe her." 
 
 " But what can I do to unravel the mystery 1 " 
 
 " 0, you ladies have a tact in finding out each other which 
 we have not." 
 
 " Well, I will do what I can to interpret the riddle." 
 
 Accordingly, Miss Julia soon after called and made Sarah's 
 acquaintance. A mutual interest and intimacy grew up 
 between them, though in education, habit, and especially in 
 religion, they were totally unlike. Julia was gay, volatile,
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 241 
 
 and in the highest degree extravagant in her notions of ances- 
 tral origin and personal dignity. She seemed to regard dis- 
 tinctions of rank, and station, and enlarged resources of worldly- 
 pleasure, the most exalted possession to be hoped or desired. 
 Still, she was a generous, great-souled girl, to whom such 
 low conceptions of the end of living were uncongenial, and the 
 growth merely of a preposterous education. The same cir- 
 cumstances under which Sarah had been placed, and especially 
 the same maternal influence, might have made Miss Julia, in 
 humility, in meekness, in piety and in faith, equally remark- 
 able, equally brilliant. Alas ! how many never rise above 
 the pleasures of sense, who might have shone as stars of the 
 first magnitude in the spiritual galaxy ! If they stop short 
 of a career of open vice, still they travel the road that leads 
 thousands and millions to that dismal goal. Yea, by their 
 example they help others forward to the ruin from which their 
 own constitutional moderation secures them. And they do 
 it because they are educated to feel that there is no other way 
 of finding pleasure. To gratify De Lisle. Julia invited Sarah 
 to tea on the ensuing Thursday evening. " And I shall 
 expect you to be present," she said to that gentleman. " You 
 need not think to make me your clerk, to read her for you." 
 
 " That will not do," said De Lisle. " My presence would 
 seal the document." 
 
 " Seal the document ! Mr. De Lisle? No. I see you do not 
 understand Miss Harcourt. She. is all openness, all frank- 
 ness. Her lips are never sealed to any one, much less against 
 you, of whom she entertains so high an opinion." 
 
 " A high opinion of me ! What do you mean? We never 
 met except in our rural rambles, when we were under the 
 restraint of her father's presence, who, I see, has no sym- 
 21
 
 242 MAPLETONJ OE, 
 
 pathy with her peculiar views. He is a mere man of the 
 world, like the rest of us." 
 
 " Well, Miss Harcourt speaks of the respect and confidence 
 with which you have inspired her." 
 
 " How came she to say that ? " 
 
 " Why, I told her we should have only a family party at 
 tea, except yourself, a particular friend. And she expressed 
 herself pleased with the prospect of meeting one in whose 
 conversation she had been so much interested." 
 
 " Thanks to my stars ! then I am to be my own inter- 
 preter." 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 "And to the Presence in the room he said, 
 ' What writest thou ? ' The vision raised its head, 
 And, with a look made all of sweet accord, 
 Answered, ' The names of those that love the Lord.' 
 ' And is mine one ? ' said Abou. ' Nay, not so,' 
 Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, 
 But cheerly still, and said, ' I pray thee, then, 
 Write me as one that loves his fellow-men.' " LEIGH HUNT. 
 
 IT was the union of qualities which De Lisle had deemed 
 subversive of each other that excited his interest in Miss 
 Harcourt, zeal and gentleness, austerity and sweetness, a 
 repulsive severity to sin, with tenderness to the sinner; a 
 saintly and severe hold upon the realities of eternity, with 
 a buoyancy of spirits bordering on gayety and mirthfulness.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 243 
 
 Hers was not a piety to make people miserable, but a stock 
 in bank, upon which any might draw at will. Her peace 
 with Heaven was not purchased at the expense of peace on 
 earth and good-will towards men. Her attractions of person 
 were set off with a conversation that administers grace to 
 them that hear. She was not faultless, though she seemed 
 so, above most others, because her religion was associated 
 with humanity, and her piety with benevolence. It was this 
 aspect of her character that excited De Lisle's curiosity, and 
 it was probably the same that provoked the inquiry of old as 
 to the reason of the Christian's hope. When religion repu- 
 diates humanity, disfigures itself by cant, makes a merit of 
 gloomy interjections and indelicate attacks upon the prejudices 
 of a man of the world, as if to be very pious is to be very 
 disagreeable, how can it win for itself the respect of man- 
 kind? 
 
 " Glad to see you at last, Mr. De Lisle," said Julia, as 
 that gentleman joined the proposed party. "What are we 
 ladies without you lords of creation?" 
 
 "Much, every way," said De Lisle, laughing. 
 
 " I hope you mean it in a good sense," said Julia. 
 
 " I mean that you and Miss Harcourt are too fertile in 
 conversation to need my contributions." 
 
 " Conversation has certainly prospered without you," said 
 Sarah, " but how much more with you ! " 
 
 " It can never flag where you are, Miss Harcourt," said 
 Julia. 
 
 " Not when you are present to call it out," said Sarah. 
 
 "I see you mean to be pleased with each other, and am 
 only surprised that your acquaintance did not begin sooner." 
 
 " Custom would impute the fault to the older resident, I 
 suppose," said Julia.
 
 244 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 " It is not your fault, Miss Julia. Our social relations 
 have taken us in opposite directions." 
 
 " True, contiguity of location seldom unites those of oppo- 
 site tastes," said De Lisle; "but you have tastes alike, I 
 think, and will easily coalesce." 
 
 "I mean it shall not be my fault if we do not," said 
 Sarah. 
 
 "But it seems to us mysterious, Miss Harcourt, that we 
 do not meet you in our places of amusement. It is precisely 
 this circumstance, that I am interested in them and you are 
 not, which has kept us so long unacquainted. Confluent 
 currents are sure to mingle." 
 
 "Perhaps Miss Harcourt is too much occupied with 
 literature, poetry, or the fine arts, to admit of her mingling 
 in the scenes of which you speak," said De Lisle. 
 
 "I am fond of them, sir; but these do not keep me from 
 the amusements of which you speak. I have no relish for 
 them, and besides, they are many of them prejudicial to 
 virtue and happiness. It would please my father to have me 
 go, but as he sees me so happy without, he is content." 
 
 " No relish for amusements ! That is very strange in one 
 of your years," said De Lisle. 
 
 " I like amusement, sir, but not those of which you speak. 
 I love to be out among the trees, the foliage, the flowers ; to 
 breathe the sweet breath of morning ; to sport along the 
 shore ; and in many ways, at home and abroad, to recreate 
 myself. It makes my heart purer, my head clearer, and my 
 spirits more elastic. But the impure atmosphere of theatres, 
 operas, assemblies, and all those scenes .of exciting and 
 crowded concourse, I could not endure. Besides, my con- 
 science cannot approve what leads so many to dissipation and 
 ruin."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 245 
 
 ' ' I can comprehend how you should acquire a distaste by 
 staying away on account of the death of a friend," said 
 Julia ; "for I stayed at home once myself for this reason, 
 till I lost my relish." 
 
 " I have lost no very near friend since my mother's death, 
 some years ago. But that need not deter me, even if it had 
 occurred within a week, provided it were right to go at all." 
 
 " Not your mother's death ! " said De Lisle. 
 
 " My mother's death was more joyful than gloomy, and 
 interposed no barrier to any consistent recreation." 
 
 " In what respect was it joyful 1 " said Julia. 
 
 " Because it was the end of a troubled and the beginning 
 of a blissful life." 
 
 " Your mother died in the Church ? " said De Lisle. 
 
 " She died in the faith of a Christian, sir, with heaven 
 distinctly in view, and the certainty of happy society above. 
 If your mother left you to visit the friends of her youth, you 
 might regret her absence, but, at the same time, you would be 
 glad of the pleasure she had in prospect. This pleasure I 
 feel in the death of my mother." 
 
 "I never saw a person die," said Julia; "I could not 
 endure the sight." 
 
 " My dear Miss Julia, you would not say so, if you had 
 seen my mother die." 
 
 "What was remarkable in her dying?" inquired De 
 Lisle. 
 
 In answer Sarah frankly stated the facts already mentioned, 
 adding, " My amusement I find in living to die thus." 
 
 ".A beautiful death ! " said Julia, wiping her falling tears. 
 
 " A wonderful death ! " said De Lisle, still more affected. 
 " Pray, Miss Harcourt, what is the secret of dying thus? 
 I should be glad to have such a death too." 
 21*
 
 246 MAPLETON; OK, 
 
 C Faith in the gospel is the only secret. It is the faith of 
 meeting friends that makes us so happy under the fatigue of 
 a journey to the home of our childhood. Dying would be 
 insupportable without the faith of heavenly society." 
 
 They were here interrupted by the inquiry at the door for 
 Miss Harcourt ; and, in a moment more, a poor but neatly- 
 dressed girl of fourteen or fifteen entered the room, and said, 
 with tears in her eyes, that her mother, she feared, was 
 dying, and would be glad to see Miss Harcourt. 
 
 " Where does your mother live^ " inquired Sarah. 
 
 " Sixty-five, Blank-street, in the third story. Go up two 
 flights of stairs, and when you reach the landing of the 
 second, enter the left-hand door." 
 
 This was said with much modesty, and with the signs of 
 some deep and incurable sorrow. 
 
 "What ails your mother, my child?" inquired Sarah. 
 
 " 0, I don't know," said the child, the tears beginning to 
 flow amain ; ' ' she is sick ; her breath is almost gone, and the 
 fever is burning her up. Will you come, miss? " 
 
 " Certainly. Will it do in the morning? " 
 
 "0, I 'm afraid that would be too late ! " said the girl. 
 
 " Very well ; I will be there in an hour." 
 
 " Not so soon ; we shall not be through tea," said Julia. 
 
 " Well, it will not be much over an hour, I think," added 
 Sarah, as the child left. 
 
 "How dare you go to a strange place in the night?" 
 said Julia. " Perhaps some mischief is intended you, or 
 there is pestilence in the house." 
 
 " I shall take measures to assure myself on these points," 
 said Sarah.. "I am not without experience in these matters." 
 
 " You speak of the certainty of entering into better 
 society at death, Miss Harcourt," said De Lisle, anxious to
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 247 
 
 resume the conversation. "I cannot see any such basis of 
 certainty as we feel on visiting friends. It is true I believe 
 in the Christian religion, and in the soul's immortality. But 
 it affords me no such grounds of realization as that of meeting 
 absent friends. We have seen those friends, have enjoyed 
 the fruition of their society, and thus have in our minds a 
 basis for realization. Those who have tasted a delicious fruit 
 once can anticipate what it will be again. But we have no 
 such experience of heavenly society. Dying is necessarily 
 a plunge in the dark." 
 
 " Mr. De Lisle, one fact has escaped you," said Sarah. 
 
 " What is that, Miss Harcourt?" 
 
 " Heaven, to the believer, is a present inward experience. 
 It is the love of God ' shed abroad in his heart ;' it is ' Christ 
 in him the hope of glory ;' it is being ' filled with all the ful- 
 ness of God.' What these passages of the Bible involve is 
 heaven, whether enjoved here or in another life. It is a 
 mind in harmony with itself and all its relations. And what 
 can heaven be but that?" 
 
 " But how is it possible to derive so much enjoyment from 
 a purely ideal good? " inquired De Lisle. 
 
 "It is not ideal, sir; it is positive; it is substantial. Is 
 the happiness of a mind in health any more ideal than that 
 of a healthy body ? That is a morbid state of mind which is 
 never satisfied in itself, but is always craving outward sources 
 of excitement. Happiness and hope are the development of 
 life from within, like the enlargement of a growing tree ; but 
 pleasures, in the usual sense of that term, are but the leaves 
 appended to a tree of wax. You grasp them, and they crum- 
 ble in your hands." 
 
 " Then the state of your affections in reference to God and 
 heaven gives you a distaste for the gayeties of the town."
 
 248 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 "Yes; I am kept from them by the force of superior 
 attractions. I might think many of these amusements per- 
 fectly innocent. It is so with dancing. I would dance if I 
 needed such an auxiliary of my happiness; but I do not. 
 Besides, I observe that those who have a craving for such 
 modes of enjoyment are betrayed into what is acknowledged 
 on all hands to be criminal. Extreme devotion to cards ends 
 in gambling. The excitements of the theatre lead to drink- 
 ing and drunkenness. These pleasures are all seeds, which 
 grow up vices ; and I do not feel myself at liberty to sow such 
 a harvest. If you could see what I have, during my short 
 stay in your city, I am certain that you would think as I do 
 ^n these subjects." 
 
 As soon as they had taken tea, Sarah -excused herself, to 
 fulfil her engagement, and De Lisle insisted upon accom- 
 panying her. Julia, too, was so much interested in the case, 
 that she proposed to go with them. A carriage was ordered, 
 and they all went together. When they arrived at 65 Blank- 
 street, they found it a large, old-fashioned house, once the 
 home of opulence, but now converted into dens for the poor 
 and degraded. The doors were battered and broken, with 
 locks and latches gone, and no protection against rain or 
 robbers. The party entered the hall, but not a light was to 
 be seen within. De Lisle felt his way in the darkness, till 
 he reached the foot of the stairs, and began to ascend, the 
 ladies following. Julia's heart sunk within her. On the 
 first landing they were met by the poor girl who had come 
 for them, having in her hand/a piece of broken earthenware, 
 with a small amount of oil in it, and a wick, emitting a feeble 
 light. This served rather to render the darkness and desola- 
 tion more visible. At length they entered the left-hand door 
 of the upper landing, when they were met with a gust of
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 249 
 
 March wind, blowing through the broken panes, which extin- 
 guished their light, and enveloped them in total darkness. 
 Sarah, used to such scenes, begged her companions not to be 
 alarmed. 
 
 " Ma ! ma ! " said the girl ; " do you hear?" 
 
 " Lizzy, love, is that you? " said one, with labored breath- 
 ing, who seemed scarcely conscious ; "is that you, Lizzy?" 
 
 "Yes, ma; the lady is come; she is here." 
 
 "Are you sick, my good woman?" said Sarah. 
 
 " 0, yes ; very sick. Who 's speaking to me ? " 
 
 "Miss Harcourt, that you sent me for," said the child ; 
 " she is come to see you, ma." 
 
 "0, Miss Harcourt, I 'm so glad you are here ! This is a 
 house of suffering and death. And you have been so kind to 
 Mrs. Darby, and she has said so much to me about you, that 
 I hoped you 'd be an angel of mercy to me, also. 0, I'm so 
 suffering ! my heart 's bursting, and I have no one on earth 
 to look to ! " 
 
 "My dear woman, you must look to your Father in 
 heaven," said Sarah, with tones of tenderness that went to 
 the heart. 
 
 " 0, I have ! I have ! " said the woman ; " and I seemed 
 to feel that he had referred me to you, as the messenger o 
 his mercy to me." 
 
 "Miss Harcourt, you must have a light," said De Lisle ; 
 " I will go and order one." 
 
 " I will go with you," said Julia, trembling in every limb ; 
 adding, in a whisper, " Miss Harcourt, you must go, too. It 
 is dangerous for you to remain here alone." 
 
 "Not in the least," said Sarah; "God's poor are here, 
 and he will watch over us in taking care of them. You had 
 better order a light, Mr. De Lisle. But wait a moment.
 
 250 MAPLETON ; OB, 
 
 What have you here, my good woman 1 any food ? clothing 
 to keep you warm? What do you need most?" 
 
 "We have nothing here, you angel; no food, no fuel, no 
 lights, and not clothing to keep us warm," said the woman. 
 
 ' The shops are open yet, Mr. De Lisle. Please order 
 lights, ready-cooked food, fuel, and warm blankets. Here 's 
 my purse," added Sarah, feeling her way, to put it in his 
 hand. 
 
 "No, no; I have enough," replied De Lisle, in tones 
 which indicated emotion. 
 
 " Ma, your poor Mary 's cold, cold, 0, how cold ! Lie 
 close to me, ma! I'm so cold!" said a child, feebly, from 
 the opposite side of the room, with a rattling in breathing, as 
 if its throat was full of phlegm. 
 
 "I have you in my bosom, my tender love ! there ; don't my 
 Mary feel a little warmer? " replied the mother, with a motion 
 of pressing her little one to her bosom. Meantime, the sound 
 of heavy breathing was heard in other parts of the room, and 
 the atmosphere would have been intolerable, but for the con- 
 stant currents of night air flowing through it. De Lisle and 
 Julia hastened after supplies for this house of want, while 
 Sarah occupied her time in repeating passages of scripture 
 most appropriate to the case of the poor woman, and in offer- 
 ing prayer for those higher supplies for the soul which God 
 alone can impart. The absent ones soon returned with a 
 cheerful light, followed by a porter with fuel, food, blankets, 
 and everything to meet the present necessity. The fire was 
 soon lighted, the broken panes stopped with a blanket, and so 
 much comfort as warmth could bestow was afforded to the 
 unhappy inmates. But such a scene as the light revealed 
 beggars description. Mrs. Andrews, the sick woman, was 
 lying on a pallet of straw in one part of the room, without a
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 251 
 
 covering to keep her warm, while her breathing was like the 
 whistling tubes of an organ. On the opposite side of the 
 room lay Mrs. Prindle, in much the same condition, with 
 four children by her, one of whom was now found to be gasp- 
 ing its last. Poor Mrs. Prindle, seeing the state of her child, 
 sprang to her feet, the other three children following, all in 
 rags and wretchedness ; and the scene which ensued may be 
 better imagined than described. 
 
 "0, Mary ! Mary ! do speak to your mother once more ! 
 Dear little murdered one, will you not look up ? will you not 
 kiss your ma?" 
 
 Then, seizing the dead child, she pressed it to her bosom, 
 as if the warmth of her person would infuse life into the cold 
 clay. The children, meantime, uttered the most doleful 
 plaints, and it was some time before quiet could be restored. 
 .Food was offered the suffering family, which, in spite of their 
 grief, they laid hold of with hungry voracity, their haggard 
 features telling too plainly how long such a solace had been 
 denied them. 
 
 The heavy breathing was found to come from Andrews 
 and his two sons, the husband and children of the sick lady, 
 and also from Prindle, the father of the dead child. All 
 these remained still in the sleep of drunkenness. Sarah now 
 inquired of Mrs. Andrews what had brought them to such a 
 pitch of wretchedness. 
 
 "An insatiable love of amusement, ending in drunkenness," 
 she said. " My husband is a carpenter, and had a prosper- 
 ous business in Connecticut, our native state. His leisure 
 he then spent in public houses, drinking temperately, and 
 finding pleasure in every way he could. Our sons would 
 accompany him, and they gradually fell into the^ame habits. 
 T did what I could to induce them to read, to find pleasure at
 
 252 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 home; but all to no purpose. At length, Mr. Andrews 
 thought this city would be a better place for his business, 
 and we removed here. This was our ruin. The temptations 
 to pleasure were too much for my husband and sons, and they 
 plunged still deeper and deeper in dissipation, and did less 
 and less for our support. Dear Lizzy and I supported the 
 family by binding shoes, till I took cold and could work no 
 longer ; since which she has been our only support. Driven 
 out of house and home, we were taken in by Prindle, an 
 associate of my husband. He could not pay the rent of his 
 room, and resorted to this expedient for relieving himself. 
 The discomfort of this place has aggravated my disease, and 
 God only knows what the end will be ! " 
 
 "You see, Mr. De Lisle," said Sarah, on their return 
 home, " how unsafe it is for a man to feel that he cannot 
 content himself without artificial excitements." 
 
 " But why should they go to such extremes 7- why not stop 
 at a reasonable point?" said De Lisle. 
 
 "That is the question, why not?" replied Sarah. "It 
 is because the appetite that craves indulgences of this kind is 
 an unhealthy one, and must end in evil. It may not bring 
 all to such a garret, but it will inevitably be followed with 
 damage in some way. Theatre-going leads to drinking, and 
 drinking to theatre-going; card-playing to gambling: noc- 
 turnal assemblies to nocturnal dissipation and premature 
 death ; and thus the wrecks of family, and ruined characters 
 and fortunes, are strewed around us without stint or measure." 
 
 "Can nothing be done to induce Prindle and the Andrewses 
 to change their habits ? " inquired Julia, with genuine con- 
 cern. 
 
 "A very hard case," said De Lisle, shaking his head. 
 
 "Yes; much may be done, and much more still might be,
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 253 
 
 if the state had not placed its licensed temptations at every 
 corner." 
 
 "How will you go to work? " inquired De Lisle. " You 
 may rely upon my support, Miss Harcourt, in anything you 
 think proper to attempt." 
 
 " And mine, too," added Julia. " I had no idea of what 
 is done and suffered around us." 
 
 " Well, since you are so good as to refer the plan to me, I 
 tell you at once, we must be on hand to-morrow morning by 
 seven o'clock. We must steal the march of the first dram. 
 Prindle and the Andrewses will awake with the horrors. The 
 death within their doors will concur with the reaction of 
 drunkenness to bring on such a morning as they have never 
 seen. Their only means of relief will be to drown them- 
 selves in the bottle. Our business is to step in at that pre- 
 cise moment, and do all we can to impart other comforts, and 
 inspire them with other sources of hope." 
 
 Accordingly it was arranged to meet at 65 Blank-street, so 
 early as seven of the next morning. Sarah was there some- 
 what in advance of her friends. She met Andrews, senior, 
 in the hall, with bottle in hand, and inquired of him how his 
 wife did. 
 
 'A little better, I hope." 
 
 "Be so good as to show me the way to your room. I fear 
 I cannot find it again." 
 
 " And have you been there before? " said Andrews. 
 
 "Yes, last night." 
 
 "0, you are the young lady who has relieved our suffer- 
 ings," said Andrews; "I '11 go back with you." 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Andrews, my father is repairing our home- 
 stead, and I have come to engage you to work for us." 
 
 When Sarah entered the room, the first object that met 
 22
 
 
 254 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 her view was the pale face of the dead child. Its father 
 stood over it, apparently with the premonitory symptoms of 
 delirium tremens. The two young Andrewses looked stupid 
 and besotted. Mrs. Andrews was evidently better, relieved 
 by food and a warmer room. Little Lizzy had already begun 
 her day's work, now the only source of the family's support. 
 Mrs. Prindle and her children were alleviated in body by 
 food, but sorely afflicted in mind at the death of poor dear 
 Mary. Mr. De Lisle and Julia soon arrived, accompanied by 
 a physician. Prindle had by this time become more raving 
 and the physician, after prescribing to Mrs. Andrews, took 
 him into his own carriage, with much persuasion and some 
 force, and conveyed him to the hospital. Here he was con- 
 fined several weeks; and measures were taken, when he 
 came out, to induce him to sign the temperance pledge. 
 This he did ; and, by the efforts of Miss Harcourt, who never 
 lost sight of him, he' was furnished with a regular business, by 
 which he supported his own family in comfort. De Lisle took 
 it upon himself to provide places for the young Andrewses, 
 while Sarah kept their father in her employ until he had be- 
 come somewhat weaned from the cup, when he also took the 
 pledge. The two families were soon in comfortable circum- 
 stances, and the only difficulty was in keeping them so, by 
 removing the temptations to strong drink. But how can this 
 be done, with our present drinking habits and liquor laws q
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 255 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 HIGH LIFE BELOW STAIRS. 
 
 " Her sons all drank a little ; and one of them the first boy she had 
 frequently came home lively, as she called it." THE ADVOCATE. 
 
 " A pestilent tongue she had, that the poor husband dreaded above all 
 things under the sun." SIR ROGER L'ESTRANGE. 
 
 THESE incidents and conversations opened upon De Lisle 
 new ideas of life. It had a purpose of humanity, a work of 
 faith and labor of love, and a patience of hope, and not 
 merely the gratification of present desires. He did, indeed, 
 fulfil an engagement to attend the theatre with Harry How- 
 ard, the succeeding evening. That young gentleman had 
 been graduated to a career of high living, and was fulfilling 
 his destiny on a scale that promised a speedy fall. De Lisle 
 had no real congeniality with him ; but still, they often met 
 in their rounds of pleasure, and often enjoyed together a 
 social glass. Howard saw in him this evening something 
 unusual. He was abstracted, and seemed little interested in 
 the brilliant scene enacting before them. 
 
 "De Lisle," said Howard, "what the deuce ails you? 
 Are you in love?" 
 
 " Does love make one insensible to what is passing around 
 him?" 
 
 " Certainly. That is its first symptom. It wraps the 
 mind in its own delicious ideas, to the exclusion of all others." 
 
 " Then, Howard, you must set me down in love." 
 
 " But who is the happy object of your passion? " 
 
 " It is like no other with which I ever met on earth."
 
 256 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 " That is the universal story, and amounts to just nothing 
 at all." 
 
 " You know, Howard, we lately discussed Gibbon's account 
 of the spread of Christianity, when I expressed the convic- 
 tion that it might be accounted for on the ordinary principles 
 of cause and effect ; but I now see reasons for revoking that 
 decision." 
 
 '' Pray, what has that to do with love? " 
 
 " Much, very much, with the kind which has affected me." 
 
 " Then it is the love of the brethren, I suppose," said 
 Howard, with a sneer. 
 
 "I wish it might be that, if it is all like the specimen I 
 have seen." 
 
 " What specimen have you seen? Is it a male or a female 
 specimen, a real or an ideal one? " 
 
 " 0, you joke in a case wherein I feel it to be profane." 
 
 "You are really pious, then?" said Howard, shrinking 
 from him, with instinctive dread. 
 
 " If I were pious, I suppose I should nof be here." 
 
 ' ' Not here ! Can anything, deserving the name of piety, 
 keep one from such a glorious play as this? " 
 
 " If you knew you could be happier somewhere else, could 
 do much more good, and prevent much more evil, do you 
 think you would be here? " 
 
 "That's impossible." 
 
 " I thought so once myself," saidDe Lisle, seriously; "but 
 I now have reason to think otherwise." 
 
 "And the reason that makes you think otherwise has con- 
 vinced you also that miraculous agency was necessary in the 
 establishment and propagation of Christianity." 
 
 " Precisely so. I have seen Christianity on such wise as 
 falls not within the ordinary scope of human nature. Nothing
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 257 
 
 so pure, so bland, so blissful, so free from cant and sectarian- 
 ism, so full of good-will to all, so self-sacrificing to reclaim 
 the vicious and make the miserable happy, could arise from 
 that grovelling, selfish thing, which I have found human 
 nature to be." 
 
 " Is it a lady, or a gentleman ? " 
 
 "A lady." 
 
 "Is she beautiful?' 7 
 
 " Yes, as the morning star, and lovely as spring." 
 
 "Rich?" 
 
 " An heiress, I believe." 
 
 " Respectably connected? " 
 
 " Of one of the best families in this republican land." 
 
 " Tljen I '11 be bound, De Lisle, something besides broth- 
 erly love has to do with your feelings in the case." 
 
 " But, Howard, Avhat if you were to add to the most 
 beautiful, rich, accomplished, respectable and every way 
 desirable, young lady you ever saw, the embellishments of a 
 character so superior to these advantages as to cast them all 
 into the shade; with what feelings would you regard her? " 
 
 " What are these embellishments which thus render all the 
 ordinary food of love insipid? " 
 
 "Labors in behalf of such objects of wretchedness as you 
 have never conceived, and faith that makes death a triumph." 
 
 "Faith! faith of any kind, except conjugal faith, kills 
 love. I would shun it as I would a pestilence. It has 
 nothing to recommend it but cant, hypocrisy and prudery." 
 
 " But, suppose you were to see a piety cheerful, bland, ten- 
 der, confiding, attentive to the happiness of all, even in things 
 with which it could not agree, and so happy in the communion 
 of the pure and the heavenly, and in exercising all the vir- 
 tues which adorn and ennoble human nature, as to lose the 
 22*
 
 258 MAPLETOX ; OR, 
 
 relish of those pleasures on which you and I are wasting our 
 fortune and our lives ; what would you say of it ? " 
 
 "I should say the picture is too perfect to be real." 
 
 " Well, if you had an idea that it was real, in a lady of our 
 acquaintance, could she have so many of those qualities which 
 usually elicit love as to lead you to merge your feelings 
 towards her in that passion? " 
 
 "The plague on such a lady ! Let her seek her lovers 
 among the angels, where the ancient beauties found theirs." 
 
 " 0, you are not serious, Howard. It is my opinion that 
 no young man could be happy in such a love, who did not 
 possess, in some good degree, the same characteristics." 
 
 This sentiment of De Lisle is no doubt true. Marriage 
 between persons whose views and feelings on the subject of 
 religion are radically different does not promise happiness. 
 
 Though these sketches of Miss Harcourt's life in New 
 York extend over a period of a few years, yet it was a much 
 less time than this that Douglass remained ignorant of her 
 fate. The pain of suspense which she felt till she heard from 
 him was increased by the fear of having done him a wrong, 
 by allowing herself, for. any cause, to be separated from him, 
 at a crisis of their intercourse so delicate and peculiar. As 
 to the effect upon him, she was long left to conjecture. Still, 
 her plans of doing good and her confidence in God preserved 
 her from unavailing regrets. She made few acquaintances 
 beyond the immediate calls of duty. Her introduction to De 
 Lisle and Julia, uncongenial as they were in some respects, 
 proved a real comfort to her. The nature of some does more 
 than the grace of others to make them agreeable companions. 
 Mrs. Dunstable, a woman of vulgar ideas and a low origin, but 
 of sufficient wealth, inherited and accumulated, to support her 
 insufferable pretensions to high life, illustrated the truth of
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 259 
 
 this remark, if her connection with the church could be re- 
 ceived as a sign of grace. She was volatile and pretending ; 
 a saint in the winter and a sinner in the summer ; a wine- 
 drinker, but a temperance talker ; a pretended refrainer from 
 worldly amusements in her own city, but mad after them in 
 Paris, or when abroad ; a professed martyr to her husband's 
 impiety, while he was really so to her tongue. She monopo- 
 lized to herself the good of her family, and charged the bad 
 upon her ungodly husband. This woman attended the minis- 
 try of Mr. Topliff, who was also Miss Harcourt's pastor, and 
 it was thus their acquaintance began. Mrs. Dunstable's 
 ambition to be found in distinguished families, like that to 
 which Sarah belonged, was inflamed by the consciousness of 
 her own vulgar pedigree. 
 
 ' ' I fear, Miss Harcourt, you keep yourself too much ex- 
 cluded," said Mrs. Dunstable, at her first call. 
 
 " I am happy in seclusion," replied Sarah. 
 
 " 0, dear ! " said Mrs. Dunstable, with a peculiar wriggle 
 of her commanding person. " I s'pose I should be, if I 
 had n't a husband who is always dragging me out." 
 
 " It is right that you should do all you can, conscientiously, 
 to please your husband." 
 
 "It's a bore, after all, to have an ungodly husband, who 
 is always interfering with one's religion. One finds it hard 
 to be good under such circumstances ; at least /do," said Mrs. 
 Dunstable, with a smirk of her large face. 
 
 " Is he unwilling you should attend your church? " 
 
 "Yes, my church, for he has taken me to that detestable 
 place where this fool of a Topliff preaches, merely because he 
 knows it plagues me. My minister is that dear, good man, 
 Dr. Turnsol. Have you never heard him, Miss Harcourt? "
 
 260 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 " I have not had that pleasure. I am quite satisfied -with 
 our own minister." 
 
 " You surprise me, Miss Harcourt. How can you endure 
 his dinging against wine ? Not that I drink ; but, when I hear 
 temperance touched upon, I like to have it kindy softly, as 
 my dear Dr. Turnsol does. He now and then takes a glass 
 for his stomach's sake, and his often infirmities. But this 
 buckram Topliff ! you might as well turn melted brimstone 
 down his throat. I can't bear him. My husband don't like 
 him any better than I ; but he will go there, just to be ugly. 
 0, dear ! what a sad thing it is for a pious woman to have an 
 ungodly husband ! " 
 
 " A trial, no doubt ; but a consistent life may win him." 
 
 " La me ! how can one lead a consistent life, when one has 
 no help at home ? I feel the need of being comforted by 
 preaching the more from my unhappy condition at home. 
 But, then, to go and be knocked over the head about wine by 
 Topliff is too bad. I do run away, to get a little comfort from 
 dear Dr. Turnsol, and I will; it's of no use ; I can 't live 
 without it." 
 
 "I observe your attendance is not regular, but did not 
 know before the cause." 
 
 "Wai; if I hadn't run away, to get some comfort from Dr. 
 Turnsol, I believe Mr. Topliff and my ungodly husband 
 together would have driv all the religion out of me." 
 
 "It is well to have some relief," said Sarah, thoughtfully, 
 wondering what sort of a woman this Mrs. Dunstable could 
 be. 
 
 " You must come and pass an evening with me, Miss liar- 
 court; and you may do me some good, in all my trouble." 
 
 Sarah was in doubt about returning the call of a woman 
 whose conversation seemed so very objectionable ; but, hoping
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 261 
 
 better than appeared, she did at length go to pass an evening 
 at her house. When she arrived, she was, bj a mistake of the 
 servant, ushered into the same room with Mr. Dunstable, whom, 
 to her surprise, she found with Bible in hand, and reading 
 with much interest. He received her with great cordiality, 
 when Sarah apologized for the interruption. 
 
 " Not at all ; not at all, Miss Harcourt ; happy to see you, 
 I have often seen you at church." 
 
 " Your countenance, sir, is familiar to me," said Sarah, 
 "though I have not had the pleasure of speaking to you 
 before." * 
 
 " I was delighted with our minister's allusion, last Sabbath, 
 to St. Paul's advice to Timothy to drink wine. You know that 
 is used by wine-drinkers in justification of their practice ; and 
 Mr. Topliff, you remember, used it to prove that wine ought 
 not to be used, except as a medicine. He said that Timothy 
 could not have used it as a beverage, or Paul would not have 
 recommended it for his infirmities. In that case it would have 
 been unnecessary ; and that it was a remarkable evidence of 
 abstinence from wine among the early Christian pastors, that 
 the authority of an apostle was necessary to induce one of 
 them to use it as a medicine." 
 
 " I remember well that passage in his sermon, and I thought 
 it conclusive, too," replied Sarah. " Timothy's religion obvi- 
 ously deterred him from the use of wine as a beverage. Nor 
 does the apostle correct him in this, but only advises it as a 
 medicine." 
 
 " You are right, Miss Harcourt. I have been examining 
 into the subject, and fully believe that the apostles founded 
 their churches on the principle of abstinence from wine as a 
 beverage. Timothy's abstinence must have resulted from 
 the instruction he had received, as is evinced by the fact that
 
 262 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 the apostle felt it to be necessary so far to modify that instruc- 
 tion as to allow wine for medicinal purposes." 
 
 By this time a colored servant came into the room and said, 
 " Missus will please walk into de libraire." 
 
 Accordingly, Sarah, taking leave of Mr. Duns table, fol- 
 lowed the servant into the library. This was a small room 
 adjoining a larger one, from which she heard many voices, as 
 of persons over their cards and their wine. She waited some 
 time, but no Mrs. Dunstable appeared. Soon, Dr. and Mrs. 
 Turnsol were ushered in, and, by mistake, opened the larger 
 room door, when Mrs. Dunstable fairly screamecl out, and, 
 leaving her place at one of the card-tables, rushed to the door, 
 saying, " La me, Dr. Turnsol ! is it you ? Just step into 
 the library, please. Dear Miss Harcourt, how are you? 
 Happy to see you. 0, dear ! what a dreadful thing it is to 
 spend one's life so ! all hurly-burly, worldly people amus- 
 ing themselves at whist, which my conscience cannot approve. 
 How can a pious woman help herself, when her husband is 
 ungodly, and teaches her children so, and makes his house a 
 hell upon earth ? My sons will have cards, and there is no 
 use of my saying a word. 0, dear ! 0, dear ! I 'm in the fur- 
 nace ! in the furnace, Dr. Turnsol ! " Thus ran the voluble 
 tongue of the excited Mrs. Dunstable, her large cheeks flushed 
 with wine. 
 
 " Yes, I know," said Dr. Turnsol, pressing Mrs. Dunstable 
 with one hand, and laying the other on his heart with a deep 
 sigh and a most affectionate wink of the eye. " I feel for 
 you, my dear friend. Your situation is very, very trying." 
 
 Pop went a champagne bottle in another room, which made 
 Mrs. Dunstable dodge as if she had been shot at, exclaiming, 
 "Good heavens! what's that? 0, dear ! Miss Harcourt,
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 263 
 
 what a dreadful thing it is to have a worldly husband, to fill 
 one's house with such gay company ! " 
 
 " Indeed," said Sarah, hardly knowing what to reply, 
 " your husband does not seem to join his company. I found 
 him reading his Bible." 
 
 " Did you see Dunstable?" said she, with another start. 
 {: Reading his Bible? lame! an't that a joke? Dunstable 
 reading his Bible ! ha ! ha ! ha ! 0, fie ! Miss Harcourt ; it 's 
 all a sham ; it 's to get clubs to throw at me, the most per- 
 secuted wife in town. The more he reads, the deeper he 
 sinks in the mire." 
 
 "Yes," said Mrs. Turnsol, with a sigh ; "the deeper he 
 sinks in the mire. How wicked it is of him to keep you from 
 hearing my husband ! " 
 
 " It 's a burning shame of him, when he knows that with- 
 out your husband's sermons my religion goes out like fire 
 without fuel. Dr. Turnsol, don't you feel that goneness in 
 your stomach?" 
 
 " But a trifle, dear Mrs. Dunstable," said the doctor, with 
 a sorrowful expression of the face. 
 
 " I see, I see, doctor ; Cuff, there ! " added Mrs. Dun- 
 stable, calling to a servant just then passing the open door ; 
 " bring a glass of Madeira. Dr. Turnsol, it '11 do you good ; 
 I know it will." 
 
 " Thank you, Mrs. Dunstable ; it does sometimes relieve 
 my goneness," said the doctor, quaffing a glass of old Madeira 
 with a gusto. 
 
 By this time the black servant announced that the children 
 were ready for the dancing-school exhibition. 
 
 " Hush, you fool! " said Mrs. Dunstable; "what do you 
 come to tell me that for ? 0, dear ! my friends, what a dread-
 
 264 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 ful thing it is to have an ungodly husband ! One's children 
 must be brought up just as one does not choose." 
 
 " We understand. Your husband forces you to send your 
 children to the dancing-school," said the doctor. 
 
 "Yes, my dear doctor, that's my trouble. Those dear 
 little immortals are sent to dance themselves to ruin. 0, 
 dear ! 0, dear ! " 
 
 The children are no sooner off than the servant calls out 
 again, " Missus' carge is at de door, to tak Missus to de 
 op'ration." 
 
 " What operation are you going to see?" inquired Mrs. 
 Turnsol. 
 
 "The fool!" replied Mrs. Dunstable, greatly embar- 
 rassed; "he means the opera. 0, dear! that 's the misery 
 of having a worldly husband. One 's compelled to go here 
 and go there, right in the face and eyes of one's conscience." 
 
 Out rushed the card-party, all dressed, and ready to accom- 
 pany Mrs. Dunstable to the opera. 
 
 "You see how it is here at our house, Miss Harcourt, a 
 perfect bedlam ! I did hope to enjoy with you a quiet, pleas- 
 ant evening, in talking about good things ; but one's hus- 
 band, you know, will control." 
 
 Sarah, grieved and disgusted, could not refrain from say- 
 ing, "Your husband is certainly a temperance man, and you 
 ought to be thankful for that." 
 
