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WHEELS AND WHIMS,
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BOSTON:
CUPPLES, UPHAM & COMPANY,
(Dli) Corner
1884.
COPYRIGHTED, 1884,
BY
FLORINE THAYER McCRAY
AND
ESTHER LOUISE SMITH.
All rights reserved.
PRESS OF THE CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD CO.,
HARTFORD, CONN.
6166:
'The abject people, gazing on thy face
With envious looks,
That erst did follow thy proud chariot wheels,
When thou didst ride in triumph through the streets."
(2d) KING HENRY VI.
In a word to the leader, it may be said that this book is not
an attempt at belles-lettres. In it will be found no psychological
perceptions, no impression effects, and no flowers of rhetoric
being simply an unadorned narrative of a tricycle trip by four
young women, with its experiences, incidental, accidental, and
adventurous.
If it will influence to out-of-door activity, and incite an escape
from listless lounging in sunless rooms and the artificial heat
and vitiated atmosphere of modern houses, to vigorous exercise
in sunshine and open air, and to freer association with all
nature's beauty, its object will have been accomplished.
PuTOUT. "^b/ tale tbou didst well etcf?.
^ELLPOOL. " Btcb ! Wberefore? (^>|?ou art
witty.
PUT, " Fio, it is tbou wbo art witty.
(ij)ELL "8nd wby?"
PUT. "WbyV Because on Rature's metallic
plate, tbe acts, tbe facts, tbe smiles,
tbe tears, tbe li^b"!", tbe sbade, do marl^
tbemselves witb equal strenatb- ^is
tby wit and tbme intelligence dotb bite
and eat tbe impress witb viaor tbat
dotb sbow tbe reprint witb stril^ina force.
We do exclaim, (ipis well done!"
(ij)ELL " ^bn am ^ clever I
PUT. "Ha! ba! Rot so. Rot as clever
as yonder furry feline. (Ipbou canst
not scale tbat fir.
FROM STURM'S "LIFE'S COMEDY."
CHAPTER I.
WAS the evening of Tuesday.
'T was Tuesday the ninth of October.
'T was October of '83.
It was with slow, weary steps, at a late hour, that Mar-
gery Prescott mounted the winding stairs to her room.
Entering, she turned the key.
Touching the electric chain attached to the chandelier,
the instantaneous flood of light illumined her pale face ; a
paleness of which she felt conscious, for she stepped
quickly to the long mirror which stood between the gas-
jets. Turning on their full blaze, she looked closely at
her image in the glass. Then, straightening up, tall and
defiant, she said in a strained voice, "Now tell the tale if
you dare!"
For the first time in her young life, she felt a sore pain
in her heart, which brought this pallor to her cheek.
"Yes, this comes from a heart-ache. I have hitherto
experienced but one phase of love. Here comes the other.
Pleasure, pain joy, grief inevitable, they say; but I had
(7)
g WHEELS AND WHIMS.
not believed it. It shall not be so with me." She closed
her lips firmly together and still gazed at herself, almost
wondering at the hard look she saw in her own face.
'Those lines around my mouth how hard they look, and
drawn and old they are tell-tales, too, of pain within.
They shall not be." Here she forced a smile. "Havel
a frown, also ? No, thank heaven ! the brow is fair and
clear. No lines shall show there."
She pushed back the waves of her heavy brown hair,
and gave a proud toss of her head. She rubbed, with her
cold finger-tips, the glow again to her cheek, and bit her
lip a little, to give again its coral hue. A little laugh
came to show the pearly teeth, as she unfastened the lace
at her throat.
"Beautiful as ever! so it shall remain," she cried. "I
will not suffer, and pine, and droop. Indeed, he shall not
break my hopes of life ; my heart shall not be torn by his
fickleness ; I despise him for it ! Man-flirt ! How I hate
him ! Shameful enough in silly girls but a man-flirt is
detestable."
She loosened her long tresses ; the brilliants in her ears
were unclasped ; the diamond on her finger hastily drawn
off and dropped into the jewel-case without a glance at
them. Mechanically, she lowered the gas and sank into a
fauteuil by the window. 'T was midnight hour; the full
moon shone on all around. Cold and sad it streamed in
on her, as she raised her dark eyes to meet its rays with
burning glance. It was the fire in her soul that lent the
fervor to her gaze, for to all outward things she was
oblivious.
MARGERY. g
She pressed her hand to her beating brow. She buried
her face in her hands. She arose and paced the floor.
"What what shall I do?" she said. "Something!
Somewhere! Where can I go? What must I do? I
shall never see him again, never."
The hour was passing. Still she sat turning over in
her mind the situation the new and strange position of
herself towards one other to her, the one other of all the
world. But now she was to give him up. What beside
did the world contain for her? her heart cried, but she
pressed it down with both her hands, and her proud lips
replied, "The world is large. I have papa. For my own
little world, he should be enough." But her heart would
undertone, as it heavily .beat, "What's the world to me?
What's life, now?"
''Yes, what is it all for?" she moaned; "and I have so
long to live." But now pride, which was the strong
underlying quality of her nature, came to lift her out of
this despair.
"It can be what I will make it," she exclaimed, and
walking firmly to the glass, she saw a new courage in her
eyes.
"It shall be grand, and good, and joyous, as any life
may be ; it shall not be a failure because because oh
dear!" she sighed, drooping again. "If I had never
known him at all ! No ! I do not wish that I have found
out what to expect. I have had my experience."
She stood erect and faced the black clouds which had
obscured the light of the moon and dimmed all around.
She drew the curtain and turned again to the lighted
I0 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
mirror. This time a brave, glowing face showed its reflec-
tion. "No, I will not be a failure because of him!" She
gave a trembling, upward glance. A tear fell down her
burning cheek. She gave a scornful turn of the lip, and
brushed it quickly away. "I'll not shed tears for him,
however much it hurts me," she said. "They may be
beautiful in the shedding, but their after traces tell poor
tales."
As she looked at the little bronze clock on the mantel
her eye fell upon a letter, which had before escaped her
notice. Opening it, she rapidly took in its contents.
"Why, here is dear, good Mike," she cried, joyfully clasp-
ing her hands. "Join her? To be sure I will! What a
god-send this is." She re-read the missive. "Just the
thing, exactly. Papa will never object he is such a
darling ! I fear I shall not sleep a wink ; but I must, for
he will see in a twinkling if aught is amiss with his pet.
Oh ! what would I do without papa ? How glad I am that
Newport and Watch Hill are done with. No more of that.
But what glorious times we did have, though ! But I hate
the very thought of them now and of him," she said,
biting her trembling lip for an instant. " What a novelty
it will be to go off with Mike and her aunt, Mrs. Mather,
too," she exclaimed, consulting the note once more. " It
will be just delightful ! I am so glad papa had my wheels
put in perfect order. They are all ready. We can start
at a day's notice. But I must get to sleep."
While she sleeps, we will look over the previous few
hours and learn what had so turned the tide in the affairs
of this lovely girl. As the betrothed of Felix Plummer,
MARGERY.
\l
she had passed a year of uninterrupted happiness. Fine
fellow that he really was, he was wonderfully wound about
with the silken cords of her love. As the immediate cause
of her disquietude, we look to the events of the previous
evening. Margery had planned an informal party. Full
of gay anticipations of the occasion, she had, of course,
confided to Felix an account of all her arrangements.
He was as usual en rapport with all her plans, and prom-
ised to be early in attendance ; even proposed himself to
assist in the reception of her guests. A sudden shower,
which came up just at nightfall, deterred a few delicate
ones from the scene, but only served to give greater zest
to the enjoyment of those who were assembled. Each, in
lively repartee and answering laugh, rivaled the other in
merriment, lest the disappointment might spoil the enjoy-
ment of the hostess whom they all loved.
But Felix did not come. In spite of her regard for the
pleasure of her guests, she could scarcely conceal her
uneasiness at his unaccountable absence. Once she laid
her hand on her heart as she overheard George Fuller say
to Young White : " Pretty grass widow considerably
struck they do say." Impossible! Unkind! She
would not believe it ; so she tried to smile, and finally
Felix appeared. He wore a deprecating air (as it seemed
to her now jealous eyes), and said, as she gave him a cold
hand, "So sorry to be late, Margie, dear." Aside : " Met
Mrs. Bangtry, without an umbrella, of course ; could do
no less than protect her from the rain. So far, too. And
my watch had stopped, so I did not realize it was so past
the hour. Would have called a cab, had I known."
12
WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"Ah ! " Margery felt a tremor of indignation thrill her
frame. She drew her hand from his, nor would even meet
his gaze. Felix was astonished.
"Margery," he said, "you surely do not "
She had turned away from him and was talking with
great animation to Alex. White, who was only too glad of
a chat with her, having once been quite hopeful of more
than passing favor in her eyes. Margery gave Felix
Plummer no chance for further conversation during the
evening. She succeeded in avoiding him, and, finally, as
the party broke up, offered him as escort to a limp, timid,
young girl, whom she knew to be his special aversion,
thus effectually dashing his hopes of an explanation of her
coolness. An indifferent "good night" was all she con-
ceded as he left the door, and such was the savage air
with which he offered his arm to poor, bashful Miss Brown
that she knew not whether to be most amazed or angry.
CHAPTER II.
^ "NT OW what in the name of all that's outrageous and
l\l unreasonable, did Margery mean by treating me
in such a manner this evening ? "
Mr. Felix Plummer, cashier of the Fourth National
Bank, a muscular, blonde, and cheery specimen of hu-
manity, had come in a few minutes before, in a state of
surliness, which was a painful surprise to the black and
silky Gordon setter, whom he loved and usually petted
with the tenderness which all great hearts feel for kind
and intelligent animals. But to-night, as the beautiful
dog sprang up at his entrance, welcoming him with soft
cries and licking his hand, he shouted : " Get out ! Lie
down ! I'm busy." But then, as the sensitive creature
sank at his feet with a piteous sigh and looked up in such,
mute surprise at this unwonted treatment, he softened a
little, and said, stooping to pat her sleek head, " Never
mind, Lady, I did not mean it. Good dog ! "
Then he fell into a chair and glowered at the knob on
the bedpost for some minutes. At last he arose with a
(13)
I4 WHEELS AND Will. MS.
jerk, and, going to a little closet in the corner, commenced
to rummage among the things therein.
" Confound her meddling ! I wish that green chamber-
maid, who isn't so particular about sweeping in the corners,
would let my traps be where I put them. That's the
curse of living in hired rooms," muttered he, tossing over
papers, diaries, books of trout flies, a reel of unwound and
tangled line, some cigars, a silk cap, some paper shells
ready loaded for his shot-gun, a few pairs of gloves, and a
silk band worked with his initials, for the inside of his
hat, which he would never wear, rather scorning the small
elegancies affected by modern dudism. " Well, where
under heavens did that knife come from ? I have looked
high and low for it. Oh ! here's the pipe, after all, on this
little ledge where I always keep it. I have been think-
ing," mused he, as he rilled the capacious bowl of the
well-blackened pipe, "that I should have a home" (he
struck a match), " with a loving wife to take care of me
(puff, puff). But the way things have gone to-night (puff,
puff, puff), there don't seem to be much prospect (puff) of
it, for if she thinks," said he, raising his voice and address-
ing the wood-basket, " that I am going to stand much of
this kind of nonsense, she is mistaken, that's all."
Here Lady, aroused by his fierce tones, came softly
through the dim gaslight and licked the clenched fist with
which he had struck the arm of his chair.
"But perhaps it is just as well," he said, as he drew a
deep sigh. "Jim Osborn tells me that his wife is always
cleaning house (puff, puff), and when he has things
arranged to his mind and thrown carefully under the bed,
FELIX. j -
she will fish them out and say things She gets his
shoes and rubbers together and makes a row clear across the
room, and whenever he speaks of getting a new pair, she
goes and fetches out some of the. old ones he is saving for
fishing and throws them in his face that is, metaphor-
ically, I suppose But what oh earth ailed Margery
to-night, passes my understanding ; the way she poked that
slimpsy Brown girl on to me, and kept herself on an
unapproachable pinnacle of dignity when I was near, and
set to work, systematically, to bewitch Alex. White, is not
to be borne by a man of any self-respect. I'll let her know
I am not little Brown, to be smiled upon or scorned, as
her ladyship chooses ! No, sir ! I shall teach her a lesson
to-morrow that she will remember !....! am sure she
loves me ! . . . . What can it be ? "
Here Lady, failing to attract any attention by her
gentle caresses, began to shove her black nose under his
elbow and to raise it up several times in quick, repeated
knocks. Then her master, taking his fireless pipe from
his mouth, laid his flushed cheek down upon her smooth
head, saying, " Poor- Lady ; good girl," with a moisture in
his blue eyes, that told he was much more grieved than
angered, but, man like, was trying to disguise it, even to
himself, by a show of righteous indignation and high
words.
" Can it be," he ruminated, getting cooler, " that the
evident preference that the little grass widow has for my
society can have macle her jealous ? "
Quite flattered by this idea, he raised' his handsome
head, and leaving the chair in which he had sat so long,
jg WHEELS AND WHIMS.
he walked to the window and stood with his hands clasped
behind him, looking out on the quiet street and at the
shadows in the moonlight. As he cogitated, he smiled a
little, and pulling and twisting his fair moustache, he said,
"No, she would not be so foolish." A pause, another
smile and lighting of the eyes. " If that is the trouble,"
he says, " she must know at once that a decent-looking
fellow cannot prevent women from going for him." Then,
unconsciously settling his neck-tie, " I vow, I believe that
is it ! Why, she ought to kjiow that while a man cannot
help being polite, and even a little sweet, to a festive little
female like the Bangtry, he would never think of marrying
her I shall tell her to-morrow that my Margery need
fear no rival in such a person, or anywhere. My rare,
fair Margaret ! How different she is from this other
woman, whom she compliments enough to be jealous of ! "
He threw back his head. " Ha ! ha ! Well ! well ! That
is too much ! I'll go and see her now. Hum I think I
won't. It is past midnight. Poor dear ! I know how
glad she will be to see me ! I will run up before ten in
the morning. She will be freezing at first, of course (with
a happy laugh), but I shall make her listen to me, and she
shall give me a kiss before I leave, or my name is not
Felix Plummer."
And so, sending Lady to her rug in the corner, he went
straightway to bed, where he was snoring peacefully in
less than five minutes, a combination of good nature, soft-
heartedness, and self-complacency destined to be consider-
ably disturbed by the events of the morrow.
FELIX. 19
The next morning Felix Plummer'came to himself and
started to get out of bed, but, oh ! dear ! how dizzy he
was ! His eyes ached and everything looked double. So
he was glad to close them again ; and, ugh ! how sick and
faint ! His back and limbs ached in a dull and constant
grind, and to lie still or to move was an equal agony. In
a word, our friend had a slight bilious attack, and, being a
man, he felt sure that he should die in a short time.
Rapping on the wall to call his adjoining neighbor, whom
lie heard whistling as he squeaked about the room in new
shoes, he managed to stagger to the door and admit his
friend. As he sunk into a chair and rested his poor, snap-
ping head on his feverish hands, he said in a woe-begone
voice :
" Smith, I'm sick. I don't know what is the matter
with me. Will you be kind enough to send Dr. Good-
hardt up here when you go down town ? No, no, don't
bother yourself, I could n't look at breakfast ! Oh ! dear !
I have got something that I guess will kill me. Smith,
did n't poor Brainard's sickness begin like this ? Oh !
Lord ! how my head feels ! "
Smith, who was a friendly little fellow, ran down stairs
and out to the doctor's office and had the medical man in
poor Felix's room in a trice. But the sick man ungrate-
fully growled, "I thought you'd never get back," and
"Doctor, I never was so sick in my life."
He had taken a small mirror, and squinting and shading
his weak eyes with his hand, was looking at his tongue
and at his sickly face.
"What's the matter, my boy?" said the genial doctor
20
WHEELS AND WHIMS.
: as he entered the room, bringing an atmosphere of health
and good cheer with him. "Lobster salad? Got a sick
headache ? "
" Oh ! worse than that. I am afraid I am in for a tough
time. Do you think you can stop the disease now, doctor?
Oh ! my back and legs ! " groaned Felix.
"Oh! my lungs and liver! What do you want! Oh I
goroo ! goroo ! " added the doctor, laughing heartily.
" Really, Plummer, your exclamations remind me of the
old ogre who frightened poor little Copperfield nearly to
death. Well, well, to assume the gravity which your very
serious case demands, I rather think you are pretty bil-
ious. Been getting angry or uncomfortably excited ?
Nothing like that to stir up the bile. Does your business
plague you ? "
"No, nothing plagues me," answered Felix, gloomily,
" except my head and stomach, and all my bones. Great
heavens ! Now these bed-clothes are out at the foot
again, and my feet are out of doors, and these pillows are
hot, and this cussed sheet is all of a wrinkle ! "
Dr. Goodhardt shook and smoothed the pillows, pinned
the edges of the sheet under the mattress so the uneasy
patient could not rumple them again, and tucked the
blankets in firmly at the foot of the bed.
Somewhat comforted, but still despondent, the demoral-
ized individual who would hardly have been recognized as
the debonnaire cashier of the Fourth National Bank, spoke
again feebly.
" Doctor," he said in a trembling voice, " do not disguise
it from me. Is my disease anything like poor Brainard's ? "
FELIX. 2 1
"Disease! Ha! ha! "roared the doctor. "Plummer,
my boy, you have* a slight bilious attack; nothing more,
as far as I discover, and you are so cross, I think you
will be out to-morrow. Here, take this corrective ; give
your stomach a rest for a few -days, and you will be all
right. By the way, where did you go for your vacation ? "
" Nowhere," said the young man. " Only run down to
Watch Hill once or twice over Sunday."
"Take it this month, then," ordered the physician.
" You cannot afford to neglect to give yourself a change
and rest from the routine of business. You may find you
have nerves, if you stick too close to the bank. This is
the finest season of the year, and you must leave your
work right where it is. Remember what I tell you."
The doctor departed. The morning grew to noon.
Our very unheroic hero had slept again, and awakened
feeling somewhat better. There came a knock at the
door, and in response to his doleful " Come in," a lady
walked briskly into the room, saying, " Hello, Felix !
Dr. Goodhardt stopped at our door awhile ago to tell me
that you were sick this morning, and so I came right
down. Dear me ! how yellow you look," she said in a
very sisterly fashion. " Hair, eyes, and skin, all the same
color. 'Whiskers reether redder than I could wish/ but
shade in very well. Bub, you are a perfect symphony in
old gold and copper, and the white pillows bring you out
beautifully/'
Felix smiled a little at this badinage, which he was so
accustomed to hear from his lively, married sister.
" Kupfer und gold," he said musingly. "That's what
22 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
they used to call my chum Farnham and me at Yale. He
was a royal good fellow, with reddish hair, and we were
inseparable. But I say, Sis, don't throw any more Dickens,
at me. This is the second dose I have got this morning.
I believe Dr. Goodhardt would quote it if everybody was-
dying," he continued, a little resentfully.
" Except himself," added his sister. " Yes, I believe he
would. By the way, Felix," she said abruptly, "where's
Margery gone ? "
His fretful languor vanished, and a rush of crimson
blood colored his face.
" I stopped at the house as I came along, to tell her to-
come down and see you after I had got you fixed up a
little," pursued his sister, " but Betsy said she had gone
away, and would be out of town several weeks."
"Gone away!" gasped the dismayed lover. "Bosh,
impossible ! She was home late last night. The girl is a
fool ! Gone several weeks," he repeated incredulously.
" I know better ! But why did you not ask where she had
gone ? " he demanded querulously.
" I did, and she said she did not know where."
Felix answered nothing, but buried his face in his
pillow, until his sister said, gently resting her cool hand
on his hot head, " Brother, is there any trouble between
you and Margie ? " I should regret such a thing exceed-
ingly, because I love and respect her already as a dear
sister, and I should fear .that you were in some way to
blame."
" I am not at all to blame," protested the young man,
quickly turning to face her. "I don't even know what
it's about."
FELIX. 23
" Then there is trouble," said the lady, sadly.
"Yes, there is, Sis," responded her brother; "and if
you, another woman, can tell me wherein I have done
anything to offend her, or give any explanation of such
unnatural capriciousness, I will thank you to do it."
He then rehearsed the events of the previous day and
evening, and cried at last, with an air of abused virtue,
" Now tell me what I have done ! She is getting fickle,
like other girls. They are all changeable as the wind. I
thought Margery was an exception, but I have been a
fond fool ! They can't appreciate true love ! They are
too full of flirtation and vanity ! "
Apparently not much relieved by this sweeping tirade,
poor Felix sat disconsolately up in bed and reached out
for a glass of water which the doctor had left on the stand
by its side. His sister quickly arose and handed him the
glass, but said nothing until she had returned it to the
little table.
"Felix," she said in a low voice, but looking him straight
in the face, " you were late at Margery's party last even-
ing, because you went to see Mrs. Bangtry home."
" Yes, but what of that ? Can't a man be decently
polite to "
" Are you aware that you have been classed as one of
this lady's admirers ? "
A flush rose to his sallow cheek and he opened his
mouth to speak, but she continued :
" It has happened that you have been walking with her
often, and at times when every one was on the street ; you
have, once, at least, taken her into your buggy ; you have
carried books to her house ; and "
24 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" Stop ! I can explain all those ! I
"Very likely, Felix; but explain them to Margery, not
to me," said his sister, raising her hand. "To put the
thing in a nutshell, Mrs. Bangtry has flattered you. You
have been pleased by her attentions, and your better judg
ment dulled. I may as well tell you, furthermore, that
people are saying that Margery is getting left. She has
doubtless heard something of this, and you can see that it
needed only the last little drop, of last evening's happen^
ing, to overrun her cup of indignation."
" Could it have been such a thing, and Margery never
spoke of it to me ? " wondered the now somewhat con-
science-stricken young man.
"I am convinced of it," rejoined his sister. "A woman
of her pride and strength of character, Felix, is not likely
to upbraid a man for preferring some one else to her."
"I have never preferred any one to Margery, and she
ought to have faith enough in me not to notice the
dastardly insinuations of contemptible busy-bodies. You
know how it is, Sis ; a man cannot treat any lady un-
kindly "
" Yes, I know just how it is, Felix. Every man with
any claims to good looks and you have some of the
family beauty," said she, eyeing him quizzically, " is insuf-
ferably conceited. Let him meet any woman like this gay
widow-by-grace, and if she looks trustingly in his eyes a
few times, asks information upon money matters, and
seeks his opinions upon literature or art, tells him how
she admires large men (or light, or dark, or anything to
fit the case), confides a secret to his honorable keeping,
FELIX. "27
occasionally passes very near to him during an interesting
interview, gives him the breath of her perfumed hair,
and brushes \ho; froti-frou of her silken skirts across his
tingling feet "
" Sis, you are too bad ! Get a man sick in bed and
abuse him like this ! You know I would never dream of
making love to her ! " indignantly remonstrated Felix.
" I know it ; but for such a woman's society a man will
neglect his artless fiancee, draw disparaging comparisons
between his sister's style of hair, and her more theatrical
get-up "
" I knew you'd never forgive me that ! "
" Don't interrupt me ! Snub his brother-in-law who-
ventures a warning word, get himself on the list of her
lovers, and think it is all right, if he only assures his
friends that he would never think of martying her!"
Felix winced. "Why, Bub, she would never think of
marrying you! If her husband does not reappear, she
will marry old Brown. A golden mustache looks well
beside her dark eyes on the street, but ducats, my dear,
gold dollars, are what she will marry. Now, if you con-
sider your present position (in society, I mean) dignified,
why, continue it, though your family will regret it. If
not, find Margery, and be a sensible fellow once more."
Felix sat in bed with his knees drawn up, his hands
clasped around them, resting his chin upon them, as he
regarded his sister while she spoke. When she had ceased,
he bowed his tousled head and said not a word for some
time.
Mrs. Burton arose and busied herself in replacing and
2 g WHEELS AND WHIMS.
packing up some books. Felix raised his head at last,
and, speaking in a pitifully dejected manner, he said:
" Sis, do you think if I have been such an ass, such a
villain, as you make me out, that Margery will ever forget
it ? She may forgive me, but will she forget it ? Won't
she tell me of it all my life ? I could never bear that ! "
"His sister smiled, consciously, "she might" she said,
"if you were ever likely to repeat the experience."
The humbled suitor sought his loved one's door the next
day, only to receive in answer to his inquiry for Margery,
" She's gone away, sir."
Where? "I don't know, sir."
Then, well-nigh bursting with surprise, rage, and grief,
but trying to preserve his usual equanimity, he went to
the office of Mr. Prescott and found, " He had just gone to
New York, sir."
CHAPTER III.
SCENE. The Prescott's breakfast room.
Margery, more than usually excited and brilliant.
Her father, tender, thoughtful, and complacent.
MARGERY kissed her father warmly, as she entered
the breakfast-room the morning after the party.
She hovered caressingly around him, as if to charm him
by her magnetism into acquiesence with all her plans. She
had just mentally framed a very nice way of telling him of
her desire to leave him alone for a short time, a few days
a week or ten days it might be a fortnight and of her
plans, which were all formed, between the fitful slumbers
of the previous night. But she waited. He seemed about
to speak. He laid his hand upon some letters by his side
freshly-opened letters from the morning mail. He
gazed abstractedly at her a moment, and the current of
his thoughts turned from his business to her.
" What is it, pet ? Your eyes and cheeks are as bright
as the sunshine ! You have some scheme on hand that
your mind is full of, I'll warrant."
" Yes, papa dear. I want to go off on a little excursion
with Mahala Wright. I received a note from her yesterday.
(.29)
^~. WHEELS AND WHIMS.
She talked of the plan the other day when she called, but
I did not give it much attention, as I was thinking of
other things. We want to go on our wheels a little trip
down the river."
" What ! You two alone ? or is Felix "
"Oh no!" interrupted Margery, "not we two alone,
Mrs. Mather and Miss St. John are to be of the party, four
of us."
" Well, I thought Mahala rather wild to take care of
you," said her father, "and you surely are too young to
chaperone her! "
" You understand, papa, that her aunt, Miss St. John, is
in the habit of going off on her tricycle on sketching trips.
She is going again this week. So, it is a capital chance
for a novel jaunt for us all. Now papa, you know nearly
every one down the river, and with letters from you, we
would get along splendidly ! Mike writes that Joe wants
to go too. You know he goes everywhere with her.
Such a devoted brother ! But we don't want any gentle-
men along. It would spoil half our fun. We want just
ourselves. I have always taken care of myself, papa, and
never had any trouble."
" Yes, my dear. I sometimes wish you had a sister, and
were not so much alone," responded he, thoughtfully,
" But won 't Felix "
" Felix need have nothing to say about it, if you agree,
papa." A slight color came to her face as she said this.
"Well," slowly spoke her father, "it may be the best
thing, for I have letters here, which will necessitate my
leaving you, for perhaps even a longer period than you
THE PLAN. 21
propose being absent. I do not like leaving you here alone
with Betsy and John. Very safe, but not very enlivening
companions."
Margery quickly answered, " Oh, if you want to stay
longer, papa, and think I had better not be here " (a for-
tunate idea, she thought), "Mahala will let me stay with
her till you return. Mrs. Wright is always so kind in
urging me to go there. She says no one can keep Mike
in order so well as Margery Prescott."
" But how will you manage about clothing, my girl ?
You cannot live three weeks in a wheel-suit Though,"
he added, " I never saw you in a more becoming rig than
that last new gray."
" Yes, is it not neat ? " said Margery, much pleased to
see her father appreciate a creation that had given her
some anxiety. " Mike and I put our heads together over
those suits. The others are just like mine. In fact, we
expect this style will be adopted by the club. I am so
glad you like it, papa. Oh, we shall get along nicely with
one large trunk," continued she. " Express it to any point
where we wish to stay a day or two. We shall not want to
ride all the time, you know. Now, papa, you make us a
list of the best stopping places and points of interest ;
those old farm-houses of which you are always telling, and
country taverns where we can stop for dinner. If you
write them out we will make no mistake."
Betsy now laid the steaming breakfast upon the table.
Margery proceeded to pour the coffee for her father, who
declared again that no cup was ever quite as delicious as
hers.
2 2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
Mr. Prescott had drawn out a little plan of the river
towns. Giving it a few more touches and taking the cup
of fragrant coffee from her hand, he said, " Here is a list
of the places you 'd better make your points of rest. I
will telegraph to three the three underscored so there
will be no trouble about your reception. You, yourself,
have been with me at several of these places. There you
of course will be known. Miss St. John visits in Crom-
well, and Mrs. Mather has relatives in Essex. They will
not be at a loss, I am sure, to make up any deficiencies in
this list, both having friends and acquaintances along the
river. But, daughter," said he, as he cracked an egg-
shell, " when you are ready to return, had you not better
take the boat and come directly home ? To retrace one's
way is often tedious. And probably you will by that time
have had quite enough of wheeling."
" You are right, papa, as you always are. I am glad you
suggested that idea. So then we can ride as far as we like
without a thought of the coming home. I will tell the
girls about it."
" Well, now, my dear, how long will it take you to get
ready ? "
"How long? Why?"
"Because, Margie, I must leave you before noon. If
you can be ready in an hour think you can ? John can
drive you to Judge Wright's, with your trunk. The 'cycle
can be taken to you this evening, and you will be ready if
the rest are, for your trip at once."
"Yes, we can be off to-morrow, I am sure," exclaimed
Margery, excitedly, "because they are only waiting for me.
Then, papa, I will write you at what point?"
THE PLAN. 23
"At New York, to-night. Give your letter to John, to
post on the midnight train, so I will get it before starting
west. Telegraph to this address in Chicago" he took
out a card and wrote on it "in case of any accident. If
all goes well you can write me there, and it will be for-
warded to me. Now eat your breakfast, dear; you have
scarcely swallowed a morsel."
"Oh! I have eaten a great deal. I have finished now,"
said the girl, swallowing her coffee in haste. "I will be
ready in half an hour, you see if I am not," and she ran
nervously out of the room. The packing was soon dis-
patched, the gray suit laid carefully on toj^ to be worn for
the first time on the morrow. Her hands trembled in her
haste, especially when she took out her box of jewelry and
she saw the discarded ring glitter in the darkness. But
she would not think. " I must hand this to papa for the
safe," she said. She pulled out, folded up, and tucked
away, in unfaltering determination. She pressed the disk
which rang the bell for her maid, in whose care she left
the room for re-arrangement. She gave the girl permis-
sion to go to her home during her absence. Only Betsy'
and John need stay to care for the house. Margery
evaded any direct reply to the girl's questions, merely
saying she might be gone two or three weeks. "I will
send you word, Susan, when I return. Take care of your-
self and have a good time, while I am away." "Well,
indeed, Miss Margery, I'd rather you stayed at home,
inself," answered the faithful creature.
Margery snatched her gloves and sped down stairs as
she heard the carriage coming around. She was flying
from him ! Faithless! Trifling! She must get away.
, 4 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
In tight embrace her father kissed her, once and again.
She was all to him all he had left. She seemed a little
tremulous and nervous, but she was tired with her party
and these hurried preparations. This trip would do her
good. '
Mr. Prescott put her into the carriage, telling John to
return for him as quickly as possible.
An hour later, while Mr. Prescott was arranging busi-
ness to take the fast train for the metropolis, Margery sat
in Mahala Wright's sitting-room, hearing of all the plans
for the anticipated trip. She produced her father's direc-
tions, which she^had placed in her little satchel, and read
them excitedly to her friend.
CHAPTER IV.
SCENE. Evening in Mrs. Wright's well-lighted reception-room.
Mahala poses, with both elbows on center-table. She complacently
regards her friends.
Mrs. Julie Mather stands near, embraced by Margery.
Aunt Dude (otherwise Miss Lucy St. John), coming across the
room, essays to get a peep at the folio which lies before her niece.
Mahala instantly covers it with both hands, and mskes an impudent
face at her aunt.
MAHALA. " Now, everybody sit down." They take
chairs. "I say, these rules have to be implicitly
obeyed ; or the party is non est."
AUNT DUDE " Go on."
MAHALA. "Rule first, then, received with no objec-
tion ?" looking with questioning air at each individual.
"Rule second. Each member of this party shall con-
sider herself for the time being as belonging solely and
exclusively to this party. No outside interest shall rival
that of this party, which compels the exclusive devotion
of each and every individual to the amusement and diver-
sion of the party collectively. Sworn ? "
ALL. " No objections. All right."
(3.0
2 6 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
MAHALA. " Rule third. On meeting with other parties
or individuals en route, no communication whatever must
be made."
JULIE. "But, Mike "
MAHALA. " No interruptions." Reading again. " On
occasion, each member shall simulate deafness, by raising
the right hand to the right ear, and inclining the body.
If chaperone number one or number two judge best to ask
' what ? ' then all three shall repeat ' what ? ' in a louder
tone. If chaperone chooses after that to hold further con-
versation, it will be allowed."
Great laughter and cries of " Oh ! Mike ! what an
idea ! " and so forth.
MAHALA. Stamping her foot. " Swear ! "
THE TRIO. " Well, sworn ! "
MAHALA. " Rule fifth. Each member shall carry blue
eye-glasses (already provided by Miss Wright) which,
under any embarrassing circumstances shall be immedi-
ately placed upon the bridge of the nose."
ALL, " Sworn ! "
MAHALA. " Rule sixth. One good pistol "
MRS. MATHER. " Yes, I have one."
MAHALA. " Silence ! That one good pistol shall be
carried by chaperone number one. Also that three large
toy pistols, unloaded (already provided by Miss Wright),
shall be visible upon three other members. Any objec-
tions ? "
ALL. "None no" Laughter.
MAHALA. "Rule seventh. One tin horn, small size, to-
be carried by Mahala Wright concealed in the folds of her
RULES AND REGULATIONS. ?y
dress. Small ivory whistles (also provided) to be worn by
other members for convenience in calling the party
together in case of any separation."
MARGERY. " For instance, when the artist stops for an
impression, or Mike pursues a specimen."
MAIIALA. " Rule eighth. At hotels and farm-houses,
no one will be allowed to form any acquaintance, except
that of host or family of host."
ALL. " Agreed."
MAHALA. " Rule ninth. Letters to be written on
Sundays only. No posting except on Mondays."
Demurs from Mrs. Mather, who turns appealingly to
Margery. Margery flushed and looked away.
MAHALA. Coming down with great suddenness from
her administrative tone. " Oh ! Yes ! I know how it will
be ! Just how it will be ! When I want some fun and
entertainment, you and Margery will be scribbling to your
devoted highnesses' devoted lover and husband. I've
been there before ! ' Now don't now, please keep quiet
I want to write,' etc., etc. Letters on Sundays only !
Swear one and all. I insist upon it!"
" Sworn ! "
A wicked twinkle comes into Mrs. Mather's eye. She
.gives Margery's hand a little squeeze.
" I guess we shall get along," she whispers.
MAHALA. " Nine rules ! Now give me your hands on
this, and we '11 be off to-morrow at eight o'clock !
TABLEAU. All stand around the centre-table. Hands
clasped.
Good night.
CHAPTER V.
THE meeting of the quartette the following morning,
at Judge Wright's door, was, according to agreement,
at an early hour. At eight o'clock, after much preliminary
activity on the part of the four friends, which we will leave
to the imagination of those who have undertaken similar
excursions, the party was ready to start. They wore the
gray cloth suits tastefully trimmed with black braid which
edged the plaitings around the full skirts, adorned the
collar, cuffs, and flaps of the jaunty postilion basques, and
met in frogs across the front of the perfect-fitting waists ;
black poke hats, the severity of which was relieved by
various short, curling feathers, which were massed on one
side toward the front ; and black kid gloves drawn up over
the close wrists of the sleeves.
Their blue glasses, which were not without practical
utility in an out-of-door life of whole days in the dazzling
sunshine, were attached to a black cord which encircled
the neck.
The butts of four pistols peeped out of small pockets on
the hips, and which one carried the real, defensive weapon,,
(33)
THE START. ,Q
and who the toy imitations, it would have been difficult to
decide.
Small silk umbrellas, folded in smooth cases, were fast-
ened to the handle on the left side of the tricycles.
Judge and Mrs. Wright and the boys were interested
assistants in the preparations, and interspersed their con-
sultations with advice, cautions, and injunctions, which the
wheelers did well to remember on subsequent occasions.
Miss St. John was diligently engaged in strapping her
sketching apparatus on behind the saddle of her machine.
Her artistic traveling outfit comprised a light camp-stool,
a box of water colors, a case of pencils and brushes, and a
pad of paper.
These would be sufficient to enable her to catch any
choice bit by the way. Her oils, canvas, folding easel,
etc., she had placed in the trunk. She could only use
these to advantage when she had time to work out an
idea.
Margery had several paper-covered books of light fiction
attached in a roll to her saddle, and stood, tall and fair,
chatting gracefully with Judge Wright, as she drew on
her gloves. Mahala, closely superintended by her older
brother, made ready a box for butterflies, and tied a net
on to her tricycle.
" Now do be careful, Mike, if you get anything nice, not
to break its wings. Remember to look for a lunar moth
on the trunk of some tree in the woods. It is getting late
for all moths and butterflies, so secure all you can before
the first frost comes. This bottle of cyanide you must be
careful about, as it is deadly poison. Tell them all about
it," said her good brother Joe.
. Q WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" Yes," spoke up Frank, who was standing on the curb-
stone with his hands in his pockets, looking on enviously
at the busy scene ; " if you don't, they may be putting it
on to their faces for lily white ! "
" What do you know about lily white ? " retorted Mahala.
" Boys of fourteen should be seen and not heard. Don't
you wish you could go, Bubby, dear?" she said tantaliz-
ingly, giving his nose an .exasperating little tweak. " But
it must stay at home, 'cause it 's too little," and she ran
briskly into the house.
"Humph!" he called after her; "I can travel right
around you on my bicycle ! I would not go on such a
slow trip, anyhow ! "
"Well, I would," said Joe, "if they would let me. I am
only provoked that we fellows had not thought of it first."
"There is no copyright on the idea, Joe," said Margery,
smiling at him.
Mahala ran down the steps. " I came very near for-
getting those insect-pins, Joe," she said, as she opened
the box and placed the paper and the wide-nosed bottle
within.
" I say, Mike " (again .Frank), " don't those thick boots
make your feet look awfully big?" Her particular pride
was a dainty foot, and he knew it.
" Do they, Joe ? Mamma ! Are these boots very clumsy ?
I was afraid they were, when I got them, but "
" No ; they are very neat and sensible, dear. Don't
mind him," quickly answered Joe.
"Frank, be quiet," said his mother.
"Let her call me 'Bubby,' then, that's all," and the
THE START.
43
young gentleman grinned and gave his head a threatening
shake.
Meanwhile, a portly, middle-aged gentleman was hold-
ing the
Math-
er, and
talking
earnest-
" Be very
careful and
not take cold,
Julie ; and if
you see the least
cause to fear any
tramp, use your pis-
tol. Don't hesitate
a moment. Shoot
one as you would a
mad dog, if he offers
molest you. I am
almost sorry that I con-
sented to your going. If
anything should befall
you "
" I would not think of
going, Fred, if you were not to be away," answered his
wife ; " but this trip will serve to pass away the time until
your return. I will write you at every possible point."
AA WHEELS AND WHIMS.
44
" Do, dear ; and be sure to send to the post-office at all
your stopping-places."
"Do you think you need to tell me that?" said Julie,
archly.
Mr. Mather raised his hat to the other ladies as they
mounted their tricycles, and turned again to kiss his wife.
She looked sadly back at his retreating figure as she laid
her hand on her wheel, and waved a farewell with her
handkerchief, as he stopped to look back. Then she
quickly took her seat.
"Well, girls, are we away?" she said in her cheery
voice, looking around.
"All away ! " they answered, and she pressed the treadles
and sped along the street. A confusion of cries followed
them as they left.
"Good-by, good-by."
"Be careful, Mahala, dear."
"Get some nice pictures, Dude!"
"Good-by, Miss Margery."
" Look out and not make a mistake about that face-
powder, now!"
Mrs. Mather turned once again to catch another glimpse
of her husband just as they turned the corner, and the
flutter of her bright handkerchief was the last thing he saw.
In a short time they were well through the town and
coming to the hill which rises to the colleges. Here
occurred the first annoyance, which, indeed, they scarcely
minded, being used to various expressions of surprise at
their comparatively new mode of locomotion. Passers by
the way, who saw the tricycles for the first time, often
THE START
45
gave expression to their ideas about them in more or less
complimentary language. As they ran smoothly along
the macadamized streets, laughing and talking blithely,
full of pleasant anticipations, and enjoying to the utmost
every moment in the invigorating air and genial sunshine,
they scarcely noticed a company of boys, who, "with shin-
4 g WHEELS AND WHIMS.
ing morning faces," and straps of books dangling from
their hands or slung over their shoulders, came noisily
trudging to school, earnestly discussing the affairs of life
which are so absorbing and important to them. They
were all well-dressed, and most of them were at that age
when they have passed their usefulness as pets, but have
not yet grown into the innate sense of honor and gen-
erosity which ennobles most young men in their conduct
towards ladies. Suddenly, one saw the riders approach.
He gave the word to the others, and they all stopped to
better realize the unusual sight.
" Oh, fellers ! " cried he, ."see the women's righters ! "
"Oh-h! Oh!" chimed the party, in derision.
"Hullo, Susan Anthony!"
"How are you, Susan B. ?"
" When are you going to vote ? Sa-ay ! "
While almost deafened by the din, the ladies could not
keep from smiling, but Miss St. John was seen to exclaim
(they could only see the working of her mouth) that she
would like to teach them better manners. But all at once
the jeering ceased the stillness was almost painful. A
natty little fellow of fifteen had made himself heard over
all. He had to jam the hat of one of the more earnest
vociferators down over his eyes with a crushing blow to
secure his attention, and ordered: "Shut up! Stop your
infernal noise, I say! That's Frank Wright's sister!
Keep still, will you?" And having effectually quelled the
riot, he raised his hat, with reddening cheeks, in response
to a bright little bow from Mahala, who said, "Thank you,
Harry," and cast such a look of pitying contempt at the
THE START. ^
insulting boys that they began to have business somewhere
else at once. They became much interested in something
over the fence, and passed on in haste.
