The Virgo Book Co. 
 San Jose, Calif. 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
BY ROSWELL FIELD 
 
 THE PASSING OF MOTHER S PORTRAIT. 
 Grey boards, red cloth back, size 
 8 x 5^ PP- 6 3- Price, 75c. 
 
 As idyllic as the joy of that moment when 
 a man feels for the first time that the little 
 old lady whose hand he holds is sweeter 
 than rose-tinted and fragrant youth be 
 cause she is his mother. 
 
 Chicago Daily News. 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF AN OLD FOOL. 
 Boards, size 8^ x 6, pp. 144. Price, 
 $1.25. 
 
 A book which must have a lasting charm ; 
 one to cherish, and to turn to in pleasant 
 leisure ; it offers one the pleasure that 
 belongs to an old classic. 
 
 Kansas City Star. 
 

 
 
 
of 
 
 I)allin0 
 
 er 
 
 CHICAGO -NEWYOIU^TOROISTTO 
 
 Fleming H.Revell Company 
 
 LONDON -EDINBURGH 
 
, Sirtsf fnfpuebsicn; iSepterib ^K i/)os 
 Secoifd "impress! on, (October, 1903 
 Third Impression. November, 1903 
 Fourth Impression, November, 1903 
 
 COPYRIGHT 
 
 1903 
 
 By FI.KMIM; H. REVELL COMPANY 
 September 
 
TO GEORGE RECORD PECK 
 
 FRIEND, SCHOLAR, BOOKMAN 
 
 What renegades would blush to own the stamp 
 Of pleasing slavery to the evening lamp? 
 Or boast that in their treachery they took 
 The bookman from the bondage of his book? 
 Their blustering we flout, their acts contemn; 
 Such knaves are not for us, nor we for them. 
 With you, Erasmus, have we joined our oaths: 
 First the Greek authors, then, perhaps, some clothes ! 
 
 866363 
 
TH E rambling hottse," with its chain d 
 gables, its old-fashioned windows, 
 and its covered passageway leading back 
 to the woodshed and the row of outer 
 buildings, was known for many years, and 
 is still known, for anything that has been 
 certified to the contrary, as the parsonage. 
 In the summer-time the honeysuckle and the 
 clematis spread and bloom over the porches, 
 as if apologizing for the disappearance of 
 the paint that once was the free offering of 
 the parish, and up the little back passage 
 the nasturtium and morning-glory climb 
 and cluster, briskly doing their share in the 
 work of hiding the ruins of former splen 
 dor. Their fragrance dissipates the musty 
 scent that steals from the battered boards, 
 and is likened respectfully to the odor of 
 sanctity with which the premises have been 
 so long invested. But when the blossoms 
 have blown across the road, and the fall 
 rains have come and gone, and the New 
 9 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 England winter has set in, the snow drifts 
 furibiifcjy around; hs : parsonage, and piles 
 itself over the <p<?rcjie& and up to the lower 
 windows; -while 1 the 1 old house, that has val 
 iantly withstood the storms of nearly two 
 centuries, creaks and groans under the 
 assault, as it stands exposed in its brown 
 ugliness. 
 
 Some histories relate that in the days 
 when Englishmen conspired against their 
 king and contended for the godly life and 
 liberty of religious purpose, there was a 
 Giles Ballinger, a stanch Puritan, who 
 fought with Cromwell at Marston Moor, 
 and was ever among the first of those who 
 saw the battle s front and at last drove 
 Prince Rupert back across the Lancashire 
 hills. Again at Naseby and at Dunbar the 
 lusty young Roundhead bore a charmed 
 life, and at Worcester he was in the thick 
 of the fight that shattered the power of the 
 Royalists and sent Charles flying over the 
 sea. This intrepid Giles came often under 
 the eye of "Ironsides," who commended 
 him as "serving with all faithfulness and 
 
 10 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 honour ; but what became of him afterward 
 no chronicles have distinctly set down. 
 Certain traditions of the Connecticut Valley 
 have it that when Cromwell was no more, 
 and the second Charles came to the throne, 
 Giles fled from England with Goffe and 
 Whalley, and buried himself under an as 
 sumed name among the Massachusetts 
 colonists. And there are those who say 
 that he was the sturdiest among the deter 
 mined men of the new country, and a mar 
 velous fighter, who proved his mettle and 
 experience in the dark hours of the Indian 
 wars and massacres; that after he had 
 grown old in service and in the honor and 
 esteem of his neighbors, he assumed his 
 former name and lived thereafter in peace 
 and prosperity, as mighty for his counsel 
 and wisdom as for his physical prowess. 
 
 Whatever of truth may have been in 
 these stories, they are not mentioned in the 
 family records compiled by the Reverend 
 Jabez Ballinger, who occupied the old par 
 sonage forty years later, and who speaks 
 modestly and joyfully of his descent from 
 ii 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 "good old Puritan stock." Perhaps it was 
 this very modesty that silenced the Rever 
 end Jabez, for to the good man it might 
 savor of boastfulness that he should parade 
 the military exploits of his ancestors, and 
 dwell with satisfaction on the accomplish 
 ment of the sword and deeds of worldly 
 cunning. So he scrupulously contented 
 himself with fighting the Devil as valorously 
 as ever the warlike Giles assailed the forces 
 of the English king, bequeathing the eter 
 nal conflict to his son, the Reverend Thad- 
 deus Ballinger, who in turn and the fulness 
 of time handed the spiritual sword and 
 buckler to the Reverend Jacob Ballinger in 
 direct family descent. 
 
 Now, the Ballingers, in the exercise of 
 their duties in the colony ministry, did not 
 find time hanging oppressively on their 
 hands, yet with all their obligations, spirit 
 ual and social, domestic and parochial, 
 they were a reading clan, a family of biblio 
 philes, as the word with its somewhat re 
 stricted opportunities was understood a 
 century ago. But as a line of clergymen 
 
 12 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 in a sequestered village, with constantly 
 increasing offices of an arduous and varied 
 type, they laid the foundations of an impor 
 tant library, as it is now regarded, with 
 more attention to godly instruction and 
 pious beneficence than to allurement. The 
 old bookcase, which stood stern and rigid 
 in the corner, contained such notable aids 
 to mental advancement as Law s "Serious 
 Call to a Devout and Holy Life," Massil- 
 lon s "Sermons," Dwight s "Theology," 
 Faber s "View of the Prophecies," and 
 Vincent s "Explicatory Catechism." 
 Added to these were several copies of the 
 holy scriptures in microscopic print, an 
 almost illegible presentation of "The Pil 
 grim s Progress," and in time, though not 
 without certain troublous misgivings, so 
 secular and dangerous a work as "The 
 British Spy." These were the literary 
 temptations on which the wise and minis 
 terial Ballingers relied to woo their off 
 spring from a pernicious excess of youthful 
 sports and pleasures; and coupled with 
 a judicious and emphatic use of the rod, 
 13 
 
The Bondage of Ealllnger 
 
 this library went far in impressing upon the 
 Ballinger tribe as it grew to manhood and 
 womanhood the beauties and felicity of a 
 home beyond the skies. 
 
 Whether any or all of these excellent 
 treatises gave rise in Theophilus Ballinger 
 to a restless and roving spirit cannot be 
 satisfactorily established, yet it is true that 
 as soon as possible, and greatly to the 
 grief and scandal of the Reverend Jacob, 
 he broke away from such excellent environ 
 ment and started out to " teach school" on 
 his own responsibility. Excellent teacher 
 though he is conceded to have been, the 
 nomadic impulse kept him moving up and 
 down the New England coast until he 
 could fairly say that he had taught in every 
 district from Portland to the tip of Cape 
 Cod. The love of reading and of books 
 had come down from the old minister to 
 the school-teacher, just as it was destined 
 to influence the life of the grandson, and 
 so with all the wanderings and the changes 
 the little library grew until it had reached 
 most respectable dimensions, and was fast 
 H 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 becoming a source of perplexity when the 
 fever of moving returned and the order to 
 strike camp was issued. 
 
 Fortunately or unfortunately, as the mat 
 ter may be considered, the literary taste of 
 the schoolmaster was far more catholic 
 than that of any of his forbears, and while, 
 as every reading person should, he con 
 ceded the literary qualities of the minis 
 terial selections, and warmly defended the 
 truth and virtue of their teachings, he did 
 not scruple to go beyond their limitations, 
 even adding such worldly books as would 
 have brought his father and grandfather 
 before the church tribunal. The school 
 master had also a certain sort of canniness 
 in his dealings with books, and would dis 
 course at great length to his son Thomas in 
 appreciation of the value of an autograph 
 or inscribed sentiment in a good book. 
 And having enlarged with enthusiasm on 
 the virtue of the reading habit, he would 
 usually conclude with some such whole 
 some admonition as this: 
 
 "Thomas, in the general reckoning, you 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 have fifty good years ahead of you. 
 Think of that, my boy! Fifty glorious 
 years for collecting and reading books! 
 Now is the time to begin the accumulation 
 of those delights which will be a blessing 
 to your fading days and a never-failing 
 source of gratification as a connecting link 
 with the past. But in all your transac 
 tions, my son, remember this: never, even 
 for the sake of financial profit later in life, 
 lumber up your shelves with what is trashy 
 and worthless. Never wittingly buy an 
 inferior book. But when a poet, or a his 
 torian, or a story-writer, or an essayist of 
 your acquaintance, puts forth a venture 
 well worth the while, approach him with 
 modesty and deference, and ask him to be 
 so good as to bring it a little nearer home 
 to you by writing his name, with possibly 
 a fitting sentiment, on the fly-leaf. Then 
 twenty, thirty, even forty years hence, 
 perhaps long after he has gone to rest, full 
 of honor and good works, that book, with 
 its mute testimony of friendship, will bring 
 you such happiness and pleasant thoughts 
 
 16 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 as your present youth cannot conceive. 
 Incidentally, my son though this is the 
 very last and most unworthy consideration 
 that faded first edition, with its inscrip 
 tion and autograph, may prove a very 
 present help in time of trouble. * 
 
 To this paternal admonition young 
 Thomas listened with respectful attention 
 and with evidence of shrewd understand 
 ing, and as he was a seriously minded 
 youth, with an inherited liking for books 
 and a proper appreciation of a great man, 
 he took full advantage of the opportunities 
 which the family wanderings presented, and 
 cultivated literature in the flesh as well as 
 in the spirit, and by candle-light. So it 
 came about that long before the school 
 master yielded to the rigors of the New 
 England climate, Thomas had built up a 
 distinguished patronage of his own and had 
 agreeably profited by the counsels of his 
 wise father. In this he was aided by the 
 democratic spirit of the time and the small- 
 ness of the communities, to say nothing of 
 a quiet and not disagreeable persistence, 
 17 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 which amused the celebrities with whom he 
 came in contact. He could say with truth 
 as well as pride that he had walked and 
 talked with Mr. Emerson rather timidly 
 perhaps and had assisted that great man 
 in minor duties of a domestic nature. He 
 had plucked the hem of Miss Fuller s 
 gown, and on more than one occasion had 
 paid himself the compliment of carrying 
 her parcels. For such distinguished ser 
 vices he had several pages of manuscript, 
 duly signed, to show. He had permitted 
 Mr. Thoreau to accept him as a companion 
 on certain notable excursions, and had dis 
 cussed with him various topics of natural 
 history. He had formed the acquaintance 
 of Mr. Channing, with difficulty, but con 
 trived to profit by such association in the 
 customary channels. He had tapped 
 maple-trees with Mr. Alcott, and indulged 
 in polite but fragmentary discourse with the 
 abstracted Mr. Hawthorne through the 
 picket fence. He had stood on the bridge, 
 and at sundry other places, with Mr. Long 
 fellow, run on occasional errands for Mr. 
 18 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 Lowell, and acquired an almost convivial 
 familiarity with Dr. Holmes. He knew 
 the gentle Mr. Whittier and loved him, 
 was the devoted boyish champion of Lucy 
 Larcom, and would have buffeted the 
 waves far across to the Isles of Shoals had 
 it been necessary in order to reach Celia 
 Thaxter. 
 
 In all these youthful adventures he never 
 forgot the paternal advice, and as he was 
 a bright-faced boy, with an alert mind, and 
 a shrewd but respectful insistence, he soon 
 added materially to his library and to the 
 value of his possessions. The young col 
 lector was happily not content with the 
 mere pleasure of acquisition, but eagerly 
 devoured every book that came into his 
 possession with an interest considerably 
 sharpened by his personal acquaintance 
 with its author. . In this he soon verified 
 the predictions of the father. But if 
 Thomas Ballinger was a student, he gave 
 very little indication of the practical bene 
 fit of his reading, for in all the busy circle 
 of shrewd, restless, energetic inhabitants 
 19 
 
The Bondage of Ealllnger 
 
 of the New England village, none was so 
 incapable of action as the schoolmaster s 
 son. If sent on an errand, he might be 
 found thirty minutes later curled up in a 
 corner of the fence, reading the book he 
 surreptitiously carried in his pocket or in 
 side his shirt. If sent to drive home the 
 cow, the cow, weary of waiting, came 
 home without him. Had he been told to 
 run for the doctor he would have consid 
 ered his mission accomplished if he ran 
 toward the doctor s. Any incidental diver 
 sion or distraction of a literary nature was 
 enough to obliterate the object in view. 
 The schoolmaster himself was obliged to 
 confess that, so far as indications served, 
 Thomas was cut out for a failure, while the 
 townspeople ranked him in the list of im 
 possibilities, and held him up to their own 
 children as a terrifying example of shift- 
 lessness. 
 
 As the smallness of the family purse de 
 manded that there should be no gentleman 
 boarder in the household, Master Tom 
 was informed that he was now at an age 
 
 20 
 
The Bondage of Bal/mger 
 
 when he must contribute to the general 
 fund, and it was furthermore hinted that 
 he might choose among the various means 
 of livelihood in the village. And as any 
 kind of hard manual labor was repugnant 
 to his disposition, he expressed an unwilling 
 ness to decide so important a question for 
 himself; accordingly he was apprenticed to 
 the blacksmith, and he lasted two days. 
 In turn, and with amazing celerity, he was 
 unloaded on the apothecary, the grocer, 
 the carpenter, the wheelwright, and every 
 trade functionary in the township, but in 
 each case the beneficiary reported with 
 equal promptness that he "guessed Tom 
 d better try suthin else." Then in a 
 glimmer of hope that he might be able to 
 impart to others some of the book knowl 
 edge he appeared to be constantly acquir 
 ing, the schoolmaster procured his appoint 
 ment to the pedagogue s chair in a district 
 school. But the scholars soon perceived 
 his weakness, and cunningly drawing him 
 into controversies on literary topics, so dis 
 posed of the school hours that the curricu- 
 
 21 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 lum was practically neglected. And one 
 day, when he had failed to report at nine 
 o clock, and the hours crept on to ten, and 
 then to eleven, two of the older scholars 
 were sent to investigate, and they found 
 Master Tom comfortably propped up in bed, 
 his nose dipping into a book and his mind 
 revelling in flights wholly unconnected 
 with his paid professional duties. This 
 was too much for the board of trustees 
 sitting on Tom as a delinquent, and he was 
 dismissed with as much disgrace as so pre 
 occupied a culprit could take upon himself. 
 So in desperation the father laid the case 
 before the young man, reviewed the cir 
 cumstances leading up to the present prob 
 lem, and hinted with delicate irony that if 
 he had any preference in the way of a vo 
 cation it would simplify matters amazingly 
 to mention it. Young Thomas replied 
 with much sincerity of feeling. He admit 
 ted his shortcomings with winning candor 
 and freely attested the efforts that had been 
 made in his behalf. He confessed that a 
 studious life in his quiet home was very 
 
 22 
 
The Bondage of Bal/mger 
 
 much to his taste, and that he could live on 
 indefinitely without desiring to change it, 
 but since that was impossible under exist 
 ing conditions, and since it had been de 
 clared necessary that he should take up the 
 burdens of human existence, he believed 
 that the lot of a printer would present the 
 fewest serious obstacles. Whereupon the 
 father, overjoyed by any suggestion, and 
 dazzled by this ray of encouragement, sent 
 him off to Boston to the printing-shop of 
 an old friend. 
 
 The unexpected happened when Tom 
 took handily to his trade, and in a short 
 time won the praise of his master, who had 
 accepted him with misgivings through the 
 rumors of early experiences and failures, 
 for it seemed to the youth that there was 
 a close, even holy, association of his books 
 with the types he fingered so deftly, and 
 with every thousand ems he would think, 
 not of the commercial rate of wages, but 
 of the time when perhaps a whole book 
 might be set up by his hand, a book that 
 he might love and cherish and point to as, 
 23 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 in a way, his contribution to lasting litera 
 ture. Of these things he ventured at times 
 to speak to the old printer, and that saga 
 cious task-master humored his fancy, and 
 beguiled him with airy tales of the tre 
 mendous possibilities of his art, so that 
 Tom was spurred on to work the more 
 diligently and to study the forms and de 
 vices of printing more closely. However, 
 as his earnings went systematically toward 
 the purchase of more books, and as he was 
 consequently in arrears in the disposition 
 of numerous bills for food, clothes, and 
 other luxuries, demanded even by incipient 
 bibliomania, his family and village friends 
 continued to shake their heads ominously 
 and reaffirm their former fears. 
 
 It is the generous dispensation of Provi 
 dence that, whatever our failings, and how 
 ever we may grieve and disappoint those 
 who are near to us and who are ambitious 
 for our welfare and success, there is always 
 one who believes in us, whose faith en 
 dures through all trials, and whose confi 
 dence is preserved in every series of disas- 
 24 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 ters. And this reservation certainly could 
 not fail when a handsome young fellow is 
 the illustration in point, and when memo 
 ries of chivalrous gentleness are constantly 
 arising to combat the tongues of prejudice. 
 In the early school-days, in the crab-apple 
 time of youth, a little girl had peeped 
 shyly at Tom from the benches just across 
 the aisle a little girl in a gray pinafore 
 and white apron, a grave little girl with big 
 eyes and pink cheeks and a funny little 
 nose, and with two severe braids of chest 
 nut hair hanging stiffly down her back. 
 And when the boys tormented her, as 
 boys will, and laughed at the garb of her 
 faith, and at her "thee" and "thou," Tom 
 was her champion and defender. The 
 chivalry that was in the boy was perhaps 
 increased by the stories his father had told 
 and read to him, and whenever he bore 
 down to rescue the little maid from her 
 tormentors, he fancied that she was a prin 
 cess in distress and he her sworn knight. 
 He would be Launcelot or Roland or Ivan- 
 hoe, as his humor directed, and he con- 
 25 
 
The Bondage of Ballmger 
 
 structed a wonderful cave to which he 
 carried her after a royal battle, although 
 she knew nothing either of his conceit or 
 of his names, and only looked gratefully 
 and wonderingly at him with her big eyes, 
 and believed him to be the most valiant 
 and the most remarkable of all small boys. 
 When they went home together in the sun 
 light of the afternoon, they raced down the 
 long lane that led from the school-house, 
 and stopped to watch the shiners in the 
 brook or hunt for luck emblems in the 
 clover patch. And as the years went by, 
 and the little girl s skirts grew longer, as 
 her hair apparently grew shorter, while the 
 ridiculous small nose began to assume the 
 proportions intended by nature, the tint 
 deepened in her cheeks when Tom s name 
 was mentioned, and her childish fancy was 
 more than ever her hero and ideal. 
 
 If Tom came home at Thanksgiving, or 
 during the Christmas holidays, or for an 
 occasional Sunday, he divided his time im 
 partially between the little cottage at the 
 top of the hill and Ephraim Playf air s more 
 26 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 pretentious home in the outskirts of the 
 village. And if sweet Hannah Playf air s 
 eyes were a little brighter at these times, 
 and if smiles played more frequently around 
 her demure mouth and lighted up her grave 
 face, only the rascal Tom knew the secret. 
 For Friend Ephraim, though a just man, 
 was stern and unyielding, and looked with 
 little favor on the visits of the youth not of 
 his faith and giving no promise of a profit 
 able career. Long and solemnly he dis 
 coursed to Hannah on the evils of unguarded 
 associations, and bade her steel herself 
 against the impulsive dictates of a foolish 
 heart. And Hannah listened and sighed 
 and fought against nature as her father 
 commanded. Yet Tom was no less elo 
 quent and persuasive in his own way and 
 pleaded his cause so successfully that the 
 words of Ephraim were forgotten in the 
 greater joy and hope; so these two kept 
 their own counsel and lived their love life 
 in themselves, though what plans they 
 made, or what plots they devised, it would 
 be an insult to true love to detail. 
 27 
 
"The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 But one night and all the village knew 
 that Tom was going back to the city on 
 the late train little Hannah was graver 
 than usual, and when at nine o clock her 
 father shut the Bible before the evening 
 prayer, she came and knelt at his side, and 
 put her head on his shoulder. And after 
 prayer she restrained him, and threw her 
 arms about his neck, and pressed her cheek 
 to his, and smoothed his silvery hair, and 
 petted him, while the tears stood in her 
 eyes and her voice trembled as she spoke. 
 So Ephraim went to bed little wondering, 
 for he was a dull man as well as a just and 
 stern and unyielding, and not until morning 
 did the light break in upon him, when 
 Hannah did not respond to his call, and 
 when investigation showed her room empty, 
 her bed undisturbed, and a letter addressed 
 "To Father" pinned on the old-fashioned 
 mirror. Ephraim read it laboriously: 
 
 Honoured Sir: 
 
 If I have gone contrary to thy wishes, and in for- 
 
 getfulness of thy great goodness, I pray thee to think 
 
 kindly of thy little Hannah and to remember that she 
 
 loves thee now as always. By the time that thee 
 
 28 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 has read this letter I shall be married to Thomas, 
 who truly loves thee and would be an affectionate 
 and dutiful son. If we may return to ask thy for 
 giveness, and to implore thy blessing, let us know 
 this proof of thy kindness. But if the great sorrow 
 comes to my happiness that we may not be forgiven, 
 and that thy heart is hard against thy little daughter, 
 give me leave to keep on loving thee and blessing 
 thee for thy never-failing love and tenderness. 
 I am, honoured sir, so long as life shall last, 
 Thy true and devoted daughter, 
 
 HANNAH. 
 
 Then Ephraim Playfair, a dull man, and 
 a stern but just man, felt a little tugging 
 at his heart, and a choking in the throat, 
 and while the impulse was yet on him he 
 sat down and wrote simply: "Thee may 
 return to thy father." So Hannah came 
 back to the village, with its quiet streets of 
 shade elms and its routine of droning life 
 she had for the first time put behind her, 
 and it seemed to her as if she had lived 
 many years in the few hours that had 
 passed since Thomas came and took her 
 away to the bustle and roar of the strange 
 life. She went on down the street to the 
 old house with the wide porch, where 
 29 
 
The Bondage of Ealllnger 
 
 Ephraim Playfair sat with her letter in his 
 hand. Her heart smote her as she saw 
 him, but she ran quickly up to him, with 
 her cheeks burning and a half-merry look 
 in her eyes, and drew his face down to 
 hers and kissed him. He said gravely: 
 
 "Thee acted hastily, Hannah." 
 
 "Nay, father, replied the girl, roguishly, 
 "how could one whom thee has trained 
 act hastily? We acted only after much 
 consideration and argument." 
 
 "Still I think," went on the old man, 
 ignoring the correction, "that thee will live 
 to repent thy choice, for Thomas is but an 
 ill mate for any woman. Thee has taken 
 him for better or worse, for richer or 
 poorer, and I fear thee will find thy lot 
 both worse and poorer. 
 
 But little Hannah only kissed the old 
 man more tenderly, and looking shyly into 
 his face, said softly, "Then, father, I must 
 only endure the more patiently my fate and 
 remember the good words thee has taught 
 me from my youth up, Whatsoever thy 
 hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, " 
 30 
 
THOMAS BALLINGER began his 
 honeymoon characteristically. In 
 the flush of early love and the excitement 
 of approaching marriage he had managed 
 to save money sufficient to pay incidental 
 wedding expenses and to allow for a bridal 
 trip not to exceed a fortnight, an evidence 
 of economy and thrift of which he was duly 
 proud, and at which everybody wondered. 
 In the late hours of the morning, after the 
 ceremony at the clergyman s house, and a 
 reasonably sumptuous breakfast at a con 
 venient restaurant, Thomas had sallied 
 forth to procure the railway tickets and to 
 make such other arrangements as were 
 necessary in the absence of a next friend. 
 It was his evil genius, that malevolent 
 spirit which rarely left him, that led him 
 down a street and past a house where a 
 conspicuous sign announced a book auction. 
 Thomas hesitated, and was lost. He ran 
 his hand down in his pocket, and thus com 
 muned with the evil spirit: 
 31 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 "Have I not plenty of time before pro 
 ceeding to the ticket office? Can any harm 
 result from just dropping in to see who is 
 there and what is going on? Am I not a 
 married man, with a married man s respon 
 sibilities, and has not my life of two 
 months fully demonstrated that I am thor 
 oughly emancipated from the thralldom of 
 bibliomania? It would be an unpardonable 
 sign of weakness to confess that I am not 
 brave enough to show my hearty contempt 
 for the follies of which I have been so long 
 guilty. I will approach without fear. I 
 will walk through the rooms that those of 
 my acquaintance who happen to be there 
 may see how little these temptations affect 
 me." 
 