 "La me ! that 's his old-fashioned way of talking. lie 's 
 no taste for anything but to be ugly, and plague me." 
 
 This may be an extreme case ; but it was an introduction 
 to others in sufficient number to convince Miss Harcourt that 
 the drinking habit, in professedly Christian families, is one 
 of the greatest obstructions to the cause of reform. This 
 remark applies with special force to the clergy and church-
 
 MORE AVORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 265 
 
 members in England, whose use of intoxicating drinks* in 
 various forms, is almost as general as that of tea and coffee. 
 There, temperance meetings are made up, for the most part, 
 of the lower orders of society. There, the clergy do not 
 give the cause their hearty support. They drink themselves, 
 and hold the cup to their neighbor's lips. Intoxicating drink 
 is common at ecclesiastical gatherings and entertainments. 
 Consequently, there the temperance reform is far behind 
 what it is with us. Sarah found in Mrs. Dunstable, Dr. 
 Turnsol, and even in her own father, far more difficult sub- 
 jects to deal with than in the Andrewses and Prindles, because 
 the vice of the latter was acknowledged, while that of the 
 former was sustained by a delusive feeling of virtue. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE DYING CONFESSION. 
 
 " 'Tis a burden 
 Too heavy for a man that hopes for heaven." 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 SPRING began again to breathe its influence over Forest- 
 dale. The escaping frost made the trees explode like the 
 pistols of charging dragoons. The leaping brooks bore off, 
 rejoicing, the liquefied crystal drops and fleecy robes of win- 
 ter. The robin and blue-bird resumed their sweet song, and 
 the hawk and eagle their gyrations in the upper air. The 
 flowing sap of the maple yielded nectar, and replenished the 
 farm-house larder with its delicious crystallizations. Little 
 girls were out among the budding trees gathering wild-flowers, 
 23
 
 266 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 and the Queen of May was wielding over her joyous train her 
 blooming sceptre. Groups of stilted boys were taking uneasy 
 steps with their elongated legs, while others were hurling and 
 striking the bounding ball, and pitching the leaping quoit. 
 The plough, spade and hoe, resumed their work of preparing 
 for seeding, while the lambs leaped in the pasture, the calves 
 frisked beside their dams, the foal whinnied after its absent 
 mother, and the genius of herb and forest bounded forth from 
 her wintry hiding-place, clad in her leafy robes, all spotted 
 with pearl, vermilion, and gold. The whole scene was as 
 buoyant and beautiful as if no battles had been fought, no 
 intrigues practised, no agony of abused appetite had been 
 inflicted or endured, and no competitions for social preemi- 
 nence had disturbed the fair face of the world. 
 
 Would that nature's lessons were not lost upon man ! 
 Would that the forests and leaves of his beautiful country- 
 seat had charmed Skampton into tilling the soil, or into a 
 business consistent with public virtue, or into almost any- 
 thing, rather than this endless competition for general influ- 
 ence, and this coercion of the future into the exact limit of 
 the past ! Would that Gilfort could imbibe truth from the 
 inspirations of nature ; and Douglass, senior, learn temper- 
 ance from the rills that water his lands ; and that Bludgeon 
 would temper his zeal with love ! Nature is a great reposi- 
 tory of virtue and wisdom to those who are willing to use it 
 as such. 
 
 Society had evidently improved under the labors of young 
 Douglass. Private quarrels were settled, instruction im- 
 parted to those who had not enjoyed it before, books and 
 reading were far more common am'ong the people, and the 
 advantages even of an humble, informal Christian pastor- 
 ship were visible on every hand. Charles was active and
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 267 
 
 laborious, in spite of the inward sorrow which preyed upon 
 him from day to day. The evil of having a drunken father 
 seemed to him great enough without being hurled, on its 
 account, from the position in society to which he felt himself 
 entitled. He made frequent calls on his people, to afford aid 
 and advice to those who needed. 
 
 How touching are the scenes which fall under the eye of a 
 pastor ! How much does he meet with, in the most retired 
 communities as well as in city parishes, to teach him the need 
 of the temperance reformation ! It is owing to the constant 
 contact of ministers with the evils of alcohol^ as well as to 
 the dictates of their religion, that a portion of them were the 
 first to move in this reformation, and that they have been, 
 throughout, its most active and zealous coadjutors. While 
 Miss Harcourt was encountering this vice in New York, and 
 Bludgeon in his field of labor, Douglass, in his lowly parish, 
 was witnessing some of its most dismal effects. 
 
 One of his families was burnt out by means of a fire 
 kindled by a drunken father, and three dear little children 
 perished in the flames. They were a poor family, and lived 
 in a little log cottage too remote for help, when the devouring 
 element lighted on them. The mother, the previous evening, 
 went up stairs, and put her three little ones all in the same 
 bed, while a fourth was still at the breast. She snugly 
 tucked them up, heard them lisp their evening prayer for 
 dear father and mother and baby, and then; with the fond 
 maternal kiss, bade them good-night. At midnight her hus- 
 band returned ; and, lighting a candle, started to climb the lad- 
 der to the room above, where the children were, stairs they 
 had none, when his clumsy, noisy movements awoke his wife. 
 " Henry, be careful of that light, or you '11 touch something
 
 268 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 above, and set us all in a flame," she said, fearing what his 
 condition might be. 
 
 "Mam, mind your own business! " said he, with the thick, 
 defective articulation of a drunkard. 
 
 "0, well, dear Henry, you must pardon my anxiety 
 about our dear little ones; they are in a room with so 
 many combustible materials," said Mrs. Niles, for such was 
 the name of the family, while a tear, hid in the darkness, stole 
 down her stricken cheeks at the now discovered fact that her 
 husband had come home drunk. Niles retained sense enough 
 to desire to conceal a bottle of whiskey which he had brought 
 home with him, and he went up the ladder for that purpose. 
 He soon staggered his way down, blew out his light, and 
 threw himself on the bed, in his clothes, and soon sunk into 
 a profound sleep. Mrs. Niles also dozed, how long she 
 could not tell, when she was awaked by the crackling flames 
 of the burning house above. She screamed, sprang out of 
 bed, and, by a superhuman effort, mounted the ladder, and 
 brought down the little bed in which her children slept, with 
 them all enfolded in it ; nor did she stay till she reached the 
 open air. But, alas ! it was too late. They had been liter- 
 ally suffocated and roasted alive. The fire had flamed up into 
 the roof, which, in a room of that kind, was the same as the 
 ceiling, and had produced an intense heat around the chil- 
 dren, without yet kindling on their bed. When Douglass 
 reached the spot, the next morning, the children still lay in 
 the bed, just as their mother had brought them down, all 
 clasped in each other's arms, just as they went to sleep, while 
 their charred fingers projected out like burnt sticks, in the 
 same form as when the fire converted them into senseless 
 clay. 
 
 "0, my dear babes ! my sweet, precious babes ! " was
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 269 
 
 the only reply of the frantic mother, to words of consolation 
 from her young pastor. "0, do look once more on the face 
 of your mother, my dear darlings ! " prostrating herself on the 
 charred remains of objects so tenderly loved. 
 
 "My dear madam," said Douglass, with tears, "God 
 knew how much better he can take care of your children than 
 you could, and, in love, he has taken them to himself." 
 
 "0, my dear, dear, precious ones, let your mother kiss 
 you once more! 0, cold, cold ! " and then, with wailings to 
 break one's heart who heard, she lifted herself up, as if 
 unconscious of all that was said or done around her. 
 
 Her husband stood like a statue, partly besotted with 
 strong drink, and partly confounded and stupefied by the 
 greatness of the calamity in which his miserable habits had 
 involved his family. The event produced a powerful sensa- 
 tion in town, and Douglass used it to show the people how 
 utterly insecure property and life are, with a large portion of 
 every community, under our present license laws. "We 
 have legislated on this subject," he said, "from the first years 
 of our colonial history, as if intoxicating drinks were an 
 enemy to society that must be guarded against, and yet no 
 effectual restraints have ever been devised. The enemy is 
 now more rampant than ever, so far as the traffic is con- 
 cerned, and will continue to be, till a cordon of law is thrown 
 around to make the sale as a beverage impossible. We must 
 adopt the summary method of pouring into the gutter liquors 
 kept for such a purpose. No quarter must be shown to the 
 enemy. He must be dragged to the light from all his hiding- 
 places, and doomed to instant annihilation. Humanity de- 
 mands this. Civil society owes it as a debt to those whom it 
 seeks to protect. More than half its burdens of crime and 
 pauperage come from the present sale and use of intoxicating 
 23*
 
 270 MAPLETON; OK, 
 
 drinks ; and it has a right to relieve itself of the burden by 
 stringent laws. Is it not as just and constitutional to remove 
 temptation from the drunkard as to remove him from tempta- 
 tion by imprisonment ? In the one case you prevent the 
 crime, in the other you punish it. In the one case you 
 leave a father and husband to his daily routine of virtuous 
 labor, to support a dependent family ; but in the other you 
 first torture and degrade them by crime, and then you deprive 
 them of support, and compel them to starve or beg, or go to 
 the poorhouse." 
 
 This speech had a powerful effect in Forestdale, and almost 
 every man in it signed a petition to the Legislature for the 
 passage of the Maine Law. 
 
 On another occasion, Douglass was called to the death-bed 
 of a young man whose intemperate habits and consequent 
 exposure had brought on a quick consumption. He seemed 
 anxious, as if he had something on his mind to disclose before 
 dying, but which he felt constrained to keep secreted. Doug- 
 lass visited him daily, but still could elicit nothing satisfactory. 
 He was making a plunge in the dark. At length, all seemed 
 over with him ; his eyes were closed, and pieces of money 
 laid to keep them so, and his limbs duly disposed for burial. 
 He revived, however, to the surprise of all, and, seeing 
 Douglass by his side, he said, feebly, 
 
 " It is of no use ; I must confess, or I cannot die in peace. 
 Sir, I have been instigated to do you a great injury." 
 
 " What injury have you done me?" said Douglass, much 
 surprised. 
 
 "I have taken a great number of letters from the post- 
 office which were directed to you, and have burnt them." 
 
 " Burnt my letters? What could have induced you to do 
 this?"
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 271 
 
 "You must ask me no questions on that point. The one 
 who instigated the crime must do his own confessing. It is 
 enough for me to confess the agency I have had in it." 
 
 11 What motive had he for destroying my letters?" 
 
 "I do not fully understand that myself, though one thing 
 I know, the letters were superscribed by a female hand ; and 
 I think some young lady is some way concerned in the case." 
 
 "Where were the letters post-marked?" inquired Doug- 
 lass, to whom the idea now occurred that it involved an 
 explanation of Miss Harcourt's strange disappearance, and 
 still stranger silence. 
 
 "At New York, except one, which had the post-mark of 
 Troy." 
 
 "Have you retained none of them?" 
 
 " None, except this name subscribed to one of them, which 
 I retained as a matter of curiosity, thinking I might learn 
 more about the person." 
 
 Douglass took a small piece of paper from the hand of the 
 dying man, on which was written, in her own hand, the name 
 of " Sarah Harcourt." After this confession, the young man 
 sunk away, and soon died. Douglass stayed to attend his 
 funeral, and also to inquire of the postmaster how his letters 
 should have been disposed of in this manner. He could get 
 no explanation, but made up his mind that a member of the 
 family had delivered them, without the knowledge of the 
 postmaster. He now flew to New York on the wings of 
 steam, to unravel the entangled mystery. When he arrived, 
 he was totally at a loss where to look for the fugitive family, 
 as Harcourt had cut off all the clues to his concealment, so 
 far as possible. He took lodgings at one of the principal 
 hotels, and now devoted himself to the one object of finding
 
 272 MAPLETOX; Oil, 
 
 his lost one. Amid the thronged streets he felt a keener 
 sense of loneliness than he had done in his wilderness home. 
 
 It occurred to him, at length, whether Sarah might not 
 have made the acquaintance of some of the clergy ; and he 
 called on several, but could hear nothing. One of them had 
 an indistinct impression that he had heard the name from 
 some one, he could not tell who, but believed it was Dr. 
 Turnsol. Douglass, therefore, called on the doctor, and 
 inquired if he had met with Miss Harcourt in his visits. 
 
 "Miss Harcourt Miss Harcourt ' said the doctor, 
 thoughtfully. "My dear," he added, to his chubby, red- 
 faced wife, who that moment peeped in upon them, " was 
 Harcourt the name of the young lady whom we met at Mrs. 
 Dunstable's?" 
 
 "Yes; Harcourt was the name, Sarah Harcourt, a 
 genteel miss, one of our aristocracy," said Mrs. Turnsol, and 
 then moved off, with an air which seemed to say, "I'll not 
 talk with you till I know who you are." 
 
 "Can you tell me where I shall find her?" inquired 
 Charles. 
 
 "I cannot, indeed. You'll learn at Mrs. Dunstable's, 
 128 - -street. You'll excuse me, sir; am very much 
 engaged; good-morning," said the doctor, and vanished. 
 
 Charles now hastened to 128 street, where he was 
 
 met at the door by a colored servant, of whom he inquired 
 for Mrs. Dunstable. 
 
 " Will gemman please walk in, till I sees? " said the serv- 
 ant, when her ladyship, hearing the inquiry, rushed to the 
 door, to prevent the interruption of a call, abruptly asking, 
 
 " What do you want, sir? " 
 
 Charles stated the object of his call. 
 
 "I know the daughter. Follow up the Eighth Avenue a
 
 MORE WORK FOR, THE MAINE LAW. 273 
 
 long way, till you come to the Cock and Bull Tavern; 
 there inquire, and you will learn particulars. Good-morning, 
 sir." 
 
 Charles could not repress a smile at the hauteur with 
 which this was said, by one who bore so many marks of a 
 vulgar origin and character. He set off at once for the Cock 
 and Bull, a definite point to reach an indefinite one. A 
 long way off it was, indeed, far beyond the expanded bound 
 of the great metropolis; and, when he reached it, he was 
 directed onward still, to a certain lane lined with trees, adown 
 which he was to go till he came opposite a gate, a lawn, and 
 grounds covered by ornamental shrubbery. He finally reached 
 the gate, and, finding it locked, and no porter near, sauntered 
 down to where the lane terminated, on the bank of the North 
 river. Here he stood, enjoying the watery view, and think- 
 ing, with palpitating heart, that the object of his search was 
 so near, when, turning to look up stream, he saw Sarah on 
 the beach, coming towards him. Both were alike taken by 
 surprise, and felt themselves hardly able to endure the rush 
 of emotions, though both succeeded in maintaining outward 
 repose of manners. 
 
 " My dear Sarah, it is enough ! I have seen you once 
 more ! This moment of bliss compensates all my sufferings." 
 
 "0, Charles ! how could you neglect me so long? Why 
 did you not answer my letters'?" 
 
 " Your letters ! not one ever reached me. Till this day I 
 have been in suspense as to where you were, or whether the 
 sight of me would be agreeable." 
 
 "Is it possible?" said Sarah, with blank astonishment. 
 " I wrote you at Terracegreen, explaining the cause of our 
 leaving so suddenly ; I wrote you on the way ; and I have 
 written you from this place ; till I found writing did no good."
 
 274 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 " And yet, not one of your letters reached me; nor, singu- 
 lar as it may appear, could I learn -where you had gone." 
 
 "How could this be?" 
 
 " The reason is plain ; your letters have been intercepted," 
 said Charles, detailing the facts of the death-bed confession. 
 
 "It is my mother's God has brought this about! He 
 watches over us still. Blessed be the Lord, our Rock and 
 our Deliverer! " 
 
 " It is even so, Sarah ; had not the Lord been on our side, 
 then had our enemies quickly swallowed us up." 
 
 " Gilfort has a hand in this. I mistrusted it long ago. 
 And this letter has just fallen ^pto my hands, to confirm my 
 suspicions," added Sarah, taking a letter from her pocket, 
 and reading as follows : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR : My acquaintance in your family I deem 
 the happiest event of my life. I desire to express the inter- 
 est I feel in your happiness in deed as well as in word. It 
 is this which induces me to impart to you a fact which you 
 are entitled to know. A young man who is unworthy of 
 your confidence has made love to your daughter at a second 
 interview, and in a most offensive manner. I have written to 
 the Honorable Michael Skampton on the subject, who will 
 acquaint you with the character of this fellow, and of his 
 family. His father is a drunkard. If, in my zeal to serve 
 you, and to do as I would be done by, I seem, in any respect, 
 to overstep the bounds of propriety, please impute it to a 
 defect of judgment, and not of intention. 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 "SAMUEL GILFORT." 
 
 " Did this letter lead to your flight?" inquired Charles, 
 coolly.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 275 
 
 " No, I think not. I cannot suppose my papa capable of 
 being so influenced by such a piece of impertinence, from such 
 a man." 
 
 " You may be sure that, aided by something you have not 
 seen from Skampton, whom Gilfort speaks of giving my char- 
 acter to your father, caused it. Skampton, not content with 
 ruining my father, is bent, also, upon the destruction of his 
 son. But we are in the hands of God, Sarah, and there is 
 all my hope." 
 
 " Yet how should Gilfort know of what happened in Spring 
 Arbor, at our ' second interview ' ? That is the mystery." 
 
 " Know it ! Just as he knew how to intercept my letters ; 
 just as he knew how to rob poor Dobson, last winter, of 
 which I have lately heard ; just as he knew how to inveigle 
 around him his deluded colonists in the West, under the 
 notion of building them up into a new kingdom and priest- 
 hood. He knows and does everything by the witchery of his 
 influence over those whom he takes in his toils. This dying 
 young man confessed his own guilt, but would not reveal the 
 serpent whose charm even death could not dissolve." 
 
 " Papa always speaks of this letter with contempt." 
 
 " Does he not object to your acquaintance with me 7" 
 
 "No, never. Yet I mistrust there is something; but 
 hat, I cannot tell." 
 
 " Was it necessary that you should leave the plantation so 
 suddenly?" 
 
 " Papa thought so, and so it appeared, when we reached 
 town. Yet, I am in a maze about the letter I left for you at 
 the mansion." 
 
 The young couple now moved towards the house 3 where 
 tea was soon announced. But no Mr. Harcourt appeared ; 
 and Sarah was surprised to learn from Charles that the front
 
 276 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 gate was locked, and no porter on hand. Soon, a letter 
 came from Harcourt, stating that he had been unexpectedly 
 called to Baltimore, and should not return for some days. 
 He was a peculiar man in his notion of influencing women in 
 matters of love. He did not deem it possible to succeed in 
 it by open measures. As to Sarah, especially, he knew too 
 well her firmness, and that the reasons he had to urge against 
 Douglass would not have weight with her. "A woman's 
 heart," he said, " was like the paddy's pig, that must be made 
 to believe that you would go to Cork, if you would drive him 
 to Dublin. She always works by contraries." He never 
 spoke to Sarah against Charles, never intimated an unwilling- 
 ness that he should visit her ; but seemed rather to go the 
 other way, because he deemed this the only method of break- 
 ing up the match. 
 
 He would not see Douglass in his last visit to the planta- 
 tion, and avoided him on this occasion, because he wished to 
 escape the necessity of saying yes or no to a request for his 
 consent. He had learned the fact of his arrival in town by 
 some means, which accounted for the gate being locked, and 
 his own escape to Baltimore. And, when Charles afterwards 
 wrote him on the subject, the letters always miscarried ; at 
 all events, were never answered. Still, he was so bland, so 
 favorable, so complimentary to Douglass, so anxious to see 
 him, so much interested in whatever concerned him, and, 
 altogether, so consenting in everything but deed, that both 
 Sarah and Charles felt no apprehension, so far as he was con- 
 cerned. And, indeed, apart from the liquor question, and 
 the enormous machinery of the Skampton influence, all things 
 would no doubt have gone on smoothly.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 277 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE SKAMPTON MILL GRINDING INFLUENCE. 
 
 " Dr. Mac, Dr. Mac, you should stretch on a rack, 
 To strike evil doers with terror ; 
 To join faith and sense, upon one pretence, 
 Is heretic, damnable error." BURNS. 
 
 AGES of bliss were compressed into the few short days of 
 Charles' stay at Sarah's new home. The blooming life of 
 early summer invited them out amid the enchantments of cul- 
 tivated woodland scenery. All the pledges of fealty were 
 renewed between them, with such additions as the unexpected, 
 unknown danger seemed to require. They dismissed their 
 fears, and gave themselves to recreation. Now they threaded 
 the margin of the river ; now sailed on its bosom ; now angled 
 in its waters ; now bounded joyously over the glade and wood- 
 land ; now took excursions to Hoboken, Staten Island, Sandy 
 Hook, and other places of interest ; now visited the curiosities 
 of the city, and thus every amusement which leaves behind no 
 wound to health or conscience they enjoyed with a zest ren- 
 dered the more intense by their habitual devotion to the good 
 and the useful. To her eager devotees Pleasure is a coy di- 
 vinity, but to those who live for their duty she is profuse of 
 her favors. 
 
 From New York Charles repaired directly to Mapleton, 
 
 to consult his friends as to his future course. Study in some 
 
 form and somewhere was now his destiny. When he reached 
 
 the parental roof, the family remarked in him greater cheer- 
 
 24
 
 278 MAPLETON; OK, 
 
 fulness and repose of mind than ever before. The world 
 went right with him, for once. Still, his joy was clouded by 
 the appearance of his father, who seemed more than ever 
 broken down in spirits. The Skampton groggery had been 
 revived, and the dismal effects of its presence were visible on 
 every hand. Drunkenness, indolence, riot and vice, were 
 again the order of the day. Mr. Douglass had been repeat- 
 edly drawn in and maddened by alcohol. The effect was to 
 make him feel that he was now a confirmed drunkard, and 
 would never be anything else. 0, the agony of this feeling, 
 in the sober moments of such a man, no tongue can express ! 
 Shame is his watchword. It meets him at every turn. It 
 mantles and burns in his cheek. It falls upon his ear in the 
 hootings of young children. How can he face that society 
 before which he has so often acted the beast ? Mr. Douglass 
 had ceased to be himself. He was a doomed man. He had 
 fallen, not an honored, but a disgraced and abhorred victim 
 of state legislation. 
 
 " Father," said Charles, "what do you advise, in reference 
 to my future course ? " 
 
 "Really Charles, I have no mind about it. My opinion 
 is good for nothing, any way.'.' 
 
 " Sorry you feel so, father. You know how much I have 
 always relied upon your judgment." 
 
 " Things change in this world, my son," he replied, with a 
 quivering lip and a falling tear, feeling in the depth of his soul 
 that he was unfit for the society of such a son. He could no 
 longer control himself, and left the room. How much is 
 there to make one's heart bleed for the drunkard ! He has 
 lost the control of himself. Alcohol has robbed him of man- 
 hood and made him a brute, and yet the feelings of manhood 
 will occasionally return to taunt him with his degradation.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 279 
 
 " You see, Charles, how much your poor father suffers," 
 said Mrs. Douglass. " I never felt so tender of him as I do 
 now." 
 
 " I fully reciprocate your feelings, mother. The success 
 of Skampton's suit against the town, and the reopening of 
 his groggery, have done all this. Legislative wisdom is legis- 
 lative madness; legal justice, legal wrong, to fill the country 
 with just such families as ours. 0, mother! the pangs I 
 have endured, God only knows. And this same Skampton 
 is now pursuing me like a bloodhound, and I am not yet 
 secure against his assaults. What influence he may have 
 upon Harcourt, remains to be seen." 
 
 "I see it all, Charles ; I see it all. As to your future 
 course, your father seems so unwilling to advise, and I have 
 so little confidence in my own judgment in the case, that I 
 think we had better consult our good Mr. Littlefield, and also 
 Doctor Holliston. They are men to be depended upon." 
 
 " Very well, mother ; suppose you invite them to tea." 
 
 " I will, this very week. I am the more unwilling to 
 advise you, because I am afraid I am prejudiced on the 
 subject. Such men as Skampton have so much to do in con- 
 trolling our colleges and theological seminaries, that I am 
 quite out of conceit of them. They seem to me a forest of 
 petrifactions to which we send our sons to gather fruit ; and 
 when gathered they are apples of Sodom, outside fair and 
 inside ashes. I may be wrong. You must not trust me too 
 far." 
 
 " Mother, you cannot expect me to teach without learning." 
 
 "True, you must learn; but where can you learn most 
 effectually ? Here, at home, by self-education, under a private 
 tutor somewhere else, or in a theological seminary ? That is 
 the question."
 
 280 MAPLETOX; OP., 
 
 The proposed tea-party came off, and the subject was 
 brought up again for discussion. 
 
 " I have been denied the advantages of a public education," 
 said Mr. Littlefield, " which makes me value it the more. I 
 have boggled through life, for the want of it. If I had to 
 begin again, and knew that I should be situated as I am in 
 this community, no consideration would deter me from going 
 through both a college and theological seminary. I would 
 have an education, if I had to dig for it. One feels so much 
 the need of knowledge and mental discipline, when he comes 
 to stand from Sabbath to Sabbath before the same audience, 
 to speak on the most important of all themes, that I am 
 surprised that every minister of the land, especially every 
 uneducated one, does not raise his voice on high in behalf of 
 learning." 
 
 " I am not certain that an educated Mr. Littlefield would 
 be worth as much to us as the uneducated one," said Mrs. 
 Douglass. "Fervent piety and good sense are the principal 
 requisites. Your mind is now occupied with the thoughts 
 and images of your people ; but how it would be, if it was full 
 of classical lore, it is hard to tell. The learned, distinguished 
 Rev. Dr. Littlefield might perhaps gratify and amuse every 
 hundredth man among us ; while the plain, uneducated Mr. 
 Littlefield hits the ninety and nine, and equally benefits the 
 others." 
 
 " I do not consider the worldly and irrelevant character 
 which you ascribe to a learned ministry as at all necessary. 
 It may be equally simple, equally fervent, equally acceptable 
 to ordinary minds, and yet vastly more rich in thought, dis- 
 criminating in analysis, and powerful in the application of 
 divine truth," said Mr. Littlefield. 
 
 "I confess my ideas of Mr. Skampton have had too much
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 281 
 
 influence with me. We have suffered so much from him, and 
 he has been such a cruel enemy to Charles, that I am afraid 
 of those institutions over which his money gives him so 
 much control. But, if our son must go into the mill again, 
 why, then he must." 
 
 " Those feelings, Mrs. Douglass, you must control," said 
 Mr. Holliston. " Skampton and all of us will soon pass off 
 the stage, but your son may be expected to remain to do his 
 work for another generation ; and shall we send him to it 
 unprepared? Shall we allow the present social abuses to 
 divert him from the highest degree of intellectual and moral 
 discipline, and leave him to do his work with an inferior 
 grade? That would not be wise." 
 
 "But where would you send him?" said Mrs. Douglass. 
 
 "I should send him to the Riverton Seminary," said Mr. 
 Holliston. 
 
 Charles shrugged his shoulders, and his mother exclaimed, 
 almost with a shriek, " What! so near Mr. Skampton ? " 
 
 " Skampton cannot hurt him," said Mr. Holliston. "That 
 is the institution of our denomination; and you would not 
 have him go out of it, of course. His prospects of success 
 depend very much upon the educational imprimatur which he 
 bears. If he were to go into an extra-denominational in- 
 stitution, it would prejudice his prospects of a place among 
 his own people. We look to our own school of the prophets 
 for a supply, and not to those of other denominations. Be- 
 sides, your son will need to measure his talents and form 
 connections, with those young men who are to be his associates 
 for life." 
 
 " Very well, Mr. Holliston, I will consent to have Charles 
 go to the Riverton Seminary, provided you will go with him, 
 24*
 
 282 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 and explore the ground, and report to us what we are to 
 expect." 
 
 "I am a trustee of the institution," said Mr. Holliston, 
 { and would be glad to go, as I have been so situated as not 
 to be able as yet to act with them." Accordingly, immediate 
 arrangements were made for Charles' departure, under the 
 care of Mr. Holliston, to become a student in that seminary, 
 of which we have already made mention, as included in the 
 panoramic view from the Skampton mansion. 
 
 The eddies and gyrations of party are, in this country, the 
 wheels within a wheel to control all the movements of society. 
 The man who falls within the suction is dragged down to the 
 vortex, whether he will or not. It is the Jonah's fish, to 
 swallow up those who attempt to escape. There is really 
 more, social independence in England than with us, for this 
 good reason, that the man who expresses an opinion not con- 
 sonant with his party position is less likely to lose his place. 
 The plebeian principles of a lord cannot deprive him of his 
 lordship, and a post-office scullion can vote for whom he 
 pleases without danger of losing his bread. Things are more 
 fixed, and not so easily upset by a thought or sentiment that 
 does not exactly tally with party lines. Here a man had as 
 well be out of the world as out of his party. And it is gen- 
 erally left to the most crabbed and extreme partisan leaders, 
 to determine the sense of the party, and what is legitimate 
 to it. They are its great constitutional lawyers, whose 
 opinions are fate, whose decrees destiny, to all within the 
 party enclosure. Dulness is the social umpire, ignorance 
 supreme dictator, and narrow-mindedness lictor and hangman. 
 Every party has its watch-dogs to bay around its enclosure. 
 This state of things is a restraint upon freedom. Who wishes 
 to be barked at, even if he is not bit ? A man is forced to
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 
 
 mind what he says. His position depends upon it. An 
 incautious word or sentence spoken or written by him, and, 
 
 " Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb down lie drops, 
 Ten thousand fathoms deep." 
 
 Skampton was becoming more and more exclusively eccle- 
 siastical in his predilections. He had been driven to this by 
 the result of his law-suits, following Bludgeon's battle with 
 the devil. When the cause was brought into court, there 
 was such an expose made of Skampton's doings in the liquor 
 traffic, as to defeat his attempts to obtain damages for slander. 
 The horrible ravages of his groggeries in Mapleton and in 
 other places were so- graphically depicted by Bludgeon's law- 
 yer, that the jury brought in a verdict of acquittal without 
 leaving their seats. The costs were all saddled upon poor 
 Skampton. This destroyed his last hope of putting down the 
 temperance movement by the strong arm of the law, and led 
 him for asylum to the chujjifc. Like that wily, hoary-headed 
 courtier, Joab, he caught hold of the horns of the altar, and 
 hoped to save himself and the liquor traffic by ecclesiastical 
 proscription. Skampton had an innate as well as educa- 
 tional predilection for ecclesiastical matters. He had thought 
 of studying for the ministry himself, and nothing but dulness 
 deterred him. It was really this tendency of his character 
 that led him to refrain so entirely from drinking, though he 
 never acknowledged it to others, or even to himself. What 
 may seem a little remarkable, also, was that Skampton,. 
 Bludgeon and Douglass, were all in the same ecclesiastical 
 enclosure. Modern reform has made strange bedfellows ; or, 
 rather, has led the lion and lamb, the cow and bear, to lie 
 down together, without losing their oppugnance of nature. 
 Skampton, after failing in his law-suits, was directing his
 
 284 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 mighty influence to the one point, of producing such a state 
 of things in his church that it should sicken of characters 
 like Bludgeon and all his crew, and vomit them forth. Such 
 were his tendencies and his measures at the time of Mr. Hollis- 
 ton's visit to the Riverton Seminary, in company with young 
 Douglass. His conservatism, therefore, had become essen- 
 tially dogmatical, though it had in view to reach, by another 
 process, the practical results of business, legislation, and all 
 those worldly matters which he so much desired to control. 
 If an enemy is only knocked in the head, what is the differ- 
 ence whether it is done by legal prosecution or ecclesiastical 
 proscription, by public assault or private scandal, by a church 
 club or a state club ? The state club .had failed, and the 
 church club must now be put in requisition. 
 
 Hence, Skampton gave more than usual attention to the 
 Riverton Seminary. He hoped to raise up a phalanx of 
 young men to echo his own views from Dan to Beersheba. 
 He lavished more money than dter in purchasing influence, 
 and yet the supply did not equal the demand. He filled the 
 seminary with his creatures, and deposed those who would 
 not become so. Dr. Treadmill, the principal, could not say 
 his soul was his own. It was not his own, for Skampton had 
 monopolized it. A majority despotism is bad enough, but 
 not- to be compared with a one man power. We can bear 
 the diffused rays of the sun, but who can endure their focal 
 heat ? Even steel melts under it like wax. So, after Skamp- 
 ton had bought up and monopolized in himself all the rays of 
 his party influence, the strongest men melted away at his 
 touch. Dr. Treadmill could not stand against his influence. 
 The seminary, of which he was the nominal head, was but a 
 liquefied and conglomerated mass of Skamptonism. What 
 Treadmill would have been, if he had been disintegrated,
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 285 
 
 there is no telling. We are inclined to think favorably of his 
 individuality, had the thing been possible. But what can be 
 said for a man -who has no alternative but to lose his place, or 
 swallow a Jonah ? Treadmill not only swallowed Skampton, 
 but a text-book of six hundred pages, which he committed 
 verbatim et literatim, because Skampton thought that dead 
 men's opinions were safer to an institution than attempting to 
 think for ourselves. The students would now and then 
 chuckle at poor Treadmill's expense, calling him whale, 
 because he had such an immense swallow for dead men's 
 ideas, and none for his own. 
 
 " Dr. Treadmill, what is the governing principle of your 
 institution?" inquired Mr. Holliston, in an interview which 
 he had with that gentleman in the seminary buildings. 
 
 " It is this, sir, that second-hand materials are safer to 
 orthodoxy than attempting to originate for ourselves," said 
 Dr. Treadmill, with his eyes resting on a curtain drawn 
 across an arched recess on one side of the room in which they 
 were conversing. 
 
 " What ! do you think it sufficient to put a bone of John 
 Calvin into the hands of a young man to fight the battles of 
 the living age?" 
 
 " I had rather trust him with Calvin's bone than with 
 that of any man now on earth." 
 
 " Ay, yes ; well, well, I see," said Mr. Holliston, thought- 
 fully; "then you think here that human nature is an im- 
 mense petrifaction, and those who were long since converted to 
 stone are more indurated and best for the living structure." 
 
 " Precisely so, Mr. Holliston. They are the primeval or 
 granitic formation, in matters of opinion. What has come 
 down to us in the black and white of the old creed-makers 
 can be relied on, because it has become venerable ; but there 
 is no certainty of what we think out for ourselves."
 
 286 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 "Just so; I see, to be sure," said Mr. Holliston, abstract- 
 edly ; " then your mill grinds over the bran of past ages, in 
 preference to the products of a present harvest." 
 
 "Yes; for this good reason, that it is a perfect security 
 against smut," said Treadmill, still eying the curtain. 
 
 Mr. Holliston laughed outright at this, saying, " Really, 
 this is a new idea. But there was more smut in the reason- 
 ing of past ages than there is in our own ; for they had not 
 the same aids to truth, none except those who were divinely 
 inspired. So, you are grinding over the bran of old smut 
 kernels, for fear of getting into your grist some of the smut 
 kernels of the new harvest." 
 
 Treadmill said nothing, but eyed the curtain. 
 
 " Do you confine your young men to making arguments 
 against Rabbis and Sophists, because Paul expended so much 
 of his thunder upon them?" said Mr. Holliston. 
 
 " 0, no; we content ourselves with pointing our guns just 
 as John Calvin did his," said Treadmill, with his eyes still 
 fixed in the same direction. 
 
 "Why, this is like putting on the armor Don Quixote 
 fought the windmills with, to do battle in the midst of can- 
 non, bombs, Paixhan guns, and steam-frigates." 
 
 "Can't help it," said Treadmill; "we go for ortho- 
 doxy." 
 
 " So do I," said Mr. Holliston ; "but my orthodoxy con- 
 sists in pointing the artillery of truth, with all the modern 
 helps for illustrating it, against the actual existing bulwarks 
 of error. I deem it heterodoxy and nonsense to keep bat- 
 tering away upon positions which the enemy long since aban- 
 doned, merely because John Calvin found them occupied in 
 his day, and turned against them the force of his gigantic 
 intellect. My orthodoxy consists in meeting the questions
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 287 
 
 of the age righfr manfully, and, if truth will not sustain you, 
 then die in the struggle." 
 
 " It is useless to talk here. We know what we are ahout," 
 said Treadmill, still intent upon the ominous recess. 
 
 Mr. Holliston now took his leave, and joined Douglass at 
 their hotel, heartily disgusted by what he had seen. He had 
 no sooner gone than Skampton emerged from his lurking- 
 place in the recess, and said, exultingly, " Bravo ! bravo ! 
 Dr. Treadmill, you have acquitted yourself valiantly before 
 that heretical dotard ! You have answered the fool according 
 to his folly. I '11 fix him. He shall not hold place in our 
 board another twelve-month. We want none who will not 
 fay in with the rest of us. The old fellow has become very 
 cold to me, all at once. We have been long acquainted, and 
 yet he has not called on me since he came to town." 
 
 Mr. Holliston was so dissatisfied with Skampton's late rum 
 doings that he did not care to continue his acquaintance, and 
 therefore had not called on him. This was a source of great 
 annoyance to Skampton, which he never forgave. 
 
 " It is time that old fellow had walked the plank," he said 
 to several members of the board, the same day. 
 
 "What, Mr. Holliston?" said one. "I thought he was 
 an unexceptionable character." 
 
 "We want none here to make disturbance," said Skampton. 
 
 " Is he troublesome in the way of thinking for himself? " 
 said another. 
 
 "It is enough to know that he will never blend in with 
 ws," said Skampton. 
 
 " How will you get rid of him ? " inquired a third. " His 
 age and reputation give him a controlling influence with the 
 public." 
 
 " That is easy enough. Write what he is, c heretic,'
 
 288 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 and pin it on his back, and then see how much influence he 
 will have. Pegan's caustics will do the work. Do you think 
 our folks will have in this board a man suspected of heresy? " 
 
 " If that won't do," said another, "we '11 send our young 
 men all abroad, to cry mad dog against him. If a man will 
 make himself troublesome to us, he must take the conse- 
 quences. Let him be cashiered, that others may fear to go 
 against our measures." 
 
 "It is the more necessary to make our power felt just 
 now, and to remove all from among us who will not go to 
 the extreme against these temperance agitators, because I am 
 now arranging to exscind them all by a single blow of disci- 
 pline. We cannot and will not have among us a class of men 
 who array themselves against all the precedents of trade, as 
 well as of truth. Our church must drive them out with a 
 scourge of small cords." 
 
 While Skampton delivered himself of this speech, his 
 expression of firmness and dictatorial power would have done 
 honor to Hildebrand or Henry VIII. Accordingly, a train 
 of measures was set on foot against the venerable Holliston, 
 which made his position uncomfortable ; and, not caring 
 longer to retain an official position in anything, he quietly 
 resigned. 
 
 When Mr. Holliston met Charles at the hotel, after his 
 interview with Treadmill, he was smiling, and repeating, in a 
 funny way, the line of Watts : 
 
 " Hark from the tombs a doleful sound ! " 
 
 " Are you from the tombs? " inquired Charles, laughing. 
 " Yes, direct ; this is a region of death." 
 " What ! nothing to feed life upon ? " 
 " Nothing fit to give the dogs."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 289 
 
 "Why so?" 
 
 " Would you feed your dogs on bones centuries old? " 
 
 "Can you not get a more recent supply?" inquired 
 Charles, still laughing immoderately. 
 
 " No, the theology here dates back to Noah's drunkenness, 
 where they get their liquor traffic and drinking habits." 
 