While the tricycle party, having dismounted, were push-
ing their light machines up the hill, Miss St. John, who
had been walking ahead for some time in silence, turned
to her friends.
"What a bold and unbecoming thing it seems to be a
'woman's righter'!" she said, repeating the term used by
the derisive juveniles. "How even the masculine youth
resent the slightest innovation upon what they consider
their exclusive rights!"
" Ah, but we have taken the right to dress sensibly, to
walk, and skate, and row, and swim," said her niece, " and
they will soon all get used to our using the tricycle."
"Yes, they will, of course," assented Miss St. John,
"but how truly they sense the tendency of all these
emancipations from indolence and inefficiency. Their
very ire shows their selfish fear of the result of a healthier
condition of mind and body in women."
Mrs. Mather said she did not believe boys gave the sub-
ject much thought.
" It is bred in their bones," retorted the lady, " and
fostered from the first minute when th'ey discover that
Sister cannot do this and that because she is a girl. If
so many girls were not spoiled in bringing up, one great
obstacle to the coming era would be done away with."
" You mean " began Mrs. Mather, hesitatingly.
" I mean the duties and privileges of full citizenship,"
declared the artist. "I do not often say this aloud,
4 g WHEELS AND WHIMS.
because it is at present rather unpopular, and especially so
in an unmarried woman."
Mrs. Mather raised her eyebrows dubiously. " Women
seem to be gaining admittance to the professions," she
said. " They can select any work for themselves, and if
they have a strong purpose and persevere, they can
achieve a modicum of success which is due to their
abilities and not in any way precluded by their sex. I
really do not see that to vote is at all necessary to their
happiness or advancement."
" It is not strange that you do not, who live and move
and have your being in your husband's love. You are
evidently so enervated by the balmy atmosphere of his
protection that you do not care to trouble your contented
heart with these problems."
"Well, really, Dude," answered the matron, "I do not
quite know whether to consider that remark as compli-
mentary or not."
"You must judge it from your own standpoint," said
the other, laughing, " but is it not true ? "
"Yes, it is," acknowledged the loving wife. "I try
sometimes to brace up to it and to look discriminatingly
into the question for the sake of other unfortunate and
lonely women, but I cannot yet see how the franchise
is to help them."
Mahala spoke up. " Suppose women could vote, and
that a war was inevitable or necessary to preserve the
interests of the Republic. Women are physically unable
to back up, by their ability to fight for anything, the votes
they may have cast for war."
THE START. ^g
" Ah, Mike," said her aunt, " You know that argument
is good for nothing, although I doubt not you hear your
father and other intelligent men advance it. In the first
place, it is only very rarely, as in the case of our late war,
that the masses rise to put down a great wrong. War is
usually brought on by the differences of a few diplomats,
who, mind you, do not do any of the fighting they have
caused. Secondly, and this is an argument for allowing
them to vote, no majority of women would ever vote for a
war. They are essentially merciful and averse to blood-
shedding. Supposing these questions and differences
were all adjusted by arbitration, would the world be less
Christian or in any respect hindered in its progress
towards the right ? "
" Oh ! I surrender, aunty ! Don't grind me to powder,
to impalpable paste, I pray thee ! "
Here Margery interposed. " It is an argument, you
know, Miss St. John, against admitting women to the
ballot, that you place a dangerous power in the hands of
many vicious and ignorant ones at the same time that you
extend the privilege to the purer and more intelligent
portion of the sex, so that politics will not become purified,
but only more complicated."
" Well, girls, I do not intend to spoil our pleasure on
this perfect day by a lengthy argument on this question.
I will only remind you that the fear of corruption in the
bad ones, and the indifference of the pampered darlings,"
here she looked hard at Julie, who opened her lips in a
reply, but thought it not worth while and said nothing,
" has not the slightest bearing on the point of doing justice
EjO WHEELS AND WHIMS.
to one-half of humanity who are now without a voice in
their own laws. But my grand idea for. the purification of
politics, for the enlightenment of the masses, and an irre-
sistible incentive to the education, industry, and frugality
of every individual, is this. It has been in my mind as a
solution of many growing evils and abuses for a long time,
but I have never given it utterance, realizing that it is so
far in advance of the world's civilization that it is not yet
available."
" Hear ! hear ! " cried Mahala, and all listened attentive-
ly for the exposition of the plan for the saving of the
Republic. The lady spoke impressively as she leaned
against the saddle of her machine, and emphasized the
portentous words with one finger on the palm of the other
hand.
" I would have an educational and property test which
should be applied to every candidate for the elective
franchise, male or female. No one should be allowed to
vote who could not pass an examination upon a good com-
mon-school education. No one should vote who had not
a small property, say three or five hundred dollars' worth,
unincumbered by debts. Individuals who cared enough
for the privileges of citizenship to educate themselves to
this extent, and who, in saving this amount of taxable
goods had gained also habits of industry, would not make
careless voters. They would not be led blindly by any
demagogue who would stoop to do it, and they could not
vote away money which they have never earned, as they
now are so free to do. Thus you would exclude the dense
ignorance which is now permitted at the polls, the only
THE START. ^j
passport at present needed being a certificate of mascu-
linity. I also recommend it as a remedy for the disease
known variously as Communism, Nihilism, Socialism, and
so forth. But," resignedly, "I do not expect to live to
see it."
" No, I am afraid not, aunty, unless you can stick by as
long as Methuselah did," suggested her irreverent niece,
dashing ahea,d in "a terrific burst of speed," as the race
reporters would say.
" But, Dude," said the chaperone of the party, after a
respectful silence of about two seconds, " politics are not
becoming to you. If you only knew how much more lov-
able you look when you are sketching."
Miss St. John turned upon her friend with unconcealed
exasperation, which was certainly justified by the irrele-
vancy of the remark, but her lips softened into an indulgent
smile as Julia kissed her gloved finger-tips to her in her
own ingenuous manner and rode ahead, laughing at the
indignation she had provoked.
" This will take us over the lovely ridge-road," said Mrs.
Mather, leading away to the left. When they came to the
narrow single track which runs for some distance between
the fence and a high bank, they rode in single file. Lest
they should meet some vehicle in the narrow way and be
forced to pull their wheels up the steep bank to let it pass,
Mahala blew a lusty blast upon her tin horn to warn
approaching travelers that some one was on the single
road. She was considerably conceited over her fore-
thought when, on emerging into the broader way, they met
a heavily-loaded team which was waiting at the entrance
C 2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
for them to pass. Then along the beautiful road which,
stretching by the side of the ridge, gave such a glorious
view of the gorgeous world of woods and meadows to the
left. They selected several building-spots for themselves,
to be purchased when their ship should have come in and
they be searching for an unsurpassed location for a sum-
mer villa.
They conciliated barking dogs, admired homely farm-
houses, discovered a busy mother-cat hunting in the fields,
and spatted their hands and trundled swiftly after a snort-
ing and disapproving old horse who was wandering aim-
lessly in the road, until they were tired.
Even pale Margery was forgetful of everything but the
beauty of the day, the merry jests of her companions, and
the novelty of the excursion. They did not stop to con-
sider anything as better than laughter on this day, and
wheeled along the road how light and noiseless ! at a
rapid rate. At length they ran around the corner at
Wethersfield, on the main road. They had made many a
turn in and out from the highway, ever and anon catching
glimpses of beautiful scenery which was too enticing, and
they must get a nearer view. One "wee bit of the river,"
had to be jotted down in the sketch-book "just one, for
the first day," the artist pleaded, and the others graciously
loitered. Mahala cast her eye about for entomological
specimens ; but saw nothing save some plebeian beetles,
which she said "Joe had a million of now."
They were at Wethersfield, their first stopping-place.
" Yes, here we are at Aunt Phebe's," said Margery, as she
alighted from her saddle. "Did you ever see grander
trees ? "
THE START. *^
"What a dear, old-fashioned house!" exclaimed Mrs.
Mather, looking up to the gambrel roof and at the quaint
little dormers.
"But the inside is full of interesting things," said
Margery, as she shook her skirts to free them from all
dust, "and when you see Aunt Phebe, you will love her at
once. Just a kind, silver-haired woman, of sterling worth
and sweetness. She will be so surprised to see us ! But I
am always sure of a welcome. Inconvenienced ? No fear !
She will be delighted. There she stands now ! out under
that old back stoop. She has her basket full of oh!
ripe tomatoes," said Margery, stepping lightly through
the open gate, to greet her aunt. The lady came forward
with the hesitating air of a person whose sight does not
serve as quickly as in younger days, and could not believe
her eyes until she was fairly in the warm embrace of her
favorite niece. The basket of tomatoes was still upon her
arm.
" What, all four of you ! came from Hartford and on
those things!" The lady had been shut up in the house,
an invalid for more than two years. " Well, you will not
need any oats for your horses!" she rejoined, smiling
" You would be welcome if you did. But you need rest
and food for yourself and your friends. Bring them in,
dear, and tell me who they are."
Margery beckoned smilingly to the party of tricyclers,
who had remained modestly at the gate, and presented
them.
"Thomas Wright's daughter] Oh my dear!" The
pleasant eyes looked searchingly at Mahala as she held her
C4 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
off to get a clearer sight. The young girl had impulsively
bestowed a kiss upon the kind face. " Why, your father
" she paused and felt for the glasses. They were not
in their accustomed place. She wiped her eyes as if to
clear the vision. "Your father and I were friends, years,
ago. Do they say you favor him ? "
" They tell me I have his laugh and his eyes," answered
the girl.
"Well, well, and so he has a daughter as old as you
you are the oldest ? "
" I have one brother older, twenty-one."
" Twenty-one," repeated the lady, meditating. She put
the basket down, still looking at Mahala.
" Yes, it must be thirty-eight years ago ; we planted
that tree together. 'Twas a happy day." Here the
tomatoes began to fall, slowly bumping down the steps,
the basket having toppled over from its insecure resting-
place. Both stooped to catch them, but the quick move-
ment of the older lady's hand was with her apron to her
eyes ; while Mahala caught and replaced the fruit.
" Yes, it is so," and she looked up at Mahala' s lissom
figure. " Then we then he went away. He studied
law, I heard. I never saw him again until after he was
married. He came one day to see how the tree had
grown. That was when you were in the Land of Nowhere,
dear. I remember now your brother was a little thing ; he
told me of him and of his wife ; and you are his daughter,"
she said, coming back to the present moment. " Well, I will
love you, too," she said, with glistening eye resting on the
interesting face glowing with youth and beauty, and she
THE START. 55
laid her gray head beside Mahala's dark locks as she took
her into her arms.
Mahala had unfastened her hat and stood bare-headed
under the trees, accepting eagerly all the interest of the
occasion, and wondering if she had ever heard papa speak
of this winning lady.
The entertainments of the remaining afternoon and
evening were as enjoyable as the day's beginning.
To see all the antique belongings of this ante-revolu-
tionary mansion was a feast in itself. There were glimpses
in the dining-room of the delighted artist, making a study
of the big fire-place. One could sit inside its yawning
mouth in the corner in comfort, if the fire were not too hot.
There was an ancient piano with attenuated legs, a violin
of historical value, and interesting associations ; little yellow
sheets of mournful music, marvelous wall-paper, scores of
things to keep the young visitors in enthusiastic expres-
sions of admiration, and to further win the heart of their
owner by their manifest appreciation of her cherished
relics.
The friends were shown at night into a large room with
two beds in it. Their trunk, which had been brought to
the house by an expressman, stood awaiting them in a
corner.
" What a day this has been ! " exclaimed Mahala, as she
sat down in a chair and stooped to unbutton a boot. She
yawned.
" It has certainly been most delightful in every respect,"
agreed Mrs. Mather, as she vigorously brushed her gray
waist at the window, and they congratulated themselves
- WHEELS AND WHIMS.
on their hostess, and chatted of the home where they felt
so sheltered. "The roads are in prime condition, too,"
said Margery, " and the weather absolutely perfect."
"Yes," answered Miss St. John, "and the foliage is
beginning to. take on just the coloring I want to study for
my last picture."
She was carefully rinsing and wiping some brushes,
and making ready for an early start on the morrow.
They were all weary and longing for rest. Each one
was busily preparing for bed.
"Now, isn't it perfectly delightful," said Mahala, as she
kicked off one boot, "to be able to take such a jaunt as
this, without any men along to dictate, and bother, and
spoon ! " She put such vindictive force into the last word
that a button flew off from the second shoe, which she
was removing.
"Oh! dear! there goes a button, and the first day, too!
Now I have got to sew it on. I tightened them all up,
yesterday." And she got out her little work-box, and
commenced to sew. "If there is anything that I perfectly
abominate, it is untidy shoes. But," returning to the sub-
ject of special rejoicing, "isn't it jolly not to have any
masculines with us?"
"Yes, indeed," quickly responded Aunt Dude, who was
pasting her hair into montagues, and tying them down
with a piece of white net.
"Of course it is nice, very nice, to go it alone, when no
more difficulties are in the way than we have met to-day.
I hope it will all be as smooth sailing," said Mrs. Mather,
sighing faintly.
"Wheeling, you mean, little woman," added Mahala.
THE START. ^
"Gracious! how lame my legs are! or limbs, I suppose I
should say. Twigs would be even more modest."
"I believe ladies are allowed to have legs in these
days," said their diminutive chaperone, smiling at Mahala's
undiminished flow of spirits.
"Well, they have got to have them to ride a tricycle, at
all events," said the irrepressible hoyden. "Mine are
sorer than they have been before, since Sim Blodgett first
loaned me his wheels to try."
By this time all were in bed except Aunt Dude, who
put out the light, and Miss Wright declared her intention
of being asleep in less than a minute. But in ten seconds
she burst out :
" Margery, what did Felix say to your taking this trip ?
He is so partial to clinging-vine women, that I should have
expected him to be horror-stricken at the idea."
Poor Margery, under the cover of the darkness, was able
to reply, quietly, "O, he made no objection; you know, I
am still my own mistress."
" So am I," said the pert young miss, "and furthermore,
I mean to remain so."
Another quiet spell, and a delicious drowsiness began to
steal over the senses of the tired travelers, when the little
wretch was heard to giggle convulsively.
" Goodness gracious ! " exclaimed her aunt, getting out
of patience, " why don't you go to sleep ? I am sure we
are all tired enough."
"I was just about to start my mill (knitting up the
* raveled sleeve of care/ you know) when I happened to
think of how Sim proposed to us girls, and how we paid
him. Let me tell you, it won't take but a moment."
eg WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"Oh, Mike!" groaned Julie. "Keep it until to-mor-
row," begged Miss St. John, who well knew that concilia-
tion was the best policy at such a time. But it failed in
this instance, for Margery, who was not disposed to sleep,
and was glad of anything to divert her thoughts from her
lover and his supposed trifling, said, " Go on, Mike. Let
her tell it, girls."
They all used the name which had been given to merry
Mahala by her brothers, and accepted by her as a matter
of course. Encouraged by Margery, she began. " Well,
you all know just what kind of a fellow Sim is dresses
well, is attentive to all the girls, indispensable at every
party and picnic, and can do everything, from leading a
German to sewing on fancy work or making a salad.
He 's real nice " (generously), " but you 'd never think of
marrying him, never" (positively). "But Sim is getting
old. He has let at least half a dozen sets go by him and
sink into the insignificance of married life, and he has
begun to think it is time he married some girl whose
father will board him, and her, while his salary will just
about pay for his clothes. You see, if she will furnish the
bread, he will try and get the water."
"Don't elaborate, Mike, and on borrowed wit, too,"
said the voice of her aunt in the other bed. " Make it
short."
" Well, it suddenly popped into my head that he was
getting unusually sweet on me, and one evening, going
home from Margie's house, he proposed to me. Of course
1 told him it was of no use ; liked him as a friend, and all
that, and furthermore that I meant to live and die entirely
free and at my own sweet will."
THE START. tjg
"Don't be too positive, Mike. You are not very old
yet," interjected Mrs. Mather.
" It was too good to keep, of course," continued Mahala,
" and I had to tell Em. She commenced to laugh, and
said, ' Poor Sim ! he proposed to me, too.' ' No,' says I.
'Yes,' she says, 'and to Stella, too.'
" Well, you know, that was too much, so we rushed over
to Stella's, and I fell up the steps and tore the ruffle off my
new garnet silk. It was an awful tear; went zig-zaggy in
every direction. Had to take it to the dress-maker's and
have a piece taken out."
" Never mind the tear, tell us about Sim," said Margery,
who was laughing in spite of herself.
"I was just going to, my dear, if you had not inter-
rupted me," retorted Mahala, briskly. "So we put our
heads together, not to make a plank walk" (this execra-
bly stale joke was allowed to pass without remonstrance),
"but to make a plan, and we wrote three notes, each one
saying in different language, of course that we had
changed our minds ; that if he still loved us we would
accept his faithful and unswerving love, and asked him to
wear a white rose-bud in his button-hole Em. said a pink
one, and Stella named daisies as he went to church the
next day. We mailed them at the same time, and of
course he received them simultaneously. Sim has been
perfectly demoralized ever since. Won't go to a party, or
look at one of us on the street. They say, now, he is
going to marry a wealthy girl in the country. Was n't it
rich ? Good night, girls. I am tired half to death and
really must go to sleep. I have not made this as inter-
esting as I could if I wasn't so slee ."
CHAPTER VI.
Cj-o -to
IT is not the intention of the authors of this sketch to
follow the tricycle-riders over every consecutive mile
of their route along the banks of the Connecticut river,
from the (nominal) head of navigation to its mouth. We
shall content ourselves with an outline of the more interest-
ing scenes and incidents among the great variety of events
and experiences which befell our venturesome quartette.
Sunday morning found them all well and in the best of
spirits (except, perhaps, Miss Prescott, whose pride however
enabled her to effectually conceal the rankling hurt in her
heart) at a home-like hotel in a pleasant town some miles
below Wethersfield.
As they sat at breakfast, Mrs. Mather addressed the
neat maid who waited upon them at table. "Maggie, I
think there is a church in this place ? " " Oh yes, ma'am,"
the girl answered in some surprise, "there's two or three."
"Yes, yes, I understand you, Maggie," said the lady,
kindly, "but I refer to The Church an Episcopal Church,
of course."
" It is very evident that our little chaperone has con-
(60)
THEY GO TO CHURCH. j
victions on some subjects, if not upon others," said Miss
St. John behind her hand to Margery.
"Thank you, Maggie," said the lady, graciously, "I was
informed there was a church here. It is such a comfort,"
she continued, turning to her friends, " to know that
wherever you are, at home or abroad, the doors of the
Church are always open to you. One needs no introduc-
tion or permission to enter ; the universal God is every-
where. One fears encountering no personal diatribes from
the rector. The sermon is not a lecture with a religious
tendency, but an explanation and application of the Word,
as the great minds in Church office understand it. It is
such a rock in stability and strength ! I suppose the ser-
vice is at the usual hour, and we will find our way by
inquiries."
They were all glad to welcome the day of rest, and were
soon ready for church, as no change could be made in
their dress, except to put on clean collars, to carefully
brush their hats, and don better gloves and shoes than they
wore while traveling.
" There ! " said Mrs. Mather, as she shook a fresh hand-
kerchief out of its folds, " I feel quite like a respectable
member of society once more."
This caused Mahala to remark that she believed Julie
would be happy cast away upon a desert island, if she could
only have plenty of clean and pretty handkerchiefs.
Soon the bells began to ring, sending their urgent
resonance far over field and river, quickening the feet of
devout souls whose inclinations led them to worship, and
increasing the speed of family carriages which were
fa WHEELS AND WHIMS.
decorously wending their way from distant places, " a few
to Church and more to meeting" Mrs. Mather said, senten-
tiously.
The four companions walked along the pretty street with
a directness and purpose which at once marked them as
city women.
" It 's a female seminary ! " said a youth who, with
others, was curiously watching the gray suits approach.
" I don't believe it. They are temperance workers ! "
said another.
"Not much!" asseverated the youth. "Humph! I
guess not ! They are too good looking ! "
Here, one of the younger boys, who stood behind in the
group of bystanders, gave the youth a vigorous push, so
that he was violently projected into the path in front of
Margery. She, passing swiftly, stepped on to his foot.
" Oh, sir ! I beg your pardon ! " she instantly cried,
sensing the whole situation, " did I hurt your foot ? "
" Oh, no ! No, indeed ! Not in the least; it was all my
fault!" protested the crimson youth, and the low-voiced
" sir " and her beautiful smile warmed his heart for many
a day after.
The friends entered the church-door. Above it was the
legend
JMs is a fgfoes tmrcfc.
But Mrs. Mather, politely accosting a tall gentleman
who stood in the vestibule, asked him to show them a
seat. He replied, " This is a free church, madam. You
can take any seat you like."
THEY GO TO CHURCH. 5^
" Is it really so ? " said Miss St. John quickly, looking
up to him in her bright way with a glint of sarcasm in her
gray eyes, " or shall we mortally offend some good pillar
by occupying the pew which he has acquired by right of
possession? Free seats in theory, is one thing "
" This is a free church in practice," answered the gentle-
man, with a pleasant smile, and a look of interest at the
party.
" I congratulate you ! " said the artist, as they passed
inside.
It was, indeed, a blessed hour in the subdued light and
stillness, which was broken only by the rich voice of the
rector, as he recited the impressive words of the service,
and the low responses of the kneeling congregation. A
restful peace fell upon the troubled breast of proud and
5 4 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
wounded Margery, and at the words : "Almighty God,
unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from
whom no secrets are hid," the tears came unbidden to her
eyes.
Mrs. Mather paid strict attention to every change in the
service, entirely absorbed in the ceremonials so dear to
her. Miss St. John allowed her thoughts to wander to a
very tasteful window, which she observed with an artist's
eye for color ; and Mahala sat quiet and attentive, uncon-
sciously raising a disturbance in the cardiac region of a
young physician who sat in the pew behind. He assidu-
ously found the hymns for her, and leaned over the back
of the seat in passing her his own book to get a look at
her eyes. Conspicuous in gilt letters upon the flexible
cover of his hymnal was the name Dr. Launceolot Cutter.
" He ought to be a good surgeon," breathed Mahala to
Margery, without moving her lips, as she looked demurely
at the stamp. She cast a bewitching glance of gratitude
toward the young ^Esculapius as she returned the book,
which he understood to be full of meaning and rapturous
possibilities and never thought of him again.
The strangers all joined in the singing, and Mahala' s
bird-like soprano rose sweet and clear, so that several staid
worshipers turned about to see where the new voice was,
and were considerably distracted from the remainder of
the service thereby.
As the visitors filed out with the slow-moving congrega-
tion, they were met at the door by a beaming and cordial
lady of perhaps forty years. She was rather stout, with
large pleasant eyes, a funny little nose, which was inclined
to be red, and a smiling and voluble mouth.
THEY GO TO CHURCH. g,.
"I perceive that you are strangers here, ladies," she
said in a most hearty tone, " and I am very happy to wel-
come you to our little church. I am Mrs. Moore, the wife
of the rector."
"It is very pleasant to meet such a greeting, Mrs-
Moore," said Mrs. Mather, with feeling, "when, except for
the sheltering arms of the Church, we felt we were among
strangers. These are my friends, Miss St. John, Miss
Margery Prescott, and Miss Mahala Wright," said the
chaperone, who was much touched, as indeed they all were,
at this unexpected and, alas ! unusual kindness.
"This is my daughter," said the good lady, presenting
a young girl of sixteen, who was standing near and eagerly
scanning the interesting group.
"I am so glad to know you," asserted the daughter,
with a youthful reproduction of her mother's cordial man-
ners. " I could hardly wait to get through the service,"
she said to Mahala. " I was so impatient to know if you
were not the ladies who came here yesterday on tricycles."
"I suppose we are," answered Mahala, showing her
dimples as she smiled pleasantly upon her new acquaint-
ance.
" Oh ! then, you will let me see them, won't you ? " ex-
claimed the little Miss. " I am just crazy to ride one ! "
"Fie, fie, Jennie ! how wild you are ! " her mother said,
gently.
But Mahala gave her hand a little squeeze as they stood
together, and Jennie understood her.
" Henry, dear ! " Mrs. Moore exclaimed, as the rector,
now divested of his robes, came out the green-baize door,
w. & w. 5
56 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" here are some ladies whom you wish to know. This is
" and she remembered every name. Then they saw
that it was the rector that they had spoken with on their
entrance.
"I met these ladies before service and felt sure you
would capture them, wife," replied the rector, who was a
tall man with grayish hair and beard, and a deep musical
voice. " Have you invited them to lunch ? We shall take
you home with us this noon," he said, bending politely to
Mrs. Mather.
" Oh ! really, sir " she commenced.
" Yes, we shall," he insisted ; " my wife always does so.
She purposely sits back, so that she may detect and way-
lay any unsuspecting visitors."
"Hemy!" exclaimed the lady, laughing. "But you
will go, will you not?" she said earnestly to Miss St.
John. "We shall deem it a favor to us."
Mrs. Mather looked at Miss St. John an instant, in
pleasurable doubt.
Miss St. John nodded just a sixteen-thousandth part of
an inch.
" There is certainly every inducement for us to accept
your kindness, and no reason to refuse, except that we
hesitate to trespass so much upon your hospitality, Mrs.
Moore," said Mrs. Mather.
" Then you shall go ! " said the young daughter, who
already had Mahala by the arm. She joyfully skipped
along by her side in fervent admiration of her new friend.
Her quick eye had taken every detail of the city girl's cos-
tume, from the stylish hat that sat so jauntily upon the
THEY GO TO CHURCH. ~
dark curls, to the ends of her daintily-clad hands and feet.
" Oh, mamma," she begged an hour later at lunch, " can 't
I have my new dress cut in Hartford ? They," looking
wistfully at the symmetrical gray waists, " they are so dif-
ferent from Miss Seamer's work."
Yes, reader, the strangers were actually taken home by
this minister and his family. Mr. Moore walked atten-
tively beside Margery and Mrs. Mather, while his wife
chatted in a most agreeable manner to Miss St. John.
"To explain my husband's dreadful insinuations con-
cerning my artful designs," she said, as she trotted along,
" I do sit rather far back in church, with an idea of the
better seeing and greeting our parishioners, and so I
naturally meet all the strangers, and one can do no less
than make them welcome," she said, in an almost apolo-
getic way.
Miss St. John thought grimly, that some could do con-
siderably less.
" Will some one kindly stick a pin into my arm, pull my
hair, or in some way convince me that I am awike ? " said
Mahala, in a suppressed voice, and offering a plump elbow
and a curly head, to her companions when they were left
alone for a moment in the cosy sitting-room of the rectory.
Mrs. Moore had bustled away with her daughter to prepare
lunch, and the rector had stepped up stairs to procure a
book he had been talking of. " Will no one accommodate
me with a pinch?" she inquired again.
" S-sh ! Mike, no nonsense now," whispered Mrs.
Mather, shaking her head at the frolicsome member.
""But isn't this too delightful for anything?" she said, as
58 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
she looked around with glistening eyes. She was highly
appreciative of the kindness shown them, and proportion-
ately affected by it.
"It passes belief."
"It is true Christian love and fellowship" chimed the
artist and Margery.
A simple and satisfying lunch, pleasant conversation,
during which all had become as old friends, exchanging in-
formation regarding themselves, expressing opinions, gain-
ing ideas; and, after two hours, the traveling party, who
had almost forgotten that they were pilgrims and compar-
ative strangers, went back to the hotel, but not until they
had promised to spend another hour or two the next morn-
ing at the rectory, and give Jennie a chance to try the
fairy wheels before they went on their way.
CHAPTER VII.
MONDAY morning was fair, and after paying their
small bill at the hotel Mrs. Mather was purser, and
paid all expenses from a common fund, keeping a strict
cash account, as well as attending to the dispatching of
the trunk they called upon the Moores as agreed, much
to the delight of the sprightly daughter, who, under
Mahala's kind tuition, achieved her wild hopes and rode
the tricycle up and down, round and around, for an hour.
Then they bade good-by and God-speed, parting with
mutual reluctance, and were once more upon the road.
They were within a mile of Middletown when.
"Girls! assume your glasses; here comes a man!"
Instantly, at the word of the chaperone, who rode in
advance with Mahala by her side, the four pairs of eyes
were covered with blue glass. The tricycles slowed up con-
siderably as they came nearer to a team, which, by means
of a sedate and thoughtful old horse, was making its way
along the road. Attached to the sober animal was a rusty
vehicle which had once been a nice affair, but its shining
freshness was past long ago. On the middle of the high
(69)
JQ WHEELS AND WHIMS.
seat sat, or rather perched, an individual in black clothes
with worn and fraying bindings. A small clump of sparse
whiskers grew on his rather prominent chin. This mascu-
line adornment would naturally have been gray, but the
owner, evidently deluding himself with the idea that a
purple-black dye would conceal his age and add a general
festivity to his appearance, had used the deceitful fluid
upon them, but some days before, so that, as the beard
grew out and was unavoidably dampened by his daily ablu-
tions, it showed a quarter of an inch of dirty yellow next
the face which deepened through various shades of orange,
pale green, and greenish purple, into the deceptive and
fascinating black, which looked about as much like nature's
glossy jet as his faded satinet clothes resembled the fine
broadcloth of a fastidious gentleman. A severely high
collar, surrounded by a wrinkled black neck-tie, held his
long neck as in a vise. He wore a tall hat with a wide
weed, and black kid gloves, through the rips in which the
ends of his thumb and several fingers were seen. The ex-
pression on his sallow countenance was an indescribably
funny mixture of priggish dignity and amazed curiosity, as
each party turned out for the other.
" I know it is a sin
For me to sit and grin
At him here-"
Muttered Mahala;
" But his shocking weedy hat,
And his gloves, and all that,
Are so queer."
" Be still, Mike," whispered her leader. The man was
ON THE ROAD. ^j
looking at tnem, and urging the indifferent beast into an
imperceptibly faster walk. Seeing that he was about to
speak to them, Mrs. Mather forestalled his intention by
saying in a tragic tone, " Sir, please tell me, are we nearing
Portland ? "
The shabby gloves pulled up the dejected steed, and
the owner slowly surveyed the quartette and then replied,
" Portland ? You are on the wrong side of the river,
madam."
" What ? " quickly asked the stern woman, with her
hand behind her ear.
" You are on the wrong side of the river," he repeated
in a louder voice. "This is Middletown."
Four pairs of dense blue glasses remained leveled at his
face, and no one said a word.
" Is the lady hard of hearing ? " inquired the stranger,
turning to Miss Wright, who came next.
" What ? " ejaculated Mahala, raising her hand to her
right ear, and sending the monosyllable with such force
that the man fairly jumped.
He suddenly caught the ghost of a smile on the face of
Miss St. John, who rode in the rear, and putting on a
sickly smirk, intended to be attractive, he said to her,
" Madam, your young ladies are playful. Nothing like
merriment in the young. Oh ! yes, let them laugh and
joke while they may, for when they have passed through
trials and bereavements" (an affecting sigh), "when they
have lost a dear partner in life" (a sniff), "they will not
feel so gay. May be, ma'am," said he, leaning over im-
pressively towards the artist, "may be you, too, have
suffered such a loss."
^ 2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
She put her hand behind her ear. " Wha-at ? " drawled
she.
This was a poser. He looked searchingly from face to
face, and failing to perceive the truth, as no betraying
eyes were to be seen, turned in doubt to Margery.
" Miss, I do not know whether an insult is intended or
not. If your friends are really deaf, perhaps you can be
ears for them. I have a work here which I am introduc-
ing to the intelligent people of this community. It is a
very interesting and instructive book. Deacon Smart of
Middletown, whom perhaps you know, the Rev. Mr.
Oliphant, Miss Sharp, the music-teacher, and many other
distinguished names, are upon the list of my subscribers.
Perhaps you would like to look at it," he said, encouraged
by the interested expression Margery had wickedly as-
sumed. He leaned far out of the wagon and extended a
large book towards her. She turned her glasses upon it
but made no move to take it from his hand. He gave it a
little twist and added, " It is the life of "
"What?" said Margery, politely, and in her sweetest
tones.
The man's eyes opened. His jaw fell, and after an
instant of apparent petrifaction he picked up his lines in
solemn wrath and drove away.
Mahala dashed along the road with her handkerchief
stuffed into her mouth, and when the rusty team turned a
bend in the street, with its driver still casting now and
then a puzzled look to the rear, she tumbled off from her
saddle, and sitting down on a stone by the way, held her
hands to her sides and laughed till the tears ran down her
cheeks.
ON THE ROAD. ~*
" Oh ! dear ! dear i " she gasped. " How my sides ache !
Was n't it too funny for any use ? Ha ! ha ! ha-a-a ! And
when he ! he ! and when he discovered an affinity in
Aunt Dude, I thought I should die."
"Pshaw! you silly girl," said Miss St. John, flushing a
little while she laughed, " do not call upon your imagina-
tion in order to get a joke upon me."
" But, girls, I'll leave it to you, did n't he look too
utterly sweet as he spoke to her, and threw his chin out
sideways in such a captivating manner?"
Mrs. Mather and Margery wisely refrained from taking
sides on this important question, and the young mischief-
maker continued on her way, feeling that the plan for the
battery of blue glasses and the baffling " what," which had
been hatched in her fertile brain, had proved a brilliant
success. As they rode on, she repeatedly broke out into
one of her infectious chuckles, so that all were forced to
join again in the enjoyment of the ludicrous scene just
enacted.
At five o'clock, after a run of seven or eight miles, they
came into a beautiful shaded high street in the little city
of Middletown. " You remember, do you not, Mahala,"
said Mrs. Mather, "that Dickens refers to this town and
this street with particular admiration in his 'American
Notes ? ' "
" Oh ! is this the street ? " said Mahala, casting a look
about them. " I knew he did praise one thing in America.
I am glad to see it with my own eyes."
" He told us many distasteful truths, though, did n't
he?" said Mrs. Mather, smiling, and they stopped at the
house of a friend of Mr. Prescott's.
CHAPTER VIII.
1 1 "\ 7OU must certainly visit the Connecticut Hospital for
JL Insane at Middletown," Mr. Prescott had said to
Margery, and had given her a letter of introduction to an
old friend of his, who held a position of trust at the insti-
tution.
Therefore, in pursuance of a part in the plan to which
all had looked forward with interest, they started about ten
in the morning to ride out to the hospital. It is beauti-
fully situated a mile or more out of town, upon an eminence
which commands an enchanting view of city and river.
They rode steadily out of the handsome streets, on to a
low road, by some factories, across a bridge, and soon came
to the hill. Here, as usual, they dismounted and pushed
their machines, but as they reached a neat little lodge at
the gate which opened into the extensive grounds, they
took to their saddles again and rode rapidly up the well-
kept drive, which ran in graceful curves to the main en-
trance of the building.
They remarked the slope of the green grass stretch mg
away to the boundaries of the grounds, and saw several
(74)
SANE AND INSANE. ^
rustic arbors with seats for many people underneath their
canopies. They noticed in the flower-plats, which were
cut in many graceful designs, that a few brilliant blossoms
remained untouched by the frost.
" I presume the more delicate plants have already been
housed," said Margery, "for papa tells me that they have
a perfect bower at the end of every ward where the patients
are at all capable of appreciating them, although they are
obliged to protect the plants from irresponsible hands by
wire screens."
Having given their machines into the charge of a polite
coachman, who met them as they drew up to the massive
stone steps, they rang the large bell at the door, and were
shown at once into a reception-room by a young lady. She
took Margery's letter of introduction, accompanied by her
card, to the office of the gentleman, who soon after entered
the room.
He was known to all his associates in the building as
"the major," and was seen to be a remarkably fine-looking
gentleman of sixty or thereabouts, with a well-filled figure,
which was clothed in garments of fashionable style and
finest quality. His gray hair, which was receding from his
already high forehead, grew thickly upon his temples, and
was continued in a full mustache and side-whiskers, which
he was prone to clasp and pull to their extreme points when
discussing or considering a question. His manners were
graceful, and held a flattering deference to all ladies.
"Is this Miss Prescott?" he said, as Margery arose and
came a step forward at his entrance.
"It is."
^5 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"I am very glad to know your father's daughter," said
the major, "and wish to extend him my thanks for sending
you with your friends to call upon us here."
Margery now introduced her friends, and they spent a
few minutes in pleasant conversation.
Miss St. John had made up her mind about the major in
five minutes of a close scrutiny of his face and general
deportment.
"A perfect gentleman of the old school," she said aside
to Mrs. Mather, who sat near her, and this was much from
her, as she had a critical eye for the short comings of the
male sex.
"Now, let me see," said the major, rising and consulting
his watch, "you will wish to go about the building, of
course."
"Yes; if you please."
"I will go out, if you will excuse me, and see if Mrs.
Duncan has returned from her morning rounds. She is
the matron, and is an indefatigable worker, and just at
present has several quite sick patients upon her hands. So
perhaps ah, here she is now!" he said, as they heard a
business-like voice in the hall. It was saying: "Yes, doc-
tor, it seems to me that Miss Merton is now in a fair way
to recover. But Johanna is still a very sick girl. Don't
you think so ? " and as they all waited, a low conference
ensued. "Did you want me, major?" she said at last, per-
ceiving him in the doorway, as they heard the invisible
doctor walk away.
"Yes, if you are at leisure," he said, turning to present
her to the visitors who sat within the reception-room. She
SANE AND INSANE. ~~
was a lady of energetic action and of very attractive coun-
tenance. She carried several keys at her belt and had a
small glass of some cordial in her hand. They all knew
that she had been in charge of the women's wards since
the hospital was instituted, and held a large responsibility,
which she discharged with unvarying promptness and good
judgment.
"We shall certainly be pleased to show you about the
place," she'said to them, "although it is not our regular
visiting day."
" Oh, then, I am afraid we are giving you too much
trouble," said Mrs. Mather.
" Not at all," was the reply. " I trust you will find
things in comfortable order, although some of the patients
who are scrupulous about their appearance may not have on
their best dresses," she -added, smiling. " Will you come
with us through the north side, major?"
" Certainly, if the young ladies wish, and you will per-
mit." As they started out he turned to the matron and
said : " Perhaps I may as well tell you now, Mrs. Duncan,
that Miss St. John, after presupposing that we have some
dark and noisome dungeons down in the earth where
howling maniacs lie in chains, on filthy straw, overrun with,
rats and smaller vermin "
"Oh, sir!" said that lady, with some spirit, "did my
small insinuation that you did not show all your wards to
visitors convey such an exaggerated idea to your mind ?
I merely asked if we would be allowed to see the worst
cases."
"That was what I was about to add, Miss St. John, and
yg WHEELS ANg WHIMS.
was going to ask Mrs. Duncan to gratify your truly femi-
nine desire ; I will not term it curiosity," and he laughed
in amusement, at her expense.
"It is only for you to elect," said the matron, "where
you will go. Later, I will take you through one of the
worst wards, and if you are not then satisfied, you can
see more."
She was unlocking a door which opened into a sunny
corridor which, having a strip of bright carpet running
through it, was hung with pictures, and a large stand of
green plants was seen at the wide window at the further
end. The doors of the neat bedrooms opened into the
hall, and the inmates sat or walked about on every side.
Just as the door swung to behind them, a tall woman
with her front hair in curl-papers seized the major by the
arm.
" You never delivered that note I gave you ! I know
you never did ! " she cried, vehemently. " If you did, why
don't he come to see me ? You are trying your best to
prevent him from marrying me, but he promised to do it,
and will, if you do not break it up ! " and her expression
of angry impatience somewhat discomposed Mrs. Mather,
who clung close to the matron.
" She is harmless," said Mrs. Duncan.
" Oh, now, Mrs. Small ! don't scold me so. You know
I am willing to help you all I can," said the major, taking
her by the hand. She snatched it away.
" You are not ! What do you want to tell that for ?
What have you got against me, anyhow ? "
"Well," was his answer, "I really do not approve of
SANE AND INSANE. ~~
those thing-um-bobs in your hair. If you want to please
the doctor you must take them down, you know."
She struck fiercely at his hand, but a gleam of amuse-
ment showed in her eye, although she tried to look as cross
as she could.
" There now ! you look much prettier already," said the
major, in a bantering tone, "you will be much more likely
to win him if you smile."
" Oh, go away ! " was the sharp reply.
" She is not really sincere in that talk, is she ?" said Mrs.
Mather to the matron as they passed on.
" It is impossible to tell. She talks it every waking
moment," answered Mrs. Duncan.
They looked into the neat rooms with their clean white
beds, and saw old women lying quietly upon the couches,
and touched their wrinkled hands with their young fresh
palms, as the aged patients looked up with a degree of
interest and pleasure in their feeling eyes. One pale,
slender girl, whose thin hands and hopeless face stopped
Mahala's feet, begged to be allowed to kiss her.
" She is very gentle," said the matron, and Mahala lent
her round cheek to the wistful caress.
Some patients flung themselves around in impatient
scorn of the visitors as they came in view, but many fol-
lowed softly along with the party and gently touched their
garments or their hands.
They looked into a large room where were cases filled
with books, some lounges, work-tables, and a piano.
A girl with short hair and the Usual emaciation which
attends the " mind diseased " was playing an accompani-
3o WHEELS AND WHIMS.
ment which did not chord with an incoherent song she was-
singing, but which seemed to give great pleasure to the
performer.
They remarked that there seemed to be no association
among the inmates. Each patient was alone, with her own
delusion or fantastic imaginings. Those who sat near
seldom spoke to each other, and when one was in any way
refractory, the others merely stood around and laughed
wildly at the scene or paid no" attention to it.
"They do not associate or sympathize," said the lady
who was in charge. " It is this fact which makes it safe
and possible for two attendants alone to manage a whole
ward."
Up stairs and down stairs, unlocking doors, speaking
with attendants, and looking with pitying eyes upon scores
of demented human beings, they went, until almost
bewildered with a repetition of the same sad scene.
Once they met a beautiful lady with gray puffs at the
side of her face, who came with a graceful walk into the
hall. She was attired in a handsome calling costume.