 Thomas confessed afterward that he had 
 a very hazy idea of what happened and 
 how it came about. He remembered tell 
 ing the auctioneer to send the books to his 
 boarding-house, giving a due-bill for several 
 dollars in addition to all the money in his 
 wallet, and walking back to his bride, very 
 much bewildered and very much ashamed. 
 32 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 But Hannah took the matter philosophically 
 and bravely. "Thee knows, Thomas," 
 she said, "that the journey was but a 
 foolish one, and that it is much better that 
 we should begin our life with work and 
 not with play. And doubtless thee will need 
 the books in thy business, dear, and they 
 will be pleasant to look at in after years, 
 when we reflect that they saved us from 
 such silly extravagance and useless travel. 
 Surely it was thy good angel, Thomas, 
 and not thy evil genius as thee has said. 
 
 Ah, sweet, beguiling, thoughtless little 
 Hannah! How could you know what 
 trouble you were storing up, and what a 
 floodgate of unhappy desire and evil yearn 
 ing you were opening? How could you 
 guess that the same little imp of acquisi 
 tion your gentleness forgave would become 
 a mighty monster to follow and plague you 
 through life? 
 
 So Thomas went humbly back to his 
 
 trade and Hannah departed to make the 
 
 peace with Ephraim Playfair. And when 
 
 she returned they lived together in happi- 
 
 33 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 ness and comfort, for Thomas was a clever 
 and a rapid workman, and made great 
 wages for those days. But the restless 
 blood of his father was in his veins, and 
 many times he sighed for the outside world 
 he had encountered only in his books, and 
 had pictured so fondly in his fancy. And 
 one day, when the longing was strong 
 within him, he came back suddenly from 
 the office and said, "Come, Hannah, I 
 must take thee on thy wedding journey. * 
 Thomas loved the quaint, solemn 
 speech of the Quakers, and often spoke to 
 his wife in the manner of her father s 
 house. And Hannah, reassured by his 
 smile and cheerfulness, though divining 
 that a great change was coming into their 
 life, smiled back at him, and holding up 
 her fingers playfully to mark the signs of 
 quotation, answered, "Whither thou goest 
 I will go." 
 
 To so capable a printer and steady a 
 
 workman as Thomas it mattered little in 
 
 what city he found his occupation, and in 
 
 New York he took up his trade as easily 
 
 34 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 as he had laid it down in Boston. The 
 fascinations of the larger town appealed to 
 the young wife, and often, when Thomas s 
 work was done, they would roam together 
 up and down the streets, looking into the 
 gay windows and planning how they might 
 have a home and how they should enrich 
 and beautify it. Then the tempter, never 
 far from Thomas s side, would beset him 
 with all the cunning of his devilish art, and 
 the poor printer would weakly steal away 
 by himself, and haunt the old bookshops, 
 and many a dollar solemnly pledged to the 
 coming home found its way into the book 
 seller s till. Already a feeling of dread 
 had taken possession of the thrifty little 
 wife, and with each fresh purchase of 
 books her heart would leap and words 
 of reproach would come to her lips. And 
 then she would remember how kind and 
 gentle was Thomas, and her mind would 
 go back swiftly to the old days when they 
 were children, and to the time when he 
 shielded her from all the simple griefs of 
 childhood, and the gratitude for the past 
 35 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 and the love of the present drove away all 
 remonstrance and killed the words that 
 rose in reproof. 
 
 It pleased her, even in moments of lone 
 liness and fear, to know that Thomas had 
 gained a reputation and a standing among 
 wise men of books and letters; that he was 
 sought out for the value of his opinions and 
 for the extent of his knowledge; and when 
 poets and romancists came to their rooms 
 to talk with Thomas of his possessions, and 
 to speak to him of the giants he had met in 
 boyhood, her foolish little heart would swell 
 with rapture, and she would wonder how 
 so learned and great a man could have 
 been attracted to so weak and insignificant 
 a woman. Thomas Ballinger was not the 
 first hero in this pleasant humbug of a 
 world who has blossomed into greatness 
 through the memory of some childish 
 chivalrous deed or the magnified recollec 
 tion of a sympathetic word. And, hap 
 lessly, all heroes, wife-made, do not have 
 his gentleness and amiability to speak in 
 extenuation of the delusion. 
 36 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 Again the restlessness of spirit stirred 
 Thomas, and again he wearied of his en 
 vironment, and the round of drudging 
 duties. He said to Hannah: "Our life is 
 monotonous and changeless, and we have 
 no chance to know the world that is so 
 beautiful. We are wasting ourselves and 
 our opportunities. The city is so great, 
 so sordid, so given over to the roar of 
 commerce and the pursuit of money, that 
 every noble impulse is crushed and every 
 better feeling is repressed. * He took 
 Hannah s hand, just as he had taken it in 
 the happy days of early love, and he smiled 
 that same old persuasive, irresistible smile 
 as he added: "Come, Hannah, let us re 
 new our wedding journey. Thee will find 
 how much of the old lover is left in me. 
 Let us go to the South, where we can be 
 young and foolish once more, where every 
 thing is new and everybody is strange, and 
 where sweethearts, like thee and me, 
 Hannah, find fresh inspiration for their 
 love." 
 
 Hannah listened rapturously, for she was 
 37 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 still young and foolish, and she believed in 
 Thomas and trusted in his great wisdom. 
 And as the tears came to her eyes at the 
 gentleness of his voice and the reminder of 
 the old days she answered: "Let us go, 
 Thomas" and then, with a little blush at 
 her own boldness "let us go where there 
 are no book-stores, dear. 
 
 So they journeyed southward, lingering 
 now a week, now a month, in cities and 
 towns, while Thomas, pursuing his trade, 
 made money necessary not only for their 
 expenses, but for the accumulation of litera 
 ture. The beginning of the second winter 
 found them in the loveliest of spots, the 
 land of perpetual summer, a fair town, 
 where the people lived in the laziness of 
 dreamland, a land green with the palmetto 
 and the magnolia, where the birds sang all 
 the year, the roses bloomed perpetually, 
 and the breezes languidly waved the moss 
 on the old trees and barely stirred the rip 
 ple of the sparkling river. Here Thomas 
 worked diligently and saved sums of money 
 for the future, and here Hannah found the 
 33 
 
The Bondage of Balltnger 
 
 realization of her dreams of a honeymoon 
 in the hours they spent together. It 
 seemed to her that they had come at last 
 into life and happiness that must never 
 end, and great was her sorrow when one 
 night, wandering home along the river- 
 bank, Thomas said: 
 
 "Hannah, I have bought the tickets, we 
 must go to-morrow. * 
 
 She clutched his arm nervously as she 
 asked: "Why must we go to-morrow, or 
 the next day? Where can we find so 
 beautiful a home as this? We left behind 
 us the ice and snow I dreaded, and the 
 great cities that so displeased thee, and 
 we have come here to find everything that 
 speaks for the life we love. Why must 
 we go? * 
 
 Thomas turned away his head and did 
 not answer. She touched his arm again, 
 and said, "Have we not been very happy, 
 dear?" 
 
 "Yes, very happy, but " 
 
 "There is no but in my happiness, 
 Thomas." 
 
 39 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 "I was going to say, Hannah, that you 
 do not understand. In fact, you see you 
 know I was going to say 
 
 "Well, Thomas?" 
 
 He laughed, guiltily. Then he drew 
 her toward him and kissed her. I know 
 I am asking thee to make a great sacri 
 fice, he went on, falling into the speech 
 she loved, "but if thee only knew how I 
 have suffered here, thee would not blame 
 me, Hannah." 
 
 "Suffered, Thomas?" 
 
 "Yes, suffered, dear heart. Has thee 
 not seen how bitterly I have been disap 
 pointed, and how all my expectations have 
 been deceived?" 
 
 She looked up at him wonderingly. 
 "Thee has been disappointed? Am I not 
 as much to thee 
 
 At this he laughed again. "Thee is 
 and has been everything to me, foolish 
 child, and without thee I should have died 
 of desperation, but the truth is " 
 
 "Well, Thomas?" 
 
 "The truth is," he went on, forcing out 
 4 o 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 the words, "there is not a decent book-store 
 in the county, or for that matter, in the 
 country. 
 
 The tired look crept back into the pa 
 tient eyes, and a sigh came up from the 
 anxious heart as little Hannah clung a 
 little closer to her husband. 
 
 "Let us go where thee will, dear/ 
 Westward they went, on through the 
 pleasant Southland, with its wealth of foli 
 age and blossoms, its waving palms and 
 bewildering masses of flowers, ever beckon 
 ing to them and inviting them to stay. 
 And Hannah would have remained, for she 
 loved the gentle climate and the profusion 
 of nature, and the kindly people of soft 
 speech and gracious manner, but the rest 
 lessness of a feverish spirit was in Thomas, 
 and he loitered only until he had acquired 
 the means of further travel. And so they 
 wandered until they came to the great 
 river which divides the continent. And 
 lingering a space as emergency demanded 
 they journeyed on where the mountains 
 rise thousands of feet above the plains and 
 4 1 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 wear eternal snow on their peaks. And 
 then across the desert of sand to where the 
 mountains rise again, and so down the 
 slope into the golden country of warmth 
 and sunshine. The months had crept into 
 years; the lines had deepened in Thomas s 
 face, and the silvery threads were shining 
 in Hannah s brown hair, but no word of 
 complaint came from her lips and no feel 
 ing of reproach was in her heart. The 
 living had been precarious, the wanderings 
 had been long, and the halts many, but the 
 two grown-up children held to each other 
 the one because he had learned in his 
 vacillation and weakness to lean on a better 
 and braver spirit, the other because she 
 loved and was strong. 
 
 Standing on the cliff that looked over the 
 western ocean, Thomas, in a wave of re 
 morse that periodically overwhelmed him, 
 and mindful of his failings and his failures, 
 said ruefully: 
 
 "Your father was right, Hannah. You 
 took me for poorer and for worse. I have 
 done nothing that I should have done, 
 42 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 everything that I should not have done. 
 You have followed me faithfully and loy 
 ally, but fruitlessly, from ocean to ocean. 
 I wonder why you have loved me and 
 stood by me all these years." 
 
 Then Hannah, her maiden dreams dis 
 pelled and her hopes dimmed, but her faith 
 and courage strong and high, replied: 
 
 "We do not always know why we love, 
 Thomas, or why we are constant. It is 
 not given to a woman to argue such things 
 or to explain them by any exact rule of 
 science. In truth, I would not wish to 
 ask myself why I love thee, or what thee 
 has done either to hold or to forfeit my 
 love. It is enough for me to know that I 
 love, and that I have always loved since 
 we were children far off yonder. 
 
 The memory of those days rushed back 
 and she choked in her speech. But 
 Thomas had already forgotten her, for a 
 great ship had passed out of the golden 
 gate and was spreading its wings for the 
 eager flight. "See, Hannah," he cried, 
 "what a glorious thing it would be " and 
 43 
 
The Bondage of Eallmger 
 
 he stopped suddenly, for his thoughts were 
 on the speeding vessel and the waters and 
 the distant shores beyond. 
 
 Hannah smiled and laid her hand upon 
 his arm. "I know what is in thy heart, 
 Thomas, and how gladly thee would go 
 with me across the water." 
 
 "Think of the new world that would 
 open up to us, Hannah. Think of the 
 treasures that we should see and that 
 might be ours. In a few weeks, or months 
 at the latest, I shall be able to save the 
 money for our passage and we shall go into 
 new lands and realize all our dreams. 
 
 Then Hannah smiled again, but sadly. 
 "I have no dreams to realize, dear. Is it 
 not sufficient that we are growing old in 
 our wandering, and that we have come to 
 our country s end? Must our wedding 
 journey go on forever?" 
 
 When Thomas reddened at this thrust 
 she repented in the delicacy of her nature, 
 and said softly: 
 
 "It will go on forever, dear, for thee is 
 always a lover to me, and our journey is 
 44 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 in love. But," she added, roguishly, 
 "thee has not exhausted our country s 
 resources, Thomas; thee has not bought 
 all the books." 
 
 He laughed at this. These books are 
 not all my offending, Hannah. I wish I 
 could think they are, for I have been sel 
 fish and mindful only of my own wishes. 
 But I am going to begin again, and in 
 earnest. Hereafter for every book you 
 shall have a forfeit. Better than this, I 
 shall buy no more books. From this mo 
 ment I am emancipated from the slavery 
 that has made you suffer so much." 
 
 Still with that same patient, gentle smile 
 she replied: "I would not ask thee, dear, 
 to do this for my happiness or thy wretched 
 ness. We must take our lives as they 
 come to us. We may not wholly destroy 
 the impulse that is strong, or chafe under 
 the desires we cannot kill. But we may 
 take our life more gently, dear. We may 
 find a home where our wandering may end 
 and where we may enjoy in peace and rest 
 the things that are precious to us." 
 45 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 "May we not find such a home across 
 the water, Hannah? How often have we 
 talked of the distant land where life is one 
 long and pleasant summer, where there are 
 no cares, no troubles, and where every 
 thing that we have left in the sunny coun 
 try you loved so much is intensified a hun 
 dred-fold. " 
 
 She shook her head. " Would such a 
 land hold thee, Thomas? It seems fair 
 and pleasant now, as was the country we 
 deserted, but would it last? Should we 
 not be wandering again, always wandering, 
 in search of the happiness that lies just 
 beyond. Should we not find that we are 
 deceived in this as we have been deceived 
 all these years. Is there any happiness 
 beyond the contentment of our own minds, 
 dear?" 
 
 He said quietly, though his eyes still 
 gazed far over the placid ocean: "Shall we 
 go back, Hannah, back through the desert 
 and over the mountains, away from all this 
 summer and warmth and luxuriance of 
 nature?" 
 
 4 6 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 She looked at him, and the flush came 
 to her face and the light to her eyes. 
 "Let us go back," she said. 
 
 "But," he urged, "the journey is long 
 and difficult, nothing is ahead of us to 
 stimulate our hopes and excite our ambi 
 tions, and we are very poor. 
 
 "Was the journey short and were we 
 rich when we came, dear?" 
 
 "Our parents are dead, and our friends 
 are scattered, Hannah. The years have 
 brought changes to our village as well as 
 to us. We shall be known to few, and all 
 will be so different. Is it not a risk that 
 we should avoid?" 
 
 "Is it not our home, Thomas? Let us 
 go back." 
 
 "And the temptations, Hannah?" He 
 thought of what she had said and he was 
 wavering. "You know my weakness, 
 dear, and it is a land of books. 
 
 She laid her head on his shoulder and 
 turned her face that he might not see her 
 smile. And she answered simply: 
 
 "Let us go back." 
 47 
 
IF the sunlight had danced less merrily 
 on the waves of the great lake as they 
 rolled in to the western shore, if the chang 
 ing tints of gray, blue, and green, far to 
 the north, south, and east, had been less 
 fascinating to Thomas Ballinger and less 
 restful to Hannah, perhaps they might not 
 have lingered in the smoky, grimy city 
 with its rushing tide of money-seekers and 
 fortune-builders. They had come slowly 
 across the desert and mountains and prairie, 
 and had stopped again to take breath and 
 acquire the means of journeying. And if 
 Thomas cculd have looked into the mysteri 
 ous book which holds the future, and turned 
 to the page which bears his name, he would 
 have seen that fate decreed that his wan 
 derings were over and that he had come at 
 last to his inheritance, poor, small, and un 
 certain though it might be. 
 
 But the one thing that never entered 
 into Thomas s calculations was the future, 
 4 8 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 and he was accustomed to argue that the 
 man who is ever bothering his poor brain 
 with problems of what may happen by and 
 by is wholly insensible to the delights of 
 the present. It might have been retorted 
 by Hannah, or other members of the family 
 entitled to speak, that he who is absorbed 
 in the joys of the present is laying up more 
 than his share of trouble for the future, but 
 such replies he would have dismissed not 
 only as discourteous, but as entirely foreign 
 to the question. Yet in spite of his dis 
 inclination to consider the various periods 
 of time, Thomas acknowledged that work 
 must be accepted as a factor in the argu 
 ment, viewed from any standpoint, and 
 work he found immediately, and friends, 
 and good wages, and far uptown in a quiet 
 street near the water s edge he established 
 Hannah in a little house, where the vines 
 grew up and around the windows, and 
 where through the looping wistaria and 
 honeysuckle she could look out on the roll 
 ing waves. 
 
 During the months of journeying Thomas 
 
 49 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 had stood manfully to his resolution and 
 had resisted the occasional temptation that 
 came in his way, for the country was new 
 and the books either newer or just old and 
 indifferent enough to be valueless. Even 
 after he had settled down in the great city, 
 and had soberly furnished the house for 
 Hannah, he gave many indications of the 
 cure of his folly, and with just pride and 
 exultation he would dwell on this achieve 
 ment as significant of what any man may 
 do if he has the power of will and strength 
 of character. And one day, the conversa 
 tion turning on the influence of habit, he 
 said to Hannah: 
 
 "I am tempted to laugh at myself when 
 I think how, even temporarily, I was 
 drawn into a habit which with some per 
 sons might pass for extravagance. By 
 nature I am a prudent and a saving man, 
 and if in the years I am speaking of I per 
 mitted myself to indulge luxuriously in 
 things which showed no immediate profit 
 on the investment, I think we may both 
 say that the temporary dissipation only 
 50 
 
The Bondage of Ballingcr 
 
 emphasized and drew out my innate cau 
 tion. In like manner economy has become 
 with me now a fixed habit, and the desire 
 to save is as strong as the former wish to 
 spend. At the same time there is danger 
 that we may carry our principle too far, 
 and that we may eventually become as 
 sordid and commercial as our neighbors, 
 Hannah. You see in them what atmos 
 phere and environment can do in the way 
 of stifling all the better emotions. And 
 the same criticism may be applied to us. 
 I was humiliated enough to-day, when I 
 discovered that I positively have sixty-five 
 dollars in the bank. 
 
 Thomas did not permit this humiliation 
 to plague him for any length of time, and 
 presently huge boxes of freight began to 
 arrive from distant points in the east, west, 
 and south, the results of investments in 
 former days, safely sealed and housed until 
 the period of wandering should pass. And 
 with each fresh arrival Hannah would sigh 
 and Betty, the cook and general superin 
 tendent Thomas s tribute to temporary 
 5 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 prosperity would protest and threaten, 
 and give notices ranging from five minutes 
 to thirty days, for Betty was autocratic 
 and explosive, and Thomas admitted, re 
 turning home at night, that unless she an 
 nounced her impending departure, he felt 
 that the routine of his life was fractured 
 and that something gently stimulating was 
 missing. Presently the cottage began to 
 overflow. Books filled the small parlor, 
 lapped over into the hall, and crept into 
 the dining-room. The three bedrooms 
 were plentifully supplied with reading mat 
 ter of all kinds, and Betty, who could be 
 sarcastic, in phraseology inelegant but 
 forceful, suggested that some shelves 
 might be put up back of the kitchen stove, 
 and that there was still a little room in the 
 pantry and refrigerator. Even Hannah, 
 whose gentle nature would not customarily 
 permit her to indulge in levity which carried 
 a sting, was heard to -say, confidentially, 
 that it would help the situation not a little 
 if some inventive genius would construct a 
 combination bookcase and dining-room 
 
 2 
 
The Bondage of Bat linger 
 
 table. These amiable reflections, how 
 ever, were lost on Thomas, whose ideas in 
 the matter of domestic economy were not 
 very profound, and to whom the subject 
 was one of the utmost simplicity. For 
 inasmuch as there was a large variety of 
 books and very little of anything else, it 
 followed that the books must have the 
 space. That was as plain as the proverbial 
 pikestaff. 
 
 On the second floor, back in the north 
 east corner, was the room which passed in 
 the family order as the den, and here 
 Thomas conveyed his most precious be 
 longings, first editions of the New England 
 school of poetry and romance, inscribed 
 and autographed letters, notes, photo 
 graphs, maps, manuscript, and all the asso 
 ciations of earlier days, presentation copies, 
 and limited editions from every section of 
 the country through which he had traveled 
 a tribute, as he said, to his thrift and 
 foresight. Here also was the table on 
 which he proposed to write his recollections 
 when old age justified them a table 
 53 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 thought to have been associated with the 
 Concord school of philosophy and here 
 was the reading-chair in which tradition had 
 it Mr. Emerson and Mr. Thoreau had alter 
 nately sat during periods of disputation. 
 Other souvenirs, practical and ornamental, 
 contributed to the peculiar atmosphere of 
 the den, the delights of which were made 
 significant, if not enhanced, by a powerful 
 and pervasive odor of mustiness and stale 
 tobacco smoke. 
 
 At Thomas Ballinger s peculiar theories 
 of the proper method of preserving the 
 fascinations of a den Hannah winked and 
 Betty openly sniffed. To him, however, 
 the room was sacred, and it was under 
 stood in the family that it should be thor 
 oughly swept and dusted twice a year, and 
 only at such other times as the occupant 
 should specify. But as nothing was further 
 from Thomas s thoughts than the removal 
 of a little coating of dirt and dust, which 
 gave a scholarly air to the surroundings, it 
 came about that the semi-annual invasion 
 of the premises answered all purposes. It 
 54 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 was enough for Thomas that the daily 
 feminine ministrations were confined to the 
 filling of the lamp, for in common with 
 most men of studious habits and modest 
 tastes, he had a profound contempt for a 
 woman s idea of cleaning up, which means 
 the displacement of books, the confusion 
 of papers, and the general upheaval of 
 masculine discipline. It was his boast that 
 he could go to his den at any hour of dark 
 est night and lay his hand on a book or 
 paper which he might desire to consult, 
 and he contrasted this accomplishment with 
 the misery of an improvident woman who 
 never can find anything in her boudoir 
 under a five minutes search with the aid 
 of all the modern improvements in the way 
 of illumination. How this feat of Thomas s 
 was accomplished it would be difficult to 
 explain, for there are many things in the 
 philosophy of the studious life which are 
 concealed from the wise and prudent of 
 both sexes. 
 
 Among other gifts Thomas had inherited 
 from his New England ancestry a certain 
 55 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 knack of carpentering, which, while not 
 perhaps of the most finished art, served 
 excellently for sentimental uses. Observ 
 ing neighbors in the early clays of the den, 
 good people of the unromantic sort, mar 
 veled when packages of boards, apparently 
 very old and very much begrimed, arrived 
 by freight and express, and the rumor soon 
 spread that Thomas Ballinger had sent 
 down east for worn-out lumber. Then the 
 story grew that these boards had come 
 from the houses of men famous in the 
 literature of the country, that each board 
 had a literary history and could tell a tale 
 as marvelous as any related at the Way 
 side Inn if only it could speak. Mrs. 
 Colver, whose prime duty it was to keep 
 the entire neighborhood informed as to the 
 progress of affairs, real and fictitious, and 
 who was supposed to employ an extra 
 maid for no other purpose than to depart 
 at a moment s notice on police or picket 
 duty, declared that she had seen "Con 
 cord" painted on one of these boards. 
 And the good lady furthermore stoutly as- 
 56 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 sorted, though in the strictest confidence, 
 that on the under side of another board she 
 had been enabled to decipher a "T" and 
 and "e" and an "a," from which she 
 deduced the conclusion that this particular 
 board was at one time the property of Mr. 
 Thoreau. But the lady to whom she com 
 municated this startling and highly reason 
 able inference objected, on the ground that 
 these cabalistic letters might stand as well 
 for " Texas, " so on that point they parted. 
 As for Thomas, he merely smiled and said 
 nothing when his neighbors grew too in 
 quisitive, but Mrs. Colver observed and 
 spoke of it, too that he handled each piece 
 very carefully, and even patted it and 
 rubbed it affectionately when he surmised 
 that nobody was looking. 
 
 So in his leisure moments he planed and 
 sawed and chiseled, and put together piece 
 on piece, each marked with baffling crypto 
 grams which would have driven the neigh 
 bors mad with curiosity could they have 
 seen it. And in time, from this pile of 
 sacred lumber, came forth a bookcase, not 
 57 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 bewildering in its beauty, but strong and 
 sturdy, reaching from one end of the den 
 to the other, and standing six good feet in 
 height. Even the glass doors were fitted 
 and joined by his hand, for Thomas had 
 declared that he would perform this labor 
 of love alone and unaided, and that it 
 should serve as a testimonial to and there 
 he stopped. Those same neighbors would 
 have given a dollar each to bribe Thomas 
 to finish the sentence, and Mrs. Colver 
 would have subscribed to a much larger 
 sum for the privilege of retailing the news, 
 but his lips were shut. And when they 
 would have dragged the secret from Han 
 nah, she shook her head and smiled and 
 answered, "Thee must ask Thomas." 
 