 "My mother, then, is not so far out of the way." 
 
 " No, no; her instinct is better than our reason. She saw, 
 at a glance, the nakedness of the land. I must yield to her 
 superior discernment." 
 
 "What is to be done?" 
 
 " That is a hard question. What you want is a thorough 
 discipline of your spiritual affections. These in tune, Charles, 
 theology will come forth from your soul like music from the 
 strings of an .ZEolian harp touched by the winds of heaven. 
 But for you to be put into the rack of obsolete opinions, and 
 screwed into the form of notions that long since lost the 
 reason which may have justified them when they sprang up, 
 is to make of you a mere automaton. They will squeeze out of 
 you all the juices of nature. I wonder they do not send our 
 soldiers to acquire Achilles' mode of warfare, and our spin- 
 sters to learn of Priam's daughters how to turn the spindle. 
 0, for one place where young men could be trained to apostolic 
 simplicity of thought, purity of diction, energy of action, and 
 aptitude to preach the truth as it is in Jesus ! 0, for one 
 place where soul took possession of form, and living thought 
 of dead opinions ! I would recommend you to it, if it was 
 in the sect reputed most heretical of any in the land." 
 
 " Would you recommend me to leave ? " 
 
 1 ' I hardly know what to recommend. If the institution 
 here were not arrayed against the reforms of the age, I 
 should think better of it ; as it is, my advice is for you to 
 25
 
 290 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 stay here under a private tutor in Hebrew and Biblical 
 exegesis. Your Greek and Latin are already sufficient. 
 Wait a few months, and perhaps some light may arise pn this 
 difficult subject. Perhaps you may think it best to enter the 
 seminary in due form, if they will take you, which I much 
 doubt, from the fear entertained of having some one among 
 them whom they cannot hew to the length of their Procrus- 
 tean bed." 
 
 Accordingly, such a tutor was found in one of the professors, 
 who consented to do the extra work of teaching Charles for 
 the extra pay, which his meagre salary made the more 
 acceptable. Skampton's policy was to reduce all around him 
 to the lowest possible allowance, that he might have the more 
 to buy influence with. He was coming to a pinch, and 
 expected a demand for more than all his funds, to coerce his 
 denomination into the excision of Bludgeon and his party. 
 He was now, therefore, specially economical. 
 
 Before leaving town, Mr. Holliston accepted an invitation 
 to hear one of Treadmill's recitations. The professor took 
 pains to show off" to the best possible advantage, and, there- 
 fore, proposed some extra questions, among which was the 
 following : 
 
 " Can you tell me which of the gracious affections is prior, 
 in the order of nature? " 
 
 " No," said the young man whose turn it was to answer, 
 being one of those who, unfortunately, now and then thought 
 for himself. 
 
 With evident Displeasure at such an answer, Treadmill 
 called up another, whose spirit was kindred to his own, and 
 repeated the same question to him. 
 
 "I perceive that the point of the doctor's inquiry is this." 
 said the young man; "whether repentance, faith, love, or
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 291 
 
 which exercise, is first in a converted person. Now, you 
 know our Saviour has set us the example of speaking in 
 parables. Well, then, we will suppose that all the exercises 
 of a regenerated heart are like the buckets of a water-wheel; 
 and, the question is, when the water is let on, which bucket 
 starts first 1 My answer is, the one that the water strikes 
 first." 
 
 To make this appear, he went into the science of hydraulics, 
 showing that as the motion is in the water, and inseparable 
 from the water, it must begin in the bucket which the water 
 touches first. He added, "The tendency is to drive that 
 bucket in a right line, which it would, undoubtedly, if it were 
 not for the strong timbers connecting it with the other buckets. 
 Hence, the impulse, being diffused through those timbers over 
 the whole wheel, sets all its parts in motion, not in a right line, 
 but curvilinearly. So, I conceive, that the motion is in the 
 Spirit of God. That strikes the bucket of love, which is 
 prior in the order of nature to all the other graces, tending 
 to move it by itself and in a right line ; but, being connected 
 with all the other graces by indissoluble ties, moves the whole 
 not directly, but circularly, producing in the soul the beauties 
 of curvilinear motion, like the spheres." 
 
 Here, giving a flourish among the stars, the young man sat 
 down, while Treadmill looked round with a self-satisfied air, 
 as if to say, " You see what we can do." He felt the more 
 gratified at the fortunate turn the question had taken, because 
 it illustrated a theory of his, that love is dropped into a man's 
 heart from heaven without any antecedent exercise in that 
 heart itself, just as the moon is said to drop upon the earth 
 the pumice of its burning mountains.
 
 292 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE PLOT THICKENS. 
 
 " I have 't; it is engendered ! Hell and night 
 Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light ! " 
 
 SHAKSPEAHK. 
 
 WHEN change is undertaken from interest, and not from 
 principle, it often yokes itself with conservatism to keep back 
 specific improvements. Thus Gilfort was united with Skamp- 
 ton in money-making and against temperance, to further his 
 own peculiar novelties, and to gain his own personal ends. 
 After returning and remaining with his colony in the West a 
 year or two, we meet with him again in Skampton's library. 
 His arrival was with the pomp and circumstance of a dis- 
 tinguished man of the world, in a beautiful carriage, with 
 elegantly caparisoned horses, being now, through the sale of 
 his lands and the contributions of his followers, well to do in 
 the world. He took the precaution of coming under the 
 cover of darkness, because his mission required it. 
 
 "Bless me!" said Skampton, starting up from his arm- 
 chair as he recognized his visitor; "Mr. Gilfort, is this 
 you?" 
 
 " Yes, me," answered Gilfort, shaking him cordially by 
 the hand. " My friend, you look well ; in fine spirits, I see. 
 I never saw you look better in my life. I '11 be bound you 
 are younger than when we met last." 
 
 "A good conscience, Mr. Gilfort, brings quiet and health ; 
 and health and quiet bring a youthful appearance." 
 
 " Indeed, my friend ; no man ever laid a better foundation
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 293 
 
 of a good conscience than yourself. Always plodding for the 
 public good, I see," added Gilfort, observing in his hands a 
 roll, on which he seemed to have been laboring. 
 
 " Lay off your coat, lay off your coat, Mr. Gilfort; I am 
 too absent-minded to be polite." Upon which Mr. Gilfort 
 doffed his outer garment, and disclosed underneath a black 
 suit of the finest texture, elegantly wrought with silk and 
 velvet, and ornamented with gold in all the forms in Avhich 
 that metal could be conveniently worn by a man acting tho 
 part he assumed. Everything betokened one from the mines 
 of Potosi. rather than from the dupes of his artifice in the 
 backwoods. 
 
 " Mr. Skampton," said Gilfort, taking out a well-filled 
 purse and throwing it carelessly on the table, " I have come, 
 this time, prepared to show my interest in your seminary by 
 a present for its library." 
 
 " Very opportune," said Skampton, his eyes glistening with 
 delight ; " the increase of our library is a thing upon which I 
 am just now bestowing much attention." 
 
 " Is Charles Douglass a pupil? 
 
 " We will have nothing to do with him, sir; he is below 
 contempt? " 
 
 " But he is in your town, is he not? " 
 
 " I hear he is, and, in fact, I have met him occasionally in 
 the street ; but do not know him, nor he me, I am happy to 
 say." 
 
 "Well. I am distressed that he is again making that lovely 
 girl, Sarah Harcourt, his victim. I have done my utmost to 
 save her ; but a man with whom I intrusted a matter be- 
 trayed me, a rare thing of one whom I trust, and their 
 acquaintance has been renewed." 
 
 " That is the very subject I have been this day belaboring, 
 25*
 
 294 MAPLETON J OR, 
 
 I have here drawn up a document to Mr. Harcourt, advising 
 him by all means to break up the connection between his 
 daughter and Douglass." 
 
 He read the -documeat. 
 
 "A capital thought, a timely and benevolent warning!" 
 said Gilfort, his snaky eyes beaming malicious delight. "But 
 you mistake the mode of accomplishing your object. Excuse 
 me, but I know the ground, I see, better than you do. Har- 
 court is under the absolute control of his daughter, and she 
 will be sure to counteract what you have written. Better go 
 in person ; and then, let me tell you, you will not succeed till 
 you fully assure Mr. Harcourt of the certain ruin of his 
 family, if this connection is not broken up. The daughter, I 
 know, you cannot persuade. I have been to New York ; I 
 know all about it." 
 
 " Is he such a fool as to consent, after what I wrote him? " 
 
 " No, he does not consent. In his heart he is more op- 
 posed to it than any of ue. But his daughter's influence 
 over him is such, and his desire of pleasing her in all things 
 so great, that he seems to have waived all objections, keeps 
 quiet, and leaves things. to drift." 
 
 "What is to be done?" said Skampton, anxiously. "This 
 fellow is a ringleader against us conservatives, and such a 
 marriage will make him a formidable beast" 
 
 " I will tell you; I see it all. You must, as I say, fully 
 establish the fact of the ruin Douglass will bring upon the 
 family, so as to leave no doubt with Harcourt on this point. 
 Then you may expose the infamy of Douglass to the daugh- 
 ter, and it is barely possible you may make some impression 
 upon her, which I do not expect. But Harcourt will force 
 himself into measures for her final separation from this fellow, 
 rather than suffer the ruin of his house. He will not do it
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 295 
 
 openly, for he has not a heart to oppose her wishes ; but he 
 will do it clandestinely, if any feasible method could be pro- 
 posed by a man of your standing." 
 
 "What method can I propose, Mr. Gilfort?" 
 
 " I will tell you. There live, in the beautiful valley of the 
 Wyoming, a wealthy and accomplished gentleman and lady of 
 the name of Marmot, whose influence will be likely to cure 
 Miss Harcourt of her infatuation ; or, at all events, they will 
 break up all further connection between her and Douglass." 
 
 ' ' How should that be possible, so long as the pulse of the 
 mail beats at almost every point in the land 1 " 
 
 " But mails, my friend, are fingered by men ; and men, 
 for a consideration, are capable of appliances. I know of one 
 here who will intercept the love ditties of Miss Harcourt, so 
 that Douglass may search in vain for her whereabouts ; and 
 I '11 pledge, for the Marmots, that his shall share the same 
 fate." 
 
 "Would such a plot be right?" said Skampton, whose 
 conscience felt the pinch of so bold a fraud. 
 
 Gilfort saw that he had leaked out too much of his heart, 
 and hence exclaimed, with great apparent sincerity, " May 
 God temper with discretion and virtue my zeal to do a good 
 office ! After all, is it a fraud? Is it an unworthy step, in 
 a father, to intercept the flow of poison to the mind of a 
 child 1 I am merely suggesting a plan on which Mr. Har- 
 court himself may act. You and I have no responsibility in 
 the matter. We can assure him that, in the family of the 
 Marmots, Sarah will have all and more than her station in 
 life requires ; will be surrounded by friends refined and affec- 
 tionate, a country beautifully romantic, and, above all, that 
 her situation will utterly preclude the possibility of further 
 communication between her and Douglass."
 
 296 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 " But suppose he insists upon knowing how this is to be 
 brought about, what then ? " 
 
 " Why, in that case, you can assure him of the consum- 
 mate address of the Marmots, of their experience in such mat- 
 ters ; and that they will be sure to do it entirely to his satis- 
 faction, provided he should request it." 
 
 "Let me see,' : said Skampton, thoughtfully; "is it doing 
 as I would be done by 1 If Sarah were my daughter, hum 
 mum. But I was about to say, if Sarah were my daugh- 
 ter, and I saw her in the jaws of certain ruin, would it not 
 be right for me, in virtue of my parental authority, to take 
 measures, secretly and against her will, to save her?" Would 
 she not thank me for it, in after years ? Yes, yes, no doubt. 
 Then am I not doing as I would be done by, in advising Har- 
 court to the same course?" By the time Skampton had 
 gone over these thoughts in his mind, he was resolved ; and, 
 leaping up of a sudden, he exclaimed, " Yes, my excellent 
 Gilfort, I see you are right. If your plan promises to suc- 
 ceed, there can be no objection on the score of conscience. 
 But will it succeed? " 
 
 "My friend," said Gilfort, earnestly, feeling that his point 
 was gained, " you can assure Harcourt, as a gentleman and 
 a Christian, that no more communications will pass between 
 his daughter and Douglass, after she is introduced into the 
 Marmot family, provided he shall give orders to that effect. 
 You know deceit is no part of my character ; and I should 
 not tell you this, did not my acquaintance with the skill and 
 address of that family give me perfect confidence of its 
 truth."' 
 
 "But how will Mr. Harcourt induce his daughter to visit 
 Wyoming? Perhaps she may refuse." 
 
 " That we will leave to him. Assured byyou of her ruin,
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 297 
 
 unless the step is taken, he will find means of bringing it 
 about. Nothing could be more likely to captivate such a 
 mind as hers than the idea of spending time in the beautiful 
 and poetical valley of the Wyoming." Gilfort spoke advis- 
 edly, for he knew that this had been an old desire of Miss 
 Harcourt. 
 
 " Very well ; we will leave details to Harcourt himself. I 
 like your suggestion, in the main, and will promptly and 
 conscientiously perform my part." 
 
 "I have no motive but humanity and friendship for the 
 Harcourts," said Gilfort, graciously. " I do not hesitate to 
 say that, by this act, Mr. Skampton. you will add another to 
 your many deeds of philanthropy, and provide a sweet solace 
 for the pains of your dying day." 
 
 " Ah, my friend, my life is spent in the self-denying labor 
 of doing good," said Skampton, with a look which would 
 have done credit to any saint in the calendar. Poor man ! 
 how little did he realize the snare in which he was taken to 
 his own ruin ! 
 
 "But your reward is on high, my excellent Mr. Skamp- 
 ton ; and it will be a great and shining one, as suited to your 
 many virtues." 
 
 The result of this interview was, that Mr. Skampton 
 started, post-haste, for New York, to execute the plan. He 
 was ignorant of the darker shades of Gilfort's character, and 
 had no just appreciation of the plot to which he was lending 
 himself. He was incapable of so dark a deed. His ultra 
 conservatism, united to 'a desire of influence and control which 
 by this time had grown to be a monomania, was his ruin. He 
 was determined to force the liquor traffic, slavery, and every 
 antiquated notion, down the necks of posterity ; and, in order 
 to do it, he desired to finger and control everything. Do-
 
 298 MAPLETOX ; OR, 
 
 mestic matters, marriage contracts, everything would go 
 wrong, without his pious watch-care. Some apology must 
 be made for him, because he was so frequently consulted on 
 these points, a circumstance which gradually wrought in 
 him the feeling that he had a right to dictate, whether asked 
 or not. Experience taught him that the interests in refer- 
 ence to which he made such enormous purchases of influence 
 could not be managed without looking after the private mat- 
 ters of individuals and families. Against Charles Douglass 
 he had a bitter dislike ever after his personal altercation with 
 him ; and this feeling had been further inflamed by the efforts 
 which had been made, both before the courts of justice and 
 the public at large, to implicate him in the drunkenness of 
 Charles' father. This seemed to him a most preposterous 
 idea, that, because he owns the house in which a man gets 
 drunk, therefore he is guilty of making him drunk. He 
 would gnash his teeth, when the subject was mentioned ; and, 
 because Charles had often charged him with instigating the 
 crime of his father, there was nothing too bad for him to do 
 and say against that young man. Besides, Skampton was at 
 this very time preparing to prosecute Bludgeon and his party 
 in the ecclesiastical tribunals; and it was material to his suc- 
 cess that the voice of Mapleton should be silenced. Mr. 
 Holliston he had already forced off the track ; and he knew 
 Charles Douglass would be as good as dead, if cut off forever 
 from the Harcourts. Such was the man now bent upon the 
 ruin of this already afflicted and persecuted young aspirant to 
 the clerical calling. 
 
 Mr. Skampton was announced to Mr. Harcourt and his 
 daughter, who hastened to receive him in a manner worthy 
 of his distinguished position. It happened that De Lisle had 
 called, and was engaged in familiar conversation with Sarah
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 299 
 
 at the time of his arrival ; and Skampton, observing the 
 noble person and gentlemanly manners of the young man, 
 felt a secret hope that a more engaging suitor had already 
 accomplished the work on which he came ; and, retiring to 
 an adjoining room, he said to Mr. Harcoiirt, "I see the 
 urchin who had the battle with the deer is likely to get the 
 slip." 
 
 " The slip? No; I wish in my heart he might ! But no 
 one else has any influence with my deluded child," said the 
 father of Sarah, with bitter chagrin, that her heart should not 
 be open to such a man as De Lisle, of whose delicate inten- 
 tions he had no doubt. 
 
 " Well, what is to be done, in that case 1 " said Skampton. 
 
 " Done ? nothing ! Fate, you know, governs ; we must 
 yield to fate." 
 
 " What! without an effort to avoid the evil? " 
 
 " Perhaps, after all, Douglass may make my daughter 
 happy. Her thinking so will do much towards it, will it 
 not?" 
 
 "No, Mr. Harcourt," replied Skampton, impressively. 
 " I tell you, on the honor of a gentleman and Christian, that 
 he will be her ruin. You must suppose I have the means of 
 knowing ; and that, being a young man to whom I extended 
 charity at one time, I should naturally desire his advance- 
 ment." 
 
 " Was he dependent on charity ? " replied Harcourt, with 
 a sneer. 
 
 "Yes, on my bounty; and I found him the most impu- 
 dent, impertinent, hair-brained fellow I ever had to do with. 
 Our college at Diddington was forced to pass upon him an 
 act of expulsion. Besides, his father is one of the most 
 furious drunkards in the country, and will no doubt end his
 
 300 MAPLETON; OK, 
 
 days on the gallows. He is always full of murder as soon 
 as he has liquor in his head ; and, like father like son, that 
 you may depend upon, in this case. They are as much alike 
 as two peas." 
 
 "Is it possible? What is to be done?" exclaimed Har- 
 court, with blank astonishment. 
 
 " I will frankly state to her these facts, and she will break 
 the connection at once. She is too good, too noble, to unite 
 her destiny with such a base fellow, and such a worthless 
 family." 
 
 " that it might be so ! But I fear not. You do not 
 know my daughter. She never gives up a friend." 
 
 " Not when he becomes an enemy? " 
 
 ' ' The thing is to make her believe that. You can try, and 
 I will do my utmost to help you. This ill-judged engage- 
 ment has poisoned all my happiness, since I came to the city. 
 It is too aggravating to see her tied down to that little coun- 
 try rustic, even if he were right in other respects, when 
 wealth, talent and noble blood, are at her feet." 
 
 As soon as Sarah was disengaged, she came tripping lightly 
 into the room, to show due respect to their distinguished vis- 
 itor. ' ' How do you do, Mr. Skampton ? It is a long time 
 since I had the pleasure of seeing you, when I was a little 
 girl, I think." 
 
 ' Yes, in Mapleton," said Skampton. 
 
 "By the way, have you seen Charles Douglass, of late? 
 He is in your town, I think. You remember he was confined 
 at our house by an injury, when you was with us last." 
 
 "I remember well, though, in truth, Miss Harcourt, his 
 character is such at present that I should be ashamed to 
 confess I know him."
 
 MOKE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 301 
 
 "What do you mean, sir? " said Sarah, with an expression 
 of wounded feeling. 
 
 "Mean? I mean you have betrothed yourself to a man 
 as unworthy of you as Satan is for a seat in Paradise." 
 
 " Sir," said Sarah, calmly, but firmly, " I know Charles 
 Douglass, I have known him from his childhood ; and the 
 testimony of a thousand prejudiced witnesses would not shake 
 my confidence in him." 
 
 " My daughter," said Mr. Harcourt with great emotion, 
 yet tenderly, " do not treat our worthy guest with dis- 
 respect." 
 
 " I mean it not so, dear father," said Sarah ; "I know the 
 circumstances have been such as to give Mr. Skampton a 
 prejudiced view of Mr. Douglass' character. I will vindicate 
 the rights of an injured friend. I will let the injurer know 
 that he can find no favor with me. It is useless to talk in 
 this strain. I have all the means of knowing Mr. Douglass' 
 character which I desire." 
 
 "My daughter, my daughter! " cried Harcourt, in great 
 agony of mind, " consider seriously whether Mr. Skampton 
 has not had better opportunities of judging than you have. 
 Do hear his testimony ! Young men change. Whatever Mr. 
 Douglass was in time past, he may since have .become un- 
 worthy of your confidence. Who has better means of know- 
 ing a young man than his benefactor, feeling, as he may ba 
 supposed to, a father's interest in him ? You are too hasty ; 
 you will not allow Mr. Skampton to state facts." 
 
 "Very well, sir; what facts have you to state?" said 
 Sarah. 
 
 " Facts, do you ask me for facts? " said Skampton, with 
 nervous excitement at the promptitude with which Miss liar- 
 court met him. 
 
 26
 
 302 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 " Yes, please give us one to justify your views of Mr. 
 Douglass," said Sarah, mildly. 
 
 " His father is a drunkard, and likely to be a murderer 
 too." 
 
 " Who made him so ? Who held the cup to his lips, in 
 spite of the tears and entreaties of a wife?" said Sarah, 
 firmly. 
 
 " You are personal, Miss. Do you mean to insult me 1 " 
 said Skampton, now more agitated than ever. 
 
 "Not at all," replied Sarah; "I am after the facts. I 
 have the means of knowing that Mr. Douglass, senior, was 
 well born and educated, and withal of a noble nature ; but 
 that he became a victim of the drinking customs of society, 
 and was ruined. But he reformed, and would now be 
 virtuous and happy as any of us, but for the temptations 
 with which interested men have surrounded him." 
 
 "Does anybody compel him to drink?" said Skampton, 
 with ill-suppressed anger. 
 
 " No, they only take advantage of a weakness induced by 
 indulgence in drinking, for the sake of a little paltry gain. 
 But, then, what has Charles done ? Is he to be blamed for 
 his father's misdeeds ? " 
 
 " No, he has enough of his own, in all conscience. Ask 
 Diddington College, from which he was expelled for his 
 bad conduct." 
 
 " I have a letter from the president which tells a very 
 different story." Sarah now produced and read from it the 
 following: "Mr. Douglass was expelled for no fault of his 
 own. He was our best and most orderly student. He was 
 sacrificed to a question of life or death to the college." 
 
 " The scoundrel ! the scoundrel ! " said Skampton, rising 
 and pacing the floor in an agitated manner. "I '11 make
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 
 
 him smart for that ! The truth is, Miss, Douglass was on my 
 charity, and yet insulted me to my face. He richly de- 
 served expulsion, and that the faculty will say, in spite of 
 their lying president." 
 
 "He never knowingly accepted your bounty, sir ; and 
 restored it, every cent, with interest, as soon as he learned 
 the fact. I honor him for his spirit on the occasion." 
 
 "Honor him ! honor him! " said Skampton, sneeringly; 
 " I think he '11 need it when he is deprived of the priesthood. 
 Our denomination will depose him for heresy, as soon as they 
 have time to act." 
 
 " This is another charge ; ptey, on what ground ? " 
 
 " Our seminary would not receive him, if he offered, they 
 deem him so unworthy of the calling to which he aspires." 
 
 " He has not offered, I am thankful to say," added Miss 
 Harcourt. " Theology cannot be measured off by rules and 
 definitions. It shineth in the sun ; it beameth in the stars ; 
 it bloometh in the earth ; it speaketh in the Bible ; it beateth 
 in the hearts of the good, the least of whom has, in himself, 
 the basis of an independent judgment. ' He needeth not that 
 any should teach him.' If Mr. Douglass is what I believe 
 him to be, I would give more for the theology he already has 
 than all you can teach him." 
 
 Skampton, bethinking that she was a lady, restrained his 
 burning indignation, saying to Harcourt, in an under tone, 
 " Enough." 
 
 " Enough, till you state something more conclusive than 
 this," added Miss Harcourt.
 
 304 MAPLETON; OE, 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 DUBIOUS PRESENTIMENTS. 
 
 ' Hethinks I hear, methinks I see 
 Ghosts, goblins, fiends; my fantasie 
 Presents a thousand ugly shapes; 
 Headless bears, black men and apes, 
 Doleful outcries and fearful sights 
 My sad and dismal soul affrights." BURTON. 
 
 No further interviews took place between Sarah and Mr. 
 Skampton, except of the most formal and commonplace kind. 
 But he remained housed with her father several days, divulg- 
 ing and maturing the plan of Gilfort, the name of that 
 gentleman, however, being never mentioned between them. 
 This was probably owing to a desire, on the part of Skampton, 
 to monopolize the credit of it to himself. Every particular 
 in reference to the Marmots, their precise location, character, 
 circumstances, and fitness for the trust to be committed to 
 them, were discussed, all of which were made to appear in 
 the most favorable light, and were carefully treasured up by 
 Mr. Harcourt. Sarah, meantime, had a presentiment that 
 mischief was brewing, though she had not the remotest 
 suspicion of the real facts in the case. The following letter 
 bears date near the time of Skampton's visit. 
 
 " MY DEAR CHARLES : I have a mysterious feeling, which 
 I cannot get rid of, that something is arising to interrupt the 
 freedom of our intercourse. I am not superstitious, nor do 
 I judge wholly without facts. Those facts I can state only
 
 MORE WOUK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 305 
 
 in person. I do not like to interfere with your studies ; and 
 yet, if you need relaxation for a "week or two, I hope you 
 will turn your footsteps this way. Happiness is too dear a 
 possession to be left unguarded, or carelessly thrown away. 
 Let us, therefore, look out for birds of passage. All you 
 ever was to me you are ; and all I ever was to you I am. Is 
 not this so ? Why do I ask ? Am I not in the hands of my 
 mother's God 1 My serenity is undisturbed, though occasional 
 clouds intercept the bright beams of my hope. But clouds 
 diversify our mental as well as our physical condition, and 
 teach us the value of sunshine. These broken lines will 
 convey to you more than to another, my heart, my soul, my 
 best and most devoted interest in your happiness. 
 
 11 SARAH." 
 
 This letter was dictated by a fear that he who was capable 
 of slandering Douglass to her would be equally capable of 
 slandering her to him. Sarah deemed no explanations safe, 
 in a case like this, but those which should be made by word 
 of mouth. Charles replied, immediately, that an extraor- 
 dinary event had just then occurred to detain him a day or 
 two. Immediately upon his arrival in Riverton, curiosity to 
 see the man whom Gilfort had so singularly defrauded led 
 him to make the acquaintance of Roderick Dobson. He hoped, 
 also, to do somewhat towards reforming the miserable man, 
 who, he learned, was now more deeply sunk in intemperance 
 than ever. Nor were his efforts without the promise of suc- 
 cess. Dobson relinquished his cups for a time, and resumed 
 his business. But the loss of his money preyed upon him so 
 much, when he was sober, that he plunged again into dissipa- 
 tion, to drown his trouble. This tendency was further 
 strengthened by the effects of the wound he received on 
 26*
 
 306 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 the night of Bludgeon's battle. His nature seemed physically, 
 mentally, and morally, broken down, and nothing but bodily 
 coercion could keep him from drinking. He retained prop- 
 erty enough still to supply rum for his burning thirst ; and 
 all, beyond a meagre support for himself and wife, went that 
 way. His wife, so far from checking him, had, from sympathy 
 or sorrow, fallen into the same habits. The alcoholic demon 
 reigned absolute within their doors. It was a very pandemo- 
 nium for all the possible devils of conjugal hatred, abuse, 
 contention, fighting, and wretchedness. 
 
 About a week before the receipt of Sarah's letter, Dobson 
 had laid in a barrel of whiskey, after which both of them lay 
 drunk night and day ; and on the very morning of the day 
 on which he received the letter, he called at Dobson 1 s, and 
 learned the state of affairs. Douglass found them both dead 
 drunk, and shockingly bruised and blackened by the blows 
 which they had inflicted upon each other. He watched over 
 them until they became sober, furnished them with a good 
 fire and an ample supply of ready-cooked food, and then 
 procured a little girl, at one of the neighbors', to look after 
 them, and do any little errands they might find occasion for. 
 They were too much debilitated to be left alone. He then 
 locked the door of the closet in which they kept their whiskey- 
 barrel, and took the key with him, to make sure that they 
 drank nothing till he should see them again. On his way 
 home, in the evening, he took Miss Harcourt's letter from the 
 post-office. 
 
 The next morning, early, he repaired again to Dobson's, 
 anxious to see them out of their critical condition before 
 going to New York. As he approached the house, a horrible 
 odor assailed him, such as he had never before encountered. 
 He looked round the house, to detect the cause, but could see
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 307 
 
 nothing but a subtle fume exuding from the chimney and 
 crevices. What can this mean ? He knocks at the door, 
 but gets no answer. He knocks again and again, but with 
 the same result. He tries to open, but finds it confined by a 
 strong lock. Why is this 1 Where are they ? The odor is 
 horrible ! He goes to the neighbors, and inquires for the 
 little girl, and learns from her that Dobson broke open the 
 closet-door with a sledge, soon after he left, and brought out 
 a little four-quart pail full of the whiskey, and began to 
 drink. He then ordered away the little girl, and locked the 
 door behind her. 
 
 Douglass returned and forced the door ; when, lo ! out 
 rushed a volley of fetid^air, that well-nigh suffocated him. 
 He stepped back a few paces, until the room was somewhat 
 ventilated through the open door, when he returned, and, 
 horrible to tell ! there lay the charred and blackened remains 
 of Dobson, manifestly dead by spontaneous combustion ! The 
 room, and all its furniture, were covered with a thick yellow 
 substance, filthy and fetid, to shock every delicate sensibility. 
 In another part of the room his wife also lay dead, as it 
 appeared partly from suffocation from the exhaling fume of 
 her burning husband, and partly from her own excessive 
 drunkenness. The contents of the pail were all gone. Dob- 
 son probably drank more than his share of the liquor ; and, 
 as his constitution was already rendered combustible by pre- 
 vious drinking, this deep potation set it on fire ; and it went 
 off in blue flame and exhaling fluid, extinguishing both his 
 own life and that of his besotted companion. 
 
 After waiting long enough to bury all of this miserable 
 couple that remained for interment, Charles started, post- 
 haste, for New York. The few days he spent with Sarah 
 were happy above thought or expression. Ages of pure
 
 308 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 delight seemed compressed into a moment. They expatiated 
 on the events which had occurred since they last met ; on the 
 memory of Mapleton, Terracegreen and Eerestdale ; Canau- 
 doh. the arbor, their hopes, aspirations, and the high privi- 
 lege of living to do good, even in the humblest sphere. On 
 the subject of her presentiments, Sarah frankly told all, 
 Skampton's visit, her interview with him. what he said and 
 her replies, how her father had since appeared ; and yet, her 
 remarks were so pointed with love that Douglass had a better 
 opinion of all the parties concerned than he had before. 
 
 " Dear Sarah, my heart assures me that I have no bitter- 
 ness for Mr. Skampton, though I have suffered more from 
 him than any one else. I pity the guilty more now than 
 ever," said Douglass, alluding to the horrible death in which 
 Dobson's sin had ended, of which he had given Miss Har- 
 court a minute account. 
 
 "I know you have suffered much from Mr. Skampton, 
 Charles ; but I had a hundred-fold rather be in your place 
 than his. I pity the poor man's delusion." 
 
 "Well you may. I have watched him for years, and do 
 not believe there is a more indefatigable man living. He 
 really feels that the care of all the world is upon him ; that, 
 but for him, the land would be maddened by reform and 
 ultraism; that governments would run wild, the church 
 become corrupt to its core, and everything go to decay. He 
 is the pivot, in his own estimation, on which the destinies. of 
 society turn." 
 
 "Is it possible? I am afraid of such a man. Who is 
 secure against his interference? I never understood him." 
 
 "Well, it is so, my dear Sarah; though I think these 
 feelings have increased upon him since the failure of his law- 
 suits against Bludgeon. He is now struggling to supply by
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 309 
 
 influence his lack of the physical coercion of the law. I am 
 told by a student who is familiar with him that he does not 
 sleep nights. He is running to and fro, advising this and 
 advising that, dipping into this man's affairs, exposing this 
 and that one's imaginary error and wickedness, circumvent- 
 ing this, that and the other, supposed enemy of his conserva- 
 tive policy ; and, in the midst of it all, he has no repose. 
 This student says he lives continually on the borders of a 
 brain fever, and, on one occasion, was actually attacked, 
 when the young man was called to watch with him, and he 
 passed the whole night in the paroxysms of insanity, fisting 
 the wall, under the notion of killing temperance men, here- 
 tics and devils. His very complexion is blue with restless 
 care, and his face is elongated beyond its usual dimensions. 
 Did you ever see a brow so heavy and deeply shaded 1 He 
 moves among us like night. Never did a man suffer more 
 fictitious or more real sorrows, fictitious as to their reason, 
 but real in their influence upon himself." 
 
 " Charles, you surprise me. Is it true that this odious 
 intermeddling in private affairs is common?" 
 
 "Yes, common as the flakes of winter. He is a perfect 
 terrier, pursuing his prey through every subterraneous wind- 
 ing, and never giving it up. I expect always to have him on 
 my track, till relieved by death, or the destruction of his 
 influence. He can never forgive, not the wrongs our family 
 have done him, but those that he has done us. If it were 
 the other way, there would be hope ; but, so long as his con- 
 science needs the relief of making us the criminal party, he 
 will continue the untraced war." 
 
 "Who is safe, with such a man to deal with?" 
 
 "Echo says, 'Who?' How many have been ruined by 
 his dogged pertinacity ! And yet, he is not so bad a man as
 
 310 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 you and I would be likely to represent. He is one of those 
 constitutional conservatists who regard all change in opinion 
 or usage as a personal injury done to themselves, and all 
 reformers enemies to their own peace and the happiness of 
 mankind. They are the watch-dogs to bark at innovation 
 and innovators. And, besides, Skampton places an over- 
 estimate on his own influence and responsibility. His pride 
 of station is prodigious. He is not aware of it himself, for it 
 enters into his very blood and being. He is conscientiously 
 meddlesome, and religiously officious." 
 
 "What can have deluded him into this high opinion of 
 himself? His talents are moderate." 
 
 "Money, money, and the flattery money brings, have 
 bewitched him. He has not the generosity to give without 
 the hope of a return, but always sends in his bill for special 
 consideration, personal control over those who receive the 
 gift, or some subtle remuneration of the kind, which he deems 
 an ample offset for his money. By the payment of my tui- 
 tion bills for a few years, he had acquired the power, in his 
 own estimation, to forbid my temperance efforts. His object 
 was, to buy me up as one of his runners. He has hundreds 
 and thousands whom he has thus bought up. He has given, 
 as he calls it, several hundred thousand dollars in making these 
 purchases. Of course, it has swelled his little personal self 
 unto kingly power. He is an enormous social fungus, fed by 
 the acrid humors of a diseased and feculent public sentiment. 
 He is consulted on all subjects. This further swells his per- 
 sonal consequence, and increases the evils which he endures 
 and inflicts." 
 
 " After all, my dear Charles, there is an overruling Provi- 
 dence who protects the innocent. We are safe in his hands.
 
 MOKE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW, 311 
 
 Let us not requite with evil Mr. Skampton's efforts for the 
 public good." 
 
 "That is well said; for the public good. If the truth 
 were known, his visit here would be found the result of 
 prayers and tears. He is devout in his way. He felt him- 
 self called on to deprive me of the power to do evil. But, as 
 you say, God will be the judge between him and me. I leave 
 my cause in his hands, and trust he will bring forth my 
 righteousness as the light." 
 
 " There is no danger, Charles, of leaving it there." 
 
 ' c My heart tells me it is true. And I know yours is. I 
 do not doubt, I cannot fear, that our union is a provision of 
 divine wisdom, and will be brought to pass by parental love." 
 
 "Think not, Charles, I have any misgiving on that point. 
 No, no ; had our plighted vows never before been exchanged, 
 my heart's purest feelings would dictate them now." 
 
 " Sarah, dear, as you say, let us look out for birds of pass- 
 age. If you receive fifty letters in my hand-writing, con- 
 taining things inconsistent with these vows, you may know, 
 before Heaven, that they are vile forgeries. My heart, my 
 hand, sweet girl, could never, never move in such a strain." 
 
 " Should you, Charles, fail to hear from me, or should 
 you learn things of me to give you pain, then know that all 
 is false, and that I have your interest at heart more, if pos- 
 sible, than my own. Affection gushes up from the hallowed 
 fountains of my soul, to assure me we are one." 
 
 "0, Sarah! how can I leave you, being of my being? 
 For my sake, do not too rudely expose yourself to the even- 
 ing dews, in your walks. I have suffered, O, how much ! 
 lest a cold should early deprive me of you, by consigning you 
 too soon to your mother's hectic death. That would be my
 
 312 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 death; my life would lose' its earthly moorings, and I should 
 pray to be gone." 
 
 "I will take care of myself. I would live for your sake. 
 I would comfort my poor father ; though, I confess, to join 
 my sainted mother sometimes appears to me far better." 
 
 " Halloo, there, sir ! are you the man who has ordered my 
 coach ?" cried a voice before the house to Douglass, about 
 taking his leave of Sarah, in the hall; "come on, come on ! 
 we are off; the cars will leave you." 
 
 '' One kiss, in spite of this savage coachman," said Charles, 
 when he mounted the coach, with the sweet voice of her he 
 loved so much pronouncing in his ear, " Faith, faith, faith is 
 our victory." Tears flowed copiously on both sides, and a 
 sombre feeling settled down upon their spirits, as though they 
 might meet no more on earth. Charles returned to his 
 studies, and Sarah to the even tenor of her charities and her 
 duties; with this understanding, however, tbat, on the 
 ensuing September, they were to meet again, and unite their 
 destinies for life. 
 
 Mr. Harcourt seemed moody and unhappy. His daugh- 
 ter was his life. He saw and appreciated her worth. But 
 he now fully believed, from the representations of Mr. Skamp- 
 ton, that she was on the borders of ruin. He had, till now, 
 hoped against hope ; but black despair had succeeded to its 
 place, and he felt compelled to adopt measures wholly incon- 
 sistent with his usual frank manner of treating her. Such 
 measures, so far as he had already adopted them, seemed to 
 create the necessity for more, as one lie requires a dozen to 
 cover it. His heart revolted at the idea ; it was more than he 
 could quietly endure. The duplicity of his flight from the 
 plantation was torture to him; and how could he survive 
 something far worse 1 He was inclined to give up to the
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAAV. 313 
 
 plot, and let things take their course ; but then he would 
 say to himself, " Mr. Skampton knows ; niy judgment is good 
 for nothing. I have dwelt upon the subject till I am addled 
 and confounded. If I fail of breaking up this unfortunate 
 connection, still, when her ruin comes, it will be a consolation 
 to have tried. Persuasion is lost upon her. Stratagem, 
 stratagem is my only hope." 
 
 Parents who entertain doubts as to the delicate attachment 
 of a daughter whom they tenderly love are the only ones to 
 appreciate the feelings of the anxious and suffering Harcourt. 
 His bosom was the home of torturing sensations. To relieve 
 himself, he drank deeper than ever, accompanying his daily 
 bottle of wine with certain trimmings and additions, such as a 
 mint-julep before dinner, hot punch on retiring to bed, or a 
 cocktail at any hour when the fancy took him. These super- 
 numeraries were not only necessary as a solace for trouble, 
 but to meet the increasing demands of the alcoholic worm 
 within. Still, Harcourt never went beyond the bounds of 
 genteel drinking. No man was so intolerant as he of the 
 out-and-out drunkard. He thought even a prison or a sty 
 too good for such a wretch. 
 