"Good morning, Mrs. Duncan. Ah, major, I am glad
to see you within our precincts once more," she said, with
a perfectly possessed air and t*he general style of a well-
bred lady. She was introduced to the visitors as Mrs,
Clapham ; and greeting them in a queenly manner, invited
them to come to her room, and rest when they were tired.
" I have just been over to town, to the dentist. A most
unpleasant ordeal, I think we all find it, but nevertheless
an act of prudence. I shall be ready to receive at any
time ; until then, good-by," and she sailed away down the
hall.
SANE AND INSANE, 8j
" She is doubtless some official, or the wife of some of
the doctors," Mrs. Mather had whispered to Margery.
"The lady we just met is " Miss St. John began,
inquiringly.
" Is a patient."
" Not insane ! "
" Yes, and sometimes very troublesome. But again, as
to-day, she has lucid intervals, when she can be allowed to
go to town, but with always some watchful eyes upon her,"
and Mrs. Duncan smiled at the surprise of the unsophisti-
cated visitors.
"Would you like to visit a bad ward now?" she said,
turning, key in hand, before a door. " You will perhaps
not feel like speaking to any here, as they are sometimes
excitable. Shall we go in ?"
" Yes," said Miss St. John.
" Yes," echoed her niece, more faintly.
" Shall we ? " said Mrs. Mather to Margery, who did not
seem very anxious to do so.
" O, I do not know ; well, yes, if all wish it," said Mar-
gery, gathering up her courage with a long breath ; and
they went in.
The ward was perfectly neat and clean, with, however,
no superfluous ornamentation. " Nothing that will smash
or tear," the major said, quietly. "You will have ob-
served," he continued, "that we have no patients under
any fixed restraint. We profess to live up to the most in-
telligent and humane ideas in the care of the insane in this
institution, and you will see that the superintendent car-
ries the principle of non-restraint into the wards where are
w. & w. 6
g 2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
the most violent sufferers. The restraining hands of
attendants are always ready to prevent injury to them-
selves or others, but we use no gyves or fetters."
" Yes," said the matron, " in this liberation of the
violent ones, we consider that the Connecticut stands ahead
of other State hospitals."
" Is Maggie out of her room to-day, Mrs. Duncan ? "
said the major.
" O, yes, she is here, and quite enjoying herself."
They looked, and there upon a bench sat a woman with
a shock of brick-red hair, a face covered with large freckles
and spotted with a hectic flush. Her light eyes glanced
continuously from one thing to another, seeing nothing,
and as she drew up and straightened out her bare legs they
saw that she wore a dress of heavy sailcloth which hung in
shreds around the bottom and came just below her knees.
From the short sleeves protruded thin and cordy arms, and
in her claw-like hand she held a piece of thick canvas.
This she was biting and tearing with her jagged yellow
teeth, and occasionally emitted a wild shriek.
" She is comparatively quiet to-day, so we brought her
out of her room," said the woman in attendance to the
matron.
Miss St. John thought, " What a subject for a painter ! "
Mahala had taken refuge behind the form of the major,
who assured her that the maniac was under the watchful
eye of her attendant, although not in any way restrained
by straps or straight-jacket.
" O ! Julie's fainting," said Mahala, suddenly.
" No, I am not," said the little lady, " but I am sick ;
SANE AND INSANE. g,
shocked to the core. Let us get out of here ! O, that
there are such possibilities as that for any of us." She
shuddered and buried her face in her hands.
Margery clasped her friend's waist and they shortly
-emerged into the center, or officer's department, "which is
where ostensibly sane people reside," said the major,
smiling.
They sat resting for a few minutes in the pleasant parlor
set apart for Mrs. Duncan ; and the major, who had pre-
viously excused himself at the door, came back with a
young physician, whom he introduced, and asked to
accompany them to the south side.
" I am sorry," said this officer, " that our superintendent
is at present away and that so poor a representative as my-
self is left to do the honors of the institution. I trust,
however, that you will receive every attention. I am glad
to do all in my power to make your visit a pleasant one."
Mrs. Mather replied politely to the seeming cordiality of
the doctor, as they proceeded on their way ; but he was
evidently not able to devote much time to the entertain-
ment of the ladies, and when they met an assistant phys-
ician in the halls, he excused himself, delegating his office
to Doctor Manly, who made the other's place good and
accompanied them with respectful kindness through the
south side, or men's department.
They found that the acumen of strangers was sadly tried
in passing among this motley crowd. They shrank back
from a young man whose eyes, "in fine frenzy rolling,"
evidently meant mischief, and were introduced to a gentle-
manly attendant. They engaged in a pleasant talk with
g^ WHEELS AND WHIMS.
an elegant gentleman who told them astonishing things
about the institution, and were laughingly requested by the
major not to waste any more time on that lunatic. They
had commented freely on the beauty of a certain young
lady on the north side, and were somewhat confused when
she smiled very sanely and informed them that she was in
charge of some patients, and did not need their pity.
A noticeable object among the men was Mr. Murphy.
He stood out in the hall, his spare form animated by the
music which was thrumming in the parlor, and his feet
trotting out every note. His small skull was covered by
a thin parchment-like skin drawn tightly over it. A sparse
growth of white hair covered his cranium, and his fleshless
face was adorned with one blind eye. His nose and chin
were becoming near neighbors over his shrunken lips,
which, parting, disclosed two teeth only upon the lower
jaw. His natural charms were enhanced by a red silk
handkerchief which he wore under a much-prized straw
hat, the corners of which hung down beside his amiable
countenance in the most jaunty manner. His politeness
upon introduction was extreme, and he thought he saw a
resemblance in Margery to her father, whom he considered
a handsome man. This gave rise to sad memories, and he
wept. " As for me," said he, in a broken voice, " I resem-
ble my poor mother." They were sorry the old lady was
dead, but were willing to forego a vision of like feminine
beauty.
That some of these unaccountable creatures like fun and
even perpetrate a pun upon occasions was seen. A power-
ful man, playfully called " Old Cobby," upon introduction,
SANE AND INSANE. 85
opened conversation by saying to Mrs. Mather, " I am go-
ing to hammer you." The Major, appreciating his little
joke, squared off as if to defend her, and gave him a little
tap on the nose, whereupon he pretended to be dreadfully
frightened, said he did not mean it, and begged pardon.
The doctor, assisting the fun, pointed to a little eruption
on his cheek and asked, "Is that where he hit you, Cobby ? "
when he quickly rejoined, " O, no ! that's where I boiled
over a. little." Then becomhig suddenly dignified, he
made a courtly bow to Miss St. John, and said, "Could
you favor me with a chew of tobacco, madam ? "
At the hour of noon they were enabled, through the
kindness of the doctor, to see some of the patients at table.
The insane men behaved generally with great propriety at
dinner. One, who labored under the impression that he
was the King of Ireland, was very polite, assisting all
around him to whatever they 'wished, and carried himself
with princely condescension and kindness. This was en-
tirely unexpected, as he was usually anything but urbane
in manner. It had been his habit to thrust his head under
a faucet of running water many times a day, and visitors
felt inclined to shrink behind a corner as he came down
through the hall, his wild eyes rolling and his hair dripping
with water, as he fiercely asserted his claims to the throne.
A most venerable old man, whose resemblance to William
Cullen Bryant was remarkable, sat at the end of a table,
accepting the viands offered him with a quiet grace.
" Red Patsy " was an attractive individual, who had
gorged himself to repletion, and sat lazily contemplating
the world over his ponderous body. He certainly weighed
gg WHEELS AND WHIMS.
three hundred pounds. His Henry the Eighth head and
face bristled with short red hair, and his skin was of the
same brilliant hue. They were told by Dr. Manly that
Patsy was formerly a great fighter, sending terror to all
hearts when angry ; but he is now settled into imbecility,
knowing just enough to eat.
One man confided to Margery that he had eaten one
hundred and fourteen potatoes. He said he sometimes
composed poetry, and proceeded to repeat some . which
was certainly remarkable.
"But," said he, "it's an awful hard job to be deranged
the year around."
They visited the Annex, where insane convicts are con-
fined. They peeped into the laundry and sewing-rooms.
They wondered at the enormous kitchen and larder, and
confessed themselves tired and their minds full of inter-
esting remembrances.
After a lunch, which was hospitably tendered them by
Mrs. Duncan, they went to the South Hospital, where
incurable patients are kept. There they met Doctor
Dempster, who has this department in charge, and after a
short look about this new building, with all its modern
improvements, of which the doctor is justly proud, they
rested in the cosy sitting-room belonging to the physician
and his wife. They were surfeited with pitiful sights, and
glad of the change to agreeable and intelligent conversa-
tion. Their entertainer here was a very fluent talker,
and the flood of anecdotes, quotations, comparisons, and
original conclusions that fell from his lips served to par-
tially dissipate the sense of horror that hung over at least
two of the visitors.
SANE AND INSANE. g^
" What is it ? What makes them crazy," Mrs. Mather
had said to him. " It must be overtaxing the brain. And
yet they told us many of them were servants, cooks, ditch-
diggers. I cannot understand, it."
"Ah, madam," said the doctor, gallantly, "if we could
understand it, we might hope to prevent much of the
misery which the friends of the demented undergo."
" The friends ? " repeated the lady in some surprise.
" Do not the poor victims of such a malady suffer beyond
all endurance ?"
"Probably not," said the physician. "They rarely, I
might say never, shed tears, and are often happy in their
delusions. These are usually of an exalted character, and,
as far as we can judge, they are happier than most sane
people."
" Oh, Doctor ! " said the soft-hearted little chaperone,
"you surely would not tell me that the poor man was
happy who met us at one' door of a hall, and, as we entered,
tried so hard and yet in such a hopeless way to get out.
He had on a shawl, and his hat was in his hand, and he
said ' I want to go home. Why can't I go home ? ' with
such a wretched voice and look of misery " the lady's
eyes filled with tears. " They tell me he never leaves the
door, in the vain hope of returning again to his loved ones
at home."
"Yes, I know," said the doctor, respectfully; "that is
old Whitney. I allowed myself to be considerably troubled
over his ungratified longing for home until I learned that
when he had been let out for a short time that he pounded
his wife and children, and became the terror of the neigh-
borhood, so that they begged us to take him back here."
38 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" Oh, how incomprehensible ! " sighed Mrs. Mather.
" Very ! " said the doctor. "Crazy people are apt to be."
" But are they mostly made so by overwork, brain-work,
and a whirl of excitement, the madness of Wall-street
speculation, or strenuous efforts to win a high place in the
world ? "
" I am truly sorry, my dear Mrs. Mather, to be obliged
to answer you to the contrary, but I will take a catalogue
(this one is a year old, I see, but it will serve our purpose
as well as another), and read you some* facts. I am not a
Gradgrind, but facts are stubborn things."
" Girls, you must all hear this," said the lady ; " we are
going to find out from statistics what makes people insane."
" While not willing to say that I can answer so intri-
cate and baffling a question," said the doctor, with a
deprecating smile, " I merely intend to show that it is
frequently monotony that kills the intellect. That it is
not those who are pleasantly occupied with a pursuit
which is interesting and varied, even though it may be
somewhat exciting, who oftenest lose their reason."
" Pardon me, Doctor ! " interposed Miss St. John, in her
crisp way; "can you judge the whole subject by the pa-
tients who come to you here ? In the first place, Connec-
ticut has no hurrying, scurrying, tearing, and nerve-des-
troying metropolis. Our small cities are steady-going
places. Secondly, is it not a fact that you do not receive
the wealthier class of patients ? Are they not in private
asylums ? "
"Miss St. John," said the doctor, "your points are well
taken. I can only say that I think you will not find any
great difference between the occupations of the patients
SANE AND INSANE. gg
in other State asylums and those of ours. As to the men
of brains, of professional callings, and busy lives, you are
perhaps right in supposing that their friends are apt to
place them in some smaller and more expensive hospital,
feeling a repulsion to sending them to a hospital in part
supported by the State. Still, as their cases prove obsti-
nate or of long duration, they are very generally sent here.
But even allowing for a large percentage of unknown
brain- workers who have gone ' daft,' the showing is a
surprisingly large majority of people who have mentally
stagnated. It is no doubt a surprise to most people to
see, upon a study of these tables, that it is not those who
lead lives of business, distracted by the turmoil and excite-
ment of the world, who lose Jtheir reason, but rather those
who rust out ; those who are crushed by the hopeless
monotony and ceaseless grind of uninteresting work.
Out of the two thousand three hundred and thirty-three
patients admitted from the beginning up to the time this
catalogue was made, six hundred and ninety-nine are
housewives and domestics."
" Of course, the majority of female patients are entered
under these two heads," spoke up Miss St. John.
" But, here are two hundred and sixty-two farmers ; of
day-laborers, two hundred and twenty-six ; of factory
employees, one hundred and twenty-six. Consider these
figures as against one broker, three engineers, two lawyers,
five physicians, and three telegraph operators. Saloon-
keepers, it seems, are kept bright and sane by an occa-
sional fight, or a visit from a customer's irate wife ; here
are only four. Landlords meet with a constant variety in
the different excuses as to delinquent rent, in the unex-
QO WHEELS AND WHIMS.
pected departure of a tenant whose money was due, in
inventing plausible reasons for not doing repairs, saying,
'Why, the house does not carry itself now, sir.' Only one
landlord has been wrecked in the storm of life. Seriously,
it is monotony, routine, that destroys the mental faculties.
See again, thirty-nine seamstresses have gone crazy,
stitching on
" ' Band and gusset and seam,
Seam and gusset and band,
Till the heart is sick and the brain benumbed,
As well as the weary hand.'
" Yet only two milliners. They can pin on a knot of
ribbon and a bunch of plumes and tell Miss McFlimsy
that ' it 's a little beauty, modeled after a Paris hat, and so
cheap at twenty-five dollars.' "
Mahala was a little doubtful if the doctor was not run-
ning on in this light manner to relieve their minds of any
unpleasant impressions which might remain from the
pitiable objects they had seen lying and sitting about in
the wards by scores.
Miss St. John considered it a very attractive way of
putting hard facts. They thanked the genial doctor who
had done so much for their entertainment and instruction,
and returned to the entrance of the main building, where
they had left their wheels. He insisted upon seeing them
off and walked over with the major to see them mount and
run their curious vehicles.
" I shall fear going crazy constantly," said Margery,
" after this day."
"I shall not," declared Mahala, T never was so sure of
my sanity in my life."
CHAPTER IX.
M AH ALA looked out of the window.
" Now this looks, as Joe would say, 'rather jubious/
What is to be done? Here we are, miserable prisoners in
this town, which yesterday seemed so beautiful. All
because of the rain. Say! who has rubbers any one?
We have our umbrellas, if we had only thought of rubbers !
"I have mine," said Miss St. John, with a superior air,
" and will lend them. For my part, I think a rainy day
not much loss. There is a lovely old highboy in the
kitchen and a quaint side-board in the dining-room of
which I shall make a sketch."
"Of course," merrily rang out Mrs. Mather's voice,
" there is always something an artist can take hold of for
diversion. Mike, where do you suppose I found your
industrious aunt this morning before breakfast ? At work
on some old barrels in the door-yard there, one tub half
full of water, and a quantity of other wet truck that she
said were delightful bits for light and reflections ; and
really they did look so, after she had caugh't the effect with
her pen and ink. I don't see how she does it ! and the
way she works while I sit idly gazing is a marvel to me.
(90
g 2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
She has that sketch-book three-quarters full now, and here
we are only a week out."
Miss St. John smiled at this effusion, but was too intent
upon her work on an old tumbledown mill which could be
seen from the window, to give any expression to her
thoughts.
The raindrops fell from the eaves with steady plash and
patter upon the line of pebbles below. The wet wood was
delicious in its darkness, and as the moist herbage stood
erect and dripping with the rain, the vines surging to and
fro in the wind, loosened here and there in swinging ends
from their support, it was in some respects more satisfying
to sit and idly gaze than to make even an attempt to depict
the beauty one could not but feel.
" Come, Margie, you and I can venture out. Let Aunt
Dude and the devoted wife meditate and work at their
pleasure. We will have some fun, if it can be found in
this stupid "
" Now, Mahala, don't call this place any bad names ! It
is just charming here, and I think this is almost the best
day yet. This rain will soon cease and we may get a gray
day, by way of variety. These autumn colors do come
out so forcibly against a gray sky. I never half realize
the gorgeousness of this turning foliage till I see it in con-
trast with the grayness about and above. Do come and
see it, Mike."
"Yes, aunty sweet, I know it all. I am just getting on
my boots, though, and hunting out your rubbers from the
family trunk, so please forgive me if I only turn my mental
eyes to the appreciation of your divine scenery. My
material optics are turned to my bodily needs at present."
THE RAINY DAY. g^
Here she dragged the long-sought-for rubber shoes from
their tight pack near the bottom of the trunk.
" Say, girls ! what do you think about peanuts ? Let's
have some, and some molasses candy ! I wouldn 't talk so
much if I had something to chew on occasionally. Cara-
mels, for instance. Caramels ! Fifteen cents a quarter!"
sang out Mahala, as she skipped across the room, swinging
Margery around in a deux temps till they both lost balance
and came plump against Mrs. Mather, nearly upsetting her
in the mad whirl.
"Ah, Madame Julie, pardon! pardon, Je vous prie" cried
Mahala, and, in turn, she caught that little lady and per-
formed a similar escapade,
" Come, come, Mike," endeavored Margery, in persuasion.
" Let us be off, or the rain will be over, and we shall have
not half so much sport as to go with umbrellas and water-
proofs."
" I am all ready now," said Mahala, and the two sallied
forth.
"Dude, do you think I might try to make that tree?
Lend me one of your pencils. I have some paper."
" Surely, you may try, Julie," said the artist, who was
always ready and pleased to encourage any attempts in her
friends to catch a reflection of the face of nature. " That
is an admirable subject for a trial."
Mrs. Mather made a fe*w traces resembling a tree and
then her pencil glided off into something like this :
" MY DEAREST OLD FRED: If that door would only
open and you would walk your dear self through it, I
should be in the seventh heaven of ecstatic bliss ; i. e., I
g^ WHEELS AND WHIMS.
should be in your arms in a twinkling. Those girls are
just off for a frolic, and I shall get a chance to drop this
little note (if they remain long enough, it may be extended
to a letter) in the mail to-night. I thought of trying to
telephone you yesterday, I did so want to know if you had
returned from your hunting expedition all right and well.
But Miss St. John will be wanting to look at my tree,
which I began, so I will wait now till she has approved of
my sketch, and I haply find her in a more absorbed state in
regard to her own work."
The girls went down the street, through and around in-
numerable puddles, passing under the dripping trees,
which showered them from the tips of their wet leaves as
the wind soughed through their heavy branches, and
stepped gingerly across the little rivulets that ran across
the path. A procession of waddling ducks was coming up
from an adjacent pond, quack-quacking as they marched in
irregular single file. They squawked and spattered along
in loud consternation, making little dives and dips with
their broad bills as the strangers drove them before.
Proceeding further the two unabashed misses stopped a
milk-wagon, and each took a pint of fresh milk from the top
of the can, paying double price for the detention of the
cart. But whether the extra bit, or Mahala's enlivening
remarks upon the occasion, most pleased the astonished
driver of the steady establishment, it is not for us to say.
" Now, will you please direct us to the drug store ? " said
Margery, in a manner so sweet that the young man said
he would carry them there if they wished. It was quite a
walk in a stormy day.
THE RAINY DAY. ~$
"Oh, but that is too much trouble for you. We could
not think of taking your time for that," said Margery.
"Not at all! not at all, miss. I was just going down
that way myself." A curious fact, considering the direc-
tion of the horse's head.
Mahala nudged Margery. " Let's ! " said she, in under-
tone.
"Well, we certainly would be glad of the ride," said
Margery, " if you are surely going thatway. Thank you ! "
They were soon handed down at the drug store, much
to the excitement of those rainy-day loungers who seem to
be indigenous to country stores. The milkman was fully
rewarded for his part, by the interest and evident curiosity
which was displayed by the heads at the glass in the door.
They plainly could not explain the advent of such pretty
faces, in such weather, and with Silas Bound !
Your real country lady has a fixed antipathy to going
out of doors in the rain.
The idlers within the store speedily dispersed, only one
or two of the more courageous remaining to see what the
young ladies came to buy, and to ascertain, if possible,
where they came from. One of these took refuge behind
the well-thumbed morning paper, and another picked his
teeth meditatively with a pine sliver as he stared at the
rows of jars upon the top shelf.
MAHALA " Do you keep peanuts, sir ? "
DRUGGIST " No, miss. You will find them next door,
MAHALA " Any caramels ? "
DRUGGIST " Those you will also find at the store
above here."
06 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
MAHALA " Peppermints ? "
DRUGGIST (promptlyX "Oh, yes, we have all the medic-
inal confectionery. One-quarter of a pound, did you say ? "
MAHALA (laying down the change) "Any lime drops ? "
DRUGGIST (with increasing alacrity) "Very fine fresh
ones, miss. One-quarter of a pound ? Thank you ! "
"Hello-o! " came in stentorian tones from the back part
of the store.
The girls jumped as if struck.
"Do not be startled, ladies," said the polite apothecary,
"it's only the telephone and the new clerk."
" Who is it ? " A pause.
"Well, who is it?"
" Stop buzzing so, or I can't hear a blamed word."
"Stop your own noise and listen, boy," quietly com-
manded the patient pharmacist. " Listen ! "
"Yes, who? Collinses? Yes! How much baggage ?"
"Oh ! Four packages. All right. Two colic plasters.
Colored lasting ? " "Well, I thought not" Mahala snick-
ered. Margery passed her handkerchief over her mouth.
" All right ! What ? Two dudes ? "
Mahala laughed outright.
Poor clerk, with a very red face, "Wait a minute. I'll
get a piece of paper and take it down."
" Hello ! Go on ! "
"Who are you talking with ? It's me, Mr. Opdyke."
He straightened himself up as he threw a glance over at
the young ladies and stroked his smooth jaw. Another
anxious time of listening at the tube.
"He wants you, Mr. Smythe," and that gentleman re-
THE RAINY DAY. g
lieved him at the telephone, while Opdyke, a little crest-
fallen, presented himself behind the counter to receive
further orders from the customers. They had, however,
completed their purchases, and with suppressed mirth were
making their way out as fast as possible.
" Where now," said Margery, as they stood upon the
sidewalk. "Suppose we go to the dry goods store. I
want to get something pretty, to fix over Mrs. Furness's
bonnet. It is altogether too shabby for the poor thing. It
will delight her to somewhat approximate present fashions.
She is so overcome with our style, as she calls it."
"Very well. Perhaps we will see a little more of of
the natives, you know. Find some specimens for instance.
There go four ladies, or waterproofs, anyway."
" Let's follow."
They fell in the rear of the four ladies, who entered the
only dry goods store in the place. They saw a small, wiry,
thin-nosed person in advance of the others, and were just
in time to hear her say to the girl behind the counter :
" Have you any v-very v-very nice purple gros-grained
ribbon ? "
The girl looked inquiringly.
"Something uv-very, uv-very fine, you know. Purple
gros-grain. About so wide." She measured the width
upon the forefinger of her much-worn but carefully-mended
glove, with the black kid forefinger of the other hand.
" Best quality. About so-o wide."
The box of ribbons was handed down.
" Is that the width you wished," said the clerk, as she
took up a roll, glancing at the same time at three others,
who awaited in suspense the words of the speaker.
w. & w. 7
g3 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"Do you think so, Mrs. Plum?"
"Ye-es, the width is right, I believe, but is it nice, Mrs.
Joy, you know ! "
Mrs. Joy took it in her hand, and after fingering it care-
fully, held it to the light.
"Well," she said, with the deliberation befitting so
important a question, " I think a great deal of color. Yes,
this is good color. Royal purple. Will wear well, I judge.
You know we want it to wear well. What do you think,
Mrs. Bliss?"
fc O, it is all right if you think so, Mrs. Joy. You are
such a good judge."
" Perhaps/' assented the other, modestly ; "but you have
had actual experience," Then sympathetically, " I know
that Mr. Bliss handled the others twelve years."
" Yes, true," sighed Mrs. Bliss, and looked around with
a sense of her large responsibility in the matter.
"What did you say was the price? "asked the first
speaker, with a little sharpness,
" One dollar and a half a yard."
"A dollar and a half?" the thin little lady repeated.
She looked inquiringly at the faces of the other three, who
had gathered near.
" Did I understand you to say a dollar and a half a
yard ? "
" Yes, ma'am."
" It is too much ! "
"Not for this ribbon," answered the girl; "it is the*
best."
"Yes, certainly it must be the best," came in chorus.
THE RAINY DAY. gg
Then the first speaker leaned confidingly over the
counter towards the girl. " Well, you see," she said in an
impressive voice, "it is for religious purposes. Do you
think, if we could see Mr. King, that he would throw a
little off for us ? "
Every one of the committee bent eagerly forward to
catch each word of the reply, and as the girl went towards
the desk to speak to the proprietor, each lady advanced
two steps in that direction.
They all earnestly scanned the features of the store-
keeper as he came forward to deal with them.
" Mr. King," said one, in undertones which were dis-
tinctly heard by the interested bystanders, "you see we
want to buy new book-marks for our church pulpit. We
all feel a deep interest in getting a good thing. And
generally, you know for religious purposes money being
raised in small levyings upon each member it is advisable
to make a good bargain." Here the lady srm'led and
looked fascinating. Each other lady simultaneously
smiled and murmured, "As good a bargain as we can."
" You feel the importance of this, Mr. King. You
yourself are a church member. Baptist, I believe."
Mr. King assented with a nod.
" Could you not do better with us than "
"A dollar and a half?" put in the first speaker, aching
with impatience through the long sentences of the other,
and feeling she must speak now.
Mr. King debated a moment as he bit the end of his
pencil. "Profit's little enough, any way," he murmured,
"but to accommodate customers "
1OO WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"Yes," quickly exclaimed one of the ladies, thinking
this was a point not to be lost, "church custom is consid-
erable, of course," and the three cast glances of approval
and admiration upon the able diplomatist for her perspi-
cacity.
The store-keeper drew a piece of wrapping-paper towards
him and made a few figures upon it.
" I suppose I might call it dollar thirty-seven and a
half, if you wanted any quantity." He looked at the end
of the roll. " I don't think I have more than five yards,
of that width. You can have what is here at that price,"
and he sighed slightly.
The four women gathered in close conference.
" You know we shall divide the old ones up for our silk
bed-quilts. Each one can have a strip, if she likes," said
the one called Mrs. Bliss.
Mahala had drawn near, apparently looking at the things
in the show-case, while Margery made her purchase from
the clerk.
The first speaker then said audibly, " Those marks that
we are now reluctantly discarding, have been placed by
holy hands since 1810. Four divines lived and died un-
der them. Does Mr. King know this ? It may be so with
these, if we buy them of him." She cast her eyes to the
ceiling with a religious glow upon her face. " So comfort-
ing ! Isn't it ? "
But Mrs. Joy now had Mr. King's ear. "We do not
want so much as five yards," she said, "but if we can have
the quantity we want at that price, we will take it, Mr.
King."
THE RAINY DAY.
101
Now all four ladies edged the counter.
" Two yards is a great deal for three marks."
" It needs three, doesn't it, Mrs. Bliss ? "
" Three are desirable. One for the hymns you know."
" Yes, one for the hymns," in chorus.
" Well then, that will make"
" Could you measure off five-eighths, Mr. King ? Well,
thank you ; giving you a great deal of trouble, we fear.
Now, three times five-eighths "
They all looked inquiringly at the merchant.
"One yard and seven-eighths," he answered, after pen-
ciling on the edge of some paper.
"Well, now, that is just it! " said the wiry little woman,
who seemed to stand eminent as a financier. " Call it one
yard and three-quarters, and you'll have us ! Isn't that so,
ladies ? " said she, turning to the others, with a keen light
in her eye.
All assented, with an anxious glance at Mr. King, who
was by this time pretty well worried into acquiescence with
anything.
" Mamma rna ! Just look here a moment." Mrs. Joy
went over to where stood her daughter, who had gone into
the store a short time after the ladies.
"Ain't this handkerchief lovely ? and so cheap ! It's
only two dollars ! It is just the shade I have hunted and
hunted for. Couldn't find it in Hartford last week."
" This lot came in only yesterday," said the clerk.
" Can't I have it, mamma ? It would look so sweet
w.ith my blue velvet. Just that shade, Rob says, is all the
rage. Something between a peanut-skin red and an
orange. Neither one nor the other ! "
IQ2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" Buy it if you wish, my dear. I am just now very busy.
Get it charged," said Mrs. Joy, as she turned back to the
ribbon counter.
"Well, Mr. King," she resumed, "if all are agreed, you
may please cut off a yard and seven-eighths. Here is just
the money for it," counting it out. " One penny short, by
mistake. Mrs. Bliss, have you another cent ?"
" Let it go," said the man, with anything but .a religious
expression of countenance. Then the women, all chatting
together, left the store.
Margery had found something very pretty for an old
lady's hat. The rain was now over, and they made their
way home as fast as possible, hoping for another start ort
wheels by afternoon.
CHAPTER X.
THE artist was seated in view of a barn interior. Mrs.
Mather and Mahala were searching for amusement.
" Behold her ! " exclaimed Mahala. with a theatrical pose,
as they came upon Miss St. John, who, after spending an
hour in looking for a study, finally put her camp-stool down
under an old apple-tree and was taking " an interior " of
the most rustic order.
" True genius is a fellow who has an idea, and works with
all his might to carry it out. I say, Aunt Dude, how long
is that remarkable creature to consume? I am pleased to
announce that the man has brought around our tricycles in
splendid order, although I, as the .most cautious member
of this party, was very much afraid to trust them to him.
We ought to make a good run in the next two hours. I
feel 'like a bird let loose,' " she sang, in a sweet voice.
"Will you please not sing around her, Mike? See, she
is a fine old model, that bossy. Just look at her beautiful
eyes ! they are so steadily fixed on me. If you will only
move quietly on now, you may tease as much as you like
when I am through this."
(105)
I0 6 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"O, yes, in the 'sweet bye and bye.' Well, let us take
ourselves into the 'beautiful beyond,' Julie. But mind,
aunty, if you don't hurry up I will be here again soon and
assist, or my name is not Mike Mahala Wright. Come
Julie," whispered she, as she tried to please her aunt and
go quietly away, "there's that rustic drawing water with
the old oaken bucket; let 's interview him! Don't he look
dudey this morning ; actually got a neck-tie on. He has
evidently been regarding himself in the mirror. Do come
and award him a smile of appreciation. I am frightfully
thirsty ; let 's quaff from the old bucket. ' Touch thy light
finger to its metal rim, burnished gold it becomes to him.
On its rough brim rest thy ruby lip ; 'twill remain there
forever, when he goes for a dip.' That last line is rather
superfluous, considering the meter, but absolutely essential
to the rhyme, you see ! Now, isn't he a real specimen ?
Genus homo, species rustico. What a pity he is a little too
large for my cyanide bottle." And Mahala ran on in this
nonsensical strain, as if she never had a serious thought.
She had been dreamily walking under some apple-trees
a day or two before, when her eyes suddenly caught a
glimpse of something clinging to one of the tender twigs
which was not a leaf, although its body-color was almost
imperceptible against the green tree. It was a large worm,
with a brilliant head. The red knobs which protruded
from its back had arrested her quick eye, and seizing a
pole which was in the yard she eagerly bent down the
limb and soon had in her hand the little branch which held
her prize. She ran to her friends, holding out her latest
acquisition, and cried in delight, "0, girls, see what a
WHYS AND OTHER WHYS.
107
lovely thing I have found ! Joe will be so pleased. He
has not found one this year."
" What is it ? " said Margery, going to meet her. " Oh ! "
and she recoiled with a little cry of disgust. "A horrible
worm ! What can you want of that ? Throw it away t
Please don't put it near me, Mike ; I shall die if you do."
Mahala looked at her with a pretense of scorn.
" No, I don't think I will trust it near you. Likely as
not you would burn it up, or some such thing ! The poor
thing can't live much longer, anyway, and he shall have a
nice nest and plenty to eat ;" the girl stroked his hideous
form with her taper forefinger.
"Why, my dear," said Mrs. Mather, coming up, "what
will you do with this crawling monster ? If you gently
suffocate him as you do your beetles, you have no way to
preserve such a fluid body. It will soon decay."
"Well!" said the naturalist's sister, addressing an im-
aginary audience in the vicinity of the well-curb ; " I must
say that the shameless ignorance of some people who pre-
tend to a fair amount of intelligence is positively astonish-
ing. Do you suppose I would poison this gorgeous
creature ? Not for the world ! Look at those lovely scarlet
knobs with the little black prickers which crown him right
royally ! See those little spots of blue enamel, which bead
his neck so beautifully against his light-green skint
Where can you find another such exquisite combination of
seemingly conflicting colors ? Aunty will appreciate that.
But you certainly must respect the spike on the end of
his tail.
"Yes, we do!" shuddered Margery.
lo g WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"But you need not fear; he is tired with living. It is
getting chilly, and after he has eaten a little more he will
go into his winter's sleep. Poor fellow ! How short and
apparently useless has your little day been, and how soon
<lo you give it all up."
"What a strange combination that girl is," said Mar-
gery, as Mahala walked away, tenderly shielding and talk-
ing to the sluggish creature that clung with his great feet
to the branch. " Her alternations from boisterous mirth
to the tenderest solicitude for any beast, and sentimental
soliloquies over objects that merely fill me with creeping
chills, are a constant surprise to me."
" Mahala is indeed a very interesting character, and not
the least of her charms to me is her innate all-pervading
love of nature," responded Mrs. Mather. "She has a
spontaneous interest in and love for everything that God
has made. A crawling worm, that we shrink away from,
she finds a fascinating study. A lonely child or a sick
mother will elicit a flow of sympathy from her that no
society queen can command."
"Yes, it is so, Julie."
On the morning of which we write, the artist at her
work and the two others, who were making preparations
to depart, were startled by Mahala, who came running to
them with a cracked fruit-jar in her hand. "O, girls, my
beautiful worm is dying i It 's very accommodating in him,
certainly, to assume this portable form, so I can send
him home in a box. You know I have kept him supplied
with leaves, but yesterday he stopped eating and in the
night he commenced to spin his cocoon. See ! He is
WHYS AND OTHER WHYS. IO ^
weaving his own shroud of finest silk. If I only could
have seen him at work ! But he has taken his last look at
earth and now is almost hidden from sight. You can
just see the red spots on his head down in this enveloping
case How he seems to have shrunk and dwindled away.
O, the wonder of it ! To make these preparations to pre-
serve his chrysalis for another life in the spring time. His
little day is ended. What was that existence for ? Why
should it have to be given up and a long oblivion ensue
before coming out into the beautiful winged floating exist-
ence in the future ? I wonder if it is painful, this change ;
or is he so weary and chilled that he is glad to wrap this
mantle around him and lay him down to rest ? "
"Mahala, child," said her practical aunt, "do not trouble
your young head with these vain conjectures. It is after
all but a poor worm undergoing a change which is inevita-
ble in the order of things. It is a natural transition from
the worm to the chrysalis, to the moth, and again the egg,
which hatches the worm. And so we go, round and round,
life after life ; and so we wax and wane. Leave weaken-
ing reflections, and do what we can as we go, I say."
" But, Dude," gently said Mrs. Mather, "this, being an
emblem of human life, and death, and immortality, it must
and does appeal most powerfully to a thoughtful mind."
" True, Julie ! I merely make a general obj ection ta
the constant turning over and over in the mind of these
questions, which will never be answered in this world.
As we do not know, and cannot possibly find out what this
existence is all for, let us do what we can. Accomplish
something in this life, an.d then accept its termination as-
j I0 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
trustingly as we did its beginning. We shall be equally
helpless and ignorant of the future."
Meantime Miss St. John had finished her sketch, and
gotten together the paraphernalia necessary to her work.
She now went to assist Margery, who, with her little
housewifely ways, was always picking up and settling
things so as to make the progress of their journey easy
and comfortable. Impatient calls were heard from Mahala,
and soon the friends were assembled at the gate, ready for
departure. With many kind wishes from all at the farm
house ; and promises from the travelers to return some
future day, they took their leave. Even the old watch-dog
gave a friendly wag of the tail and turned sad eyes after
them as the party rolled off and were soon lost to sight.
The day was fresh and bright, and the wheeling good.
The glow of cheeks and the flow of spirits showed this
to have been a most exhilarating jaunt. Nothing had
occurred to mar their vivid enjoyment of the road, the
scenery, the people. They were now prepared with pocket-
luncheon for a good eight hours' pleasure, with hopes to
rest at nightfall at Haddam.
"Friends," said Miss St. John, "you must let me halt
at my first call. When I get a glimpse of a lane an
overgrown, weed-covered, untraveled, long, winding lane,
vines running over the side-fences, tumbled-down stones,
little standing pools of water made by cattle hoofs, low
bushes, and all that a lane such as one where my child
ish feet used to wander, while I, picking berries or flowers
by the wayside, felt that I could go on and on forever (for
I never reached the end), when I come on just such a per-
WHYS AND OTHER WHYS.
Ill
spective, leading out from the roadside, I shall call a halt
and you may take a rest.
Here Mahala cried " Oyez Oyez Oyez ! " and waving
her hand not ungracefully, as if addressing an audience.
" When, lying before me in dim uncertainty amid the
green grass, I behold a hopper of unusual size, I halt
to further examine the creature, if I cry out 'A specimen, .
a specimen ! ' then let this body of riders gather itself in a
circle around the animal while I make a capture. If aunty
is allowed at every view to check the onward moving of
this procession, and for so simple a thing as an 'impression,'
I too shall crave your leniency. A 'specimen' is what I
am in search of, and having thus far found little worth
.sending to my expectant brother, who, we all know, is to
"be the future naturalist of Connecticut, this day I shall
devote myself to an earnest and continued search till I
meet with success."
"We make no objections to your artistic or naturalistic
-departures, I am sure," quietly said Margery. "At the
Junction the other day I came across that new story we -
were talking of. As the book-boy stepped off the train I
caught sight of him, and as he had just the one I called
for, the book was mine in a trice. Here in my belt-satchel
it was lain, awaiting just such an hour. We can enjoy it
by ourselves, Julie, under some quiet shade, while you, our
artist, impress your lane, and Mike makes a capture."
" But won't you assist ? " asked Mahala.
"No, no."
" How can I catch a vile creature without some help ? I
should "
j j 2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"Now don't say 'smile.' 'Tis too stale for anything,""
put in Julie.
"Scream, probably, then," continued Mahala. " Suppose
it should not be a grasshopper at all ? Suppose it a green
snake or a great lizard."
" Lizards are small."
" Or a horn-beetle."
" Or a butterfly," suggested Margery,
"Or a bear" growled Mahala, making great eyes at
them.
Onward they rode.
The sun shone on the darkly-green grass. Golden-rod
and purple asters blossomed on every side. Merry little
chirpers sprang up from the roadside and hid themselves
again a second afterwards. Crickets chirruped in the
warm hedge-rows, and occasionally a songless bird flittered
through the clear air above. After a time the tricy-
clers came into some cool woods. Overhanging trees
shaded either side.
" Really," said Mahala, taking off her hat and throwing
back the curls from her moist forehead, "this shade is
delicious ! The sun is almost as fierce as in June. To-day
seems like a return of summer. Hark ! Was not that the
notes of a wood-thrush ? "
" No, Mahala ; it is too late in the season," said her aunt,
as she measured the proportion of a graceful tree with her
eye.
"Well, it was a wood-thrush, just the same; I am sure
I am not mistaken there!"
WHYS AND OTHER WHYS.
It came again ; the clear flute-notes echoing through the
distant trees :
" How sweet in the dear little thing to greet us so ! "
said Margery, as they stopped their wheels and listened.
But he sang no more.
"I'll write Joe about that," said Mahala, delighted, as
she reluctantly started her pedals. " How the lusty fellow
did pipe it up ! He is not going to hump up and look for-
lorn, although winter is coming. He is glad to have one
more such perfect day, and when the cold pinches his toes,
I'll wager he will not complain, but make the best of it.
He is a kind of Mark Tapley among birds, and I like him ! "
Refreshed by the change from the almost oppressive
sunshine to the umbrageous coolness of the woody air, on
and on they went. Each moment in their swift transit
new beauties sprang into life at their gaze. As they
neared again the open country, devotional stillness seemed
to have fallen on our party, as if the "splendor of the
grass, the glory of the flower" were all too glorious, too
beautiful for expression. Each soul was glad with an inno-
cent delight joy so filled their hearts, and beauty so glad-
dened their sight. Now they came out to a view of the
picturesque .village. Midday light shone on the homes as
they lay snugged in below the hills ; the farms, the wind-
ing roads, the glistening stream, busy life, lay all before
them. Church and school-house stood in relief in the
landscape.
w. & w. 8
U^ WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" Please tell me," said Mrs. Mather, as she rode beside
Miss St. John, "why is it there is always a certain
unquestionable beauty in a spire ? Is it really beauty of
form that always excites pleasurable emotions? Is it
really that two lines simply meeting do enclose a form
of beauty. Almost any other angularity seems objection-
able."
The artist, after a little thought, said, "I believe it is
not in the lines; not in the thing itself."
" Be that as it may, is not everything earthly, however
beautiful in itself, enhanced or spiritualized as it approaches
a heavenly nature ? "
"You think, then," said the artist, "that the view of a
spire, tapering as it does insensibly to the heaven above
us, awakens in us all the secret associations of that
heaven, even though we ourselves may be unconscious of
the mental process."
"Aha ! " derisively shouted Mahala, checking her wheels
and falling back into line with the others, "so much for
impressionism. I can do better than that :
'If eyes were made for seeing,
Then beauty is its own excuse for being.' "
" Original, of course ! Suppose nobody knows Emerson
but Miss Wright," quickly retorted Mrs. Mather.
"Well, we must put a stop to sentimentality," im-
periously declared Mahala, as she rode forward again.