 Diggs the detective lived in the house 
 three doors below. For nearly a genera 
 tion the fame of Diggs had endured in the 
 memory of his grateful fellow-citizens. He 
 was the terror of wrong-doers and the rock 
 of law-abiding folk. When Diggs was put 
 on a case, however intricate, the commu 
 nity knew that the mystery was as good as 
 58 
 
The Bondage of Batlinger 
 
 unraveled, and when he consented to ex 
 press an opinion in the neighborhood, if 
 was immediately accepted as the word of 
 the court of last resort, which nothing could 
 over-ride save an amendment to the consti 
 tution. So it was suggested to Diggs, 
 purely in a friendly and neighborly way, 
 that his acknowledged talents might be em 
 ployed in solving the annoying problem of 
 the bookcase and the story of the lumber. 
 But Diggs was an honorable and grateful 
 man, as detectives go, and flatly refused 
 to betray the friendship and confidence of 
 one who had recognized his professional 
 talents and interests, and had introduced 
 him to tke literary delights of Gaboriau 
 and "The Moonstone." "I couldn t do 
 it, said Diggs, waving his hand protest- 
 ingly; "it would be particeps criminis and 
 unprofessional." Diggs spoke in good 
 faith, for he was fond of employing at hap 
 hazard, when he desired to speak with 
 decision and extraordinary impressiveness, 
 such Latin phrases and terms as he picked 
 up around the courts. An extraordi- 
 59 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 nary man was Diggs, as will be developed 
 here and there as occasion arises. 
 
 When the bookcase was completed, and 
 had been subjected to every critical test 
 the taste and care of Thomas could devise, 
 the question of its contents presented itself. 
 This is a far more serious matter than is 
 apparent to the layman, with his scant 
 knowledge of and casual acquaintance with 
 books, but to Thomas it involved no pro 
 longed consideration, for as a book collector 
 of wisdom and experience, he had that nice 
 discrimination which distinguishes the senti 
 mental bibliophile from the ordinary 
 librarian. 
 
 "You do not put old wine into new 
 bottles," he said to Hannah, at the table, 
 when that good woman remarked on the 
 somewhat decrepit character of the vol 
 umes he had placed so carefully on the 
 shelves. 
 
 "We do not put wine into any kind of 
 bottles, Thomas," replied Hannah, meekly 
 but reproachfully, for though she was ac 
 quainted with scriptural metaphor, she was 
 60 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 a prudent housewife and abhorred the thief 
 that steals away men s brains. 
 
 "True, " said Thomas, apologetically. 
 "Since we must be exact I confess that 
 our wine-cellar exists only in my imagina 
 tion, so we ll drop that question, if you do 
 not mind. But I meant to say, when I got 
 into the flowers of speech, that there is to 
 everybody something that is a little nearer 
 and dearer than the rest of his possessions, 
 that affords him more sympathetic delight, 
 and it therefore gives him pleasure that 
 that something is appropriately surrounded 
 and guarded and maintained to accord 
 with the sentiment it inspires. 
 
 Hannah looked demurely down and 
 smoothed the wrinkles in her faded gown. 
 "And is that the reason I am wearing this 
 old dress?" she asked, innocently enough 
 to be sure. 
 
 Thomas smiled at this, though it was a 
 home thrust, but he knew how to disarm 
 the little wife, for in his sentimental mo 
 ments, and when his conscience reproached 
 him and a very tender conscience he 
 61 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 had, this foolish, unpractical fellow he 
 would revert to the Quaker speech and 
 carry all before him. And he went over 
 and put his arm affectionately around her 
 and kissed her. "Nay, Hannah," he 
 said, "thee is not wearing the dress for 
 such a reason, for thee is beautiful to me 
 in any garb, but because thee was foolish 
 enough to marry a brute of a husband who 
 robs thee of all womanish vanities to 
 gratify his own selfish pleasures." 
 
 Then Hannah s heart, just as confiding 
 and weak and forgiving as in the years be 
 fore experience could bring wisdom, came 
 into her throat, and she pressed his hand 
 and asked him to forget her unkind words, 
 declaring that it was her intolerable temper 
 that prompted her to such malicious utter 
 ances. And if Thomas received these 
 affectionate assurances without dispute, 
 remember that he was a man, with a 
 man s way of accepting feminine tributes. 
 
 "As I was saying," he went on, resum 
 ing his seat at the table after the battle had 
 been fought and won, "we hold some 
 62 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 things peculiarly dear because of their 
 association. There is, or should be, a per 
 sonal side to every library. I need not 
 remind you that I have been collecting 
 books for many years often without just 
 provocation I admit, he added, as he saw 
 a faint smile on Hannah s face "but while 
 I have tried to be thoughtful and prudent 
 in the main, it cannot be denied that there 
 is as much difference in our love for books 
 as in our affection for children. There are 
 books, as there are children, whom we 
 wish to have constantly at hand. We 
 never tire of fondling them and petting 
 them. They become, first perhaps through 
 admiration, then by close association, a 
 part of our lives, until it seems that our 
 existence is linked with them, and that they 
 have a personal being with which we can 
 communicate. 
 
 Hannah hesitated. She had certain 
 ideas which she might have expressed, but 
 what were the incapable theories of a 
 woman and a wife in combat with the views 
 of a sentimental but wise philosopher? 
 63 
 
The Bondage of Ealllnger 
 
 "It is a beautiful thought, Thomas," she 
 finally ventured submissively. 
 
 "Of course," said Thomas, stimulated 
 by such conjugal praise, "there is as much 
 difference in book-collectors as in the books 
 themselves. Nothing is so deserving of 
 scorn as the fellow who fondly imagines 
 that he is a bibliophile, and who buys 
 books at the instigation of his bookseller as 
 a speculator buys grain or stock at the sug 
 gestion of his broker. Look at old Her- 
 vey, the millionaire, whose library was sold 
 at auction the other day. That library 
 brought thousands of dollars and was full 
 of the rarest literary curiosities, yet Her- 
 vey could not have told an Elzevir from 
 the ordinary Latin grammar, or a Kelm- 
 scott from a school-book. It was a great 
 day for the emancipation of misplaced vol 
 umes when old Hervey passed away." 
 
 "I would not say that, Thomas," ob 
 jected Hannah, mildly. 
 
 "It is true, Hannah. These fellows 
 who call themselves book-lovers because 
 they have money with which to put up the 
 6 4 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 prices and secure all the treasures are a 
 disgrace and a hindrance to the noble 
 guild. What care they for a book except 
 for the fact that it costs so many dollars or 
 hundreds of dollars, and somebody else is 
 clamorous for it? Does the book in itself 
 represent anything to them? Do they ever 
 read it, or take it out of the case and pet 
 it, and glory in the association it brings? 
 Does a first edition bring up to them the 
 joys and hopes and fears and tremblings 
 with which the author, perhaps long famous 
 and long dead, put it forth? Does the 
 autograph of a historian, the handwriting 
 of a philosopher, the written sentiment of 
 a great poet, mean more to them than what 
 it will bring in the market? Are they any 
 nearer to these departed giants because 
 they hold a manuscript which they bought 
 as a speculation? Yet they think they are 
 book-lovers, who are merely book-buyers. 
 
 "Thee has a wonderful imagination/ 
 interposed Hannah. 
 
 "It is imagination that makes for the 
 joy of life, replied Thomas. 
 65 
 
The Bondage of Ealllnger 
 
 "I know that only too well. Thee " 
 and Hannah stopped, and colored, and 
 shook her head. 
 
 "Go on," said Thomas encouragingly. 
 
 "Nay, Thomas, I would not say the 
 unkind thing that was in my mind, but 
 thee knows that the money set apart for 
 our supper to-night was spent in thy great 
 wisdom for a book, and that thee has 
 eaten largely of thy imagination, with such 
 help as I in my smaller capacity could give 
 with the means at hand. I know that the 
 book meant much more to thee than our 
 poor supper and I am glad for thy sake. 
 Forgive me, Thomas. I am not complain 
 ing if thee is satisfied, dear. 
 
 "These domestic illustrations," replied 
 Thomas, much diverted by Hannah s wit 
 and unselfishness, "serve only to bring out 
 my point more clearly. What does it 
 matter that I am eating scraps of yester 
 day s feast if we are contented, and if they 
 represent to us all the delicacies the palate 
 may crave? But the book, Hannah! Ah, 
 it was a rare bargain. It was going for a 
 
 66 
 
The Bondage of Eallmger 
 
 pitiful price to an ignorant fellow, who 
 knew no more of its precious joys than I 
 know of the fifth heaven of Mahomet. 
 It was my duty to rescue so glorious a 
 book from so melancholy a fate, and if I 
 had gone supperless to bed to-night it 
 could not have repressed the joy I feel at 
 my ability to stand an old friend in stead; 
 for I have searched for that book, Hannah, 
 these five years, and just as I despaired of 
 finding it, behold, it comes to my hand for 
 a paltry sum a book that is worth a hun 
 dred suppers. 
 
 His enthusiasm communicated itself to 
 his wife faithful, patient, long-suffering 
 wife the uncomplaining victim of a griev 
 ous malady. "And will thee put it in thy 
 grand bookcase?" she asked. 
 
 "Perhaps, and yet I may not. There 
 are associations of books simply as books, 
 and there are again associations of books 
 with the writers whom we have known and 
 loved. You have heard of library ghosts, 
 of pictures that have come down from the 
 walls, of books that have stepped forth 
 67 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 from the shelves to hold literary revel with 
 those who believe in their personality and 
 who receive them trustingly and confide in 
 them implicitly? 5 
 
 They had passed into the little parlor, 
 and Hannah, half-frightened by her hus 
 band s seriousness, drew him down to the 
 sofa and held his hand in hers. 
 
 "I do not believe in ghosts of any kind, 
 dear/ she said, "and least of all in those 
 that would take thee away from me. If 
 there are such ghosts as thee has de 
 scribed in thy den, Betty and I shall see to 
 it that they are swept away to-morrow. 
 
 "My ghosts will never annoy thee," re 
 plied Thomas, with a smile, "for they are 
 gentle ghosts; and remember that thee 
 has said that I have a wonderful imagina 
 tion. Listen, Hannah; this is what I 
 mean. In the evening, when I am in the 
 den, and thou art sewing in thy room, and 
 Betty has finished her summary of the day 
 and her instructions for the morrow, I turn 
 the key in the great padlock of the book 
 case and take out, one by one as memory 
 
 68 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 suggests, the books I collected when a boy. 
 Small and brown and homely they are, 
 unattractive volumes that the ignorant 
 would pass by unthinkingly, but precious 
 to the wise man and beyond price to him 
 who dwells familiarly with them. For 
 on the leaves are the names of great men 
 long since gone, and sentiments written 
 only for me; and hidden away are let 
 ters bringing back a rush of memories, 
 letters wonderful to the boy who read 
 them, and holy to the man who now reads 
 them. And reading here and there, and 
 fondly caressing them, it seems to me that 
 a personality is with me, and that I am 
 again sitting and talking with those who 
 wrote them, and who have come back from 
 a long journey to remain with me for all 
 time. These are my ghosts, Hannah, my 
 gentle, harmless ghosts, whom thee and 
 Betty would sweep away. 
 
 Tears stood in Hannah s eyes, for she 
 
 was always a foolish child, this woman 
 
 with the gray around the temples, and she 
 
 answered: I would not banish thy friendly 
 
 69 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 ghosts, Thomas, since they bring to thee 
 so much happiness. But tell me, when 
 thee is in the den with thy spirits who 
 lead thee to the past, do they ever call to 
 mind the red school-house, and the clover 
 patch, the summer afternoons, and the long 
 lane leading to the village? Does a little 
 girl ever haunt thy memories?" 
 
 And Thomas, with his man s wrinkles 
 and his boy s heart, drew a little nearer to 
 her as he answered: "No ghost must come 
 from grave or bookcase, dear, to remind 
 me of her or of what she has been to me 
 all these years. 
 
 But Betty, looking in from the kitchen, 
 and seeing them sitting on the sofa, with 
 their arms around each other, said, pity 
 ingly: 
 
 "Them two children!" 
 
 70 
 
THOMAS BALLINGER had that 
 lordly contempt for money which 
 should characterize the true man of letters. 
 He contended, after admitting that certain 
 sums may be grudgingly expended for the 
 so-called necessities of existence, that the 
 only possible pleasure in money is the im 
 mediate disbursement in such honorable 
 ways as the fancy of the possessor may 
 suggest. As for himself, he argued, there 
 could be no doubt of his method of reliev 
 ing himself of such vexatious belongings, 
 and he defended his conduct by calling 
 attention to his ministerial ancestry, and 
 declaring that a holy horror of the mam 
 mon of unrighteousness and the root of all 
 evil had been his lawful inheritance. He 
 illustrated most forcibly and convincingly 
 the perils of money, considered merely as 
 money, and he thanked God with all hearti 
 ness that he was free from all intimation of 
 a sordid lust for wealth. It was observed 
 71 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 by his neighbor Diggs, the detective, who, 
 through reason of his calling, was of a pry 
 ing and suspicious nature, that these invec 
 tives against the miserly accumulation of 
 gold invariably preceded a foray on the old 
 bookshops, and it was Diggs who directed 
 Hannah s attention to this coincidence as 
 significant storm signals, and warned her 
 to gain possession of the family purse be 
 fore it was too late; for it never occurred 
 to Thomas, honest soul, that his frequent 
 outbursts against the possession of tangible 
 coin and notes was nothing less than a com 
 promise with his conscience, that little moni 
 tor which keeps knocking at the gate of 
 reason in spite of frequent rebuffs. And 
 once, when his vision had been clarified for 
 the moment by the presentation of domestic 
 needs resulting from a large line of book 
 shop purchases, he was compelled to fall 
 back on a new and degrading line of argu 
 ment, a refuge he would have scorned had 
 he not been severely put to it. 
 
 "You know, Hannah, that while it may 
 seem foolish at this moment to indulge in 
 
The Bondage of Ballmger 
 
 such speculation, and while I may say with 
 all sincerity that I have the utmost con 
 tempt for a book purchase from the money 
 point of view, it is really a very profitable 
 investment; for everybody must concede 
 that I buy with judgment, and that I have 
 not a book in my library on which I could 
 not realize profits greatly in excess of the 
 cost. In your inexperience, my dear, you 
 are not to be blamed if these reflections do 
 not immediately occur to you, but I am 
 glad to be able to tell you, and it must be 
 pleasant for you to know, that the book for 
 which I pay one dollar to-day I may sell 
 for two dollars to-morrow." 
 
 And Hannah, with a gentle little sigh of 
 resignation, and with an exhaustive knowl 
 edge of the facts in the case, replied, 
 "Yea, Thomas, I know, but thee never 
 does sell, dear." 
 
 "There is something in that," said 
 Thomas, with great candor, struck by the 
 forcible suggestion that had heretofore 
 escaped him; "but perhaps the reason is 
 that to-morrow everything is all right. 
 73 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 Possibly you may complain, and with jus 
 tice, that we have a poor supper to-night 
 because I took advantage of a rare bargain 
 which might not present itself again in a 
 lifetime. Very likely the criticism is not 
 without reason. But to-morrow our meals 
 make up for the small privation of to-day 
 and the need of selling is past. For while 
 undoubtedly the percentage of profit is 
 satisfactory in a pinch, the pinch having 
 been removed, it would be a crime to dis 
 pose of a bargain needlessly at a small 
 gain, when by waiting we could realize a 
 greater. Surely you can understand that. 
 
 "I cannot say that I do, fully," an 
 swered Hannah, meekly; "but doubtless it 
 is just as right that I do not understand. 
 Thee is a wise man, Thomas, and we are 
 getting along very well." 
 
 With all his wisdom and financial acu 
 men to back him, Thomas s heart smote 
 him after these conjugal controversies, and 
 at times he even wondered if it might not 
 be that he was mistaken in his logic. But 
 as each temptation came it found him less 
 74 
 
The Bondage of Ealllnger 
 
 prepared to resist, and it is the happy lot 
 of the bibliomaniac that the temptations 
 and the lapses are so frequent that the 
 time of remorse is necessarily and oppor 
 tunely shortened. Thomas had worked 
 steadily at his trade, and notwithstanding 
 his besetting sin, no serious calamity 
 seemed likely to befall the cottage or its 
 inmates. Hannah had long learned to 
 take life as it comes, at least resigned to if 
 not ready for all emergencies, and her love 
 for Thomas was so sincere, and her admi 
 ration so profound, that even his most glar 
 ing offenses against common prudence were 
 turned into virtues by a kiss or an apology. 
 Not so with Betty, the autocrat of the 
 household, whose wrath rose at the sight of 
 a book, and who was heard more than once 
 to exclaim viciously that book-stores do 
 more harm and are responsible for more 
 unhappiness in this world than saloons. 
 "Which," said Thomas, calmly, "merely 
 goes to show the point of view when it 
 comes to individual opinion." 
 
 The relations between Betty and 
 75 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 Thomas were, as Thomas himself con 
 fessed, somewhat equivocal. Ostensibly 
 he had engaged her services for domestic 
 employment at a stipulated sum for the 
 week, but as payment was not infrequently 
 deferred, she chose to take her interest in 
 voluble expression, thereby demonstrating, 
 as Thomas further explained, not merely 
 the complexity of woman s nature, but the 
 infinite variety of her talents. Whenever 
 Thomas appeared at evening with a pack 
 age under his arm, or a book protruding 
 from his pocket and such appearances 
 were not so unusual as to excite gossip in 
 the neighborhood it was customary for 
 Betty to give notice; and as such condi 
 tions were frequently arising, the notices 
 came to amount to little more than a regu 
 lar household incident. For Betty was as 
 essential to Thomas and Hannah as was 
 the care of this worthy and irresponsible 
 couple to Betty herself, and any positive 
 separation would have been considered by 
 all parties concerned the final answer to all 
 arguments for existence. But one night 
 76 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 Thomas came home very late, slightly out 
 of humor, for he had missed a bargain of 
 unusual splendor, and when Hannah for 
 bore to reproach him, Betty assumed the 
 offensive and announced the following 
 Saturday as the time of her departure. 
 
 "No," said Thomas with firmness, 
 "we ll have no unnecessary procrastina 
 tion; you ll go to-morrow." 
 
 "And why will I go to-morrow?" de 
 manded Betty, who was averse to any in 
 terference with her plans. 
 
 "I was just about to give the reason 
 when you interrupted me. You re dis 
 charged." 
 
 "I m what?" asked the astonished Betty. 
 
 "You re discharged. Didn t I make 
 myself understood? Discharged. 
 
 "And who ll discharge me?" 
 
 "Well, just for the sake of argument, 
 suppose I say I will." 
 
 "And who is running this house?" in 
 quired Betty, rather impertinently, it is 
 true, but she was under a tremendous 
 strain. 
 
 77 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 "Up to the present time," replied 
 Thomas, reflectively, "it would be a fair 
 presumption that you have been running 
 the house, but in the future, merely as a 
 matter of principle and example of course, 
 I think I shall try a hand at it." 
 
 Out of the room flounced Betty in great 
 wrath, and a disquieting conviction assailed 
 Thomas that he had gone too far. What 
 if Betty should take him at his word? 
 What if she should leave the house just at 
 the time the house required her autocratic 
 but faithful and kindly presence? Really 
 the molehill had been unnecessarily mag 
 nified into a mountain. A man should be 
 master of his household, and at the same 
 time he should be willing to make allow 
 ances for the infirmities of temper of those 
 who are debarred by the lack of education 
 from the perfect exercise of self-control. 
 After all, there was no servant like Betty. 
 No one so well understood his appetite or 
 so successfully withstood unpleasant and 
 undesirable people who came about at in 
 convenient times on commercial business. 
 78 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 Even if she had been somewhat overbear 
 ing, were not her intentions the best and 
 the fairest, and had she not always the in 
 terests of the family at heart? He must 
 temporize. He must convey to Betty, 
 without too great an infraction of his dig 
 nity, that perhaps, after suitable expression 
 of contrition, he could be induced to over 
 look her transgression this time, and that 
 his magnanimity might extend so far as to 
 consent to give her another trial. In fact, 
 if she proved inexorable and positively 
 declined to listen to reason and accept his 
 conciliatory offers, he must steal up to her 
 room that night and lock her securely hi 
 until she could be brought to an apprecia 
 tion of the absurdity of her conduct. 
 
 While he was thus conjecturing a way 
 out of the difficulty Betty herself appeared 
 on the scene. A high determination was 
 written on her countenance, and Thomas 
 braced himself for the worst. 
 
 "Mr. Ballinger, " she said, very stiffly, 
 "you owe me some wages, I believe." 
 
 "Yes, Betty," replied Thomas, grasping 
 79 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 eagerly at the straw, and with a propitia 
 tory smile, "I think I am in arrears to you 
 for about four months service. It may 
 be five or six; I don t recall the exact 
 period. 
 
 "And you re ready to pay me?" 
 
 "Really, Betty," said Thomas, thought 
 fully, "I don t believe I happen to have so 
 much money about me at this time." 
 
 "Then if you re not ready to pay me, 
 how can you discharge me?" 
 
 "That is just what I have been thinking, 
 and it is strange how I overlooked it in our 
 little argument. The fact is, Betty," he 
 added, coaxingly, "I have been debating 
 that proposition in my own mind, and I 
 have just about come to the conclusion that 
 if you ll wait " 
 
 "Mr. Ballinger," interrupted Betty, 
 with impressive dignity, "if you re not 
 ready to pay me, and if you haven t the 
 money, there s only one thing for me in 
 duty to do. I ll stay and work it out." 
 
 If Thomas Ballinger had not possessed 
 complete mastery of his emotion he would 
 80 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 have fallen on that good creature s neck 
 and wept tears of joy. As it was, he 
 thanked her very tremulously and asked 
 her to try to forget his hasty and incon 
 siderate words. More than this he begged 
 her to accept as a peace-offering a little 
 book he had procured that day, an ancient 
 volume treating at some length of certain 
 saints connected with the form of religion 
 with which Betty personally associated 
 every Sunday morning at a preposterously 
 early hour. At any other time it is prob 
 able that Betty, notwithstanding the com 
 pliment to her religious proclivities, would 
 have spurned the gift, for to her a book 
 was not only a book, but a miserable device 
 of the Evil One, and stood for everything 
 that is destructive of domestic discipline 
 and household economy. However, she 
 accepted it in the grateful spirit in which 
 it was proffered, and was heard to say 
 afterward that she derived much spiritual 
 refreshment from the perusal of its admir 
 able example and teachings. Thus peace 
 was restored to the house of Ballinger, and 
 81 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 thus the occupants prepared themselves for 
 further trouble. 
 
 These were in the days when, as Thomas 
 put it, he was a sprightly young fellow of 
 fifty, with as quick an eye and as keen a 
 scent as ever detected a first edition or 
 pointed the way to hidden literary treasure. 
 It was therefore the most natural thing in 
 the world that he should chafe under an 
 employment, lucrative enough after a fash 
 ion, but monotonous and uncongenial to a 
 man of wholly bookish predilections. 
 Thomas thought it all out in an evening 
 he was of quick and decisive action where 
 his preferences were concerned and he 
 made the announcement conclusively and 
 with the most evident sincerity. 
 
 "If I am ever going to accomplish any 
 thing in life, Hannah, I must begin now. 
 I am convinced, after nearly thirty years of 
 plodding with the types, that, beyond gain 
 ing a bare living, I have wasted my time 
 and talents. I am now, as New England- 
 ers and persons of New England descent 
 go, just in the prime of manhood, equipped 
 82 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 to try any experiment, and sure to succeed 
 in anything that has the slightest promise 
 of success. It has been evident to me, 
 and to everybody who has thought over the 
 subject, and who is competent to express 
 an intelligent opinion, that what this city 
 needs is a first-class old bookshop, con 
 ducted by a man who knows the business 
 and runs it on legitimate business principles, 
 a man strictly honest, altogether reliable, 
 and content to make a fair profit on his 
 investments. I believe I may say without 
 fear of boasting that I am that man. At 
 least, I am firmly persuaded in my own 
 mind that I fill the bill, and if at any time 
 I find I am mistaken which I regard im 
 possible I can easily go back to my trade 
 and be sure of a living. 
 