 Harcourt did not acknowledge it to himself, but it was 
 nevertheless true, that the secret hope of having De Lisle for 
 a son-in-law had its influence with him. The fact of that 
 gentleman's, great Avealth and high birth excited his vanity 
 and inflamed his imagination. Scarce a day passed without 
 a visit from De Lisle, not, as Harcourt supposed, on an 
 errand of love, but of religion. He could not appreciate 
 such a motive, but attributed it to the overpowering attrac- 
 tions of his daughter, to which no one was more sensible than 
 himself. Hence, he entered at once into a correspondence 
 with the Marmots, and found things answer to his expecta- 
 27
 
 314 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 tions. He, therefore, arranged for the contemplated visit, 
 though he was still in doubt as to the most feasible mode of 
 breaking the subject to Sarah. Thus things went on till 
 May, when he contrived to take her in the snare in a way to 
 elude suspicion, and, alas ! to involve himself in hopeless woe. 
 He had his request, but leanness came into his soul. To 
 shun one evil, he encountered nothing but evil. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 EXCURSION TO THE VALLEY OF THE WYOMING. 
 
 " So sweet a spot of earth, you might, I ween, 
 Have guessed some congregation of the elves, 
 To sport by summer beams, had shaped it for themselves." 
 
 CAMPBELL. 
 
 RISING one morning after a feverish night, the father of 
 Sarah hastened to her room, and embraced her as usual, only 
 with greater tenderness, calling her by every epithet of en- 
 dearment that a father's fondness could suggest, my love, 
 my darling, exclaiming, " My adored daughter, what could 
 I do without you ? ' ' 
 
 "Dear father, what could I do without you?" replied 
 Sarah, kissing him tenderly. 
 
 ' ' This is a sweet morning, Sarah. How soft the breezes ! 
 how balmy the air !. how beautiful the flowers ! how joyous 
 the opening leaves ! how bland the aspect of nature ! how 
 sweetly your Tiny sings ! And what do you think I have 
 been dreaming of, through the night'? " 
 
 "What, dear father? I cannot imagine."
 
 MOKE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 315 
 
 " To escape from our prison to the freedom of life in the 
 country. I long for God's groves, and not man's ; for his 
 flower-crowned valleys and hills, in place of our parterres ; 
 for herds of kine and flocks of sheep ; for the vernal song of 
 birds in their native forests, and the joyousness of a rural 
 landscape. I must away to the country; and will you, 
 Sarah, go with me ? " 
 
 "To the plantation?" 
 
 ' ' No, to the sweet valley of the "Wyoming. You know 
 how often you have desired to visit that region of poetry and 
 romance." 
 
 Sarah, running over in her mind the months to September, 
 when she and Charles were to unite their destiny, began, 
 unconsciously, to count, " One, two, three, four. Yes, 
 father, I will spend the summer with you in the country. 
 When will you go? " 
 
 " To-morrow." 
 
 " No, father, not to-morrow, that is too soon, but the 
 next day. The next day I will be ready. I must visit the 
 shops, and make purchases first." 
 
 "Very well, the next day." 
 
 The appointed day came; and Harcourt, to make the 
 journey agreeable, performed it in his own carriage, by easy 
 stages, that they might enjoy at their leisure the country 
 scenery. Anticipating his speedy separation from Sarah, and 
 the painful ordeal through which she had to pass, his heart 
 yearned over her with all the fondness of a father's love. He 
 would often clasp her in his arms, and fondle her as if she 
 were but six years old. Sarah had no suspicion of what was 
 working in his mind, such outbursts of tenderness being no 
 uncommon thing with him. On the day which terminated 
 their journey, the morning was unusually fine. They took
 
 316 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 an early stage to enjoy a sunrise among the mountains, to 
 sharpen their appetite for breakfast, to inhale the pure ex- 
 halations of the teeming earth, and to reach a certain humble 
 inn, called the log tavern, situated in a deep ravine by a leap- 
 ing brook, which had the reputation of breakfasting its guests 
 on the most delicious trout. It was as romantic as humble. 
 Their ride was among hills and valleys, and a delightful com- 
 bination of scenery. 
 
 " 0, father, what a beautiful world ! " exclaimed Sarah. 
 " What a charming landscape ! how checkered with hills and 
 valleys, meadows and ploughed fields, bounding flocks and 
 singing birds ! One might almost mistake it for Eden. How 
 sweet the odor ! how fragrant the breezes ! One cannot in- 
 hale enough of such air," she added, inflating her lungs with 
 the ambrosial zephyrs that played around them. 
 
 "It is beautiful, daughter, beautiful, 0, how beautiful ! 
 Look yonder," pointing in the distance ; "see that farm-yard 
 filled with kine ! How eager their frisking young for the 
 morning repast ! 0, how superior nature's own condiments 
 to those of our preposterous cookery ! ' ' 
 
 " And how superior the drink of the mountain-brook, leap- 
 ing and sparkling as it flows, to the fermented or distilled 
 poison which so many imbibe to their ruin ! " added Sarah, 
 casting a tender and respectful look at her father. 
 
 The tears came to his eyes, and he said, sincerely, no doubt, 
 " Sarah, you think me an incorrigible wine-drinker, and I 
 think so, too. I would give all we are worth, and be as poor 
 as yonder milk-maid, had I never tasted a drop. I never had 
 a heart to confess this before ; but I have felt it, felt it, 
 how much ! I cannot give it up now. It is too late. I 
 have not the firmness to resist a habit which has become 
 second nature. I am perfectly wretched without my daily
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAAV. 317 
 
 wine. But, if I had a thousand tongues, and each tongue 
 were as eloquent as Demosthenes or Cicero, I could not with 
 them all express the sense I feel within" laying his hand 
 on his heart "of the importance to young men of never 
 tasting a drop." 
 
 "How, then, could you say so much, dearest father, against 
 the temperance pledge? " 
 
 " Because I hate cant, I abhor fanaticism, of which it 
 seems to me the offshoot. I am speaking of avoiding wine 
 from the beginning, as an impulse of nature, and not of 
 religious excitement. Much as I abhor drinking, I had 
 rather die a drunkard than be a fanatic." 
 
 " Dear father, you certainly err in this." 
 
 "Can't help it, must obey mjr destiny. And yet, had 
 it been my destiny to be one of those plough-boys who never 
 taste strong drink, it would be better than as I am. Would 
 you not like to be one of those milk -maids who follow the 
 calves to gather the gleanings? " 
 
 " Alas, father, they are insensible to the means of happi- 
 ness within their reach ! Perhaps they have some evil habit 
 which they have not the firmness to correct." 
 
 "It is true, Sarah; all men are of the same stuff. Evil 
 gains residence in us easier than it is ejected. The most com- 
 mon means of happiness are least understood and least enjoyed. 
 Familiar objects pall upon the mind, and produce indifference. 
 The shepherd, who contemplates daily the towering magnifi- 
 cence of Mont Blanc, heeds not a sight which we go thou- 
 sands of miles to behold. Our transient glance at this beau- 
 tiful scene affords us a pleasure which these milk-ntaids can- 
 not feel. Who knows how much the blindness of Homer 
 and Milton may have enlivened their descriptions of light, 
 color, and visible scenery ? These objects, no longer able to 
 . 27*
 
 318 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 satiate and fatigue the eye, lived in their minds as a sweet 
 vision of the past, in hrjght contrast to their present dark- 
 ness, to heighten and inflame the sense of their beauty. Who 
 but a blind man could write Milton's description of Satan's 
 journey through Chaos and Ancient Night, towards the 
 nearest coast to light 1 Or who but a blind man could have 
 conceived of morning as rosy veiled, rising from the beds of 
 Tithonurs, and spreading over all the earth ? Passages like 
 these indicate a mind in which the impressions of nature had 
 acquired the charm of a delicious recollection." 
 
 ' ' Did not Milton borrow from Homer ? How else should 
 the coincidence arise of his morn advancing with rosy steps 
 in the eastern clime, and sowing the earth with orient 
 pearl?" 
 
 " It is true, the scintillations of all genius and learning 
 blend their effulgence in Milton's muse ; and yet he is as art- 
 less as nature, and as simple as a child. Herein is the tri- 
 umph of his genius. That, in his circumstances, he should 
 have been as poetical as Homer, proves the greater poet." 
 
 " Yet, the Scriptures say things even more sublime with 
 less apparent effort. 'Let there be light, and there was 
 light.' 'Morning spread upon the mountains.' ' Riding on 
 the wings of the wind.' " 
 
 Thus beguiling the hours, they at length reached the place 
 of their destination. Mr. Harcourt had informed his daugh- 
 ter that they should not put up at a public house, but seek 
 the more quiet retreat of a private family, with whom he had 
 arranged by letter for their reception. 
 
 "Here we are at last," said he, as they drove up to the 
 door of the Marmots. 
 
 "What an Elysian! a perfect Paradise!" exclaimed 
 Sarah.
 
 MOKE WOKK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 319 
 
 "Indeed it is," rejoined her father. "It exceeds all my 
 expectations." 
 
 In a moment more, the door of the coach was thrown open 
 by a liveried servant, who ushered them into the great hall 
 of the house, where they were met by Mr. and Mrs. Mar- 
 mot in full dress, who appeared to be persons of fashion and 
 extreme elegance of manners. 
 
 " You have been long delayed. We have been for two or 
 three days awaiting your arrival," said Mr. Marmot. 
 
 " You must remember we are not on a tour of haste and 
 business, but of health and recreation," replied Mr. Har- 
 court. "We have been detained by the fairies among your 
 mountains." 
 
 "Enchanting beings they are," said their host; "they 
 exceed fair Tempe, 
 
 ' Whose lawns, whose glades, ere human footsteps yet 
 Had traced an entrance, were the hallowed haunts 
 Of sylvan powers immortal ; where they sate 
 Oft in the golden age, the Nymphs and Fauns 
 Beneath some arbor branching o'er the flood, 
 And leaning round, hung on the instructive lips 
 Of hoary Pan, or o'er some open dale 
 Danced, in light measure, to his seven-fold pipe, 
 While Zephyr's wanton hand along their path 
 Flung flowers of painted blossoms, fertile dews, 
 And one perpetual spring ! ' " 
 
 "Glorious! enchanting!" exclaimed Mr. Harcourt, en- 
 tranced by the quotation, and still more by the taste and feel- 
 ing with which it was spoken, and the signs of literary talent 
 in the man to whom he was about to commit so important a 
 trust. He began now to believe all Skampton said of the 
 magic of this family. Sarah herself felt, in all she saw and 
 heard, the charm of beauty, love, and poetry. Indeed, the
 
 320 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 house and its elaborately cultivated grounds were peculiarly 
 suited to nourish the enchanting illusion. It had been erected 
 by an English gentleman of great wealth, who, attracted to 
 the spot by Campbell's " Gertrude," had selected it for his 
 home ; but, finding the realities of republican life a sorry 
 reflection of his distant dreams, he had abandoned it. The 
 most of his servants, attached to the country as better suited 
 to their humbler condition, had remained, and were brought 
 together in their former livery, to act as the unconscious sat- 
 ellites and abettors of this nefarious plot. The house was a 
 perfect nondescript, a truly poetical conception, in which all 
 the orders of architecture were blended into one unique and 
 harmonious result. Beautiful, grand, imposing, picturesque, 
 both the structure itself and all its furniture and appendages 
 were formed to call up each some grateful emotion of sense 
 and imagination, as a whole, producing in the mind of the 
 beholder a mysterious feeling of harmony and splendor. 
 
 The father and daughter were delighted with the family, of 
 which, besides the servants, Mr. and Mrs. Marmot seemed to 
 be the sole members. Everything had the air of ease and 
 freedom which belongs to persons of retired fortune, who 
 have nothing in hand but to make the most of life and its 
 enjoyments. All vied with each other to increase the happi- 
 ness of their guests. A choice selection of books, in the 
 room of both Sarah and her father, with elegant gilt bindings, 
 and ingeniously suited to the taste of each, had been carefully 
 provided and arranged. This further proof of the elevation 
 of the family made Harcourt insensible, for the moment, to 
 the secret worm which had gnawed at his heart, from the first 
 day of Skampton's visit, leading him to exclaim, " Skampton 
 is right, he is right ! Here, if anywhere, my sweet Sarah 
 will forget her unfortunate attachment."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 321 
 
 Poor man ! how little did he suspect the mischief which 
 lurked under these fair appearances ! How little did he mis- 
 trust that the hand of Gilfort was in all this ! How little 
 did he anticipate that these were his last conscious hours with 
 one in whom his existence was so bound up ! How fearful 
 the contiguity of bliss and woe in the experience of mankind ! 
 
 A careful observer might have detected something furtive 
 and strange in the glances of Mr. and Mrs. Marmot. These 
 did not wholly escape Sarah's notice ; though, from her 
 father's assurances that he had been well advised of the great 
 excellence of the family, she suppressed every rising suspi- 
 cion. Her father's forgetfulness of his sorrows was but mo- 
 mentary. In spite of himself, beneath the air of gayety 
 which he assumed lay concealed the most agonized feelings, 
 that he should be compelled to this clandestine treatment of 
 Sarah, whose soul was in her words, whose heart responded 
 to every sentiment she uttered. He took the earliest oppor- 
 tunity to communicate freely with Mr. and Mrs. Marmot on 
 the subject. 
 
 " I wish you to understand that my daughter is everything 
 to me," he said to them. " In intrusting her to you, I put 
 my reason, my wealth, my life, my all, in your hands." 
 
 " We fully appreciate your feelings," said Mr. Marmot. 
 
 " None can enter into them as we do," added his wife, 
 wiping a falling tear, "since it is but a year since we buried 
 our only daughter ; a charming creature she was, too." 
 
 "Yes, my dear wife, and do you not think our. lovely 
 Blandina was strikingly like Miss Harcourt? " said her hus- 
 band. 
 
 " Indeed, husband, the very image of her," she replied, 
 sobbing aloud. " I have hardly been able to restrain my 
 feelings since Miss Harcourt's arrival, partly of grief at our
 
 322 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 loss, and partly of gratitude that another Blandina is sent in 
 her place. 0, I shall love her with more than a mother's 
 fondness ! " 
 
 " I am happy to find hearts so fitted to give my sweet 
 Sarah place," said Harcourt, mingling his tears with theirs. 
 
 " Your letters inform us that your daughter has formed an 
 unhappy attachment," said Mr. Marmot. 
 
 " Yes, and nothing but the hope of breaking it up could 
 have compelled me to this step. Do you still feel confident 
 of being able to intercept further communications with her 
 deceiver? " 
 
 " The most perfect, sir, and of making her most happy in 
 the arrangement," they both replied. 
 
 " In the latter, I fear, you will be mistaken. My daugh- 
 ter will no doubt be uneasy at the delay of letters. I fear 
 she will instantly resolve on following me ; and I have this to 
 say, that if every other means of .pacifying her fail, you must 
 let her have her letters. Remember this charge. If she 
 must perish, let it be by her own hands, not mine." 
 
 " There is no doubt, Mr. Harcourt, that we shall be able 
 to keep her satisfied. If we fail, we will be true to your 
 charge," said both the husband and wife. 
 
 Having settled everything, Harcourt felt that he must 
 leave before a letter from Douglass would be expected, lest 
 his presence should embarrass the plot. He therefore an- 
 nounced to Sarah that he had just received intelligence which 
 made it indispensable for him to return without delay; but 
 that he would be absent only a few weeks, before he would 
 rejoin her. 
 
 "What! leave me here alone, father?" said Sarah, with 
 great surprise. 
 
 "Yes; leave you, my love, for a few days only. You
 
 MOEE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 323 
 
 cannot fail to amuse yourself, meantime, in this charming 
 retreat. There are many renowned locations of Indian war- 
 fare in this neighborhood, so graphically described by Camp- 
 bell, the poet, which you will naturally desire to visit, and 
 which will fill up the time to my return ; and then we will go 
 over the ground in company. These vexatious business calls. 
 I cannot endure them just now! They are like a wind- 
 mill in Paradise ; but destiny is upon me, and I must sub- 
 mit." 
 
 " If I must do without you, my honored father, I will try 
 to submit. He who has always watched over my happiness 
 will preserve me still. What His providence directs, may 
 that be my choice evermore ! " 
 
 Their parting was in the highest degree tender and touch- 
 ing. Three times, after reaching the gate in front of the 
 mansion, he returned to clasp her again in his arms, and to 
 imprint the burning kisses of a love amounting almost to 
 madness. And the third time he fairly bore her sylph-like 
 form to the side of the coach, as if it were an appendage of 
 his own person, which could not be torn away without a fatal 
 breach upon the vital organs. At length, by a violent effort, 
 he leaped into the coach, which instantly bounded off like 
 lightning, leaving the heart of both father and daughter pal- 
 pitating under the rude shock upon its tenderest sympathies. 
 
 Before a week had elapsed, Sarah received, a letter from 
 Terracegreen, in the handwriting of her father, to inform her 
 that a suit had been instituted for his estate in that quarter, 
 under pretext of a prior title, and he had been compelled to 
 leave the city instantly to defend himself. The letter went 
 on further to state that a material witness in the case had 
 removed to Missouri, and he saw no means of protecting his 
 property without going in person to look him up. "And,
 
 324 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 my dear Sarah," the letter went on to say, "is there no way 
 of saving me the pain of so long a separation frqm you 1 
 This question has been in my mind ever since I found myself 
 compelled to go, and I now write to suggest that you go also. 
 I know you have long wished to explore the prairies of that 
 distant and extraordinary country; and, in complying with 
 this request, you will receive to yourself, I trust, certainly 
 impart to your doting father, the purest delight." 
 
 Sarah was not much discomposed by this unexpected prop- 
 osition, because all the arts of the Marmots were put in 
 requisition to prepare her for it. Soon after the departure 
 of her father, they began to talk to her of a delightful resort 
 they had at Sylvan Creek, in Missouri ; of the pleasure they 
 found in dividing their time between that and Wyoming ; of 
 the gorgeousness of prairie scenery, and of its pleasing con- 
 trast with their present mountain home ; and a thousand 
 enchanting stories were added, most ingeniously suited to win 
 upon the fervid imagination of Miss Harcourt. Just before 
 her father's letter came to hand, Mr. Marmot said he had 
 received intelligence which made it necessary for him imme- 
 diately to visit this fairy land. Much regret was expressed 
 that his wife and Sarah should be left behind, when the latter 
 would reply by saying how much pleasure she should feel in 
 seeing the prairies, and hoAv sorry she was she had not ar- 
 ranged with her father to do so this -summer, and then they 
 might all go together. 
 
 " 0, my dear," Marmot would say to his wife, "must I 
 leave you and Miss Harcourt behind ? Will you not both 
 accompany me? It will be so delightful ! " 
 
 "Yes, Louis," said Mrs. Marmot, " Avrite Mr. Harcourt on 
 the subject ; and, when he learns Sarah's wishes, he will no 
 doubt join us, and we will all go together."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 325 
 
 That evening they were all overwhelmed with delight by 
 receiving Mr. Harcourt's letter, proposing to take Sarah with 
 him to Missouri. Accordingly, Sarah answered at once, 
 informing her father of Mr. Marmot's call in the same direc- 
 tion, of his estate on Sylvan Creek, and proposing that he 
 should go on immediately and do his business, preparatory to 
 meeting them on their arrival at that place. In due course 
 of mail another letter was received from her father, agreeing 
 to the arrangement, and saying that he had already left, and 
 would meet her in a few weeks at Sylvan Creek. This letter 
 concluded in her father's own peculiar style of affection and 
 gallantry. 
 
 " I never knew how much I loved you till this separation. 
 I realize it much more than in your school-day absences. 
 Then I had not known you as a companion, an equal. I 
 parted with you as a prattling girl, whose absence, though 
 painful, I could very well endure. But now I part with you 
 as a companion, yea, a superior, for so I feel you to be, 
 as being the living embodying of one whom I always ac- 
 counted better than myself. My only solace is the hope of 
 soon folding you again in my fond embrace. Adieu, darling 
 Sarah, adieu, cries the heart, the whole being, of your affec- 
 tionate FATHER." 
 
 Everything was now arranged for their immediate depart- 
 ure. But no letter had yet been received from Douglass. 
 Sarah protested she would not leave till one came. Soon 
 after this determination was known, a letter came, in which 
 Charles stated, " I may not write so often as formerly, 
 as I am under an unusual pressure of study. But our 
 vows involve this item, you know, that no writing, and 
 28
 
 826 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 no neglect of writing shall raise in our minds a momentary 
 suspicion of each other's entire devotedness. I must sub- 
 scribe myself yours once, yours now, and yours forever, 
 
 " CHARLES." 
 
 Sarah thought this singular, as he had always protested 
 that writing to her gave him more time and efficiency for 
 every other duty. But this allusion to the private under- 
 standing between them, as well as the whole aspect of the 
 letter, left no doubt of its genuineness. She therefore de- 
 spatched an answer at once, to inform Douglass of her 
 contemplated tour, and where he should address her when the 
 journey to the far West was begun. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 WAR TO THE KNIFE. 
 
 " We can molest, harass, imprison and ruin a man who pretends to be 
 wiser than his betters ; and the more unspotted the character is, the more 
 necessary we think it to take such crushing methods." HOADLY. 
 
 " Shed no blood, if it can be avoided ; but, if this heretical doctrine lasts, 
 shed it without hesitation, in order that this abominable sect may disappear 
 from under the heaven." HENRY VIII. 
 
 "THE clock strikes twelve. 0, sleep! whither art thou 
 flown ? How my nerves twinge, they dance ! Pains have 
 their gambols in this body of mine. Be still, ye imps of 
 darkness ! Three nights without sleep ! 0, God ! I am 
 consumed by my zeal for truth and justice. Heavens ! what 
 a gig my pains keep up ! Now in my head, now in my heart, 
 now all over. They throb, they jump, they dart, like light-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 327 
 
 ning ! 0, mad mad mad! I shall go stark mad ! Tho 
 disorders of this ungoverned and ungovernable age allow me 
 no rest. The care of ancient right against modern wrong 
 devolves upon me. I must resist innovation ; I must exorcise 
 these restless spirits. Would that I had crushed this Blud- 
 geon viper in the egg, as I did Douglass ! But now he 
 is grown, and it costs me all this. 0, pain, pain ! how I 
 ache!" 
 
 Thus soliloquized Skampton at his hotel, within the limits 
 of a metropolitan church, before which he was, the next day, 
 to arraign Bludgeon and Bludgeonism for adjudication. He 
 rang for Sambo, but got no answer. He again rang ; and 
 Sambo entered, in dishabille. 
 
 " Sambo, why do you not answer my call at once? Will 
 you leave me to die alone?" 
 
 " Sambo powerful sleepy, sleep like 'possum," said the 
 negro, submissively. 
 
 " Would to God I had your faculty, you numskull ! " 
 
 " What '11 massa have?" 
 
 " Here, sleepy-head ! take this vial and go to the apothecary 
 and get an ounce of laudanum." 
 
 "What for does massa want lodlum?" said the servant, 
 scratching his head with perplexity, lest his master might have 
 a design upon his own life. 
 
 " What is that to you, saucy fellow ? Go, and do as I tell 
 you." Sambo scratched his head in confusion. 
 
 At that instant the door-bell rang violently, and the ser- 
 vant hastened to the door, where he met Saphead, who 
 was breathing heavily, like one out of breath from running. 
 
 " Slave, does his honor, Mr. Skampton, lodge here? " said 
 Saphead. 
 
 " Him have tooth-ache, massa; him tek lodlum."
 
 328 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 "I did n't ask how he was, fool ! but whether he is 
 here." 
 
 " He com'd here last night, and now he send Sambo to 
 'potecarj." 
 
 " I say, you stupid fellow, is he here now, is he within?" 
 
 " Come in, come in, Mr. Saphead," cried Skampton, who 
 heard the noise and came to meet his visitor ; " that nigger 
 is dumb with sleep." 
 
 "I thought as much, your honor; how are you?" said 
 Saphead. 
 
 " The better for your coming. Your long delay has almost 
 driven me mad. Sambo, bring me the vial, and go call up 
 the servants, and order a cup of tea for Mr. Saphead." 
 
 Sambo changed his course from the apothecary to the 
 kitchen. 
 
 "Which of all the powers has delayed you so long, my 
 friend?" 
 
 "The prince of the power of the air, sir," said Saphead; 
 " he has stirred up such a commotion in the elements, there 
 was no resisting him. Have you not seen the flashing 
 lightning, and heard the rattling thunder ? 0, it is a fearful 
 night-! But I 've driv' through thick and thin to meet my 
 engagement." 
 
 " Well, how beats the pulse of public sentiment ? " 
 
 " Right, your honor ; never healthier. I have procured 
 the passage of pointed resolutions against Bludgeon and 
 Bludgeonism in all the public bodies, from Maine to Texas. 
 Yes, even Maine is retching fearfully, and will soon vomit 
 up this detestable law. Temperance men themselves gi's in 
 that there is more drinking there now than ever." 
 
 "Good! good! glorious!" said Skampton, brightening up.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 329 
 
 " I shall sleep now. Your coming, my good friend, is better 
 than a hundred anodynes." 
 
 I have said that Saphead was a puff of Skampton, and this 
 was one of the occasions in which he had blown the windy 
 nothing over the breadth of the land. He had sent him to 
 manufacture public sentiment against Bludgeon, temperance 
 innovations, and the Maine Law. In his mission Saphead 
 thought himself triumphantly successful, because all the anti- 
 temperance feeling naturally centered in him, like feculent 
 humors in an ulcer ; and he made the common mistake of 
 supposing that it included the great body of society. With 
 all Saphead' s ungrammatical and ridiculous blunders, still his 
 head contained enough to throw around him a blaze of glory 
 in a fifteen minutes' speech, especially if he occupied them in 
 figures, and parables, and quaint sayings, to make people 
 laugh. But, like many others, he did not know that his 
 strength lay in saying little ; and, hence, if time was allowed 
 him, he was sure to destroy the effect of his eloquence by 
 saying too much. In the tour which he had just made, he 
 had addressed public bodies who could allow him only about 
 fifteen minutes ; and, so much time on one topic, Bludgeon- 
 ism in its various connections, and, of course, repeating 
 the same, over and over again, from day to day, had produced 
 a powerful sensation. The object was to prepare the de- 
 nomination for ecclesiastical proscription against the great 
 movement-maker and all his innovations. Skampton and his 
 party had tried the law and failed, and now their only asylum 
 was the church. They managed their cause ingeniously. 
 They did not appear before the public under the bald aspect 
 of opposing the temperance reform, but of staying the plague 
 of doctrinal and practical innovation upon their venerable 
 church with which this reform had allied itself. No one can 
 28*
 
 330 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 appreciate the strength of denominational prejudice. It is 
 an unshorn Samson with the gates of Gaza on his shoulders ; 
 and thousands of temperance men were home away by it, to 
 take a stand against a cause they loved, by being made to 
 believe that it was innovating upon their cherished religious 
 opinions and ecclesiastical usages. South of Mason and 
 Dixon's line, also, Saphead managed to array on his side the 
 whole strength of the present exacerbated pro-slavery feeling. 
 He made the people there believe that, as soon as this giant 
 innovation had emptied the contents of the groggeries into 
 the gutter, it would continue its desolating march over all the 
 sunny South, breaking every chain, putting knives into the 
 hands of the slaves for the throats of their masters, and 
 deluging the land in blood. The fears of minds little accus- 
 tomed to reason are easily excited against everything new in 
 legislation, in ecclesiastical usage, and in religious opinion; 
 and hence Saphead' s popgun was quite as effective as verita- 
 ble powder and lead. He could make a noise, and that was 
 all that was needed. That was really more conclusive with 
 the mass of mind than well-conducted trains of reasoning. 
 
 " Hark ! " cried Skampton, after a moment's pause i "do 
 I not hear voices?" 
 
 "Yes," said Saphead; " there are persons in the hall." 
 
 " It must be Treadmill, then ; for he, too, was to have met 
 me here last evening." 
 
 Sambo now ushered in Dr. Treadmill. 
 
 " My dear Treadmill, I am happy to see you, though late." 
 
 " Late ! who could be early, such a night as this ? What ! 
 you here too, my good friend Saphead? " 
 
 " Yes, I here, doctor, and from the midst of this terrible 
 storm, too. Not all Jove's thunder could defeat my engage- 
 ment with his honor. There 's too much at stake."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 331 
 
 " Too much at stake," repeated Skampton, anxiously. 
 "Well, Treadmill, what 's the news? Have you followed up 
 the track of Bludgeon ? " 
 
 " Yes, and good news, too ! " 
 
 " Did you see Mr. Dumble ? " 
 
 "Yes, your honor, and he says he has been thrown out 
 of business, and kept out, too, by this braying ass; and he '11 
 tell a story a mile long to our church against him." 
 
 ' ' Good ! glorious ! how many witnesses besides shall we 
 have?" 
 
 " About five hundred, I think." 
 
 " Only five hundred ! I hoped it would be a thousand." 
 
 " But they '11 make up in mettle what they lack in num- 
 bers. I have one hundred rum-selling deacons, in whom 
 rum, religion and the deaconship, unite in a three-fold cord, 
 that cannot be easily broken." 
 
 "Well, have you seen Judge G wimble, Governor Ground- 
 sell, Hon. Mr. and Mrs. Guboine, Esquire Tornant, President 
 Fooltop, and all the divines and civilians of whom I spoke to 
 you ? " 
 
 " Yes, all; and, to a man, they say the law is unconstitu- 
 tional; that it is abridging a man's natural freedom not to 
 allow him to get drunk, and a violation of the first sentences 
 in that great charter of our national rights, the Declaration 
 of Independence, which says that ' all men were born free 
 and equal.' And they ask, confidently, ' What freedom there 
 is to a man who cannot drink, when, where, and as much as 
 he pleases ? ' You can rely upon their voice, their vote, and 
 their vouchers, in your venerable judicature." 
 
 "Excellent! my heart overflows with gratitude. I shall 
 sleep now. Sambo, get my bed in readiness, my good fellow ; 
 my pains are quiet without laudanum. I have had a suffer-
 
 332 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 ing time, gentlemen, as you may imagine. The zeal of the 
 Lord consumes me. I have not hands, money and influence, 
 enough to keep down these wild beasts of innovation. They 
 still prowl around fearfully, and ever and anon break in upon 
 the precious enclosure which I am set to guard. Sleep has 
 been out of the question so long that I am getting used to 
 living without it." 
 
 " Men that serve the public ought not to sleep," said Dr. 
 Treadmill, who, after much vacillating, to save his bacon in 
 other quarters, had finally chosen the least of two evils, and 
 gone decidedly against Bludgeonism. Skampton had em- 
 ployed him in private, as he had Saphead in public. All 
 three had arranged to meet at this place, the previous even- 
 ing, that they might bring their labors to a focal point, in 
 their assaults upon the great movement-maker before an 
 ecclesiastical tribunal. Everything having turned out so 
 much better than Skampton feared, he had little difficulty 
 in sleeping soundly the rest of the night. 
 
 Excess of government is one of the great evils of life. 
 Society is fingered and manipulated till it has come to be like 
 a tree pruned to its death, or a child subjected to a training 
 so purely artificial as to repress the forces of nature, and 
 bring on decay. A healthful freedom of development is too 
 little known. This is true of trade, religion, learning, every- 
 thing. Concatenated opinions in the form of a creed, guarded 
 by the watch-dogs- of ignorance, prejudice, place, position, 
 veneration for antiqujty, narrow-mindedness, incapacity to 
 appreciate the march of reason and the progress of the hu- 
 man intellect, and a thousand yelping curs from their dark 
 and obscene kennels, unite their force to keep back the im- 
 provements for which the race have so long sighed, but sighed 
 in vain. How long have we struggled to reach our present
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 333 
 
 vantage-ground of legislation against the liquor traffic, a 
 traffic which has entailed more woes upon mankind than all 
 the wars which have desolated the earth ! The throes of 
 ages have at length given birth to what we call freedom in 
 our own country, a freedom which, alas ! still holds three 
 millions of men as chattels, to be bought and sold in the sham- 
 bles ! Opinion struggled through two hundred generations, 
 in the midst of imprisonment, confiscation, fire and fagot, to 
 reach its present partial emancipation, and to enjoy the sorry 
 satisfaction of being punished with nothing worse than the 
 loss of place, the blight of character, and the bark of those 
 who cannot bite ! Nothing but chains and slavery, to keep 
 back the march of mind, is gained by this over-action in gov- 
 ernment. An honest, high-minded and vigorous judiciary, 
 to restrain the suicidal passions, is the great desideratum. 
 This, backed up by a legislation that does not legalize wrong, 
 a preventive legislation against the causes of crime, and 
 against sacrificing right to interest, will gain all the great 
 purposes of society. The rest must be left to the innate 
 energy of man. He will work out for himself a better des- 
 tiny than these perpetual fingerers and manipulators of soci- 
 ety will work out for him. All arbitrary measures fetter the 
 expansion of enterprise, and coerce things into unnatural 
 channels. Except as directed against the savage passions and 
 the crime-producing occupations and agencies, they subtract 
 from the world's prosperity. 
 
 But, if excess of government is an evil, what shall we say 
 of over-action in private influence and responsibility ? The 
 physical coercion of law the individual has to supply by 
 raising his personal influence to a commanding position. The 
 one acts through a posse comitatus, and the other by chi- 
 canery and contrivance. "Egotism," says Coleridge, "con-
 
 334 MAPLETON ; OK, 
 
 sists not in speaking of our concerns with hearty good-will, 
 but rather in requiring that the feelings, desires and opinions 
 of others, should be brought into strict conformity to our own. 
 Thus the man of seventy who scoffs at the innocent ambition 
 of the boy, or the elderly lady who speaks with contempt of 
 love tales, are egotists." This was the vice of Skampton. 
 He had one of those consciences which feels the pinch of 
 everybody's sins more than his own, and especially those sins 
 which he deemed most prejudicial to his own interests and 
 predilections. Whatever influences sprang up and prevailed 
 without his sanction, he never failed to regard with distrust ; 
 and how much more so, when his own investments and 
 incomes were implicated ! He knew, he felt, that he and his 
 conservative clique were by common consent the umpire in 
 settling denominational questions ; and he took advantage of 
 his position in this respect to coerce the body, much against 
 the will of a numerical majority, into proscriptive measures 
 in reference to Bludgeon and the temperance movement. The 
 public mind in his church was drilled to the feeling that what- 
 ever Skampton and his party, as reflected from Riverton Sem- 
 inary, decreed, must of course be executed. '" 
 
 But Bludgeon had a way of his own. He cared not for 
 the favor of Skampton, or any of his emissaries. A certain 
 impulse from within was the guide and measure of his con- 
 duct. The difference of temperament and training in the 
 two men was too strong a tendency to schism for any denom- 
 inational platform to restrain. Bludgeon was not only an 
 extreme temperance agitator, but he went for reform in every- 
 thing, in opinion, in church polity, in all the interests of 
 human life. He believed that nothing had yet been done or 
 spoken so well but it might be bettered. Bludgeon drew 
 after him the masses ; but Skampton the learning, the press,
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 335 
 
 the aristocracy of wealth, and all the best influences in the 
 sect, that is, best in the sense of the world, but not in fact, 
 for the masses are always nearer right than the aristoc- 
 racy. Reforms begin with them, and reach the dignitaries 
 only when they can keep their places no longer without 
 adopting them. For some years this natural enemy of 
 Skampton gave him no concern.' He could not suppose that 
 the Maple ton rowdy would come to much, any way. ." His 
 brief day will soon be over, when people will become sick of 
 him," he was accustomed to say, when Bludgeon's doings 
 were spoken of in his presence. But, so far otherwise was 
 the fact, that Bludgeon went on increasing, till all the world 
 "wondered after him," and the influence of Skampton and 
 his conservatists was becoming to him like the green withes 
 to Samson. The conservative party, with its leader, felt 
 itself constrained, therefore, to lay heavy hands on the great 
 movement-maker. 
 
 "But how shall I proceed'?" was a question which long 
 agitated Skampton's mind. He finally satisfied himself that 
 his first step was to destroy Bludgeon's character, and to 
 have him proscribed as a liar and slanderer. Nor did he lack 
 materials for such a work. No ; few men exposed weaker 
 points than Bludgeon did to his enemies. He was by no 
 means careful in his sayings and, doings. Skampton, there- 
 fore, prepared his charges and specifications to bring before 
 the .judicial tribunal of his denomination. To this end he 
 sent Saphead to manufacture public sentiment against the 
 common enemy, and Treadmill to drill to service the persons 
 who were to constitute his court and his witnesses. Skamp- 
 ton was not a hasty man in his movements. He always took 
 time to do well Avhatever he did at all. And in this case he 
 had been for years occupied in bringing together the material
 
 336 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 and the force for a fatal assault upon the great movement- 
 maker. The arbiters of Bludgeon's fate were finally assem- 
 bled. The morning dawned beautifully after a night of 
 storm, and four hours' sleep had restored Skampton's feel- 
 ings to a tone of elasticity. It was to him "the sun of 
 Austerlitz." When he appeared in assembly, however, his 
 countenance was sallow, his eyes sunken, his brow cloudy, 
 and he had the aspect of one who was consuming by inward 
 fire. 
 
 In taking the names of the tribunal, it was suggested by 
 one of the scribes whether their honorable titles should be ap- 
 pended ; whereupon it was settled, by vote, that each one 
 should have the benefit of all his titles, that their decision 
 might have the greater weight. This circumstance led to an 
 amusing incident, which, though trifling in itself, must not 
 pass unnoticed. In taking the names, a farmer-looking man 
 gave his name as Harry Straight, V.D.M.* 
 
 "What did you say, sir?" said the chairman, with some 
 surprise. 
 
 " My name is Harry Straight, V.D.M.," replied the man. 
 
 " The chair would ask the member what he means by 
 V.D.M., where he got the title, and what object he has in 
 giving it on this floor ? " 
 
 "The meaning of V.5.M.?" said Mr. Straight; "I 
 thought all the world understood that. It means Vermont 
 Democratic Minister." 
 
 " Vermont Democratic Minister ! " exclaimed the chair, 
 when the whole audience burst into a roar of laughter. 
 
 " You see, Mr. Chairman," said Mr. Skampton, "that the 
 object of the member is to cast contempt upon this venerable 
 
 * Once assumed by old ministers, meaning with them Minister of the 
 Word of God.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 337 
 
 body. I think his conduct merits expulsion, and I therefore 
 move that he be expelled. 
 
 "And may it please the moderator," said Mr. Straight, 
 "I meant no offence. I ask pardon, if I've offended. I 
 observed you all had handles to your names, for the public to 
 take hold of, and I would not be out of fashion. You ask 
 where I got the title. I get it from the fact, sir; I am from 
 Vermont, am a democrat, and a minister, which makes me 
 a Vermont Democratic Minister. Have I not as good a right 
 to take to myself a title which expresses the truth, as others 
 have those which are false? You have on this floor A.M.'s, 
 who are masters of no arts except those of folly and weak- 
 ness; D.D.'s, who are not competent to teach the first les- 
 sons in divinity ; and LL.D.'s, who are ignorant of the most 
 familiar laws of right and wrong. And now, because I take 
 a title which expresses the truth, you have me up for expul- 
 sion ! " 
 
 " Order ! order ! " cried the chair. " Gentlemen, the mo- 
 tion is on the expulsion of Mr. Straight, of Vermont, for 
 contempt of this honorable body. Are you ready for the 
 question? " 
 
 " Ready, give us the question ! " cried many voices. 
 