*' Now tell me, Aunt Dude," she continued, as she stopped
in the road and waited for the more steady riders to
approach, "why, of all things in earthly (or heavenly, if
you will) creation, does a spider affect you with such
WHYS AND OTHER WHYS. U^'
shivers of horror, that you feel each individual hair creep
and stand upright inside your new poke? Why are you
thrown in a malarial condition at the sight of this harm-
less creature ? Why do your hands grow cold ? Why
-does sweat appear in beads upon your artistic brow and
<:ome dripping down your pale cheeks ? O, say."
" You little goose ! if you don't let us have a little com-
mon sense once in a while," exclaimed her aunt, laughing,
you will demoralize the whole quartette before we get
home. You just march ahead and keep Margery com-
pany."
"Very well, if you and Julie cannot answer civil ques-
tions I will return to my more congenial companion." But
she continued in distinct tones, turning her face half way
around so that they might hear, "Margery, why do alliga-
tors usually inspire me with an awful feeling of respect ;
and why in their tracks do even wise men fear to tread ? "
" Because because," began Margery, laughing and hes-
itating, "of the inequality of the line of their backs, I
guess ; or a certain regularity in the shape of their teeth,
perhaps."
"And why does a snake, even though his line is a
curved one, and frequently even spiral (especially when
coiled for a spring), not inspire one with that sense of
beauty which would ordinarily move one in other beautiful
curves ? And why, unconscious though one may be of
the mental process, is one affected to a rapid withdrawal
from the scene ? " .
A general laugh ensued. Whistles were blown as signal
for rest and lunch.
CHAPTER XL
IT was one of October's perfect days. The sun shone
brilliantly across the landscape, now resplendent with
the gorgeous hues that only a New England climate pro-
duces on the dying leaves. Masses of color in a thousand
hues, from the deep maroon of the oaks, through the
countless shades of crimson to fiery scarlet and orange in
the maples, to' the pale yellow of the walnuts, dazzled the
senses with a flood of delicious tints. Ferns in the open
field showed a combination of browns in every shade, from
chocolate to a woody yellow, and even to a pale white in
the bleached fronds, which stood like pure spirits of de-
parted friends among the dying ones. The deep green of
firs and the bright emerald of the grassy fields gave a per-
fect background ; and on the more distant hills there lay a
purple haze softening the whole view into a dreamy
beauty.' The air was so soft and thin that distant sounds
came to the ear, faint, yet clear ; the lowing of kine in
far-away places, the tolling of bells, or the call of a child,
came floating over the land, musical and almost unearthly
in effect.
Oi6)
CONFESSIONS AND CONFUSIONS. jj^
"It is near here," said Miss St. John, whose artistic soul
was full of joy in the beautiful day, "that I made that lit-
tle study last year. Now if you girls can amuse your-
selves for an hour, I can get just the effect in this autum-
nal haze that I want. Yes, here are the bars where we
went in before."
"Very well, Dude," said Mrs. Mather, "we certainly
can find enough to enjoy anywhere to-day. You go ahead
with your traps and begin work, and we will take care of
your tricycle."
The artist disappeared, all intent on her beloved work,
and as soon as the trio had pulled their wheels inside the
wall and walked over the knoll, they found her already
hard at it. An umbrella, fixed on a stick, which was
thrust firmly into the ground, her folding easel in position,
her green bag of paints and brushes lying on the ground
by her side, she sat on her camp-stool, working rapidly.
" There, now she is using her diminishing glass, and see
what a wrapt and ecstatic expression she wears, as she re-
places it in her little watch-pocket," said Mahala, as they
approached the absorbed artist. "Now see her draw down
the outside corners of her eyes' and squint at the innocent
river. I always know something is going to be done when
she does that." ,
"Well, dear, we won't disturb her," said Margery, with
a smile. "Suppose we sit down on this old tree-trunk."
"You can, if you wish. I am going to explore this
region a little. Good-by."
" Don't fall into the water, Mike, and don't go too far
away; remember, there maybe tramps about," cautioned
ng WHEELS AND WHIMS.
her chaperone and loving friend, as she sprang away over
stumps and knarled roots down towards the water, which
ran in a limpid stream around the knoll.
" No fear ! " answered the volatile miss, as she ran across
a teetering log on to the sward beyond.
Margery was very quiet as they sat together on the
log, breaking up the bits of sticks and throwing them list-
lessly into the water, and Julie, who it will be remembered
had been prompt in swearing to keep all of Mahala's rules
CONFESSIONS AND CONFUSIONS. j jg
before starting, was taking a few notes, as she said to
Margery. She wrote :
"My DARLING OLD BOY: I am having a charming
trip, of course. If you were only along ! But then it
would not be a feminine excursion, and I quite enjoy it
daytimes, and have many funny little things to tell you ;
but when it comes night how wretchedly homesick I am !
Then I vow I will never, never, NEVER, NEVER leave you
so long again."
Here Margery, who had been lost in reverie, with her
eyes fixed upon the rippling water, turned suddenly towards
her friend, who smiled guiltily and blushed a little as she
thrust her pencil and the scrap of paper into her pocket.
"Julie!" said she, reproachfully, "you are writing to
your husband ! and you promised not to."
" Sh-h, sh-h ! " said the faithless one, " do not let them
hear us ! Margie, I will say to you in confidence, that no
loving wife ever promises anything without a mental reser-
vation in favor of her good man. When any one says
' You must not tell a soul ! ' I say ' Oh, no ; certainly not
(except Fred);' and when another assures me that she
would not for the world have any one but me know, I say,
' My dear, it shall be a sacred trust to me (and Fred) alone.' "
" Oh, Julie ! " exclaimed Margery, somewhat shocked at
this confession of duplicity in her friend, "then it is not
safe to tell a married woman anything you do not wish her
husband to know ! "
" Not as a rule, my dear," answered the intrepid lady.
"If a woman loves her husband she is pretty sure to make
him the repository of all her thoughts and feelings, and if
120
WHEELS AND WHIMS.
he is worthy the confidence, his opinions and views, from
a masculine standpoint, are often of the greatest assist-
ance to her in advising her unmarried friends. But keep
it in mind that a married woman is only one-half of a com-
posite being. It is not at all unsafe to confide in the wife
of an honorable man, Margie, but beware of others; for
they, nearly all, will tell their other half everything they
know. Perhaps you consider this acknowledgment dam-
aging to the veracity of the sex, but it is true nevertheless.
Still," said the artful little woman, "you who are the prom-
ised wife of a noble man, too, Margie, should not wonder
at the near and dear companionship which supersedes all
girlish intimacies, and shares even the most trivial idea as
sympathetically as the most important concerns of life."
Margery turned her face away toward the babbling
river, which here rippled over a stony shallow ; her eyes
followed a fleck of foam as it rose and fell upon the minia-
ture billows and whirled about and sailed smoothly on as it
reached the deeper water further down the stream.
Her friend, who had seen that something, an indefinable
shadow of sadness and occasionally an unnatural and sur-
prising bitterness was clouding the crystal purity and re-
fined brilliancy of Margery's mind, would fain have in-
quired into its cause, but dared not. She leaned forward
now to look into the proud face, and pressing the hand
which lay listlessly in her lap, she said, "Margery?" and
conveyed at once an affectionate sympathy and a tender
inquiry in her tone.
" Julie," said the girl, suddenly turning her face to the
other, " I wish I might ever again have the faith in a good
CONFESSIONS AND CONFUSIONS.
121
man that you have in your husband. But I find that one
whom I loved the best in the world, thinking him all that
was noble, chivalrous, loving, and generous, is not above
petty flirtations, trifling love-makings, which are an insult
to me, his affianced wife ! This has come to my ears from
various sources, and at first dismissed with incredulity and
contempt for the friendly warning voice ; but the disgrace-
ful thing has been corroborated by his own lips, and I re-
fttse to remain any longer an object of the sneering pity
of my own associates ! Felix Plummer is at liberty to
play lover to all the grass widows on earth if he chooses ! "
The rapidity and force with which the indignant and
wounded Margery poured forth her grievance, and the
tragic emphasis laid upon " refuse " and " at liberty," as
well as the proud gesture with which she rose to her feet
and swept her clenched hand with now spreading fingers
out into a swift circle as if to cast her faithless lover to the
four winds, was a stunning surprise to Mrs. Mather, who,
while loving her elegant and self-contained companion,
had sometimes said to Fred that she thought she lacked
force and depth of feeling. But now, as Margery sank
trembling and weeping and resting her graceful head upon
the little wife's lap, she felt an admiration for the sobbing
girl she had never before experienced. She rose to the
occasion, and a flood of gladness came over her affection-
ate heart that the trouble she vaguely suspected was out
at last, and that she, as she felt sure, could bring about a
reconciliation between the estranged lovers. She smoothed
the soft hair of the bowed head and said, " Tell me all about
it, my poor child. Possibly you do Felix wrong."
j22 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
The proud lips unclosed upon the humiliating theme, and
gave the facts as we have already become acquainted with
them, only adding that Mrs. Bangtry had been indecent
enough to boast that she could take Felix Plummer away
from his cold and stately fiancee if she desired, " and it
seems she could," cried the mortified young lady, in end-
ing.
"Fie, fie ! Margery ! Be a woman ! Think," said her
friend ; " do you know of cause enough on the part of
your lover, so that you are warranted in not giving him one
chance to defend himself? Things are wretchedly per-
verted and magnified in coming through the mouths of
one or two mischief-makers. No girl is right to throw
away her happiness on mere hearsay, and without a word
of explanation ! Why, Margie, I am surprised that your
pride should have so run away with your common sense.
Oh ! if people would only talk more ! Why not speak of
any wrong as soon as it is felt ? One need not descend to
fretful fault-finding, but trifles, which would melt into thin
air at one reasonable word, grow into mountains of sorrow
in an atmosphere of silence and distrust. Promise me,
Margery, that you will write to him at once (Mike's inflex-
ible rule, notwithstanding). I am sure you have been un-
just to him, and, also, that when you are his precious wife, for
you will be, dear " Margery was shaking her head. " O
yes, you will be, sure as you both live promise me that
you will speak of anything that hurts you, as there will be
many times, of course, men not understanding such a
proud, sensitive, zvicked, cruel nature as yours "
Julie had the now faintly smiling face by the chin, and
CONFESSIONS AND CONFUSIONS. I2 j
while talking to it in this incoherent and thoroughly
womanly manner, was giving the fair cheek a little pinch
as she added the last adjectives, when there came a pierc-
ing shriek from the woods across the river.
"Hark!"
" Oh ! oh ! oh ! Help, gins i Ah-o-o-o ! Hurry ! e-e !
Help, quick."
"Mike's drowning!" gasped Margery.
"Or being murdered," said Mrs. Mather, in a low voice
with clenched teeth, and she started on a run down the
woody slope to the bank of the stream.
"Margery!" she panted as they ran, "have your pistol
ready ! You took it this morning ; cock it in your pocket !
I can use this club ! Run ! Faster ! Yes, yes, Mike, we
are coming ! " she screamed.
Margery fell to the ground. " Oh ! Julie ! I have broken
my ankle ! I am going to faint ! "
"No, you are not," said the plucky little woman,
fiercely, "you shall not ! Come on ! Mike is being killed !"
and she dragged Margery to her feet and sped away across
the log bridge into the pasture beyond, with the strength
that fear lends. Margery followed as fast as her sprained
ankle would permit.
That Mahala was still alive was evident by the screams,
which apparently issued from a patch of white birches
across the open field. As the two friends came in haste to
the spot whence the cries seemed to come, their terror in-
creased, for, in the woods or along the river they could see
nothing of the girl, when, " Up here ! Up here ! Put
something under me ! I can't hold on a minute longer I
I2 4
WHEELS AI:D WHIMS.
Can't you get hold of
the tip and pull this
tree down ? Or climb another tree
and pull this one up so I can get my
feet on something. Do something
quick. I've been hanging here an eternity now ! "
CONFESSIONS AND CONFUSIONS. I2 e
Mrs. Mather saw at a glance that there was no way to
straighten up the tree or pull it farther down, as they
could not touch the ends of her toes as she clung to the
willowy birch, kicking and writhing in the vain attempt to
swing back to a hold upon its slender trunk. Her hat
was on the ground, the dark curls hung in hopeless con-
fusion over her frightened eyes, and her distressed face
was red and distorted in agony.
" Mike," said Mrs. Mather, decisively, " the only thing
for you to do is to drop. We will catch you and break
your fall as much as possible."
"But I shall kill you!"
"No, you will not. Now drop."
They held up their arms and Mahala let go of the birch,
which quickly rose to a perpendicular, while the three
young women came in a heap to the ground with tremen-
dous force.
" I know I have killed you both ! " exclaimed Mahala,
jumping up. "Julie, have I hurt you? Tell me, Mar-
gie, dear, are n't you terribly bruised ? "
" N-no," said Mrs. Mather, who had now regained her
feet, " I guess I am all right, except my elbow ; I think
that is barked," she said, as she felt of it, " but the sleeve
is so tight I shall not know until bed-time."
Margery now leaned forward and spat out a mouthful of
blood. Mahala began to weep hysterically at sight of it.
"Oh! dear Margie!" she cried, "you have some inter-
nal injury, and I I am to blame."
" Oh, no, Mike ! I only bit my tongue as my chin came
down on something hard. It- will stop bleeding soon, I
think."
I2 g WHEELS AND WHIMS.
Mahala began to rub her head thoughtfully, and a grat-
ified expression came over her face as she said, "I do
believe it was my head. There's a great lump on my
bump of cautiousness. Oh ! but it is sore. I am so glad !
I was so ashamed when I thought I was not hurt at all."
"Well, Mike," said Margery, who could not forego this
mild retort, " if this occurrence will in any way help to fill
out that organ, which is naturally a cavity, it will be a re-
lief to your friends, and they will bear their wounds with
cheerfulness."
Mahala looked at Margery reflectively for a moment,
and then stooping picked up her hat and put it on her sub-
dued head. Julie tightened up her disheveled hair, and
with Margery limping a little and occasionally stopping to
discharge more blood from her mouth, they took their dis-
heartened way back across the field. Nothing was said
for some time as they walked slowly toward the river. At
last Mrs. Mather remarked, " It may be proper now to in-
quire, Mahala, how under heavens you came to be in the
awkward, not to say dangerous predicament in which we
found you ?"
"Why, I was only swinging on the birches, as I have
done thousands of times before with the boys," she
answered, in an injured tone. " It 's glorious fun ! " added
the giddy thing,, brightening a little.
" So it seemed," interpolated Margery, coolly.
"Well, it is, when you do it right ! You climb the tree
by the little branches and when you get to the top where
it is too limber to go higher, you just jump right out into
the air, and over you go, flying to the ground like a bird."
CONFESSIONS AND CONFUSIONS. I2 y
" Yes," said Mrs. Mather, laughing a little in recollec-
tion of the recent scene, "you looked like a bird, but it
was a stork with red legs'! "
Not apparently noticing this thrust, which keenly
wounded her pride, for reasons best known to herself,
Mahala continued, "But you must not get an old tree that
will break with you, nor one that is too large and stiff.
That was what was the matter with the last one. I had
swung twenty times, I think, and it was just lovely ! I
was just going to have one more and then return to you,"
she added, ruefully.
"Well, my dear," said Mrs. Mather, good-naturedly,
" like many another harum-scarum, you dared your fate just
once too many times. However, it is not as bad as it might
have been, so we will think no more about it, if Margie's
ankle does not prove troublesome." Suddenly, "Why,
where is Dude all this time ? Can it be possible that she
has heard nothing of all this ? "
"Of course," said her saucy niece, "give Aunt Dude
some trees, a bit of water, and a rock or two, and she
would not hear the sky fall ! There she sits," said Mahala,
as they drew near the spot, "oblivious of the rest of the
earth." Here she tittered. "She would not be holding
her head on one side in such a satisfied manner, if she
knew that cow was looking over her shoulder ! Cattle are
the only things in the world that she is afraid of."
" Well, girls," said the unconscious lady, rising as they
neared, " have you got tired of waiting for me ? I have
succeeded in catching a most charming glimpse of ugh !
a horrid cow." She had turned slightly to get a different
I2 8 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
light on her canvas, and caught sight of the great face of
the animal which was sniffing at her shoulder. She threw
herself forward away from the dreadful monster, and upset
her easel, throwing the picture to the earth. Green bag
and basket, umbrella and stick, camp-stool and canvas,
were scattered broadcast at the mercy of the gentle cow,
who evidently was wondering in a dreamy, bovine way,
what the melee was all about. Mahala took her by the
horn, and patting her brown neck, turned her away and led*
her to a distance. "Did it fall on the buttered side?" she
said, returning again.
" No, for a wonder," answered the disconcerted lady,,
who was picking up her picture, " but thanks to you,
Mahala, that the creature did not step upon it." She was.
gathering up her artistic paraphernalia and engaged in
packing it into a surprisingly small space and making a
compact parcel. " But where have you been so long ? "
she queried, and then they told her.
They continued their ride. As soon as Mahala could
get an opportunity to speak to Mrs. Mather aside, she said,
"Julie."
"What?"
" Did I make a shocking appearance, up there, hanging
to the tree ? "
" Why, without doubt, there was considerable braided
underskirt mixed up with some very lively red stockings,"
answered Mrs. Mather, smiling.
"Of course," rejoined Mahala, shortly, "you could see
that, being right under me; but could any one, I mean
could you, see more than my feet, across the field ? "
CONFESSIONS AND CONFUSIONS. I2 Q
" Why, I did not give it a thought, I was so frightened.
I really do not remember. But why should you care ? No
one was near to see you."
"That's just it," said poor Mahala, choking a little and
swallowing hard, " I am sure there was some one in the
woods, and I am afraid it was a man," winking back tears
of vexation, "for just as we fell I heard a crash through
the brush, and when I got to my feet, his back was just
going down behind the fence, and it was a great broad
back, and I know he saw me, and I ha-ate him ! "
Her voice broke a little, and she furtively wiped a tear
from her eye. " I despise creatures who are always poking
around when they are not wanted ! "
Mrs. Mather, who could not feel that it was any serious
catastrophe if some farmer had perchance been cutting
rails in the adjoining woods and so become a witness to
their adventure, dismissed the subject from their conversa-
tion and said to them all, that they had better get back to
the hotel as soon as convenient and take a rest.
Margery's wrenched ankle, which had been the only
severe hurt in this chapter of accidents, was found to be
only slightly injured, much to the relief of the whole
party, who had feared a dentetion on her account,
w. & vr. 9
CHAPTER XII.
A BRIGHT morning after a rain, and our party of happy
*V. wheelers bade good Farmer Bodge and his wife good-
by and started away down the winding road, which had
been plashed and packed firm and smooth by the rain-
drops which had fallen during the night.
Mrs. Bodge had acknowledged to them, as they were
chatting and oiling up their machines, which were safe on
the barn floor, that she had not been clear in her mind
about them when they arrived. "I see," said she, as she
took a seat upon a cart -tongue, "that Jerry was jest be-
witched, when he come a runnin' acrost the barn-lot with his
cheeks as red as Balding apples and his eyes a shinin', and
he bu'st into the wood-shed, where I was (I had stepped
out for a handful of kindlin's ; my fire had got low and bis-
cuits must be done quick or they ain't fit to eat), and says
he, 'Mother, there's four ladies a-comin' up the road and
they 're all a-ridin' on machines which they call tricycles.
You know Uncle Ben told us about how he saw them in
England. They are all in gray dresses,' says he, 'with
snipperdings on the front of the waist and little coat-tails
(130)
THE BODGES. j^j
behind, and they can just spin over the ground faster'n
old Dick can trot.' Says I, 'Jeremiah Bodge, stop your
puffin' an' blowin'. Set down in the chair and tell me what
you mean ! "
" ' Wai, mother,' says he, ' father and I were down in
the further pastur', mowin' brush, so as to plow it fo-mor-
rer, when father looked up, and says he, ' Jerusalem crick-
ets!' I looked up and I tell yer ther' wan't no more
mowin'. Whiz ! They come along just as smooth and
pretty with them spider-web wheels, and their hats all
covered with feathers, and they were all singing something
^2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
like peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo ! Wai, father leant on his
scythe, and couldn't say a word, but I knew in a minute
they was city girls from the way their waists set, and when
they came nearer, such pretty shoes ! ' Says I, 'Jeremiah,
they 're bad women. They must be some of those circus
creeturs like what enticed Sam Burnet away to New York.
Come into the house/ says I, 'and I'll lock the door.
Come right in and we '11 peek through the front-room
blinds, and see 'em pass ! ' ' No, no,' says he, ' they 're
comin' here ! ' ' Comin' here,' says I ; ' wal, I guess not 1
If your father can be made a fool of, I can't, and I can tell
him no such truck shall darken my doors ! I'd sooner '
' But hold on, mother,' hollered Jerry, as I started to bolt
the doors, ' they are nice ladies ! Yes, they are, real ladies.
One of 'em is a daughter of Mr. Prescott, who was here
huntin' partridge last year ! Wait till I tell you, before
you fly off the handle ! ' I am a little touchy about bein'
at all familiar with strange women. If everything ain't
jest right, I suspicion it right away ; but the minute he
mentioned your father's name, I cooled right down, and
settin' down to the churn, let the boy run on. I
was dreadful late about my churnin' yesterday morn-
in'. I don't know whether it got chilled or what
was to pay, but that cream would not come. I had
about made up my mind to give it up when he come in ;
but I guess I put extra venom into the handle after he
scart me so, for it come all of a sudden. I hadn't got it
out of the churn when you rode up. But he told me how
you stopped at the bars and asked him how far it was to
Mr. Bodge's house, and father, says he, ' I am Mr. Bodge/
THE BODGES. j^
and how sweet and genteel one jumped off her machine
and come into the lot and gave him a letter introducing
you, and then Jerry run acrost lots to tell me. Jerry said
you was all perfect ladies, but the one with her hair cut
short in front and parted on the side with little curls all
around her face and behind the ears, with her dimples and
white teeth, which she showed all the time because she
was always laughing, was enough to make a man strike his
grandmother if she asked him to ! "
Mahala blushed. "O, dear, Mrs. Bodge, I would not
ask any one to do such a wicked thing."
!34 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"Of course you would n't !" said the matron, rolling her
bare arms up in her apron preparatory to a run for the
house, " that's only his exaggerative way of speakin'. J
hate to have him use such language, but his father is
awful on by -words too ! "
" I'm darned sorry to have you go," said Farmer Bodge,
as the tricycle travelers made their last preparations for
starting away from the comfortable place that had shel-
tered them for a day.
" By John Holland !" he continued earnestly, in his slow
and heavy way, "when I see you* four comin' down the
road yesterday, I was beat. I'd heard of them ma-
chines, but never expected to see ladies on 'em. But it
must be good for you, judging by the looks of these rosy
cheeks and shinin' eyes."
Farmer Bodge felt a little dashed at his own gallantry
as displayed in this last remark, and looked around quickly
to see that " mother " was not near enough to hear him.
"Thunder and orcrow ! " he exclaimed, "if there ain't
Jerry ridin' on one of the things now, along with Miss
Curlyhead ! Jerry '11 be spiled for the neighbor girls now,
sure. Haw ! haw ! Sarah Pease won't be nowhere ! "
Jerry, who until % these fatal days had not realized that
his hands were coarse and his feet inelegantly shod, had
begun to despise his own pleasant, though confessedly
verdant personality. He had taken his father's razor the
evening before, and by the light of two kerosene lamps
had succeeded in scraping off the soft growth from his
cheeks and chin. He carefully omitted to perform this
operation on his upper lip, and, by dint of the least bit of
THE BODGES j^e
burnt cork on his finger-tip, had darkened the incipient
mustache until it was visible to the naked eye. The lad
was almost handsome, as, with burning cheeks and a new
and strange expression in his eyes, he followed his merry
companion around the square. Then, as they stood
together lowering the saddle again for Mrs. Mather's use,
as the travelers were soon to depart, his hands trembled.
He bit his lip, and looked down to where he was smooth-
ing his forefinger to and fro along the wire spokes.
"You have been very kind to us, Jerry," said the good-
hearted little flirt, " and when you come to Hartford I
hope you will call and make the acquaintance of my
brothers. Jo has a wonderful entomological collection,
not to mention quantities of minerals and an aquarium."
"I would like to call and see your brothers," wistfully
murmured the miserably -happy youth, "but you would
not want a countryman like me around," he added bitterly.
"Probably you have dozens of fine fellows a in new style
hats and tailor's clothes, with white hands and all that.
No ! " he shook his head, " unless I could be as elegant and
easy and and no ! " he said again, vehemently, " I shall
never call upon you."
Mahala was confused, seeing that in her desire to be
kind to the young man she had innocently wounded his
pride. She tried to think of some pleasant disclaimer to
his consciousness of his disadvantage in appearance beside
city-bred boys, but remained silent, distressed by his man-
ifest feeling, which she could not truthfully controvert.
When they all shook hands in saying farewell to their
kind entertainers he made no reply to her bright "Good-by,
j^6 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
Jerry," but squeezing her little hand in his sinewy palm,
he turned and walked hastily away to the barn, and threw
himself face down upon the haymow, where we will leave
him with a pang in his boyish heart. With this new and
painfully sweet experience, which no one can know as a
country lad who is fascinated, enthralled, by the uncon-
scious graces, the hundred little aids and appurtenances of
toilet, the captivating self-possession, and the innocence
of her own charming ways, which are among the attributes
of a bright and lovable city girl.
CHAPTER XIII.
A BY-PATH, woods in rear, school-house near.
" If there is n't Aunt Dude before that easel again !
I thought we stipulated for one day's respite," said Mahala,
always first to speak. " If she is not the most persistent
worker! Aunty, you make me feel tired!"
"I wish," retorted Miss St. John, "I could make you
feel tired of doing nothing, then you would go to work
and perhaps make something of your gift ; I can't call it
talent, for that implies cultivation."
"But what should I have done, I wonder, without Julie
and Margie all the quiet days ? A pretty scrape I would
have gotten into, if, according to your first proposition, I
had accompanied you alone on this expedition ! You and
you only," she repeated, leaning over her aunt's chair and
touching her lips to her cheek. "A pretty scrape! I'd
been worn to a shadow from very pining and loneliness.
Was n't it a happy thought to get such a jolly, charming,
fascinating trio to make your trip complete ? You ought
to be very grateful to us for coming, to make a variety for
you."
j^g WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"It was, indeed," answered the artist, smiling, "but
now, most jolly, fascinating, and charming trio, if just as
agreeable to you, I will permit you to dispose of your-
selves as you like. You may leave me to my work this
morning ; I have a great deal more before me than I can
master. If you will kindly amuse yourselves under those
lovely pines, your absence I shall not feel at all. Try that
path leading down the ravine. If you follow it to the lit-
tle bridge, you can cross the brook. Mount the opposite
hillside ; there you will find a charming view to the south-
ward. If you find a scene to please you, Margie, mark
the point of view. I will paint it for your wedding pres-
ent," she added, casting a swift, searching glance at the
young girl.
Margery made no answer gave no sign.
Mahala had started off, at her aunt's first suggestion,
Margery and Mrs. Mather following more slowly.
"Well, what is it, Margie ?" said the latter, as, passing
her arm through that of her friend, she gazed inquiringly
up into her face.
Margery tried to smile, made a sorry failure, blushed
hotly, and tears came into her eyes.
"Not be troubled about it?" she said, repeating her
friend's kind words. " How can I help it, Julie ? "
" You probably expected to receive an answer to your
letter about this time," said Julie, in a low voice, "perhaps
it may not yet have reached him," she suggested.
" Oh, it must have done so. There has been plenty of
time for a reply too," returned Margery, in a choking
voice.
THE ARTIST'S DAY.
"Yes, but he might
be out of town. Not
an improbable surmise,
is it ? "
" Oh, he is at home.
Perhaps too angry to
read it even. He may
be more pleasantly en-
gaged," she added with
a curl of her lip, " than
in reading letters from
me."
" Pshaw ! "Margie, for
shame ! I tell you it
is more likely he is
disgusted with himself,
for ever having looked
J.Q WHEELS AND WHIMS.
at Mrs. Bangtry. The apparent flirtation was evidently
all on her side ; a man's vanity is easily reached, and
upon reflection he may only blame himself for ever having
given cause for remarks, by his polite attention to her in-
vitations. Almost every man (as well as most women),
sooner or later, has some experience in that line, only to
call himself a fool afterwards."
" Oh, Julie, how can you say that ? I never should
have "
" No, perhaps not. You probably never will, and I make
no confessions myself in that line. But I do not hold it a
bad thing to test the caliber of your lover now, before he
is tied."
" Tied ! " repeated Margery, " I wonder what an engage-
ment means, if it is not a tie, as sacred, too, as marriage !
I felt I was bound to him, before all the world."
They had walked slowly, talking as they went, and now
they had stopped under an old tree. Margery leaned up
against its gnarled trunk, and stood picking bits of bark
from its rough side, letting them fall unheeded to the
earth. " My whole world was in him," she said, with
tears
Mrs. Mather rested on a broken limb, which had been
torn nearly off, and hung with its smaller branches upon
the ground. She feigned to be interested in the tortuous
course of a tiny ant which was laboring up the limb,
dragging an insect of twice its size over the many obsta-
cles in its path. She absently picked off a few scales of
dead bark to make a smoother way for the industrious lit-
tle fellow. Then she said quietly, " Some men there are,
real men, with true hearts and unswerving affections "
THE ARTIST'S DAY. ! 4 j
" I thought him such," said Margery, with rising empha-
sis.
"Who do so love," continued Mrs. Mather, without
noticing the interruption, "that it is impossible that they
should give a thought beyond the one woman who absorbs
their love, and there are women who are worthy such
devotion, but," she added, hesitatingly, "the world is not
crowded with such people. Felix, however, has had one
lesson. A rather severe one, I think, considering his
slight and very excusable fault. His proud maid is not to
be trifled with in this way, and I presume it will not hurt
him to find it out now ; and perhaps," continued she,
lowly, and smiling a little, "it is a lesson to you, too, to
take to heart in another way, Margie."
" I did not need it," declared Margery ; " I despise petty
jealousy."
"Ah! so you think. But were you not very hasty? A
few words from him would have doubtless assured you
that there was no cause for your anger and sudden depart-
ure. I would have advised you by all means to have given
him a chance to explain all those things. But don't worry
now, dear, we have talked it all over ; repetition can do no
good ; you have written to him, and the answer must
surely come ere long."
"Do you believe so, really?" said Margery, leaving her
place by the tree and brushing the bits of bark from her
gray dress. She looked more cheerful and wiped a tear
from her cheek as she spoke : " Julie, you are such a com-
fort to me. I am so anxious to believe that you are right
that I almost feel it will be so."
j^2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"I am confident of it," said Mrs. Mather.
A cry from Mahala broke in upon this quiet interview.
The bridge over which she had tripped consisted of two
logs with short planks laid across them. In her usual
haste, Mahala had attempted to spring over the gap to the
opposite landing. She had not miscalculated the distance,
nor her ability to leap it, but the ground was covered with
pine needles dropped from the overhanging trees. It was
thus too slippery to gain a secure footing, -as the bank
sloped steeply to the water. She fell and lay- helpless
upon her side, unable to regain her feet, and fearing to slip
further down the bank if she made the attempt. " Oh, do
come and help me," she cried. " Cross down on the stones
below there. You can't come this way. You'll jump on
me. Don't, don't," she persisted, while the two friends
hastened down the stream to where the water was low.
"I'm slipping I can't get up I've nothing to hold on to,"
she cried, trying to dig her fingers into the earth. " Oh,
hurry, do, or I shall wet my feet. Call Aunt Dude. If
she was n't at that everlasting painting I'd get some
help!"
"Well, hold on to silence, a minute," called Mrs. Mather,
" you are three feet from water, and in no danger of get-
ting wet, if you will only be quiet until we can get at
you."
" Here we are, now," said Margery, giving her hand to
the prostrate girl, who speedily crawled to her feet.
" What *s all this great cry about ? " she continued, looking
around. " Mike, you will have to have a special body-
guard if you do not take better care of yourself. Julie and
THE ARTISTS DAY. l ^
I cannot have a moment's quiet talk, but, alas ! a
shriek from you. And you have never once used your
whistle, according to programme ; it is always a feminine
squeal."
Margery had commenced her remarks with a little im-
patience, but was forced to smile at the impudent indiffer-
ence with which her rebuke was received by the erratic
individual whom she had so lately rescued.
"Now, please, Margie, don't be hard. I'm bruised
enough already," rubbing her side. " Don't hurt my fceliris
too ; though probably they are not so tender as my flesh."
" It is slippery here, Mike. Take care, Julie oh ! "
and as Mahala was now upon her feet, down went Miss
Prescott, in the most undignified manner imaginable.
Mahala was convulsed.
" Pshaw ! " exclaimed Mrs. Mather, as she attempted to
raise Margery to her feet. " It is very strange " and
down they both went together in great discomfiture.
Mahala clapped her hands in irrepressible glee, and they
all joined in the laugh.
" What is all this cry about ? And it is certainly very
strange that you people cannot stand upon your feet !
Oh, that the artist were on the spot now ! " cried Mahala.
" But they never are around when needed. They always
come in when it is all over, and make up the picture from
imagination. That is why their work is seldom really
touching."
Meanwhile, the artist was far from all these disturbing
influences. She quietly lived in her dream of nature and
its mystery. An hour had passed in uninterrupted work,
j^ WHEELS AND WHIMS.
when she heard approaching footsteps. Supposing her
companions to be near, without even glancing up from the
canvas, she gave expression to her thoughts in measured
sentences something like the following : " They baffle me,
those changing shadows upon the hills. I put them in, I
put them out. Each fleeting effect seems more beautiful
than the last, and so I try to catch it. If I could only keep
to the one idea, when once recorded, keep, it, the same
effect often returns and "
"Wai, I dunno," said a deep voice, in a sort of grunt,
behind her.
The artist started violently, nearly upsetting her easel.
" Wai, I dunno," it said, and a horny hand came forward
over her shoulder to save her picture from falling, imprint-
ing a big thumb in the sky in one corner. Not at all
aware of the fright he had caused, or of any harm done to
the sketch, the honest man continued : " It beats all fire,
how you can do it," and a burly figure came round to her
side and scanned the picture closely. " I 'spect it pays,
though. I've heerd how they get big prices for them kind.
He paintin', ain't it ? "
" Yes," said the artist.
" Wai, I vow. Do tell how much you expect to get for
that ! It 's terrible real now, ain't it ? " He looked at it
from one side and then from the other. "That blue sky
now, and them hills ; I tell ye, it can't be beat ! I say,
how much '11 you git 'f it sells ? "
"I always wait for a purchaser. It will be time enough
then to set a price," answered the lady, smiling.
"I don't suppose now I could buy it. Squire Jim had
THE ARTISTS DAY. j^e
his place took, barn and all. 'T wa'n't colored, you know ;
took by a photographer, and he spent nigh onto two dol-
lars for't. I'd give that 'f I could have it all colored; but
probable you ain't a-takin' it for money," said he, half-
ashamed of his offer, and looking at her a little sheepishly.
"Not just now, but if your farm is near, and I could get
there easily, I might find some good cattle, or a favorite
horse or cow, to sketch for you."
"Oh, now, would you? That would be kind. Could
you paint my Jersey cow? Registered stock, pretty
creetur as I ever milked. Gentle., too, as a kitten."
"Very well. To-morrow, if you will come and show me
the way," said Miss St. John. "I would like right well to
see her. I am fond of cows at a picturesque distance.
We are at Widow Ryerson's, down by the post-office."
The good man was heartily pleased, and with some
further complimentary remarks upon her skill he walked
away, saying he would "hitch up and take her over in the
morning," and the artist fell busily to work again.
After a time she heard approaching footsteps again, and
turned to face the intruder this time.
" Ain't it pretty ? " It was a small, weak-looking woman,
who, however, showed a lively interest in the strange lady
and her picture.
"That's them trees off there, ain't it?" she said, look-
ing entirely in the wrong direction. "Oh," with a nod, as
she was righted in the view by the artist. "It's first-rate,
any how; I couldn't begin to do it so well myself," and
she passed on, wrapping a faded shawl tighter about her
slight form.
w. & w. 10
I4 6 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
The school now had its recess. The children, catching
sight of the umbrella and easel, made a rush for the stand
and soon surrounded the artist, not quite to her pleasure,
She made no sign of consciousness of their presence.
They in turn fell into a sudden silence. Little whisper-
ings went from one to the other.
" See how she dips in all them colors ! "
" What great long brushes ! "
"And what a lot of 'em, one, three, four, seven, ten
all together ! "
"See that umbrella; how funny it sets on the stick."
They were all so quiet, nudging, and* whispering, and
treading their little feet on the turf, that Miss St. John was
amazed on turning to find some twenty or more boys and
girls staring at her work.
One little boy and his sister had climbed up on the fence.
Their relationship was apparent in the two tip-tilted noses,
which bore a striking resemblance to each other. The boy
sat on the top rail holding on to the bar with his hands
between his knees. The little girl stood upon the lower
rail and resting her elbows upon the top of the fence, sup-
ported her fat cheeks upon her tiny fists. The artist en-
gaged the others in conversation until she had made a
rapid sketch of these two, and then said : " Now, the one
that wants his picture put in just here," pointing to her
canvas in the fore-ground, "may run off there and take
that stick and hunt for chestnuts in the leaves. Now,
when I call stop, then he must stand quite still for five
minutes."
A dozen eager ones ran for the stick, but one quiet little
THE ARTIST'S DAY.
147
fellow caught it, and also the idea, for when the word stop
came he was able to pose in a very satisfactory manner.
His fair-haired little sister stood behind, eagerly watching
the progress of the study, calling out to him from time to
time : " Keep still a little longer, Eddie, one minute
more ! " in the proud supposition that she was lending
material aid to the artist.
Soon a modest young woman appeared at the school-
house door and rang a bell, and the children ran reluc-
tantly back to their books, not without first stopping to see
how the little boy was put upon the canvas.
"Jest as if he stood there, ain't it ? " and all scampered
away in haste.
Miss St. John was left in quietude again. The shadows
WHEELS AND WHIMS.
were lessening. The artist's hour was passing. Under
the advancing noonday sun, Miss St. John was giving the
last touches to her picture, when a surly-looking old man
made his appear-
ance, coming over
the neighboring
hill.
"Say," he accost-
ed the lady, in a
rude tone; his hat
was pushed down
upon his head with
a determined air;
"say, if you think
you can set down
here, and paint
around my place,
and then send in
your bill, as they
did last year for
Deacon Wells's
house, you '11 be
mistaken. Mis'
Gleason, what's jest
been here, told me
you was here to
work, and I want ter tell you beforehand that I ain't a-goin'
to pay no such bills. I ain't no objections to your settin'
and your paintin', but I warn you now that I ain't doin' no
payin'."
THE ARTIST'S DAY. J.Q
" Here is a queer individual," thought the lady, "I think
I will be deaf, just now."
Instantly she glanced at his moving lips with a dazed
expression, though inwardly much amused, and applied her
hand to her ear.
"Deef, eh!"
She inclined a little more toward him as he stood before
her, with a basket of potatoes in his hand. She still ex-
pressed no understanding of the situation. He repeated,
in a louder tone: "I hain't no objections to a lady set-
tin'"
She arose as if to hear more distinctly; she seemed so
very deaf.
" ^.nd paintin' ! " he screamed. Still she did not hear.
"Thunder! " he muttered, "I'd ruther pay her bill than to
set them school-children at me with this hollerin'. Little
torments, they '11 pester a fellow about anything. They
are jest like hornets. It don't make no odds if they ain't
very big ; I don't want 'em to git set on to me ag'in, as they
did t 'other day when I got mad cause they 'd broke down
my bars," and casting an uneasy glance at the windows of
the school-house, he started back over the way he had
come, talking to himself. "I wonder if she makes her
livin' at that blasted nonsense. Humph! Wai, my
farm's pertaters, and they bring an honest livin'. I don't
suppose she makes enough at that torn-foolery, a-settin'
and a-paintin' on that paper stuff, to put salt on 'em. I
reckon they don't git much outer me with their pictures.
If she beared or didn't hear, she's been warned, and if she
brings in a bill, I won't pay a darned turnup for the trash.
JCQ WHEELS AND WHIMS.
That 's all there is about it. I don't like the looks of the
creeturs around. I don't hanker after 'em gittin' into my
diggin's. Now, if Betsy Ann was to set eyes on sech
doin's, she would soon be sp'ilt for the fryin'-pan and the
wash-tub. I have seen it before. I have had trouble
enough with the boys, a-learnin' city goin's on and turnin'
away from the lights of their parents. I don't calkerlate
to see Betsy sp'iled too," and he strode over the fence into
the adjoining lot. *' But I 've warned the creetur ! " He
turned and saw the quiet worker picking up her things for
removal.
As she watched his retreating steps, she saw a rough,
uncanny man, with a pack on his back, meet him, and
after a moment's wrangling, he came on towards the woods,
shaking his black and curly head and pounding his^'thick
staff into the ground at every step. He was evidently
angry at what he considered interference with his trade,-
and consequently not likely to be very agreeable to any
defenseless woman.
" Oh, dear," sighed the artist, " here is another. I wish
I were out of this. I do not like his looks. I do wish the
girls would come."
She dared not blow her whistle, lest she might attract
his attention, when possibly he might pass on without
noticing her. But, no ; he saw her, and, turning aside
from his way, he made rapid strides in her direction. She
affected not to see him, but kept busily at her picking up.
" Penting, hey ? " he said, with a hideous grin, and he
stood looking at her as he leaned upon his stick. Then
he let down the pack which he carried from his back.
THE ARTISTS DAY.
"'Veil, uf you'd ghoost step 'ere und look at my laces "
Hereupon he was proceeding to open a case and to hold
out some of his
stock, when
Miss St. John
said decidedly
that she did not i
wish to buy.
"Veil,
xna'm, uf
you ghoost
but look at
dem, I'm
sure we'll
strike
barg'n."
He camel
close to'
her side,
and looked into het
face with a leer.
Shuddering with
fear and disgust,
she did not dare to
"betray the least per-
turbation, so she - ity of his dirty
looked coolly at I / <qdo
him, but drawing I / notwant
off a little from the \ ^ ^
unbearable proxim- ^ x no money."