 Great was the family consternation at 
 this thunderbolt. Betty gave notice as 
 usual, the only thing she could consistently 
 do in the premises, and communicated the 
 story to the maid next door that "Mr. 
 Thomas has it worse than ever." "It," 
 was the general way in the neighborhood 
 83 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 of referring to Thomas s malady, and the 
 announcement caused universal grief and 
 many expressions of sympathy for poor 
 Mrs. Ballinger. Hannah rewarded the 
 information with a sigh so much deeper 
 and more heartfelt than her accustomed 
 sighs that Thomas, almost relenting, felt 
 bound to reassure her. And when Thomas 
 put his arm around her and spoke in that 
 caressing tone, so full of confidence and 
 joyousness, what could simple little Hannah 
 see in life save happiness and fortune? 
 
 "It is so easy, dear. Can you not see 
 that all I have to do is to buy a book in 
 another part of the country, bring it here, 
 and sell it for three and often four and five 
 times as much as I paid for it? The aver 
 age book-buyer loses all fear of price when 
 you have the book he is seeking 
 
 "Yea, Thomas," interrupted Hannah, 
 very feelingly, "we know that very well, 
 dear." 
 
 "While I intend," said Thomas, unheed- 
 ful of the interruption, "to be honorable 
 and straightforward, always giving value 
 8 4 
 
T/ie Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 received, so far as the buyer is concerned, 
 I shall not fail to make immediate and 
 large profits on my investments. We shall 
 prosper at once. We shall soon reap the 
 benefit of my experience and study. 
 Little luxuries you have been compelled to 
 deny yourself on account of the smallness 
 of my earnings will now be yours, and we 
 may be able to keep our carriage who 
 knows? Quaritch did. 
 
 Hannah s lip trembled. In that beau 
 tiful, kindly soul, accustomed to the joys 
 of expectation and the swiftly following 
 pangs of disappointment, there may have 
 been doubts based on the phantoms of the 
 past, but no word came to reproach the 
 dreamer or repress his fancies. Very 
 gently she took his face between her hands 
 and kissed it, and said: 
 
 "Thee knows what is best for us, 
 Thomas. It is not for me to question thy 
 wisdom or dispute thy reasoning. 
 
 In spite of Thomas s large hopes and 
 glittering expectations it soon became evi 
 dent that while he had not miscalculated 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 the general desire and eagerness of the 
 public, he had failed to take into account 
 his own amiable but disastrous weakness. 
 It was one thing for a man of his book- 
 loving propensities to buy a volume; it was 
 quite another thing to sell it, whatever the 
 public demand. So it came about that 
 whenever he procured a book for which a 
 customer was willing to pay a considerable 
 price, and which excited the desire of ac 
 quisition in the bookish circles, Thomas 
 would retire to a secluded corner in the 
 rear of his shop and commune thus anx 
 iously with his soul: 
 
 "Is this man sincerely and earnestly a 
 lover of books? While he may have 
 money enough to indulge a passing fancy, 
 and while he may be eager to complete a 
 set or to exult over a collector less fortu 
 nate, am I justified in permitting such a 
 treasure to go from my hands on a purely 
 sordid basis? Should I be acting with 
 proper respect to the memory of the author 
 whose heart was in his work, and who 
 wrote purely for book-lovers? Would my 
 86 
 
"The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 conscience justify me in a transaction so 
 unmistakably mercenary? In short, would 
 not that book give me far more happiness 
 than it could possibly give to him, and 
 should I not, by all the sacred traditions of 
 bibliophiles, transfer it to my own library?" 
 
 Thereupon he would return to the baffled 
 and astonished customer, apologize for the 
 misunderstanding, and gravely regret that 
 he had promised the book to another. 
 And in the darkness of night he would 
 spirit it to his home, and sit up with it in 
 the security of his den, patting it fondly 
 and glorying in its never-diminishing de 
 lights. 
 
 With such constantly recurring experi 
 ences it was not strange that the large 
 profits so boastfully predicted failed to flow 
 into the family coffers. Customers mar 
 veled that while they were unable to buy 
 for themselves the books exhibited on the 
 shelves, and which subsequently disap 
 peared, they could never trace them to the 
 houses of the book-seeking fraternity 
 for Thomas kept a hard and fast rule that 
 87 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 no bibliophile should be permitted to enter 
 his den. "All men are not so honest as 
 I," he said, significantly, "and klepto 
 mania is too often associated with biblio 
 mania. I do not mean to intimate," he 
 added, "that my friends are not to be 
 trusted; I merely wish to keep from put 
 ting them in the way of temptation. 
 
 Thus the days ran on, and the golden 
 age of prosperity seemed more distant 
 than ever. Household bills became more 
 pressing, and Betty admitted that she was 
 at the end of her eloquence and resources 
 to defer the day of judgment. Hannah, 
 with her hair a little whiter and her face a 
 little paler, bore her lot uncomplainingly, 
 unshaken in her faith in the man she loved, 
 and believing against all rational belief that 
 time would justify his hopes and promises. 
 
 In his candid moments Thomas would 
 confess with the most engaging simplicity 
 that his judgment was all right, though his 
 impulses might be all wrong. "Unfortu 
 nately," he would add, "my impulses 
 always take the precedence of my judg- 
 83 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 mcnt. Now, if we could so reconstruct 
 our natures that we have no impulses 
 whatever, how much more harmoniously 
 this world would be conducted. Questions 
 would then immediately resolve themselves 
 into a matter of judgment, and persons so 
 well equipped in that direction as myself 
 would have not the slightest difficulty in 
 perpetually doing the right thing. But 
 what can be expected when this thing we 
 call judgment comes along after the im 
 pulse has disposed of the point at issue?" 
 And the grief with which Thomas pre 
 sented this interrogatory always obtained 
 sympathy if it did not carry conviction. 
 
 Mr. Diggs, to whom this metaphysical 
 problem was offered, could find nothing to 
 say in contradiction, but one evening a fair 
 illustration of the difficulty was introduced, 
 when Thomas came home with a treasure 
 not exchangeable either at the grocery or 
 the butcher s shop. 
 
 "It s a little thing I picked up to-day at 
 a private sale," he said, with a sort of 
 forced gayety to Hannah, who met him at 
 89 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 the door, holding several ominous papers 
 in her hand, "the greatest find I have had 
 in a month. When I tell you that it is a 
 contemporaneous account of the Gordon 
 No Popery riots, and that there are only 
 three known copies in existence, you will 
 understand its value and congratulate me 
 on the purchase, which I must say was 
 surprisingly cheap." 
 
 "The No Popery riots?" echoed Han 
 nah. "I do not know what they are, 
 Thomas. I have never heard of them." 
 
 "Exactly; that is what I thought," re 
 plied Thomas, briskly, "and that is one of 
 the reasons I bought the book. We shall 
 read it together, dear, and you will find it 
 one of the most entertaining and instruct 
 ive of eighteenth-century records." 
 
 "And what will thee do with it then, 
 Thomas?" inquired the afflicted Hannah. 
 
 "Well, I have not quite decided. I 
 thought I would put it away in the book 
 case for a few days in order that I may 
 consult it from time to time. And then I 
 can dispose of it as opportunity arises. 
 90 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 "Ah, Thomas," sighed Hannah, "has 
 thee not yet learned that whatever goes 
 into that bookcase never comes out? I 
 must be a poor wife who always interferes 
 with her husband s pleasures and deprives 
 him of his best comforts, but trouble has 
 come. This paper tells me that thy taxes 
 are due and wholly unpaid, and the in 
 surance man has written that thee has 
 neglected thy last premium. Betty spoke 
 to me to-day of money which I could not 
 give her, and the grocer s boy has called 
 twice. What, then, will it profit us that 
 we may read of the No Popery riots or 
 rejoice in the scarcity of copies?" 
 
 The cloud gathered on Thomas s face, 
 for he recognized the force of the argu 
 ment. They went into the house and 
 Thomas sat down and gave himself over 
 to reflection. Then he said, repentantly: 
 
 "You are right, as you are always right. 
 My judgment tells me now that my im 
 pulses failed me when I did not accept an 
 advance of ten dollars on the original price, 
 offered immediately after I bought the 
 91 
 
The Bondage of Ealllnger 
 
 book. But I see my mistake and I shall 
 atone for it. Here I begin a new leaf, and 
 I shall prove to you that I know how to 
 take advantage of things to our profit. 
 To-morrow I shall take the book back 
 yes, that is the thing to do and dispose of 
 it as I can, even if I am obliged to sell it 
 at the purchase price. I feel much 
 stronger, now that I have made up my 
 mind to do the right thing. As for these 
 trifles you speak of, dear, these little mat 
 ters of mere business detail, don t let them 
 worry you. I shall easily find a way to 
 provide for them, and that shall be my first 
 duty after I have disencumbered myself of 
 this wretched book. 
 
 With this Thomas looked longingly and 
 dejectedly at the offending volume, a glance 
 that was not lost on the anxious wife. 
 
 "Perhaps there may be another way out 
 of our difficulty," she said, gently, "for it 
 seems cruel to deprive thee of what thee 
 has set thy heart on so strongly. And I 
 feel so helpless, dear, when I think how 
 much a cleverer woman might do to per- 
 92 
 
The Bondage of Ealllnger 
 
 mit her husband to gratify his great tastes. 
 If I only had some jewelry I could sell, or 
 if I could earn money in some way, the 
 book might still be thine. * 
 
 Even a less impulsive man than Thomas 
 might have been moved by this show of 
 wifely devotion, for it was all so simple 
 and so genuine that it struck the heart with 
 double force. He replied with feeling: 
 
 "No, Hannah, there is no sacrifice of 
 which thee is not capable, and there is 
 nothing of generosity or help which thee 
 has ever withheld. It is through thy 
 goodness that thee will see that I am 
 stronger than even I believed, and that I 
 can carry out the good determination I 
 have formed. What should I be without 
 thy gentleness and affection, dear? How 
 impatiently I am waiting to show thee what 
 new desires thee has kindled for my better 
 life, and how I long to prove to thee the 
 firmness of my will." 
 
 In the morning he exhibited the book, 
 carefully wrapped up in many thicknesses 
 of paper, in order, as he jokingly explained, 
 93 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 that the temptation might be as far re 
 moved as possible. "You see, Hannah," 
 he cried, exultingly, "the victory is already 
 won. Not once last evening did I permit 
 myself to look at this abominable thing, 
 and I am carrying it back as cheerfully and 
 contentedly as if there were a copy in every 
 library in the land. 
 
 So Hannah, with her eyes a little moist, 
 kissed him affectionately and he started 
 for the city with resolution firmly written 
 on his face. And he paused at the corner 
 to wave a last farewell, and to point with 
 marked significance to the package, which 
 he brandished with a gesture of contempt. 
 But in the evening when he returned, 
 Hannah noted with much dejection that he 
 still carried in his hand the mysterious par 
 cel with the heavy wrapping, and her heart 
 sank. She would say nothing, this para 
 gon of love and gentleness, to reproach 
 him, but he caught the sad look on her 
 face, and while blushing guiltily, vainly 
 endeavored to repress the note of triumph 
 in his voice as he said: 
 
 94 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 "You think I have failed, Hannah, and 
 that I am weaker than my boasting. I do 
 not blame you for your suspicions, for I 
 own that much that I have done warrants 
 any doubt of my ability to carry out so 
 large a promise. But this time you are 
 mistaken, and I have triumphed. I car 
 ried back the book as I intended, and I 
 have disposed of it in a manner that will 
 give you as much pleasure as it has given 
 me." 
 
 "And this?" asked Hannah, pointing to 
 the package. 
 
 "Ah, this is a master stroke. This is 
 one of the accomplishments of business 
 ingenuity we read about in fiction. This 
 is positively a feat of genius. As I said, I 
 carried back the book, strong in the reso 
 lution I made last evening, and was just on 
 the point of selling it to the man who was 
 my rival in the bidding when fortune inter 
 vened and sent one of my best customers 
 to the shop. No sooner had he clapped 
 his eyes on the book than I saw by the un 
 mistakable gleam of mania that he was 
 95 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 doomed. He took me aside and declared 
 that, whatever I might have promised, the 
 book must be his. So we dickered and 
 bargained until I brought him to my 
 terms." 
 
 " Still I do not understand," said 
 Hannah. 
 
 "Of course not, replied Thomas, "for 
 we have not yet come to the conclusion. 
 This customer of mine has long had an 
 Essays of Elia first series, Hannah on 
 which I have set my heart. I have cajoled 
 and flattered, set traps and made offers, 
 but he is such a stubborn fellow, and so 
 unreasonable, that I could not coax it from 
 him. Nothing short of the monumental 
 patience of Job restrained me from giving 
 up the fight long ago. But I hung on per 
 sistently and bided my time, and to-day 
 the Lord rewarded me and delivered him 
 into my hand. Now do you see?" 
 
 "Do I see," said Hannah, "that thee 
 has exchanged one book for another? Is 
 it an exchange?" 
 
 "Exactly that is, almost exactly. Of 
 96 
 
The Bondage of B a /linger 
 
 course I could not expect that he would 
 consent to an even exchange. I cannot 
 rob a man even while I best him, but when 
 I recall that I made the exchange with 
 merely the extra consideration of a paltry 
 five-dollar bill, I could hug myself for joy." 
 
 "Yet, Thomas," interposed Hannah, 
 very faintly, "how will the substitution of 
 one book for another help us in our present 
 emergencies? What advantage can we 
 draw from these essays, which thee has, 
 over those which might have come from 
 the riots? Of course thee is right, dear, 
 for thee is always right, but still I cannot 
 understand, and the grocer s boy has been 
 here again." 
 
 "The point is," explained Thomas, with 
 a reassuring smile, "that this book is really 
 worth much more than the other. Even 
 to-day, did any real trouble confront us, I 
 could dispose of it for a sum that would 
 pay these trifling bills which are so annoy 
 ing to you. But by putting it carefully 
 away, and waiting until I can find the man 
 who is really anxious to possess it, I dare 
 97 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 not attempt to say what it will bring. 
 There is where the science of book collect 
 ing, from a mercenary point of view, is 
 displayed. So you see that I have made 
 a bargain after all, and you will acknowl 
 edge that you share my joy and that we are 
 very fortunate. 
 
 And Hannah, loyal, faithful Hannah, 
 who knew what it was to experience much 
 more fear and anxiety than joy, smiled 
 bravely and went up to Thomas and kissed 
 him and dissembled with all that adorable 
 guile of which woman is capable, while she 
 said: 
 
 "Thy joy is always my happiness, dear, 
 and I know it will all come out right in 
 good time. And though our way may 
 seem a little dark and uncertain, and we 
 are wandering in a maze of difficulties, thy 
 good judgment and hopefulness are sure to 
 bring us through if I am but patient and 
 strong-hearted, as I shall try to be. We 
 shall triumph over all our little troubles in 
 the future, Thomas, as we have triumphed 
 in the past. Thee shall teach me to be as 
 98 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 cheery and sanguine as thyself, and I will 
 try to be as brave as I am happy. 
 
 Whereupon these two children embraced 
 with fervor, and Thomas went off to his 
 den to gloat over his new treasure and see 
 that it was properly catalogued and be 
 stowed away. But if, as the night wore 
 on, he could have stood invisible in Han 
 nah s chamber, and read her thoughts as 
 she put up her petition in humbleness of 
 spirit, he might have been stirred in his 
 love for a greater treasure. For in the 
 privacy of her soul-communion this gentle 
 creature prayed: 
 
 "And Thou wilt bless him who is so 
 dear to me, and prolong his days that I 
 may the longer be with him and love him. 
 And Thou wilt, in Thy great mercy and 
 wisdom, so direct and guide him that he 
 may be weaned from his infatuation and 
 taught to walk discreetly in the paths of 
 safety. Help us, dear Lord, for our ways 
 are sorely troubled!" 
 
 99 
 
ALL the children on the street and in 
 the neighborhood knew Thomas. 
 The little girls smiled on him and the little 
 boys pelted him with snowballs or early 
 vegetables or small and unripe fruits, as 
 the season of the year afforded weapons. 
 These attentions were measurably lost on 
 Thomas for the sufficiently conclusive rea 
 son that he was near-sighted and the boys 
 were bad marksmen. It does not follow 
 through reason of the recital of these hos 
 tile demonstrations that Thomas was not 
 fond of the little folk; he who loves books 
 usually loves children, though sometimes 
 in the abstract and for purposes of illus 
 tration, as was the case with Thomas. 
 And down in their mischievous little hearts 
 the boys liked Thomas, whom they dubbed 
 "Old Books" in recognition of his profes 
 sion and the general nature of his parcels, 
 and whom they pelted merely because it is 
 the formula of a boy s life that whenever 
 
 100 
 
The 
 
 you see anything to hit you must hit it. 
 The little girls liked Thomas because on a 
 memorable occasion he had stopped to 
 rescue a kitten from the fangs of a dog 
 about the size of a cocoanut, for it is born 
 in little girls to be tender-hearted and ap 
 preciative of the nicer amenities of life. 
 But whether the children liked him or he 
 liked them was a question which had never 
 offered itself to Thomas s attention in the 
 press of other and seemingly more impor 
 tant matters. 
 
 It was the caprice of fate that one after 
 noon, as he was returning from the shop, 
 Thomas approached the corner of the 
 street leading to his house just as a very 
 small young woman on roller skates, with 
 a set expression around the mouth, came 
 tearing down the sidewalk to the natural 
 point of intersection. Just why this young 
 lady persisted in turning to the left when 
 the necessities of residence compelled 
 Thomas to turn to the right, and without 
 audible warning or even telepathic com 
 munication, is a problem that may be left 
 
 101 
 
f he Bondage of Bal linger 
 
 to the psychologists, but the two turns 
 were accomplished simultaneously and the 
 inevitable happened. Thomas carried 
 under his arm the usual number of books 
 demanded by long precedent, and was 
 otherwise provided with parcels of a do 
 mestic nature. Consequently when the 
 small young woman precipitated herself 
 full upon his stomach the books and par 
 cels flew in all directions, and as Thomas 
 recoiled from the shock he became con 
 scious of a pair of plump little legs raising 
 themselves in the air from a tangled mass 
 of varied and variegated clothing. 
 
 "Bless my soul!" exclaimed Thomas, 
 when it became apparent that the cyclone 
 had passed, "what has happened, and what 
 have we here?" 
 
 The little legs wriggled back to earth, 
 the clothing fell around them, and very 
 slowly the head and shoulders of a sur 
 prised and offended little girl came into 
 view. She was a pretty little girl, with 
 dark hair that tumbled all over her head 
 and face, with snappy black eyes, a pleas- 
 
 102 
 
Tfie Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 ant little nose, and the kind of mouth that 
 promised attractions of an unusual nature 
 at a later period. A woman would have 
 noticed at once that her clothing put her 
 above the level of the ordinary children of 
 the neighborhood, but all such signs of 
 opulence and distinction were lost on 
 Thomas, who continued to regard the cause 
 of his disaster with amused interest. The 
 little girl was the first to speak. "Was it 
 you?" she said. 
 
 "Partly/ replied Thomas, with a smile, 
 "and partly you. I think we may both 
 claim the honor. 
 
 The child smoothed down her little skirts 
 and felt solicitously of her knees. "I am 
 very sorry." 
 
 "Which shows that you are an extremely 
 polite little girl, " Thomas answered, kindly, 
 "and I am going to ask your name." 
 
 "My name is Helen Bascom, but folks 
 I don t like call me Nellie." 
 
 "That is strange. My name is Thomas 
 Ballinger, and folks I do like very much 
 call me Tommy." 
 
 103 
 
The Bondage of EalHnger 
 
 The little girl looked interested. "I 
 know you, " she said; "you live down in 
 the cottage with Aunt Thou. 
 
 This characterization of the good Hannah 
 appealed to Thomas s sense of humor, and 
 he laughed uproariously. "So you know 
 Aunt Thou, do you? Well we shall get 
 on famously. How do you like her, now 
 that you know her, and how does it happen 
 that you became acquainted?" 
 
 "We all know Aunt Thou," continued 
 the child, with no abatement of her gravity. 
 "She makes good cakes." 
 
 "Yes," said Thomas, "making cakes is 
 one of her prime qualifications. I think 
 that was the way she first attracted my 
 serious attention." 
 
 Thomas had not improved his opportuni 
 ties to talk to children and did not choose 
 his words with any reference to juvenile 
 comprehension. The little girl stared at 
 him curiously. 
 
 "Meanwhile," he went on, good- 
 naturedly, "you have knocked off my 
 spectacles, and I appear to be out three 
 104 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 books and two paper parcels. How would 
 you like to help me look for them? Ah, 
 here are the spectacles; thank you very 
 much. One, two, yes, these are the par 
 cels. And the books. William Penn s 
 Reflections on the Conduct of Human 
 Life, yes; and Ricketts s Defence of the 
 Revival of Printing that makes two; 
 and Caxton s Sayings of the Philosophers 
 now we have them all, and you are a 
 very smart little girl. " 
 
 "I ll carry them for you, if you like/* 
 said the child. * 
 
 "Will you, my dear? Now, that is most 
 opportune. I was just wondering what 
 your Aunt Thou would say when she saw 
 me coming down the street with all this 
 literature; for, just between you and me, 
 Helen, I don t believe this sort of reading 
 is much in her line. But I forgot to ask 
 you if you were hurt. You are not? I m 
 glad of that. Of course you have no way 
 of knowing it, but I am very fond of chil 
 dren. I was a school-teacher once." 
 
 Helen looked as if that announcement 
 105 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 did not carry with it any reason for special 
 gratification, but as she was a well-trained 
 little girl she said nothing in disparagement 
 of the calling, and by this time they had 
 reached the door of the cottage. 
 
 "I don t think I ll go in to-day, " Helen 
 remarked, with the most gracious conde 
 scension, as she surrendered the books. 
 
 "That is certainly an unexpected blow, " 
 replied Thomas, delighted with the ingenu 
 ousness of the child. "But possibly you 
 will favor us some other time. You shall 
 come and I will show you my books. 
 
 "Are they like these? " asked the child, 
 doubtfully. 
 
 Not all of them. I dare say we shall find 
 a few that would be interesting to you. So 
 you must come, for I like you very much. * 
 
 "I ll come," said the child, with a 
 solemnity that seemed to indicate more a 
 call of duty than a visit of pleasure, and 
 she departed with great dignity, carrying 
 her skates in her hand. 
 
 Much diverted by his experience Thomas 
 related the particulars to Hannah, who 
 106 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 immediately recognized by the description 
 and the name the daughter of the most 
 magnificent householder along the shore. 
 "Thee has treated the little lady with 
 scant courtesy, I fear, Thomas, she said, 
 chidingly. 
 
 "By no means, " replied Thomas. "I 
 have invited her to call and she has ac 
 cepted with pleasure. Nothing could have 
 been more ceremonious or courteous. 
 
 "The child of Stephen Bascom will find 
 little to interest her in our cottage, 
 Thomas. " 
 
 "Well, I am not so sure of that. The 
 child of Stephen Bascom, so far as I can 
 see, is much like any other child. She has 
 already found enough in your cakes to in 
 terest her, so if all other devices fail we 
 can fall back on the kitchen and the pantry. 
 If I cannot appeal to her intellectual side 
 we may win through the stomach. 
 
 "I sometimes wish God had sent us a 
 little child like that, Thomas," said Han 
 nah, looking wistfully at the children play 
 ing in the street. 
 
 107 
 
The Bondage of Ba/lmger 
 
 "And so do I, if she could be like you, 
 dear, answered the lover, stooping to kiss 
 the old wife; "but," he went on, gayly, 
 "what would Betty do with another child 
 in the house? She complains now that she 
 has too many children to look after. 
 
 The next morning the little girl with the 
 tangled hair and the roller skates was a 
 far-off memory, and as one day quickly 
 followed another Thomas completely for 
 got his offer of hospitality and his promised 
 guest. But toward the end of the week, 
 as he came up the steps, and started to 
 unlock the door, he heard a child s voice 
 come out from the vines around the porch: 
 
 "How do you do, Tommy?" 
 
 Startled by such unexpected familiarity, 
 Thomas turned quickly and saw coming 
 toward him his little friend of the adven 
 ture, rather elaborately dressed, considering 
 her age and size, but perfectly composed 
 and unconscious of anything unusual in her 
 appearance or salutation. "I have come 
 to call," she said. 
 
 "Why, it s little Helen!" exclaimed 
 108 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 Thomas. "Now this is a treat. But tell 
 me," he added, with a twinkle, "how did 
 you happen to remember my name so per 
 fectly?" 
 
 "Oh," answered the child, gravely, 
 "you know that you said that people you 
 like very much call you Tommy. And 
 you said you liked me very much, so I 
 must call you Tommy." 
 
 "And so I did, and so you must," said 
 Thomas, overcome by such a logical con 
 clusion, "but ladies who call me Tommy 
 always kiss me, and I cannot let you 
 off." 
 
 As Helen showed no disposition to escape 
 the responsibility, arid as she accepted the 
 situation in the most matter-of-fact way, 
 the ceremony was performed without un 
 necessary delay. "Now," said Thomas, 
 "since you have been appropriately re 
 ceived at the portals, let us go in and look 
 at the splendors of this mansion." 
 