 "Yes, turn him overboard with despatch," said Skamp- 
 ton, who felt himself personally insulted by what the accused 
 had said about LL.D.'s, a title which had lately been con- 
 ferred upon him by Diddington College. 
 
 "Those who are for expelling Mr. Straight say Ay," 
 said the chair. "Ay, "cried the multitude, with stentorian 
 lungs. "Those opposed say No." "No" was faintly 
 whispered by a few timid ones, whose manner seemed to ask 
 pardon for presuming so far. 
 
 So the chair pronounced Mr. Straight expelled for con- 
 29
 
 338 MAPLETON ; OE, 
 
 tempt. Many felt it to be a cruel act, for they saw that 
 Straight had assumed the title in the simplicity of his heart, 
 so as to be in fashion, and not to cast contempt on any one. 
 Another was expelled for sympathizing with Bludgeon in his 
 opposition to slavery, a subject on which the latter had prac- 
 tised a severity bordering on cruelty. This was necessary 
 incense to the Southern members of the ecclesiastical court. 
 Having thus expelled democracy and abolitionism, they were 
 prepared for business. 
 
 The way finally cleared, Skampton produced his charges 
 and specifications. He began with those points which would 
 render the accused most ridiculous and most obnoxious to the 
 religious prejudices of the court, on the principle of all similar 
 persecutions, which is, first to clothe the victim in the skins 
 of wild beasts and then set on the dogs. When an errorist is 
 painted as criminal, why should he not be punished as such ? 
 
 The first charge was, that Bludgeon had professed himself 
 able to teach men how to live till they were as old as Methu- 
 selah. And it is true he had gone from temperance to 
 dietetics, and prescribed what people laughingly call saw-dust, 
 or certain principles of eating and sleeping, which, duly fol- 
 lowed up, he said, would insure a man's living till he was a 
 hundred and fifty or two hundred years old. And it is pos- 
 sible that, in the heat of speaking, he might have measured 
 the life of his disciples by that of the oldest of the patriarchs ; 
 for Bludgeon was not a precise man. 
 
 The next charge was, that of denying wine in the Lord's 
 Supper, which rendered Bludgeon especially obnoxious to the 
 prejudices pf his sect ; and that too with good reason, for no 
 man of common sense can doubt that the juice of the grape 
 is essential to the scriptural administration of that ordinance. 
 The third charge was to the effect that the wine into which
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 339 
 
 our Saviour converted water was the ?mfer merited juice of 
 the grape, in which the accused may have made himself 
 ridiculous, but certainly not criminal. Still, it was an item 
 to prepare the way for worse things to follow, and to predis- 
 pose the court to the conviction that so illogical and unscrip- 
 tural a reasoner was not fit to be tolerated in the sect. Until 
 we can find a vial of that veritable wine among the relics of 
 the Catholic church, to enable us to test its quality, this must 
 remain an apocryphal question, and not a sufficient ground 
 for condemning the temperance cause, or its over-zealous 
 agitators. 
 
 After thus arming the prejudices of the court against the 
 accused, Skampton proceeded to the graver charges of lying 
 and slander. Under the first there were at least a hundred 
 specifications, of which the three lies nailed by Pegan in 
 Bludgeon's great battle were the head and front. For the 
 convenience of reference, they were called lie one, two, three ; 
 or the hoarseness lie, the four hours' 1 sleep lie, and the 
 money lie. This was parliamentary, and saved words, of 
 which there was a deluge, after all. The slander specifica- 
 tions were equally numerous, and much better sustained ; for 
 Bludgeon Avas a most unconscionable man in dealing with 
 private character. The prosecuting document displayed great 
 taqt and talent. It was the work of time, and set off the 
 weak points of a weak man in their worst light. 
 
 After reading this document, witnesses were called to the 
 number of hundreds, and days were consumed on the several 
 charges and specifications. When the court was thoroughly 
 wearied out and bewildered, the happy thought at length 
 occurred, to ask Bludgeon whether the sayings and doings 
 alleged against him were true. 
 
 " They are," said Bludgeon, promptly. " I said what
 
 340 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 they affirm about my hoarseness, about my sleep, about my 
 income, about Gilfort, Skampton, Pegan, and all the rest of 
 them ; and I reaffirm the same before this court. It was all 
 true, and I defy the world to prove it false ! " 
 
 " Very well," said the prosecutor, '' I am prepared to 
 show that all these things are false and slanderous." 
 
 The presiding officer, alarmed at the prospect of being 
 detained days and weeks more in this jungle of evidence, 
 proposed that Skampton's statements be admitted as set- 
 tling the morality or immorality of the sayings and doings in 
 question. "We have entire confidence in the honorable 
 gentleman's decisions on the subject. He has gone fully into 
 the details, and knows more about them and their character 
 than we shall, after a month's investigation." Whereupon 
 the question was put and carried, that Skampton should be 
 umpire in the case. Singular as this decision may appear, 
 it will not surprise those at all acquainted with ecclesiastical 
 adjudication. Our courts of law are clumsy modes of doing 
 justice, at the best, with all the light of statute and precedent ; 
 but what shall we say of a court without statute or precedent, 
 in which everything goes by influence and personal predilec- 
 tion? 
 
 " God knows," said Skampton, rising and looking the 
 image of injured justice, " how much I have labored to have 
 justice done in this case, and to save his bleeding cause." 
 He then touched upon the slander of that renowned man, 
 Samuel Gilfort ; of that accomplished editor, Peter Pegan, 
 and others ; and then upon the injustice done upon himself, 
 who had ever acted conscientiously, and had poured out his 
 money like water upon the interests of humanity. "And 
 now, gentlemen, to be charged with blood, the blood of Maple- 
 ton citizens, the blood of men consumed by the Kavntschatka
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 341 
 
 whales, and blood from pole to pole ; ! gentlemen, gentle- 
 men ! " exclaimed Skampton, beginning to weep, being ex- 
 ceedingly nervous, " these charges are more than human 
 nature can bear ! " The court was greatly moved, and began 
 to weep too, looking daggers at poor Bludgeon. 
 
 As soon as the prosecuting party resumed his seat, Dr. 
 Treadmill arose and said, he had "hoped that this movement 
 would die a natural death long ago, and thus that his church 
 would be saved the trouble of adjudicating upon it. There had 
 been a prospect," he added, " that the hoarseness of this man 
 Bludgeon would end in bronchitis, and bronchitis in silence, 
 and so that he would have been laid aside without our help. 
 But. since neither of these events has occurred, I take it we 
 ought to do what Providence has neglected." 
 
 Timothy Bragg followed, saying that he "had probably 
 been the greatest movement-maker in the country, under the 
 old temperance pledge, when only ardent spirits were pro- 
 scribed. But, since this Bludgeon had come, on with his crew, 
 to berate everything ' that intoxicates, even to the juice of 
 the grape and the sparkling product of malt and hops, they 
 had taken the wind out of his sail, and he felt himself cruelly 
 neglected. If the people have a mind to be fooled out of 
 these innocent, healthful and necessary beverages, I am not 
 the man to go with them. Hence, I give my voice against 
 the accused." 
 
 Gulliver Saphead now rose, with great pomp, and delivered 
 himself as follows : " Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, in 
 giving my voice in this case, I can only say that Bludgeon 
 and Bludgeonism are ' a cake not turned.' This is Bible, 
 and I like to keep to that. Whether it is a johnny-cake, a 
 hoe-cake, or a no-cake, all of which I have met with in my 
 travels, is not material to my purpose. It is an 7/nturned 
 29*
 
 842 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 cake, and, of course, burnt on one side and raw on the other. 
 Now, this is the precise character of this man and his move- 
 ment. He inflames the zeal of the people against rum, 
 which I take to be a good creature, as well as wine and beer ; 
 and thus he has got them into the way of pouring it into the 
 gutter. This is extravagant. It is coal or dough, dough 
 or coal. There is nothing right about it. If he were content 
 to bake himself so and there stop, I should say nothing ; but 
 he is baking everybody else so, too. All his followers are 
 coal or dough, dough or coal. This is wrong. Think you I 
 would pronounce for a cake which is all dough or all coal 1 
 No ; my verdict is Guilty." 
 
 Thus, prudential considerations, influence and prejudice, 
 not truth and evidence, carried the day, and Bludgeon and 
 his movement were compelled to walk the plank. The follow- 
 ing notice soon after appeared in Pegan's paper, headed 
 "UNPARALLELED CRIMES. This fellow Bludgeon has been 
 found guilty, in a tribunal of his church, of high misdemean- 
 ors, and has been expelled. Under the garb of reform, he 
 has slandered private character, has waged war upon our law- 
 ful and necessary occupations, and, to gain his ends, has 
 practised chicanery and lying to an incredible extent. But he 
 is, at length, exposed and put down, by the untiring exertions 
 of that true friend of the public, the Honorable Michael 
 Skampton, LL.D., who has won for himself immortal re- 
 nown."
 
 MOKE WORK FOE THE MAINE LAW. 343 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 TO THE WESTWARD, HO ! THE MISTAKE DISCOVERED. 
 " Westward the star of empire takes its way, 
 
 Time's noblest offspring is the last." BBRKELY. 
 
 " I 've wandered east, I 've wandered west, 
 
 I 've borne a weary lot : 
 But in my wanderings, far or near, 
 Ye never were forgot." WILLIAM MOTHEB.WELL. 
 
 THE growth of party may be traced to three causes: 
 individual peculiarities, the nature of the times, and persecu- 
 tion. The first is the seed, the second the soil, and the third 
 the husbandman. 
 
 Bludgeon's intense individuality and iron will were, of 
 themselves, a sufficient partisan nucleus. A portion of 
 society were as sure to follow such a mind as flocks of wild 
 geese their noisy leader. Temperance times further in- 
 flamed the schismatic tendency. The excited public mind 
 was feeling its way towards new light on the subject of using 
 and legislating in reference to intoxicating drinks, and was 
 easily led into ways devious and strange. A richer soil could 
 not have received the falling seed of Bludgeonism ; it yielded 
 a thousand-fold. 
 
 Still, the Skampton persecution did most of all to ripen 
 and perfect the schismatic fruit ; and when it was ripe ecclesi- 
 astical excision shook the tree, and scattered the seed all 
 abroad, to bring forth its kind without stint or measure.
 
 344 MAPLETON;- OR, 
 
 This act relieved the movement of its last restraint, and let it 
 loose upon society, to work out its own destiny in its own 
 way. Till then, Bludgeon and his followers had respected 
 their denominational platform, and could not adventure upon 
 measures which they esteemed decidedly derogatory to it. 
 But now he stood by himself, the " world all before him, and 
 Providence his guide." His party was, henceforth, his 
 church, and his own wild impulses his creed and his ritual. 
 The temperance movement was his religion, his ethics, his 
 politics, his jurisprudence, his business, and the sum of his 
 being. 
 
 Thus, as usual, this act of ecclesiastical excision im- 
 measurably increased the evil which it was designed to cure. 
 It gave Bludgeon a hold upon the public sympathies far 
 greater than ever, and made him a much more formidable 
 antagonist. The Skampton conservative party could have done 
 nothing so much to his advantage, and so destructive to their 
 own cause. It turned over to him a numerical majority even 
 of their own church. Skampton' s purse still retained with 
 him Diddington College and Riverton Seminary, though, in 
 point of fact, the heart and sympathies of both these institu- 
 tions were with Bludgeon. Indeed, there was no soul on the 
 Skampton side, for it had all evaporated, or gone over to the 
 other party. The one had set up a golden idol for its divinity, 
 while the other was full of the warm blood 'and gushing 
 sympathies of actual life. 
 
 While the cause of temperance gained by persecution, 
 Bludgeon was unhappily precipitated to still greater extremes. 
 From the injuries inflicted upon health and morals by alcohol, 
 he proceeded to those of gluttony and excess of every kind, 
 which he began now to represent as equally degrading and 
 demoralizing with intemperate drinking. Not content with
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 845 
 
 the simple question of the quantity which it is safe for us to 
 eat, he proceeded to that of the quality ', affirming that man is 
 a herbivorous animal, that animal food is, in all cases and in 
 any quantity, injurious to his health, corrupting to his moral 
 feelings, and the great means of reducing his age from that 
 of the antediluvian patriarchs to the present narrow span of 
 three-score years and ten. It involves cruelty to animals, 
 which are annually knocked in the head, or barbarously 
 butchered, by millions, in order to pamper in us an unnatural 
 and preposterous appetite, and degrades us to the rank of 
 cats, dogs, wolves, and tigers. His descriptions of a piece 
 of a hog or an ox, all reeking with blood and oil, would make 
 an audience loathe it as food, and not a few would go away 
 resolved never to taste it again. The previous process of 
 butchering and flaying, in all its disgusting details, of animals 
 innocent, beautiful, playful, and verging towards human in- 
 telligence, was a fruitful theme for Bludgeon's genius, and a 
 means of touching the sympathies of an audience almost 
 equal to the murder of the innocents of Bethlehem, or the 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve. 
 
 Bludgeon carried his views to such an extreme as to lose 
 the sympathy of the wise and discreet among his temperance 
 friends. They could not believe that his system of dietetics 
 would realize the length of days of which he was so sanguine. 
 True, he fenced his statements round with various modifica- 
 tions. He did not say that such a length of days would be 
 realized in the first generation ; but only that, if the race 
 would rigidly follow up his system for a century or two, the 
 causes of disease and death would gradually disappear, and 
 the time might come when its life would be as enduring as in 
 its earlier generations. These extravagances of the man and 
 his party came to be regarded by the public as identical with
 
 346 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 the temperance cause, to the no small damage of its interests. 
 It was thought by many to be unscriptural and dangerous, 
 also, because these ultraists deemed it necessary to their suc- 
 cess to deny the use of wine in the Lord's Supper. Many of 
 their churches actually adopted water sweetened with molasses 
 in the administration of that ordinance. This was a just 
 cause of offence to every right-minded man in the country. 
 
 The consequence was, that Bludgeon found himself in 
 danger of being swept away by the reaction of his extreme 
 views, to prevent which he determined upon emigrating, with 
 so many as would go with him, to a land where he might 
 carry out, unmolested and unopposed, his peculiar system of 
 dietetics. Oregon was fixed upon as the theatre of* the great 
 experiment, which he proposed to reach by the overland route. 
 Upon: this enterprise he now turned all his force. He 
 travelled from place to place like a flaming meteor, to obtain 
 enlistments for his colonial plan of dietetics and long life. In 
 a short time his army swelled to a numerous host, who dis- 
 posed of their estates, and prepared to take up their line of 
 march. Still, he continued his lecturing, to increase the num- 
 ber. His paintings of man, in the present forms of society, 
 with habits of eating, drinking, dressing and sleeping, to re- 
 duce his life to little more than that of a goose, were graphic 
 and powerful. He made the people feel that death was in 
 their habits, and life only in an escape with him to Oregon. 
 
 As a place of rendezvous for his gathering forces he ap- 
 pointed one of the prairies beyond the Mississippi, to which 
 point they were tending from all quarters. The dietetic faith 
 of all was absolute, their hopes glowing. Old men and 
 maidens, young men and children, rich and poor, black and 
 white, all grades and varieties of human society, having dis- 
 posed of their effects to defray the expenses of their journey,
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 347 
 
 were now on their way, in groups of tens, fifties, and hun- 
 dreds. Here a company of maiden ladies, toothless, totter- 
 ing, shrivelled and blighted, by the vain endeavor after that 
 boon dearest to all hearts, the privilege of loving and of being 
 loved, dragged their weary limbs along, with a fanatical cer- 
 tainty of renewing their youth in the Eden of their destina- 
 tion. Here virgin beauty was linked with wrinkled deformity ; 
 vigorous manhood with tottering age ; idiotic imbecility with 
 gifted intellect ; the cultivated with the uncultivated ; all 
 fused like metals into one mass by the dominant fanaticism. 
 
 Facts like these are eminently significant. They show how 
 eagerly the heart of man looks and longs for a portion better 
 than earth has to afford. It is not surprising that Utopian 
 ideas of another location, or of the reorganization of society, 
 should beget in multitudes the desire of change. They forget 
 that the evil is within, and must defeat the purpose of change 
 until it is eradicated. None but the great Nazarene ever 
 understood where to begin the work of human improvement. 
 " Ye must be born again " is a truth which lays the axe at 
 the root of the tree, and provides to eradicate from the heart 
 those passions which generate our woes, and defeat all the 
 ends of outward reformation. 
 
 Leaving Bludgeon and his party to pursue their fanatical 
 journey, we will now turn our attention to Mr. Harcourt. 
 When that gentleman left Wyoming, he purposed to be absent 
 but a few weeks, that he might watch the effect of his plot 
 upon the mind of his daughter. He hoped, against hope, 
 that her feelings would undergo a change, and the magic 
 influence of the Marmots would set her heart free from its 
 entanglements to a drunkard's son. He felt in his sober 
 moments that there was no reason to expect it ; but still the 
 illusion was too sweet to be exchanged for reality. There
 
 348 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 were people who could do in this way what he could not ; 
 and, from the character given the Marmots, on such excellent 
 authority, he believed they were of the number, and this was 
 his only light on the subject. He had enjoined Sarah to 
 write him daily, resolved, if her letters indicated no change, 
 to abandon his scheme, be the consequences what they might. 
 
 But no letter came. He watched the post-office with 
 nervous anxiety, day by day, during which time suspense 
 produced in his excited imagination its usual brood of dark 
 forebodings and tormenting fears. If anything should happen 
 to his darling child, he felt that he never could forgive him- 
 self the step he had taken. Indeed, he was uneasy at the 
 deceit which he had already practised upon one so frank, so 
 confiding, so loving and so loved. " Sarah, Sarah, sweet 
 Sarah ! my darling, my life ! I am undone without you ! " 
 he would often say to himself. " ! should I be deceived in 
 the persons to whom I have intrusted her, no, no ! it is 
 impossible ! but, should I be deceived, what a monster of a 
 father will she have reason to think me ! Well, though I 
 deceive, I love her ; yes, too tenderly to be happy in her 
 absence. My head reels, my reason totters ! I shall go mad, 
 mad, if the least of my fears were realized ! " 
 
 After thus being literally on embers for two weeks, a let- 
 ter came, apologizing for her delay, by ascribing it to the 
 extreme happiness of her new situation. And the letter sig- 
 nificantly adds, " I find myself undergoing a great change on 
 other subjects, which have caused you, dear father, much 
 anxiety. I have not heard from C. D. since I came to this 
 place ; and am becoming more and more careless whether I 
 ever hear again." 
 
 This letter, especially the last sentence, more" than com- 
 pensated for his long suspense. And he waited another and
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 349 
 
 another week, with more calmness than before, but still not 
 without dark surmises, which lingered like spectres before the 
 vision of his mind, yet fearing to visit his daughter, lest it 
 should prejudice the object of his taking her to Wyoming. 
 At length, another letter came, full of affection for him, and 
 deprecating the uneasiness she had occasioned him by her 
 rash purpose of connecting herself with a family whose vices 
 rendered them so unfit for the society of the pure and the 
 good. " But, thank Heaven ! I have learned my mistake in 
 season to escape the ruin awaiting me. Dear father," it is 
 warily added, "I fear the effect of former associations, and, 
 much as I wish to see you, it is perhaps advisable that you 
 should delay your visit a few weeks." This letter, confirmed 
 by the private correspondence of Mr. Marmot, gave him inex- 
 pressible pleasure ; and he acted upon the suggestion of 
 delaying his visit. Thus the deluded man was baited by an 
 occasional letter till the first of August. His mind, mean- 
 time, was ill at ease, and his use of the bottle was more deep 
 and dangerous. Indeed, his blood was constantly charged 
 with the poison, to the verge of intoxication, which, no doubt, 
 had the double effect of making him the easier dupe and of 
 precipitating the crisis Avhich ensued. How it is possible for 
 men, with an earnest love of life, to be deluded into keeping 
 their blood constantly charged with an inflammatory ingredi- 
 ent that could not fail immeasurably to increase the chances 
 of death, in the event of accident or disease, is passing strange. 
 One would suppose that an instinct of self-preservation would 
 deter them from drinking, if nothing else ; and that intemper- 
 ance would be confined to those who have no motive or desire 
 of life. 
 
 Douglass was also as much perplexed by the interruption 
 of letters as the father of Sarah. But he could not doubt, 
 30
 
 350 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 and would not resign himself to the gloomy suspicions which 
 would ever and anon glance unbidden across the horizon of 
 his mind. He had solemnly promised not to let the interrup- 
 tion of letters, or anything else, shake his confidence in her 
 devoted attachment. But vows are easier made than kept. 
 When week after week passed, without bringing him a line 
 from her pen, his nights became sleepless, his days gloomy 
 and listless, and he lost all command of himself. 
 
 Finally, a letter came from Sarah, bearing date, as usual, 
 at New York. But still, it did not allay his fears, though, 
 in point of fact, it approximated her usual strain of corre- 
 spondence. There seemed something different in it, however, 
 something strange ; not so much in style and mechanical 
 execution, as in the spirit breathing through it. It seemed 
 not to gush up, as usual, from the heart's purest affections, 
 but was formal, artificial, constrained, and, even in its affec- 
 tionate touches, it failed to blend in with his sympathies. He 
 felt more uneasy after receiving it than before, and abruptly 
 left for New York, to inquire into the cause. 
 
 When he arrived at Mr. Harcourt's, he met from that gen- 
 tleman a cool reception ; and when he inquired how Sarah 
 was, and whether she was well, the laconic reply was, 
 
 " Well, but not to be seen." 
 
 "Not to be seen, Mr. Harcourt ! You are not in ear- 
 nest?" replied Douglass, perfectly confounded, and hardly 
 knowing what he said. 
 
 "Do you think me capable of deceiving, sir?" said Har- 
 court, still more coolly. 
 
 " By no means ; I only meant to say that your daughter 
 might justly accuse me of great rudeness and treachery, for 
 me to come here and return without seeing her." 
 
 " I have the means of knowing that it would be her great-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 351 
 
 est pleasure never to see you again," said the deluded Har- 
 court, confident of the truth of what he said, and anxious to 
 get rid of his unwelcome visitor as soon as possible. 
 
 "It is false!" said Douglass, earnestly; "I know it is 
 false!" 
 
 " Do you mean to give me the lie?" said Harcourt, in the 
 highest degree incensed. 
 
 " Certainly not ; I only meant to say that you must be 
 mistaken ; and, as evidence that I have reason for what I say, 
 please read this," handing him his last letter from Sarah. 
 Mr. Harcourt read it. 
 
 " Somebody has served you a trick," he replied, handing 
 back the letter. "My daughter has not been in this place 
 for nearly three months, and that letter cannot be from her." 
 
 "Where is she, then?" inquired Douglass, in blank aston- 
 ishment. 
 
 " That is a secret she does not wish me to reveal." 
 
 "Sir, you are cruel to me, and still more so to your 
 daughter." 
 
 "I do my daughter a kindness. She has learned the 
 character of your family, and abhors it as much as I do." 
 
 " Yes ; she learned it from me on the very day you intro- 
 duced me to her. I have nothing to conceal from her or any 
 one on that subject. My poor father's infirmity presses on 
 my heart too grievously to be kept a secret." 
 
 " It ought to have deterred you from presuming so far 
 with a well-bred lady. But she is cured, and that is enough," 
 said Harcourt, turning on his heel, and saying to a servant in 
 waiting, "Jim, attend this man to the door." 
 
 " For the love your daughter bears you, I would not stay 
 to give you pain," said Douglass, as he left the house. 
 
 That was a dreadful moment to Charles Douglass. As he
 
 352 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 walked leisurely from the house, so lately the witness of a 
 bliss unspeakable, in the society of one so much beloved and 
 adored, but now lost, forever lost, he feared, the universe 
 seemed to him a blank. An intense summer sun flamed 
 above ; and, instead of leaving a spot so endeared, so lovely 
 in its memories, even in the gloom now resting upon it, he 
 buried himself in shrubbery overhanging the majestic river, 
 and prayed and longed there to end an agonized life. 
 
 "Tome, me miserable, there remains no solace but the 
 dumb silence of this desolate spot ! Here I would die, here 
 be buried, here resign my soul to that higher world, where 
 rest can alone be found ! Proscribed without, and killed 
 within, what solace is left me, this side the grave? No, no ! 
 let me go ! let me go ! " 
 
 With the vain hope of quenching these burning sensations, 
 or provoking a fever, to absorb them, he remained all night in 
 that thicket, stretched upon the damp earth, with feelings of 
 desolateness and horror too poignant to be described, too vast 
 to be conceived. All he had felt during his first days in 
 Forestdale, at the idea of being a drunkard's son, now returned 
 upon him with ten-fold power. Then it was imaginary ; now 
 it was real : then it was a mere fear of ejectment from his 
 proper social position ; now his doom was sealed. The words 
 of Harcourt, that, knowing his father's character, he "ought 
 not to have presumed so far with a well-bred lady," were the 
 more tantalizing for being a reflection of the precise feelings 
 with which his first delicate sentiments towards Sarah were 
 associated. He thought, himself, it was presuming too far in 
 one so unfortunately connected. And now, to have the truth 
 brought home to him by the party most injured by that pre- 
 sumption, perhaps, too, a dreadful perhaps! with the 
 sanction of that dear one who had been so kind as to make
 
 MOKE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 353 
 
 his drunken father no barrier to her heart and her hand, 
 0, those were ideas too tormenting to be endured. 
 
 " Why had she not crushed my tender sentiments in the 
 bud ? Why leave them to grow, till they had absorbed in 
 themselves my whole being? Indulgent Father, take the 
 drunkard's son to thyself! Earth has no place for him. 
 Society casts him out as a polluted thing. Wilt not thou, 
 Lord, take me up?" 
 
 But words fall short of the reality. The record of aspir- 
 ing minds, repressed and crushed by a brutalized and degraded 
 paternity, is known only to the Searcher of all hearts. 
 
 " Go, weep as I have wept, 
 
 O'er a loved father's fall ; 
 See every promised blessing swept, 
 
 Youth's sweetness turned to gall ; 
 Life's fading flowers strewed all the way 
 That brought me up to manhood's day !" 
 
 0, ye who tarry long at the wine, think, think of your 
 children's agony over your fall ! Think of the shame in 
 which you send them abroad into society ! 
 
 After Mr. Harcourt's feelings had subsided, he began to 
 reflect on the letter which Douglass had shown him. That 
 it was his daughter's hand-writing he could not doubt. The 
 sentiments also seemed much the same as if her affections 
 were unchanged. What could he think ? that Sarah had 
 deceived him, or Douglass ? He thought her incapable of 
 either. Or was it the trick of some mischievous person ? 
 If so, jnight not the same be true of his own letters from 
 Wyoming? This idea was too horrible to be thought of. 
 Still, he was full of strange suspicions, and therefore started, 
 with all haste, for Wyoming. Judge of the wretched man's 
 30*
 
 354 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 feelings, when, upon driving up to the house of the Marmots, 
 in a state of maddening excitement, eager to have his fears 
 disappointed, and his hopes realized, to find it an empty 
 shell, with grass covering the walks, swallows brooding in the 
 chimneys, and all the signs of utter, hopeless desolation ! He 
 ran to the neighbors, in a delirium of suspense, to learn the 
 fate of the family ; and all the explanation he could obtain 
 was that, a few months previous, that house had been rented 
 by an unknown family, who had furnished it with great ele- 
 gance, and then, without making the acquaintance of any 
 one in the neighborhood, had broken up, and gone to parts 
 unknown. The fellow who boxed the furniture said that it was 
 labelled to a southern city, Charleston or New Orleans, 
 he could not remember which, though he believed the latter. 
 Even the name by which the strange family had been known 
 was not the same which had been given to Mr. Harcourt, a 
 circumstance which greatly increased his fears, and confirmed 
 his darkest forebodings. 
 
 The poor man ran about for a few hours like a maniac, 
 going again and again into the vacant room which Sarah had 
 occupied, calling her name in tones of plaintive endearment, 
 adding, " Gone, gone ! 0, 0, forever gone ! Fate, fate, 
 cruel fate ! why did I bring her here ? Why intrust her out 
 of my sight? Whither, whither, has she fled? Fraud, 
 violence, has done this ! My darling Sarah could never, of 
 her own free will, have escaped her doting father ! No, no ! 
 much as he deserved her hatred, she would love him still ! 
 Sarah, Sarah, your father loves you, too, yes, to madness 
 he loves you, though he has treated you thus ! Forgive, 0, 
 forgive the wrong ! " Thus soliloquized the distracted father, 
 in tones that resounded through the vacant halls and rooms 
 like those of a disturbed ghost, lost in a maze of conflicting
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 355 
 
 sensations, when a hornet, which had suspended its nest to 
 the ceiling, disturbed by his presence, stung him severely just 
 below the eye. The pain brought him to his recollection. 
 He rushed out ; and, while occupied in mitigating the venom, 
 reflection returned, and it occurred to him that the Honorable 
 Mr. Skampton was the only one who was really responsible 
 to him for this mysterious disappearance of his daughter. 
 " Mr. Skampton first suggested the plan, and recommended 
 the Marmots as in the highest degree trustworthy. He is 
 too great and good a man to deceive me, and an explanation 
 may be given which will satisfy me that all has been done in 
 good faith, to insure an object dearest to my heart, Sarah's 
 release from her infatuation." 
 
 Without a moment's rest, therefore, he set off for the resi- 
 dence of Mr. Skampton. His anxiety of mind robbed him 
 by the way of appetite for food, but not for drink. His pota- 
 tions were deeper than ever, utterly disqualifying him for 
 rational action, under the trying circumstances in which he 
 Avas placed. He was even too abstracted, and too much be- 
 side himself with strong drink, to shave, change his linen, or 
 wash himself. Upon meeting Mr. Skampton in his library, 
 therefore, he was a sight to look upon. His locks had been 
 suddenly bleached, through the intensity of his emotions, and 
 his eyes were protruding and wildly staring. Skampton stood 
 aghast when his visitor unceremoniously rushed into the 
 room, and could scarcely believe his own eyes, that this 
 should be the gentlemanly Mr. Harcourt whom he had known 
 in his better days. 
 
 " My daughter, sir ! I come to demand my daughter ! " 
 said Harcourt, struggling to repress his emotions, and appear 
 calm.
 
 356 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 " Your daughter ?" replied Skampton, coolly; "what of 
 your daughter 1 Why do you ask me ? Am I her keeper ?" 
 
 " Yes, you are her keeper ! You made yourself responsi- 
 ble for the good conduct of those to whom I committed her." 
 
 " I said, Mr. Harcourt, what I honestly thought, what I 
 had reason to think," said Skampton, drawing down his face 
 to more than its usual length ; " and I have no responsibility 
 in the case, and I hope " 
 
 " You are a liar ! " interrupted the nervous Harcourt, with 
 an oath. "Did you not instigate her separation from me'? 
 Did you not pledge me your honor that she should be well 
 treated ? Did you not laud the Marmots to the skies ? Did 
 you not say she would be as safe with them as in her own 
 father's house? You knave! you hypocrite!" seizing 
 him by the collar, with insane violence, and hurling him to 
 and fro. Skampton, pale with fear, said, soothingly, " My 
 dear Mr. Harcourt, do pacify yourself ! Be not too hasty in 
 condemning an innocent man. Pray, what has happened? 
 Was not your daughter well treated at the Marmots'? " 
 
 "No; they have abducted her, and you know it, you 
 scoundrel ! They have taken her to parts unknown, and you 
 shall answer for it ! " replied Karcourt, still clenching him, 
 and shaking him violently. 
 
 " Stay, stay, my good friend," cried Skampton, beginning 
 to fear that his end had come, indeed. 
 
 "I will not stay, you perjured villain! I'll let off the 
 last drop of your life 's blood, that I will ! " said Harcourt, 
 still more furious. 
 
 " But, if you kill me, how can I find your daughter?" 
 said Skampton, trembling in every limb, and anxious to re- 
 lease himself from the perilous grasp of an insane man. 
 
 " I release you, then, for the sake of sweeter revenge,"
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 357 
 
 said Harcourt, letting go of him. " I '11 prosecute you at 
 the law for conspiring against the liberty and life of an inno- 
 cent person; and, failing in my suit, I swear, by all the 
 powers above, I will shed the last drop of your blood ! " he 
 added, now first bethinking that Skampton had exposed him- 
 self to this mode of redress. He started to execute his threat. 
 
 " Stay, Mr. Harcourt, for God's sake, stay! " entreated 
 the terrified Skampton. "I had reason to think the Mar- 
 mots trustworthy." 
 
 "What reason had you to think it? Have you known 
 them ? Have you personally assured yourself that they are 
 worthy to be trusted?" inquired Harcourt, anxious still to 
 find a clue to Sarah's hiding-place. 
 
 " No, not personally. I never saw them, but I had the 
 best possible character of them from that distinguished man, 
 Samuel Gilfort, who assured me that they would cure your 
 daughter of her love affair." 
 
 "Great God! is Gilfort your author? Gilfort the insti- 
 gator of this plot! " exclaimed Harcourt, in despair, under- 
 standing full well the knavery of that fellow, and his evil 
 designs upon his daughter. 
 
 "He advised it," replied Skampton, meekly. 
 
 The whole now glanced before the mind of Mr. Harcourt 
 in a twinkling, that Sarah had been decoyed from him by 
 stratagem, and had been now three months in the power of 
 that arch deceiver. It was too much for his shattered reason. 
 He reeled, staggered, and fell senseless to the floor.
 
 358 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 ANOTHER TRAGEDY IN MAPLETON. 
 
 " I looked upon the righteous man, 
 
 And all our earthly trust ; 
 Its pleasure, vanity and pride, 
 
 Seemed lighter than the dust, 
 Compared with his eternal gain, 
 A home above the sky ! " Mas. SIOOUBNEY. 
 
 THERE was an inkling of truth in the surreptitious letter 
 of Mr. Harcourt to Sarah, in reference to a law-suit for the 
 recovery of the Terracegreen estate, on the pretext of a prior 
 title. Such a suit had really heen commenced, and Marldon 
 had gone to defend the rights of his client. In doing so, he 
 visited Mapleton, where he became familiarly acquainted with 
 the senior Douglass. He had no mistrust, however, that the 
 wife of his new friend was the same who had been so cava- 
 lierly treated in his presence, a few years previous. But 
 Mrs. J)ouglass knew him well, and did all in her power to 
 keep her husband out of his society, though to no purpose. 
 He was now so totally broken down as to have as little power 
 over himself as his wife had over him. The reopening of the 
 Skampton groggery had revived his former habits, and drunk- 
 enness had been a common thing with him. His home was a 
 scene of terror and desolation. Still, he spent his sober 
 hours, as usual, in looking after his farm. 
 
 .On a bright summer morning, he went into a distant field 
 to watch over his hay-making, where he was soon joined by 
 Marldon, with the tempting bait of a bottle of superior brandy. 
 They sat down on the green grass in a shady place, and be-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 359 
 
 gan their maddening potations. Adjoining the field where 
 they were, fifty acres of heavy timbered land had been cut 
 long enough before to become dry as tinder. The heat was 
 intense; and, in his sober moments, Mr. Douglass would 
 have deemed it an act of madness to fire the aggregated masses 
 of brush, leaves, twigs and logs, which were piled up on all 
 hands over the burdened soil. But now the idea popped into 
 his excited brain ; and, with flaming torch in hand, he ran 
 from one end to the other of the windy side, touching with 
 flame the combustible mass. In a short time the whole was a 
 sea of fire. The scene beggars description. A burning city 
 is nothing in comparison, because nature is more exuberant 
 than art, and all its growth is combustible ; while that of art 
 is, to a great extent, impervious to the fire. Even the scarf- 
 skin covering of the earth, produced by ages of vegetable 
 decay, is food for flame. The exploding gases of the wood 
 made the welkin ring, as with the small arms of embattled 
 legions. The mossy rind of burning logs, twigs, leaves, chips, 
 decayed trees, piles of brush studding the ground like closely- 
 compacted stacks of hay, and an infinite collection of materi- 
 als dry as tow, all vied with each other to increase the gen- 
 eral burning. 
 
 Even the clouds suspended over the scene boiled like a cal- 
 dron, and added their reflected radiance like the arch of an 
 oven, to give the heat accumulated force and destructive- 
 ness. At first, the air was close, and the wind was too tardy 
 to ruffle the fiery deluge ; but the heat was compact and 
 condensed as in a furnace over the burning fallow, cloud, 
 vapor, smoke, flame, alike pent, struggling, agonized, con- 
 volved, like fiends in the lurid fires of hell. The birds flew 
 through the burning air, chattering with fright, or, with 
 seared plumage, falling into the fiercer heat below. The
 
 360 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 quadrupeds, sheltered by the brush and logs, or burrowed in 
 the ground, ran in every direction, to cover themselves in the 
 contiguous woods. But it was a vain flight ; for the wind 
 had now set up a stiff breeze from the lake, to waft the burn- 
 ing atmosphere into the leeward forest, which was soon seared, 
 and prepared, many acres around, to mingle in the general 
 conflagration. The leafy surface of the ground flamed up 
 into the thicket of overhanging leaves and branches, now 
 prepared to feel the dissolving touch; insomuch that the 
 whole vegetable growth, to the distance of more than a hun- 
 dred feet above, became an ocean of flame. The scene was 
 terribly grand, awfully sublime ! 
 
 The whole neighborhood was now in commotion, lest the 
 fire should reach the premises of Farmer Bloodgood. Voices 
 were heard in all directions, crying, " To the woods ! to the 
 woods! Bloodgood' s premises ! Bloodgood' s premises !-" All 
 hands flew to the woods, and, scraping a circumvallation bare 
 of its leaves, they awaited the raging enemy. lie soon 
 appeared, rejoicing as a strong man to run a race, spurning 
 their puny barrier, and making his way, with fearful strides, 
 towards the point of dreaded attack. Bloodgood was exas- 
 perated at the imprudence of his neighbor in kindling such a 
 fire in so dry a time, and swore vengeance on him, and the 
 alcoholic demon, which, he believed, had instigated the deed. 
 But Marldon enjoyed the fun with stoical indifference. 
 
 A detachment of neighbors men, women and children 
 hastened to the scene ; some with buckets of water, others 
 with shovels, to smother the flame by means of earth, while 
 others still, with naked hands, fell to the work of removing 
 fences, and depositing the rails beyond the reach of danger. 
 All was vain. Everything seemed converted into powder, to 
 catch flame from falling sparks; and the concave heavens
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 361 
 
 were like a heated furnace, to relax every muscle, to force 
 sweat from the steaming blood, to extract the sap of Avood 
 and the greenness of leaves, and even to involve the standing 
 grass, as well as the new-made hay, in the mighty burning ! 
 Nothing could have saved Bloodgood but the timely fall of a 
 shower, to quench the fiery element. 
 