JJJ2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
The man jeered as he glanced at her white hands and
at her earrings. " I nefer gif up a lufly ladee like you,
vithout making some kind uf a barg'n. Really, now, uf
you hav n't no money, you might like to trade those ear-
rings or that ring for something. I am sure I could per-
suade you " he was insisting with one hand raised, palm
upward, to his ear as he held his shaggy head on one side.
" I tell you I do not wish for any of your goods ! " Miss
St. John hoped to get rid of him without serious trouble.
But now he took a quick step towards her, saying, with a
hard look : " You shall buy sometings. The old man has
insuked me, und now I vill have some money from you ! ""
Quick as thought, Miss St. John started back, and
drawing a pistol from her little pocket, she pointed down
the road.
" If you are going down the road, sir," she said, calmly
as she could, "and should see a blue-jay, I wish you
would just whistle a bit. I want another specimen for
mounting. I'm doing a little sharpshooting this morning ;
brought down two little fellows just now and wouldn't
mind doing it again before dinner."
She was able to speak quite easily before she had fin-
ished this sentence, and as she did so she turned the pistol
in a careless manner toward the impudent peddler.
He gave a quick, sharp look at her impassable counte-
nance, and shut his box together in trembling haste. He
closely watched her as he drew the straps and threw the
huge burden to his shoulder.
" I '11 whistle, yes, when I get down the road. I '11 hurry,,
yes ; I'll see a blue-bird for you."
THE ARTIST'S DAY. j^
Miss St. John saw that she had made the desired im-
pression, and that the man was thoroughly alarmed.
" P-please, ma'm, wait till I get out of the line, ladies
don't always aim straight. Goot-by. Don't shoot till I
get away, quite."
The pack was on his back, and he was out of sight be-
fore the artist had fully convinced herself of the success
of her ruse.
Replacing the toy pistol in her pocket, she blew three
shrill notes upon her whistle. This soon recalled her three
companions, who were tired of their trampings, and came
briskly back at her call
" Really, I do believe Aunt Dude is scared. How pale
she looks ! "
"What is it?"
" I don't see anything to be afraid of."
"What is the matter, Dude ? "
" I am afraid we shall be late for dinner," answered the
artist.
" Is that all ? "
They went back to the Widow Ryerson's, down by the
post-office, to dinner.
CHAPTER XIV.
a
THE next stopping-place on the pleasant journey down
the river was at the house of an uncle of Mrs.
Mather's. Mr. Stearns had been many times pleasantly
entertained at the cosy home of his niece in the city. He
was a widower, without children, dependent upon a house-
keeper for society, and was greatly delighted to welcome
the party of high-spirited young women, feeling that their
liveliness waked up his youthful spirits, and cleared
away the cobwebs of old fogyism which a life of loneliness
and inaction had fostered. So he made it very pleasant
for the travelers, only sorry to hear them say that they
would stay but a day or two under his hospitable roof.
Thursday morning, two weeks from the day of their de-
parture from home, the four gleesome friends, with bound-
ing blood and an exhilaration induced by healthful exercise
in the open air, long hours of refreshing sleep, and appe-
tites which astonished and flattered their caterers, started
out in quest of chestnuts.
"There's plenty of them down on the edge of Farn-
ham's woods," said their good host, " and as the frost was
(154)
THEY GO CHESTNUTTING. jce
sharp last night, I reckon they'll come down lively Ihis
morning," and he directed them to the woods a mile away.
" Good-by, Mr. Stearns," called Mahala, as they started
their wheels. " Remember and have plenty of dinner for
for us at noon, for we shall be hungry as four bears when
we get back with our bags full of chestnuts."
" Good," responded their genial host, to whom Mahala's
merry quips and gibes were welcome as sunshine.
" We '11 try and roast beef enough to satisfy you ! "
" Who are the young ladies who seem to be enjoying
an ideal pleasure-trip ? " said a young man in hunting-
jacket and knickerbockers, who had come around the
house with his gun and dog, just in time to see the
tricycles glide swiftly away.
' " Morning, Philip," said Mr. Stearns, without taking his
yes from the departing quartette. " Is n't it a queer
sight ? They came here last night, from Hartford. I
don't mean to say they came direct from there, because
they have been two weeks on the road. One of them is
my niece. She 's married "
" Which one ? "
" Well, the little plump one ; she 's riding behind now.
Her husband is F. W. Mather, of Wright, Mather &
Company."
Mahala was now looking around and pointing at some-
thing by the wayside. She was laughing as usual, and
showing her pretty teeth. Her mouth was a generous one,
as her brothers often told her in moments of unpleasant-
ness. Her piquant profile came into view as she threw
back some laughing words at her aunt.
jijg WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" Ah, who is the one turning around now ? " asked the
hunter carelessly.
" Oh, that 's Miss Wright," responded the older man,
heartily, " and she is the life of the party, though none of
them get left very often. Four fresher and brighter girls
I never saw before," he added.
"Oh!" said the young man. As he went off in the
opposite direction, he smiled he laughed outright. Some-
thing in his thoughts was very amusing. Soon he
stopped ; then, as he came to a set of bars in the stone
wall, he entered the fields, making a slight detour back of
the house. He came out into the road and tramped away
in the direction our party had taken.
The first severe frost of the season lay upon the field s,
as the tricycle party trundled along. The fences were
white with its glistening rime, and the leaves of plants
and tender shrubs hung limp and blackened by its nipping
breath ; but every blade of grass, every spike of dried
golden-rod, and every fallen twig were as sparkling crys-
tals, along the shaded places. The clear and bracing air
lent a new color to the faces of the travelers, and they ran
rapidly over the smooth road to keep their blood in quick
circulation. They all wore perforated chamois jackets
under their dresses, and in vigorous exercise defied Jack
Frost.
As the sun rose higher, the myriad of tiny ice crystals
which earlier gemmed everything out of doors, wasted
away. The air was softened under its warm rays, and a
saucy squirrel ran along the wall, now in, now out, up and
down the fence-posts, with a flick of his brown tail and a
THEY GO CHESTNUTTING. j^
little chatter at these new intruders upon his highway. A
covey of quail started up at their approach, but at a signal
from the anxious mother they scattered in all directions
and lay motionless beneath the brown leaves until the
strangers had passed. It was a worrisome time for poor
Mrs. Bob White with her family of eight heedless young
ones, who, although nearly grown, were not at all able to
care for themselves, and she really believed they would
stand staring at a man with a gun until they were all
killed, if she did not insist on their swift retirement in some
friendly nook. You are in no danger now, little mother,
but hie away quickly under the wall, for there may be a
hunter on the road.
" There are the woods, I am sure," said Mahala, as they
pushed their machines up a short, steep hill.
" Yes, this must be the place," agreed Margery, and they
chained and locked their wheels in a protected corner of
the lot and trudged off over the undulating ground.
" O, what a splendid great tree ! there must be bushels
on this," said Margery, who, with Mrs. Mather, had gone
ahead. They seized some gnarled and crooked sticks
which were lying on the ground, and began to poke and
brush the brown leaves which thickly strewed the turf ;
but they searched in vain.
" There dos n't seem to be any burrs on it, either," said
the disappointed young lady, looking upward.
" Why should Mr. Stearns send us so far, for nothing ? "
" He probably did not refer to this tree, Margie, as it
is an oak," said Miss St. John, coming up ; and Mahala
laughed in a most provoking manner as they passed by on
their way towards the woods.
jijg WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" Ah ! Here are the chestnut trees," exclaimed Mrs.
Mather, in a few minutes, "with burrs by scores, too.
There must be plenty of nuts on the ground. See ! The
wide-open burrs with their golden plush linings are many
of them empty."
They all went speedily to work, picking up the shining
brown nuts, which were lying by twos and threes upon the
faded grass, resting upon the dried leaves, or almost hidden
on a mat of green moss at the roots of the trees. They
brushed away the crackling leaves and picked up the fasci-
nating harvest until they had perhaps a couple of quarts,,
when Margery said, "We certainly have more than we can
use already. Why take any more ? Some boys will
doubtless be woefully disappointed to find them all gone,
for I fancy we are the first in the field, and anxious young-
sters will be here to-day."
" All right, Margery, you are a dear to think of others
in such an exciting moment ; but let 's get a few more
for Mr. Stearns," said Mahala, and as she kept on picking
up nuts, eagerly flying here and there, and rapidly filling
her bag, the others returned to- the captivating pursuit and
were all as busy as could be, when Miss St. John ejacu-
lated faintly :
" Horror ! Here comes a man with a bull-dog. And he
means trouble ! See how red his face is ! "
Striding across the field in his rough boots came a man
that one would dislike to meet anywhere. The alarm
of the almost defenseless women was not without
cause. A brutal face he had, with coarse overhanging
brows, and he showed rows of irregular and monstrous
THEY GO CHESTNUTTING. l ^
teeth, as he came cursing, and leading a fierce bull-dog by
a chain.
Mrs. Mather instantly laid her hand on her hip. She
had never let her good pistol go out of her possession
since the morning when they had the false alarm, when
she had loaned it to Margery to practice shooting at a
mark. Mahala's suppositious danger from tramps had
served this purpose, to make her, as the guardian of the
safety of the party, more careful to keep her weapon
always on her side.
Miss St. John, made more timid by her encounter with
the peddler, a few days previous, now began to feel that
ill-fortune was attending the latter part of this journey so
pleasantly begun, and continued so successfully, almost to
its end.
"What are yez doin' here ! " shouted the ruffian, as he
came nearer. " Stalin' chestnuts, oi suppose ! "
" Have you any right to inquire, sir ? " said Mrs.
Mather, stepping towards him, white but calm, with a
proud pose of the head and a glitter in her eye that some-
what cooled the man's temper.
" In coorse I have, or I would n't be here. I tell ye,
ye must lave them nuts on the ground or pay me for 'em.
Oi s'pose ye know thim is worth two dollars a bushel.
It's stalin' ye are, however foine ladies ye be."
" We care nothing for your chestnuts, sir. You can
gather them for yourself," and taking her bag by the closed
end, the lady with a quick gesture scattered the nuts far
over the field. "Only relieve us of your insulting
presence."
j5o WHEELS AND WHIMS.
This act of defiance, and the stinging contempt in the
last remark, was enough to thoroughly enrage the man.
He had expected to bully the unprotected girls into paying
him for the nuts, or by forcing them to give up the con-
tents of their bags, to reap the benefit of their toil. But
now, frantic with rage, he sprang after Mahala, who alone
still held on to her harvest, and with a frightful oath was
about to lay a hand upon her arm, when like a log he fell
to the earth.
His dog sprang upon him, whining and licking his face.
In a second or two he moved, and turning upon his elbow
to get up he met the eyes of a young man in hunting-
jacket and knickerbockers, who stood with his gun in his
left hand looking down at him. The fist that dealt the
stunning blow behind the ear was still clenched and ready
to repeat the dose if necessary.
Miss St. John had seen the stranger running towards
them almost simultaneously with the advent of the fero-
cious man and dog, and like Sister Ann, in story, she had
waved and beckoned with energy and hope to the rescuer.
" Now, Finnegan, tell me what you purposed to do !
Insulting and terrifying ladies like this ! " said the
stranger, with fire in his brown eyes, his nostrils distend-
ing with his quick breath and his breast heaving with in-
dignation.
"They was stalin' the nuts, and I won't have it," mut-
tered the fallen man, sullenly, and he glared at the fright-
ened party like a caged hyena.
" Stealing is a poor word for you to use, who are only
cutting my father's wood on shares ! I have heard of your
THEY GO CHESTNUTTING.
161
villainous robbing of boys at this place, and when I heard
these ladies were coming here, I took pains to be in the
vicinity. Now, take your miserable carcass off the land
and I will see to it that your contract on these premises
ends to-day. Leave! I will stay here to see you go.
Ladies, perhaps you had better return to your wheels,"
he said, politely addressing them.
The discomfited scoundrel had risen to his feet and
w. fc.w. 11
jg 2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
stood stealthily glowering around, under pretence of ad-
justing his clothing. As he stooped to recover his hat, he
hissed "S-st! boy!" and pointed towards the ladies, who
were starting away to their wheels. The beast sprang
forward with a low growl. Instantly, the gentleman
brought his piece to shoulder and the bull-dog rolled over
with a deadly wound in his side.
"You were foolish, Finnegan, to do that," said the
young man, coolly, as he turned to the revengeful brute,
" there 's another barrel ready for you, if you get too
wild. I fortunately had just loaded, as I came upon the
scene of your brilliant exploits. Now, leave, will you ? "
More than ever baffled, and grinding his teeth in futile
rage, the man stopped for a minute to bend over the
defunct dog, and seeing that he was dead, gave his lifeless
body a kick, and walked sullenly away.
Their protector watched the furious Irishman well out
of the field, saw him disappear far up a lane, and then
walked over to the spot at a little distance from the dis-
agreeable encounter, where the group was waiting to
express their appreciation of his prompt services in their
behalf.
"Ladies," he said, addressing them as he drew near and
lifted his hat, " I hope you will suffer no ill effects from
the outrageous conduct of that brute." He turned and
looked again in the direction the man had taken. " I re-
gret, exceedingly, that I have not insisted upon his dis-
charge before. But my father, considering only that he
was a good worker, would not listen to the tales of his ras-
cality which have come to my ears since I came home.
Is there anything more I can do for you ? "
THEY GO CHESTNUTTING. jg^
" You will certainly let us thank you for your assistance
in this very unpleasant situation," said Mrs. Mather,
warmly, giving him her hand. He accepted the friendly
grasp with perfect ease, again lifting his hat from his
fine head. The lady continued, "It was perhaps foolhardy
in ladies to come into the woods alone, but we have never
before been troubled." (Miss St. John had said nothing of
her small unpleasantness with the peddler.) "We should
be glad to know to whom we are indebted for this timely
aid," she added, giving him a look of frank gratitude.
" My name is Philip Farnham," was the simple and direct
reply. "I have been in business in New York for seven
years, but return to my home here, every fall, in time for
duck-shooting," and he gave a little deprecatory glance
and slight shrug at his worn costume. " So far from re-
ceiving thanks for this trifle, I acknowledge that I am glad
to have had the opportunity to put a quietus upon that
wretch, no less than to be of service to you."
" Sir," said the chaperone, " we can never forget this
experience, and my husband, Mr. Frederick W. Mather,
will send you hearty thanks." She turned to the group
behind her. "My friends are Miss St. John, Miss Margery
Prescott, and Miss Mahala Wright, of Hartford."
The artist cordially extended her hand, Miss Prescott
made a graceful inclination of her tall figure and expressed
her obligation in a few well-chosen sentences ; but Mahala,
blushing furiously for some unknown cause, said, irrele-
vantly, and with an air of great unconcern, which was in-
tended to convey the idea that she had not been fright-
ened at all, "I am glad I did not give up my chestnuts,"
with a little hitch of her dimpled chin.
T g4 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"So am I, Miss Wright," responded the new acquain-
tance, with great heartiness, and he stood and looked after
with a curious smile as she skipped lightly away to the
corner where the tricycles were. Then, after making a
few polite remarks . concerning the machines and their
utility, and casting another look about him to assure him-
self that the furious and reckless Irishman was at a safe
distance in the opposite direction, Philip Farnham bade
the party good morning and proceeded down the road,
thinking that the mounting of the tricycles might be an
awkward thing for be-skirted femininity, and he would not
be near to embarrass them. But he quickly turned about
after striking into the brush, and from this coign of van-
tage saw that his fears were entirely uncalled for, as the
gray forms stepped inside the wheels and resting lightly
on the two handles, put their feet upon the bars in front
and rose gracefully to the saddles. They gave quick
impetus to the wheels with their hands and were away.
Only the tips of their toes were seen beneath the heavy
folds of their skirts as the treadles rose and fell. Certainly
it was an ideal locomotion. The young man now stepped
out of the brush to get a better view of the swiftly-reced-
ing riders, and at that instant Miss Mahala gave a look to
the rear. He quickly raised his hat, and she, red as a rose,
impatiently turned her eyes.
Margery, who had been severely shaken by the fright,
was still tremulous and pale. "Oh, girls!" she said,
earnestly, "what a fortunate deliverance out of the
clutches of that horrible man ! I could not have run a
step, I trembled so. I was so thankful when I saw this.
THEY GO CHESTNUTTING. jge
gentleman coming. His eyes fairly flashed fire as he
struck the man ! How terrible it was to see him fall so
like, a clod to the earth !"
" But what an admirable person Mr. Farnham seems to
be," said Miss St. John ; " he is doubtless of a good family.
You could see that in his well-shaped hand. . It was brown,
to be sure," she added, "but that was from hunting, of
course. I like side-whiskers, too ; yes, he is my idea of a
man."
"Why, Aunt Dude!" exclaimed* Mahala, laughing ner-
vously, "you would not fall in love with a stranger, and
one with red hair, too ! "
"He has not red hair," spoke up Mrs. Mather, defen-
sively; "it is just a lovely auburn, and if I had not an
old fellow somewhere," she added, with a little yearning
in the merry tones, " I am not sure what might not happen
to me. Well," she continued, more soberly, " It certainly
was a boon to us that such a muscular cavalier was around."
"Yes," grumbled Mahala, under her breath. "He is
always around, I believe."
A light broke upon Mrs. Mather.
" Some people are always happening about, and intrud-
ing themselves," said the perverse girl, with surprising
unreasonableness.
" Why, Mike," exclaimed Margery, in astonishment, " I
never saw you so contrary. What ails the girl ? "
" She is tired and cross, I suppose," was Miss St.
John's opinion ; but Julie Mather had her own ideas about it.
" There 's nothing the matter," asserted the girl, with
some petulance, " except that I don't agree with you in
j66 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
admiring this young man. Of course, it was very obliging
in him to knock the man down and kill the dog ; though
it is nothing more than he would have done for a lot of
factory girls ; but as for thinking him at all nice, I don't !
I can't bear the sight of him ! "
Mrs. Mather gently shook her head at Miss St. John,
who was about to argue with her pettish niece, and
changed the subject by pointing out a mendicant robin,
now sadly wandering about in his old dilapidated clothes,
and as Mahala's ready Sympathy with all living creatures
in feathers and fur went out at once to him, good humor
was once more restored.
" Poor fellow ! " said Mahala, in humorous pity, " he is
not such a dandy, now, as when he came out in the spring !
What a handsome swell he was then, in his jet black cap
and red vest ! and now how shabby he is, to be sure ! You
had better get into the thicket and out of sight as soon as
you can, young fellow! You areftasse for this year."
Mr. Stearns was much disturbed to hear of the perilous
adventure which had befallen his guests, and blamed him-
self, over and over again, for allowing them to go into the
fields alone. He was saying this for the twentieth time
as they sat at the dinner-table.
" Oh, we should probably have come out all right, uncle,
if I had not lost my temper and scattered the nuts around,""
said Julie.
" Temper !" roared Uncle Stearns, bringing down his
fist upon the table so that all the glasses jingled. "Great
Scott ! who could keep his temper under such an insult ?
I wish I had the villain here," said the wrathful old
THEY GO CHESTNUTTING. 567
gentleman, tightening his fingers. " I'd wring his neck for
him ! "
" Well," said Miss St. John, giving her head a satisfied
little shake, "young Mr. Farnham fixed his ear for him.
That 's one sure thing ! "
" So the fiend was reaching for Mahala, was he, when
Farnham knocked him down ! Well, well, that would
annoy a handsome young fellow like Phil."
Mahala winced under the old man's harmless joke,
and found no pert answer like those which usually came
to her lips.
" Uncle," said Julie, as their plates were changed for pie,
"you are probably well acquainted with Mr. Farnham.
He seems to be a well-bred person."
"Well-bred? Why, certainly. The Farnham s are one
of the oldest and most respectable families in Essex, and
Philip, personally, is fully up to the standard. He is the
youngest partner of Estey, Brown & Company, wool
brokers in New York, and is rich, they say. That is of
no consequence, however, as he is an energetic worker
and a real gentleman."
."Mrs. Bronson," Mahala whispered to the housekeeper
at the beginning of this eulogy, "I do not care for
dessert; may I be excused?" and had quietly left the
room. But astute Mrs. Mather noticed that she lingered
in the hall long enough to hear it through, and was
inwardly amused, for she knew that if there was anything
Mahala doted upon it was squash-pie and new cheese.
CHAPTER XV.
e ^FcMH4ri-ci4Hd call t^povi- -t&c
AT evening, Mr. Stearns's rather bare and uninterest-
ing sitting-room had taken an unusually bright and
cosy appearance.
Her uncle, who had been looking through the telegraph
columns of the paper, turned to the cheery group around
the center-table and said, "Julie, I hope you and your
friends will come here soon again." He took off his
glasses and sat regarding the young ladies, who were
gracing his home, with unalloyed pleasure as he wiped and
polished his spectacles. " I never realized how dreary
the house was until you came. Somehow, you seem to
furnish it with life and color."
Mahala was curled up in the corner of the wide lounge,
reading an old-fashioned love-story which she had found in
the top of the "secretary" and drawn forth from its
uncongenial companionship with a concordance, a dic-
tionary, Young's "Night Thoughts," Pope's "Essay on
Man," Watts' "On the Mind," some almanacs, and other
miscellany.
068)
THE FARNHAMS CALL UPON THE TOURISTS. jgg
She wore a tea-gown of light blue, with dainty ruffles
at the throat and wrists. One slender foot,' clad in
black silk hose and pointed slipper showed underneath
the graceful folds of the soft cashmere robe, and her deep
blue eyes with fringed dark lashes ran back and forth
along the quaint lines of the book she read.
Plump Mrs. Mather, who knew her possibilities and did
not tamper with esthetic styles in clothing, wore a per-
fectly-fitting dress of dark maroon velvet. She was busily
engaged in making a napkin-holder for her uncle. She
had seen that the dear old man was in continual trouble
with this convenient article at table. He would drop it to
the floor, recover it, and tuck it into- his bosom or into his
coat-tail pocket, and when it was needed was surprised
and annoyed at its unaccountable absence from his knees,
and would hunt for it, slapping his sides and looking under
his chair in vain search. So, with a pair of clasps which
she had found at the store, and a bit of ribbon, she was
working on some "stitches" in silk floss, and deftly
fashioned the useful little article as she chatted of
pleasant things.
"Be sure you wear it, won't you, uncle?" she said;
"for if you use it once you will never be without one.
Fred finds his invaluable. I will keep you supplied as they
get worn."
Miss St. John, always in subdued colors, had exchanged
her gray wheel-dress for a genteel black silk, which was
soft and lusterless, and was mechanically knitting on some
scarlet wools. She was discussing charitable societies,
and the results of their work, with Mr. Stearns. He was
IJQ WHEELS AND WHIMS.
disposed to think that the ponderous machinery of some
of these institutions absorbed much of the money donated
by a trusting public. " It seems all out of proportion to
the meager results," he was saying. " In a town of say
fifty thousand inhabitants, which are largely counted
among the upper class, with small and easily get-at-able poor
districts, with the town alms-house, Widows' Home, Church
Home, Woman's Aid Society, Woman's Christian Associa-
tion, Young Men's Christian Association, and half a dozen
other associations, it would seem impossible for any pauper
to escape, and as if the tone of morals must be well-nigh per-
fect. Is such the result of your evangelical guild, your
combination for city charity, and your free kindergartens,
sewing-schools, and reading-rooms ? It is the impression
among us country people, that it is a lot of fuss and
feathers, without any adequate result from the thousands
of dollars which are poured out every year for the poor."
The lady raised her bright gray eyes to his honest face.
"That there is considerable machinery about the system of
organized- charity there is no doubt, and probably full as
much in our city as in larger places, because it has become
the fashionable thing to do. You see, we ladies of the
inner circles do no work. We attend the meetings and
see that no outsiders come in to vote different methods
from those we consider to be proper. Money we collect
from the lay members each year, to be sure, but there
their usefulness ends, with the exception, perhaps, of half
a dozen devoted women, who sit and cut out garments ;
manage the different departments ; and report to us once
a year. We vote to accept their work. Most of us are
THE FARNHAMS CALL UPON THE TOURISTS. j^j
too toney to know how to sew, and are too delicate to
make personal visits to our protegees, and so we hire an
almoner to do it for us."
"Ha! ha!" laughed the amused listener.
"Now, Dude, you stop such sarcasm," interposed Mrs.
Mather, who was smiling in spite of herself, while her
cheeks were hot with vexation. " You know it is far better
to give the dispensation of alms to a competent person
than to work individually, oftentimes at cross purposes,
repeating assistance to some families and neglecting others
who are worthy."
" Yes, that is true, Julie, if the whole idea of these institu-
tions, publicly organized to support the thriftless portion of
the community, who are too lazy, or too abandoned to all
responsibility in their own or in their children's welfare
to work for themselves, is not fundamentally erroneous."
" These are certainly vexed questions," said Miss. St.
John, fairly, " and felt to be so by many members of
charitable societies. The fact is, certain men will waste
their money, whether their families are helped or not.
The question then, is, will you let their wives and babies
freeze and starve because you cannot convert them from
their worthlessness ? "
"You must look at the effect of your work in the
aggregate," insisted Uncle Stearns.
"We' know it is a thankless, discouraging, and heart-
weary task," said Mrs. Mather, troubled with the recol-
lection of her trials in the work, " and none realize it so
well as those who come into direct contact with the poor.
But shall we stop work because we do not see direct
results for our pains ? "
T - 2 WHEELS AND WHIMS
"Perhaps not," answered Mr. Stearns, who was a trifle
hard-headed, although notoriously soft-hearted ; but the head
held control, as a man's always should. " But should we
not look to the showing of ten years, in order to judge
fairly of the result of the instinctive sympathy which you
philanthropic souls have extended to these suffering classes,
without considering whether you were not indirectly work-
ing harm to humanity in general ? Now, is the amount of
pauperism in your city less in proportion to the population
than it was a decade ago ? If not, your institutions are
falling far short of their object. While in town the other
day, I was in Judge Green's office, and the subject was
under discussion. He, and other practical men who were
there, claimed that poverty is steadily increasing in Hart-
ford, in spite of the astoundingly large sum which statistics
show has been devoted to bettering the condition of igno-
rant and helpless humanity. Facts, Julie, are "
"Stubborn things. Yes, I know," said Mrs. Mather,
with her own inimitable faculty of playful abuse, which
was generally rather flattering to the recipient, "and so
are hard-hearted old uncles, who talk very severely and yet
would stop to kick a caterpillar out of their path rather than
tread upon it ! I saw you do it this morning ! Now,
permit me to say that these same facts which are ever
referred to as incontrovertible, can be arranged or selected
so as to prove almost anything. Your crushing reference
to statistics only implies, to me, that whereas ten years
ago we passed by on the other side, unconscious of or
indifferent to the sufferings of our fellow creatures, we now
seek them out, and bring to light an alarming number of
THE FARNHAMS CALL UPON THE TOURISTS. ^3
cases of degradation and suffering. I have no doubt it
existed in the same degree ten years ago. Do you
imagine that the abject misery of thousands of poor people
in London is any worse than it was before Dickens wrote
of it and opened its gaping squalor to the world ? "
"Mrs. Mather," said her uncle, not ill-pleased, "allow
me to protest against any personalities in a discussion.
It is extremely poor taste. You will not for an instant
hear me advocate any neglect of this great problem
which is forcing its ugly form into view with startling
prominence in the present day. My idea simply is that
instead of throttling the monster of shameless pauperism,
we are now fostering it with a system -of coddling, until it
will gain such strength that it will turn and rend us. Now,
braving your wrath that any one should be so cruelly cal-
culating, I must tell you that Judge Green said that he
figured that with the money that has actually been given
to charity, during these years, he could have boarded
every deserving pauper at the Alden House, and given
them rides in carriages every day."
Miss St. John laughed delightedly.
" Dude," said Mrs. Mather, somewhat annoyed at this
presentation of a conclusion against a work in which she
was much interested, " I believe that your heart is lost in
your pursuit of art, which is cold and unsympathetic. It
demands the admiration of the world, and gives nothing
but the privilege of gazing upon its perfections in
return. It is a cold, unresponsive mirror, and tends to
chill its votaries to human joy or woe, except as they are
interested to reproduce it. Who was it Giotto ? that
!^4 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
tortured a poor old man to death so that he might paint
his dying agonies ? "
To this feminine retort Miss St. John answered,
smiling, " It was Parrhasius, dear. But, Julie, do not bring
art into disfavor, because I smiled at an amusing state-
ment, and because Parrhasius was cruel."
The perfect equanimity with which the artist regarded
her friend's rather illogical retort in favor of her charitable
schemes, no less than the spirited rejoinders of the warm-
hearted little chaperone of the visiting party, was a great
diversion to Mr. Stearns. He had not been so entertained
for a long time. He softly rubbed his hands together and
waited for the little woman to finish.
"And, uncle," she flashed, turning upon him, "I must
beg you and the astute lawyers who thus summarily closed
a question which few feel competent to answer, to con-
sider, that mere physical relief is only one of the objects
of an enlightened charity. It costs more to send a boy to
school than it does to give him a dinner, and the educa-
tional schemes now in practical working in sewing, train-
ing, and cooking schools, in mothers' meetings and read-
ing-rooms, as well as in constant advice and counsel, are
far more expensive in time and money than an occasional
turkey or a basket of cold pieces."
"My dear niece," said her uncle, with affectionate re-
gard, "I am sure that the work that you and others do in
this field is a power for good to your souls. The admira-
tion I feel for a generous, warm-hearted little woman who
forgets her own fatigue for the sake of the Lord's unfor-
tunates, makes me feel that I would not have the work
THE FARNHAMS CALL UPON THE TOURISTS. j^e
given up, or differently managed ; but," and he smiled in
a teasing way, " is it fair to the paupers ? If it is a fact
that they increase under this petting, which is such a rare
discipline to you, should you not magnanimously refrain
from it, and let some clear-headed, hard-fisted, Christian
man take the management of your half-dozen societies con-
solidated into one, and care gently for the innocent and
disabled, while dealing decisively with laziness and
crime ? "
Miss St. John leaned eagerly forward to catch Mrs.
Mather's reply to a proposition which instantly offended
her as a champion of the dignity and executive powers of
her sex.
Mrs. Mather smiled across the table at her friend, and
then turned again to the old man, who sat intensely enjoy-
ing the discussion he had brought about by a few remarks
calculated to stir up the ire of these wide-awake ladies.
"To your idea of consolidation," answered Mrs. Mather,
" I say yes. A thousand times, yes. To your declaration
that charitable societies tend to foster laziness and crimi-
nal neglect of opportunities for self-help, by their proffered
aid, I say, its truth has yet to be proven. To your last
proposition for a masculine manager of all charities, imply-
ing that women are actuated rather by their quick sympa-
thies than by good judgment, I say, that in common
with many other men, you are condemning our methods
without that understanding of them which would qualify
you to an unbiased conclusion. You jump at once
to the conclusion that, being women, we have not
progressed with the rest of the world beyond the old
r ^5 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
and injudicious practice of giving money or provisions to
any worthless individual who makes a demand for it. I
wish to call your attention to the fact, that one of our
women, who is a prominent dispenser of funds trusted to
her for the purpose, was among the first in the country to-
tKink out the problem for herself and advocate the lending
of assistance with the direct purpose of inducing indigent
ones to help themselves. She has evei> made it a point
not to give anything to those who are able to work for it.
She works with this idea constantly in view. Earnestly
urging upon her backers the folly of indiscriminate charity,
as doing more harm than good, she endeavors to open the
chances for discouraged humanity. If she could bring all
of the society which supports her to her own practical views
there would be less heard about 'fuss and feathers,' less gush
and fashionable display, and less wide-spread mischievous
effects from a palpable loss of the main idea, under a mass
of circumlocution and absurd mismanagement But, taking
the running of any of these societies, which are managed
by ladies, I am confident they will compare favorably with
any which are under the charge of 'hard-fisted men.' "
Miss St. John clapped her hands softly. " Why, Julie
Mather, do you know that you are almost advocating
woman's rights ? I am surprised at you." As indeed she
was.
Julie threw her a little smile, and continued, " Well, I
let all these knotty points go, unless I am disturbed by
some obstinate old uncle, whom it is rrecessary to set right.
I am convinced that the educational schemes are of deep-
est importance. There is certainly no danger of making
THE FARNHAMS CALL UPON THE TOURISTS. l ny
children too kind or polite. No fear that in teaching them
to do honast work, they can be injured. This work is
large enough to occupy many efficient helpers. When
you commence with a child and make him clean, you have
taken the first step towards leading him out of pauperism.
When you teach them to read, to use their brains and
hands, you have given them that which no drunken father
can take away. When you have convinced a poor boy or
girl that it is brighter, happier, better to be moral, you
have cured crime, or rather prevented it. It is enough for
me," she said, kindling, "to see the children coming out
of filth and ignorance under our ministrations. This work
takes air my leisure time. Let those who are disposed
quarrel over office-holding, or pine for recognition by the
figureheads of societies. Uncle, there are some things
not reducible to statistics."
" Bravo, little woman ! I am proud to acknowledge
that you have a wider comprehension of the subject than
I had given you tender-hearted women credit for. What
we need everywhere is a clearer understanding of the
principles of this subject. We are not justified in closing
our eyes to the needs of our fellows, but he or she that
brings into exercise an intelligent caution against inju-
rious alms-giving is a veritable philanthropist, in having
worked towards the permanently beneficent ends. But,"
he said, returning to his first idea, "an awful sight of
money goes somewhere, with no very encouraging results.
However, if they enjoy it (I mean the ladies; of course
their pensioners do), I am not sure that it does any
harm ! "
w. & TV. 12
!78 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" Uncle, you are incorrigible ! We get you all con-
vinced, and then you fly back to your original statement.
That is supposed to be exclusively a woman's prerogative,"
answered his niece, regarding him somewhat reproach-
fully.
"Yes, sir," said the artist, "if you could hear our man-
agers talk you would not dare to offer such faint praise.
Why, they consider they are bringing about the millen-
nium."
"Well, I suppose they see results that others cannot.
It's probably all right, if they like it."
The old man did not come down very gracefully from
his high ground, but Mrs. Mather realized that she had
made some effect upon his mind in favor of her favor-
ite branches of charitable work, and said no more.
" Certainly these societies work for good. Whether they
achieve the greatest possibilities, or not, it is hard to say.
And," she pursued, shaking her head at him, "while I
cannot help seeing the ludicrous side of many of their
procedures, I decidedly object to your insinuation that
they make mistakes because they are women. Men have
yet to be proven infallible, and I think all organizations,
whether masculine, feminine, political, social, or charitable,
have such features, and such is life."
"There now, it is all settled," said Mahala, from the
lounge. She now arose and clasping her hand behind her
head, stood for a moment looking at Mrs. Mather with
quizzical affection. "There's no use trying to read here,"
she said, as she came and placed her hands beside her
friend's face as she stood behind her chair, "your conver-
sation is so much more interesting than "
THE FARNHAMS CALL UPON THE TOURISTS. I JQ
Here the door-bell rang vigorously, and Mr. Stearns
proceeded to the door. Mahala flew back to the lounge in
the corner, and Miss St. John sat unwinding a line of
scarlet zephyr, while Mrs. Mather looked expectantly
towards the door.
"Ah! Good evening, sir, good evening," the voice of
Mr. Stearns was heard to say. " Madam, I am very glad
to see you. Come right into the sitting-room. I must
introduce to you my young ladies," he said, proudly.
"Thank you," rejoined a pleasant voice, "it was to see
them that we called this evening."
Mr. Stearns came into the room and stood on one side to
allow a beautiful lady with soft gray hair to enter.
"Mrs. Farnham, this is Mrs. Mather, my niece," and
Miss St. John and Miss Wright were in turn presented to
the graceful lady, who wore a dress of heavy satin, an
India shawl of exquisite fineness, and an unmistakably
aristocratic bonnet with rich plumes.
Mrs. Mather's quick eye took this all in at a glance, and
she was not surprised to see the tall figure and strong face
of Mr. Philip Farnham, now in exceptionally neat and
elegant attire, following the lovely old lady into the room.
She quickly -went to greet him in her own cordial man-
ner, and while expressing her pleasure at meeting him
again, she heard Mrs. Farnham saying : " I made haste
to call upon you, ladies, and say how much I regret your
unpleasant encounter with Patrick Finnegan in our woods.
I really hope the fright has not made you ill, nor dis-
heartened you from pursuing your very interesting jour-
ney, of which I have heard."
jg o WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"Oh, no," answered Miss St. John, "only Miss Prescott
has felt the shock somewhat, and as her ankle is still a lit-
tle lame from a slight sprain, she has gone to bed, She
will be very sorry not to meet you."
"And I am very sorry not to see her," the lady
graciously replied. " Miss St. John," she said, suddenly,
" I am sure that I have heard of you before, through my
friend, Mrs. Trowbridge. Is she not also a friend of
yours ? "
"Why, yes, indeed," said Miss St. John, with great
enthusiasm, and their conversation was at once launched
upon a sea of pleasant reminiscences and flowing inter-
change of ideas.
Mahala, who had seen the entrance of Philip Farnham
with dismay, had sunk again into the comfortable lounge.
There she sat, fingering the long ends of blue satin bow
at her neck, with eyes cast down and toes demurely
crossed. She made an extremely pretty picture, but, as,
Mrs. Mather well knew, was feeling terribly embarrassed
and uncomfortable. Seeing that Mr. Farnham had cast
many glances towards that corner, and by several remarks
thrown in Mahala's direction (which, however, elicited na
reply from her) had shown a desire to draw out the shy
girl, Mrs. Mather turned her conversation to her uncle for
a moment.
Then Philip rose and crossed the room, and taking a
seat on the lounge beside her, in the easiest manner pos-
sible commenced a talk of polite nothings and agreeable
remarks upon things in general, so that before long Mahala
had somewhat forgotten her unnatural reticence and was.
THE FARNHAMS CALL UPON THE TOURISTS. l ^ l
telling him about her brother's furore for "specimens."
She descanted wittily upon the annoyance of the family
when some of the beetles refused to die under chlorofoim,
and went crawling about the house with long pins through
their horny bodies. " But that was before he knew any-
thing about cyanide of potash," she continued, raising the
long lashes as she gave him an artless glance and rolled
the blue ribbon over her taper forefingers. "Now, he just
puts them into a wide-nosed bottle with this poison in the
bottom, and they crawl about perfectly happy for a while,
until the first thing they know they are dead."
Philip laughed, and told her of some gorgeous beetles
he had brought from the South, and said he would like to
send them to her brother, feeling sure that so enthusiastic
a naturalist as she described him to be would take far
better care of them than he might if he kept them in his
possession. Mahala could not refuse such an acquisition
for Joe, and thanked him prettily for her brother.
Soon, again, Julie caught fragments of their chat. Mr.
Farnham, who evidently considered the frank and unas-
suming style of the sprightly girl very charming, was get-
ting personal. "I am sure, Miss Wright," said he, "tha,t I
heard your friends call you Mike. How did you come by
such a cognomen ? "
Mahala then told him how "the boys" disliked her old-
fashioned name, and said she was such a good fellow that
she should have a boy's name. So, as Mike was Frank's
name for every one, and he did not know what else to call
her, she was dubbed by his favorite appellation.
" I feel that it is hardly appropriate, and not very attract-
jg 2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
ive," she said, opening and shutting her book with a
pensive air, "but if the boys like it, that is enough," and
she looked at her listener* with her eyebrows raised, while
she showed the tips of her white teeth.
"Yes, indeed. So it is, Miss Wright," assented the
young man, with a warmth which seemed a little in excess
considering the triviality of the subject. " Your devotion
to the boys must be very pleasant to them; and, you
know, all names are not appropriate."
"No," she said, with a quick impulse, and a wicked
smile, " I think yours should be Rufus," and then, fright-
ened at her temerity, she colored a little and looked away,
and then at him askance to see the effect of her saucy
words.
"Certainly, I see, 'The Red,' " answered the gentle-
man, passing his hand over his crisp hair which was clip-
ped rather closely to his fine head, not in the least dis-
turbed. Then he said slowly, and looking intently at her
with a meaning smile, " And when I can recall a name for
a fire-hang-bircl, I will suggest it to you. How would
Oriola suit you ? "
Mahala was crushed. ' She threw him one piteous glance,
in which shame, conviction, and dread were mingled.
The worst had happened she was disgraced, ridiculed.
"Oh, Mr. Farnham," she cried, crimson with mortifica-
tion, "were you did you "
"Yes," he answered, laughing at her mercilessly, "I
was, and I did."
"Oh," she exclaimed, in low but indignant tones, "how-
could you do such a thing ? How came you to be away
THE FARNHAMS CALL UPON THE TOURISTS. jg^
up in Haddam, anyway ? I think it was horrid in you ! "
and she turned away her coquettish head and bit her lips.
Philip seeing her unfeigned distress, hastened to say
most earnestly, "Miss Wright, I assure you there was no
intent on my part to distress any one, when I went up the
river that morning hunting. Hearing cries as of some
one in need of help, I ran through the woods and jumped
the fence, to see a young lady in a rather unhappy situa-
tion." He suppressed a smile in a most exasperating
manner. " But as your friends arrived just at that
moment, and you dropped from the birch, I jumped back
again, so as not to embarrass you, when I could be of no
assistance. I could see from the cover of the woods that
no one was seriously hurt, so I went on my way."
Mahala was twisting her fingers and winking very fast.
"Am I to blame for this, Miss Wright?" asked Philip,
leaning towards her kindly.
" No ; you were only doing the kind and chivalrous
thing," she answered bravely, at last, "but I I am being
justly punished for my hideous rudeness."
" I protest that it struck me as the most natural and
unavoidable accident in the world," declared Philip.
Mahala smiled in spite of her vexation.
" Do you forgive me, then, for being near? It was im-
possible that I should have foreseen such a contre temps.
Please tell me that you will not dislike me for it."