 The thought that he was entertaining the 
 daughter of a millionaire appealed more to 
 the humorous sense of Thomas than of 
 109 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 Hannah, for that good woman, while 
 recognizing the youth of the visitor, and 
 while drawn to her by every motherly in 
 stinct, could not repress a shuddering 
 dread that the child was making mental 
 note of the shabbiness of the surroundings 
 and contrasting the narrowness and plain 
 ness of the cottage with the luxury of her 
 own home. With all her admirable virtues 
 Hannah was still a woman. This uneasi 
 ness was not lost on Thomas, who con 
 tinued to load the little girl with mock 
 attentions. 
 
 "You will note, Helen, I hope, that we 
 are occupying this house only temporarily, 
 or until we move into our new palace. 
 This is the parlor somewhat small, even 
 for our purposes, but the furnishings are 
 of the most antique, not to say antiquated, 
 pattern. Here is the dining-room, com 
 manding a fine and unobstructed view of 
 the lake. Just beyond is the closet where 
 Aunt Thou secretes her Napoleon plates 
 and her Louis XVI. cups and saucers. 
 And at the left there, you will see the 
 no 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 pantry, sacred to those cakes which put us 
 on a common footing. 
 
 But all this raillery was lost on the little 
 girl, who hardly looked around, and who 
 said, very simply, "I should like to see the 
 books." 
 
 Now, if the good angel who is supposed 
 to stand invisible at the side of every child, 
 and provide against all possible mishaps 
 and peradventure, had whispered in 
 Helen s ear, he could not have instructed 
 her to say anything more pleasing to 
 Thomas or more fortunate for herself. 
 The effect was instantaneous, and the old 
 bookman reproached himself for his banter. 
 "Surely," he thought, "a child who 
 wishes to look at books is no ordinary crea 
 ture whose time may be wasted exploring 
 pantries and looking at dilapidated dining- 
 room chairs. I see now that I have been 
 entirely mistaken in this little girl, who is 
 certainly not only intelligent, but uncom 
 monly pretty, and I have no doubt that she 
 has a fine mind which can be directed to a 
 high degree of intellectuality notwithstand- 
 iii 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 ing the presumable poverty of her home 
 surroundings. This error of mine illus 
 trates how carelessly we may misjudge 
 those who are appreciative of good things 
 and capable of the better thought. And 
 then, in a gentle and kindly tone, he said: 
 
 "So you shall, my dear. I had quite 
 forgotten that we had come to see a differ 
 ent kind of antiques. You shall see the 
 books, and I will tell you all about them, 
 and one of these days, when you are older 
 and able to read them for yourself, we ll 
 have famous times together just you and 
 I, Helen, reading and talking and explain 
 ing, and incidentally, collecting. 
 
 So up the stairs they climbed and came 
 to the den, which was found in as admir 
 able disorder as ever charmed the fancy of 
 the most normal and healthy child. The 
 books were piled indiscriminately on the 
 table and ran over the shelves. The pic 
 tures hung on the walls at all sorts of 
 angles, and letters and manuscript and 
 autographed poems were framed or half 
 framed or pinned rather recklessly on the 
 
 112 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 doors and along the window- sashes. 
 "Ho," cried the little girl, and her eyes 
 danced as she took in the bewilderment of 
 objects, and she clapped her hands, "this 
 is lovely!" 
 
 While Thomas stood in silent enjoyment 
 of the child s ecstasy, she turned to him 
 suddenly and asked: 
 
 "Are you in the grocery business, 
 Tommy?" 
 
 "Why, no, dear," replied Thomas, a 
 little staggered by the abruptness of the 
 unexpected question; "to be honest with 
 you, I am not in the grocery business. 
 Why do you ask? Do you see anything 
 here that suggests a grocery store?" 
 
 "No, but you have such lots of beautiful 
 things in this room, and whenever we get 
 anything new that we like at our house, 
 father always says, Well, we must thank 
 the grocery business for this. 
 
 "That s the right way to look at 
 it," answered Thomas, with emphasis. 
 "Always be grateful to the grocery busi 
 ness if it supplies you with the luxuries you 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 like. Never be above the honorable means 
 that keep you in what you want. Now, in 
 my case, it is the bookshop business which 
 affords me all these pleasures. How 
 many times have I tried to impress this on 
 your Aunt Thou, who is usually a woman 
 of such quick perceptions, but she cannot 
 seem to understand it." And Thomas 
 spoke with much feeling. 
 
 "I suppose," said Helen, with dejec 
 tion, "that the reason we don t have a 
 nice room full of things like these is be 
 cause we are in the grocery business. 
 
 "Yes," replied Thomas, pityingly, "I 
 am afraid that is true. Of course your 
 father has plenty of money and can buy all 
 the books you need. That is not the rea 
 son. But I dare say that when a man 
 comes home at night with his head full of 
 the price of coffee and sugar and codfish 
 and cocoanuts, he has no time to think of 
 books. I cannot blame him," he added, 
 magnanimously, "but I will admit that I 
 am sorry for him." 
 
 The child shook her head mournfully as 
 114 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 she walked from one object to another. 
 "It s too bad we are not in the bookshop 
 business. 
 
 "O, as to that," said Thomas, sooth 
 ingly, "the grocery business is not so bad, 
 and I presume there are some things about 
 it which make it really desirable. I have 
 often thought myself, at the end of the 
 month, that it would be quite worth while 
 to be connected with a grocery, though at 
 other times I do not give it much thought. 
 
 If you want to go into the grocery busi 
 ness, spoke up the child quickly, I can 
 fix that." 
 
 "You can fix that, and how?" 
 
 "Til tell my father to take you in with 
 us." 
 
 "Really, that is most kind," chuckled 
 Thomas, "but it may be that your father 
 will not care to have me for a partner." 
 
 "My father does everything I say," re 
 plied the child, imperiously, and with the 
 air of one who considered the matter 
 already settled. 
 
 "What a little autocrat we have here, to 
 "5 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 be sure," said Thomas. "Let me tell you 
 what I ll do, Helen. Suppose you let me 
 peg away at the bookshop business a while 
 longer, and then if I do not make a suc 
 cess of it, you can take me into the grocery 
 business. Perhaps it would be just as well 
 not to say anything to your father about it 
 at present, for he might be terribly disap 
 pointed to think what he has lost, and when 
 we may, we should always try to keep un 
 pleasant things from our friends. * 
 
 Then Thomas took the little girl around 
 the room and showed her all his treasures, 
 and told her of the pictures and the great 
 men they represented. And he allowed 
 her to handle the precious manuscript 
 letters that would have brought fabulous 
 prices at public sale and explained to her 
 the conditions under which they were writ 
 ten how, when he was a little boy, scarcely 
 larger than herself, these famous men, long 
 dead, had written to him, and how he had 
 walked and talked with them in the long 
 ago. But most of all the child wondered 
 at the old bookcase, and toyed with the big 
 116 
 
Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 padlock, and peered curiously and longingly 
 through the glass doors at the little brown 
 and faded books so carefully locked away. 
 This Thomas pretended not to see, but 
 afterward he confessed to Hannah that it 
 had excited his amazement. 
 
 "I cannot hide from myself the fact,* 
 said he, "that my meeting with this little 
 girl was providential interposition. There 
 is more in her than her parents and our 
 good but somewhat dull neighbors see, 
 and it is perfectly clear that heaven has 
 decreed that I am to be the humble instru 
 ment to raise her from her depressing en 
 vironment. How fortunate it is that I 
 turned the corner that day just as she 
 came down the street under a full head of 
 steam. Wonderful are the workings of 
 Providence. 
 
 Perhaps it occurred to Hannah, as it 
 might have occurred to any one of her 
 sex, that the environment of a small young 
 woman who was the petted and only child 
 of a many times millionaire was not alto 
 gether so depressing and deplorable as 
 117 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 Thomas feared. But she was too loyal a 
 wife to dispute his conclusions, so she 
 merely replied: "Thee is a wise instructor 
 for any child, Thomas, and the good Lord 
 does everything for the best." 
 
 It was certainly creditable to the innate 
 piety of this worthy couple that whenever 
 things went satisfactorily the Lord always 
 received full praise and acknowledgment, 
 though neither Thomas nor Hannah was 
 conspicuous in church circles or public 
 meetings of the elect. And if, on the 
 other hand, matters turned out disastrously, 
 there was no grumbling at the higher power, 
 or disposition to shirk the responsibilities 
 of mortal weakness and error. As Chris 
 tians go in this advanced generation, the old 
 bookman and his Quaker wife were well up 
 in the processionof unostentatious believers. 
 
 ; I have been giving this matter con 
 siderable thought," said Thomas, rather 
 solemnly, "and I have come to the conclu 
 sion that the peculiar attitude of Helen 
 Bascom toward books is clearly the influ 
 ence of unexplained heredity. 
 118 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 "Will she never get over it?" anxiously 
 asked Hannah. The thought of the poor 
 child growing up and inviting domestic 
 suffering by a slavish partiality for books 
 was too much for this excellent soul s 
 maternal feelings. 
 
 "I trust not," answered Thomas, glanc 
 ing over his spectacles with a look of mild 
 reproach. "Such a holy passion should 
 be encouraged. It means a great deal, 
 Hannah." 
 
 "Yes, Thomas" this very meekly 
 "it means a great deal." 
 
 "I was going on to say," he resumed, 
 "when you broke in irrelevantly, that the 
 child has all the natural instincts of a book 
 lover and collector. Something in her, 
 which may have skipped, and probably did 
 skip, three or four generations, draws her 
 as irresistibly to books as other children are 
 attracted to ordinary juvenile pleasures. 
 Else why did she single out that old book 
 case for her special admiration?" 
 
 "Perhaps it was the glass doors?" ven 
 tured Hannah. 
 
 119 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 "Nonsense. Is it not likely that she 
 sees plenty of glass doors at home?" 
 
 "Then it may have been the padlock. 
 That is truly a very large and striking 
 padlock. * 
 
 "Not at all. You are making the mis 
 take of supposing that this is an ordinary 
 child and one attracted by ordinary objects. 
 It was the books the peculiar kind of 
 books that always excites the slumbering 
 collecting instinct. This is a psychologi 
 cal phenomenon which she is too young to 
 understand, much less to explain, but I 
 understand it perfectly, for one true book- 
 lover is always in sympathetic touch with 
 another, and I remember that I had this 
 same bewildering experience when I was 
 her age. It is plainly my duty to develop 
 that instinct, and I expect to prove to you 
 that my theory is correct, and that the 
 child knows instinctively not only an old 
 book from a modern one, but a rare book 
 from the drug in the market. 
 
 "But, Thomas, does thee think that her 
 parents will be pleased to have thee 
 
 120 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 superintend her education? Perhaps they 
 may have other plans for the little lady, 
 that will fit her for the part she must play 
 in the great world, and will be averse to 
 thy teaching. 
 
 "In the ordinary significance of the 
 word I do not expect to be her teacher," 
 answered Thomas, somewhat severely, 
 "for I shall merely guide her along certain 
 lines, as I was so fortunately conducted 
 when I was a child. It means a great 
 deal in the book world to be started 
 right." 
 
 Whatever Hannah s opinions as to this 
 may have been, as formed from a some 
 what rigorous experience, she did not 
 choose to express them, and Thomas went 
 on: 
 
 "Our atmosphere here, I think I may 
 say, is fairly bookish, and our home influ 
 ence is decidedly beneficial to any child 
 who really wishes to lead a studious life. 
 Should this little girl desire to partake of 
 this atmosphere and influence from time 
 to time, we should not deprive her of the 
 
 121 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 opportunity. In fact, her eagerness may 
 stimulate us to renewed appreciation of 
 the blessings of books." 
 
 Hannah smiled. "God help us!" 
 groaned Betty in the kitchen. 
 
 132 
 
IT is not in the least degree improbable 
 that had not Thomas Ballinger felt 
 compelled to prove his theory in order to 
 preserve his home reputation the experi 
 ence in the den would have been merely a 
 passing incident. In no small measure his 
 enthusiasm was kept alive by the little girl 
 herself, who had conceived a violent attach 
 ment for her new friend, and who waylaid 
 him with such frankness and unconscious 
 persistence that he succumbed as quickly 
 to her attentions as he had previously sur 
 rendered to his curiosity. Miss Helen was 
 nothing if not arbitrary, but she made her 
 exactions so politely and winningly that a 
 much more crafty man than Thomas might 
 have easily capitulated. " There is a time 
 to skate and a time to study," he would 
 exclaim, gayly, when he came home in the 
 afternoon and found her waiting for him at 
 the corner or on the porch. And then 
 they would go together up into the den and 
 
The Bondage of Ba I linger 
 
 discuss such topics as an old book-gatherer 
 and his young disciple would naturally 
 affect. 
 
 Notwithstanding Thomas s brief and 
 somewhat inglorious career as a pedagogue, 
 he soon showed that with an apt and inter 
 ested pupil he was abundantly qualified to 
 take the chair of English literature. And 
 he found that he must begin at the begin 
 ning, a condition that pleased him greatly, 
 for it further bore out his theory of an in 
 herited literary impulse. The little girl for 
 a long time experienced the difficulty which 
 the student of philosophy encounters when 
 first he confronts the masters; much that 
 Thomas said went over her head, for he 
 had not yet learned the art of talking to 
 children, and addressed her with as much 
 formality and with as stately words as if he 
 were delivering an address in a post-gradu 
 ate course. Hannah ventured to suggest 
 that he might simplify his speech occasion 
 ally for the child s benefit, but he replied, 
 loftily, "What does it matter how I speak 
 to her? The girl has the instinct, and gets 
 124 
 
The Bondage of Eallmger 
 
 the meaning intuitively." Thomas was 
 true to his theory. 
 
 And perhaps he was right. For the 
 little girl listened to him with rapt attention 
 as he went over the story of his boyhood 
 days, and told her how he had talked with 
 Mr. Longfellow just as sociably and frankly 
 as he was now talking with her. Indeed, 
 it surprised him not a little to find that she 
 did not appear to recall Mr. Longfellow, 
 as it would have been entirely in harmony 
 with his expanding theory to learn that 
 she had known him well in a previous in 
 carnation. There were some discrepancies 
 in this personal ignorance which Thomas 
 could not reconcile, and with which he was 
 constantly at war. Then he would go to the 
 old bookcase and take out one of the faded 
 books and read to her the human poems of 
 the human singer, and they would stand 
 together at the window and look out over 
 the great lake and give full play to their 
 romantic fancies. It pleased them to think 
 of the water-crib, two miles distant, as the 
 Gurnet which the May Flower rounded, 
 125 
 
The Bondage of Ba/Iinger 
 
 "Leaving far to the southward 
 
 Island and cape of sand, and the Field of the First 
 Encounter." 
 
 The lighter ripples of the sand that 
 showed the bar near the shore they would 
 call the reef of Norman s Woe, and the 
 little yachts that danced and bobbed down 
 the lake in threatening proximity were 
 always associated in Helen s mind with the 
 ill-fated Hesperus. When she learned the 
 poem and would recite it at Thomas s bid 
 ding, taking her station at the window 
 where she could see the bar and she now 
 firmly believed it was the poet s reef the 
 tears would come to her eyes at the tragi 
 cal conclusion, while Thomas rubbed his 
 spectacles and cleared his throat before he 
 ventured to say, "Very well, little Helen, 
 very well!" 
 
 For days in a musty shop and evenings 
 in an atmosphere of books had not driven 
 all the sentiment from the old man s nature, 
 and this child, with her strange enthusiasm 
 for the things he loved, eagerly listening to 
 his stories of books and bookmen, and 
 126 
 
The Bondage of Balllnger 
 
 reciting one after another the poems of his 
 fancy, stirred up the happy memories, and 
 often he would weep when something in 
 the child s voice touched him a little too 
 deeply, and he would cry out at the close: 
 "This is finer than the grocery business, 
 eh, Helen?" 
 
 "Much finer, Tommy," the child would 
 gravely answer. 
 
 Since the day she had startled him by 
 her familiar address Thomas had insisted 
 that she should never call him anything 
 more formal than Tommy, and without the 
 faintest idea of any impropriety Helen had 
 obeyed. The comradeship that existed 
 from the beginning between the old man 
 and the little girl grew stronger as the 
 months went by, and whenever he was at 
 home Thomas was restless and uneasy 
 until he saw his little bookworm, as he 
 called her. A less gentle spirit than 
 Hannah s might have rebelled at this 
 partiality, but the child with no less sure- 
 ness had found her way as well into that 
 motherly heart, and the joyousness of her 
 127 
 
The Bondage of Ealllnger 
 
 young life and the eagerness of her hope 
 and purpose had carried Hannah back over 
 the waste of forty years to the days when 
 everything had been bright and beautiful 
 to her before before ah, what tragedies 
 lie hidden in that little word before! 
 
 On Saturday afternoon, or at the begin 
 ning of a long holiday, when the child came 
 to the cottage, Thomas would call out to 
 her, "Come, little Helen, let s go off to 
 Walden pond!" And down to one of the 
 city parks they would trudge, and Thomas 
 would hire a boat that they might row out 
 on the artificial lake while he told her again 
 of his boyhood and of the time when he 
 and Mr. Thoreau were boon companions 
 in adventures by land and water. Indeed, 
 it is to be feared that the old man s descrip 
 tions were rather too glowing for the imagi 
 nation of the child, for Helen s youthful 
 ideas of the poet-naturalist pictured a giant 
 several feet higher than the average man, 
 with arms like tree-trunks and with the 
 strength of a Titan. Thomas himself 
 declared that never had he seen a boat 
 128 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 rowed with such skill and swiftness as 
 Thoreau employed, although, if pressed, 
 he would reluctantly admit that he had wit 
 nessed little or no oarsmanship since that 
 hazy and remarkable period. 
 
 "It is truly astonishing," said Thomas, 
 in one of his philosophic musings, "how 
 material things dwarf with age. I remem 
 ber distinctly that when 1 was a boy, there 
 was a walnut-tree back of the old parson 
 age down in Massachusetts that stood at 
 least three hundred and fifty feet high. 
 There can be no doubt of it; I recall it 
 perfectly. Yet my neighbor, Colver, who 
 spent a summer in that neighborhood a 
 year or two ago, told me that it had fallen 
 away fully eighty per cent of that measure 
 ment. It seems incredible that such 
 shrinkage could have been accomplished in 
 a few years, and I was almost tempted to 
 write on and secure the exact dimensions, 
 but Colver is a truthful man, one whose 
 word is to be accepted for any ordinary 
 narration, and I did not like to pain him 
 by implying any doubt. And Thomas in 
 129 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 his heart would silently give thanks that 
 Thoreau had passed away in comparative 
 youth, before the ravages of time could 
 shrivel that imposing figure. 
 
 The Bascoms were mildly amused by the 
 interest their daughter took in "the Profes 
 sor, as Bascom was accustomed to desig 
 nate Thomas. Although Bascom knew 
 that Thomas was the proprietor of an old 
 bookshop, and although Mrs. Bascom, with 
 proper maternal solicitude, had secured 
 assurances that the Ballingers were respect 
 able and worthy folk, they had not allowed 
 their own sympathy to go to greater lengths. 
 The fact that Thomas was in any way con 
 nected with books conveyed to Bascom s 
 mind the wholly inconsequent notion that 
 he must be a professor, in title if not in 
 actual occupation, for Bascom was too 
 fully taken up with multitudinous commer 
 cial interests to give much thought to the 
 minor distinctions of the intellectual life. 
 As for Mrs. Bascom, to whom her husband 
 admiringly referred as "the Major, " in con 
 sequence of a commanding air in the juris- 
 130 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 diction of the home, she had her doubts as 
 to the worldly advantages arising from too 
 close intercourse with a library, but she 
 was a woman of affairs too engrossing to 
 be diverted by the whim of a child. 
 
 With the passing of the months the girl 
 began to give evidences of beneficial results 
 from intercourse with the bookman, and to 
 talk familiarly of bookish subjects which 
 were little more than the memory of a 
 name to her father. Bascom s curiosity 
 was stimulated, and when he learned that 
 she could recite whole pages of poetry from 
 the old man s library, he was so pleased 
 that he declared that the very next day he 
 would lay in a supply of books that would 
 be a credit to the British Museum. To 
 this Helen demurred, and pointed out to 
 her astonished father that such a proceed 
 ing would be wholly incompatible with 
 their position as the head of a large gro 
 cery business. For she argued with reason 
 ing based on comparison that if Thomas 
 could not deal in groceries because he was 
 so bookish, it naturally followed that peo- 
 131 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 pie engaged in that useful branch of com 
 merce should not consistently lumber up 
 their houses with books. If this did not 
 convince Bascom it delighted him, and he 
 cried out, "Nevermind, Helen, we ll fool 
 the Professor yet." 
 
 Then he would ask her to recite her 
 latest lesson, and while she declaimed he 
 would rub his hands and beam with pride. 
 "You should hear her," he would say 
 enthusiastically to his friends; "it is better 
 than a show. At a show, you know, you 
 are in for several hours, but at home I can 
 shut off the oratory whenever I have had 
 enough. 
 
 As the little girl s intelligence expanded, 
 her admiration for her old friend increased, 
 and it seemed to her that there was nothing 
 in the line of intellectual activity he could 
 not accomplish. In rummaging over his 
 books it had perplexed her to find none 
 with his name as the author, and her won 
 der increased when he confessed that he 
 had never written a book of any sort. 
 
 "And why?" she asked. 
 132 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 "I suppose because I have not found a 
 Maecenas." 
 
 " What s that?" inquired the puzzled 
 child. 
 
 "A Maecenas," replied Thomas, with a 
 smile, "was a mythological creature, 
 paganish of course, that is supposed to 
 have lived two thousand years ago. It 
 was a good-natured sort of animal, that put 
 in its time hunting up worthy people, like 
 me for instance, paying their bills, buying 
 farms for them, and giving them time to 
 write masterpieces without worrying over 
 incidental expenses." 
 
 "Was there really any such thing?" 
 
 "Well, history says so, but I don t be 
 lieve it. It doesn t seem natural; it is too 
 good to be true. I think a Maecenas was 
 just a plain myth, like a centaur or a faun 
 or a satyr, such as I have told you about. 
 
 "But if that kind of thing lived then, 
 why don t we have it now?" persisted the 
 child. 
 
 "Probably because there is no excuse 
 for it. We could not use Maecenases 
 133 
 
The Bondage of Ealllnger 
 
 now if we had them, for we have nobody 
 to write masterpieces, and if we had the 
 masterpieces nobody would read them. So 
 you see it would be a waste all around. 
 
 "Were women ever those things, 
 Tommy?" 
 
 "There have been women who did some 
 thing in that line, Helen, but I fancy they 
 did not go by that name. At least I have 
 never heard them called Maecenases. I 
 dare say they were myths, too." 
 
 "Then," said the child, firmly, "when 
 I grow up I am going to do something my 
 self. I m going to be your you know, 
 Tommy. 
 
 And Thomas laughed, but the words of 
 his little friend touched him, for does it not 
 come to every man or woman, struggling 
 with this tough old battle of life, that when 
 the crisis is at hand and all individual effort 
 fails, a Maecenas, whose arrival has been 
 long delayed, will rise up to save? Is not 
 optimism a general expression of a belief in 
 the coming of the fairy, and is not the 
 optimist he who, taking the buffets of fate 
 134 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 as they may be dealt, lives on serenely in 
 the confident assurance that fortune while 
 lingering cannot escape? Thomas had 
 never formulated any special views along 
 these lines, but in all his life of nearly 
 three score years the question of ultimate 
 failure and poverty had not presented itself. 
 He knew only that this is a very delightful 
 world, a world wherein everybody should be 
 comfortable and happy, with the absolute 
 certainty that in the graciousness of Provi 
 dence the good angel will appear at the 
 fitting moment. Thomas had acquired this 
 agreeable philosophy by nature; he had not 
 seen the demonstration in any of his books. 
 Meanwhile he lived his own happy life as 
 it came. Very closely the little girl had 
 crept into his heart, and often he would 
 come from the shop a little earlier in the 
 afternoon, always with the hope that he 
 would find her waiting at the corner, as 
 eager to welcome him as he to see her. 
 He taught her to make slide cases for the 
 old and crumbling books, and as they put 
 tered over the cardboard and the buckram, 
 
The Bondage of Eallmger 
 
 the colored papers and the labels, he would 
 tell her the story of each book and how he 
 obtained it, and how much it was to be 
 preferred, even in a tattered state, to the 
 gaudy modern editions. Occasionally his 
 conscience would reproach him as he saw 
 the other children playing in the street, and 
 he would confess how selfish he was to shut 
 her up in a dungeon with an old ogre like 
 himself, and at this she laughed. 
 