 It was now three o'clock of the afternoon. The neighbors 
 had left for home, all except a few to stand sentinel against 
 the enemy. Marldon, with his bottle and his victim, had 
 retired to a shady retreat, to complete the work of intoxica- 
 tion. A partial quiet was restored, with an occasional out- 
 burst of fire, to keep the men busy, when they heard the 
 crash of a falling tree, accompanied by cries of agony. They 
 ran in the direction, and soon heard, from a thicket, a voice, 
 saying, " ! ! my God ! how this body writhes in pain ! " 
 It was Mr. Littlefield, who, ever prompt to guard his people 
 against danger to the extent of his power, had joined his 
 efforts with others, to arrest the fire. Fatigued by exertion, 
 he had crept into a shady place, and fallen asleep ; when a 
 tree burnt at the root, where it was partially decayed, fell, 
 and would have instantly killed him, had not the underbrush 
 broken its force. The extent of his injury could only be con- 
 jectured by the extremity of his agony. 
 
 "0, my dear young friends ! " he said to George and Sam- 
 uel Douglass, who were the first to reach him, " the day of 
 my release is come ! Life cannot long hold out under what I 
 endure." 
 
 " Death finds you prepared, my dear pastor," said George. 
 
 ' ' I am ready, perfectly ready. I long for my rest. ! 
 agony ! agony ! agony ! " said the suffering man. 
 
 "Sammy, my brother," said George, "will you not go 
 and call Mr. Holliston, while we watch with Mr. Littlefield?" 
 31
 
 362 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 " Yes ; but can we do nothing to relieve you before I go, 
 Mr. Littlefield? " replied Samuel, much affected by the spec- 
 tacle. 
 
 " No ; you can do nothing, nor can Mr. Holliston ; still, it 
 would give me pleasure to see him, and also my wife and 
 children, before I die. Be so good as to call them also." 
 
 Samuel went, with all speed. 
 
 " Let me hold your head, and press gently against your 
 side," said one of the neighbors, suiting his action to his 
 words. " There ; now don't you feel a little easier 1 " 
 
 " 0, no, no ! you are very kind, but it is all in vain. My 
 summons has come, and I must go." 
 
 It was not long before Samuel returned, accompanied by 
 Mr. Holliston, Mrs. Littlefield, and her three children. Mr. 
 Holliston bled him, but it gave him no relief. His chest was 
 broken in on one side, and there was evidently internal bleed- 
 ing. He grew deadly pale, and felt a faintness which seemed 
 the precursor of speedy dissolution. 
 
 " Just in time, just in time, my poor Mary, to see your 
 poor husband die ! " he said, as his wife approached him. 
 
 " No, no, it cannot be ! " exclaimed Mrs. Littlefield, sob- 
 bing convulsively. 
 
 " Yes, it must. God so orders. Have I not told you, 
 Mary, that I should go soon 1 and why should you weep ? 
 Are you not willing that I should go home ? Have we not 
 often communed of that sweet home ? Have we not talked 
 of the bliss we should there enjoy, when our troubles are all 
 over, and our tears are all dried?" 
 
 Mrs. Littlefield, having given vent to the first impulse of 
 woe, now reclined in silence over him, while the warm tears 
 that fell upon his bosom touchingly bespoke the depth of her 
 grief. Overcome by her emotions, she fell into a swoon, from
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 36S 
 
 which she was long in being recovered. Meantime, the chil- 
 dren set up a doleful cry, saying, 
 
 "0, papa, do not leave us ! do not leave us ! It will kill 
 mamma ! Dear, dear papa ! will you leave us? " while they 
 sobbed as if they would break their hearts. 
 
 "My dearest children, I will not leave you unless God 
 bids me. You know how good God is. He would not bid 
 me come to him unless he meant in some other way to. take 
 care of you. Are you not willing I should go, when God 
 calls me?" 
 
 " 0, no ! no ! no ! dear, dear papa ! what will become of 
 us when you are dead?' 1 ' exclaimed the little ones, with a 
 fresh outburst of agony. 
 
 "God will take care of you, my precious children," said 
 the dying father, with -emotions too big for utterance, his lips 
 quivering, his tears gushing up from their deepest fountains ; 
 and, for a moment, he seemed unmanned. Indeed, the whole 
 company felt the scene to be too affecting for them to endure. 
 They would have carried him home ; but they saw that he was 
 too far gone to admit of it. Samuel Douglass did make an 
 effort to raise him gently in his arms, to try the effect ; but it 
 gave him so much pain that he was compelled to desist. 
 None showed such a tender, active interest for the dying 
 pastor, and his sufferings, as this young man. Well he 
 might ; for he had become hopefully pious through his instru- 
 mentality, and an ornament of the church over which he 
 presided. 
 
 Recovered, at length, from her swoon, Mrs. Littlefield 
 pened her eyes, and turned them upon her husband, with a 
 look of sweet submission, by which he saw that her agony 
 had passed, and her faith had subdued her misgivings. 
 
 " Now, my Mary," he said, wiping his own eyes dry,
 
 364 MAPLETON: OK, 
 
 "you are yourself again. How much we have prayed that 
 we may honor God in our death ! Can we doubt that he will 
 hear us ? Come to my side, my adored wife ! Let me leave 
 with you my dying advice." 
 
 She took her seat by him, saying, " Speak, my precious 
 husband ! All you wish shall be done." 
 
 "In reference to yourself, Mary, my highest wish is, that 
 you maintain your freedom in Christ. Be not again entan- 
 gled in the yoke of bondage ! Remember your husband's 
 experience in this respect; which blessed be God ! is my 
 preparation for this season of trial. I know that my Redeemer 
 liveth ! I know that if this earthly house of my tabernacle 
 were dissolved, I have a building of God, eternal in the 
 heavens ! The fear of death cannot bring me into bondage ! ' ' 
 
 " My dear husband," she said, gently kissing his forehead, 
 " have you all the confidence, at this dreadful moment, that 
 you anticipated ? Are you unmoved by these trying circum- 
 stances of your death?" 
 
 "Yes, unmoved. The moment consciousness returned, 
 after receiving my death-wound, I found my heart exulting 
 in God. From that time, 0, how near Jesus seems ! I 
 repose in his arms ! Never before had I such a sense of his 
 presence ! Though I walk through the valley of the shadow 
 of death, I will fear no evil ! I have neither doubt nor mis- 
 giving ! Heaven is before me ! Its portals are open ! The 
 beams of glory, shining through, fall direct on my soul ! 
 There is society, there is love, there is friendship ; there ' the 
 saints of all ages in harmony meet.' I feel already its peace 
 and its joy ! Be this your consolation : you have shared mfr 
 bosom's history. You know what glory God poured upon 
 me twelve years ago, glory not to be expressed or compre- 
 hended ! You know our poverty ; what disappointments
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 365 
 
 came over, our worldly prospects, and what trials we have 
 endured ! But, amid all, a sweet stream of heavenly conso- 
 lation has flowed into my heart. Sorrow was a necessary 
 ballast to a bark so wafted by heavenly gales. I have no 
 words of complaint, but all of gratitude, all of praise ! The 
 fulness of love is more than an offset for all possible suffering. 
 You, my dear wife, have shared my sufferings and my joys. 
 My dying prayer and request is, that you maintain the begin- 
 ning of your confidence steadfast unto the end. Do your 
 utmost, also, to transmit the same inheritance to our children, 
 yea, to all mankind. Then I know we shall soon meet 
 again." 
 
 After this long speech, he became convulsed, his mind 
 wandered, and, for a few moments, the struggle seemed to be 
 over with him forever. But he revived, and began to 
 exclaim, in feeble accents, 
 
 " Love ! infinite love ! 0, what a theme to occupy our 
 eternity ! Heaven opens ! I stand within its confines ! Its 
 bliss floods my soul ! Its beams irradiate the dark valley ! 
 Blessed Jesus ! come ! come ! 0, come quickly, and take me 
 to thyself! " 
 
 None present were so placid as himself and the living image 
 of his piety, his wife. They both seemed literally to stand 
 in the open gate of glory. Her piety was but the engrafting 
 of his own. She had caught the serene life of his faith, and 
 quiet communion with God. 
 
 "If you have a word more, speak," said Mr. Holliston, 
 with his finger on his pulse ; "for you have but a moment." 
 
 Mrs. Littlefield now calmly seated herself under his head 
 and shoulders, putting her arms under his, and clasping his 
 chest, as if anxious that he should die in her arms. The
 
 366 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 children kneeled on either side of their dying father. He 
 seemed to want them near his person. 
 
 "Yes; a word more to you, my tender bahes," he said, 
 alluding to Mr. Holliston's remark. " James, my darling 
 boy, you are the oldest, and I expect you to be a great com- 
 fort to your mother. Be obedient to her in all things. 
 Exert yourself to keep our little family together on the home- 
 stead. Assist your mother in the family devotions. Watch 
 over your brother and sweet little sister;" the tears again 
 trembling in his eye, at the mention of his little daughter, the 
 youngest. 
 
 " I will, dear papa ! " sobbed James. 
 
 Then, turning to William, the youngest son, a fine, 
 ruddy boy, he said, taking him affectionately in his arms, 
 
 " William, you must be kind to your mother." 
 
 "0, dear, dear papa!" cried the child, "I want to die 
 with you ! I must die with you ! I MUST go to heaven 
 when you do, my dear, dear papa ! " 
 
 " My precious son," said the dying man, greatly moved 
 by this outburst of childish feeling, "you have God for your 
 father, and you must be willing to live for his sake. You 
 must read your Bible, and love your blessed Saviour ; and 
 then you will soon be with papa in heaven." 
 
 " I want to die now, I must die now ! I can't live any 
 longer, when papa is gone ! " sobbed the child, almost frantic 
 with grief. 
 
 " Dear, dear William ! you must do as God wills, not as 
 you will. He wills to have you live, to do good, I hope. 
 Never forget what your dying papa said to you, that you 
 must be good and love God." He then kissed him affection- 
 ately, and bade him adieu. 
 
 Then followed the embrace of little Mary, the most touch-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 867 
 
 ing scene of all. He folded her in his arms, pressed her to 
 his heart, and said, lifting his sightless eyes towards heaven, 
 " God of love, this child I leave in thy keeping. 0, preserve 
 her from the destroyer ! " 
 
 From kissing his daughter, he turned to leave this pledge 
 of love on the lips of his wife, when, with that kiss, he 
 breathed out his life, and his spirit was with God- 
 
 Mrs. Douglass, who had by this time reached the scene of 
 conflict and of triumph, insisted that the body should be taken 
 to her house for the night, as the sun was already near set- 
 ting, and Mrs. Littlefield's residence was more distant. This 
 invitation was accepted, and the dead man, with his living 
 family, reached the house just before dark. 0, what a scene ! 
 What a day of alcoholic doings ! The monster had already 
 done enough, one would suppose, in the death of the pastor 
 and in the destructive conflagration, to satisfy his rapacious 
 demands of blood and ruin. What Moloch ever asked more 1 
 Alas ! no ; the work had just begun. Calamities do not come 
 alone, especially those which arise from so prolific a cause. 
 There is no end, no limit, to the woes which this demon of 
 darkness pours out upon society. Were they less, we might 
 relax our demands for an instant discharge of his maddening 
 poisons into the teeming gutters. 
 
 The dead body of the pastor had scarcely been decently 
 composed to rest in the parlor, before Mrs. Douglass, having 
 occasion to step to the door, was met by her husband, with 
 an iron wood lever in his hands. He came stalking towards 
 her, drawn up seemingly a foot above his ordinary height, 
 scarcely touching the ground in his wild consciousness of 
 power, with the fire and fury of alcoholic madness flaming in 
 his eye ; and, before she could get out of his way, he struck 
 at her head a furious blow, which just grazed her, tearing out
 
 368 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 a large tuft of hair and cleaving off a portion of the scalp 
 with it, so that the blood trickled down on her shoulder. 
 
 Samuel, hearing her scream, ran to the door, and, unfortu- 
 nately, was so occupied with his mother's bleeding head, that 
 he seemed not for the moment conscious of the dangerous 
 weapon in his father's hands, and hence received from it a 
 furious blow on the head, which felled him to the earth, dead 
 on the spot. The laboring men and neighbors who were in 
 the house now rushed out, when they, too, were met by the 
 blows of the insane Douglass, which, however, they warded 
 off, and, after a powerful struggle, succeeded in overcoming 
 and confining him in a strait-jacket, which was always kept 
 in readiness for the purpose. Such a scene as ensued 
 no pen can describe. The yells of the alcoholic maniac 
 reechoed from the contiguous forest, and resounded afar over 
 the now placid surface of the lake. The screams of a sorrow- 
 ing family over a dead son and brother, the yet unstifled sobs of 
 the Littlefields around another victim, now heightened by this 
 new calamity, the running and tumult of neighbors, and the 
 bleeding but still noble form of Mrs. Douglass, who stood 
 sublimely firm and placid under a sorrow already a hundred 
 times endured in anticipation, these, these were the dark 
 lines of a picture of which rum's doings in all our large 
 cities are but a counterpart. This good woman felt that she 
 had done all to protect her family that could be done, under 
 the present laws of her state. She had watched over her 
 husband ; she had done what she could to keep him from the 
 licensed hells ; her life had been an incessant vigil against 
 the gins and traps which legislation had strewn in her path ; 
 she had entreated and besought the representatives of law 
 not to deal out the poison to her husband ; she had guarded 
 him against those who make a business of holding the cup
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 369 
 
 to their neighbors' lips ; she had watched over her family, 
 by night and day; she had commended them to God in her 
 prayers ; and now that one had fallen, and but one, after so 
 many years of deadly peril, seemed to her an event to pro- 
 voke gratitude with her grief, under the circumstances. 
 There was a moral sublimity in the virtues which she now 
 evinced. She soothed her mourning family, spoke of the 
 easy passage their dear Sammy had had to his home above, 
 how much less he had suffered than their beloved pastor, and 
 how much occasion they had for gratitude that things were no 
 worse. 
 
 But the grief of poor Douglass, upon learning the facts, 
 was undefined, unknown, boundless, utterly beggaring de- 
 scriptive pen or pencil. It had no alleviations. His nature 
 gave way under it, especially as law now came in, with its 
 penalties, to punish what it had taken no pains to prevent. 
 He was remanded to prison, to be tried as a felon, where grief, 
 mortification and confinement, threw him into a consumption, 
 to release him from a state of society in which he was mani- 
 festly unfitted to live. law ! law ! how long ere thou wilt 
 cease from thy bloody work, of first instigating crime, and 
 then hanging the criminal 1
 
 370 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 A LEAP FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS. 
 
 " These are the works of OUT God, whereby he would admonish the 
 tyrants of this earth that in the end he will be revenged of their cruelty, 
 what strength soever they make in the contrary." JOHN KNOJC. 
 
 THE events of this chapter are nearly simultaneous with 
 those of the former, so that Charles Douglass had left the 
 country before he learned the calamity which had befallen his 
 Mapleton friends. 
 
 We ought, ere this, to have apprized the reader that De 
 Lisle was, besides Skampton, the only confidant of the secret 
 step which had been taken with Sarah. Of Mr. Harcourt's 
 motive, in intrusting the matter to him, there can be no doubt. 
 Suffice it to say, he wholly mistook the character and views 
 of that gentleman ; for, though decorum forbade his interfering 
 in the matter, he looked upon it with regret and alarm. He 
 had too high an opinion of Miss Harcourt's discretion to 
 believe any such a measure necessary, and too much confi- 
 dence in her firmness to suppose it would have the least 
 effect to change her heart's affections. That such a person as 
 he deemed her so discriminating, so pure, so superior to 
 time-serving and sinister interests should honor a young 
 gentleman with her heart, was of itself sufficient to give him 
 an exalted estimate of his character. Hence, he was not a 
 little curious to make the acquaintance of Douglass, notwith- 
 standing the dubious and dishonorable representations of him 
 which he had received from the father of Sarah.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 371 
 
 " Happy, thrice happy man, to have the keeping of a heart 
 so beautiful, so noble in its sentiments ! " he would say to him- 
 self; and, when he learned from Mr. Harcourt Sarah's 
 change of feeling, he could hardly credit it. He believed her 
 incapable of so sudden a transition, in a matter so delicate, 
 so sacred. " Miss Harcourt," said he, "is not the lady to love 
 so hastily, so injudiciously, as to recall to-morrow the commit- 
 ment which she had made of herself yesterday." So great 
 was his interest in her character, and so much did he feel the 
 want of her guidance in his conscious spiritual blindness, that 
 a dubious and painful uncertainty oppressed him as to his 
 own condition and the issue of events. 
 
 After Charles Douglass' night of anguish under the shady 
 copse of Mr. Harcourt's grounds, he arose and wandered he 
 knew not whither. Though in the midst of living multitudes, 
 they were no more to him than wilderness trees. He was 
 absorbed in his own intense feelings. Gloom and desolateness 
 more total he could not have felt in the heart of a desert. 
 Walking to and fro, he made bold to inquire of such persons 
 as seemed most accessible whether they knew the Harcourt 
 family, in hopes still of eliciting information as to the place 
 of Sarah's concealment. It was some alleviation to be amid 
 scenes familiar to her, and even to pronounce her name to 
 those with whom he met. At length, he fell in with a family 
 whose poverty had commended them to her care, whom she 
 had visited in sickness and distress, and who recollected her 
 as their angelic benefactress. 
 
 "0, we were happy when that sweet lady was here," said 
 the good woman. " But, since she is gone, no one feels for 
 us. My man has had a fever. Mary is in decline, poor girl ! 
 And we lack the bread for our table. 0, that God would 
 send us that sweet angel again, to sympathize in our sorrows !
 
 372 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 This, sir, is a cold, cold world ! " added the poor woman, 
 beginning to weep. 
 
 "Where has Miss Harcourt gone, that you see her no 
 more?" inquired Douglass. 
 
 "We cannot tell," said the woman, still weeping; "but 
 they say as how she has a lover here that can." 
 
 "A lover!" exclaimed Douglass, with bitter feeling. 
 " Pray what is his name? " 
 
 "It is the great, rich Mr. De Lisle, what comes to the 
 minister's house." 
 
 "What minister?" 
 
 " The king's minister, please your honor." 
 
 " Where does the king's minister live ? " 
 
 " Yonder, in that great house among the trees," said the 
 woman, pointing to the home of Julia. 
 
 " And does Mr. Harcourt desire his daughter to marry the 
 man of whom you speak ? " said Charles, with a foolish but 
 very natural curiosity to elicit the gossip of the neighbor- 
 hood. 
 
 " Yes, they say as how he wants it very, very much, but 
 our sweet lady will not have him. And that 's what for she 
 is gone off. ! ! when will the dear one come back 
 again?" 
 
 This story of Sarah's declining the attentions of De Lisle, 
 though a pure fiction, touched a congenial cord in Douglass' 
 heart ; and, giving the woman money, he took his departure. 
 
 He now called on De Lisle, hoping still to obtain the inform- 
 ation he so much desired, and to assure himself of the extent 
 of Sarah's own agency in her mysterious concealment. The 
 consequence was a free and familiar conversation between the 
 two gentlemen. Douglass expatiated on the character of Mr.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 373 
 
 Skampton, and expressed the conviction that he was at the 
 bottom of what had happened. 
 
 " Very likely," said De Lisle. " I remember to have met 
 the gentleman of whom you speak at Mr. Harcourt's, and I 
 confess things have since appeared there different from what 
 they were before." 
 
 " No doubt ; he came for no other object but to traduce me 
 in the family. Miss Harcourt was much perplexed on the 
 subject, and particularly at the subsequent effect upon her 
 father." 
 
 " I have observed that he has appeared very moody of late." 
 
 " And yet, if he has deceived his daughter," said Douglass, 
 " he must be the dupe of some one else ; for I have lately 
 received a letter from Miss Harcourt, dated and post-marked 
 * in this place, about which he is as much perplexed as I am. 
 And now, sir, for her sake, as well as my own, if you have 
 any light on this subject, I trust you will not withhold it." 
 
 " For her sake I would willingly give it, if I were not 
 under pledges of honor which make it impossible." 
 
 " I cannot ask you to violate your pledges, sir," said 
 Douglass. 
 
 " Providence will direct in this matter," said De Lisle. 
 " If you occupy the place in Miss- Harcourt's affections which 
 I have reason to suppose, Mr. Douglass, you ought to be a 
 man of faith in Providence. You would hardly be entitled to 
 your good fortune without it, and I much doubt whether you 
 could appreciate your treasure, if you had her." 
 
 " It is true," replied Douglass, inwardly rebuking his own 
 criminal distrust of Providence. 
 
 " I deem you a man to be envied, even in your present 
 dismay. To have such a heart is in itself the greatest of 
 treasures, and the surest pledge of Heaven's gracious guard- 
 32
 
 374 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 ianship over you. Think you Miss Harcourt's prayers will 
 avail nothing?" 
 
 " Alas ! sir, the agony of my loss equals the value of the 
 treasure," replied Douglass, with feelings little prepared to 
 respond to this just reasoning. How hard it is to make the 
 heart coincide with the clearest convictions of the understand- 
 ing ! 
 
 "Hope, Mr. Douglass, hope ; faith, faith. Is it possible Miss 
 Harcourt's particular friend has not acquired these virtues ? " 
 
 " If you knew the man, sir, who has taken it upon himself 
 to ruin me, you would better understand the difficulty of faith's 
 work in my case." 
 
 " This Skampton must be a masterpiece in his line," 
 replied De Lisle. " Is he a cold-blooded villain ? " 
 
 " no ; the most conscientious man in the world. But a 
 man conscientiously wicked is more to be dreaded than one 
 who is so against his conscience." 
 
 " That is very true," replied De Lisle. " I would help 
 you, Mr. Douglass, if I could. I cannot forfeit my word, to 
 defeat even a conscientious mischief-maker. I sincerely hope 
 the issue may be favorable to the happiness of all concerned, 
 and I will do all I can in honor to make it so. Further than 
 this I cannot speak." 
 
 Douglass' depression of spirits increased more and more, 
 daily, till he was disqualified for availing himself of the means 
 for gaining his object which were within his reach. The 
 condition of his own family, and the apprehensions which 
 haunted him in reference to his father's alcoholic madness, 
 made it impossible for him to bear up against this new assault 
 upon his peace. He had not yet heard of the dreadful catas- 
 trophe ; but there was enough besides to overwhelm him, and, 
 in a fit of desperation, he abruptly embarked for England.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 375 
 
 To this he was impelled by the vain hope of diverting his 
 feelings from their fixed channel, and of casting an oblivion 
 upon the past. But, "what exile from himself can flee?" 
 Who can escape " the demon thought" ? Can a change of 
 place make an existence endurable which we cannot enjoy ? 
 The confusion of a mind, which had lost the power to rally 
 and concentrate its own energies, had more to do with his 
 conduct, at that period, than those impulses which are capable 
 of being analyzed and reduced to the consistency of an intelli- 
 gent motive. The image of Sarah had so long filled his mind, 
 that its removal disturbed the whole internal machinery, 
 insomuch that the sense to see the objects imprinted upon the 
 eye, to hear sounds that assafled the ear, or to heed the 
 sensible scene around him, however imposing or magnificent, 
 was gone. His foreign travels were little better than a blank, 
 for lack of a place to assign them in his mind. 
 
 From the information imparted by Douglass, De Lisle be- 
 came more and more satisfied of foul play somewhere. He 
 strongly suspected that Mr. Har court was the * dupe of 
 Skampton, whose character he utterly detested. He saw 
 that Douglass, though a crushed spirit, was replete with 
 generous and noble impulses, that his views of men and things 
 were liberal and enlarged, and he believed him to be the vic- 
 tim of impertinence and cruelty. Hence, he went directly to 
 Mr. Harcourt's, where he learned that that gentleman had 
 left, a day or two previous, without letting a member of the 
 family know where he was going, or when he would return. 
 He found John, the old and tried servant, in doubt and con- 
 sternation about the fate of his young mistress, whom he loved 
 as he did his own soul. John expressed himself confident 
 that Jim, who had more recently come into the family, was 
 in possession of facts that would unravel the whole mystery.
 
 376 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 He said Jim was often giving hints that their young mistress 
 would not return the smiling girl she was when she left home ; 
 that, if she got back at all, she might think herself well off; 
 that, if she would only submit to the great one who had her 
 in charge, she might become a mighty queen yet, and much 
 more to the same effect. 
 
 Upon being questioned on the subject, however, Jim pro- 
 tested that he was merely joking, and that he knew nothing. 
 But this did not satisfy De Lisle, who saw, from his sinister 
 appearance, what kind of arguments would be likely to have 
 most weight with him, and therefore exposed to view a purse 
 of gold, saying : " The honest truth on this subject, Jim, 
 will be worth to me all that, and more. If you can give it, 
 now is the time to benefit yourself." 
 
 Jim felt the attraction more strongly than anything Gilfort 
 had ever offered, inasmuch as the sum was greater. Without 
 hesitation, therefore, he answered, "I cannot longer conceal 
 the truth. My conscience won't let me. My feeling for this 
 family, which is very kind, won't let me." 
 
 " Well, Jim, who is the principal actor in Miss Harcourt's 
 removal." 
 
 " It is the great land-owner, what's called the prophet." 
 
 " What is his name ? " 
 
 "It is Gilfort. He has a mighty colony in the West, 
 where they do all he says. 0, he has heaps of money ! " 
 
 " But what does Gilfort want of Miss Harcourt?" said 
 De Lisle, who now recollected to have heard of his impostures 
 and great doings in the far West. 
 
 " He wants her among his wives," replied Jim. 
 
 " Among his wives ! " exclaimed De Lisle, with a shudder; 
 " pray, how many wives has he ? " 
 
 " That 's telling," said Jim. " I never counted them. He
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 377 
 
 believes it's revealed to him from heaven to take all that 
 pleases him. But he has no queen, and I guess Miss Har- 
 court "will be his queen." 
 
 " Is it possible? " said De Lisle, with blank astonishment. 
 "Has Miss Harcourt the pure, the pious, and the good 
 been three months in such hands ? Pr a y> Jini, do you know 
 the Marmots, of Wyoming?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, well. Mrs. Marmot is one of the great man's 
 wives. I have attended them in many of their what '11 
 you call it? interviews." 
 
 " Jim, you shock me ! Where was her husband? " 
 
 " 0, he's as deep in't as any of them. Ho, too, believes 
 it 's revealed to do so. He 'd lay down his head, and have it 
 cut off, for the great man." 
 
 " Gracious Heaven ! is such the family to which this inno- 
 cent girl has been betrayed ? Jim, you must go with me, 
 this day, to Wyoming, to certify these facts, and assist in 
 recovering your mistress." 
 
 " No cause of alarm, sir," said Jim. " She '11 be a great 
 lady, anyway. And, besides, they are not in Wyoming." 
 
 " Where are they?" inquired De Lisle, still more alarmed. 
 
 "To the far West, I s'pose." 
 
 "What! do you affirm, Jim, that Gilfort has taken Miss 
 Harcourt to parts unknown, to make her his wife, or concu- 
 bine, whichever you please? " 
 
 "I do; and, for a consideration, I'll make oath of the 
 same." 
 
 " I offer you nothing for your oaths," answered De Lisle, 
 fearing to invalidate his testimony. " I simply inquire for 
 my own gratification, and will do as I promised. How do 
 you know what you affirm ? " 
 
 "How should I not know it, when I have been for years 
 32*
 
 378 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 at service round the person of the great man, and have caught 
 it all from his lips, on various occasions ? It is but six months 
 since I offered myself to this family, by his command." 
 
 "Then you have been his spy? Was it you that lately 
 mailed a letter from this place to Mr. Douglass? " 
 
 " The very same. A body must have a living, you know. 
 I am a poor one, and has to do the best I can. But I repent 
 the part I have acted," added Jim, who, in truth, had expe- 
 rienced a gradual decline of the mesmerism of Gilfort's influ- 
 ence, or he would never have given the hints that led to these 
 disclosures. 
 
 " Where did you get that letter, Jim? " 
 
 " It came from the great man, sir, enclosed in one to me." 
 
 " Who are joined with Gilfort in this conspiracy ? Do you 
 know of any?" 
 
 " Yes, all his servants." 
 
 " None in these parts ? " 
 
 " None that I know of, except a rich man in Riverton. I 
 drove the great man's carriage to his house, last winter, and, 
 it being cold, I occupied the hall, out of which there was an 
 open door to a room where the two consulted the matter, and 
 arranged the whole plan." Here he detailed as much of the 
 conversation as he could recollect, with this difference, that 
 he left De Lisle to suppose that Skampton was in the secret 
 of Gilfort's designs ; and it is probable that Jim thought so 
 himself. The story so coincided with what he knew of 
 Skampton's visit to the Harcourts, that he did not doubt its 
 truth. 
 
 " Jim, do you know any other witnesses of these facts ? " 
 
 " Yes ; of the fact that it was the design of Gilfort to make 
 Miss Harcourt his wife I have many witnesses." 
 
 De Lisle saw at once that his only course for the recovery
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 379 
 
 of Miss Harcourt was to take out a writ for conspiracy against 
 both Skampton and Gilfort. He therefore gave several hours 
 to further investigations, and, having thoroughly prepared 
 himself, he set off, in company with an officer, to take Skamp- 
 ton into custody, the only one named in the indictment whose 
 location was certainly known. A gracious Providence seemed 
 to have directed his steps, for they reached Skampton' s man- 
 sion on the very day of Mr. Harcourt's arrival, and a short 
 time after he had fallen into a state of insensibility. They 
 learned at a neighboring inn that a stranger had just fallen 
 into a fit at Mr. Skampton' s ; that physicians had been in 
 attendance, and had partially recovered him, though his rea- 
 son seemed hopelessly gone. Mr. De Lisle, meeting with the 
 principal physician at the inn, inquired of him who this 
 stranger was. 
 
 " A Mr. Harcourt, from New York, I think, sir," said the 
 physician. 
 
 " What is the cause of this attack?" inquired De Lisle, 
 without intimating any knowledge of the stranger. 
 
 "Mental anxiety, I think, aggravated by a too free use of 
 the bottle. I should judge that he has a daughter, to whom 
 some misfortune has happened ; for, in his ravings, he is con- 
 tinually alluding to her, with the most terrific and agonized 
 expressions." 
 
 " Could not Mr. Skampton inform you whether the man 
 had a daughter in trouble or not? " 
 
 ' ' No ; the honorable gentleman says he has a daughter, 
 but he knows of no misfortune ever happening to her. He 
 thinks it a -mere freak of the man's brain." 
 
 "What is the character of this Mr. Skampton?" inquired 
 De Lisle, anxious to learn his standing in his own town. 
 
 " He is a great patron, and as good as he is great. Our
 
 880 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 town owes more to him than to all the other men in it. He 
 makes it a central point of learning and influence. He is the 
 conservator of the renowned past, and a mighty opponent of 
 our mad innovations, Without him, I am sure I should lose 
 half my business." 
 
 "Humph! to be sure; I see," said De Lisle, lost in his 
 own thoughts. "Then this honorable gentleman knows of 
 no misfortune to the daughter of the insane man? " 
 
 " None ; this he affirmed over and over again." 
 
 "Where does he live?" 
 
 The physician here gave the direction to the gate, with the 
 porter, and admonitory bell, the ravine and its carriage-way, 
 the terrace and its magnificent array of buildings, overlooked 
 by the observatory, which we have before described as com- 
 bining in the distinguished man's seat of opulence and of 
 power. De Lisle set off immediately, leaving the sheriff 
 behind, that he might explore the ground before revealing 
 the nature of his business. When he reached the mansion, 
 he found poor Harcourt raving mad, crying, " Sarah ! Sarah ! 
 Sarah ! " as loud as he could scream. " Come to me, dear, 
 precious daughter ! Hands off! thieves, villains, seducers, 
 cut-throats! touch her, and I '11 be the death of you!" 
 De Lisle tried to command his attention, but to no purpose. 
 He continued to rave, in the most piteous manner, over his 
 darling daughter. Turning to Skampton, who did not recog- 
 nize his visitor, having seen him but a moment the previous 
 winter, De Lisle said, 
 
 " Can you give no information concerning this man's 
 daughter?" 
 
 "I I I give information? how should I be able to 
 give information? I know nothing of her," said Skampton, 
 in a flurried and agitated manner, from a vague idea that it
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 381 
 
 might be somebody that had a right to demand. A guilty 
 conscience needs no accusers. 
 
 " Sir, in the name of humanity I demand the place of Miss 
 Harcourt's concealment! " said De Lisle, with an imperious 
 air, which he knew full well how to assume. 
 
 "Miss Harcourt's concealment! is Miss Harcourt con- 
 cealed ? " replied Skampton, perfectly thunder-struck. " How 
 should I know the place of her concealment?" 
 
 " Think not to put me off in this way," said De Lisle, in a 
 decisive tone. "Restore her to her father, or answer it at 
 the tribunal of your country. It can be proved, by compe- 
 tent witnesses, that you contrived and instigated this nefari- 
 ous plot for the ruin of an innocent and accomplished young 
 lady. "You made this miserable father believe that the ruin 
 of his daughter was certain, if he did not remove her. "You 
 suggested Wyoming as the place of her concealment. You 
 contrived the plan to decoy her thither. "You made your- 
 self responsible for the good conduct of the Marmots, whom 
 you knew to be as black in character as infamy could make 
 them. You, to accomplish your dark purposes of conspir- 
 acy and seduction, have coolly, deliberately, and under the 
 cloak of religion and duty, conspired against the peace and 
 virtue of an unsuspecting family. Sir, we can have no quib- 
 bles here ! Nothing but the restoration untouched, un- 
 harmed of this abused and insulted young lady can divert 
 from your hoary head the gathering storm. Sir, I demand 
 the place of her concealment ! ' ' 
 
 "0, God! witness to my innocence!" said Skampton, 
 trembling in every fibre. 
 
 "Talk not of innocence, you perjured hypocrite! Look 
 upon this wreck which your infamous stratagem has made of 
 a doting father and a distinguished citizen ! Call not that
 
 382 MAPI/ETON; OR, 
 
 innocence which has robbed him of the choicest jewel of a 
 father's heart, which has bleached his locks more than the 
 frosts of fifty winters, and has broken up the happiest of 
 family unions ! " 
 
 "I do protest I have acted in good faith. I know no 
 
 more of Miss Harcourt's concealment than you do. It was 
 
 at the suggestion of another that I advised her removal to 
 
 Wyoming, and I did it because I thought it a service to the 
 
 "family." 
 
 " Yes ; you did it because you wished to aid your accom- 
 plice in his work of seduction. To convince you that I have 
 the facts in the case, I now assure you that both this infa- 
 mous Gilfort and yourself are under indictment for conspiring 
 against the liberty and virtue of an unsuspecting victim ; and 
 I swear, by the God whose our breath is, that, while a drop 
 of blood beats in my veins, neither of you shall go unwhipped 
 of justice ! " 
 
 "What! my worthy friend, Samuel Gilfort?" gasped 
 Skampton, almost suffocated with terror and amazement. 
 
 "A devil incarnate ! There is nothing too bad for your 
 friend to do. Where is the wretch?" said De Lisle, with 
 vehemence. 
 
 11 Sir, you abuse a worthy man. He is in the West, aid- 
 ing the cause of the poor colonists." 
 
 " He is teaching somebody to serve the devil, as he taught 
 you." 
 
 "Do you mean to insult me?" said Skampton, who was 
 taken with a sudden fit of personal dignity. 
 
 "It is useless to parley," replied De Lisle; "the law 
 makes you responsible, and I will hold you to it. I shall 
 find means of bringing you to your senses." 
 
 De Lisle went out, and soon returned, with the sheriff,
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 383 
 
 who placed the great conservator under arrest ; and from that 
 moment all his courage, magnanimity and distinguished qual- 
 ities, forsook him, and he sunk into his native littleness. The 
 report flew like wildfire, that the renowned Mr. Skampton was 
 under arrest for conspiring to rob a young lady of her free- 
 dom and her virtue, beautifnl, too, she was said to be, and 
 that her father had gone mad with grief and mortification. 
 Dark surmises lingered in men's minds, and the thousand- 
 and-one hangers on, whom, in his better days, he would not 
 put among the dogs of his flock, were now forward to charge 
 upon him the most flagrant misdemeanors. All protested 
 that they had for years been expecting his fall. The flatter- 
 ers, whose poisoned words had inflamed his vanity and con- 
 verted him from a little to a great man, and had thus con- 
 tributed to his downfall, were the first to declare that they 
 never had any opinion of his abilities or his virtues. Sap- 
 head said he never had any opinion of him, and now went 
 through the country to pull down Skampton and prop up the 
 anti-temperance movement. He feared both might perish 
 together. The proof against Skampton was so conclusive 
 that the court laid him under heavy bonds for his appearance 
 at his trial. But by this time Skampton's creditors got wind 
 of how things were going with him, and pounced upon what 
 he had. to secure their debts. He was found to be immensely 
 extended ; and, at a forced sale, it was feared that his estate 
 would not pay fifty cents on a dollar. All he had was put 
 under attachment. 
 
 Unable to secure himself, he now applied to his friends ; 
 but, sad to relate, Avith all his enormous purchases of influ- 
 ence and friendship, he found himself as completely bankrupt 
 here as in money. Not a man came to his relief, no, not 
 one. Diddington College passed a resolve rescinding his doc-
 
 384 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 torate of laws, because its friends thought it would injure 
 their institution to have the name of such a man on its lists. 
 Dr. Treadmill, who had by this time married rich, and was 
 one of the most opulent men in the country, was waited on 
 by Mrs. Skampton, and entreated, with tears in her eyes, that 
 he would go security to save her husband from prison. Tread- 
 mill trembled, fluttered, rubbed his hands, snapped his eyes, 
 had a sudden fit of palpitation, and, to his great grief, was 
 compelled to decline the honor. Nothing but imprisonment 
 was left to the afflicted, fallen Skampton, and to prison he 
 went. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 A DIVINE RIGHT TO DO WRONG. 
 
 
 
 " But then I sigh, and, with a piece of scripture, 
 Tell them that God bids us do good for evil ; 
 And thus I clothe my naked villany 
 With old odd ends, stolen forth of Holy Writ." 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 TENDER thoughts cluster round that home where the 
 daughter is merged in the wife. The light-hearted girl goes 
 out to return only as visitor and mistress of another domestic 
 polity. Unbidden tears testify to the pangs of separation, 
 even though all are agreeable and consenting. The departing 
 one turns away her face to weep over her buried girlhood, 
 and the sundered ties of her youthful home. "I am to 
 repose no more in the paternal arms. I am a girl no longer. 
 A new and untried path is before me. Indulgent Providence, 
 guide my inexperience, instruct my ignorance, bless the dear
 
 MOKE WORK FOR TilE MAINE LAW. 385 
 
 ones whom I leave behind," she says, and smiles through her 
 tears on the happy possessor of her heart and her hand. 
 
 "Dear daughter, you will write, will you not? Write 
 soon, darling, very soon." 
 
 " Dear sister, come back, do, do ! We shall be so lone- 
 some ! Remember how much we all love you." 
 
 "0, yes ; I will always be a daughter, a sister. You" will 
 all be to me what you have been, and more. Yes, you too 
 must write. You must come and see me. 0, how glad it 
 will make me ! The very dog from my girlhood's home will 
 be welcome." 
 