"Come, Philip," said the gentle voice of his mother,
"we are making a shockingly unfashionable call; it is
time to go. My dear," she said to Mahala, as she took
her hand, " I wish to know you better, and also to see you
jg; WHEELS AND WHIMS.
on your tricycles, so I have invited your friends to come
and dine with us at four to-morrow afternoon. I hope
you will certainly come. Mrs. Mather thinks that Miss
Prescott will be hardly able to use her wheels, so I shall
send the carriage for her."
An eloquent glance from the red-brown eyes of Philip
(burnt sienna, Miss St. John called them) seconded this
kind invitation so persuasively that Mahala stammered
her thanks and professed herself under the leading of her
aunt and chaperone, and Mr. Farnham and his mother
took their leave.
CHAPTER XVI.
* T THOUGHT we were going on our journey to-day,"
A said Mahala the next morning, and as she had com-
pleted her toilet she sat down sideways upon a chair, and
resting her arm upon its back, clasped her hands and
pouted a little.
Miss St. John, who was fastening her collar at the glass,
turned upon her with considerable asperity.
"Mahala Wright," she said, "you are developing an
amount of perversity of late which is astonishing. Ordi-
narily, you would be charmed to visit such an old manse as
Mr. Stearns tells us the Farnham house is, to say nothing
of the pleasure of knowing such delightful people. Really,
you are trying to one's disposition."
" Well, well, auntie, I do not mean to vex you, and cer-
tainly have no objections to going to Mrs. Farnham's if
you all wish it. Don't be angry, dear, I only "
" She only put in her disclaimer, to be consistent,"
lightly added Mrs. Mather, who had just come into the
room.
" Consistent ! in what ? " demanded Mahala, turning
(i8S)
1 86
WHEELS AND WHIMS.
swiftly upon her friend ; but her eyes, which she tried to
make unconscious, fell beneath the quizzical gaze of that
lady, who merely said, "Oh, nothing."
"Well, I think you are all getting enigmatical," sniffed
Miss St. John, "and I move that we go down to break-
fast."
At precisely three o'clock in the afternoon, the carriage,
drawn by a pair of fat bay horses, driven by black Robert,
who had grown gray in the Farnhams' service, arrived at
Mr. Stearns's door to convey Margery and himself to Squire
Farnham's house.
DINNER AT THE FARNHAMS. jg^
The old gentleman protested that he could carry Mar-
gery over in his buggy, but Mrs. Farnham had insisted
that the horses needed exercise, and it would please Rob-
ert so much to drive a beautiful young lady in his carriage
once more ; so he reluctantly consented to be waited upon.
The trio, on tricycles, followed the carriage, and soon the
party arrived at the Farnhams' place, where Phflip stood
on the stone steps at the entrance to greet them. He
carefully assisted Margery up the flight to the door, where
she was met and kissed on her presentation to the sweet
mother. Then he turned again to welcome the gray-suited
ladies, who now came smoothly up the circular driveway.
Mrs. Farnham, having thrown a light shawl over her head,
now came briskly out of the house.
"Oh, here you are at last, my dears," she cried. "Don't
alight ! I. do want to see those machines work. Are you
too tired to run around the circle just once for me ? Oh,
how perfectly fascinating that must be !" she said to Philip,
as they ran so rapidly and noiselessly over the smooth
drive. " It is only when I see the freedom and out-of-door
sports of young girls in this age, that I wish I had been
born fifty years later."
"Ah, Mrs. Farnham," said Julie, as she stepped from her
wheels, " one must feel, in knowing you, that there are
compensations in having been brought up in the old
school, though we do enjoy our strength and the robust
health which this exercise in pure air brings us."
" Miss St. John," said their hostess, as she led her into
the house, "how independent you are enabled to be of
cars and carriages, on your sketching tours, by your tri-
cycle ! "
jgg WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"Yes," answered the artist, "it is a great convenience
to me. In fact, I wonder how I ever got along without it."
" Miss Wright," said Philip, with a vivid color in his
"bronzed cheek, as he took her neatly-gloved hand, " I am
very glad to welcome you to my home. You have done
us all a great kindness in coming. My father, who is quite
feeble, rfas been anxiously waiting your arrival."
Mahala looked up, following his slight gesture in the
direction of one of the windows, and saw an old man
watching them from the library, into which they were
soon shown.
A wood fire was burning in the capacious chimney.
Book-cases lined the walls, and contained a valuable law
library, as well as standard works in theology, science,
philosophy, and fiction. The ancient, hard-wood wainscot-
ing and mantel had been preserved. A few choice pic-
tures and some pieces of bric-a-brac filled various niches
and lightened the dark walls. An air of cultivation and
luxury pervaded the room.
Squire Farnham turned from his conversation with Mr t
Stearns to receive the visitors as they entered, and ex-
pressed his pleasure at their visit and great admiration of
their tricycle costumes.
"We had to wear them, sir," apologized Mrs. Mather,
"as Mrs. Farnham particularly requested to see us in
traveling garb."
"Why, certainly," said the gratified squire, beaming
upon one and another, " I should have been much chag-
rined to miss seeing these unique dresses. You look like
female hussars, with your buttons and braid. Come here,
DINNER AT THE FARNHAMS. l gy
my dear," said the old gentleman to Mahala, "you are like
a peach ; so sweet and fresh ! Don't mind an old man's
compliment," for Mahala blushed as he took her hand, " I
am sure you are willing to entertain me for a little while."
"Oh, yes, sir," answered the kind little maid, "I am
very fond of elderly people. It will be a pleasure to me.
Some of the happiest hours of my life have been spent at
my grandfather's knee. We lost him only a year ago," she
continued, softly.
"Young people do not always count it a loss when old
ones are removed. But go now, Miss Wright, with Philip
and mother, who are going to show your friends some of our
antiquities. They are not much, but Philip values them
very highly, since such things have become fashionable."
"Father," said Philip, remonstrating, "you know I
always prized family relics, and I repudiate the charge of
following a popular craze."
In the square hall near a window which was draped with
a sash-curtain stood a high and massive clock.
"This," said Philip, "is one of the first of Harrison's
gridiron pendulum-clocks. It is number five, I believe,
and therefore must have been made soon after 1726. It
was brought to New York by an ancestor of my mother's,
a Philip Lindsay, who was a younger son of an English
earl."
"Never mind the genealogy, my son," said Mrs. Farn-
ham, smiling.
" This clock kept perfect time," the young man contin-
ued, "until about ten years ago, when some wheel was
worn out and the old time-piece was still. But, within a
jgO WHEELS AND WHIMS.
few weeks, I have had an expert in horology examine it,
and by the substitution of one new cog it is now running
perfectly once more."
The case was of the richest mahogany, which was beau-
tifully carved in symbolical and grotesque figures.
" I am proud of it," acknowledged the young man,
an d "
Just then the silvery cadence as of tinkling bells struck
quickly upon the ear.
"Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, " Mahala
counted, and turned in amazement to Mrs. Farnham, who
was laughing with her son to see the surprised looks of
their visitors as the bell struck on to forty -four. " That is
only our Anne Boleyn," said she, as all joined in the
laugh.
"Well," said Miss St. John, looking around the hall,
" if the Queen reiterated her remarks as many times as
that I do not wonder that Henry cut her head off. He
probably did it in self-defense."
" Here it is," said Mr. Farnham, leading the way to the
first landing of the oaken staircase. " It is one of Tomp-
kin's clocks, and was made in the seventeenth century.
It is a fac-simile of one which was presented to poor Anne
Boleyn by Henry the Eighth. They seem to have had an
unaccountable penchant at that period for striking clocks.
This one formerly struck forty-four at twelve o'clock, and
between twelve and one o'clock no less than one hundred
and thirteen times. It not only struck the quarter hours
on eight bells but also the hour, after each quarter. How-
ever, the mechanism is long ago worn out and we seldom
DINNER AT THE FARNHAMS. jgj
wind it. I did so, in an idle moment yesterday, and your
presence seems to have given it new life."
It had been presented to Squire Farnham in England as
the souvenir of a dear friend, some twenty-five years be-
fore, and was of satin-wood inlaid with brass filigree-work
in gothic form, and surmounted by a lion rampant on a
shield.
The delighted girls were shown a great-grandmother's
wedding-set of china, with her monogram in gilt upon each
piece. A massive silver salver, wrought into pictures of
the chase, in matchless repoussS work, upon which the
valiant henchman had proudly borne the boar's head into
the feudal dining-room of a Farnham great, great, great,
great, great grandsire.
In a case of inlaid wood, which Philip took from a
drawer in the desk, was a sort of picture-book of some
forty or fifty pages.
"This book," said he, "was picked up by my father, at
an old book-stall in Wirtemburg, twenty-five years ago.
While glancing over the stock of aged and yellow manu-
scripts and folios, as he often did, being something of a
biblio-maniac, he was thrilled with joy and surprise to rec-
ognize in it a genuine and unmistakable Biblia Pau-
ptmm"
Here, Mahala, who had been not a little discomfited at
her own ignorance of things which seemed so familiar to
these Farnhams, said with a little chagrin in her tones :
" But, Mr. Farnham, common people do not even know
what a. Biblia Pauperum is," and she made a comical little
mouth at the name. " Of course the words seem to imply
IC; 2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
'poor mans Bible/ but I never heard of such a one as
this." She saw cuts in the quaint style of the middle
ages, giving the leading events of Christ's saving work.
"It is not at all strange that you are not acquainted
with this book," said Philip, smiling, and carefully turning
the leaves, "as it was used as a text-book before the
Reformation, by monks, in preaching, and took the place
of the more expensive and unattainable Bible among the
poor laity. As these lower orders of the clergy took the
title of Paupers Christi, ' Christ's poor,' the book was so
called. It is in Latin, you see." As he replaced the book
in its case, he said : " I am sure you must be tired with
musty old relics, now, and I hope I have not bored you
too long with my showman's harangue. How would you
like to go out and see the cattle, and horses, and dogs ? "
" Oh, one could never tire of this beautiful old house,"
said Mrs. Mather, enthusiastically looking around. " It is
ancient enough to be modern ! How fortunate for its
possessors."
"Oh, yes," joyfully assented Mahala to their entertain-
er's proposition. " Do let us see the stables. I can
always make friends with animals."
" Do you have any particular difficulty in that respect
with human beings ? " said Philip, giving her a humorous
glance, which Mahala answered with a bright flash from
her eyes.
" Certainly," said Mrs. Mather, " we should enjoy it
much to see the horses. We will get our hats and "
"Mr. Farnham," said Miss St. John, coming out of the
library, where she had been gloating over some art maga-
DINNER AT THE FARNHAMS. ^
zines, "Your father is very anxious to hear some music
before dinner, and your mother says if you will tune your
violin she will soon be here to play the accompaniment.
After which, some of us will play," she continued, as she
saw a slight intention to demur upon his face.
" Very well," he said, resignedly, " so be it, if it is my
father's wish. Mr. Stearns," he said, looking in at the
library-door, "if you will give father your arm into the
drawing-room, I will do my twisting and scratching as
soon as may be."
While the old man and his friend and the ladies were
coming into the room, the amateur violinist began the
excruciating process which always precedes string playing.
" Miss Wright," said he, " will you be kind enough to
strike A, on the piano ? Now now thank you. That
will do, I think."
He did not .make a long affair of it, and when his mother
came smiling into the room from a secret consultation
with old Viney in the kitchen, and sat down to the piano,
he began to play. His bowing was easy and graceful, his
inflections in thorough good taste, and the tones which he
brought from his cherished Straduarius were round and
full.
After playing several sweet selections from Beethoven,
a Larghetto from the Second Symphony, and an Adagio
from the Fifth Sonata, Philip set upon the rack the "Lost
Chord.."
" It is by Sullivan, you know," he said, turning to Mrs.
Mather, "not strictlv a violin piece, but one of my favor-
ites. I do not attempt concert pieces, realizing that
w. & w. 13
T Q4 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
they are beyond my power. I think it is better to play
such things as these well, than to haggle at music which
would tax the skill of Wilhelmj ; " and as the strong pure
harmony of the composition rose and fell, finely modulated,
and carefully finished, Miss St. John nodded to Margery.
"Always in good taste," she murmured.
The young lady, scarcely knowing whether the ambigu-
ous remark referred to the selection, its rendering, or the
modest repression of the performer which, more's the
pity, all amateurs do not-exercise bowed impressively in
return.
"Mr. Farnham," exclaimed Miss St. John, as he laid
down his violin, " I am ashamed to confess that before you
began to play, I trembled, for I have so suffered from bad
violin-playing that I feel like running away when I see a
non-professional take one in hand. I congratulate you upon
your touch. Your violin sings ; nearly all amateurs'
squeak."
"You need never tremble for anything Philip does,"
said his father, speaking from his easy-chair near the win-
dow. " It is not his way to fumble at anything."
" Tut, tut, father," said Philip, looking at him with an
affectionate smile, "you mean to say that, knowing my-
self, I do not undertake great things."
" Now, Miss Wright," said Mrs. Farnham, as she rose
from the piano, "having shown the clumsiness of my old
hands without apology, I trust you will put more life into
the instrument with your light fingers."
Mahala, who had been well trained on this point, and
realized that one object of her expensive musical education
DINNER AT THE FARNHAMS. JQC
was to give pleasure to friends, quietly arose and gave her
hand to Philip, who approached her bowing and led her to
the piano.
" Shall I play that little valse and pizzicati, by Delibes,
Aunt Dude ? " she said, turning to Miss St. John.
" Certainly," answered her aunt, " it follows naturally
after the violin."
" But it is rather a poor imitation, as I shall give it, I
fear," said pretty Mahala, looking with a little timidity at
the violinist, as she commenced the piquant staccato
movement. She played without affectation and with a
crispness and delicacy which was born of her own nerve
and a perfect technique.
" Ah ! " sighed Squire Farnham, as she rippled out the
last chord, " that is inspiriting. I could almost lock my fin-
gers at arms' length and dance, d la ballet, myself, to such
music."
This ambitious expression of the dignified old man
raised a general laugh at his expense. Mahala was leaving
the piano, but he would not have it so.
" No, no," he cried, " something more. I shall not have
you here often to play to me ! "
As the old man said the last words, Mahala turned smil-
ing to him and met such a burning glance from the brown
eyes of his son who stood back of his chair, that her heart
gave a quick bound, and something in her throat was like
to suffocate her, but she managed to say, " I will play you
the March of the Marionettes, if you like a burlesque in
music."
" Oh, anything you choose will be charming, I am sure,"
said Mrs. Farnham.
jgg WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"Well," said Mahala, showing her dimples, "you must
know that this is the funeral march of a broken doll. It
is by Gounod, and pleases every one who is not too
severely classic to enjoy fun."
"A kind fate forbid that we should ever get to that! "
said Mrs. Mather, who was delighted to see her pet show-
ing to such advantage.
"The first discordant sounds are the wails of the be-
reaved companion marionettes, and you must interpret
the rest for yourselves," said Mahala, and she struck the
harsh notes with an evident sense of the humor of the
piece and fell into the ludicrous measured monotones ot the
march. Every listener was fain to smile as she cleverly
brought out the sudden and exaggerated grief of an explo-
sive chord, which was immediately followed by the hushed
tread of the successive measures. Louder and nearer
came the manikin procession, until on the return the
minor and jerky movement was again taken up and finally
died away in the distance.
"Good! good!" cried the amused listeners, laughing,
and falling into an animated chattering over the inimitable
bit of humor in music, when Robert appeared at the door.
"Mrs. Farnham," he announced, with much dignity, "de
dinner is served."
Mr. Philip Farnham had offered his arm to Mrs. Mather
in going out to dinner, and it so happened that Mahala,
who had been pleased to take the seat beside the old
squire, found herself also beside the son at the table. If
Mrs. Mather had anything to do with this arrangement,
which seemed so intensely satisfactory to the tall young
DINNER AT THE FARNHAMS. ICj ^
gentleman, she must answer for it to her own conscience.
It was really remarkable how much these two people had
to say to each other, and how absorbingly interesting their
exchange of ideas upon the most trivial topics.
" I understand that Hartford society has quite a literary
tone," observed Philip across the table to Miss St. John,
during a lull in the hum of conversation. "With the res-
ident coterie of brilliant writers who have gathered in
your beautiful little city, and the distinguished visitors
whom they draw into their circle, it must naturally be so."
" Yes, doubtless," responded the lady, raising her brows
with a wicked twinkle in her bright eyes. " Any one can
walk or ride without extra charge by Mark Twain's or
Charles Dudley Warner's house, and I, myself, have a
speaking acquaintance with the Misses Stowe's pug dog.
To be sure, he is hardly as select in his tastes as one might
expect, and often follows after the grocery wagon or any
child he may happen to fancy, and is returned, after some
days, and ransomed by his mistress. Still, I feel a sort of
prestige in being recognized by him."
A generel laugh followed this sally, and as it subsided
Mrs. Farnham said, "Surely, Miss St. John, you do not
depreciate the elevating effect that must be felt, from even
the sight about the streets, of those who have accomplished
.so much in literature."
"No, Mrs. Farnham, she cannot," quickly interposed
Mrs. Mather, " but Miss St. John cannot resist a little sar-
casm because we are all so proud of our literati."
"And because writing does not happen to be in her
line," added Mahala, with some indignation ; "but I have
!gg WHEELS AND WHIMS.
known auntie to walk five miles to see a celebrated
artist!"
"Ha, ha! There, Miss St. John, now you are certainly
silenced!" exclaimed Squire Farnham. "By the way," he
continued, turning to the artist, "have you seen C. D.
Weldon's last etching ? I am told it is excellent. I used
to have a taste for pictures ;" and they began to talk of cel-
ebrated proofs and remarques, and after-the-letters, and
discussions of the scarcity and rising value of certain en-
gravings, and a general interest was excited in the listen-
ers, so that Philip said quietly to Mahala : "I judge you
incline to literature more than to art ? "
"Yes, I confess I do," she replied, modestly, "one can-
not help but feel the mental impetus which the familiar
presence of successful authors does lend to society. But
while encouraged by their example to attempt some things?
we always feel it is like holding a penny dip to an electric
light"
"Fie, fie, dear. It is well to maintain self-respect in
this, as in other matters," said Mrs. Mather, who had been
keeping up the picture discussion by an occasional perti-
nent question, when conversation seemed likely to flag, but
who now showed she had two ears.
" Miss Wright has written some very pretty things, Mr,
Farnham ; and, what is more, sold them, too."
"Ah, Julie, please!" cried Mahala; but Mrs. Mather
now returned to art.
"Do you know, Squire Farnham," she said, with great
interest, "what has finally become of the few last copies of
Folo's line engraving of the Madonna dei Candelabri ?
DINNER AT THE FARNHAMS. 599
There is one in the possession of a friend of mine, and he
would not part with it for "
" Miss Wright," said Philip, with admiration in his face,
" I am daily surprised at the versatility of American girls.
It is a charming fact that many of our modern journalists
are beautiful ladies. I would so like to know what you
have done."
"Oh, it is really nothing at all, to speak of, and except
for the possible innuendo in your word versatility" she
answered, archly, " I would not tell you anything about
it. Do you think it likely that any editor would accept an
article from a girl who could be capable of swinging on
birches ? " she inquired, as she dipped a piece of celery in
the salt by her plate.
" Oh, Miss Wright, that is unkind ! I never thought of
such a thing. I was considering only your bright and
winning ways, which are the antipodes of what we used to
expect in a literary woman ; your musical accomplishments,
your love of nature and out-of-door life on your wheels,
and "
" Well, that will do," Mahala interrupted, putting out
her hand and dimpling a little. " Pray do not feel obliged
to farther perjure yourself to be polite," and she laughed
merrily at his indignant attempt at a protest.
" Surely, Miss Wright is holding her own, again," said
Julie to herself, dishonorably listening.
"But, tell me about your writings," entreated Philip
again.
"They are really nothing," reiterated Mahala, toying
with her napkin, " except a few little chatty sketches of no
2QO WHEELS AND WHIMS.
depth or importance, which an editor has been kind enough
to publish. When I first got out of school I had the usual
graduate's idea of a career, and of course was much grati-
fied when my little sketches were accepted."
"I wish I might see your articles," said Philip, eagerly,
" I am sure they are full of sunshine and kindness."
" But," continued the youthful author of the sketches,
" I must tell you that what little confidence I had gained
from the publication of the poor little compositions was
taken out of me when I wrote a story. I suppose the good
editor, who had become my friend, would have taken it
from pity, but as that was just what I did not want, I sent
it where no one knew me, to ascertain if there was any
merit in it. As it soon came back to me with a polite
printed slip declining it, I began to see the truth."
"Which is " said Philip, interested.
" That it requires something more than a small gift of
light talk on places and persons to write a novel. Brains
are necessary, I begin to believe," she finished, sagely.
"What was your story about?" inquired Philip, curi-
ously.
" Oh, a simple tale of a poor city seamstress and a young
farmer whom she met in the country. It dealt with very
unassuming characters, you see. I thought I would not
begin with foreign nobility," she smiled at him.
" Of course there was something of love in it ? " he said,
softly, bending his head nearer.
" Of course," she said shortly, becoming much interested
in the figures in the frieze. " Have you had good success
in hunting, this year, Mr. Farnham," she offered, as the
beginning of a new subject.
DINNER AT THE PARNHAMS. 2 Ql
"Thank you!" answered the young man, with a busi-
ness air, "I have had very good success, so far," and he
began to laugh.
Mahala flushed.
Then, in a lower tone, he continued, " If I meet with no
disappointment in the next few days, I shall count this the
most enjoyable season of my life. But please tell me if
your story was accepted at some other place."
" How very persistent you are, sir," said the little maid,
looking at him in a manner which was meant to be saucy
but which softened into a blush, as she looked away, any-
where to escape his disconcerting eyes. " Well, then," she
said, dashing into the narrative to hide her unaccountable
confusion, " I tried another magazine with the same result.
Then I placed the manuscript in a pigeon-hole in my desk
and let it lie six months. Then I took it out, and read it,
calmly and judicially. It still seemed to me to be rather a
good story up to the average in respectable magazines, I
think. So I made another offer of it, and it was again
rejected. The boys, of course, knew about it," she went on,
smiling at the recollection, " and, from at first confidently
expecting to see it in one of the leading magazines, they
began to make fun as it returned, and they now speak of it
as ' the great American traveler.' " Here she fell into such
a laugh at her own expense, that Philip, who had been in-
dignant for her sake, could not resist the infectious ripple
of merriment, and joined at first apologetically and then
heartily, so that every one stopped talking to look at
them, and Mrs. Mather cried, with a great show of inquisi-
tiveness, " What are you laughing at ? "
2Q2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" I am laughing at a little story of Miss Wright's/'
answered Mr. Farnham.
"Which is too worn to bear repeating," added Mahala;
and Robert came with the dessert.
" Where is ' the great American traveler ' at present,
Miss Wright ? " said Philip, half an hour later, amidst the
noise of leaving the table.
"It is in Boston, just now," she answered, good humor-
edly, "and has been gone so long that I almost begin to
think it will make its debut there."
"Oh, I think I know what is the matter with my
story," said Mahala, as she sat down on the window-seat
in the hall with her attendant, " it is not in the fashionable
style. It is a straight-forward narrative, with no psychol-
ogy, and no impression effects. It is necessary just now,
you know," she said, with her bird-like turn of the head
and look askance, "to convey a world of meaning in one
broad touch, just as artists daub on half a dozen blotches
in a mist and call it Venice, or a Gypsy Camp. It is not
now in good form to work out details, in anything. It is
exceedingly unflattering to the reader's or critic's percep-
tions. Perceptions must be taken into account and
respected. It is because I have not done so, that my story
will probably have to go to a dime publication."
Philip was greatly amused as well as somewhat surprised
to hear the prattle of his charming new acquaintance,
which, delivered in the most inconsequential and girlish
manner, yet possessed an intelligence which showed that
she was using her mind to evolve original conclusions.
He had been getting rather blasd in New York, and had
DINNER AT THE FARNHAMS. 2 (>3
almost forgotten that there might be an attractive medium
between the traditional young woman of literary tastes,
who is always decorated with a green veil, blue glasses,
and a copy of Emerson, whose ideas of style are null,
and whose information of the world's work and culture is
bounded by the narrow horizon around " the Hub," and
the stylish New York girl, self-possessed and worldly-wise
at eighteen, but with so little unengaged time at her com-
mand as to be unable to think of anything long enough to
digest it and have opinions concerning it. Unfair as this
idea of the distinguishing characteristics of girls in the two
cities, which are often thus compared, may be, Philip enter-
tained it, as many another man has done, judging the
whole from types he had known. But in the actions and
conversation of this alternately merry, Jiarum-scarum, and
wise and philosophical Miss Wright, he told himself he
had discovered a very interesting phase of girlish charac-
ter. There are many such in the several cities, mid-way
between the centre of worldliness and the acme of self-
complacent culture.
Mr. P. L. Farnham was much interested, " merely in a
new style of girl," he said to himself, and he continued to
think of her long after the visitors had made their depar-
ture, and Robert had returned and reported their safe
arrival at Mr. Stearns's. He had taken the "Times,"
which he had not found time to look at, or indeed thought
of, since the mail came, and had been reading an occasional
paragraph to his father. The Squire", who was somewhat
fatigued by the unusual excitement attendant upon a
spirited political discussion with Mr. Stearns (Stearns was
2O4 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
terribly obstinate, he said), lay back in his easy-chair, lis-
tening with closed eyes ; but somehow Philip found less
interesting matter than usual. " It must be an awful
grind to get up a paper every day," he said, " It 's no
wonder they are stupid occasionally."
He had sat silent during fifteen minutes, reading over
one line a score of times, while his mind's eye saw only
ilitting glimpses of a pair of dark-blue eyes fringed with
long lashes, the toe of a neat and practical boot, a gray
dress closely fitting the lithe, graceful figure, and the
quaint silver chatelaine she had worn at her waist. Then
came a vision of a blue gown with satin ribbons, tiny slip-
pers, and a book in hand, curled upon a lounge in Farmer
Stearns' s sitting-room. Then, a struggling figure hanging
"by the arms from. a nodding birch tree, cries of distress,
and an ignominious fall to the earth.
He smiled behind the paper. Every little gesture, every
smallest change in the bewitching dimples around the
frank mouth, came ever and again into his strangely-wan-
dering thoughts ; and always a bewildering maze of curling
hair, clustering in soft curves about the intelligent fore-
head, and growing so prettily about the neck. He arose
at last and walked out into the hall, and stood looking
over the sash-curtain, out into the night, and began hum-
ming "Little ringlets round her ears." He had consid-
ered the hero of " Shandon Bells " a weakly, love-sick fel-
low. Why should this line come to his mind ? But it
seemed very pretty now, and so descriptive of certain little
whorls which he had lately seen.
' You hear the secrets that she hears,
Little ringlets round her ears."
DINNER AT THE PARNHAMS. 2 Q5
Hum, he wished he knew what the rest of the verses
were.
He thought he would ride over to the post-office in the
morning and just look in at Mr. Stearns's, to see if he
could be of any service during the day.
How kind they were to remain over for the party.
Twenty-eight to-morrow !
His mother always insisted upon making a birth-day
party for him. It had bored him somewhat, in times past,
to do the agreeable to a horde of distant feminine cousins,
and the young men in town, with whom ^he had so little
in common.
But this, this would be so different. He would ride
over to town in the morning. In fact,, Mrs. Mather had
invited him to do so.
What a charming lady she was ; and so fond of M-Miss
Wright.
What a vile name to call her by ! " Mike ! " how per-
fectly rude and horribly inappropriate ! It should be
Psyche. No, that were an omen of unhappiness. Sprite
would do better, or
He thought he would go to the .barn to see if his
saddle and things were in order. He had tramped so
much of late, that poor old Prince had been neglected.
" I think I'll ride him to-morrow morning," he said to
the old colored servant. " You may have him ready for
me at seven o'clock no ! Hang it ! That won't do you
may saddle him at half-past eight, Robert."
" I'm mighty glad to hear ye say that, Mister Philip, for
he has n't had a gentleman on his back but two or th'ee
2O 6 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
times since he come from de boat. He tried his bes' to
th'ow me, the fust time I mounted him, but he found an
old nigger kin stick on, ef he can't look so terrible got up
as his master kin. H'yah ! yah ! but aint he a reglar
steeple-picker, though, when he 's out on show ! "
His young master smiled, and saying good-night, walked
to the barn-door. He turned. "Robert."
"Yes, sir."
" I don't mind if you have him at the door a little past
eight. I have several places to go to."
"All right, sir. I guess I'll jes' put a little extra shine
on that silver. It looks mighty purty nex' to the russet
leather;" said Robert, as he got out his chamois-skin and
powder, and took down the bridle from its place in a
closet.
CHAPTER XVII.
T T AVE you any commissions for me, mother ? I am
JL A going to ride over to town," said Philip, the next
-morning, as he drew on his gloves in the hall. They were
drab, to compare with his neck-tie, which scarcely showed
above the close buttoning of the high-collared coat, and
with his pantaloons, which were of the same soft tint and
were tucked into high boots.
"No, I "think not," the lady replied, laughing a little,
" you could not bring over one letter without distending
the pockets of that perfect coat in a shocking manner.
No, dear ; Robert will attend to everything. Be a good
boy," she added, half in jest and yet in tender maternal
pride, that, strong manias he was, in the prime of his
strength and self-reliance, he was still " her boy." He
lifted his hat from his red-brown locks, and looked back
with an affectionate smile as Prince sprang blithely away.
" He is a handsome fellow, if he is my son, Robert/'
said the loving mother, as she turned after watching him
out ot sight.
"'Deed he is, missus/' answered old Robert, rubbing his
(207)
2O 8 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
hands together, " and I'm bleeged ter say some younger
ladies may think so, too."
" Yes, yes, I know," said the lady, who was accustomed
to remarks from Robert which might have seemed un-
pleasantly familiar in a whiter skin or less aged retainer.
"They must, you know, if they have eyes in their heads."
Mothers are so singularly warped in their judgment of
these matters.
"Ah, good morning, Mr. Farnham," called a voice from
the side of the road where it crossed a bridge.
He drew up his horse and saw Miss St. John by the
way with her sketching apparatus arranged for use. Philip
dismounted at once.
"Oh, pray do not dismount," cried the lady, who held a
palette in her left hand, while she poked among the tubes
in her lap, and squeezed one after another, leaving a line
of colors around the board. She had a thick rug under
her feet and her hands were protected, if not adorned, with
gloves with the finger-ends cut off.
" I thought, as we were to be here another day, I might
as well get a sketch of this bridge and old mill," she said,
in her quick manner, raising heij*gray eyes from her work.
" It would be a pity to lose so picturesque a point. Don't
you think so ?"
"Really, Miss St. John," said Philip, "I had never
thought of it in that light ; but you are getting a pretty
picture out of it," said he looking over her canvas.
" No, you are wrong. The picture is there," said the
artist, extending her hand and giving it a little sweep
across the view, " and I can only feebly reproduce it.
PHILIP'S DAY. 2O9
* Art may err, but nature cannot miss,' " and she made
hooks by the sides of her head with her fingers to signify
quotation marks. Then she exclaimed, "Do you know, it
seems to me that most people go about this beautiful
world with their eyes shut ! "
" Possibly," said the gentleman, somewhat absently, and
looking around as if in search of something.
" Probably ! ". insisted the lady. " Look at this scene.
Could anything be more perfect in coloring than the grays
of that old wood, and the deep maroons and browns of
those blackberry-vines ? Then see the little clouds of the
feathery clematis on the rails of that fence. And all
against the green of the sward, and the blue of the sky
and the varying tones in the rippling water ! What is
wanting to make it perfect ? "
"I would suggest a bit of life," said the business man,
with a critical coolness, which was in strong contrast to
the enthusiastic enjoyment of the artist.
" Well, there you have it, exacting man ! Oh, is n't he
too cunning? Let me get that!" ejaculated the lady,
pointing to a lusty squirrel, who suddenly jumped up from
the side of the bridge, and with an intensely hurried and
business-like air, sat quickly with his umbrageous tail
curved above his head, and raising his handy paws to his
mouth, commenced to gnaw a hole in a large walnut which
he had brought with him.
The artist made some rapid touches upon her canvas,
and an impression was added to the picture. Although
indistinct, it was a gray squirrel.
Mr. Farnham raised his riding cane to his eye. " What
a shot ! " he cried.
\v. & w. 14
210
WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" Oh, you vandal ! " said the lady, with indignation. " To>
think of killing him ! Masculine nature is certainly cruel.
I am disappointed in you, Mr. Farnham," she added,,
severely.
" Pray do not be, Miss St. John," rejoined Philip, calmly,,
"because we do not shoot squirrels when there is any
other game."
" But murder defenseless birds," she answered, quickly.
" I do not see how you have bettered your position."
"Ah, well, Miss St. John, you must remember we are
not all artists, nor women. No one can have a higher
appreciation of the natural loveliness of the one, nor of
the qualities of mind and heart which permit the other,
than I ; but you must admit that practical pursuits and
harder nerves are necessary to us who are knocking about
the work-a-day world."
The artist shook her head at him. "Ah, now you think
you have disarmed me, with your flattering speech.
Where are you going ? " she asked, with the good-humored
brusquerie which was one of her characteristics.
" To to the post-office," Philip replied, not quite at ease.
" And possibly to call upon your friends, at Mr. Stearns's,
to see if I can be of any service to them."
"Oh, they sent their telegrams the minute they got
back last evening, and I suppose will be looking for replies
by this time. Still," she continued, looking at the mill
with her head a little on one side, and giving some imper-
ceptible wipes to her canvas, "that's better isn't it?"
she said, lost in contemplation of her work. " Still what
was I saying ? Oh ! You might call, though Margie (Miss.
PHILIP'S DAY. 211
Prescott) was going up to Deep River with Mr. Stearns,
now I think of it. Mrs. Mather, I think, will be in as
she is always writing to her husband, I believe."
Not a word of her, thought Philip. " I hope to have the
pleasure of seeing you this evening," politely said he, as
he took hold of the reins at Prince's shoulder and quickly
rose to the saddle.
" We shall certainly be there if all is well. Good morn-
ing," answered the artist, bowing as he raised his hat, and
returning instantly to her beloved work.
" Mike," suddenly exclaimed Mrs. Mather, who sat at
the window of the "spare room," which was, according to
country custom, in the front of the house, "here comes
Mr. Farnham on horseback ! See how beautifully he
rides. His is a figure for Fifth avenue and the park,
rather than this sedate street. Perhaps he is coming
here."
" I hope not," said Mahala. " It is really enough to
make one dislike him to hear you and Aunt Dude cite his
perfections ;" but she came to the window with a very rosy
face and peeped through the muslin curtains. ^
" He seemed very much smitten with Margery yester-
day," continued the fathomless deceiver, in an exceedingly
careless tone. " His attitude of devotion, as he assisted
her to and from the carriage, was very affecting. Perhaps
these two matchless beings may majestically decide to love
each other. It would seem most appropriate, now she is
off with poor Felix," and she went back to her little chair
by the side window with a glove in her hand which she
was mending, and sitting down in quite a heat, com-
212
WHEELS AND WHIMS.
menced to sew on a button, with some jerking of the
knotting silk.
" How do you know she is ' off with Felix/ as you call
it ;" said Mrs. Mather. The young girl made no reply ex-
cept to cover one eye with her hand and wink with intense
meaning with the other.
" He is coming here," said Mrs. Mather, looking out of
the window and bowing cordially to some one below.
" I think I will go down to the door," she said, rising,
"for Mrs. Bronson is intent upon cooking this morning.
Of course you will come down as soon as you can, dear,"
she said, pausing at the door and looking back at Mahala.
" I don't know whether I shall get down before he goes,
or not," indifferently replied Miss Wright. " I have one
or two buttons to sew on, and they all need tightening,"
she said, critically examining the glove.
" Pshaw ! " and Mrs. Mather ran down stairs laughing.
The instant she had left the doorway, Miss Wright's dig-
nity vanished, and rising she sped softly to the window
and stood with flushing cheeks and quick breath, peeping
through the thin curtain, as the horseman sprang from the
saddle and came up the walk with a glow of expectant
pleasure in his fine face.
Then Mahala took two handfuls of her dark curls and
wrenched them fiercely as she turned to her chair. "Oh,
why ! Why, do I care about this man who never does
anything that is inelegant who is so sure of his ability to
please and always seems to be laughing at my poor despi-
cable, hoydenish mishap ? But I do, I do," she whispered,
buttoning her boots with eager haste.
PHILIP'S DAY. 213
As she arose from her seat upon the floor, which is the
customary girlish attitude in dressing the feet, she saw her
agitated face in the mirror. " You are a little fool ! Yes,
a perfect fool ! " she said to it ; which expression seemed
to relieve her mind, and she sat down by the window to
get cool.
" Ah, good morning, Mr. Farnham," cried the young
matron, who opened the door without waiting for Philip to
ring, saluting him with the friendly freedom and charming
bonhommie which married women who are perfectly secure
in their husbands' love, and are free from all fear of impu-
tations of undue regard for otber men, can exercise so
pleasantly ; " come in. We thought perhaps you might
ride over, this delightful morning."
" We," whispered Mahala, who was listening at the head
of the stairs. " Julie Mather, who gave you leave to say
that ? " She bit her lip. " I shall take care to contradict
that, in my first remark."
" Yes, Mrs. Mather," said the deep voice of the visitor
below stairs, "it was so extremely bright this morning that I
thought I would give Prince a little exercise. The old fellow
has suffered from disuse since I brought him on from New
York, and as I had some errands to do in town, and you so
kindly asked me to call "
" Oh ! Indeed ! She asked him to come, did she ? "
said the listener at the head of the stairs, straightening up
her slender figure with a quick suspicion. " Mrs. F. W.
Mather, what does that mean ? Can Julie so demean her-
self as to turn one of these detestable married flirts ? New
York men are terribly fast, I understand, under all their
214 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
polish. Heigh " but she held her breath, stopping the
sigh in the middle, for he was speaking again.
" I had a spicy little interview with Miss St. John, who
was sketching at the bridge as I came by. She is certainly
a most entertaining and attractive lady, with her love for
art and her strong common-sense and quick retorts." He
laughed enjoyably. " She called me a vandal and told me
she was disappointed in me, in less than five minutes after
my arrival."
" Good gracious ! Has Aunt Dude begun it, too ? "
gasped Mahala, as a flush rose to her face. " Auntie is
very attractive, and not more than five years older than he ;
but I will never call him uncle ! " she exclaimed decisively,
and then as the idea struck her more forcibly, she sped on
tip-toe into the chamber and laughed in smothered cachin-
nations until the tears stood in her eyes and the changeful
face became rueful. But how fast they were talking down
there in the sitting-room. She stepped noiselessly to the
balustrade again.
" I hardly understood what she meant by saying you had
sent telegrams and were expecting replies this morning,
and was about to ask, fearing that something might have
occurred to prevent your coming to our house to-night, to
call you home perhaps, when she dismissed me by becom-
ing absorbed in her work; and now I recall it, said you ex-
pected to attend the party."
"Oh, dear," said Mrs. Mather, who was laughing heart-
ily, " how like Dude that is ! She has so little regard for
the concealment of the harmless subterfuges by which we
women strive to be appropriately dressed without apparent
PHILIP'S DAY. 2I c
effort at all times. But in this instance, as no one who
gave us credit for good sense would imagine that we
should come on a jaunt of this kind prepared for a party,
I do not mind admitting that Margery and Mahala have
sent to Hartford for some evening dresses. Miss St. John
and I will do very well in spare dresses which we brought
along, but you could not expect the girls to place them-
selves in juxtaposition to the resident belles without an
appropriate costume. No young lady who respected her-
self would do it. But for goodness sake don't say I told
you ! "
" Certainly not," answered the gallant visitor. " I have
a great respect for ladies' judgment on anything pertain-
ing to matters of this kind, and should not have presumed
to inquire into this secret had I known it to be such."
" Well, that is rather nice of you, at all events," said the
dishonorable listener at the head of the stairs. " I will
not go down unless he asks for me. I am determined in
that ! " she said to herself.
" Miss "
Hark Mahala !
" Miss Prescott is not in this morning, Miss St. John
told me. I am sorry not to see her. Is her sprained ankle
getting strong once more ? "
" Entirely well, I think," answered Mrs. Mather. " A
few days' rest was all that was needed to set it right."
" I am very glad," said the manly voice again. " I
judge she must be a very graceful dancer, and I have prom-
ised myself the pleasure of a waltz with her this evening
and "
2 i6 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
Mahala choked.
" I won't go to that detestable old party ! Yes I will,,
for fear they will think strange. But how stupid it will
be ! I I have dreaded it all the time ! I wish I had
never come on this rowdyish trip, anyway. Ah ! "
" Miss Wright is well, I trust, this morning ? Is she
in ? "
" She is," responded Julie. " She was very busy when
you came, but I think her sewing must be nearly finished
by this time." She stepped to the stairs. " Mahala ! "
No answer.
" Excuse me, I will speak to her," and the demure
matron looked a little out of patience as she mounted the
stairs, but this gave way to amusement when she found
the chamber-door tightly closed.
" Come, dear," she said, in loving tones, intended to be
heard down stairs, as she opened it, " Mr. Farnham is get-
ting tired of my conversation ; can you not leave your
work and come down now ? " In a whisper : ' Really,
Mike, your caprices are almost too much for my good
temper ! You should never allow yourself to be rude to
any one."
" Yes, Julie," answered Mahala, with a preoccupied
tone. " I was going right away. I am taking the last
stitch now," and she grinned composedly at the look of
wrath with which Mrs. Mather regarded her empty hands,
and ejaculated in low but stern tones, "Oh, you con-
summate fraud ! " and they both went down stairs.
" I was so surprised to see you this morning, Mr. Farn-
ham. I did not know, until just now, that Mrs. Mather
PHILIP'S DAY. 21 /
knew you were coming, or I might have done my mending
earlier."
Here Julie started visibly, and gave her a look showing
that she had betrayed the fact of her listening at the
stairs ; but, confident of the tact of her chaperone, she
looked collectedly into Philip's face as she greeted
him, and glancing out of the window as she took a seat by
it, she remarked that it was a beautiful day to ride.