 And at other times it would come home 
 to him that the children were frolicking at 
 their parties, and enjoying themselves in 
 the manner of childhood, and he would 
 self-sacrificingly urge upon her that it 
 would be her duty very soon to keep up 
 her position in the world and associate 
 more constantly with people of wealth and 
 fashion among whom her paths would lie. 
 But she shook her head obstinately. 
 
 "They re not our kind of people, 
 Tommy. We couldn t stand em." 
 
 136 
 
THE months have lengthened into 
 years, and the years are flying 
 swiftly, Thomas Ballinger. Your head is 
 whitening and the stoop has come to your 
 shoulders. This boastful young fellow of 
 fifty, whose cheeriness and optimism noth 
 ing has been able to daunt, and who dreams 
 that he has drunk from the fountain of per 
 petual youth, is growing unmistakably old. 
 Those insignificant incidents of human ex 
 istence, which men call the cares of busi 
 ness, and which you were wont to toss off 
 so lightly, are now arising to plague you. 
 Even the saintlike Hannah, who has so 
 feared and trembled in the past, is stronger 
 and more courageous than you as fresh 
 difficulties come to confront you; her long 
 watching and waiting have taught her that 
 which you, in the downhill of life, are be 
 ginning to learn. 
 
 But the realization comes slowly, 
 Thomas. Occasional remorse may typify, 
 J 37 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 but it does not assure conversion. The 
 follies of a lifetime are not to be overcome 
 by a few twinges of rheumatism or the first 
 intimation of a departure of physical 
 strength. You will learn your lesson 
 gradually, Thomas, for you are very frail 
 and human. 
 
 "We re in a bad way, Hannah, a bad 
 way, he now began to sigh, repentantly, 
 at each new emergency, for emergencies 
 were happening along with uncomfortable 
 frequency. 
 
 "Nay, Thomas," replied his good angel, 
 with the memory of experience, "at the 
 worst, dear, we are in the same old way. 
 Thee must not worry. Remember that it 
 is our good fortune that everything comes 
 out right in the end. Thee must be brave 
 as thee has always been, and we shall 
 soon conquer our troubles. * 
 
 "I am going to be brave," said Thomas, 
 with another burst of spirit. "More than 
 that I am now going to do something I 
 should have done long ago. At last, 
 Hannah, I think I may tell you with safety 
 138 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 that I have made up my mind to sell my 
 books at least so many of them as may 
 be necessary to clear up our indebtedness 
 and give us a fresh start in the world. No, 
 do not remonstrate, for on this point I am 
 determined, and I shall listen to no objec 
 tions. I have dallied too long with my 
 good resolutions, but I thank heaven I can 
 now see my duty clearly. The business 
 has been going wretchedly of late, and you 
 may have noticed that I have been com 
 pelled to bring home some of the most 
 valuable articles from my stock. But to 
 morrow I shall let them go at any price, if 
 only to show you that I have turned over 
 a new leaf, and finally have conquered that 
 foolish sentiment which has kept us in 
 straits so many years. 
 
 And Hannah, good old Hannah, who 
 had listened to this song through all the 
 changes of the changing seasons, and had 
 long abandoned expectation of the peace and 
 serenity of life, could not find it in her heart 
 to reproach the fickleness of nature which 
 could bring nothing but renewed disappoint- 
 139 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 ment. She stroked the silvery hair, and 
 smiled her marvelous smile as she replied: 
 
 "Thee knows, Thomas, that I have 
 never lost confidence in thy good heart and 
 thy love. Thee has always been the best 
 of husbands to me, dear, and I am content. 
 Whatever thee finds in thy heart to do, 
 that I will accept with joy and gratitude." 
 
 "They did well when they named thee 
 Hannah, the gracious one, " said 
 Thomas, and his voice choked, "for thee 
 is gracious and loving beyond man s 
 desert. Trust me once more, old sweet 
 heart, and thee shall see how well thy con 
 fidence is repaid." 
 
 In the morning Thomas went to the shop 
 with determination written on his face, and 
 with a new and strong desire in his heart. 
 And in the evening he returned with Cole 
 ridge s "Sibylline Leaves," the first edi 
 tion of Kingsley s "Andromeda," and two 
 books from the Vale press. "It was a 
 great day for me!" he called, triumphantly, 
 to Hannah. 
 
 Those same years that had brought the 
 140 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 wrinkles and white hairs to Thomas and 
 Hannah had given strength and beauty to 
 the little Helen, for it is the amiable trick 
 of Time to make his compensations and 
 scatter his benefits that the ravages may 
 be forgotten. And Helen, with that proud 
 consciousness of maturing body and mind, 
 the first significant development from child 
 hood, gloried in her advancement, and 
 would stretch herself to her full height, lean 
 her fair young head on the old man s 
 shoulder, and sigh, with the betraying joy- 
 ousness of youth in her voice, "We are 
 growing old together, Tommy." If 
 Thomas smiled at this pleasant conceit, he 
 still at such times looked back nearly sixty 
 years to the day when he had felt this sunny 
 illusion, and realized how largely, after all, 
 age is a matter of the mind. 
 
 The relations between the master and the 
 pupil were broken only by those exigencies 
 which must arise in the life of a young 
 woman who is subject to the demands of a 
 fashionable education. The old friendship 
 was growing rather than diminishing, and 
 141 
 
The Bondage of Ealllnger 
 
 had never wavered since the day when, as 
 Thomas himself expressed it, "she ran 
 into my stomach and my life simultane 
 ously. With much of the old bookman s 
 library she was already familiar, and all 
 that was beautiful in poetry and romance 
 he had commended to her in the theory of 
 saturation, for he had a hearty scorn of 
 those who read by rule and measurement. 
 If you do not understand everything you 
 read now," he said, "it will come to you 
 by and by. At least some of it will stick, 
 and unconsciously, in reading the best, 
 your taste will be formed for the best. As 
 for general reading," he went on, "my 
 idea is that it is always safe to throw good 
 books in a child s way and let him make 
 his own selection. Advise him or hint to 
 him occasionally, but never make him read 
 a book as a task or a punishment. .Let 
 him browse for himself. If a child ever 
 has been ruined or measurably perverted by 
 the time he has spent in a library, or by 
 the influences he has found there, I have 
 never heard of the case." 
 142 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 To all of Thomas s books Helen was 
 welcome whenever he stood by to lock and 
 unlock the famous bookcase, and stand 
 guard lest the precious volumes should 
 take wing and escape. "You are too 
 young," he would reply simply when on 
 these occasions she would smile and jok 
 ingly ask if he were afraid to trust her. 
 But in speaking of her he would give vent 
 to all enthusiasm, and encountering Bas- 
 com one day he made bold to break forth 
 in this complimentary strain: 
 
 "She is a wonderful child, sir. It 
 would gratify you to see how intuitively 
 she takes to the best in literature. And 
 as for a first or a rare edition, I don t be 
 lieve you could puzzle her in the Congres 
 sional Library. If I had possessed such a 
 nose as that when I was her age, Mr. 
 Bascom, I should be the most renowned 
 bibliophile in the world. 
 
 And Bascom, who knew as little about a 
 first edition as Thomas himself knew of the 
 fluctuations in the price of sugar, but im 
 mensely pleased by any tribute to his child, 
 
The "Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 shook Thomas warmly by the hand and 
 answered, "She is indeed a wonderful 
 child, Professor." And that evening he 
 sent up to the astonished but gratified 
 Hannah a largess of staples from the town 
 "with Mr. Bascom s compliments." 
 
 Thus matters stood when a tremor of 
 excitement running through the neighbor 
 hood intimated that something unusual was 
 happening. This proved to be nothing 
 less than the fact of general interest that 
 Miss Helen had arrived at the dignity of 
 sixteen full years. Now, when the daugh 
 ter of such a man as Stephen Bascom is 
 sixteen years of age, it is a day to celebrate 
 and remember, and it is common justice to 
 the community to admit that the celebra 
 tion and the remembrance were as univer 
 sal as the proudest father and mother could 
 desire. The society columns of the daily 
 papers testified to the importance of the 
 anniversary, and a creditable picture of the 
 young woman lent grace and beauty to two 
 columns in the most conservative family 
 journal. There were festivities of a com- 
 
 H4 
 
The Bondage of Ba I linger 
 
 memorative nature in the afternoon with 
 fireworks along the lake front of the Bas- 
 com residence at night, and a constant 
 stream of carriages arrived and departed 
 with those who had come to participate in 
 so memorable a function. 
 
 And the gifts! It seemed as if the en 
 tire city would bankrupt itself in its anxiety 
 to turn the head of one poor helpless girl. 
 Diamonds from father, emeralds from 
 mother, gold baubles and silver trifles 
 from uncles and aunts, jeweled remem 
 brances from classmates, schoolmates, 
 playmates, and every other kind of mate 
 known to a pretty girl all contributed to 
 impress on Miss Helen the amenities of 
 the rich and fashionable life. Early in the 
 day she had found on the table a clumsily 
 wrapped little package with a letter super 
 scribed in a trembling and uncertain hand. 
 "The best shall be last," she had said, and 
 had carried package and letter to her room 
 and put them carefully away. 
 
 But late at night, when the festivities 
 were over, and the guests were gone, and 
 145 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 the happy day was only a recollection, she 
 went back to her room, took out the pack 
 age and letter, and read: 
 
 My Dear Little Helen: 
 
 Your Aunt Thou has taken advantage of this joy 
 ful occasion to construct for you a wonderful cake 
 similar to that which first won your admiration and 
 our joint love. She has embellished it with sixteen 
 candles, and I am sorry that I am not the archbishop 
 for five minutes, so that I could bless them as piously 
 and earnestly as my heart directs. For my part I 
 have sent a little gift which has been long delayed. 
 It is not an extravagant present, and I could desire 
 that fate or fortune had made me a plutocrat instead 
 of a helpless old bibliophile so that the luster of my 
 offering might shine forth the love I have for you, 
 my dear. 
 
 But such as it is I know you will accept it with full 
 appreciation of the affection and confidence it carries, 
 and with the assurance that no one in the world is so 
 capable of employing it intelligently and lovingly as 
 yourself. It means much to me that I am sending it 
 to you, and I wish you to bear in rnind that whenever 
 you use it you are fulfilling the predictions of the day 
 you crept into my heart. 
 
 And so you are sixteen years old ! What shall I 
 say to you that may not seem stiff and common 
 place? Shall I tell you how much sunlight and hap 
 piness you have brought into my battered old life? 
 Shall I confess how infinitely brighter our cottage 
 has been for your pretty face and cheery voice? 
 146 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 Shall I say that when our little girl is not there even 
 the old den has a dreary and forbidding atmos 
 phere? 
 
 No, I shall say nothing of this, for you knew it 
 long ago, you rogue. To-day all your friends in the 
 grand world will crowd about you, and congratulate 
 you, and compliment you, and tell you what a fine 
 girl you are and how all the fairies danced and sang 
 at your birth. How happy it would make me to be 
 able to put on the invisible cap to be invisible to all 
 but you, my dear that I might join them and be a 
 silent participant of your happiness. 
 
 But since that cannot be, I shall try to fancy that 
 at some moment of the day your thoughts may 
 wander to the cottage and the den and the two old 
 lovers whose hearts are going out to their little sweet 
 heart. And if they do rise before you, like well- 
 behaved and agreeable specters, remember that they 
 are wishing that all the happiness that is worth hav 
 ing, and all the prosperity that is worth striving for, 
 and all the gifts the wisest of the fairies and the gods 
 may shower, may come to their darling Helen. 
 
 TOMMY. 
 
 And what did Helen do? What any 
 tender-hearted, sympathetic, affectionate 
 young woman of the mature age of sixteen 
 would have done. She kissed the letter, 
 with its small, cramped chirography, went 
 to the window, looked out on the beauty of 
 the night for quite two minutes, put her 
 147 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 pretty head down on her arms resting on 
 the sill and cried. Then she took up the 
 package, opened it, and cried again. 
 
 It was a duplicate key of the old book 
 case. 
 
 148 
 
THE neighborhood knew that Thomas 
 was in a bad way. Those who had 
 lived in the neighborhood for such time as 
 to make them eligible to the proud position 
 of gossips also knew that being in a bad 
 way was to a certain extent Thomas s nor 
 mal condition, but Betty had confided to 
 the girl next door, and the girl had com 
 municated to her mistress, and the lady 
 had imparted to Mrs. Colver, and Mrs. 
 Colver had promptly informed the whole 
 seventh precinct of the eighteenth ward that 
 Thomas was in a way which completely 
 eclipsed the most remarkable phenomena 
 of all previously hostile conditions. In 
 short, Thomas was on the verge of a com 
 mercial collapse which made the settlement 
 of affairs on the basis of anything on the 
 dollar a financial impossibility. It was 
 noted, and advanced, by the neighbors as 
 a singular coincidence that Thomas with 
 ruin staring him in the face did not differ 
 materially from the Thomas of other 
 49 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 panics; still Diggs, who was employed to 
 do a little friendly and neighborly detective 
 work, reported that a crash was inevitable 
 and that Thomas Ballinger must go out of 
 business. 
 
 "The fact," said Diggs, "that Mr. Bal 
 linger has been unconsciously transferring 
 his business to his own house every eve 
 ning for a number of years will make it 
 easier for him to bear up under the blow, 
 but when a man cannot pay his shop rent 
 or his clerk s wages, or buy stock, it is 
 tolerably safe to assume that something is 
 going to happen. 
 
 The neighborhood agreed that this was 
 a perfectly reasonable assumption, and they 
 gossiped over the situation with such per 
 sistency that in the very natural course of 
 events the rumors reached Helen, and as 
 Helen was now a young woman nearly 
 seventeen years of age, with plenty of 
 decision and a chin remarkable not merely 
 for its beauty, but also for a shape betoken 
 ing iirmness of character, she did not hesi 
 tate but went straightway to her father. 
 150 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 "Father, we must do something for 
 Tommy. 
 
 "Why, what s the matter with the Pro 
 fessor? queried Bascom, laying down his 
 evening paper with his finger between the 
 market reports. 
 
 "The matter is that he is too old and 
 feeble to attend to the bookshop business, 
 and we must find something for him to do. 
 
 "Of course, if you say so, Helen, " re 
 plied her father, indulgently. "Let me see. 
 I think I heard yesterday that there is a 
 vacancy in the canned fruit department, 
 and if " 
 
 "What!" interrupted Helen, with fine 
 scorn, "Tommy in the canned fruit de 
 partment? My dear old Tommy, with that 
 master mind, in the grocery business? 
 Absurd!" 
 
 "But, Helen," apologetically explained 
 Bascom, "really the grocery business is 
 not so degrading after you get used to it. 
 It has helped us considerably at one time 
 and another, and " 
 
 "Can you not see, daddy, " said the girl, 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 and she slipped her arm coaxingly around 
 his neck, "that Tommy would be the last 
 man in the world for a position of that 
 kind? He is a wonderful man as we all 
 know, but always with books. 
 
 "Oh," replied Bascom, brightening, "I 
 see. Yes, that s very true. We must 
 not forget the books. Well, so long as it s 
 books, suppose you send him down to the 
 store to-morrow and I ll put him in the 
 office. I dare say we ll find something for 
 him on the books. 
 
 Helen groaned. "Not that kind of 
 books, daddy dear. I don t believe he 
 could add up a column of figures to save 
 his life; and as for the grocery business, I 
 have heard Aunt Thou say a dozen times 
 he doesn t know whether he is eating car 
 rots or turnips. But there must be some 
 thing in a great city like this for a brilliant 
 man like Tommy." And the girl s lip 
 quivered. 
 
 When a man of the expanding good na 
 ture and large heart of Bascom has an only 
 child, and that child at any time shows 
 152 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 evidence of a grief-stricken spirit, with a 
 fair prospect of tears, that man s sole 
 thought for the moment is to restore the 
 balance of happiness. "There, there, 
 Helen," said Bascom, anxiously, "don t 
 cry about it. Of course we ll find some 
 thing for the Professor. I ll make it the 
 order of the day to attend to it, and here s 
 my word that we ll have him safely an 
 chored to-morrow. 
 
 At this crisis in the affairs of Thomas he 
 seemed to be a kindly little man, of that 
 age when all that is combative dies out of 
 the nature, and when the mellowness of time 
 comes so gently to crown the life of eager 
 ness and stress. His face was clean 
 shaven, rather remarkably inclined to 
 roundness considering his years; his hair 
 was stringy and very white, and his eyes 
 were naturally a dullish blue, with now and 
 then the flashes which showed the fire 
 within. His frock coat, usually unbut 
 toned, hung well down to his knees and 
 exhibited effects of long service and very 
 little personal attention. His trousers 
 
The Bondage of Ba/Imger 
 
 were those of a man of sedentary habits, 
 evidently constructed for a person of dis 
 similar build, and falling almost in folds 
 over his shoes and around his ankles. His 
 linen was presentable rather than admir 
 able, the collar reaching well up to the chin 
 and surrounded by a stock that mutinied 
 and shifted its position long before the day 
 gave evidence of declining. Taken all in 
 all, and at a cursory glance, he did not 
 appear exactly to bear out the assertion 
 sworn to by Stephen Bascom, that he was a 
 man of a thousand. 
 
 Yet, when Stephen Bascom spoke soci 
 ety commercial, political, and literary 
 stopped to listen. For Mr. Bascom, what 
 ever may have been his other qualifica 
 tions, could write his check for a sum con 
 siderably in excess of a million, and his 
 word withal was as good as his check. 
 Was it not Bascom, the leading wholesale 
 grocer not only of the city but of the West, 
 who made the Shapleigh Library possible? 
 When the Art Museum fell into dire straits, 
 who first came to the rescue with a proffer 
 J 54 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 of fifty thousand dollars? Bascom. When 
 the permanent orchestra idea was agitated, 
 who said Push it along, and sent a large 
 subscription as earnest of good feeling? 
 Bascom. "I don t know a nocturne from 
 a kettle-drum," said this big-hearted 
 Maecenas, "but if a permanent orchestra 
 is the thing we ve got to have it." And 
 when Pohlsen, the art connoisseur, made 
 his annual trip to Europe, who took him 
 aside and said, "Gus, if you see anything 
 over there this town ought to own, pick it 
 up"? Bascom. And so the town waxed 
 fat and prospered mightily, and all through 
 the public spirit and lavish generosity of 
 Bascom. 
 
 Sanford, the librarian, was highly hon 
 ored and not a little flustered when Bascom 
 stepped briskly into his private office and 
 requested five minutes conversation. Five 
 minutes to a man like Bascom, and just at 
 the busy time of the morning, was a tre 
 mendous concession to the market, and 
 Sanford was not slow in appreciating the 
 exigency of the interview. In exactly five 
 
"The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 minutes the stenographer opened the door 
 just as Bascom was rising from his chair, 
 and saying: 
 
 "As to the salary, Sanford, let that be 
 a secret between us. I suppose the asso 
 ciation could allow eight or ten dollars a 
 week, and you know where to send for the 
 rest." 
 
 The next day Thomas appeared at the 
 Shapleigh Library, received the news of his 
 appointment to a position of public respon 
 sibility in the section devoted to Ameri 
 cana, first editions, and freak books, and 
 expressed his willingness to enter at once 
 upon the arduous duties of that important 
 assignment. His desk was placed in the 
 little alcove just off the grand staircase. 
 The first impressions of those who took 
 a peep at him and nobody could very 
 well enter the Shapleigh Library with 
 out encountering this amiable vision were 
 that an old bibliophile with more time than 
 occupation had chosen a safe retreat for a 
 quiet hour with a neglected volume or a 
 long-forgotten pamphlet. But the regular 
 156 
 
"The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 visitor, the man to whom an excursion to 
 the public library is a part of the settled 
 order of the universe, and who would as 
 soon think of going without his breakfast 
 as without his daily conference with the 
 books, always stopped at the head of the 
 stairs, popped his head into the alcove, and 
 with a nod or a smile, said, Good morn 
 ing, Mr. Ballinger. " Whereupon Thomas 
 turned, rose very dignifiedly from his chair, 
 ran his finger along the page he was read 
 ing, shoved his spectacles high on his fore 
 head, bowed with great precision, replying 
 with the most ceremonial courtesy, "Good 
 morning, sir," and without abating his 
 gravity, resumed his sitting and his study. 
 Notwithstanding the very explicit char 
 acterization of Thomas s duties, the precise 
 nature of his labors never bore in very 
 strongly on the public. At ten o clock 
 every morning he appeared, prompt to the 
 minute, and at four o clock every afternoon 
 he disappeared, with as little ceremony in 
 the one case as the other. In the inter 
 vening hours he sat in the alcove, as re- 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 lated, poring over a book, from which 
 public service he was diverted only to say 
 "Good morning" or "Good afternoon," 
 or to answer an occasional inquiry con 
 cerning a book long out of print, or to settle 
 the question of a first edition. It never 
 occurred to Thomas that he was over 
 worked or underworked; that his position 
 was a burden or a sinecure; that he did 
 not earn his salary or that his compensa 
 tion was insufficient. In fact, such was 
 the equableness of his temperament, and 
 such the engrossing nature of his literary 
 meditations, that he thought nothing at all 
 about it. 
 
 In consideration of the discovery that 
 there were two bookstores and two antique 
 shops, to say nothing of several under 
 ground lairs for bibliophiles, between the 
 library and the spot where Thomas took 
 the car for home, Bascom, with that subtle 
 business acumen which had brought him 
 such brilliant success in life, devised that 
 Thomas should draw only a small fraction 
 of his salary, and that the rest should be 
 158 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 intrusted to the custody of Hannah, who 
 could be relied on to see that it was ex 
 pended in the necessary channels. To 
 this wise arrangement Thomas did not 
 demur. It was to him merely a matter of 
 business detail which was not worth con 
 sidering, so he dismissed it from his mind. 
 But the habits of life are stronger than 
 even the wisest of us may suspect, and 
 Thomas had been for so many years accus 
 tomed to the stress and turmoil of neg 
 lected domestic economy that the specter 
 was ever before him. It was true that 
 Hannah no longer confronted him with 
 papers which demanded at least the cour 
 tesy of inspection, and that Betty had 
 ceased to give warning; he felt that the 
 one was keeping away from him a burden 
 that he should assume, and he openly 
 accused the other of conspiring to rob his 
 declining years of a gentle irritant. He 
 compared himself to the monk, who having 
 worn a hair shirt for many years, finds 
 that instead of a penance it has become a 
 positive necessity. But Thomas did not 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 complain persistently of this neglect, 
 though he occasionally confessed that it 
 saddened him to think he was leading, so 
 undeservedly, so luxurious a life. 
 
 Now that Bascom had enrolled Thomas 
 in his book of philanthropic endeavor, and 
 had seen the beneficial results of his well 
 doing, it suggested itself to him that it 
 would be advisable to apply his excellent 
 business principles to further schemes for 
 Thomas s benefit. He had often heard 
 Helen speak of the remarkable literary 
 treasures in the old den, a revelation cor 
 roborated by Sanford, the librarian, and he 
 evolved a scheme whereby everybody 
 might be benefited, and Thomas himself 
 the most of all. "The trouble with most 
 of these literary fellows, " he argued, "is 
 that they do not treat literature as a com 
 modity. What s the good of a book if it 
 doesn t sell? A man in my line of busi 
 ness would never think of trying to put 
 anything on the market for which there is 
 no demand, or of stocking up with ma 
 terial he can t dispose of, or worse than 
 160 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 that, he doesn t try to dispose of. The 
 whole system is wrong, and when people 
 tell me that this writer died in wretched 
 poverty, and that writer committed sui 
 cide, I know he has been handling dead 
 stock. I understand where the trouble lies 
 and I think I can straighten it out." 
 
 Accordingly this capable man of busi 
 ness slipped quietly out of his house one 
 evening, went over to the cottage, and 
 informed Hannah that he had come to lay 
 a business proposition before Thomas. 
 Possibly Hannah might have suggested 
 that anything in the line of business might 
 be with more propriety communicated to 
 herself, but she was so overcome by the 
 honor of the unexpected visit that she 
 directed him at once to the den, where 
 Thomas sat, pasting a very yellow letter 
 in a very shabby little book. Bascom s 
 brisk eye took in the entire room, with its 
 bookcases, shelves, pictures, and scattered 
 manuscript. 
 
 "You have some fine treasures here, 
 Ballinger." 
 
 161 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 "Yes," said the old man, with pride in 
 his voice, "they are indeed treasures." 
 
 "Do you get anything out of them?" 
 
 "Do I get anything out of them?" 
 echoed Thomas, surprised by the question; 
 I get everything out of them. They have 
 been my companion, my joy, for years. 
 
 "Yes, I know, of course, but I don t 
 mean that. Do they bring you in any in 
 come? What s the actual return? In 
 short, what do you get on the financial 
 investment?" 
 