 This is nature. The fruit, with a shock, leaves its parent 
 stem, the young, by constraint, its dam. But, if such be 
 the feeling where all is favorable, how much more painful 
 where all is adverse ! The father saying, with bitter feel- 
 ings, " My child is ruined ! I did what I could to save her, 
 but all in vain! " The mother, weeping in secret over the 
 lost image of herself, beseeches her God to protect and restore 
 the wanderer. Brothers and sisters, in sad discourse about 
 the dreadful calamity \vhich has befallen them, find no hope, 
 no consolation. 
 
 These are touching scenes, but less aggravating than in 
 the case of Miss Harcourt. She was led by parental hands 
 into the jaws of the destroyer, like children into the burning 
 furnace of Moloch. Better give her to the flames than to a 
 religious debauchee. Strange combination of words, yet 
 true in all time, our own as well, if we are allowed to apply 
 the term religion to such shocking perversions. Society has 
 its wild beasts, harpies, argus-eyed monsters, many-headed 
 dragons, men lurking in secret to ensnare and destroy, who 
 are far more to be dreaded than those fabulous animals on 
 which ancient prowess expended its force. Such men subsist 
 33
 
 386 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 upon the ruin of families, crushed spirits, blighted hopes, 
 parental despair, and household degradation. 0, God ! where 
 sleeps thy thunder, that it falls not on these despoilers of thy 
 fair creation ? It was the alcoholic sorceress that had done 
 the deed. She had bewitched Gilfort by hereditary influence 
 and actual possession. She had turned Skampton's conserv- 
 ative brain towards the protection of her own nefarious traffic. 
 She had placed Charles Douglass under the ban of a drunk- 
 ard's son. She had corrupted the heart and perverted the 
 reason of Harcourt. No effect was ever more plainly trace- 
 able to its cause, than all these evils are to that bane of vir- 
 tue, health, character, property, domestic peace, and national 
 prosperity alcohol. 
 
 Sarah Harcourt was now the victim of this embodied sor- 
 ceress. Gilfort was infinitely worse than an ordinary se- 
 ducer. He had deluded himself, and his victims too, into the 
 horrible feeling that religion lent them its sanction. Had 
 Sarah known her condition, how easy would have been her 
 escape ! But she was in ignorance, her father deceived, and 
 even Skampton himself was unconsciously acting as the pimp 
 and pander of the basest of men. 
 
 " My dear Blandy ! " said Mrs. Marmot, " do excuse my 
 substituting that name for Sarah. It is so sweet to associate 
 you with my dear departed one ! My Blandy, husband finds 
 
 it necessary to take city in his way westward, and I 
 
 hope you will feel a pleasure in visiting so renowned a place. 
 Our first colonists landed in those parts." 
 
 " It will be a pleasure for me to do so," said Sarah. " I 
 have leisure. I have no desire to hasten our journey." 
 
 " Yes, love, we will travel so far by private conveyance, to 
 enjoy the country scenery, and thence we will make our way 
 by railroad and steamboat."
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 387 
 
 Great preparations were made for this journey. Two 
 grooms were selected from the establishment to accompany 
 them in a coach and four, richly caparisoned, not at all in 
 keeping with republican simplicity. The wire-pullers behind 
 the scene evidently meant to make a great impression, as if 
 such a mind as that of Miss Harcourt could be vanquished 
 by glitter and gewgaw. None are so puerile and contempt- 
 ible, in dealing with a woman of real merit, as those who 
 have spent their lives among the mere apologies of woman- 
 hood. They passed leisurely through the country, seeking 
 in their way whatever was sublime, beautiful or picturesque 
 in scenery, or pleasant in rustic life. Miss Harcourt enjoyed 
 it much. While they were in the heart of what is called the 
 Beech Woods, Sarah remarked that it reminded her of the 
 forests in Mapleton, which were equally dense and profound. 
 
 "Mapleton!" said Mrs. Marmot: "did you ever know 
 Mapleton?" 
 
 "I lived there a short time, when I was a child." 
 
 " Then you must have heard of our great colonial leader 
 in the West?" 
 
 "What, Samuel Gilfort ?" 
 
 " The same, the most distinguished man in the valley of 
 the Mississippi." 
 
 " He is a dreadful creature ! " replied Sarah, with a shud- 
 der. 
 
 "Indeed, Miss Harcourt," said Mr. Marmot, "do you 
 think so?" 
 
 " My dear Blandy," said Mrs. Marmot, "the best men 
 are often most maligned." 
 
 "And the worst men pass for the greatest saints," replied 
 Sarah. 
 
 "No doubt, no doubt," said Marmot, waiving the subject.
 
 888 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 " The lake view, I believe, is one of the charms of Maple- 
 ton." 
 
 " Yes, it is very pretty," replied Sarah; and then they 
 passed to subjects in general. 
 
 The object of this conversation was to sound Miss Harcourt 
 as to the possibility of having Gilfort join them in the jour- 
 ney, who was all this time so near as to have daily communi- 
 cation with the Marmots. They had become the perfect dupes 
 of his pleasure. It is impossible to conceive of one mind so 
 completely occupying the place of another. What is it? 
 Mesmerism? witchcraft? Col. Stone's book on Mathias, 
 the impostor, details facts on this subject too astounding to 
 be believed, except on evidence not to be doubted. That very 
 evening the Marmots saw Gilfort, when the latter inquired, 
 " How lies the land ? Can I join you ? " 
 
 "By no means, venerated father," said Marmot, giving 
 him the title common to Gilfort's dupes. " Conversion is a 
 slow process, even with the most convincing evidence. Your 
 presence will drive the bird from its cage." 
 
 " My blood boiled to hear her abuse your sacred person," 
 said Mrs. Marmot. 
 
 "Nevermind. Treat her kindly. I '11 meet you in the 
 heart of the great prairie, where there is no danger of an 
 escape." 
 
 Accordingly, Gilfort left the next morning, and went with 
 all speed to his seat in Missouri. 
 
 Leaving Miss Harcourt to her journey, we will follow Gil- 
 fort to his home. We will sketch the principles of his colo- 
 nial power, or the nature of the tree into which his initiated 
 were engrafted. Unfortunately, it was a tree that reversed 
 the ordinary law, the stock, and not the scion, determining
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 389 
 
 the character of the fruit. The cardinal principle was that 
 of England's king : 
 
 "And thus I clothe my naked villany 
 With old odd ends, stolen forth of Holy Writ." 
 
 Gilfort, unlike Richard the Third, really thought himself 
 invested with scriptural authority to do as he did. He had 
 derived this perversion from the fountain that supplied his 
 his blood. He had nourished it with wine. It was part 
 and parcel of his being. His speech before his chosen leaders, 
 on this his return among them, lets out the heart of the 
 man. 
 
 " I cannot too highly commend," he said, "the zeal and 
 faithfulness with which you have managed our colonial 
 interests during my absence. This colony is yet in its 
 infancy ; but I foresee that it will grow till it absorbs all 
 others, and rules the nations. Our principles entitle us to 
 this destiny, and are a pledge that we shall enjoy it. The 
 other nations are to us what the Canaanites were to Israel, 
 a prey, a booty, which we are at liberty to appropriate by any 
 means in our power. Joshua, David, Elijah, and all the 
 heads of Israel, used stratagem with their enemies, and we 
 must do the same with ours. Their riches are our riches ; 
 their houses our houses ; their pleasures our pleasures ; their 
 wives our wives. We are the sons of God, to whom are given 
 the daughters of men, that we may choose wives among them 
 according to the desire of our eyes. They are doomed, and we 
 are not required to observe faith in our dealings with them. 
 Was Jacob precise as to his mode of appropriating the flocks of 
 the Syrian 7 Did not Simeon and Levi first weaken their 
 enemies by a pious fraud, and then put them to the sword 1 
 Did not Samuel hew down Agag before the Lord ? These 
 33*
 
 390 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 things are our examples in dealing with the Gentiles of our 
 own age. 
 
 ' ' We must treat them as God treats them. He has made 
 them a curse, and we must make them a prey. Stratagem 
 is our policy. If temporizing will give us the greater advan- 
 tage over them, we will temporize; if cutting them down, 
 root and branch, serves our purpose better, we will cut them 
 down. This is the course to which we are beckoned by the 
 lights of example." 
 
 Think not, reader, that this is an improbable story. The 
 Jesuits, from the beginning, have acted on the same principles. 
 Of all parties and organizations, those which assume to be the 
 special favorites of heaven, to whom all other parties and or- 
 ganizations are given as a prey, to be dealt with as Israel were 
 required by a special dispensation to deal with a doomed race 
 of old, are the most dangerous, demoralizing, and destructive. 
 They claim a divine right to repress the sentiments of 
 humanity, to disregard truth and justice, and to act against 
 the freedom of the world. Of precisely the same character 
 are attempts to justify any specific wrong by the Bible, 
 such as slavery, despotism, and the liquor traffic, and drink- 
 ing customs of society. Do the Scriptures convert wrong 
 into right, falsehood into truth, vice into virtue, and make 
 over natural injustice into justice, by a special dispensation ? 
 Is the Bible given to stultify reason and conscience ? Is it to 
 preserve forever unstanched the blood of war ? Is it to 
 render the chains of the slave eternal? Did Christ set 
 Heaven's imprint to the alcoholic trade and usages, by con- 
 verting water into wine ? Will Christian men write books 
 and preach sermons prostituting revealed religion to purposes 
 BO base, so abhorrent to humanity ? 
 
 0, ye scribes of the people ! I warn you' to beware of sport-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 391 
 
 ing with heaven's thunder ! Touch not the ark of God with 
 polluted hands ! Involve not eternal truth with your 
 temporary questions and perishable interests ! Seek not 
 asylum for the world's corruptions in the sanctuary of the 
 Most High ! If what you assume were true, which, thank 
 God, it is not ! that the Bible tolerates wrong and oppres- 
 sion, then humanity will sweep it away, with the Koran, 
 Shasters, Zendavesta, and all those ancient charters under 
 which error and wickedness have so long intrenched them- 
 selves. If it were indeed a charter to protect and perpetuate 
 hoary abuses, then, perish its pages, perish its priests, perish 
 its prophets, perish its principles, perish its precepts, perish 
 its church, its litany, and its ritual ! Your reasoning cannot 
 save it. It ought not to save it. It is not worth saving. 
 Nothing is worth saving which arrays itself against humanity, 
 against freedom, against virtue, against God. I beseech you 
 to take warning by the Gilfortites and the Jesuits, not to 
 prop up the liquor traffic, slavery, the drinking usage's, or 
 any existing abuse, by an appeal to the Word of God. The 
 same Intelligence speaks in revelation as in nature, nor does 
 he affirm in the one what he denies in the other. 
 
 Gifort found, on his return, that Bludgeon's emigrant host 
 had pitched not many miles distant. Full of mischief against 
 one by whom he had been so severely rebuked, he sent a man 
 with a cask of whiskey into his camp, to try the strength of 
 its temperance principles. Accordingly, the man posted him- 
 self under an awning, in a convenient position for his trade, 
 and began to expose the seductive commodity in the market. 
 Under ordinary circumstances, the bait would not have taken ; 
 but now, afflicted with disease, as the emigrants were, by a 
 change of water, fatigued by a long journey and its many 
 privations, and prostrated by the relaxing heat of a bilious
 
 392 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 atmosphere, they deemed it prudent to buy a little as medi- 
 cine, which even their temperance pledge allowed. 
 
 But not a few of them were reformed drunkards, and 
 could not use the article at all without abusing it. Con- 
 sequently, when Bludgeon arrived, who had not yet joined 
 them, he found, to his mortification, that his forlorn hope of 
 total abstinence were convulsed with riot and drunkenness. 
 Moses descending from the mount to witness the idolatry of 
 the golden calf could scarcely have felt intenser indigna- 
 tion. His blood boiled, his chest heaved, and he felt, for 
 once, a despair of the efficacy of his own principles. But he 
 restrained the expression of his feelings. He soon learned 
 where the serpent lay concealed, as he had divined before- 
 hand the den from which he had emerged, knowing their con- 
 tiguity to Gilfort's colony. He went quietly to the Avhiskey- 
 factor's awning, and said, " What do you ask for a pint of 
 that medicine ? " 
 
 "A phip," said the man. 
 
 " A phip ! " replied Bludgeon ; " that 's dirt cheap. I 'd 
 thought it would be a bit, in this distant country." 
 
 " No, we have n't far to bring it ; we can afford it cheap," 
 said the man. 
 
 " Eh, I see," said Bludgeon ; and, seizing an axe, he 
 dealt a furious blow ot the barrel-head, when out rushed the 
 imprisoned enemy, and sunk into the prairie mould, without the 
 hope of a resurrection. 
 
 "There you have a market for all at once," he added. 
 " Now, go and tell your master to send all he has, and we '11 
 buy it up in the same way ! " 
 
 The fellow, looking round, prepared to pitch in upon the 
 assailant of his merchandise ; but, seeing Bludgeon's bony 
 battery standing in an attitude of defiance, his caution pre- 
 dominated, and he made his escape.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 393 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 MISS HARCOURT'S ADVENTURES. 
 
 " Be what thou wilt, thou art my prisoner. 
 0, fairest beauty, do not fear, nor fly ! 
 For I will touch thee but with reverent hands, 
 And lay them gently on thy tender side." SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 Miss HARCOURT had by this time become a subject of general 
 interest and notoriety. The world was full of curiosity con- 
 cerning a young lady whose fate involved the fall of a man 
 of Mr. Skampton's position, the possession of whose person 
 had been an object of so much scheming with the great 
 colonial dignitary of the West, whose loss had driven an 
 opulent father to madness, a noble lover into foreign countries, 
 and for whom so many men of eminence were ready to 
 jeopard property and life. 
 
 After the conversation upon Gilfort, noticed in the fore- 
 going chapter, Miss Harcourt heard not a disagreeable sen- 
 timent in all the early part of her journey, but everything to 
 entertain and delight her. Their city sight-seeing was as 
 pleasant as it was improving. Acting by the supposed 
 order of her father, whom she expected to meet in a few days, 
 no suspicion of the snare into which she had fallen crossed 
 her mind. She was peaceful, buoyant, happy, happy both 
 in herself and in the confidence of her personal associates. 
 Indeed, they were everything to her that friendship could 
 demand ; bland, gracious, prompt to anticipate her every 
 want, and seemingly congenial sharers in her sentiments of
 
 394 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 piety and devotion. Their route, after leaving the city, was 
 not direct, but circuitous ; the avowed object of which was to 
 afford her a view of all that was rare and extraordinary in 
 the country through which they were passing. Whatever 
 was enchanting in scenery, sublime and awful in precipice and 
 cascade, beautiful in .the green expanse of ocean prairies 
 dotted with forest islands to diversify and relieve the view, 
 yea, whatever was delightful in cultivated or uncultivated 
 nature, was spread out before her, to entertain, amuse, and 
 occupy her thoughts. Their plan seemed to be to bury the past 
 in the present, and with new scenes to open upon their ward 
 new hopes and aspirations, to make her a more pliant and 
 obsequious acquisition to him who hoped to rule her destiny. 
 Vain, delusive expectation ! Those who live to eat, drink 
 and enjoy, may be thus disposed of; but not the devotees of 
 right, not the heirs of high-born faith and duty. 
 
 "You see," said Mrs. Marmot to Sarah, as they approached 
 the end of their journey, " how magnificent are nature's 
 works. How unlike the meagre productions of art ! How 
 little you who confine yourselves to cities know of the riches, 
 splendor and magnificence, of the world we inhabit!" 
 
 " You are aware that I am not of this kind. I am a plant 
 of the country. I always loved the country," said Sarah. 
 
 "Ah, yes; but not as I do," said Mrs. Marmot, with 
 something unusual in her manner, that surprised Sarah. 
 " Would that I could transfer my vision to you, and then you 
 would enjoy the country as I do." 
 
 "Wherein is your vision different from mine? Are not 
 the hues of light the s,ame to both? Are flowers more 
 blooming to the one than the other? Do not the sights, 
 sounds, odors, clouds, vapors, trees, birds, grass and all vis- 
 ible things, alike invite the admiration of every beholder? "
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 395 
 
 "No, Sarah. Even you must confess that cultivated 
 minds see in them charms which are not revealed to the 
 uncultivated." 
 
 " True, cultivation is necessary to enjoy nature ; and no 
 doubt some are constitutionally more susceptible to its im- 
 pressions than others. Do you mean more than this?" 
 inquired Sarah, still impressed that some unexplained mys- 
 tery lurked in the words of her friend. 
 
 "I suppose you confess to seeing a divinity in these 
 things," said Mrs. Marmot, warily opening he'r own fanatical 
 ideas upon one whom she was anxious to indoctrinate into 
 the same. 
 
 " Certainly. The Lord made the heavens and the earth ; 
 and he leaves not himself without witness, in that he does 
 good, and gives rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling 
 our hearts with food and gladness. The Bible teaches us 
 this, and nature teaches the same. But still, a spiritual mind 
 is alone competent to feel and enjoy it." 
 
 "Precisely so; a spiritual mind is alone capable of seeing 
 a spiritual God. But you know the young prophet saw 
 more than this, when Elisha prayed that his eyes might be 
 opened. He saw the mountains full of chariots and horses 
 of fire. Now, this is what I see, Sarah. All things around 
 me teem with living, angelic beings. 0, how beautiful ! 
 how beautiful ! I see them now moving to and fro like the 
 dancing sunbeams, like the leaping lightning. I hear them, 
 I hear them ! 0, how transporting ! It is heavenly music ! " 
 And, during the saying of this, the action, expression and 
 intonation of Mrs. Marmot were an exact reflection of what 
 she uttered, as if it was all as real as the prairie scenery. 
 
 Sarah was confounded, and thought it a mere panto- 
 mime to amuse her; or, doubting what to think, she said,
 
 396 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 " 0, Mrs. Marmot, you are joking ! You want to put my 
 credulity to the test. You need not think me so easily 
 duped." * 
 
 "Joking? Do you think I could joke on a subject like 
 this ? I am all the time seeing these angelic beings. I talk 
 ' with them, and they talk with me. I can get answers from 
 them at any time. I am a medium. I see them at morning 
 and evening, reposing on their rosy pillows of cloud and va- 
 por. 0, how beautiful ! how beautiful ! They dance in 
 the ambient air. They leap from cloud to cloud. They 
 sport in ether. X), Sarah, that you could see what I see, 
 hear what I hear, feel what I feel ! " 
 
 " Pray, Mrs. Marmot, who taught you all this? Let me 
 know, and I will take lessons of him." 
 
 "Will you?" said Mrs. Marmot, who felt that she had 
 reached the point, and got the pledge she desired. ' ' I will 
 tell you. If you will lay aside your prejudices, and take 
 lessons, I can assure you it will not be a week before you will 
 enjoy these glorious sights and sounds." 
 
 " Call in your teacher, then. I am ready for the first 
 lesson," said Sarah, smiling. 
 
 " No, "not till we get to Sylvan Creek." 
 
 " Does my teacher live at Sylvan Creek ? " 
 
 11 That is one of his homes." 
 
 "What is his name?" 
 
 " 0, the wicked call him Samuel Gilfort, but I call 
 
 " Horribl?! Do you speak of that vile man ? " exclaimed 
 Sarah, perfectly thunderstruck. 
 
 " Sarah, Sarah, stop ! You know not what you are say- 
 ing. I would not call him so for all the world. He has 
 taught me more about spiritual beings than all other men." 
 
 "You do not know that man," said Sarah, in great con-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 397 
 
 sternation at the mania of confidence with which Mrs. Mar- 
 mot spoke of Gilfort. " I know well where he spent his 
 youth ; and his character was as bad as fraud, and vice, and 
 strong drink, could make it." 
 
 "Those are slanders, pure, malicious slanders, Sarah. 
 You do not know him, but will now have an opportunity to 
 correct your mistake." 
 
 " What ! by Gilfort's acquaintance ? No, never ! never ! " 
 said Sarah, positively. 
 
 She had scarcely done speaking, when Gilfort rode up, with 
 a troop of attendants, and horses gorgeously caparisoned. 
 Mrs. Marmot exclaimed, in ecstasy, " Here he comes ! 
 here he comes ! " 
 
 Sarah turned deadly pale, as her real condition, in the 
 power of Gilfort, now took possession of her mind. " ! " 
 said she to herself, " my presentiments ! my presentiments ! 
 How sadly, too sadly, are they realized ! My father ! my 
 father ! can it be you are in the secret of all this 1 My, 
 head is giddy. My heart is faint. God of love, hold up thy 
 sinking child ! On thy promised protection I lean." 
 
 By the time these ejaculations had passed through her 
 mind, she had so far rallied her sinking spirits as to escape 
 fainting, which she dreadfully feared. That her person 
 should thus fall, without the power of resistance, into such 
 hands, seemed to her worse than a hundred deaths. Gilfort 
 approached, and reached out his hand to her with an air of 
 extreme gallantry, which brought the timid blood again to 
 her cheeks, and she stood in all the strength of her womanly 
 scorn and resistance. Holding her hands firm by her side, 
 she said, 
 
 " Sir, what have I to do with you 7 " 
 
 " To do with me, Miss Harcourt 1 " rejoined Gilfort, with 
 34
 
 398 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 a patronizing and gracious air. " Cannot old friends ex- 
 change greeting, after so long an absence? " 
 
 " I never acknowledged you as a friend, sir, and I never 
 will." 
 
 " You will change your mind, Miss Harcourt, when you 
 know me. I have been slandered. You have heard all these 
 evil stories. I cannot blame you. But, Miss Harcourt, you 
 may yet learn how deeply I have been injured. I am 
 entirely another being from what you think me to be." 
 
 " Then rejoice in the consciousness. I have no interest to 
 know it. I know enough of you already. If you think, 
 by decoying me into this distant country, to cultivate my 
 acquaintance, you will find yourself mistaken. I will die 
 first ! " 
 
 " Shall I smite the Philistine ? " said one of Gilfort's over- 
 zealous followers, drawing his sword. 
 
 "Yes, let him smite," said Sarah. "He will see that I 
 have the courage to die, before admitting such a man to my 
 acquaintance. The God who gave me my being will take it 
 to himself, ere he will suffer it to feel the contamination of 
 such influence." 
 
 A frown from Gilfort was sufficient to hasten the fellow's 
 sword into its scabbard again, and to send him in confusion 
 behind the scene. 
 
 " My dear Sarah, how can you repel such condescension? " 
 said Mrs. Marmot. 
 
 Nervous or mental illusions are far more common than the 
 sober, orderly portion of the community are willing to be- 
 lieve. Though our story comes far short of the facts daily 
 told of spiritual rappings and intercourse with the dead, 
 or of kindred manifestations in every age, yet it must to 
 many appear improbable. Fiction on this subject, to chal-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 
 
 lenge belief, must stop short of fact. To account for these 
 phenomena may be difficult. That there is a real power in 
 mesmerism over the nervous system, and also to produce men- 
 tal illusions, it is now generally conceded. Some, of course, 
 are more susceptible than others, and the manifestations are 
 in no two cases perhaps exactly alike: But still there are 
 lines of resemblance throughout. Alcohol is another and 
 still more powerful agent in generating mental illusions. In 
 the earlier stages, it raises pleasing fancies in the mind, of 
 riches, splendor, luxury, power, angelic loveliness, and super- 
 human grandeur. But, as the disease progresses, these are 
 turned into deformities, devils, wasps, spiders, and the most 
 horrible monsters, investing the patient, as in a case of delir- 
 ium tremens. All these nervous disturbances affecting the 
 mind, whether leading to profanity or to prayer, to the inter- 
 course of angels or devils, fall under the same category. In 
 the* case of Gilfort, mesmerism, alcohol, education, habit, 
 constitution and favoring circumstances, all united to cast his 
 own mental illusions into a fixed and most unique form ; and, 
 being united with great shrewdness and concentration, he had 
 the power of casting other minds, of a given constitution, into 
 the same form, and thus of generating a new spiritual dis- 
 ease, and a new school of patients to propagate the infection 
 among men. Mrs. Marmot, and her husband with her, were 
 dupes, and doubtless perfectly sincere. In the deception 
 practised with Miss Harcourt, they simply carried out the 
 will of another, which to them had become the supreme law 
 of right and wrong. 
 
 The scene just described took place in the open prairie, on 
 the day of their arrival at Sylvan Creek. They had stopped 
 to refresh ; and, after they had done so, they took up their 
 line of march, bearing due west, being conducted by Gilfort
 
 400 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 and his company for some distance. Miss Harcourt, in a 
 state of mind better imagined than described, mechanically- 
 moved forward with them, because no alternative was left her. 
 She was happy, at length, to be relieved of Gilfort's pres- 
 ence, by his bearing off diagonally to the south-west, and 
 soon disappearing. He left Sarah and the Marmots an am- 
 ple supply of servants for their new establishment. It 
 proved to be a neat and elegantly furnished Swiss cottage, 
 situated in the shade of a small wood, which stood like an 
 island in the midst of a green meadow-sea. 
 
 Miss Harcourt was too much fatigued to take much notice 
 of the place, and too much agitated in mind to be interested 
 in anything about her. She saw she was among fanatics and 
 madmen, who were deaf to the voice of reason and the plead- 
 ings of humanity. The mask was now thrown off, because 
 they found no further occasion for wearing it. Their wine 
 potations were deep and frequent, and they were all the time 
 under its disguising influence. It was a home of mesmeric, 
 alcoholic insanity. Sarah repaired at once to the room as- 
 signed her, to seek the repose she felt she needed, but which 
 her anomalous position did not permit her at once to enjoy. 
 
 She queried with herself, " Can it be possible that my 
 father knew the kind of people to whom he committed me ? 
 Did he mistrust their obsequiousness to Gilfort ? No, no ! 
 he knew the vileness of that man as well as I. He is inca- 
 pable of so base an act. Did he know my present situation, 
 he would be driven to madness. 0, my Father in heaven, 
 the trial of trials has come ! come in the form least ex- 
 pected, least prepared for, least endurable, in this wilder- 
 ness country, more than a thousand miles from my natural 
 protectors, among those whose teeth are spears and arrows, 
 and their tongue a sharp sword ; whose fanaticism is an un-
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 401 
 
 fathomable gulf, that swallows up faith, sincerity, honor, every 
 kindly sympathy and every virtuous sentiment, and whose 
 intemperance makes them demons ! My head is giddy ; my 
 heart aches ; I sink, I die ! " And, throwing herself on a 
 sofa, she remained for some time in a condition of dreamy 
 horror, of which she could give no exact account. 
 
 Her nature, having exhausted its sensations of woe, gradu- 
 ally recovered its tone, and she began to take more just views 
 of her condition. She reflected that, whatever wrong had 
 been done, she was guiltless, and it became her, as a Chris- 
 tian woman, to commit herself to a covenant-keeping God, 
 the same as to a sickness, or any other misfortune. The 
 Providence that had brought the trial had his own modes of 
 deliverance. To rail and embitter her feelings against the 
 wicked instruments of her suffering, instead of mitigating, 
 increased its poignancy. Considerations like these occurred, 
 but not with entire relief, because she was haunted with tor- 
 menting fears for the future. It was not the fear of poverty, 
 disease or death, but the more terrible evil of personal insult. 
 She was in the power of one who, to her view, was the incar- 
 nation of evil, fraud, fanaticism, rapine, violence and mur- 
 der ; and the difficulties investing her seemed a turbulent sea, 
 without a bottom or a shore. Wild and dreadful conjectures 
 as to what might befall her tortured her imagination with 
 ideas more tormenting than the reality of death itself. 
 
 To whom could she appeal, but to Infinite, to Parental 
 Love ? To a late hour of the night she continued this appeal. 
 " Faith, faith ! " she said, " shall I preach faith and not 
 practise it ? Ah, the hour of trial proves the strength of a 
 principle ! Shall I fail in the ordeal ? Are not my Father's 
 promises sure 1 Are they not equal to any crisis ? Lord, I 
 believe, help thou my unbelief! " 
 34*
 
 402 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 Nor were thoughts and devotions like these without their 
 effect. Her heart again dilated with hope. " Victory, vic- 
 tory ! my victory is in my faith. Lord, the assurance that 
 thou wilt be with me is all I ask. Thy presence is hope in 
 despair, joy in grief, happiness in death." She came to feel 
 it a mere point of difference whether she were in one place or 
 another, among friends or foes, in comfort or discomfort, so 
 that God filled and overwhelmed her with a sense of his 
 presence. In this state of mind she laid down, and slept 
 sweetly till morning. And, upon awaking, her first aspiration 
 was, " How precious are thy thoughts unto me, 0, God ! how 
 great is the sum of them ! If I should count them, they are 
 more in number than the sand ! When I awake, I am still 
 with thee." 
 
 It was yet early. She walked out to contemplate the 
 scenery of her prison. She extended her walk quite round 
 the wood in which the cottage was built, and could see nothing 
 in any direction but a boundless sea of waving grass. The 
 wood was full of birds, as if all the feathered songsters, to 
 which the surrounding prairie furnished subsistence, had con- 
 gregated there for the convenience of nests and roosts, so that 
 their infinitely variegated notes floated in the breezes, and 
 sent up to heaven the sweet warblings of their bird-song. It 
 was such a scene as she had never contemplated. Its sub- 
 limity, beauty, joyousness, were unspeakable, unknown. 
 
 To add to the enchantment of the place, a lovely little 
 brook, unlike any she had seen in the prairie country, be- 
 cause it was limpid, pellucid and babbling flowed, at her feet. 
 Its movement was brisk, affording an ample supply of 
 delicious water, which here reposed in little ponds fit for bath- 
 ing ; there rippling and wandering among the smooth stones, it 
 exposed its beauties to view ; while there again, it modestly
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 403 
 
 concealed itself in the tall prairie grass. Sarah yielded to the 
 adoring outburst of her feelings, exclaiming, "This is truth, 
 this is nature ; it cannot deceive ; it is God's handiwork- 
 manship; it is a relic of Eden; it is pencilled by infinite 
 love ! The sight of it is worth all my troubles, all my fears ! " 
 
 Sarah returned to her room and locked it, resolved to have 
 no intercourse with a family who had shown themselves so 
 utterly base and unworthy of her confidence. At the hour 
 of breakfast, Mrs. Marmot knocked at the door, but Sarah 
 refused to open it. 
 
 " My dear child," said Mrs. Marmot, tenderly, " you must 
 have your breakfast. You will make yourself sick. You 
 must have refreshment, after so long a journey." 
 
 " The loss of my breakfast, Madam, is a trifling cause of 
 sickness, compared with the loss of my liberty." 
 
 " My dear Sarah, can you say you have lost your liberty? 
 Have we not left you free as air at every step you have 
 taken?" 
 
 "It was the liberty of deceit, Madam; the liberty of a 
 bird decoyed into a snare. You are guilty of abduction, and 
 now hold me as your prisoner. It is useless for you to plead 
 innocence. If you think a breakfast so necessary to my 
 health, bring it here. I shall not breakfast out of my room." 
 
 Mrs. Marmot left, therefore, and soon returned with her 
 husband, bringing her breakfast. 
 
 " I understand, Miss Harcourt, that you charge us with 
 your abduction," said Mr. Marmot. 
 
 " I do ! You have brought me here stealthily, knowing 1 
 would not come, if I understood the circumstances." 
 
 " We have done nothing without your father's order."* 
 
 " That cannot be ! My father would never intentionally 
 deal with me thus."
 
 404 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 " My dear," said Marmot to his wife, " bring Mr. Har- 
 court's letters." 
 
 The letters were brought, and now, for the first time, Sarah 
 learned the object her father had in view in taking her to 
 "Wyoming. The agency of Skampton in the business was also 
 revealed. As to that of Gilfort she was left to conjecture, 
 though she did not doubt it. She was perfectly thunder- 
 struck, especially at the part her father had acted. 
 
 "You see," said Mr. Marmot, "that I stipulated with 
 your father for the entire control of your person. And here 
 he concedes it," reading the following from one of the letters : 
 " From the high character I have received of you, I have no 
 hesitation in conceding to you, for the time being, the entire 
 control of my daughter's person, as that seems a necessary 
 condition to the cure of her malady." 
 
 "That must be a forgery, like my letters from Terrace- 
 green ! " said Sarah, who had examined and satisfied herself 
 that the letters purporting to come from her father at that 
 place were spurious. 
 
 " How can you affirm that ? " said Mrs. Marmot. " Ex- 
 amine the letter, and you will find every mark about it in 
 your father's own peculiar style." Sarah did so, and was 
 forced to believe that it was genuine. 
 
 " But those from Terracegreen are certainly forgeries." 
 
 " That suspicion of yours. Miss. Harcourt, must be errone- 
 ous," said Marmot, examining the letters, 'j They were 
 written by the same hand that wrote the others." 
 
 " Then my father will be here soon, according to his 
 promise ? " 
 
 ' ' Yes, unless he wishes longer to detain you here. He 
 has a high opinion of the colony and its leader." 
 
 " You are certainly deceived as to my father's feelings on
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 405 
 
 that subject. I have heard him express a contrary opinion, 
 over and over again." 
 
 " Well, he ought to have," said Mrs. Marmot, earnestly. 
 
 " I do not wish to dispute with you on any of these points," 
 said Sarah. " Admitting all you say to be true, I am of 
 age, and my father has no right to dispose of my person in 
 this way. I implore you, Mr. Marmot, by the honor of a 
 gentleman, to conduct me home." 
 
 " But he has a right to influence your choice of a husband." 
 
 " No, not by such means. Besides, it is impossible for 
 him to succeed in this way. I am now more fixed than ever. 
 And, whatever be your views concerning me, I feel it my duty 
 to say, at once, you will be disappointed. I will die before I 
 violate my own heart's dictates. If you keep me here an 
 age, you will find yourself no nearer your object. Deceive 
 not yourself." This she said to Marmot alone, hoping that 
 he might be somewhat less insane than his wife. 
 
 { ' I have no control in this matter. I only obey the powers 
 that be, which you know we are commanded to do." 
 
 " And a righteous power it is," said Mrs. Marmot, de- 
 voutly. 
 
 " What ! you apply this language to that wicked Gilfort ! " 
 said Sarah, with a shudder. " How can persons of your 
 sense fail to see the absurdity of calling this treatment of .me 
 a righteous act ? Is a fraud righteous ? Is lying righteous ? 
 You deceived me in the motives for taking this journey. It 
 has been throughout a system of falsehood. And now you 
 hold me here against my will, and call it righteous. Woe to 
 them that call evil good ! " 
 
 " What standard have we of right and wrong, but the will 
 of God? " said Marmot. " Does that deserve the name of
 
 406 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 fraud and lying which He commands ? Was it fraud in Israel 
 to borrow the ornaments of the Egyptians 1 " 
 
 " Do you undertake to say you have a special dispensation 
 from heaven to treat me thus ? If so, my opinion of you is 
 lower than ever, and your influence over me is gone. I wish 
 to hear no more." 
 
 Still their attention to her was unremitted. They never con- 
 tradicted her in anything. This was Gilfort's order. He was 
 aware by this time of her father's hopeless insanity, and of 
 Douglass' escape to foreign parts, and he felt that nothing now 
 remained but to subdue her by kindness. Of his success in 
 this he had not a doubt. He judged of her by those who had 
 fallen under his influence, and herein was his mistake. Sarah 
 saw that a boundless prairie and the danger of making her way 
 through a new and unknown country were the least of the 
 difficulties that environed her. She was fenced around by 
 fraud, sanctified by fanaticism, and inflamed by alcohol. She 
 was held by a power which knew no law but its own impulses, 
 no conscience but its own will, and no discrimination as to the 
 means for accomplishing its purposes but what regarded the 
 simple question of success. 
 
 Yea, what was most of all surprising was the fact testified 
 to by Jim, of Gilfort's influence over the husband, as well as 
 the wife, who now held Miss Harcourt in durance vile. It 
 was a conjugal confidence unbroken by infidelity ; because it 
 was an infidelity into which both were alike seduced, through 
 a mysterious perversion of their spiritual nature. Conscience 
 shall we say it ? dictated the wrong. Alas ! what cannot 
 this faculty be coerced into? These facts, however, were 
 cautiously concealed from Miss Harcourt, who remained pure 
 and serene as the diamond amid the filth of its resting place.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 407 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 " She says 
 
 A fire dances before her, and a sound 
 Rings ever in her ear of armed men." TENNYSON. 
 
 " Where yon faithful watch-fires glow, 
 Bold, defying, stands the foe ; 
 Still the cry rings through the night, 
 Guard to guard calls out with might, 
 ' Liberty or death ! "' 
 
 The German of COLLINS. 
 
 SOON after the decent interment of Mr. Littlefield and 
 Samuel Douglass, a rumor reached Mapleton of the abduc- 
 tion of Miss Harcourt, and the fall of Skampton. Of the 
 fate of Charles nothing could be learned with any certainty. 
 Letters were despatched, informing him of the sad events 
 which had happened, and that his father was in prison, and 
 desiring him to come home immediately, to alleviate the suf- 
 ferings of his family. But no answer came. Mrs. Douglass 
 was very uneasy concerning him. in addition to all her other 
 troubles, and therefore besought Mr. Holliston to go at once 
 to Riverton, and learn the facts in the case, and look after the 
 interests of her son. The woes of alcohol seemed to be con- 
 centrated within her doors; and yet, her own spirit was 
 unbroken. Though the foreshadowing of these calamities had 
 made her timid through life, yet the reality of them found her 
 cool, collected, and prepared to do all that woman could do to 
 mitigate their intensity, and alleviate her suffering household. 
 She often visited and comforted her husband in prison, min-
 
 408 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 istered to his bodily wants, now that he more than ever 
 needed it, having a severe cough, and showing unmistakable 
 signs of a speedy release from a state of society in which he 
 was so unfitted to live. She found him more himself than he 
 had been for many years ; so affectionate, s<3 bland, so 
 resigned, and so reasonable in his views of all subjects, and 
 especially of his own wayward career. He had no recollec- 
 tion of the fatal blows which he dealt at his wife and son, but 
 remembered well seeing and striking at a nest of serpents, 
 which were hissing, just ready to bite him ; and that he had 
 no sooner disposed of these than a huge monster came at him, 
 Avith open mouth, and he levelled him to the ground. Poor 
 man ! how sad, sad, the hallucinations of brandy ! 
 
 Mr. Holliston found Mr. Skampton also in prison, and was 
 surprised by the change which had come over him. " I see," 
 said he to Mr. Holliston, "that I have always occupied a 
 false position. I have been pursuing the phantom of reputa- 
 tion and influence. This has betrayed me into many indis- 
 cretions. Under the notion of being a conservator of the 
 public good, I have been promoting the ends of private 
 advancement. I fear I have acted wrong in reference to the 
 liquor traffic. I have not been blessed in it. All I had is 
 gone, both my own fortune and that of my wife, with all 
 my immense accumulations. I am left bare of money, and 
 bankrupt in friends. None come to my relief, and here I 
 languish in prison. I have injured you, Mr. Holliston, and 
 your friends. I have injured the Douglass family." 
 
 "Yes, more than you know." said Mr. Holliston, detail- 
 ing to him the late facts. Skampton wept at the recital. 
 
 "And Charles, I learn, has escaped to England," he added. 
 "Abused young man! I wonder not that he should have 
 charged me as he did ! I have been under a delusion, these
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 409 
 
 many years, Mr. Holliston, during which I have inflicted all 
 these injuries. Now the just retribution returns on my own 
 head. 0, that it may relieve me of my guilt ! " 
 
 Mr. Holliston felt keenly for the poor man, went his bail, 
 and thus delivered him from prison, and proffered him every 
 service in his power. 
 