Her nonchalance completely disarmed her friend, who
was justly vexed at this new whim, but as usual ended by
being greatly amused at the assurance of the young offen-
der, in taking it for granted that her friend would not be-
tray her double-dealing.
" If you are surprised, I hope you are not displeased, to
find so recent an acquaintance calling so soon again."
Mahala vouchsafed no reply, except that her cheeks
grew a little pinker.
"It is a boon to me, no less than to others here," said
Philip, addressing both, " to be allowed to meet you ladies,
when we expected nothing more than the usual monotony
of country living this season."
" Oh, how can you consider the country monotonous ? "
airily rejoined Miss Wright, having waived the first depre-
cating remark. " There is such endless variety in na-
ture's moods. The trees, and flowers, and ferns, and mosses
are an ever-fascinating study ; and sweet-singing birds, and
jolly little squirrels, innocent little deer-eyed calves, and
timid sheep are so much better company than most human
beings. Even an occasional snake prevents one from get-
ting dull," she added, thoughtfully.
-2J 3 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" Not every one is given an eye to see the beauties of
nature as you seem to, Miss Wright," Philip answered.
"It is indeed an enviable faculty," he said, regarding her
with admiring eyes, "and must fill many a lonely hour
with exquisite pleasure. I confess to have my enthusiasm
for a country home somewhat dulled by a busy life which
I so much enjoy in the city. Of course, nothing can
shake my attachment for the old house, but it seems that
nearly all the interesting people round about the town are
gone with my childhood." And so they fell to discussing
matters in general, which have no particular bearing upon
this story.
At last Philip turned to Mahala : " Since you are so fond
of beautiful scenes in the open air, Miss Wright, I regret
that I did not harness Prince to a buggy and ask' you to
ride to Red Hill. The vista down the river is something
to be remembered. I think you would enjoy a view of it,
and if Mrs. Mather will go, I will go home and return with
the carriage in half an hour." He had suddenly recol-
lected himself and included the chaperone in the invita-
tion.
"Oh, please, do nothing of the kind," said Mahala, with
much animation, " you see I so much prefer my wheels,
and I intended to get away somewhere this morning.
Shall we go, Julie ? "
" Certainly, dear. You will doubtless enjoy it im-
mensely," answered the inefficient chaperone, leaving her-
self out of the question with culpable disregard of her
bounden duty.
" But you will go, too ? " quickly asked Mahala.
PHILIP'S DAY. 2 !0
" Willingly, rather than hinder a pleasant ride. But if
you would be kind enough to excuse me," said the lady,
looking from Mahala to Philip pleadingly, "I could take
this quiet time to write to my husband. I should consider
it as a favor, still if you insist "
" Why, surely not, if you really prefer to remain here,"
said Philip, courteously, " although we should be glad of
your company." (Julie knew it was a fib.) " I trust to Miss
Wright's appreciation of the lovely ride to compensate her
for a dull companion. She likes calves and squirrels better
than people, anyway, so that one does not feel that much
is required of him, which is a consolation."
Mahala forgot herself and flashed him a pouting, merry
glance, as she bounded up the stairs after her hat and
gloves.
Philip looked gratefully at the faithless Julie. " Mrs.
Mather, would there be anything to offend your chaperon-
ish sense of propriety if we should not return in time for
lunch ? It is now nearly eleven o'clock," he said, consult-
ing his watch, " and the middle of the day is the pleasant-
est, out of doors, at this season and "
Mrs. Mather smiled. " Mahala needs no chaperone,
Mr. Farnham," she replied. " Her pure heart and native
sense of propriety are always a sufficient guide togher in
gentlemen's society."
" I am proud to hear you vindicate the reliability of a
representative American girl," answered the young man,
warmly.
" I had a real time, oiling my tricycle this morning,"
said the young lady, as she came pushing her machine out
22O WHEELS AND WHIMS.
of the driveway at the side gate. " So it will run well, I
hope.'" Philip sprang to meet her, but she said, " Please
allow me to manage it. You might break it, you know, or
something." She showed her white teeth while she pre-
tended to frown.
" Is it not a greasy business to care for a tricycle
properly ? " asked the fastidious cavalier. " Should you
not leave that to "
" To whom ? " she said, saucily elevating her chin and
gazing at him through her dark lashes.
" To to a servant, or to some one who has already black
and oily hands," Philip answered desperately.
" No," Mahala answered, shaking her head, " it is no
worse to clean than a sewing-machine, or only a little, and
I could not trust to strangers, certainly. Well, sir," she
continued, as she quickly rose to her saddle, " I am ready.
Perhaps you had better mount your steed, if you are com-
ing," and the saucy minx started off a 5 t a great pace.
Now, Prince, being an experienced New York horse,
possessed such an imperturbability to new and unfamiliar
objects as is only gained through much worldly knowl-
edge and many and various vicissitudes on the road. He
was stylish, self-possessed, and elegant from the tips of his
small %lack ears to the end of his banged tail. He was
cool in the close vicinity of steam-cars, whether crashing
along at grade before his high-bred nose, or flying above
his intelligent head with a deep roar and terrific speed
upon the elevated railways. He had stood patient and
philosophical in a Fulton street pack for an hour, and had
been inured to the sight of every known vehicle, from the
PHILIP'S DATf. 221
immense mail-wagons and steam fire-engines that wait for
nothing, to the tiny jerking dog-cart carrying a dude. He
had locked wheels with the landau of Madame Millione,
and grazed a swill-cart by the way. He had been entan-
gled in the inconsequential and exasperating toils of an
undisciplined goat -team in the park, and had a bicycler
take "a header" into his very face, while the machine fell
clattering against his sinewy legs. He rose superior to all
such accidents (which the carelessness and unskilled driving
of other teams inevitably bring upon the horse who most
thoroughly understands himself), realizing that to lose his
temper or betray fear or surprise, were inexcusable in an
animal of his breeding. His business was to shine-, to
arch his neck at telling moments, to curvet gracefully
about the carriages of his master's acquaintances, to amble
easily, to trot gently or to run like mad, as his rider indi-
cated, and he meant to do it, undisttfrbed or distracted by
little episodes along the way. Therefore he looked know-
ingly towards Mahala as she mounted her saddle and heard
her sweet voice as she spun away, and fell at. once into a
quick trot as his master sprang to his back.
"Do not go so fast, I beg of you, Miss Wright ! You
will certainly be fatigued before we return, if you use your
strength so at first," Philip remonstrated, reining close be-
side the delicate machine which Mahala sent so swiftly
along. The street was shaded by elms and ran in single
and now double roads through the wide space between the
straight and massive trees. She instinctively chose her
way, now in the drive and now to one side or the other on
the firm, smooth sward. Her lissome girlish form sat
222
WHEELS AND WHIMS.
easily between the wheels, her gauntleted hands resting-
lightly on the handles at her side, and her heavy, gray
skirts fell in clinging folds about her energetic feet, which
showed just a heel or toe below the graceful draperies. A
brilliant color was in her cheeks as she turned her ani-
mated face towards Philip, who rode in a little anxiety by
her side.
How jauntily she wore her hat! No one else wore a
hat like that ! How prettily it sat upon her small head.
And what a turn to the plump shoulders and round arm !
(Fie, man ! The dressmaker does all that.) " Really, Miss
Mahala," (there ! So much for allowing yourself to call
her so to yourself!) "Miss Wright," he interjected,
quickly, " you must know that it is five miles or more to
Red Hill and back. I very much fear you will be too
tired."
Mahala slowed up to a walking pace, to which Prince
immediately accommodated himself, as she said, " Thank
you, Mr. Farnham, but I am not likely to get fatigued with
a five-mile- run in this exhilarating atmosphere ; but per-
haps it may be as well to go slow until we are beyond the
center of the village a little. I have caught a glance of
several shocked faces at the windows as we came along.
Is the spectacle of a lady riding a tricycle shocking? We
are so used to it that we forget that strangers may not
approve."
"Shocking!" said Philip, in earnest admiration, "far
from it. It is charming. It is thoroughly ladylike, and
at the same time has a flavor of independence and life and
healthful pleasure about it, that could but be captivating
to all who possess health and good spirits."
PHILIP'S DAY. 223.
" But I thought the lady we just met, with the thin
light hair and the puppy on a string, looked displeased.
She bowed to you, but stared at me in maidenly horror."
"Ah, ha, ha!" laughed Philip, in deep enjoyment of
Mahala's quickness to catch the disapproval in the lady's
eye. " That was my cousin," he said.
" Oh ! " exclaimed Mahala, a little frightened.
" Yes," he continued, " she spends her time in watching
her neighbors ; making slippers, and other things he
doesn't want, for the minister; has compiled a book of
hymns, browbeats her dressmaker, and looks after the
morals of the town. She thinks it rude in a young lady
to laugh aloud, detests children and men, and loves no one
but herself and that dog, who is never out of her sight.
She will be at our house to-night."
"Dear me," said Mahala, doubtfully, "is she is she
nice to know?" she stammered, at a loss what to say.
How could his cousin be so disagreeable ! Must resemble
some ancestor of a remote branch of the family, she men-
tally decided. " I think I never met just such a person;
you must exaggerate her peculiarities."
"Perhaps,"- smilingly assented Philip. "You would
scarcely meet just such a type in town. It is remarkable
as a product of country places. An old maid, city born
and bred, is not such a formidable creature. She has
opportunities to see the world as it is, can but feel the
beneficial effects of an enlarged mental horizon, and has a
chance for culture and an enforced self-discipline which
rounds the corners and dulls the edges of selfishness.
Lizzie might be a person of influence and worth in society,
224
WHEELS AND WHIMS.
in a city where outer influences would dispel her egotism
and positive assurance of her own infallibility. But here
her active mind, otherwise unemployed, turns upon small
gossip and an utter condemnation of any luckless wight
who dares to differ from her fixed ideas of religion or so-
cial proprieties. I am acquainted with my cousin. She
has followed me with a sharp criticism since my boyhood.
I do not love her, I fear, as a cousin should."
Mahala laughed merrily at the serio-comic air with
which his last sentences were delivered.
" Excuse me one instant," suddenly exclaimed Philip, as
they rode along the street, " I would like to stop a moment
at the store."
" Certainly ; I will ride on slowly," nodded Mahala.
As she quietly ran along the road near the sidewalk, a
jolly old man, of rosy face and rotund form, came trudging
to the post-office. When he caught sight of the sweet
young lady riding the unheard-of vehicle, clad so daintily
and in quiet style, looking up at the graceful trees and
gazing about at the comfortable homes that ranged on
either side, he stopped. He planted his stout stick firmly
upon the ground, and said audibly, " Kevins an' airth ! "
Mahala turned quickly, and looked into the jocund vis-
age, now sobered with surprise. His whole appearance
was at once so droll, friendly, yet with a consuming curi-
osity in his wide-open eyes, that Mahala smiled in spite of
herself. Whereupon the old fellow's face expanded into a
pleased look, and he said : " Now, Miss, really, if you
won't take it unkindly, will you tell me what that thing is
that you are a-ridin' on ? "
PHILIP'S DAY.
225
"Yes, I will," said
Mahala, good-humor-
edly. " It is a tricy-
cle. Did you never
see one before?"
"No, I never did," an-
swered the old man. " I've
seen the bicycles, of course ; but
it beats me! Where did you
come from ? I know you don't
belong around here ; that is, I
judge you don't," he added as
Mahala quizzically said " Why ? "
" Oh, I don't know, unless by
the general cut of your jib.
Where be you from ? I would
like to know, if it don't make
no odds to you."
w. & w. 15
226 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"I am from Hartford, sir," politely responded Mahala,
who rightly inferred that this was a kindly old soul unre-
strained by polite reticence in his questions.
" Hevins an' airth!" he ejaculated again. "But you
haven't ridden from there, to-day ? " he pursued, evidently
attributing marvelous possibilities to the machine.
" Not to-day." answered Mahala, as she heard Prince's
quick steps behind her.
"Ah, how do you* do this morning, Captain Amos ? " said
the genial voice of Philip as he rode up. " I am glad your
rheumatism lets you out once more. I am coming in to
settle with you for that boat very soon."
"All right there ain't no hurry any time," answered
the old man, to whom the arrival of Philip, as escort to
this charming girl and her wonderful machine, was an
added shock of surprise and wonderment, and subsequently-
furnished a topic for gossip at the store for an hour.
As Mahala, bowing pleasantly, said " Good morning,
Captain Amos," and started her wheels, he stood and
watched them far down the street, and as he trudged on-
ward he remarked " Hevins an' airth ! " He turned once
more, but they were out of sight. " And now," he said,
with a curious shake of the head, "how did she know my
name ? That's what I want to know ! "
On they rode, now slowly, enjoying the pure air, the
blue sky, and the glimpses of homes, and trees, and river,
chatting freely upon all they saw and thought, living in the
passing hour, which was so full of a nameless charm and
golden light.
Philip was only solicitous, fearing that she would be-
PHILIPS DAY. 227
come fatigued. "I am ashamed," he said, "to sit here on
Prince's back and see you propelling your own vehicle."
Mahala instantly assured him that she enjoyed the ex-
ercise above all things. " It is merely a walk for me/' she
explained, "'with no more exertion, except when by trans-
mitting more force to these wheels they lend me far
greater speed. I think these cycles must be a realization
of the seven-league boots," she added, with animation, and
shot ahead, so that Prince, pointing his small ears forward
in surprise at this unexpected action of the queer machine
which he was escorting, struck instantly into a quick can-
ter and was soon by Mahala' s side.
" Oh ! here we are at the top of a little hill ! " exclaimed
the bright-eyed girl. " Now you shall see where I have
the advantage of you, Mr. Farnham," and resting her feet
on the bars in front, she laid her hand on the brake and
went flying down the hill in what seemed to Philip a
most reckless manner.
" Beware the water bar ! You may get upset ! " he
cried, hastening after her. She was waiting for him at
the foot of the hill.
"Well," he said, in some dismay, "you certainly were
the victor that time, but "
" Beg pardon," she said, bowing, " not I, but my ma-
chine, is ' The Victor.' You see, I can slow up instantly,"
she said, touching the brake, and glowing with enthusias-
tic pleasure in the sport.
" It is coasting, you know, without winter frost and
snow."
" It certainly seems very exhilarating," assented the
22 8 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
gentleman, looking at her bright red cheeks. " I have
never tried a wheel, Prince supplying all the exercise I
have time to take. Still, you feel when riding horseback
that you are, after all, doing a sort of lazy thing. But you
are perfectly independent of any volition but your own
muscles on a wheel. One has a sense of pride in a vigor-
ous tramp. Riding a tricycle must give something of this
inspiriting feeling."
" Exactly ! " answered Mahala. " There is an unac-
countable fascination about it. I think you have ex-
plained it. Still," she continued, glancing up at him with
a mischievous twinkle in her eye, "it is not ati fait for
women to be independent in New York, is it ? I think
the wheels may be more generally used in Massachusetts."
" Independent ? Yes. We want them to be indepen-
dent in health and joyous love of life, in stanch principles
and a high culture, as well as in a practical education, by
which they could care for themselves if no stronger arm
were near to fight the world for them. But we would each
like to have some lovely woman dependent on him for love
and protection, giving him in return the advantage of her
quick intuition and pure counsels. There need be no
question "
" So I think ! " quickly interposed Mahala. "Wouldn't
you like to try the wheels for a little while, Mr/ Farn-
ham ? "
Philip came down from his pedestal so suddenly, that
for an instant he scarcely realized his position. But
casting a searching glance at Mahala's innocent face he
said, with a short laugh, which was a curious mixture of
PHILIPS DAY. 22 Q
surprise, chagrin, and amusement in one exclamation, " I
don't mind. Probably you will like to see me tip over ! "
" Oh ! no indeed ! It is impossible to do so ! " protested
Miss Wright, as she took out her little wrench and busily
proceeded to raise the saddle.
Philip had also dismounted.
"There ! " she said, with a business face, " I think that
will be about right for you. I will lead Prince. You will
need both hands."
So he followed her directions, and starting off with
some success he became bolder and put on more speed,
and at once turned right about and ran promptly into a
fence.
" I told you the least turn of the handle would change
your course," said Mahala, coming up with Prince's nose
near her shoulder. " Whoa, Prince ! I "
She was shaking with laughter to see the comical ex-
pression of doubt with which he was regarding the
machine, showing at th same time a. determination to
conquer next time or perish in the attempt. " Oh, I give
you leave to laugh," he said lugubriously, and they both
laughed loud and long at his expense. " But I am going
to try it again, just the same," he declared, as he pulled
the wheels back into the road.
The next trial was eminently successful, and at the
young lady's request he gave her his hand, and, placing her
foot in it, she sprang to Prince's back.
" I shall hardly try fast riding on this saddle," she said,
as they proceeded at a walk, "but I think that Prince
knows that I am at a disadvantage without a pommel, and
230 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
will be good. I can keep up with you on the wheels, I
think.'.'
So they rode for a mile.
" You are not a novice on horseback, I see," said Philip,
who, while earnestly engaged in managing the tricycle,
still kept a close watch on Prince's behavior until he saw
that Mahala was used to managing a horse.
"Not exactly," she smilingly answered, "but since I
have had my wheels I have not cared so much for riding
as formerly."
" Do you then prefer the tricycle ? " asked Philip, as he
assisted her to dismount.
"Yes, very much," Mahala answered, as, after lowering
the saddle, she took her seat once more.
They met a farmer and his wife, driving to town. A
large basket of eggs, a covered wooden pail, evidently con-
taining butter, and several bags of potatoes, were in the
wagon.
The friends tried not to smile or look conscious as this
team met them; and they saw the astonishment depicted
upon the countenance of its occupants. As they passed,
the man turned in his seat and was heard to exclaim,
" Wai, I vum ! " but the woman never looked behind.
Soon, a clattering grocery wagon overtook them, and
went rattling by at such a pace that pails, baskets, boxes,
and small parcels, with which it was loaded, knocked about
in great hazard. And as the impudent young blade who
drove went by, with a pencil stuck under his hat, he gave
Philip a very knowing grin, and lowered one eyelid in an
intensely mysterious manner.
PHILIP'S DAY. 231
Mahala caught the look, and glancing quickly to Philip,
was surprised to see him biting his lips, with amusement
in his eyes ; but she wisely made no comment.
" Here we are at the foot of Red Hill," said Philip.
"' Now, you' cannot ride your wheels up so steep an in-
cline."
" I can put it up quite a steep hill," responded Mahala,
"but it is often pleasanter to walk for a little distance."
" This is quite a long hill," said Philip. " Now, shall I
walk with you, or will you ride Prince again ? Here ! "
he exclaimed, without waiting for an answer, " why cannot
I hitch this strap to one of your cross-bars and draw you
up the hill? " And with an access of buoyant spirit which
sat not illy upon the whilom dignified young man, he
hastily unrolled a long leather thong which was coiled at
his saddle, and with much laughing and exclaiming, with
alternate confidence and dismay in contemplation of the
novel scheme, from Mahala, he fastened the strap back of
her small wheel, sprang again to his saddle and started
Prince with caution.
That sagacious animal, perceiving that this was an
unique excursion in all its features, slowly felt for the
additional weight behind him, and soon gauging it, walked
soberly up the hill, just as if he had not a young gentle-
man on his back who, half turned in the saddle, was laugh-
ing and slapping his knees in high glee, as he regarded the
joyous and sweetly dimpling face of the young lady who
sat littering little exclamations of triumph and clapping
her hands on the curious vehicle in the rear.
Undignified ? Very. Hoydenish, perhaps. But, ladies
232 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
of uncharitable hearts and vinegarish remarks, it was pure
and unadulterated fun. Would there were more of it in
this sober, prosaic world !
" Dear me," said Mahala, looking at her watch as they
stood together on the brow of the hill, "how the morning
has flown ! It is after twelve. I shall be late to lunch.
What will Julie think ? "
" I told her that we might not be able to return by
twelve, so she will not be wondering at all about us," said
Philip, who was tying Prince to a sapling. " You know it
was nearly eleven when we started," he added.
"Just half-past ten, I believe, Mr. Farnham," said
Mahala, looking at him with a wicked smile. " But as
Julie does not expect me I do not mind. It has been such a
delightful ride, and I am not hungry; that is, not very
hungry." Then, apologetically, " Isn't it dreadful to have
such an appetite ? "
" Yes, it is awful ! " said Philip, with an upward glance
of the eye and an exaggerated sigh. " However," he con-
tinued, " I don't mind telling you in confidence, that I am
ravenously hungry famished. My craving for food is
something alarming. I believe I could eat a raw turnip if
I had one." He looked around.
" A turnip is pretty good," said Mahala. " Is there no
field near, I wonder ? "
"Are you really hungry?" inquired Philip, rising from
the stump of a tree on which he had rested.
" Awfully ! " replied Mahala.
" Good ! " said Philip. "I see a basket behind that rock.
I will investigate its contents."
PHILIP'S DAY. 2^
And to Mahala's surprise he brought up a covered basket
and proceeded to open it.
"But, Mr. Farnham," she remonstrated, objecting to
such a confiscation of the find, " it is not ours. We must
not take "
" It is no one else's," replied Philip, stoutly, as he drew
forth a large bottle of milk with a glass on the head of it.
Next came a paper of butter crackers. Then came a box
of guava jelly, two lemons and a box of sardines, and at
last some rosy-cheeked apples.
Mahala was astounded. 4" I will not touch one morsel,"
she declared, "until you tell me where this all came from.
Are you a fairy to summon such a feast with your wand ?
No, these things are too material. How did they come
here ? Please tell me, so I can eat something."
Philip had opened the box of sardines, and, carefully
wiping his knife upon a fresh green leaf, which he plucked
from a bough overhead, he dexterously placed one of the
small fish upon a cracker. Then cutting a lemon in half,
he tore a small bit of paper for a plate, and placing the
viands upon it he extended them to her with great cere-
mony. Without seeming to hear her entreaty, he un-
corked the bottle and poured out a glassful of rich foaming
milk.
" Please tell me where these goodies came from," pleaded
Mahala, again. " I am nearly starved I "
"You should not have questioned my honesty, Miss
Wright," said Philip, with great dignity.
" Well, I never will, again," said she, penitently ; " I did
not mean to, only I was so surprised."
236 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"Well then, eat, fair maid! Did you not see the gro-
cery boy, who passed us at the foot of the hill, and the im-
pudent wink he gave me as he went by ? " said Philip, in-
tent upon fishing out another sardine.
" Yes, I did," answered Mahala, " and thought him ex-
ceedingly facetious, not to say familiar. But what of that ?
I am very obtuse."
" What of that ? Why, I ordered these things when I
went into the store. I often order a sausage and a loaf of
brown bread left here when I am out gunning. There's
nothing like that to tramp upon. I mean, to stand by a
man. But on account of the expected presence of a lady
at the feast, I ordered a more delicate menu. Now, what
have you to say ? " cried Philip, as he squeezed the lemon
over his fish.
" I say, this is one of the most delightful surprises of
my life," answered Mahala, looking at him in undisguised
enjoyment. " Nothing could be more appropriate and
thoughtful. I should have been a little unhappy in half an
hour more." " But," she stopped drinking her milk, " How
shockingly prosaic ! " She took another sip, and looked
askance over the edge of the glass. Then, as she looked
around, " In full view, too, of this perfect landscape ! With
the lovely river and the green fields beyond, the deepening
tinge of the dying foliage, through the whole gamut of color,
from bright crimson to the brown, sere leaf. The blue
water to the south, the sunlight on the winding roads by
forest, and stream, and "
"If you don't need that tumbler to gesticulate with,
PHILIP'S DAY. 237
Miss Wright," said Philip, with an injured air, "I would
like some milk. I have not had a drop !"
" Why, that is too bad. You shall have some at once,"
and Mahala, discontinuing her eloquence, poured out a
brimming glass.
"This guava jelly is delicious for dessert," she said,
opening the paper box. " No, that knife will taste fishy."
She shook her head as he gave it an additional rub, and
extended it to her. ,
" You may wipe, you may polish the knife if you will,
but the scent of the sardines will hang 'round it still.
My fruit-knife is clean," and she took a small silver knife
from her pocket, looking demurely at Mr. Farnham, who
leaned faintly against a tree, but failed to excite remorse
for her shocking parody, as his mouth was full, and his
facial expression consequently not a success.
And so they chatted, and laughed, and gibed, for half an
hour. The only shocking thing about this picnic, to us
veracious chroniclers, is the fact that they had known each
other less than a week. But the truth must be told at all
hazards.
" Poor old Prince must have some lunch," said Mahala
(when they had eaten an amount which would not be speci-
fied here for anything), dividing some apples into small
pieces with her knife.
Philip sat idly watching her as she fed his horse with
the fruit. How deftly she used her hands. It was one of
Philip's theories that the use and action of the hands was
a clear index to one's capabilities, mental as well as me-
chanical. How Prince enjoyed the touch of the caressing
238 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
fingers, as they gently smoothed over his eyes, and picked
out his forelock.
"There, old boy," she said, patting his neck hard, under
his mane. " They're all gone ! Aren't you much obliged,
eh ?" And she took his soft nose into both hands as she
looked into his handsome face. " All right ! I know you
are ! " and she returned to the flat rock and began to pick
up things.
Crumpling up the paper wrappers, she said, " It is one
of the beauties of dining like this, that washing dishes is
so very easy."
"Yes," answered Philip, "I will help you clear off the
table ;" saying which he seized the empty tin, and threw it
far away into the woods. "The silver, I see, you have
taken care of. The cut-glass I will return to the basket "
Putting the empty bottle into the basket, he placed it in
its niche in the rock. " Sykes will take it on his return,"'
he said, wiping his hands on his handkerchief. " And
now, as I don't see but our housework is all done up, we
can enjoy the scenery before we return. I want you to
notice that line of elms," said he, standing by her side,,
and pointing up the river. " See how their interlacing
branches form a perfect gothic arch over the street they
border. Nothing more beautiful than natural forms has
ever been introduced into architecture. Every effort of
man, in this as in every other branch of art, is but an imi-
tation of, or design formed upon, nature's original plan."
"Yes, I remember," said Mahala, "that the capital of
the Corinthian column is only the working out of an idea
drawn by a monk from a large flower-pot, with a square
PHILIPS DAY. 2 3D
board lying on top. It had been set upon a plant whose
leaves, struggling out from under its almost crushing
weight, grew up against its side, much as we see them in
the conventionalized form."
" Some one has compared architecture to petrified mu-
sic. I never could quite see the force of the comparison.
Can you ? " said Philip, anxious to bring out her girlish
thoughts upon any subject.
" Oh, yes, I see what he meant," Mahala replied, (" if it
was a ' he.' I never spoil a bright idea by looking up its
author.) I have seen churches that were as grand an-
thems with the theme ever repeated, coming again and
again, in modified or more ornate form, rising from the
heavy chords of the massive pillars at the base, to the
lighter and sweeter thoughts as the creation progressed.
These solemn old-fashioned dwelling-houses, with a row of
columns across the front, look to me like a poor attempt
at a funeral march, by an incompetent composer. An
imposing idea, thinly carried out. Don't you think so ? "
she asked, turning to him with a smile.
" Oh, if you say so," cried Philip ; " I have seen cosy
houses which in their very air were a perfect embodiment
of ' Home, Sweet Home.' But in that one thinks more of
the words than the music."
"Yes," said Mahala, drawing up her forehead, in a little
thoughtful frown, " but I think that was hardly the idea we
commenced upon. It is form, rather than sentiment, that
makes architecture and music comparable."
"Oh, I see it now/' said Philip, who had seen it all the
time; "you would consider that little three-pointed house
over there as the first bar of a waltz."
2 AQ WHEELS' ANJ> WHIMS,
" Perhaps," she answered, laughing, " and some of those
modern houses which are a confusion of dormers and steep
roofs, inexplicable windows and inexcusable juts, like one
of Chopin's intensest emotions, or a jig played out of
time." Then, with one of her swiftly-changing expres-
sions which were such a fascination to him, " Is not all
purely aesthetic architectural construction symbolical of
moods based on nature's forms ? " said Mahala, with intro-
spective vision, as her dilated eye rested on the ether of
distant hills. " Now, surely we have exhausted this sub-
ject ; had we not better start for home ? " said Miss
Wright, as she drew on her gloves, and, taking out a
little hook, proceeded to button them.
" A sensible suggestion," said Philip, " but one I have
no particular sympathy with. Oh, if these pleasant hours
would not pass ! Can't we make the sun stand still, yet a
few hours I "
"I am afraid not," Mahala rejoined, practically; "there
is but one instance on record, I believe, where it has stop-
ped its course at the command of a mortal. And, although
Joshua flattered himself that he had done it, I hear that
skeptical scientists now question the fact, deciding that
his quadrant may have been at fault."
" It has been such a happy day, to me, though," said
Philip, as he started for his horse and Mahala took her
seat on the tricycle. " I almost dislike to return to com-
mon living. I begin to have a strange reluctance, too, to
go to New York next week," admitted the young man, as
they rode slowly down the hill.
" Of course you will dread the parting with your parents
WV \ill\lfi MHilUti
FILLIP'S DAY. , 243
more each year as they grow older, and your father not
strong, too," said Mahala, in sympathetic tones.
" Yes, that must be it," said Philip. " Of course that is
it, though I never thought of it before."
The October sun grew almost unpleasantly warm for
Mahala, as they rode along the homeward way. They
were nearing the town, when Philip said, almost with a
sigh : " But my rooms in New York will seem so lonely
now. I have rather a nice place, too. But to eat at a club
with a dozen fellows you may like or not; to return to
lonely rooms at night, and sit reading or cogitating, still
alone, unless some acquaintance drops in, or I go out to a
fashionable, joyless' crush, called a reception ; or perchance
to the theatre, then to return, still alone you see I don't
smoke; somehow, I never could adopt the 'filthy weed/
however consoling it may be. Still, I have always been
content with my bachelor way of living, until now."
Mahala, who had listened so attentively as to encourage
his confidences, now looked up with an idea for his relief.
" Why don't you buy a dog ? " she said. " We have a friend
who has a beautiful Gordon setter, that is a perfect treas-
ure to him. He calls her ' Lady.' She "
Philip recoiled, as from a blow in the face, uttered a
quick word, which surely the recording angel mercifully
feigned not to hear. He gave Prince a stinging cut and
dashed ahead so fiercely, as to frighten Mahala out of her
further remarks. The incomprehensible girl looked con-
fused, entreating, as she came up to where he waited in
cold politeness for her.
No more laughing now. No merry gibes or innocent
mirth.
244 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
They were not far from home when Mahala made her
unfortunate remark, and Mr. Farnham, dismounting with
severe courtesy, stood hat in hand, to assist her from her
wheels at the gate. But now, burning with mortification
and unhappiness, knowing that he was angry, and she had
made him so, she commanded her face with difficulty, and
saying, " Good day," she pedalled swiftly in at the double
gate, and he rode away, without a word or a look at the
house.
How changed was the face of all nature ! Where all
had been bright and joyous, with the clearness and spark-
ling stimulus of delicious champagne, it was now cold,
drear, in spite of the sunshine. He was benumbed,
wounded to the heart. He felt a dull indignation that she
should be so unkind, yes, frivolous. It was hard and in-
sulting ! No woman worthy of a thought would so dis-
regard respectful sentiment ! Gad ! He had been sold
out, margin gone, investment a failure ! And at his age !
A fine birthday, this !
To confess to a girl that he was lonely, in his privileged
situation in the world, to expose the throbbings of his
proud heart, when just on the point of craving her dear
love, with reasonable confidence of success in winning it,
then, then, at this supreme moment of a wildly joyous day,
to be advised to buy a d Hell and furies ! He would
not, he could not think of it ! He was never so in-
sulted !
He gave Prince a cut with his cane, and tore along the
way in a frantic desire to get away from it from himself.
Scowling, with grinding teeth and a dark flush which
PHILIP'S DAY. 24$
mounted to his hair and extended to his neck, he rode up
hill and down.
Philip Farnham was in a passion. Who can blame
him ?
At last, finding himself some miles from home, up the
river, he drew the rein and slowly turned about. How
could she have done it ! she, so loving and merciful, even
to beasts and insects. Could she have intended to treat
him so badly ? There was no provocation for a deliberate
insult. Was it merely a girlish misapprehension of his
feelings ? Perhaps a feminine defense against what she felt
might follow ! Or perhaps she, so fancy free, so artless in
her frank friendship, had not dreamed of such possibilities
for herself. She was such a child, no thought of love had
come over her innocent heart. It was ; yes, he knew it
was merely a piquant retort ! Or she was so fond of ani-
mals, she might have been sincere in suggesting a canine
companion for his lonely hours. Here he laughed aloud.
What a farce ! Then, how rude he must have seemed.
Why, what a hot-headed fool he was to leave her so ! She
must be puzzled, perhaps hurt, by his hasty actions. He
could judge of that at the party, at any rate. Only three
o'clock, Five hours to wait !
Prince was walking quietly along. Philip took his
handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his perspiring
forehead.
"Too, toot."
He turned quickly around.
" Hullo ! Kupfer, old boy, how are you ? Don't you
know me, Kupfer?"
2 4 g WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" Und Gold ! M Philip cried, with pleasure and astonish-
ment in his face.
The young man on the bicycle which had overtaken
him jumped nimbly to the ground, and came wheeling his
machine with hand extended to Philip, who sprang from
his horse's back to meet him.
"Where did you come from ? Did you drop from the
skies ? " exclaimed Philip, in wonderment, as they clasped
hands, with great heartiness and unalloyed pleasure at the
meeting.
" Well," answered the other, " I did not exactly drop,
though I got it on you, as I knew your back. The fact
is," he said, looking down and kicking a stone out of the
road, " I got a little down in the mouth, and the doctor
sent me away from the bank for a few weeks. As he in-
sisted upon out-of-door exercise, I decided I would take a
run on my wheel. I thought of you, when I was up the
river a ways, and was going to inquire for your place,
thinking you might possibly be home for the shooting.
And so, here we are."
"And I am delighted to see you, chum," said Philip.
"Now, you will come right home with me, and stay over
Sunday."
" All right, if it is convenient for you. I must warn
you I am getting to be a tremendous feeder since I quit
home and live out of doors. Nothing like it, is there ? "
So, taking to horse and wheel, they rode along the se-
questered roads.
Pretty soon Philip remarked, " Plummer, have n't you
grown thin ? Not in love, -I hope. By the way, I met one
PHILIP'S DAY. 2A7
of those Weaver girls who used to be so fond of us at
New Haven, in at the Windsor, the other day. Lord, how
old she looked! I knew they had taken several classes
along, before we came upon the stage, but I had no
idea they were so antiquated. Great business, is n't it,
these girls petting the students ? Fun for the boys, but
death to them, socially."
" Phil, do you know, I feel old ! Out of college seven
years, and tired of germans, yet without a wife, and living
in rooms. Heigh-ho ! Well, what 's the news ? "
" I heard you were engaged to a beautiful girl, Felix.
Your prospects, then, are promising."
" Y-yes, I am, or rather, I was. Kupfer, old chap, I am
in trouble." He then told his tried friend of the circum-
stances which opened this narrative, but did not mention
the name of his fiancee. " And so, she disappeared from
town, leaving no clue. Knowing her pride as I do, I fear
I shall never regain my old place in her affections. I
flew around several days, making such inquiries as I could
without giving my own desertion away to a set of curious
friends. After a week of misery and unavailing search,
I met a boy, Harry Dwinell, who told me he saw a party
of ladies on tricycles "
"The devil !"
" What 's the matter ? "
" Nothing, go on."
" Who were on the road to the colleges. I blessed him
and continued inquiries, out in that section. No one had
seen them. Harry came to me the next day, and told me
they had gone down the river, on a sketching tour, chape-
2^8 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
roned by Mrs. F. W. Mather. I rushed for Mather, to see
if she was among them, but he was off hunting. So I
have followed them, sometimes losing the trail and going
miles out of the way (they don't seem to keep to the main
road), and at Haddam I lost them. I cannot get the slight-
est trace of the party anywhere. And if I should it is
doubtful if she is one of them, anyway. I am about dis-
couraged." He looked mournful, and pulled his blonde
mustache in despair.
Philip drew a long breath.
" Felix," he said, " they are here."
" Here ? Where ? " The warm blood rushed over the
lover's face.
" In Essex. I have met them."
" You have met them," echoed Felix, looking at his
friend with a queer expression in his face. " How should
you meet them ? Was orfe of them," he asked eagerly,
" a lovely girl with dark hair and beautiful eyes ? "
" Yes," said Philip Farnham, with a sinking heart.
" Has she a slender, graceful figure ? "
"Yes," said Philip, again.
"Has she the most refined face, the most delicate hands,
the most queenly carriage and the sweetest voice in the
world ? "
"Yes." Philip forgot Mahala's irregular nose, which
would be better termed cunning than elegant.
" Then I have found her, at last ! " exclaimed Felix, in
boundless joy.
Philip was overpowered with a jealousy which he tried
manfully to smother, but failed. He almost hated his.
PHILIPS DAY. 249
friend. Plummer had won a prize away from him at
Yale, and now
" Can you tell me where to find her ?" the impetuous
lover exclaimed. " If I can once get a look into Margery's
eyes " he began to say.
" Margery ! Miss Prescott ? "
" Why, certainly. Who else ? " demanded Felix, regard-
ing his friend with surprise.
Philip reached over and seized his hand, shaking it
warmly, to the imminent danger of throwing the bicyclist
off his balance.
" Why, yes, indeed, who else ? I congratulate you, old
chum ! I am delighted to hear you say so ! I am sure
you will be able to make it up with her. She is a beauti-
ful girl, and every way worthy of you ! "
Felix looked at Philip in some wonderment at his sud-
den access of enthusiasm, but, blinded by his own eager-
ness to see his lost love, soon forgot a glimmering suspicion
that Farnham might be in love with her himself, and was
feigning this effusive gladness. He thought at first that
Kupfer was probably smitten with Margery and trying to-
supplant him in her affections.
Then Philip told him who the party were ; how he had
happened to meet them ; that his mother had called upon
them, and that they were coming to the Farnham house
that evening to a small party.
It was with difficulty that Philip could restrain Felix
from immediately turning about then and there and flying
to Mr. Stearns's house. But his friend reminded him that
he was not sure of a cordial reception, and that a surprise
250 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
which he would manage for him would throw Miss Prescott
off her proud reserve, and prove at once to her lover
whether she had forgiven him in her heart.
She might take a whim to uphold her outraged dignity
before the others, he was warned, so Felix held his panting
impatience in check and was kindly welcomed to dinner
by Mrs. Farnham.
As for Philip, a complete revulsion of feeling had come
over him and he wished the time away until the guests
should arrive, and he have an opportunity to tell her
should he tell it all ? If he could only find her in one of
her less mischievous moods ! One might as well try to
force a kitten to pose for a picture, as to make her listen to
love when she was in one of her merry trains.
CHAPTER XVIII.
TVJOT coming !" repeated Philip, as with bare head he
-i- ^i
Jo
**
stepped down to the carriage to hand out the ladies
who had just arrived from Mr. Stearns' s. "Not coming !"
again said he, as Miss St. John assured him it was no mis-
take, and that her niece was not feeling well.
His heart fell within him. He had come forth with
such abounding joy at the thought of touching her
hand again, that the disappointment was all the more in-
tense. He saw Miss St. John did not think it of much
importance, and had already passed within, greeting the
old gentleman, his father.
Margery was gathering up her flowing skirts and mount-
ing to receive the warm welcome
Seeing a look of sympathy in Mrs. Mather's sweet face,
" What is it ? " he asked, in under breath, as she gave him
her hand and they went together up the stone steps to the
door.
" Well, if it is not the capriciousness of feminine in-
stinct in general, in this instance it is, that she is quite
ashamed of herself and mortified at the effect of her con-
(25O
2 52 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
duct this morning. She gave me an account of your ride,
said you left her offended, but professed she did not un-
derstand why. I never inquire closely into another's
affairs, and therefore fail to understand why she would
listen to no reason about it. She determined from the
outset not to be present here this evening, nor to appear
again to you. At this moment, I dare say, she is packing
the trunk with her things, so there may be no excuse for
detention as soon as the hour for departure arrives."
" Departure ! Oh, don't speak of it, Mrs. Mather. How
can I bear this ! " As he detained her and hurried off his
words, he passed his hand nervously across his face.
" Is it so ? " she said gently, with a comprehensive look,
which brought a low exclamation from him.
" I must, I shall see her again ! Pardon me, I will go
for her ! I shall not be missed. Say not a word. I will
make an excuse, and " Mrs. Mather passed on to the
dressing-room, glad to find her detention had not been
noticed.
Margery was putting the little finishing touches to her
incomparable toilet. Miss St. John was giving her ener-
gies to a pair of lovely, tinted kids, which were all but too
snug.
Philip strode to his mother's side, who was smiling
sweetly as their minister, who had arrived among the first
(a clergyman of some years' residence among the people of
Essex), was presenting his young half-sister, who had come
to pass the winter at the parsonage, and whom he now
introduced for the first time to the society of the place.
He was assuring his hostess that he was rejoiced to accept
COMING TO THE PARTY. 2 $$
so pleasant an opportunity to present his young relative to
his friends.
" We are happy indeed, Mr. Butterfield, in this acquisi-
tion to our company. You are truly welcome, my dear,"
she said, turning to the young stranger, whose sparkling
eye gave double value to the quiet " Thank you."
Then turning to the clergyman, Mrs. Farnham said,
cordially, " I am more than glad to see you here to-night,
sir, because "
" You thought, being Saturday, that a minister might
not care to be out, but," he said, smiling genially, "birth-
days must be attended to, and we shall close our festivities
at an early hour. I would not miss welcoming in Philip's
next year, for a great deal."
" I must present my son to you, Miss Butterfield ; and
father, where is he ? " she added, casting her eyes about
the rooms.
" I spoke with him, in the hall, just now," answered the
minister. " He said he would return here in a moment."
Philip entered with such rapid movement, and his hasty
words were so quickly spoken that his mother found no
time to detain him for an introduction to the stranger.