 Thomas was dazed. He looked at Bas- 
 com without replying, and the philanthrop 
 ist was encouraged to proceed: 
 
 "Because," he said, cheerily, and giving 
 Thomas a friendly slap on the shoulder, 
 "I have come over to make you an offer. 
 It s a matter I ve been thinking about a 
 good deal lately, and it s a shame that so 
 much material as you have here should not 
 be realizing anything. It isn t business 
 like, my friend, and you shouldn t do it. 
 Now, I admit that books and all this sort of 
 thing you have here are a little out of my 
 162 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 line, and I may be over or under the mark, 
 but I tell you what I ll do. I ll give you 
 ten thousand dollars for the contents of this 
 room just as it stands. And I ll do it on 
 Helen s judgment. What do you say?" 
 
 Thomas looked up quickly. "Did Miss 
 Helen send you over on this errand?" he 
 asked. 
 
 "Lord bless you, no! Helen doesn t 
 know a thing about it. To be outright 
 with you, it s a little surprise for her." 
 
 The old man appeared somewhat relieved 
 by this information. "It s a little surprise 
 for me as well, he answered, quietly. 
 
 "Well, what do you think of it?" 
 
 Thomas slowly shook his head. 
 
 "Now, as I said," pursued Bascom, "I 
 don t know much about this business, and 
 I dare say I have hit under the mark. 
 We re neighbors and friends, and I don t 
 care to drive a hard bargain or appear 
 mean, so I ll make it fifteen thousand dol 
 lars and run my chances. And I don t 
 mind telling you that I intend to make a 
 present of the collection to the library, if 
 163 
 
The "Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 you sell, for I shouldn t know what to do 
 with all this mass of matter in my house if 
 I had it. And we ll call it the Ballinger 
 collection. You see it isn t bringing you 
 in a cent as it lies here. You sell the 
 goods to me for fifteen thousand dollars 
 and I ll invest the money for you at five 
 per cent. That will give you seven hun 
 dred and fifty dollars a year, and the books 
 will go to the library where they will be 
 well taken care of. It will be a good 
 thing all around. 
 
 Thomas stood up with great dignity. 
 "Mr. Bascom," he said, "I thank you for 
 what you evidently intend as a kindness, 
 mistaken though it is. You have been a 
 good friend and a kind neighbor, and I 
 fully appreciate the value of your interest 
 in me. I am sure that you wish to be 
 friend me now, and I am really glad that 
 you are not a bookman and cannot realize 
 the amazing and preposterous offer you 
 make." 
 
 Bascom stared. "Surely," he asked, 
 "you do not mean to say that the offer is 
 164 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 not large enough; that fifteen thousand 
 dollars" 
 
 I mean to say, interrupted Thomas, 
 "that no offer can be large enough. I am 
 a poor man, Mr. Bascom, and but what 
 is the use? You would not understand. 
 Let us drop the subject. 
 
 "Now, see here, Ballinger, " argued 
 Bascom, "you know that I m not selfish 
 in this matter, and that I m not out for 
 anything for myself. At the same time, 
 in making this investment, I expect to get 
 somewhere near value received, so it is 
 just a plain matter of business. You must 
 have read these books a hundred times; in 
 fact, my daughter tells me that you know 
 them by heart. So they cannot be of any 
 special use to you in the way of knowledge. 
 I ll own that they are interesting and valu 
 able as curiosities, or first editions, or some 
 thing like that, but all the same they re a 
 dead loss to you. Better be practical and 
 think it over. With the salary you are 
 now making and this regular income you ll 
 be fixed for life." 
 
 165 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 But Thomas, still holding up his hands 
 protestingly, kept repeating: "You cannot 
 understand, Mr. Bascom; you cannot 
 understand." 
 
 Somewhere from the recesses of Bas 
 com s consciousness it began to dawn that 
 he had blundered, though by the applica 
 tion of every sound business principle he 
 had committed himself to fair and intelli 
 gent dealing. A modest and good-natured 
 man was Bascom, and with all the instincts 
 of generosity he reproached only himself 
 for the failure of his mission. But why 
 had he failed? Surely he had made a 
 business-like proposition in a business-like 
 way, and if Ballinger had been a business 
 man "I ll go home and ask Helen," he 
 said to himself, and bowed his way out 
 with profuse apologies. 
 
 Helen listened to his story in amazement. 
 "Surely, father," she cried, "you didn t do 
 that?" 
 
 "Didn t do what?" Bascom felt his 
 temper rising. "Bother all this mystery! 
 What have I done? Have I tried to com- 
 166 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 mit burglary or highway robbery because I 
 offered a man fifteen thousand dollars for 
 a lot of old books and tried to make them 
 a source of profit to him instead of a 
 purely dead investment? Am I going to 
 be arrested as a criminal because I tried to 
 help the Professor in what seemed to me a 
 legitimate way?" 
 
 "But, father, you do not understand." 
 
 "That s exactly what he said. Of 
 course I don t understand. If I did why 
 should I be worrying over what it all means 
 and coming to you to find out?" 
 
 The girl came up to him, put her hands 
 affectionately on his shoulders, and looked 
 him squarely in the face. "Dear old 
 daddy, let me ask you a question: would 
 you sell me?" 
 
 Now, Bascom, who was a lion in a corner 
 on the market or in any sort of business 
 emergency, was a very lamb under the spell 
 of his daughter. "Of course I wouldn t 
 sell you, Helen," he answered; "though 
 the way things are going nowadays," he 
 added, reflectively, "you may sell yourself. 
 167 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 But that wasn t a fair question. The 
 cases are different. 1 
 
 "No, they are not," persisted Helen. 
 "Can t you see that you are asking Tommy 
 to do that very thing? His books are his 
 children, and they are as dear to him as I 
 hope I am to you. He would no more 
 think of parting with them for money than 
 you of selling me. Dear me," she added, 
 pathetically, I wish you had not done it. 
 
 "So do I now," said the abashed Bas- 
 com, "but how was I to know that he felt 
 that way? Who would have supposed 
 that he would have taken a business matter 
 so much to heart, knowing that he was 
 dealing with a business man? I have 
 always thought that books are merchan 
 dise, and here I learn that they are human 
 beings. It s a wonder they kept quiet in 
 their cases while I was bargaining with the 
 Professor. What shall I do now? Shall 
 I call him up to-morrow and apologize?" 
 
 "No," replied Helen, with a smile, 
 "you leave that to me. You men are so 
 stupid in such things. I wonder what you 
 1 68 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 would do if you did not have me to smooth 
 over your blunders and keep you straight. 
 
 And Bascom, the mighty Bascom, the 
 ruler of the market, the dictator of corpo 
 rations, the colossus of finance, withered 
 under this parting shot and crept humbly 
 off to bed. 
 
 But Thomas, in the solitude of his den, 
 was gradually, and very perceptibly, re 
 covering from his righteous indignation. 
 He could not conceal from himself the 
 knowledge that he had been insulted, 
 grievously insulted, but the insult was 
 neither malicious nor wanton. In short, it 
 may not have been intentionally an insult 
 merely a blunder on the part of a man 
 unacquainted with the ethics of the book 
 ish life. For, after all, he reasoned, Bas 
 com was a man of kind heart and charitable 
 proclivities, one who had more than once 
 shown his good feeling; was it not right 
 then to overlook this lapse and refuse to 
 harbor it against him? Did he not dis 
 tinctly say fifteen thousand dollars? A 
 goodly sum that, and enough to satisfy the 
 169 
 
Bondage of Ballmger 
 
 wants of any modest man. The sale of 
 one s library was not to be thought of 
 under any conditions that Thomas could 
 imagine, but fifteen thousand dollars! 
 
 He looked about the room. Every pic 
 ture was in its place, every book was on its 
 shelf, and it seemed to him that they were 
 unusually cheerful and were bowing their 
 acknowledgments of his affection and mag 
 nanimous action. He put down the win 
 dow and sprang the catch. Then he went 
 softly out of the door and locked it. All 
 of which might have been exceedingly 
 annoying to Mr. Stephen Bascom, million 
 aire and the soul of integrity, could he 
 have witnessed it. 
 
 Very quietly down stairs went Thomas, 
 and at each step the thought of the wealth 
 that might be his gave him a sudden jolt 
 and an uncomfortably dizzy feeling. For 
 the stairs creaked dismally and each creak 
 seemed to say: "Fifteen thousand dollars, 
 Thomas! Think of that, Thomas! Think 
 of that!" And Thomas did think of it, 
 and so effectually that when he reached 
 170 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 Hannah s room he was in quite a state of 
 mind for one usually so calm and self- 
 contained. 
 
 Hannah was sitting comfortably in her 
 low rocking-chair, disposing of certain ac 
 cumulations of household interest, when 
 Thomas, whose calls at this hour of the 
 evening were infrequent, entered, drew a 
 chair near her own and said: 
 
 "What do you think of fifteen thousand 
 dollars, Hannah?" 
 
 Good Hannah had been well brought up 
 in the school of adversity and was not ac 
 customed to give an opinion in a matter 
 involving such magnificence of calculation. 
 Moreover, she had enjoyed much experi 
 ence with Thomas s system of finance, 
 So she simply smiled and shook her head 
 and answered gravely: "There are some 
 things we must not think about, dear. It 
 is not given to us to worry over matters 
 that are beyond our reach. We should try 
 to take our happiness as it comes, and be 
 content." 
 
 "But," persisted Thomas, "suppose 
 171 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 new happiness is within our reach. Sup 
 pose it is given to us to concern ourselves 
 with new matters. Suppose that such a 
 sum as I have mentioned could be 
 ours. * 
 
 Again Hannah shook her head. "Thee 
 must not indulge in such fancies, Thomas. 
 All our expectations are gone with our 
 dear parents who died many years ago. 
 Our friends are kind, but their little store 
 is nothing to us. Do not speculate wildly, 
 dear. Be satisfied with the fortune heaven 
 has sent us." 
 
 "To be satisfied is one thing," replied 
 Thomas, "and to take new happiness is 
 another." Then leaning over with the 
 tenderness of speech and action so irresist 
 ible to the old Hannah, he said: "Thy 
 father was right, sweetheart; I am but an 
 ill mate for any woman, and I have proved 
 but a sorry husband to thee. * 
 
 The tears sprang to the old wife s eyes. 
 
 "Nay, Thomas, how often must I protest 
 
 how good thee is, and what a lifelong 
 
 comfort thy love and tenderness have been. 
 
 172 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 Thee shall not reproach thyself with such 
 unworthy thoughts. 
 
 "I shall reproach myself no longer," 
 cried Thomas. "Listen, Hannah. We 
 shall be rich beyond all the hopes and ex 
 pectations of youth, rich beyond my power 
 of telling. Every wish of thine shall be 
 gratified and every promise I made ful 
 filled." 
 
 "Thee is dreaming, Thomas. Do not 
 delude thyself with such idle hopes. * 
 
 "I am not dreaming, Hannah. Long 
 ago I thought it all out, and now I see the 
 way to make my boasting good. We shall 
 be rich, rich, Hannah. And first of all 
 thee shall have the changes in the cottage 
 thee has so long desired. 
 
 "Thomas!" 
 
 "And thee shall dress according to thy 
 station and thy beauty, old sweetheart. 
 Thee shall have everything to accord with 
 thy new position, even perhaps a carriage. " 
 
 "Thomas!" 
 
 The old bookman walked the floor in his 
 growing excitement. "Oh it is a happy 
 73 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 moment for me that I can stand here and 
 think of the pleasures that are coming to 
 us. We shall go back to the old home, 
 Hannah, where we first played together, 
 and over the sunny scenes of our childhood. 
 Do you remember the little parsonage, 
 Hannah? Do you recall how the honey 
 suckle and the clematis climbed over the 
 porch, and how those beautiful hills looked 
 down on the valley? Have you forgotten 
 how often we followed the little brook up 
 the mountain road and sat at the spring, 
 and how we talked of what we would do 
 when we were old enough to go out into 
 the great world? And don t you remember 
 the last time we were there together, 
 Hannah, and what I said? Did I not 
 promise that go where we might I should 
 one day bring you back to that happy 
 place? And I shall keep my word, Han 
 nah, for it has all come true." 
 
 "Thomas!" Hannah rose and put her 
 
 hand soothingly on the old man s arm. 
 
 "I am frightened to hear thee talk so 
 
 wildly. What is this fortune which so 
 
 174 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 moves thee? What unexpected chance 
 has come into our life that we shall have 
 all this luxury?" 
 
 At Hannah s touch Thomas started. 
 He looked into those gentle eyes, and a 
 sudden wave of recollection rushed over 
 him. But the exultation had not quite 
 died out of his voice as, dropping his head, 
 he said: 
 
 "I refused fifteen thousand dollars for 
 the books to-night." 
 
DISQUIETING rumors pervaded the 
 neighborhood. Strange men with 
 evil faces and evident malevolent intentions 
 had been seen at various times hovering 
 near the little cottage, scrutinizing it front 
 and back, measuring distances with the 
 tape, and jotting down mysterious conclu 
 sions in small books. Their replies to the 
 natural demands as to their business were 
 evasive, and this merely added to the 
 general alarm and suspicion. The inter 
 communication of the domestics failed to 
 solve the problem; even Mrs. Colver ad 
 mitted that she was wholly baffled, and as 
 a last resort the services of Diggs were 
 demanded, as a neighborly duty, to get at 
 the bottom of the plot, for that it was noth 
 ing short of a plot the neighborhood was 
 fully convinced. Diggs was too excellent 
 a neighbor and too distinguished a sleuth 
 to fail in such a crisis, and in a period of 
 time that would have been impossible to 
 anybody save one at the head of his pro- 
 176 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 fession he was able to report that much 
 property on the street had been quietly 
 bought up, and that it was the purpose to 
 erect an apartment building that would 
 swallow not only the Ballinger cottage but 
 several houses and lots adjoining. 
 
 To say that consternation and wrath pre 
 vailed at this unprecedented outrage would 
 mildly convey the feelings of the commu 
 nity. At once it was pronounced unworthy 
 of belief. Surely no man or company 
 would dare profane so quiet and reputable 
 a street a street renowned not only for 
 its general air of domesticity, but for its 
 proximity to the Bascom estate. Dis 
 claiming all idea of reflecting on the pro 
 fessional dignity and ability of Diggs, 
 scouts, male and female, scurried in all 
 directions to get such particulars as would 
 discredit the report and restore the normal 
 harmony, when just at the crisis of Diggs s 
 reputation, Thomas s landlord appeared at 
 the cottage, confirmed the dismal tidings, 
 and requested Thomas to prepare to vacate 
 the following spring. 
 177 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 It may have been gathered that such a 
 man as Thomas was not easily moved by 
 emergencies. That the word emergency 
 had even a place in his lexicon the con 
 tinuous record of his life disproved. True, 
 trifles had arisen at one time and another 
 to disturb the household and temporarily 
 disarrange the domestic machinery. Pay 
 ments had been necessarily suspended, 
 creditors had become importunate, and 
 there had been occasionally some idle talk 
 of legal proceedings, but affairs had always 
 adjusted themselves properly in the end, 
 and that which gave indications of a storm 
 turned out nothing more serious than a 
 slight and inconsequential interruption. 
 Thomas had returned to his library after 
 these unsettled periods as tranquil as when 
 he emerged, satisfied that this is a very 
 easy-going world and that it is injurious to 
 correct living to magnify trifles. The 
 thought that at any time a serious calamity 
 might threaten, by which he might be sepa 
 rated from his books or his home, probably 
 never occurred to him. If it had entered 
 178 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 his mind his optimistic nature would have 
 dismissed it as a bugaboo, not worthy to 
 interfere with more important literary occu 
 pation. 
 
 To the proposition involving the transfer 
 of his library for the consideration of fifteen 
 thousand dollars Thomas had not alluded 
 since the evening it preyed so heavily on 
 his mind, and whether he had forgotten it 
 entirely or thought of it only as a dream 
 he gave no intimation. Hannah had never 
 referred to the subject, presumably con 
 sidering it a mere emotion of the moment, 
 and Bascom was too disconcerted by the 
 enormity of his own offense to tempt 
 another rebuke. Yet those who were near 
 to the old bibliophile noticed the change that 
 had come over him. Usually preoccupied 
 and inattentive, save when books were the 
 subject of discourse, his preoccupation had 
 settled into almost complete mental ab 
 straction; his cheerfulness had given way 
 to long spells of melancholy, and when it 
 fully dawned upon him that the little cot 
 tage could be his home no longer, he 
 179 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 seemed suddenly to lose all heart and hope 
 and to become the child in action that 
 throughout his life he had been in pur 
 pose. 
 
 None was quicker to observe this change 
 than Helen, whose accumulation of nearly 
 twenty years and sympathetic association 
 with the bookman aided her keen percep 
 tions. Very anxiously she had watched 
 Thomas as he grew older and feebler, and 
 only she could draw him out of himself and 
 kindle a spark of the old enthusiasm. He 
 sent for her when the knowledge of his 
 crowning disaster came full upon him, and 
 she, hastening to the den, found him 
 standing at the window looking mournfully 
 out upon the great lake. Since he did not 
 hear her step coming up behind him, she 
 paused, hesitating to break in upon his 
 revery. Still he gave no sign of a knowl 
 edge of her presence, so she came lightly 
 forward, and putting her arm around him 
 and her head on his shoulder, began to 
 quote softly and in a tone of infinite tender 
 ness: 
 
 180 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 " Musing alone on the shore, and watching the wash 
 
 of the billows 
 Round the base of the rock, and the sparkle and flash 
 
 of the sunshine, 
 Like the spirit of God, moving visibly over the 
 
 waters. " 
 
 And Thomas, still gazing out upon the 
 blue surface of the lake, and gently press 
 ing the hand at his side, took up the sug 
 gestion of the poem and repeated: 
 
 " Must I relinquish it all, the joy, the hope, the illu 
 sion? 
 
 Was it for this I have loved, and waited, and wor 
 shiped in silence? " 
 
 Then he said very quietly: "It was good 
 of you to come, little girl, but I knew you 
 would. You and I have stood so many 
 times at this window, and I felt that I 
 could not speak to anybody of parting until 
 we together had said the first good by. 
 
 "But, Tommy," pleaded Helen, "you 
 are speaking so wildly. There is no occa 
 sion to say good by. Nothing has hap 
 pened as yet to make you despondent. 
 Things are as they always were." 
 
 "It was all my fault. I heedlessly 
 181 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 cherished the joy, the hope, the illusion, 
 from which nothing could come. I lived 
 in the summer of happiness. My home 
 was our playground, Helen, my books our 
 playthings. And now " 
 
 "And now," interrupted the girl with a 
 gayety that was plainly forced, "things 
 are going to be very much as they have 
 always been. Do you think that this win 
 dow is the only spot in the city that com 
 mands a view of the Gurnet and the reef 
 and the other places we have delighted in 
 all these years? Do you think there is no 
 other room so pleasant and attractive as 
 this, where books may be kept and studies 
 may be followed?" 
 
 But it has been my home, replied the 
 old man, bewildered by the sudden ques 
 tions. 
 
 "Of course it has been your home, and 
 it is still your home, and for all we know 
 now it may be your home forever. 
 
 "Do you really believe that?" asked 
 Thomas, with a childish eagerness that 
 brought the girl s heart to her throat. "It 
 182 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 seems to me that I could never know 
 another home. I could never accustom 
 myself to any other surroundings. The 
 lake would not be the same lake. A den, 
 however luxurious, could not take the place 
 of this den. Even could I have my books 
 they would not be content with strange 
 quarters and unaccustomed places." 
 
 "And this," said Helen, in the same 
 gentle tone of raillery, and turning away 
 her face that he might not see the compas 
 sion there, "is my brave Tommy, who was 
 brought up among the Concord philoso 
 phers. This is the strong teacher who 
 tried to make me self-reliant and coura 
 geous, and who showed me the beauties of 
 the philosophy he taught. Have you forgot 
 ten your Emerson already, Tommy? Have 
 you forgotten what you and he told me? 
 Let us build to the Beautiful Necessity, 
 which makes man brave in believing that 
 he cannot shun a danger that is appointed, 
 nor incur one that is not. 
 
 I am not brave, sighed the old book 
 man, "and I am not strong. I know that 
 183 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 I have failed miserably, and that I have the 
 heart of a coward. And why, he added, 
 querulously, "is the Beautiful Necessity 
 that I should leave my home? Mr. Emer 
 son was never put to that test. Perhaps if 
 he had been he would not have expressed 
 himself so philosophically." 
 
 "Don t say that," said Helen, gently. 
 "Don t shatter all my ideals, Tommy." 
 
 "But it is true," replied Thomas, still 
 nursing his wounds. "It is very easy to 
 talk and write philosophy, and to smile at 
 the Beautiful Necessity when the Beautiful 
 Necessity exists only in your imagination. 
 But even Seneca weakened when the test 
 came." 
 
 "Very well, then," said the girl, "I see 
 that I must prove that in your case it is 
 only a question of the imagination." And 
 she smiled as she added: "You must 
 promise me, Tommy, that you will not try 
 to imitate Seneca." 
 
 Thomas was not proof against the influ 
 ence of this cheerfulness, and already he 
 was ashamed of the weakness he had be- 
 184 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 trayed. "We shall open no veins in this 
 house, Helen," he said, with a touch of 
 his old lightness. "I shall try to make up 
 in philosophy what I lack in blood. And 
 even with you to cheer me, dear, I shall 
 need them both. 
 
 Decision, as has been shown, was not 
 the least of Helen Bascom s virtues. No 
 sooner had she reached her home than she 
 went straight to her father and said, with 
 out any preliminary fencing: 
 
 "Father, something must be done for 
 Tommy. 
 
 "What, again? What s the matter with 
 the Professor now?" 
 
 Bascom s tone was that of mild surprise 
 and gentle interest, but Helen was too 
 absorbed in her own affair to stop to analyze 
 his emotions. "He is in deep trouble," 
 said she. 
 
 "It seems to me," mused Bascom, 
 "that the Professor is always in trouble. 
 He has a perfect genius for it. I don t 
 believe I ever knew a man who so rioted 
 in trouble as the Professor. This comes 
 185 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 of bringing up a man without a business 
 education. Now, when I " 
 
 "Yes, father, I know," interrupted the 
 girl, "but you are not the one in question. 
 You are never in trouble, except when I 
 trouble you, and I am afraid I am going to 
 do that right now. Father, she contin 
 ued, rather explosively, "did you ever hear 
 of Maecenas?" 
 
 "H-m, " said Bascom, with an inflection 
 which might have been construed either 
 affirmatively or negatively; Bascom was 
 too sharp a business man to commit him 
 self unadvisedly. 
 
 "For whether you have or not," went 
 on the girl, "I am going to be a Maecenas 
 with your help and approval, of course, 
 she added diplomatically. 
 
 "O, of course," replied Bascom, "I 
 could not think of letting you do anything 
 without my help. Thank you very much; 
 it is so good of you to think of me. " 
 
 Helen ignored the fatherly satire and 
 proceeded to project a little of her own, 
 first taking the precaution to administer a 
 1 86 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 daughterly kiss where it would be most 
 effective. "It seems tome, daddy, * she 
 said, "that I remember that once when a 
 deputation from a hospital board came to 
 wait on a generous man of my acquaintance 
 to thank him for a large subscription, I 
 heard him say that it is not merely the 
 duty but the rare pleasure of those who are 
 blessed with wealth to give freely to and 
 help those who are unfortunate." 
 
 "The exact words," laughed Bascom, 
 "and a fair hit, Helen. I acknowledge it. 
 So you think we must help the Professor?" 
 
 Helen s association with Thomas had 
 imbued her somewhat with his roundabout 
 methods. She plumped herself into her 
 father s lap, and stroked his face for 
 several minutes without replying. Then 
 she said abruptly: 
 
 "You think me a very superior sort of 
 girl, don t you, daddy dear?" 
 
 Bascom was too entranced to answer, 
 but he nodded blissfully. 
 
 "And do you remember how proud you 
 were that day in school when the principal 
 187 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 in his address to the scholars attributed a 
 quotation to the wrong author and I cor 
 rected him?" 
 
 Bascom remembered the incident, though 
 to do his business education full justice he 
 did not recall the quotation. 
 
 "Do you remember also when the rector 
 said that he was glad to see one young 
 woman in his parish who was fond of read 
 ing, and who cared little for frivolous 
 society?" 
 
 Bascom nodded again, for he had a 
 famous memory for everything that con 
 cerned his child. 
 
 Then Helen came to the point. "I 
 cannot forget all that you and mother have 
 done for me," she said, reaching up to 
 kiss her father, "for no girl ever had better 
 or kinder parents. But do you know, 
 daddy, I can t help thinking I am sure, 
 that much that is best and truest in me is 
 due to Tommy. When you thought I was 
 playing with the children, he was my 
 teacher in the little den that was my 
 school-room. He has been my companion 
 188 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 and guide ever since I was a little girl. 
 It was Tommy who taught me to love the 
 things that are beautiful in life. And to 
 think that my dear old Tommy is in 
 trouble!" 
 