 "Mr. Skampton, my heart is drawn towards you as never 
 before," said Mr. Holliston; -"I have never seen you so near 
 right. You have been the dupe of flattery. Perhaps I, with 
 your money, and in your circumstances, might have fallen in 
 the same way. God's government is one of mercy. He loves 
 to forgive the penitent. I am not your accuser, Mr. Skamp- 
 ton. No, no ; I would imitate Heaven's mercy. I pray for 
 a mind to do by you as I should wish you to do by me had I 
 been in your temptations, and fallen into your circumstances." 
 
 These words of love fell like heaven's dews upon a parched 
 soil, and raised in the crushed heart of the fallen man his 
 first tendency towards the bloom of hope, and the fruit of a 
 repentance not to be repented of. 
 
 Mr. Holliston sent the following letter to Charles Douglass 
 by the next steamer, to urge his return as soon as possible. 
 After detailing the Mapleton tragedy, the letter adds : 
 
 " Miss Harcourt has been heard from. She is in Missouri, 
 whither a party of us are about to go, to effect her release. 
 Mr. Skampton has come to a sense of the greatness of his sin. 
 I forgive him, and I know you will when you learn all. Con- 
 victed or not, I do not think he intended as bad as would 
 appear. He is a dupe of Gilfort. It is torturing to reflect 
 that that jewel of a girl, Miss Harcourt, should be decoyed 
 into such hands. Still, we must not despair. We hear from 
 Thomas Bludgeon who is now encamping in the neighbor- 
 35
 
 410 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 hood where she is everything to encourage the hope of Tier 
 speedy and safe release. You must keep up heart, and 
 hope. Everything demands your immediate return. 
 , "Your affectionate and devoted friend, 
 
 "D. H." 
 
 The party who went to the rescue of Miss Harcourt was 
 De Lisle, with the sheriff, Mr. Holliston and Mr. Skampton. 
 De Lisle felt too much interest for Harcourt, who was now 
 hopelessly insane, and also for the rescue of his dear young 
 friend, to intrust the e*ftterprise to other hands. He took it 
 upon himself to head the party, and was legally intrusted 
 with the guardianship of the Harcourt interests during the 
 insanity of the father and the absence of the daughter. 
 
 Meantime, Gilfort watched every avenue to his caged bird. 
 His colonial home was some miles south of the house and 
 grove occupied by the Marmots. But he visited them daily, 
 sometimes in the uniform of a major-general, and sometimes 
 in the cassock of a priest ; thus grotesquely blending, in his 
 dress and equipage, the most opposite and ludicrous extremes. 
 He generally rode in a carriage brilliant in its platings of 
 the precious metals, drawn by fine horses, and attended by a 
 platoon of servants in uniform, to protect his person, execute 
 his behests, and give an air of royal state to his movements. 
 
 The public are little aware of the heterogeneous elements 
 which our vast interior prairies bring together. All possible 
 ideas of social organization and of religious opinion there seek 
 to embody themselves under the forms of colonial life. High- 
 born and low-born aspirants to dominion there plant the tree 
 of their power. Our continent is a great seething-pot, into 
 which the world's prophets cast herbs of all kinds, healthful 
 and poisonous. But the dangerous compound, we trust, will
 
 MOEE WORK FOE THE MAINE LAW. 411 
 
 hereafter be relieved of its noxious properties by the ferment- 
 ations of time, or the hand of our future Elishas, doing their 
 work truly and effectually, in the name of the Lord. 
 
 Now, more than ever, Gilfort was attentive to appear- 
 ances x because he was not without the hope of winning upon 
 the ambitious feelings of Miss Harcourt, of whose real char- 
 acter he knew as little as of that of an angel. In these 
 visits he took every measure to enter into free conversation 
 with her. But no arts of his own, and no persuasions of the 
 Marmots, could induce her either to leave her room during 
 his presence, or to admit of ingress toit. She never deigned 
 to afford him the sorry gratification of so much as looking out 
 to see the splendor of his equipage, or the pomp and circum- 
 stance of his train. 
 
 At length, Gilfort came to the door of her room, and 
 requested to be admitted. But she positively refused. 
 
 " What I ask, Mr. Gilfort, is my liberty," she said. " No 
 lady could be expected to receive as a friend one who detained 
 her as his prisoner." 
 
 "I give you your liberty, but with this condition, that 
 you treat me as a friend, and remain under our charge till 
 your father comes for you," said Gilfort. 
 
 " How do I know my father will come, can come, or even 
 knows where I am ? Besides, I must have my liberty, to go 
 where I please, and come when I please, long enough to put 
 you to the proof whether you are worthy of ny friendship. 
 I wish you no ill, Mr. Gilfort ; but it is not, in the nature of 
 things, possible to respect you, after what I have experienced, 
 till you have given me time to know that you are worthy to 
 be respected. Nor would you ask me, if your feelings were 
 honorable." 
 
 "It is useless," said Gilfort. "I could not comply with
 
 412 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 such conditions, if I would ; because Mr. and Mrs. Marmot 
 will do as they please ; and they have come under pledges to 
 your father to retain the care of your person. This is their 
 house. Have you a right, as a conscientious lady, to exclude 
 their guest?" 
 
 "They have assigned me this room, and that gives me a 
 right to say who I will admit into it. I have referred my 
 cause to the orphan's Protector. And now, Mr. Gilfort, 
 that you may be under no deception, I deem it my duty to 
 inform you that, impelled by immutable instincts, I shall 
 defend the majesty of my personal rights with blood. You 
 will not enter my room except it be over my dead body." 
 
 The positive, collected, determined manner in which this 
 was said was not without its effect. With all his daring 
 adventures, Gilfort was a coward, and no man was more shy 
 of a danger threatening life. He feared to encounter one 
 who felt such a poignant sense of personal insult, one who 
 had resolved to defend the inviolability of her person with the 
 last drop of her life's blood. From week to week, therefore, 
 he delayed extreme measures, hoping his victim might be 
 worn out by confinement, and come to easier terms. Every 
 allurement of wealth, honor and splendor, was held out to 
 her, even for the privilege of a free conversation. But it 
 only increased her abhorrence of the man and his principles. 
 Gilfort made the mistake of supposing her selfish as himself, 
 and this was Miss Harcourt's salvation. Had he known her, 
 he would have employed force at the outset ; for then he 
 would have understood the futility of all other means. 
 
 Failing in these measures, Gilfort brought himself to be- 
 lieve that force was indispensable; and, not choosing to 
 encounter the danger of breaking his way alone into Miss 
 Harcourt's room, he brought with him a troop of sufficient
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 413 
 
 size to encircle the house, hoping -to terrify her into sub- 
 mission. He proposed that Sarah should peaceably resign 
 herself to him, with this pledge, that she should be treated in 
 all respects becoming her womanly sanctity. 
 
 "If you do not yield to this reasonable demand," he said, 
 " I will order my men to break down your door, and put you 
 in my power in a way to prevent your doing violence to your- 
 self or me ; and, if you fall into my hands thus, I shall be 
 relieved of all pledges." 
 
 " It is vain for you to address me thus," said Sarah. " I 
 should be as safe in your hands without your pledges as with 
 them. I shall not resign myself. I will die first. This is 
 the boon that heaven grants me in the choice of evils so ex- 
 treme. Death, or immunity against your perfidy." 
 
 "What! you a Christian, and die by your own hand!" 
 said Gilfort. 
 
 "No, not by my hand, but by the nrffians who attempt 
 to force me into yours. I am now free, personally free, 
 though confined within these walls ; and I appeal to God who 
 made me. and the Saviour who died for me, to second my 
 efforts to keep myself so at the price of blood. Whoever 
 enters this room without my consent must pay the penalty." 
 
 This announcement struck dismay into the hearts of 
 Gilfort's followers. They felt the majesty of virtue incensed, 
 virtue driven to the last extreme for its own protection, and 
 had no more desire than he to fall by the hands of a woman. 
 All this time the eyes of Sarah were imploringly directed to 
 heaven, awaiting deliverance from Him in whom was all her 
 trust. Though compelled to keep her enemies at bay by this 
 decisive manner, she felt how remote her feelings were from 
 bitterness towards them or any human creature, and how 
 freely she would sacrifice anything in their behalf, except 
 35*
 
 414 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 that purity which was given her as a shield, that virtue with- 
 out which life would lose all its charms, and existence all that 
 makes it desirable. 
 
 It was with difficulty that G-ilfort rallied his panic-struck 
 followers to the assault. Overmastered at last by his author- 
 ity, they began to deal their blows on the outside of the 
 building opposite to Miss Harcourt's room, deeming that less 
 hazardous than forcing the door. Clapboard after clapboard 
 was torn off, and a way was soon opened into her apartment 
 of sufficient size to admit a man, when Gilfort ordered one of 
 his men to enter ; but he hesitated. He gave the same order 
 to another, who also declined. All were equally unwilling to 
 encounter a danger so imminent as that of entering the 
 scanctuary of virtue incensed and armed for resistance to the 
 death. It was now dark. Clouds overcast the scene, and 
 veiled the starry expanse. 0, night, night ! how horrible the 
 crime and misery which thy mantle enfolds ! Thy magio 
 influence soothes some to rest, and arouses others to deeds of 
 blood ! To the last Sarah maintained her confidence. She 
 believed that God would send deliverance. 
 
 Nor was her hope in vain. Deliverance came. The noise 
 of nimble feet proclaimed its approach. De Lisle and 
 his party had arrived that very day, and had called to their 
 aid Bludgeon, with a band of his sturdy yeomanry. Canau- 
 deh, to the surprise of all, was also there to join the company. 
 He had abandoned Terracegreen after the Harcourts left, and 
 gone to the hunting-grounds beyond the Mississippi. Here 
 he heard of Sarah's captivity, and watched his opportunity to 
 join in her rescue. His young blood seemed to return, and, 
 painted and bedecked with the Indian habiliments of war, he 
 proudly marched among the first, brandishing his weapons of 
 death, his gray locks and towering crest waving in the winds.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 415 
 
 The assailing party rushed to the onset, headed by the sheriff, 
 who stated, or tried to state, the commission under which he 
 acted, but was repelled and silenced by the onset of Gilfort 
 and his men. The melee now became universal. Bludgeon 
 spirited his men, doing fearful execution on the foe. He was 
 in his element, though, on principle, he had chosen another 
 field for his prowess, from which nothing but an emergency 
 like this could have drawn him. But still he retained a mar- 
 vellously home feeling in the midst of carnal weapons, and 
 the tumult of deadly onset. He broke like a tempest upon 
 Gilfort's party. Club responded to club, and dagger to 
 dagger. Exploding guns resounded upon the canopy of 
 night. Wounds multiplied, blood flowed, groans were heard 
 in the darkness, and grim-visaged death shook his fiery 
 dart. 
 
 De Lisle, with the sheriff by his side, pushed his way 
 through the contending multitude to the post occupied by 
 Gilfort himself. The latter, seeing his danger of falling into 
 the hands of the law, rushed on the officer, dagger in hand, 
 and would have killed him upon the spot, had not De Lisle 
 interposed and plunged his gleaming steel into his side, when 
 he fell palpitating to the ground. Exasperated to the last 
 extreme by this event, his followers, thirsting for vengeance, 
 were like a bear robbed of her whelps, and employed their 
 weapons with deadly effect. What with the war-whoop of 
 Canaudeh, the wailings of the wounded and dying, the ex- 
 plosion of fire-arms, and the fierce encounter of men fighting 
 hand to hand in the darkness, it was altogether a scene of 
 horror not easily described or conceived. The Gilfort party 
 at length gave way, overpowered by numbers, and took to 
 flight, the Marmots, servants and all, leaving Miss Harcourt 
 the sole occupant of the house.
 
 416 MAPLETON; OR; 
 
 She immediately rushed out, lamp in hand, to do what she 
 could to alleviate the suffering company. Who should she 
 meet but De Lisle, covered with blood. Stretching out his 
 arms, he exclaimed, "My dear Miss Harcourt, you are safe, 
 and I am happy! " 
 
 "0, Mr. De Lisle!" she exclaimed; " my friend, my 
 benefactor ! all bloody 1 you are wounded ! " 
 
 " Only slightly, Miss Harcourt," said De Lisle; "do not 
 be alarmed." 
 
 They had not ceased speaking before Canaudeh came 
 forward, and seized Sarah by both her hands, and, with 
 sounds which had no meaning to any but himself, spoke love, 
 spoke gratitude, spoke eloquence that went to the soul. 
 
 " Canauden ! Canaudeh!" exclaimed Sarah, in perfect 
 astonishment ; " is it you ? is it you ? " 
 
 " My dear Miss Harcourt," said Mr. Skampton, who .lay 
 near, weltering in his blood, ' l can you forgive me, me, so 
 deeply implicated in this foul transaction ? " 
 
 This first sight of Charles' enemy in such a plight, she had 
 reason to believe for her sake, was all the apology or expla- 
 nation she demanded. Taking his feeble hand in her own, 
 she kissed it tenderly, and poured upon it her warm tears, to 
 express feelings of which words are a poor index. 
 
 " Can you forgive me ? " repeated Skampton, faintly. 
 
 " Forgive, Mr. Skampton ? 0, that is too cold ! I love, 
 I cherish, I honor the man who was willing to suffer all this 
 for my sake." 
 
 " Then I die happy," said Skampton, with a smile of 
 sweet serenity, and who was really happier at that moment, 
 in his efforts to atone for the errors of the past, than he had 
 been for many years. No one is so much to be pitied as he 
 who is deluded into assuming such responsibilities as Skamp-
 
 MOKE WORK FOE THE MAINE LAW. 417 
 
 ton had so long stood under ; no one so much to be envied as 
 a genuinely broken heart and contrite spirit. 
 
 "Mr. De Lisle," said Sarah, "-where is my father? Is 
 he here ? " 
 
 " He is ill, and could not come; but I have brought one in 
 his place," replied De Lisle, beckoning to Mr. Holliston, who 
 had just that moment reached the scene of action. 
 
 " My dear Sarah," said the venerable man, taking her by 
 the hand and kissing her with parental tenderness, " how 
 thankful I am to meet you once more alive ! " 
 
 " Most happy, most happy to meet you, Mr. Holliston. 
 Is papa very ill ? " inquired Sarah, with much concern. 
 
 "In no danger of life," said Mr. Holliston, the party 
 having agreed not to make an immediate disclosure of the 
 real facts in the case, hoping still that Mr. Harcourt might 
 recover his reason, and anxious to -save the feelings of his 
 daughter in so trying a moment. 
 
 " Where is Charles, Mr. Holliston 1 " 
 
 " Gone to England to recreate himself; but I have written 
 him, and I think he will soon return." 
 
 " How are Mapleton friends 1 " 
 
 On this point, also, Mr. Holliston deemed it advisable to 
 answer evasively till her mind should be better prepared for 
 the dreadful intelligence. All were much aifected at the 
 condition of Skampton, whom they had dissuaded from 
 exposing himself to danger, but whose zeal to repair the 
 wrongs which he had done had withstood all their arguments. 
 Those who had escaped unhurt now devoted their attention to 
 the wounded. Thus, this home of fanaticism and malignity 
 was converted into a hospital, where humanity wept over a 
 brother's woes, and mercy exerted her healing power. 
 Bludgeon was specially attentive to Skampton, and both won-
 
 418 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 
 
 clered that they had remained so long ignorant of each other's 
 excellences, and now became united in the closest tjpntjs. 
 
 The whole company agreed in one thing, that alcohol was, 
 directly or indirectly, the procuring cause of these tragic, 
 scenes. Alcohol had driven Harcourt mad. Alcohol had 
 precipitated the good Mr. Littlefield upon an untimely death. 
 Alcohol had sacrificed Samuel Douglass. Alcohol had nearly 
 proved the ruin of Charles. Alcohol then held his father in 
 durance vile as the murderer of his own son, and had planted 
 the seeds of a certain and premature death in his excellent 
 constitution. Alcohol was at the foundation of Gilfort's 
 character, and of most of the evils which he had done. And 
 these were but the beginning of the "woes with which it had 
 deluged society. 
 
 One happy* effect of this meeting of extremes was to 
 temper the ultraisms of each ; and even Bludgeon gave up 
 his wild scheme of founding a colony to live on herbs, and 
 thankfully received every creature of God as good, and 
 nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. 
 Skampton became henceforth an earnest temperance man, 
 and a yoke-fellow of Bludgeon in securing the passage of the 
 Maine Law. Even the Marmots returned in a few days to 
 the cottage, confessed their guilty delusion, and did all they 
 could to repair the evil done. Thus, more familiar acquaint- 
 ance, on terms of amity and reciprocal alleviation, revealed, 
 what they had never before suspected, that the constitutional 
 peculiarities of each were necessary to the perfection of the 
 whole.
 
 MORE WOKK FOE THE MAINE LAW. 419 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 . THE VICTORY. 
 
 " For he to drink had yielded up 
 His intellect and noble strength ; 
 And now the demon of the cup, 
 Exulting, claimed his prey at length." TAPPAH. 
 
 " 0, friend, that fainted in the noontide ! first 
 In heaven thy fevered heart forgets to thirst." 
 
 MARY IRVING. 
 
 So long was the delay of Miss Harcourt at Sylvan Creek, 
 that she did not reach her home in New York till a few days 
 previous to the return of Douglass from England. Their 
 meeting was a sweet star shining upon a night of sorrow. 
 Both were overwhelmed with gloom, in all but their relations 
 to each other, Charles from family affliction, and Sarah 
 from the insanity of her father. He had not yet recognized 
 her as his daughter. He was constantly uneasy, wanting 
 something, he knew not what, and no expedient could he 
 devised to compose his mind and body. He would say to 
 her, in thick and broken accents, " Madam, do you hear of 
 my daughter 1 Come, John, get my hat, cloak and staff; 
 let us go and find Sarah." 
 
 "Father, lam Sarah. Do you not know me, father?" 
 replied his daughter, with tears in her eyes. 
 
 " Yes, ay, well ; I must go and look for her. John, I tell 
 you," waxing often very furious, "get me my cloak; 
 harness the grays; come, we must be off! " 
 
 To humor his freaks, the servant would do as he com- 
 manded, by which time he would be on another tack, and
 
 420 HAPLE10.N ; OR, 
 
 there was no conjecturing one moment what freak would take 
 him the next. To Sarah he was a living death, a moving, 
 breathing, and yet unconscious memento of perished joys. 
 0, sad, sad to feel death's shock in the mind before it touches 
 the body, the quenched manhood, but the living anima'l ! 
 One power in Harcourt retained all its original vigor, and 
 but one, that was his appetite for strong drink. That had 
 acquired force from his insanity. Nothing but physical 
 restraint held him back from instant death by the bottle. He 
 seemed to crave it with an eager, insatiable thirst ; and they 
 had to deal it out to him in stinted measure, as food to a con- 
 valescent patient, 'his medical advisers deeming it unsafe to 
 deny it to him altogether. 
 
 He had made free use of the cup from his early years ; 
 but, so long as his mind retained its vigor, he never went 
 beyond the bounds of genteel drinking. The man controlled 
 the animal so far as to keep him out of the gutter. He ab- 
 horred drunkards more than most men. He had no charity 
 for those who could not enjoy the fruit of the vine without 
 making beasts of themselves. He felt the more contempt for 
 them, perhaps, from the disrepute into which their excesses 
 brought his own habits. Drunkenness, as an argument 
 against drinking, always nettled him. It was assuming an 
 affinity between the two ; whereas, he insisted that they were 
 as wide apart as midnight and noon. Hence, he was unmer- 
 ciful to drunkards, and would have nothing to do with them. 
 
 How little did he consider that the incessant contact of the 
 alcoholic cautery with his nerves, those organs through which 
 the mind acts, was burning out its foundation, and preparing 
 the intellectual superstructure to fall with a crash. The ha- 
 bitual use of alcohol through a course of years rarely fails 
 to bring on such a crisis, either to the soul or the body. No
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 421 
 
 matter how genteel the use, no matter how remote from what 
 is called drunkenness, still the fire burns within, and in the 
 end will work its way out, to bring on a wreck and a crash 
 in some form, and to some extent. 
 
 While Mr. Harcourt's mind controlled, he was a genteel 
 drinker ; but when that gave way, the animal in him became 
 supreme. There was nothing but the animal left. All the 
 forces of his being went to that ; and, so terrible Avere his 
 demonstrations of physical force unguided by reason, that 
 they were at length compelled to confine him in a mad-house. 
 Sarah did and endured with all a daughter's devotion, till her 
 own life was in peril ; and it was not withottt many tears and 
 misgivings that she finally resigned him to those who could 
 render his violence innoxious. Whereas, the alcoholic mad- 
 ness of Charles' father was periodical, and not -permanent, 
 that of Harcourt, though slow in coming, became the final 
 condition of his earthly being. 
 
 To add to the affliction of this drinker's daughter, Marldon 
 
 their attorney had taken advantage of the insanity of 
 his client, to cheat them out of their most valuable posses- 
 sions. The Terracegreen plantation was lost, through his 
 neglect and intemperance. After kindling the conflagration 
 in Mapleton, yea, after instigating with his brandy-bottle 
 the death of the good Mr. Littlefield, and of Samuel Doug- 
 lass by the hand of his father ; yea, after precipitating the 
 senior Douglass upon his own death-bed in the midst of his days, 
 
 this miscreant, this fugitive from justice, who had many 
 times cheated the gallows of its rights, returned home to learn 
 De Lisle's trusteeship of an estate of which he desired so 
 much to have the fingering himself; and, from a mixture of 
 avarice and revenge, set himself to the task of embezzling so 
 much of it as he could by any possibility lay his hands upon. 
 
 36
 
 422 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 By forged documents and false papers, which De Lisle had 
 no means of disproving, in Mr. Harcourt's present state of 
 insanity, Marldon actually took away the maternal inherit- 
 ance of Sarah, one of the most valuable country-seats on the 
 North River. She had left her only her personal property, 
 and stocks to a limited extent. This was an evil over which 
 she never shed a tear. Both she and Charles were afterwards 
 convinced that it was, upon the whole, the best thing for 
 them. Though not what they would have chosen, yet it 
 relieved his ministry of a worldly burden that might have 
 proved fatal to its success. A rich minister and a poor people 
 are social incongruities. 
 
 Douglass staid in New York but a few days ; long enough, 
 however, more than ever to reciprocate with Sarah the feel- 
 ing that they belonged to a kingdom not of this world ; and 
 that, to drunkard's children at least, there is here nothing 
 but tribulation, whatever of peace there may be for them in 
 heaven. But, the more they were cut off from other re- 
 sources, the more they were endeared to each other, and the 
 greater seemed the privilege before them of living to do 
 good. They entered into a solemn compact to spend their 
 days in opposing the drinking usages and liquor traffic, and 
 in doing all they could to alleviate others who should suffer 
 as they had and their families. The sad experience of multi- 
 tudes is what has given intensity to the temperance movement 
 hitherto, and made it so effectual in the lower strata of 
 society. 
 
 When Charles reached home he found his father out of 
 prison, but in the last stages of consumption. The emaciated 
 father reached out his shrivelled arms and clasped his son, 
 his first-born, and pressed him to his bosom with the warm 
 glow of affections mellowed and purified by approaching death.
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 423 
 
 " 0, my son ! " he said, "I die in peace, now that I have 
 received you once more to my arms ! " 
 
 "My dearest father," said Charles, bursting into tears; 
 ' ' have you suffered all this ? ' ' 
 
 " 0, yes ; but none too much, because my heavenly Father 
 saw that nothing less would conquer my enemy, and reclaim 
 to himself a wayward child. Sweet affliction, sweet afflic- 
 tion, that brings my Saviour near ! " 
 
 Charles was not prepared for the ravages which disease 
 had made in his father's strong constitution. It overwhelmed 
 him, and he felt that he must die, too. That noble father, 
 with a mind originally of the highest order, with affections 
 warm and generous, refined and polished by education and 
 cultivated society, whose life had opened with the promise of 
 adorning the high places of influence, thus cut do\vn and 
 withered in the prime of his manhood, by the alcoholic worm 
 at the root, seemed to him seemed to %very one who con- 
 templated the scene, in connection with the license law and 
 the criminal causes which had precipitated the evil too 
 much to be endured. Alas ! alas ! how long ere this Moloch 
 shall fail of his victims 1 
 
 "Weep not, my son," said the dying man. "Rather 
 rejoice that your father has emerged from the wilderness in 
 which he has so long wandered, to enter into a society with- 
 out these temptations. My mind is healed, Charles. The 
 body is dead, but the phoenix rises from its ashes ; yes, 
 Charles, the phoenix rises from its ashes. The animal dies, 
 but the man lives. The appetite is gone, that canker of 
 my life, that blight of our home, gone forever, thanks to 
 my adorable Saviour ! I have the victory. My mind was 
 never so clear, my heart never so light. My conscience was 
 never so pure, cleansed in atoning blood ; and now heaven
 
 424 MAPLETON-; OR, 
 
 beams full upon my view. Dear Sammy is there waiting to 
 receive that father by whose hand he died." 
 
 " 0, I cannot part with you, father ! It is too much, it is 
 too much ! " said Charles, whose childish feelings seemed to 
 gush up, and he felt that he could not part with one so ten- 
 derly beloved. 
 
 "My son, do not break your heart!" said his mother. 
 " Do not think your father beside himself in speaking thus. 
 All he says, and much more, is true. His soul's life he finds 
 in his body's death. His heart's warmest affections, purified 
 by divine grace, now gush forth, to leave with us all the 
 richest inheritance that could be bequeathed to a family. 
 That bitter root of 'appetite, which has hitherto yielded such 
 a fruitage of woes, is dead ; and now the good, the noble in 
 him blooms alone." 
 
 It is a remarkable fact, that from the day of his son's death 
 Mr. Douglass hadnot felt one desire of the cup, no, not 
 though alcohol was daily used about his person to lubricate the 
 skin and relieve the obstructed pores. He was thrown into 
 prison for the crime of murder. Here he suffered so much in 
 mind that his health gave way, and a hectic was induced. 
 He* gave himself much to prayer, and to the reading of the 
 Holy Scriptures. His wife also supplied him with such books 
 as she deemed best suited to his case. Through these instru- 
 mentalities, his mind was restored to a perfectly healthy state. 
 He felt himself forgiven, through a gracious Mediator. He 
 did not doubt his acceptance with God. nor did others who 
 saw him. His mind assumed its normal state, and a healthy, 
 quiet, peaceful, unexcited and resigned feeling of submission 
 to divine Providence ensued. 
 
 He was not a little comforted and edified in prison by the 
 visits of Patrick Tooney, who, the reader will be surprised to
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 425 
 
 learn, had returned to the town, and had become as one alive 
 from the dead. Two of his daughters had remained there, 
 supporting themselves by the needle ; and through the influence 
 of that good man, Mr. Littlefield, had been instructed in the 
 truth, and admitted to the church. Their father, after, utterly 
 exhausting the forces of soul and body in dissipation, returned 
 to live out of their earnings. This was his salvation ; for these 
 good daughters set about the work of his reformation in good 
 earnest, not only inducing him to take the temperance pledge, 
 but insured his keeping it by perpetual watchfulness, till his 
 constitution of body and mind underwent a radical change, 
 and he too had become a Christian and a church-member. 
 He had been originally bred to the tailoring business, and had 
 now become the Mapleton tailor, and one of the most prosper- 
 ous mechanics in town. This man's visits were a real comfort 
 to Mr. Douglass. 
 
 " I, Mr. Tooney," he would say to him, " get nothing out 
 of the alcoholic wreck but the soul, the principal part. But 
 what a miracle of grace, that you should get both soul and 
 body ! " 
 
 " It 's marcy ! marcy, all marcy ! " said Tooney, with the 
 tears of gratitude glistening in his eyes. He protested that 
 his life was for the most part a blank ; that he had no recol- 
 lection of beating his wife to death, and that his resurrection 
 was like a dream, to him, or like an event which had occurred 
 in another planet. Thus our country is full of madmen at 
 large, and will be, till a stringent legislation places the cup 
 beyond their reach, and restores them to sanity. 
 
 When put upon his trial, Douglass insisted, at first, that 
 he would plead guilty. The fact was clear that he had killed 
 his son, and why should he deny it 1 
 
 " But that does not make it certain that you are a mur- 
 36*
 
 426 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 derer," said his counsel. "The killing must be with malice 
 aforethought, to make it murder. And can you, as an honest 
 man, Mr. Douglass, affirm that ? " 
 
 " No, I cannot," he replied, " but the law, I believe, 
 construes it so, when the killing is induced by one's voluntary 
 act in drinking to intoxication. Many a drunkard has been 
 hung for killing with as little malice aforethought as I had. 
 And why should I be made an exception ? The sentence of 
 death is upon me, and what matters it whether it be inflicted 
 by the hand of man or the providence of God 7 " 
 
 " It matters much to your family, my dear," said Mrs. 
 Douglass. " The wife and children of a man hung, think of 
 that ! If you was really a murderer, then we ought to 
 submit. But, my dear George, you are not ; you know you 
 are not. You have no more consciousness than I have of 
 killing our dear Sammy. And, is it right for you to plead 
 to a lie, because the law sometimes uses it as a pretext for 
 hanging a man 1 ' ; 
 
 " No, no, Mr. Douglass," added his lawyer, " drinking a 
 glass of brandy, bad as it is, is not murder ; and you know 
 that act deprived you of your moral agency. And can a mere 
 physical or animal agent be guilty of the crime of murder? " 
 
 " No, you mistake," said Mr. Douglass ; "it was not the 
 drinking, but the contact of the brandy, that made me insane. 
 Had not madness been induced by this contact, I should not 
 have drank at all." 
 
 These considerations induced him to plead not guilty. The 
 state then proceeded to prove the facts of Samuel Douglass' 
 death, just as they were; which they had no difficulty in 
 doing. The defence set up the plea of insanity, and witnesses 
 were adduced to prove that alcohol invariably deprived the 
 prisoner at the bar of hia reason, and that it was during the
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 427 
 
 madness thus induced that the killing took place. This also 
 was an easy process. 
 
 The state plead, that a man knowing such to be the effect 
 upon him of taking a beverage, narcotic, or article of diet, is 
 in law responsible for all the consequences which ensue from 
 taking it; that half the murders were committed under the 
 alcoholic excitement ; and that, on the principle set up by the 
 defence, law has no redress for the greater portion of crimes 
 on its docket. It must leave society to the depredations of 
 this self-induced madness. The prisoner at the bar was not 
 only bound in law not to kill with malice aforethought, but 
 not to put himself into a state to endanger his fellow-man in 
 property,' limb, or life. If he has put himself into that state, 
 and has taken the life of his son as a consequence, he stands 
 before the law as a murderer, and the jury is bound to give a 
 verdict accordingly. 
 
 The defence, on the contrary, thought it a poor redress 
 for the state to hang *men who, according to its OAvn show- 
 ing, had by their own act ceased to be moral agents ; and that 
 it could have no more effect to deter others from crime, who 
 became insane in the same way, than killing an ox that gores a 
 man to death can deter other oxen from doing the same. Is 
 the sacrifice of irresponsible agents a redress to civil law ? Is 
 there any redress known to that law which is not a preventive 
 to crime 1 If we hang men for the act of killing, during the 
 paroxysms of alcoholic insanity, because that insanity was 
 induced by their voluntary act in drinking, what is it but 
 hanging them for getting drunk ? And yet the state provides 
 by law and by license the means of getting the people drunk, 
 wholesale and retail ; and it seemed to the defence cruel, after 
 all this, for the state to hang men for drinking, hang them 
 for buying at its licensed tippling-shops ! It thought, there-
 
 428 MAPLETON; OR, 
 
 fore, the jury could not, in justice to the laws, in justice to 
 the state, or in justice to the body politic, give a verdict of 
 guilty against George Douglass, the prisoner at the bar. 
 
 As the court was about to commit the cause to the jury, the 
 prisoner was asked whether he had anything further to say- 
 Whereupon, Mr. Douglass rose deliberately, and looked around 
 on the court and spectators with great composure. His tall, 
 manly person, brilliant eye, and eminently intellectual expres- 
 sion, emaciated as he was by disease and pale with confinement, 
 impressed every one with his personal dignity and superiority 
 to any who were sitting in judgment upon his life. 
 
 " May it please the Court and Gentlemen of the Jury," 
 he said, deliberately and coolly, "little" did I think that I 
 should come to this. Born of parents who were able and 
 ambitious to give their son the best education the country 
 affords, I had advantages above most others for reaching a 
 widely different destiny from that to which I seem to be 
 doomed. The affluence in which I was cradled was my ruin. 
 I was made to believe that it was manly to take a social 
 glass. I fell in with companions, at college and elsewhere, 
 who nourished in me this delusion. Our potations were deep, 
 our revels boisterous. I studied law, but left my profession 
 to look after my father's business, which was of a nature to 
 keep the poisoned cup ever before me. I drank till I had 
 supplied the place of a natural repugnance to strong drink 
 with a maddened appetite, which defied control with the 
 article within my reach. 
 
 " Your Honors, and Gentlemen of the Jury, the state would 
 hold me responsible for the consequences of drinking, on the 
 ground of my knowledge of them beforehand. This seems 
 specious. Yet my experience assures me that the madness 
 does not begin with drinking, but with the causes that lead
 
 MOKE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 429 
 
 to it. It dates from personal contact with alcohol, accom- 
 panied with the conciousness of the option to drink or not 
 drink. My wife saw the state of the case, and advised me 
 to flee to a country where society had not yet introduced my 
 enemy. I listened to her advice, and brought my family into 
 this then wilderness country. For a few years we lived here 
 in security and peace. We prospered in the world, and ac- 
 quired a competence. But the state then located one of its 
 licensed grog-shops near my door. I guarded against the 
 danger for months. My family stood sentinel around me," 
 and, as he said this, his chin quivered and the tears rolled 
 down his manly face. " I fortified myself with resolutions 
 and prayers, knowing that my life and that of my family were 
 involved. 
 
 " But. your Honors and Gentlemen of the Jury, my enemy 
 subdued my strong-holds, and led me in chains. I was sur- 
 prised into the trap that the state had set for me, I say this 
 in no spirit of recrimination, and the moment I was there 
 all my motives to virtue perished. I was occupied with an 
 inward feeling, call it what you please, that absorbed my 
 whole being. Wife, children, reputation, life, were nothing 
 to it. Had your gallows then presented itself in perspective, 
 with myself hanging upon it as a consequence of drinking, it 
 would not have deterred me. That was the beginning of my 
 insanity ; that is the beginning of my insanity in every case. 
 The contact is the conquest of my enemy over me. 
 
 "In reference to the crime on which you are now to adjudi- 
 cate, your Honors and Gentlemen of the Jury, it is due to my- 
 self and family, yea, to justice and the public, to say that I had 
 for months kept under my great enemy, till a new acquaint- 
 ance, from no good motive, brought into my field, from our 
 town groggery, a bottle of brandy. That produced the mad-
 
 430 MAPLETON; OB, 
 
 ness "which fired our destructive conflagration, which led to 
 the death of our worthy pastor, and which struck my own 
 dear son dead through a father's hand ! " Here again his 
 tears fell, and his utterance was slightly obstructed ; but he 
 soon regained his wonted composure. ' ' On my return, I felt 
 that I was pursued by dreadful creatures, which led me to 
 arm myself with the lever ; and, as I approached my door, I 
 thought I saw a cluster of poisonous serpents all intertwined, 
 writhing, hissing and darting at me, when I dealt at them a 
 blow. A huge monster then seemed to be coming at me, of 
 the crocodile genus, covered with great scales, with fiery eyes 
 and open mouth, to swallow me up. A dreadful terror came 
 over me, and, to protect myself, I struck my lever at it with 
 all my might. I was then seized by giants (I give my own 
 impressions), and verily believed the hour of my doom had 
 come. My fears and feelings overpowered me, and I recol- 
 lect no more till the next morning. When I came to myself, 
 I was weak, bruised, and felt more dead than alive. Soon 
 my dear wife came, and, like a ministering angel, began in 
 her quiet way to soothe my feelings and alleviate my suffer- 
 ings. I said to her, ' My dear, why is your head bound up 7 ' 
 ' Never mind,' she said, 'you are sick, and we must take care 
 of you.' ' Call the boys to help me up,' I said. My wife 
 stepped out, and soon returned with my elder son George, 
 when I asked, ( Where is Samuel 7 ' She waived an answer, 
 and I had not the remotest idea of our dear Samuel's death, 
 till the sheriff came to apprehend me. Then I saw that the 
 love of those to whom I had made myself most unlovely had 
 drawn a veil over the sad event, to save me from the torments 
 which I have since endured, and which a hundred deaths on 
 the gallows cannot equal." The court and jurj were much
 
 MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW. 431 
 
 moved by this recital, and the numerous auditory were bathed 
 in tears. 
 
 " Think not that I detail these facts to screen myself. No, 
 your Honors and Gentlemen of the Jury, it is too late for me 
 to hope for anything this side of death. But, in justice to 
 the state and its legislators, in justice to the executors of the 
 law, in justice to the mass of the people, the source of law 
 and power, in justice to others whose misfortune it is to lose 
 the command of themselves through the drinking customs of 
 society, yea, as a sacrifice on the altar of truth, the last I 
 shall ever make in this public manner, I do affirm that the 
 state of mind which produced what your laws call murder 
 did not result, in my case, from the act of drinking, but from 
 the previous steps taken, under authority of the state, to 
 insure that act. It resulted from the licensed hand that held 
 the cup to my lips. As a dying man, I leave this my true, 
 my faithful testimony, hoping and praying that it may lead 
 to more just views on this subject, and to a final withdrawal 
 of the means of drinking from that unhappy class to whom it 
 is an unfailing incentive to crime. I do it to save the state 
 from the inhumanity of first instigating the crime, and then 
 punishing the criminal." 
 
 This speech thrilled upon the audience like a voice from 
 eternity. The judges and lawyers, who had plead earnestly 
 against the constitutionality of the Maine Law, felt themselves 
 in an awkward position, hanging a man for acting out the 
 insanity which the constitution had produced within him ! It 
 is hard to convince a man against the fixed course of his ideas. 
 The court, therefore, repressed the ^^constitutional sympa- 
 thy which they felt rising in their hearts. 
 
 " It does seem rather a hard constitution," said one judge 
 to another, in a low voice.
 
 432 MAPLETON ; OR, 
 
 "Yes," replied the other, "but constitutions are a mere 
 reflection of the fundamental principles of law and of liberty. 
 Whatever the constitution is, these, I take it, would be vio- 
 lated, if we denied a man the privilege of buying the means 
 to get drunk when he pleased. And those who abuse to pur- 
 poses of crime the parental care of the state, in providing for 
 this by the license law, we have only to imprison or hang." 
 
 The court charged according to the sentiments of the last 
 judge. But the jurors said, in their quaint way of reasoning 
 among themselves, that they thought it would be wrong to 
 hang a man on the constitution who had been made a crimi- 
 nal by the constitution. Hence, they brought in a verdict 
 of NOT GUILTY. Thus the afflicted but now triumphant 
 Douglass was "allowed the only boon he had to ask the 
 privilege of dying in the bosom of his family ! 
 
 FINIS
 
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