" I shall be back in a moment, mother. Something
requires my attention outside." He whirled away and
was at the stable before his mother could arrange her sen-
tence of inquiry. It was so. seldom that her son was dis-
turbed from his deliberate composure, and so rarely excited
to any hasty action, that she presumed some stupidity on
the part of those preparing the entertainment had come to
his knowledge and he was of necessity called to correct it.
254 HEELS AND WHIMS.
Philip was shortly at the gate of Mr. Stearns's house.
He dropped the lines, and sprang from the buggy. " How
fortunate Tom's team was there ready ! I shall make it
right with him," said he, as he fastened the horse.
After the friends had gone from the house, and left
Mahala alone, the house-keeper concluded to visit a sick
neighbor, whom she frequently waited upon. She asked
Miss Wright to excuse her for half an hour. The front
door she left unlocked, for as she stepped out she said, " I
will be back in a few minutes, Miss Wright. You need
not fear anyone's coming. No one is apt to come in of an
evening here, unless to borrow the paper or to see Mr.
Stearns on business, and it is too late for that now."
As Mahala sat by the open fireplace, where a bright
burning log lay, now smoking, now blazing, for want of
something to do she had turned it over two or three times.
She felt such perfect wretchedness at being^ left alone, and
an utter despair of bettering the situation by going over
and over it in her mind. As she sat, bending towards the
fire, with the old-fashioned brass-headed tongs in her hand,
half admiring their glitter, half watching the blaze, but un-
der all, depressed and miserable, she heard the quick roll
of the carriage, the step of the horse. She dropped the
tongs. She started to her feet. She felt unprotected.
She clasped her hands together tightly. Standing midway
between the fire and door, she listened. She could hear
her own heart-beats. Steps she heard quick steps.
What should she do? Turn out the lights? Oh, that
those shades were down ! How foolish ! perhaps the
man had returned for something the girls had forgotten.
COMING TO THE PARTY. 255
Yes, what a silly thing she was! Goodness, how her
heart beat ! Since that horrid Irishman attacked them in
the woods she trembled at every sound.
There was a knock. She must go, then. She had sat
there regardless of the undrawn curtain. Philip had seen
her as he stepped quickly along the piazza.. He saw she
was alone. Before she had reached the door, his hand was
on the knob. Without thinking he might alarm her, he
opened the door. She started back in fear. Then, as he
came apologetically forward, she gave a little nervous
laugh. " O-ho," she said, and burying her face in her
hands, she turned half around and dropped into a chair by
the door.
He saw he had frightened her. Full of deep feeling
himself, he stopped a moment, to gain self-possession. He
laid off his great coat, and came forward rubbing his
hands, for, with the cool of the evening, and the burning
of his brain and heart, they were chilled. He walked into
the parlor, closed the door, stood a moment in silence be-
fore the fire, acting mechanically, thinking only of her.
This had given time for Mahala to collect herself.
Leaving her place she came forward and settled negli-
gently into the easy rocker, where she had previously
been sitting.
Each felt they had a part to play. Each meant to play
it well. Philip turned a glowing face to her. "I have
come for you," he said, in deep undertone.
Mahala forgot the party, forgot her friends, forgot the
whole world.
Philip stood before her. He had come for her!
2 c6 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
She gave a little gasp. " Come for me ? " she repeated,
and then it burst upon her. Why, he means to the party !
" Oh, but I am not ready," she said.
" No ? But you will get ready, will you not ? "
What pleading in the voice and eye ! Could she resist ?
It was not authoritative either; if it had been, she would
have said "No " at once. "It is impossible."
He quietly stepped towards her. She arose looking full
into his magnetic eye. He reached out his hand. Hers
met it. For a second they stood. There was no premedi-
tation, it was all spontaneous, involuntary. The peace was
made.
He laid his other hand on hers.
"Miss Wright, we all want you there. Will you not
return with me ? I will wait as long as is necessary, but
I am sure you will come."
Mahala dropped her eyes under his burning gaze. He
seemed to be reading her through and through.
What what did this manner mean ?
" I will," she said, with a new submissiveness.
A wave of triumphant feeling rushed over Philip's
senses. He threw it off as ungenerous. Deep love was
yearning in his breast.
"Then, get ready," he said, quietly. "You are beauti-
ful, now. You cannot array yourself more, in my eyes ;
but for others, perhaps yes, for others, perhaps," he mur-
mured as he bit his nether lip. Still holding her little
hand, he touched his lips to it, and put her from him.
Then, opening the door to let her pass out : " Go, now. I
will wait."
COMING TO THE PARTY 2 $?
" I will not be long," she sang out joyously, as she
tripped up the stairs, her face all dimpled with smiles.
* "So the pink silk is not all for naught," she said in girl-
ish ecstacy, as she drew forth the lovely dress and shook
out its sheeny folds and tossed it on the bed. " And all I
planned has come to naught. Mais dieu dispose, is it not
always so? I meant to be so cold and indifferent. I
meant oh, my hair will do ! " and she turned about and
looked in the glass.
"I won't have a flower, even. I will just button up
this," she said, as she put on her waist. " I won't stop to
dress my feet ; I'll slip these under my cloak. I can put
them on when I get there." She went to the closet and
took down her aunt's warm sketching-cloak.
" Heavens, what will they think of me ! How could he
leave? I will not keep him waiting a minute longer!
Gloves ! Oh, dear ! where's my fan, and handkerchief ? "
Her eyes fell on them the next instant, and she caught at
some violet perfume, gave the bottle a little shake over
her handkerchief, and touched it to her eyes and lips
before hastily gathering up her voluminous draperies under
the friendly cloak.
Philip still stood, his elbow resting on the mantel, star-
ing into the smouldering fire, the sputtering log every
now and then giving a turn to his vision. How differently
it had come out !
" I thought to appeal, to humble myself, to meet her
irony her banter, to contend, to be baffled, perhaps, and
return discomfited. No, I did not intend to allow myself
to be overcome. I came to conquer."
w. & w. 17
2 ^3 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
A crowd of thoughts like these rushed through his
brain. He seemed to have lived more in this day than in
all his life before. Further he mused. " It has seemed a.
thing incredible to me, that in love a man will humiliate
himself so before the woman he admires. But I could be
content to sit at her feet all the day. How sweet she is \.
what music in her very step !
" ' She is coming, my own, my sweet.
Were it ever so airy a tread,
My heart would hear her and beat ' "
Mahala tripped down the stairway. The door opened,
and, .all muffled in cloak, not a vestige of the pink silk
showing, she was there !
" Did I keep you long ? Were you getting all tired out
worrying lest they should miss you from the house ? "
" Oh, no ; I was not thinking of them. I was recalling
something from Tennyson."
" Do you like Tennyson ? " she asked, as he opened and
closed after her the street door. His reply did not reach
her as she ran ahead in her excitement to jump into the
buggy. She almost stumbled over the quiet house-keeper,
who was feeling for the gate-latch.
" Oh, " she said, " I have concluded to go to the party,
Mrs. Bronson. Good-night."
" Did you say you liked Tennyson ? " said she, as they
were fairly tucked under the blanket, and the horse going
at a rapid pace along the dim road. " He is the tonic that
I take in regular doses at stated periods for the health of
my soul," and she laughed, low and sweet.
" In the same way that I go to ' Sartor Resartus,' I pre-
COMING TO THE PARTY. 359
sume, in moments of mental debility, and spasmodic dis-
taste for lighter food," answered Philip. " Yes, I am fond
of Tennyson, too. At one period of my callow youth, his
poems were my almost daily recreation, and I was particu-
larly prone to reading them aloud to lady friends during
college vacations, under shady trees or by the seashore,
you know. Although now I am past those boyish enthusi-
asms, I still retain a sincere admiration for the poet, and
I find that many charming bits of his inimitable descrip-
tions and sentiments remain in my memory."
They were nearing Farnham House, when Philip said,
" By the way, Miss Wright, do you know Felix Plummer
of Hartford ? "
"Know Felix? Well, I should say I did! Felix, why
he is Margie's betrothed. One of the noblest fellows in
the world ! "
" You may then, perhaps, be surprised to know that he
is here."
" Here ? "
"Yes, in Essex ; at my house."
" Why, how came he there ? Do you know him ? How
delighted Margie will be to see him. I did not know that
she expected him."
Philip, perceiving that she had no knowledge of the
breach between the lovers, which Felix had cqnfided to
him, merely spoke of their former friendship at college,
and told her that the meeting of the afternoon was totally
unexpected to both of them.
Mahala had an idea in her wise little head that Margie
2 5o WHEELS AND WHIMS.
would be also surprised to see Mr. Plummer, but kept her
own counsel on the matter.
" Here we are. I will lead you by a side-way up stairs,
so that no one will notice that we are late."
Robert stepped to the carriage to take the lines as it
drew up to the house, and Philip led her in at the side-
gate. To a maid who stood in the hall he said, " Conduct
Miss Wright to the dressing-room."
CHAPTER XIX.
r I ^O return to Margery. A tremor had passed through
i- her proud heart (now doubly wounded by the ap-
parent indifference of her lover to her conciliating let-
ter, which she had written to him with such reluctance
to abase her pride, yet unwilling to do injustice to him)
and had taken the nerve from her grasp as she opened the
box containing her white pongee silk. A tide of recollec-
tions flooded her soul and caused her for an instant to be-
come ghastly pale.
" Oh, if I had not sent for this one," she said, in pain ;
" I could have gone through- it, with almost resignation, in
any other. But another party, and wearing this ! "
She leaned on the foot of the bedstead and covered her
face with her hands. " It will be the third time I have
worn it. Oh, so happy the first evening. So wretchedly
miserable the second ! How can I put it on again ! "
She dashed a tear from her eye, hearing the gay voice
of Mrs. Mather, who ascended the stairs at that moment
to robe herself for the evening. She turned from the
dress on the bed, which seemed a ghost of dead hopes, and
(26l)
2 62 WHEELS AND WHIMS
was in the act of loosening her heavy hair before the mir-
ror, when her friend entered. Her averted face was not
noticed, or at least not remarked on, as she uncoiled her
long tresses. Proceeding with her toilet, she said, " Do
help me, Julie ! This maze of drapery, somehow, I cannot
manage."
" Well, I don't wonder, my love," said Julie, taking the
dress in hand. " You have it all twisted. The right
side of the overskirt on the wrong of the underskirt."
" Nothing is really easy to get into except our wheel-
suits and our wrappers," said Margery, trying to extricate
herself from the confusion. " I know this is to be fastened
up somewhere. Miss Fordyce said my maid would know,
but I am sure I do not. I always turn it the wrong way,
I think," she said, not sure of the fact, but trying to get
some idea into her mind except the one that would insist
on obtruding itself.
Once in the dressing-room at the Farnhams' she had
no time to think of herself. The straggling groups which
they met as they threaded their way there foretold them
of an interesting evening. Merry girls were already
giggling on one side, while young men were holding them-
selves aloof in doorways and along the hall.
Some audible whispers made the friends smile, as an ex-
cited curiosity could not be withheld.
" Tricyclers," said one little fellow, who had been asked
only as companion to his older sister.
Mrs. Mather smiled and nodded to him as she passed
along, recognizing the little fellow who had one day in
mischief tried to run a race with them on their wheels,
THE PARTY, 2 ^
and who ended his burst of speed with a tumble in the
dust.
Margery and Miss St. John were at the dressing-room
door ready to descend to the reception below, loitering an
instant for their companion, when a maid stepped quickly
to Margery and laid in her hand a loosely-folded white
package. She said : " A friend asks if you will wear
these, miss," and was gone before Margery could ask a
question. .
She turned to Mrs. Mather, asking, " What shall I do ?
Would you wear these ?"
"What?"
" Why, these," displaying some choice hot-house roses.
" Oh, how lovely ! Wear them ? Of course. Just
what you need to brighten up your dress, and your cheek,
too, my love," said Mrs. Mather, a little anxiously. " Where
did they come from ? ' '
"Oh, I do not know. Mrs. Farnham, perhaps, sent
them. How very kind, was it not ? Do help me put
them somewhere. Where shall it be ? Bouquet de cor-
sage ? " said Margery, laying them against her waist.
" No, they get so broken there." Here, let me," and
Julie shook them loosely in her hold. Catching at some
of the flowing lace around Margery's neck, and, entwining
a cluster, she fastened them with bewitching grace on the
left side.
" Just above your heart, my dear. How lovely and fra-
grant they are ! Now your dress is perfect, and your-
self "
" Do let 's go, Julie. Others want to come here," broke
in Margery, quickly, and turned away.
264 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" Well, take these in your hand," said Mrs. Mather,,
gathering up the remaining roses. " Enfold the stems in
your handkerchief."
Mr. Stearns awaited the trio at the hall-door and de-
scended, leading Miss St. John, whose bright, happy face
showed how much she was enjoying.
" Was it not too provoking in Mike," whispered Mar-
gery, "not to come?"
Mrs. Mather smiled with inward satisfaction. .
They soon made their way to the hostess, and were so
kindly greeted with warm reception and introduction upon
all sides, that each was soon lost to the other, engrossed
by the interest of new acquaintance. Margery alone fell
into the background, and soon wandered listlessly into a
little recessed flower-room, which adjoined the library.
There she sat, alone and sad, in a low chair, with the flow-
ing train of her creamy dress lying upon the floor at her
side. She slowly opened and shut her fan, as she looked
with dreaming eyes before her. She let her hands drop
into her lap. It was too much. She could not bear it.
If she could but get away. Somewhere. She looked
around despairingly, and " Felix !"
The color which had flickered in her pale cheeks on her
first arrival, but which had faded and died out as she sat
alone, thinking, always thinking, of him, now blazed in
her radiant face as she held out her arms to him with this
low cry, and half arose to her trembling feet.
" Margie ! Darling ! Oh, my love, why did you leave
me without a word ? How could you leave me so ? I am
not so bad as you thought. You have almost broken my
THE PARTY. 2 fy
"heart ! " and Felix came and seized her gloved hands,
covering them with kisses and kneeling before her, bowed
his blonde head upon them.
" Felix ! " she said, in a low voice. He looked up. " I
-am to blame ; I was jealous, wounded," she said, very
gently. " I am sure I have wronged you. Can you for-
give me ? Did you receive my letter ? Were you too angry
to answer it ? "
Glance now a moment at that pink figure standing ex-
pectant, almost on tip-toe, at the door of the dressing-
room. She had stepped out from her wraps, her cheek
nigh matching the color of the silk she wore, which was
of soft rose. The dainty little foot encased in black silk
stocking and kid slipper, the black, undressed glove reach-
ing above the rounded elbow, the vivacious turn of the
jauntily set head with never a curl quite in place and not
one out of place, tilting first on one side, then on the
other, displaying to advantage the full, white throat, set
off by a broad band of black velvet, she stood waiting for
Philip.
Meanwhile the young host walked along the upper hall,
looking for the little gray figure which had stood with him
in the light of the fire but a space ago in Mr. Stearns's
parlor. Where was she ? He peered among the company
below. He had ventured but a moment before as far as
the door of the ladies' dressing-room, but, seeing only the
back of^ a pink silk dress, had as cautiously retired as he
had incautiously advanced, thinking to find only his sweet,
gray girl. " Can she have gone down without me ? " he
murmured. "Perhaps mother met her, or the little chap-'
rone. But no, surely she would wait for me."
2 68 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
The black fan was now raised in the air, and shut to-
gether with a little "crack" at him. The pink figure now
took on a look natural to another garb."
" Why, what a dolt ! That I should fail to know her
under this guise," said Philip, as he hastened to meet her.
"Here I am," she laughed. "Don't you know me?"
perceiving his bewildered state. Her pearly teeth glistened
between her laughing lips. She placed her hand on his
arm, and he, half-dazed, regarded her with delight. He led
her to his mother.
" I persuaded Miss Wright to come," he said to her,,
quietly, " you see, mother."
Miss St. John had scarcely recovered from the stunning
surprise of Felix Plummer in loving attendance upon Mar-
gery, attired in his bicycle costume, when her eyes fell
upon her niece in all her bravery of evening toilet talking
animatedly with young Peterson, who was looking an un-
told admiration. He was a young cousin of the Farn-
ham's, and while not exactly Philip's prototype, was quite
of the family bearing, being a son of the sister of Philip's
mother.
Miss St. John advanced upon the unconventional girl,
with indignation in her eye, just in time to see her grace-
fully accept the arm of Tom Peterson and go to join the
frolicsome games in the other room.
As she passed her astonished relative, tossing her head
a little, one side and looking back over Peterson's shoulder,
she said with smiling complacency, " Aren't we having a
lovely time, this evening, auntie ? "
As Philip and Mahala stood together awaiting their turn.
THE PARTY. 2 6Q
in the dance later in the evening, she said, archly, " What
would your conservative English cousin of the ' Lindsay
branch ' say to such an escapade as ours this morning ? "
referring to a lady Philip had spoken of, as having given
him the lovely intaglio which he wore.
" Oh, as to that talk of conservatism," replied Philip,
smilingly, "it is held but a tame, light amusement,
this gliding swiftly, quietly, modestly along on those
wheels, compared with the exciting, wild delight of spurring
a blooded steed over a six-foot rail ; an amusement which
has been a sport of English dames for centuries. But,
perhaps," continued he, as together they glided across the
floor, " that has helped to make the fine English physique."
With songs and dancing, with laughter and chatter, and
flirting beyond conjecture, with piano-playing, with artis-
tic and literary conversations in the library, quiet words in
the flower-room between lovers, looking at pictures, prom-
enading and sipping ices, the evening passed away.
The guests departed. Ladies in shawls and fleecy rigo-
lets came muffled to the door, congratulations and best
wishes were exchanged, carriages rolled up to and away
from the porch, and the party was ended. Then, when the
lights in the rest of the house were out, and everything so
quiet after the pleasant din, Plummer and Farnham sat an
hour in the library, before the open fire. As the old clock
in the hall struck the hour of twelve, they bade "good
night " in subdued tones, and went to rest.
CHAPTER XX.
DURING the Sunday. that immediately followed the
events of the last chapter, it was decided by the
older tricycle tourists not to prolong their trip beyond the
place which had proved so hospitable and interesting a.
resting-place.
It was evident, Miss St. John said, as she sat with Mrs..
Mather in their chamber after church, and looked over and
arranged a collection of sketches, that Margery now had
no thought but of her regained happiness.
Mrs. Mather, who was jotting down some amusing notes.
for the delectation of her husband on her return, arrested
her busy pen, and raising her face with pleasure shining
in it, said with sympathetic warmth, how glad she was that
the dear girl was reconciled to her lover again. She con-
fessed that the sight of her ill-concealed sadness, during,
all their pleasant journey, had been a weight upon her mind.
It was so delightful to see them happy together once more.'
" Yes," Miss St. John had answered, slowly, with her
eyebrows raised, as she carelessly scratched the outline of
a cat's head on the margin of Saturday's Courant which
(270)
THE FINISH. 2 - r
lay upon the table, " but it made her rather indifferent to
the continuance of the journey. Margery was living now
in a supreme content, which showed in every action, was
heard in her musical voice and shone in her soulful eyes.
It was beautiful as a study ; she would like to paint her
face with that expression, as Hero, immediately after
Leander crept ashore on the termination of one of his long
swims, but her associates were for the nonce forgotten."
Mrs. Mather said she was sure, for her part, she was
willing to be forgotten for a time in view of Margery's joy
in the presence of her lover. A little red spot came into
her cheeks, and she looked reproachfully at the artist.
Miss St. John said she believed that was not the point
She could also survive without Margery's constant com-
panionship. The question was of the advisability of con-
tinuing a trip when at least one of the party had lost in-
terest in it. It was not likely that Margery would be
separated from Mr. Plummer, now. He had called to take
her to church, was riding with her then, and probably
would again make his appearance in the parlor in the
evening.
" Why, Dude," said Mrs. Mather, opening her blue eyes,
" surely you cannot begrudge Margie "
<f I do not begrudge anything to any one," Miss St.
John replied, with emphasis upon the objectionable word,
and making a shower of dots on the paper. " I merely say
that we may as well end the trip here, because we cannot
have Felix Plummer accompany us and enjoy the absolute
freedom and unconventional pleasures which have distin-
guished this outing until we came to Essex."
2^2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
Mrs. Mather saw that something more than was appar-
ent upon the surface of her friend's remarks occasioned
this acidity in the general tone of Miss St. John's de-
meanor. She felt guilty about something, and as if Dude
was only waiting for a chance to make unpleasant accusa-
tions upon her. Much to her relief, Mahala here came
into the room, with not a shadow of anything unusual in
her merry face, and said she thought it was high time
some one came and waked up Uncle Stearns, who had
been snoring frightfully under his paper ever since dinner.
So they went down stairs, and the day passed away.
Mahala listened with a surging of blood at her ears,
when the door-bell rang at evening. A great pang of dis-
appointment smote her heart when, peeping over the bal-
ustrade, she saw Mr. Felix Plummer enter alone. But
she had seen kirn at church, and the few casual words he
had said to her, as they came down the steps, contained
such a world of meaning, in his voice, with his eyes look-
ing down at her so ! Philip was doubtless bound by filial
affection to remain with his parents this evening. He
always did right and was so thoughtful and kind !
She stilled a faint sigh, and suddenly brightening as a
mischievous idea came into her head, she ran down stairs
in haste. She knew Margery was staying to add some
imaginary adornments to her beautiful person before the
mirror, so to meet with greater favor in her lover's eyes,
and she flew noiselessly down, scarcely touching the steps
with her slippered feet, with her blue gown floating be-
hind, and entered the dim parlor where sat Felix before
the fire, waiting. Stealing up behind him, the merry elf
THE FINISH. 273
placed her hands upon his shoulder and chanted with a
sob in her voice, into his ear :
" Would you come back to me, Margie, Margie,
In the old kindness that I knew,
I would be so faithful, so loving, Margie,
Margie, Margie, tender and true "
" Mahala Wright ! You little witch ! " exclaimed Felix
with a joyous laugh, as he seized her hands and brought
her around to the front. " What are you talking about ? "
Then he said, in a low tone, as a wave of tenderness swept
over his mobile features, " Tell me, Mike, did she confide
to you that she was unhappy before I came ? " and he
looked up to the kittenish person before him, all eagerness
to hear of her his love.
"Tell me? Not a word!" was the answer. "Girls, I
wish you to understand, sir, do not go about telling every-
thing they know," and she gave her head a little toss as
she stood back and regarded him with considerable superi-
ority. " I'll guarantee, now," she said, " that you went
about confessing your bad feelings to half a dozen people."
He could not deny it.
"Poor dear Margie suffered in silence. Now, Felix
Plummer, I have been smothering my indignation ever
since I began to see that something was wrong with her,"
pursued Miss Wright, with a savage expression which was
scarcely imposing upon her dimpled face, " and now I
must say, that whether it was you or anyone else that has
made her sad for an hour, he deserves "
" But tell me, Mahala," pleaded Felix, paying no heed
to her, only waiting to hear the assurance again that his
w. & w. 18
274 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
beloved had sighed for him. " Was she sad ? Did the
others suspect, too ? Was she lovely and unselfish as'
ever ? Did you perceive that it was I that she was sor-
rowing for ? "
His blue eyes were moist with earnestness and loving
regret, as he held a fold of her skirt when she would have
turned away.
"Well, yes," said the girl, as she looked kindly at him,
remembering that Margie was happy once more. " I did
suspect it was you, Felix, who had grieved her, as she
never mentioned your name, and seemed so distrait some-
times, in spite of her effort to be like herself."
"Ah, poor girl ! " said the lover, bending his head for an
instant and breathing hard. " But, Mahala," he said, look-
ing up quickly again and reddening, "don't you really
know what it what our slight misunderstanding was
about ? " He watched her face closely.
"Not a word, I tell you, Felix," she answered, meeting
his gaze fully. " But it does not need a very deep mind
to guess," she thought, "when any one has seen you being
led around by that Bangtry creature."
Felix rose to his feet and expanded his chest deeply.
"Well," he said, looking towards the door, "then you
never will."
" Well," mimicked Mahala, making him a sweeping
courtesy, " I don't want to, Sir Orpheus." Then she came
and gave him her hand with a friendly grasp. " I am only
glad you have found your Eurydice. Good-bye ! I'll skip
now ; Margery is coming," and with a bound she dashed
out of the parlor and ran with considerable violence into
THE FINISH. 2 ye
the arms of Philip Farnham, who had just entered the
hall.
" Oh ! I beg pardon ! I did not know that you did I
hurt you much ?" said Mahala, blushing and breathless, as
she made an effort to regain her composure.
" Well, not seriously, I think," said Philip, as he held
the sweet confusion of curly hair, blue ribbons, white
hands and fluttering form for an instant to his breast.
" Did you not know I was coming ? " he asked, as he let
her go.
She stood by the newel in the hall, tracing the scroll-
work with her forefinger as she looked down and smiled
in trembling happiness. While he drew off his gloves and
hung his overcoat upon the rack he said he had brought
Plumrner over, and had tried to be considerate and con-
sume as much time as possible in tying and blanketing his
horse.
" One should never intrude upon lovers' meetings. Do
you not think so ? " he said, in a low voice, as he returned
to her.
Mahala did not speak.
" Solely on their account, Miss Wright," he said, as he
stood so close beside her that her head was almost against
his breast again, and looked down at her with a humorous
expression around his mouth, which changed in the eyes to
a deep tenderness, " so as not to disturb them, Mahala,
don't you think we had better go into the sitting-room ? "
He laid his hand protectingly under her elbow as he
spoke.
Yes that is, perhaps they would like it better," an-
2^6 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
swered Mahala, raising her eyes bashfully, but ending the
sentence with a low laugh.
Mr. Stearns looked up> benignantly over his glasses as
they entered the room, and, after making the caller wel-
come and asking a few polite questions concerning himself
and parents, he took the Independent and retired to the
kitchen, professing that he had a very profound article to
read, and could not think in such a chatter.
Hearing subdued conversation below, Miss St. John had
come out to the head of the stairs, just at the moment
when Philip and Mahala were passing into the sitting-
room. She took in the confiding attitude of the young
girl, the blushing, artless look of trustfulness up into the
warm, brown eyes of the tall man who bent so gracefully
his fine head near to hers, at a glance. The air of guard-
ianship with which Philip Farnham clasped Mahala's arm
as they passed from view was a revelation, indeed !
Miss St. John stood a picture of despair. What she
had vaguely feared had come to pass. She clasped her
hands in distress. Then she walked into the chamber and
said, as she sat down with a hopeless sigh, " Well, I sup-
pose the only thing to be done now, is to go home and
give an account of ourselves."
" I am ready to turn about at any time, Dude, that you
think best," said Mrs. Mather, who had been terribly
homesick, if the truth must be known.
"Although we have not reached the salt water, where I
expected to get some lovely marines," pursued the lady,
as if not hearing Mrs. Mather's cautious answer, " it
THE FINISH. 27?
seems to me we had better return at once; I mean,
to-morrow."
She sat making imaginary cross-hatching in a despond-
ent manner, on the arm of the rocking-chair, with the end
of her linger.
" Oh, how glad I am to hear you say that," said Julie,
with a joyous light in her face. "I have a letter here tell-
ing me that Fred is home, and the poor fellow asks if we
are not almost ready to come back." She would have
taken the missive from her pocket if she had received the
least encouragement from the other, but she did not. " I
was going to be brave, and not speak of it," she continued,
resting her hand upon the letter in her pocket. " I did
not intend to be the one to beg off ; but I am ready to go
at any minute now." She arose with alacrity and began
to pack up some stationery.
" Then, suppos^e we take the boat to-morrow night. You
see as well as I do that Mr. Plummer will be an attach^ ol
the party henceforth."
" Yes, undoubtedly," answered Mrs. Mather.
" Dude," she said, after a pause, faltering a little, " how
about Mahala?"
" What about Mahala ? " said the aunt, dryly.
" Why why, don't you think Philip Farnham is very
much attracted to her?"
"lam no judge in these things," the artist replie.d,
shortly. She looked sharply at the little woman who sat
folding and creasing the newspaper in an embarrassed
manner upon her lap. "What do you think? You seem
gifted with an understanding in these matters that sur-
passes "
278 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" What do you mean, Dude ? " demanded Mrs. Mather,
flushing hotly. " If you intend to insinuate "
" I insinuate nothing," returned Miss St. John, smiling
faintly. " There seems to be no call for an insinuation
from me, as you seem already to defend yourself from
something I should never have dared to suspect."
"Dude," said Mrs. Mather, piteously, wincing under the
gaze of the sterner woman, "you cannot be sorry that
Philip Farnham evidently loves your niece. He is one of
a thousand. Of most desirable family connections, irre-
proachable in character and personal appearance, unques-
tionably generous and kind. What more would you
have ? "
" Really, you make out an attractive list of advantages
in your" she was about to say protege, but perhaps
recollecting her own predilection in his favor, and perhaps
warned by an ominous look in Mrs. Mather's eye that it
were prudent not to push her too far, she thought better
of it, and said, " friend. Oh, Mr. Farnham is well enough,
but I am so worried to have it happen to Mahala."
She spoke as if the girl had contracted scarlet fever or
caught whooping-cough, and picked nervously at the bit
of fine lace on her dress.
Seeing her so truly troubled about an affair which
seemed in every way beautiful and interesting to her, Mrs.
Mather recovered her composure somewhat, and asked :
" Do you want her to remain unmarried ? "
" I do not know that I wish to decide for her in any
way. But, she is only nineteen ! I want her to have her
frolic out. The hard realities of life come all too soon.
THE FINISH. 27 Q
She has only begun to live. With character and tastes
unformed, it seems a pity to have her absorbed into the
personality of a man."
Now, although Miss St. John seemed usually not to have
acquired the fastidious objection to the male sex in gen-
eral which most maiden ladies come to feel, it cropped out
a little now that she was touched with the idea that her
niece was giving her affections to " a man." She got
along so very well without one, and saw so many things
in other women's husbands that she knew she never could
put up with.
" Well, Dude," said Julia, with a little softening in her
tones, and a look of sincere pity for the joys unsealed to
her, which scarcely put the spinster more at her ease,
"from your stand-point I can see how you feel. But I was
married at eighteen and have never for one moment in the
ten years regretted it. Instead of the absorption, it was
the rounding out of girlish character."
"Yes, yes. I suppose I am talking against human
nature," said Miss St. John, sighing. "Listen, Julie:
while I would not raise a finger to encourage, or prevent,
this thing, I must say I regret exceedingly that this rapid
fancy has sprung up while the girl is under my care."
She shook her head and sighed again. " I have wished
a thousand times since the day of the encounter in Farn-
ham's woods that there might be some excuse to go home ;
tut I have not been able to find or invent a plausible one.
Well, perhaps it is fate ! But I shall not know how to face
my sister when I tell her." She arose and walked around
the room in a sort of desperation.
2 So WHEELS AND WHIMS.
" Tell her nothing," Mrs. Mather quickly said. " There
may be nothing to tell. If there is, let Mahala tell it.
Perhaps Philip may. But, Dude," she said again, " I wish
I knew you did not blame me in any way. I did not
make them fall in love. I only "
" You only smoothed the way. Do not imagine I have
not seen your truly feminine maneuvers to make occasion
for the two persons whom you admire to fall in love with
each other. Well, Julie, I do not blame you. It was doubt-
less inevitable, without your gentle assistance. I know
every happy wife will do all she can to help others into the
same condition."
" Well, why not, Dude ? "
The artist shook her head. " It is a grave responsibil-
ity to assume."
Mrs. Mather was miserable. How she wanted to get
home and tell Fred ! Dude almost made her feel as if she
did not want to live. Would the Wrights blame her for
anything ? No, she would stand by her best judgment,
which told her that Philip Farnham was a desirable con-
nection for any family.
Miss St. John went on to say that if she 'should speak
from her own feelings she would be glad to have Mahala
forego the happiness, the companionship of married life,
and so escape its wearing trials. She felt that the joys of
maternity were ever overshadowed by a haunting care and
recurring vicissitudes. The wifely love was often tinged
with anxiety lest the other half of herself should fall short
of noble manhood. But she supposed it was the intention
of an inscrutable Providence for women to marry.
THE FINISH. 281
Mrs. Mather thanked heaven for the limitless joys of a
natural, dual existence.
It was evident the next morning that the respectful at-
tentions of a refined young gentleman to her niece did not
seem such an irremediable calamity as when she first re-
ceived the shock of conviction that Mahala had a lover.
She was bright and good-natured as usual at breakfast,
and chatted agreeably of the trip while they talked of go-
ing home. As they finished, she said, impressively, but
with an ominous twinkle in her eye as she pulled a paper
from her pocket, "Mr. Stearns and friends: I have here
a document which I wish to read and comment upon
as showing conclusively the mutability of human plans
in general and the unreliability of young femininity in
particular."
"What is it, Dude?" said Mrs. Mather, folding her nap-
kin.
" Read it, Miss St. John," said Mr. Stearns, moving his
chair back from the table and taking a new position, with
anticipation in his face.
" It will not reflect too severely upon me, I hope," said
Margery, blushing in some perturbation.
" Oh, auntie ! " screamed Mahala, as the lady unrolled it
in another way and spread it out before her. "It is my
list of Rules and Regulations ! Where did you get it ?
Give it to me ! " and she made a rush around the table for
her aunt.
As she seized her arm, Miss St. John quickly transferred
the folio to the other hand, and said : "Mr. Stearns, will
you undertake to keep this young woman in order while 1
read?"
2 g2 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
Mr. Stearns arose with mock solemnity, and taking
Mahala by the arms held them behind her as he sat in his
chair and bade Miss St. John to go on.
"Before proceeding, I wish to tell you, Mr. Stearns, and
to remind these ladies," she said, looking severely upon
them, "that these Rules and Regulations, intended to guide
the conduct of these excursionists, were drafted by Miss
Mahala Wright and sworn to by these other persons."
" So did you swear to them, Aunt Dude," interrupted
Mahala, who was now sitting contentedly on the arm of
Mr. Stearns's chair, while his broad hand rested affection-
ately on her shapely shoulder.
"I did," answered the artist, calmly, "and I defy any
one to find an occasion where I have broken the faith.
Listen, Mr. Stearns," and amid much laughter from the
old gentleman, whose generous bulk shook with amuse-
ment, she read the "cast-iron rules," as she chose to term
them.
"Now," laying down the paper, she looked fixedly in
turn at her three companions, who already began to laugh
confusedly with uneasy color in their faces in anticipation
of her speech.
" I charge Julie Mather, matron and chaperone of this
party, with perjury, in that she has shamelessly written to
her husband on sundry and divers occasions, once or twice
audaciously scribbling love-letters under my very nose,
while under the pretense of learning to sketch."
" Oh, Dude, did you see that ? " exclaimed Julie, with a
peal of merry laughter, and the ceremony of the occasion
was somewhat disturbed as Miss St. John retorted, " Of
THE FINISH. 23^
course I did ! Do you think I am blind ? " and Margery
and Mahala joined in the accusations of fraud against
their faithful friend.
Girls are often ungrateful.
Order was at last restored and Miss St. John continued,
" Of course, when such duplicity as this becomes known
of a person, little responsibility in the discharge of her
duties of gorgon, duenna, chaperone is to be expected."
Mahala began to grow pink.
" I therefore make no comment upon the gross neglect
of duty apparent to my grieved perceptions, but which has
been accepted as a matter of course by these two young
women."
Margery gave Mrs. Mather a little pat on the shoulder
and smiled gratefully into her eyes.
Mahala turned very red in the face, but said intrepidly,
" Margie, who was it auntie was worried about, the book
agent (it cannot be she was jealous while receiving so
large a share of his agreeable smiles herself), or was it
Jerry Bodge?" Again her audacity saved her.
" I further complain, Mr. Stearns," continued Miss St.
John, "that the murderous weapon of thirty-two-caliber,
carried by Mrs. Mather, has never been of the slightest
comfort on trying occasions, having doubtless been left
with the toy-pistols in the trunk."
"Now, Dude!" exclaimed Mrs. Mather, " I protest. It
has never been out of reach except one day, when Mar-
gery borrowed it for [target practice. I say that I have
been in constant readiness to use it in case of any emer-
gency. Confine yourself to facts, please."
2 34 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
"The objection is noted; I will. And now, perhaps,
you will be interested to know how my toy-pistol saved
me from annoyance; to term it nothing more alarming."
She told them about her interview with the pack-peddler.
"Oh, auntie! "
" Why, Dude ! "
"You brave creature!" exclaimed her surprised com-
panions, while Mr. Stearns said with some vehemence that
it was not a safe thing for women to be out around so,
alone.
" Oh, I don't know," the artist said, unconcernedly, " I
suppose I was in the same danger that any slight young^
man would have been."
Mr. Stearns saw that she would not understand any
perils which might deter her artistic wanderings afield.
"Well, to conclude my remarks, Mr. Stearns and young-
women, I will say that until women become more disci-
plined than this company has proved itself to be, they will
scream rather than use whistles ; they will exhibit an indis-
creet resentment of the manners of an insulting brute, and
then fall back upon the gallantry of a Quixotic young man
to deliver them from the direct results of impru "
" Quixotic ! "
" Oh, my dear Miss St. John ! "
"You were very glad to welcome Don Quixote with frantic
gesticulations to make haste, I noticed, and first to sing
his praises after the rescue, I believe," said Mahala, indig-
nantly aroused.
" Well I will stop, for I perceive I am becoming unpopu-
lar, though there is much I could say just here," and Miss
THE FINISH. 285
St. John seemed in very good humor, now that she had
freed her mind. " I claim, however, that I am the only
one in this party who has followed the rules agreed to,
and kept the main idea of the trip in view throughout all."
" You certainly, then, ought to be happy, in close har-
mony with an approving conscience, Miss St. John," said
Mr. Stearns, as they left the table. " Now, suppose you
bring your sketches down stairs and let us look them over
this morning."
" With pleasure," was the response.
At this time, late in the story, when the reader may be
half vexed at having followed so simple a tale thus far, it
would be imposing upon time and patience to relate how
before noon Messrs. Plummer and Farnham came into view
down the street on horseback and bicycle, and announced
their desire to escort Margery and Mahala to ride.
^ To describe their merry excursion by wheels and horse
might seem to us a repetition of a former jaunt. To recite
any portion of their absorbing conversations would be
tautology to all who have known the sweet intercourse of
plighted troth, felt the repressed excitement of growing
passion, or imagined them in their hearts.
No. Let them go through by-ways and hedges, over
brambly knolls and along smooth paths, under the almost
denuded trees, crackling brown leaves and dried sticks
under rubber tires and horse's hoofs; overhead the
late October sky which is beginning to pale at the
approach of sullen November, on the brink of the beauti-
ful river, as it blithely nears the end of its long journey
2 86 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
from the little lake up in the mountains four hundred
miles away ; laughing, loving, sighing, hoping, let them
go, while Mrs. Mather packs her trunk and Miss St. John
has one good final argument with Mr. Stearns upon
the equal rights of women to work and never mind!
She will talk it.
It was evening when they left the house which had so
kindly sheltered them for a few days. But how replete
with experiences had been that brief visit !
They stood upon the wharf in their gray dresses, their
wheels in careful charge of the baggage-man, their trunk
upon a truck, in pleasant desultory chat, as they waited
for the boat.
The weird glare of the lights flaring in a gentle wind
which moaned over the dark river, the low tones of the
few town stragglers who had hung around to see the boat
in, carried an undertone of indefinable sadness to the
heart of Uncle Stearns, who shivered a little, and bade
them come under the adjoining shed until the boat
arrived.
Felix Plummer was going to Hartford with Margery.
His bicycle run had cured his sickness and he returned a
well and happy man, looking forward with intense longing
to a day (They are married now.)
Philip Farnham, too, was there. It was his last hour
with her unless
" Mr. Farnham," Mahala said, low, " you will will you
not come to Hartford ? It has been such a pleasant
thing to know you. I I perhaps you would like to see
Joe's aquarium ! "
THE FINISH. 2 3-
The throbbing of the paddle-wheels*, rush ! rush ! rush !
rush ! came on the breeze from a mile down river.
" She's a-comin' ! " said the baggage-man as he jumped
down from his roost upon one of the large posts, and
brushed imperceptible chips from his nether garments.
" Don't none of you touch them machines," he said to his
assistants. " You can put aboard that grindstun, 'n' them
cheeses, and that pile of stuff there. I'll see to the
trunk "
" Mahala ! " said Philip, seizing her hands, as they stood
in the shadow, " I love you. You know I will follow you
anywhere, everywhere, if you will but let me. But if I do,
Mahala you must understand me I shall ask for you.
Will you say I may ? Tell me ! Shall I come to see you
Wednesday before I return to New York, and tell your
parents that you love me ? May I, dear ? " *
Just then Miss St. John grimly raised her umbrella with
a snap, and turning around from where she stood with
Mrs. Mather and Mr. Stearns, she took a few quick steps
and silently handed it to Philip. He instantly relinquished
Mahala's hands, said " Pardon ! " glancing up at the sky ;
but then catching a gleam in the artist's gray eye that he
began to understand, he took it, accepting it as her bene-
diction, and sought Mahala's answer under its friendly
umbrage.
That Mrs. Mather heard something resembling a favora-
ble answer, under the silken canopy, there is no doubt, as
she immediately became afflicted with a rasping cough and
called Uncle Stearns and Miss St. John to the edge of the
wharf to see the boat make a landing.
2 88 WHEELS AND WHIMS.
The line was thrwn, the gangs shoved out and the bag-
gage trucks began to race over the plank before it was
hardly ashore. Then came a cry of joy from Julie.
" Oh, Fred ! Here I am ! There's my husband ! " And
genial Mr. Mather sprang ashore and into his wife's arms.
" Ah, Uncle ! You have taken right good care of the
girls ! Much obliged, sir ! I went to New York Satur-
day and returned by the boat to surprise the little lady. I
was going to take her home anyhow."
He looked fondly at her as she clung to his arm.
" What in thunder is Plummer doing down here ? Who
is that toney fellow with the little Wright? Thought this
was to be exclusively a woman party ! "
The wheels were carefully trundled on board. Uncle
Stearns promised to come up and visit them soon, and
Philip he would go to Hartford Wednesday morning !
And then the party went on board the boat.
A 000 031 353 6