 The girl was weeping, and Bascom was 
 gulping furiously. "Who says the Pro 
 fessor is in trouble?" he demanded, sternly. 
 "He may think he is in trouble, but that 
 proves nothing. Ask your mother. She 
 has been looking into the practical side of 
 Christian Science lately, and she knows 
 that there is no such thing as trouble. It 
 is purely a matter of the imagination." 
 
 "But I think I am in trouble, daddy, 
 and you will help me?" 
 
 "Of course I ll help you. But no more 
 offers to buy that library. I have had 
 enough of that business. If it is anything 
 in the way of a foreign mission or a place 
 in the diplomatic service, or the county 
 ticket, I ll do what I can." 
 
 Helen shook her head. "It is nothing 
 of that sort, daddy; it is much easier than 
 that. Let me think it over for a day or 
 189 
 
The Bondage of Eallmger 
 
 two, and then I ll let you into my secret 
 our secret. " 
 
 Mrs. Bascom swept imperiously into the 
 room. "What are you two muttering and 
 hobnobbing about?" she asked, rather 
 fiercely. Christian Science had not soothed 
 all the asperities of Mrs. Bascom s bristling 
 nature, or eradicated all the germs of ag 
 gressiveness from her disposition. 
 
 "We were just giving a wayward old and 
 invalid friend of ours a little absent treat 
 ment, " replied Bascom, slyly punching his 
 daughter. And Helen smiled through her 
 tears. 
 
 That night Thomas Ballinger stirred in 
 his sleep. He was dreaming that he was 
 sinking, sinking, sinking into a black and 
 terrible quagmire, and something all in 
 white, and with the face of an angel, 
 rustled by, and raised him up, and carried 
 him off to a garden where flowers were 
 blooming and birds were singing. 
 
 190 
 
WHEN the good fairies assembled at 
 the birth of Helen Bascom, as 
 they are bound to do in compliment to all 
 princesses, native and foreign, they vied 
 with one another in eagerness to contribute 
 the best of their gifts. "I will give her 
 wealth/ said one. "And I beauty," said 
 another. "And I health and spirits, " 
 chimed in a third. And so they lavished 
 their offerings, adding intelligence, wit, 
 goodness, until it seemed that the poor 
 infant must pass away under the accumu 
 lation of so many blessings. But when 
 they had finished, the eldest of the fairies, 
 who had not yet spoken, smiled upon the 
 others and signified that she would be 
 pleased to address the convocation. 
 
 "I think I may say, my dear sisters," 
 she began, "that this dear child is starting 
 in life under peculiarly brilliant auspices, 
 and that you have done what you can to 
 make her at least superficially attractive. 
 191 
 
The Bondage of Ealllnger 
 
 It would appear that there is very little left 
 for me to suggest, and I really feel a deli 
 cacy in venturing to add anything as a com 
 plement to your work. However, I have 
 reserved my gift for the last, and fortu 
 nately, for I perceive that with the responsi 
 bility of your donations she will need it, I 
 will give her common sense. 
 
 Now, the only child of a millionaire 
 father and a worldly mother needs nothing 
 quite so much as the patronage of the eldest 
 of the fairies, and it may be that had this 
 wise and estimable spirit not been present 
 at the conference, the narrative of the haps 
 and mishaps of Thomas Ballinger never 
 would have been written. Common sense 
 is an extremely valuable contribution to 
 the fairy dower of any young woman, and 
 when to that is added the quality of deter 
 mination which should accompany it, it 
 may be suspected that a girl child has been 
 born to some purpose. 
 
 Bascom had made up his mind that the 
 twentieth anniversary of the merry meet 
 ing specified should be celebrated with all 
 192 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 the splendor and hilarity commensurate 
 with so important an event, but to this Miss 
 Helen interposed a positive objection. 
 "No more brass-band parties for me," she 
 said. "We had noise enough four years 
 ago, and that we outlived it is no reason 
 why we should tempt Providence a second 
 time." Bascom looked pained. He ad 
 mitted that there might have been certain 
 worldly features which could be dispensed 
 with, but as a patriotic American citizen, he 
 was loth to surrender the idea of fireworks 
 in the evening. Your true American is a 
 firm believer in the efficacy of rockets and 
 Roman candles as the relief for a surcharge 
 of enthusiasm, and Bascom, as may have 
 been conveyed, was a true American. 
 
 Miss Helen was obstinate, but when she 
 saw the cloud come over her father s face, 
 and listened to his argument for pyrotech 
 nics, she drew him aside and said, coax- 
 ingly: "Let me have my way just for 
 once, daddy, and we ll have a celebration 
 that will make it the happiest day of my 
 life." And Bascom, who was the kind- 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 est, and therefore the weakest, of all fa 
 thers, consented to let her have her way 
 "just for once." 
 
 Twenty years may bring many changes, 
 Thomas Ballinger, if Father Time is inex 
 orable. It is not enough that babies may 
 grow to manhood and womanhood, that 
 youth may advance to middle age, that 
 middle age may decline into senility; death 
 may reap a gloomy harvest in twenty years 
 if the fates are unkind and the gods are 
 indifferent. And again there are double 
 decades when Father Time moves gently, 
 however swiftly, when his scythe remains 
 upon his shoulder as he passes through the 
 neighborhood, and when he touches lightly 
 those who have not incurred his displeas 
 ure. This was once a part of your philos 
 ophy, Thomas Ballinger. 
 
 They are all with you, Thomas, when 
 the curtain goes up on the last act of the 
 comedy. The little girl, who first amused 
 you in your playhouse of books here she 
 is, a woman grown, just as beautiful and 
 just as true as a younger and more ardent 
 194 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 lover might have wished! And Hannah, 
 patient, noble old Hannah, still bearing her 
 cross of faded hopes and disappointed 
 hungerings with a meekness which glorifies 
 the white crown upon her head! And 
 Betty, loyal, faithful, impulsive, scorning 
 alike both years and trouble! And Bas- 
 com, rounder and rosier as the cycles fly, 
 the complete exemplar of a solid business 
 man! And Mrs. Colver, full of informa 
 tion and the beginning of wisdom! And 
 Diggs, the Nestor of detectives, the great, 
 the glorious, the international Diggs! 
 Father Time has considered them as he 
 has gone up and down the earth, and has 
 spared them! 
 
 And you, Thomas Ballinger, what have 
 you to show for these years of opportunity? 
 When the great books are made up and the 
 reckoning comes, what will be written 
 down to your credit? To all appearances 
 you are a broken man, a feeble, tottering 
 old man, with a life of misused purpose 
 behind and a year or two of anxious wait 
 ing and dread to come. Where is that 
 195 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 philosophy which sustained you when you 
 were young and vigorous and intent only 
 on the ease of the present? What has 
 become of that temporal weakness, which 
 is sometimes called optimism, that cheered 
 and deceived you because you were young 
 and strong enough to believe in fallacies 
 and phantoms? Do ghosts come from the 
 bookcases to comfort you, Thomas? Do 
 they help you in misfortune? Do they aid 
 you in trouble? 
 
 Yet Father Time has not neglected you, 
 Thomas Ballinger. He was with you in 
 your youth, and when you were visionary 
 and fanciful He accompanied you when 
 you roamed aimlessly east and west. He 
 walked with you in all your days of mad 
 ness, and perhaps he chided you and 
 warned you, for Time is a great mentor if 
 only you will listen. And he is still stalk 
 ing behind you, with his scythe upon his 
 shoulder, but if you strain your ears you 
 will hear him say, Not yet. * 
 
 For Father Time has been a teacher to 
 you, Thomas, and if you have learned too 
 196 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 late for your advancement the lesson he 
 imparted, the fruits of that teaching are to 
 be seen in your humility, your gentleness, 
 your silent confession of your error, your 
 effort to bear bravely whatever sorrow the 
 future may have in store. He has trans 
 formed you from a recluse, a dreamer, a 
 selfish, yes, a selfish pleasure-seeker, into 
 a repentant, gentle, lovable old man. 
 Time has been lenient with you, Thomas 
 Ballinger. 
 
 When Helen Bascom announced that her 
 birthday party would assume the propor 
 tions of a small and select picnic in the 
 country, Mrs. Bascom came as near taking 
 to her bed as the condition of so vigorous 
 and forceful a woman would permit. And 
 when the wilful young lady supplemented 
 this crushing information with the further 
 intelligence that the guests would be con 
 fined to Thomas and Hannah and one or 
 two others of that irreproachable but hum 
 ble set, Mrs. Bascom rebelled outright. 
 "This comes," she said, scornfully, "of 
 associating with nobodies. If you and 
 197 
 
The Bondage of Eallmger 
 
 Helen, " she continued, addressing Bas- 
 com, who listened deferentially, "choose to 
 put in a day accumulating ants and spiders, 
 that is your privilege; as for me, I shall 
 remain at home where I can find better 
 company of all classes." 
 
 "The Major is not in a frame of mind to 
 add to the gayety of the occasion, whis 
 pered Bascom to his daughter, "and per 
 haps it is just as well that she does not 
 grace the festivities with her presence. 
 But we shall get along somehow. 
 
 In justice to Mrs. Bascom it is to be 
 admitted that a picnic, never a very ex 
 hilarating function under the most favorable 
 conditions, would naturally lack spontane 
 ous merriment when conducted in the in 
 terest of two such sedate personages as the 
 Ballingers. And although the place of 
 revelry was Bascom s farm, not many 
 miles distant from the city, and although 
 Bascom exerted himself to the utmost in 
 exhibiting the wonders of his estate, he 
 would have confessed, on compulsion, that 
 it was a good deal like work, however 
 198 
 
The Bondage of Eallmger 
 
 noble the cause. Thomas had obtained 
 leave of absence for the day, and as he 
 had certain hazy and indefinite ideas as to 
 the programme at picnics, and in order to 
 be on the safe side, he had provided him 
 self with two or three books wherewith to 
 replenish his mind as he stretched out 
 under a tree, oblivious of any obligation 
 that might rest upon him as a member of 
 the party. 
 
 To add to the perplexity of the function 
 Bascom, who was in a most unintelligible 
 flow of spirits, behaved in a most mysteri 
 ous manner. He would wander up to 
 Thomas with no apparent purpose, poke 
 him in the side, and ask, "How are you 
 coming on, Ballinger?" and then go off 
 into silent convulsions of merriment. He 
 would steal over to Helen, point to the 
 unconscious old man buried in his reading, 
 and shake his sides with excess of mirth. 
 In vain Helen reproved this unseemly lev 
 ity and expostulated with her sire for his 
 giddiness; reproof merely brought forth 
 another explosion, the more inexplicable 
 199 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 because Bascom, while a kindly and genial 
 gentleman, was not known to the commu 
 nity as an example of sustained hilarity. 
 The climax was reached shortly after din 
 ner when a telegram came recalling Helen 
 to the city. Now, there was no apparent 
 reason why such a calamity should excite 
 glee, but no sooner had the telegram been 
 delivered and read to the sorrowing party 
 than Bascom, unable to control himself, 
 laughed until the tears rolled down his 
 cheeks. Surely never was so eccentric a 
 person as Bascom. 
 
 The departure of Helen, which was at 
 tended with many expressions of polite 
 regret, did not appear to exercise a re 
 straining influence on her father, who 
 passed the afternoon in a condition of boy 
 ish excitement quite reprehensible and in 
 excusable in a man of his age. He ran 
 back and forth, from one person to another, 
 indulging in remarkable innuendoes which 
 nobody seemed to understand, and pump 
 ing poor Thomas with questions of so 
 irrelevant a nature that the worthy old man 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 looked at him in grieved astonishment. 
 Even on the train returning to the city 
 Bascom s hilarious mood did not diminish, 
 but in fact increased to such an extent that 
 had he not been recognized as a man of 
 the most correct habits, a good deal of 
 natural suspicion might have been excited. 
 Altogether it was fortunate that Mrs. 
 Bascom had withdrawn herself from the 
 party; that circumspect woman could not 
 have borne with patience the extraordinary 
 antics of this most extraordinary man, 
 Bascom. 
 
 When they reached the city surprising 
 things began to happen. It was strange 
 that Bascom s carriage should be found 
 just large enough to hold the entire party 
 with the exception of Thomas. It was 
 strange that Bascom, usually the kindest 
 and most considerate of men, should sug 
 gest to Thomas, his guest, that he might 
 go home on the surface cars, and it was 
 wholly incomprehensible that when this 
 inhospitable suggestion was made, it was 
 accompanied by a chuckle that was plainly 
 aoi 
 
The Bondage of Ballmger 
 
 out of place. It was strange that when 
 Thomas reached the corner of his street he 
 ran against Helen in the most accidental 
 way, and it was positively remarkable how 
 many of the neighbors were standing on 
 their porches as they walked along, bowing 
 and smiling and showing evidences of un 
 usual interest. 
 
 A shrewder man than you, Thomas 
 Ballinger, would have suspected something 
 long ago. These smiles and chuckles, 
 these unaccustomed happenings, this chain 
 of coincidences would have given rise to 
 mistrust in a mind not dulled by seclusion, 
 with perceptions blunted by long inter 
 course with musty books. It was the fault 
 of your education, Thomas, the glaring 
 mental deficiency of one shut out from the 
 keen and observing activity of the commer 
 cial world. Bascom was surely right 
 when he said that business is the thing to 
 develop a man s faculties, to make him 
 alert and able to cope with the snares and 
 deceits of life. 
 
 Had you possessed the ordinary appre- 
 
 202 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 hension of a business man, Thomas, you 
 would have pricked up your ears when Mrs. 
 Colver spoke of burglars as you passed her 
 house, laughing as she said the words. 
 You would have smiled when you found 
 your front door open and the trace of 
 muddy boots on the porch. You would 
 have winked knowingly when you saw the 
 paper in the hall scratched and torn, and 
 the woodwork defaced. You would not 
 have rushed so wildly up the stairs and 
 into the den, and you would not have 
 staggered against the wall at the sight you 
 there beheld. 
 
 Gone! Devastation, and irreparable 
 ruin! Not a picture on the walls, not a 
 book on the shelves, not a paper or scrap 
 of writing on the tables! Worse and 
 worse, not a shelf, not a table, not a book 
 case to be seen! Oh, the vandals that could 
 desecrate so holy a spot! 
 
 What happy chance was it, Thomas, as 
 
 you hurried back to the street, that you 
 
 found Diggs, of all men, waiting at the 
 
 door? Admirable Diggs! Prince of de- 
 
 203 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 tectives! No need of telling the news to 
 Diggs, for did he not combine with his 
 wonderful power of tracing criminals the 
 ability to guess at their infamous operations 
 and be promptly on the spot? Few men 
 like Diggs! 
 
 "Don t be discouraged, Mr. Ballinger," 
 said this great man; "we ll find the ras 
 cals and recover the plunder. See! here s 
 a clue to start with. Here are the heavy 
 tracks of a large wagon right in front of 
 the door. That was the wagon that car 
 ried away the goods. What are we to do? 
 Why, just follow the tracks until they 
 stop." And Diggs smiled amiably in 
 recognition of his own cleverness. Incom 
 parable Diggs! Where is there another 
 detective who would have picked up a clue 
 so easily? 
 
 And off they scampered, with Diggs in 
 front, and his nose close to the ground as 
 if trailing the scent. But go as fast as he 
 might, he found it difficult to keep ahead 
 of Thomas, whose white face and set 
 mouth argued ill for the thieves when he 
 ao 4 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 encountered them. Down the street they 
 rushed, now to the right, now to the left, 
 then through a narrow lane, until Diggs, 
 who kept close watch of the wagon tracks, 
 pulled up with a shout. 
 
 "Well, blow me, if here isn t a nerve! 
 The rascals have carted the goods right 
 through Mr. Bascom s place!" 
 
 They took up the scent again, now 
 closely followed by Helen, who spoke en 
 couragingly to Thomas and sought to cheer 
 him with repeated assurances that the 
 rogues must be near at hand. And they 
 wound around the terrace and up by the 
 garden until the tracks stopped directly in 
 front of a dwelling newly built and freshly 
 painted. 
 
 If you had not been the dullest of men, 
 Thomas Ballinger, you would have recog 
 nized at a glance the little cottage exactly 
 like your own, with your favorite vines 
 climbing up and around the porch, and the 
 bushes growing in the yard. If you had 
 stopped to reason or to think, if you had 
 not run into the doorway, through the hall, 
 205 
 
The Bondage of Ballanger 
 
 and up the stairs, with Diggs and Helen 
 at your heels, you would have marveled 
 how wonderfully like surrounding objects 
 were to the home you had just deserted. 
 But you never were an observing man, 
 Thomas. 
 
 An so they arrived in procession at the 
 top of the house, and lo! here was the den, 
 and here the bookcase, books, papers, and 
 pictures just as Thomas had left them ten 
 hours before, in perfect order and safe and 
 sound down to the smallest autograph. 
 Exhausted by his race, bewildered and 
 overcome by sudden joy, Thomas fell into 
 a chair his same old chair, in the familiar 
 position by the table and near the lamp 
 and his head sank on his breast. A shout 
 aroused him, and here in the doorway 
 stood Bascom, holding his sides and roar 
 ing out his gratification. And good old 
 Hannah, with her apron at her eyes, and 
 on her face the sunshine and tears of an 
 April day. And Betty, clapping her hands 
 with the enthusiasm of a child, and almost 
 ready, in her excitement, to give notice. 
 206 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 And even Mrs. Bascom, composed but evi 
 dently relenting, and struggling between 
 well-defined ideas of decorum and womanly 
 compassion. 
 
 "As an officer of the law/ said Diggs, 
 with a prefatory cough, "I have tried to 
 do my duty, but I am now put to the pain 
 ful necessity of naming the criminal. Mr. 
 Bascom, I hate to do it but I must arrest 
 your daughter. 
 
 Then there was more laughing, with 
 hand-clapping, and Bascom gave alarming 
 signs of impending apoplexy. But Helen, 
 her face radiant with happiness, and glisten 
 ing with the tears that always come with a 
 woman s great joy, knelt down by the 
 side of the arm-chair, and took the old 
 man s hands, still trembling, in her own and 
 pressed them against her cheek, and said, 
 hardly loud enough for the others to hear: 
 
 "Can t you understand, Tommy? Don t 
 you know what anniversary this is? Have 
 you forgotten that I am twenty years old 
 to-day, and don t you see this is father s 
 present to us to you and me, Tommy, 
 207 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 and to Aunt Thou? We are all going to 
 live here, dear old Tommy, the rest of our 
 days, and our troubles are over and our 
 good times have come to stay. 
 
 And Bascom, noisy, big-hearted, impa 
 tient Bascom, who had recovered his voice 
 and who abhorred tears when everybody 
 should be smiling, roared out, "Come; 
 now that we understand one another, let s 
 go downstairs and celebrate. If we can t 
 have fireworks, we can at least have din 
 ner." 
 
 Downstairs they went, Hannah still 
 drying her eyes, and Thomas shaking and 
 clinging to Helen like the old child he was. 
 And Betty deceitful, untrustworthy Betty 
 had prepared a great feast and brought 
 it on in state while Thomas and Hannah, 
 hand in hand, walked about the room, 
 pausing delightedly before each new but 
 familiar object, and taking notice of the 
 improvements so long desired. And there 
 was much eating, and there was likewise 
 great merriment, and Bascom made a 
 mighty speech in which the fine old fellow 
 208 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 thanked everybody in the room for per 
 mitting him in his humble way to do a bit 
 of good in the world and to add to the 
 sum of human pleasure. And if he incon 
 sistently blubbered now and then after the 
 strain of the day, who will rise up to re 
 proach him? 
 
 But while the others were still feasting 
 and making merry, Thomas and Helen 
 stole away and climbed the stairs to the 
 little den where the new life was beginning 
 in the old way. And the girl drew Thomas 
 to the window and pointed to the waters of 
 the lake, rippling and shimmering in the 
 moonlight. 
 
 "Look, Tommy! there s the Gurnet, 
 just as we saw it in the former home. And 
 there s the reef of Norman s Woe with the 
 breakers beyond. And see, Tommy! 
 there goes the northern boat with its lights 
 and shining decks. That s our May 
 flower, dear. Don t you remember 
 
 O strong hearts and true ! not one went back in the 
 
 Mayflower! 
 No, not one looked back, who had set his hand to 
 
 the ploughing. 
 
 209 
 
The Bondage of Eallinger 
 
 That s how we have set our hand, but it is 
 easy ploughing now, Tommy, and all our 
 work hereafter is the harvest. 
 
 Then Thomas tried to speak, but his 
 voice failed him, and all he could say was, 
 My little girl." 
 
 "You know, Tommy," she went on 
 gayly, "I told you I was going to be your 
 Maecenas, and I have simply kept my 
 word. If I had known how simple and 
 pleasant it is I think I should have begun 
 long ago." 
 
 "It is all so strange, so sudden, said 
 the old man, brokenly, "and I have been 
 so unworthy. What have I done that this 
 should come to me?" 
 
 "What have you done? You, who led 
 me day after day through a land of en 
 chantment and into kingdoms which other 
 wise I never might have known? You, 
 who developed the best that was in me? 
 You, who taught me nothing that was not 
 beautiful, everything that was helpful and 
 noble? And you ask me what you have 
 done?" 
 
 2IO 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 "That was for my own pleasure; it cost 
 me nothing more than a little selfish exer 
 tion. But compared with this " 
 
 "See, Tommy," interrupted the girl, 
 gently, and turning toward the water, 
 "the moon is shining on the reef just as 
 you shone on my poor reef of a mind," she 
 added, with a little smile. And when he 
 started to speak again, and to thank her, 
 she put her hand over his lips and laid her 
 head on his shoulder. 
 
 "Don t, Tommy dear; it was such a 
 little thing." 
 
 Thomas lay back in his arm-chair near 
 the table. Wearied by the excitement of 
 the day, and the tax upon his strength, by 
 the rush of happiness and the last hour of 
 communion with his books, he closed his 
 eyes. And it seemed to him at that mo 
 ment that he heard a faint whispering, then 
 a rustling, then a pattering as of many 
 feet, and languidly looking, he saw the 
 pictures on queer little legs clambering 
 down from the walls, and through the open 
 
 211 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 doors of the old bookcase the books piling 
 one over another in their haste to reach the 
 floor. And as he looked in his wonder he 
 saw his chair suddenly surrounded by these 
 sprites, shaking their thin, spider-like 
 arms, and nodding their weird heads. 
 And he heard a voice like the squeaking of 
 a doll, which said: 
 
 "Ho, Thomas Ballinger, where have you 
 hidden her? What have you done with her 
 that you would keep her away from us? A 
 pretty fellow you, Thomas! Have you 
 thanked her for yourself? Have you shown 
 any appreciation or gratitude? Have you 
 told her how deeply we feel our debt to 
 her? It may be that you would have sold 
 us and scattered us you who pretend to 
 be so loyal, so steadfast, so devoted to our 
 interests if she had not come to the 
 rescue. A nice idea of decency you have, 
 Thomas. Tell us where she is that we 
 may go to her and atone with our gratitude 
 for your thoughtlessness and neglect." 
 
 Then Thomas, in his confusion, lowered 
 his eyes, but when he heard a scampering 
 
 212 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 and a noise like far-off shouting he looked 
 again, and he saw across the room a fair 
 young girl, smiling and blushing and rais 
 ing her hands protestingly to the little 
 gnomes who surrounded her. And as they 
 joined their elfish hands and danced in their 
 glee and murmured their thanks and 
 crooned their praises, she protested the 
 more, now with tears in place of smiles, 
 and was it she or the memory of a voice 
 that exclaimed: 
 
 "It was such a little thing!" 
 
 And it further seemed to Thomas that 
 amid the rejoicing and the confusion he was 
 suddenly spirited away. And he found 
 himself wandering in a soft and pleasant 
 land, where flowers were in profusion and 
 nature was luxuriant. The woman at his 
 side was young, and happiness was in her 
 eyes, and great hope in her heart. On 
 they roamed, over wide rivers and up and 
 down high mountains and across deserts of 
 sand, he ever pulling and urging the for 
 ward course, she patiently enduring and 
 suffering the restless flight. And though 
 213 
 
The Bondage of Ballinger 
 
 her strength was nearly spent, and the 
 years had aged and stricken her, though 
 her garments were in tatters and her feet 
 were bleeding, still she went on uncom 
 plainingly. And there came another word 
 to Thomas: "Greater love hath no man 
 than this." 
 
 But when the old man, overcome by 
 shame and penitence, would have cried 
 out, mountains, rivers, desert, pain, and 
 suffering vanished, and there fell upon him 
 an influence of infinite rest and tenderness. 
 And looking for the third time before he 
 should give himself wholly to the spell, he 
 felt the kiss upon his forehead, and saw 
 the quiet eyes, and heard the loving voice 
 of the faithful one: 
 
 "Thee d better come to bed, Thomas." 
 
 214 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY