llf 
 
THAT YOU, OF ALL MEN, SHOULD DO THAT ! AND YOU A SCOT 1" 
 
The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 A Story of Love, Eco 
 nomics and Religion 
 
 By 
 DAVID N. BEACH 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLES COPELAND 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 ZTbe [Pilgrim press 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1902 
 BY DAVID N. BEACH 
 
TO 
 
 L. T. B. 
 
 M667919 
 
Not. perfect, nay, but full of tender wants, 
 No Angel, but a dearer being, all dipt 
 In Angel instincts, breathing Paradise, 
 Interpreter between the Gods and men, 
 Who look d all native to her place, and yet 
 On tiptoe seem d to touch upon a sphere 
 Too gross to tread. 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 FOREWORD 9 
 
 I. DUNCAN MCLEOD S u THIS DO " .... 11 
 
 ii. JOHN HOPE, WEAVER S SON, OF FALL 
 
 RIVER 31 
 
 III. HE REGISTERS A VOW, AND CHOOSES HIS 
 
 WEAPON 48 
 
 IV. TWO WOMEN OF STIRLING 63 
 
 V. THE MAKING OF A SCOT 79 
 
 VI. A CALEDONIAN CAPTAIN OF FINANCE . . 98 
 
 VII. KATHLEEN GORDON S CORONATION DAY . 109 
 
 VIII. " THIS DO " RECOILS ON DUNCAN MCLEOD 128 
 
 IX. A RIGHTEOUS MAN S REPENTANCE . . .144 
 
 X. PENTECOST AGAIN 166 
 
 XI. BISHOP GREATHEART ORDAINS UNCANON- 
 
 ICALLY 180 
 
 XII. FOR MORE THAN DIVIDENDS . . . .190 
 
 XIII. PROFIT-SHARING AT THE ANNIE LAURIE . 201 
 
 XIV. BONAPARTE SHARP, CAPTAIN OF FINANCE 219 
 
 5 
 
6 Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XV. HIS BLANK WALL 235 
 
 XVI. DILEMMA AND PARADOX OF LOVE . . .251 
 
 XVII. BONAPARTE SHARP SMASHES HISS BLANK 
 
 WALL 261 
 
 XVIII. FOR DIVIDENDS ONLY 278 
 
 XIX. JOSEPH MAKES HIMSELF STRANGE . . . 299 
 
 XX. A RIGHTEOUS WOMAN S REPENTANCE . .311 
 
 XXI. BONAPARTE SHARP CATCHES A TARTAR . 322 
 
 XXII. HIS BLANK WALL RISES AGAIN . . . 344 
 
 XXIII. THE LAST OF BONAPARTE SHARP . . . 360 
 
 XXIV. AULD LANG SYNE 372 
 
 xxv. AT DRUMMOND S GRAVE . . 390 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 Facing page 
 "And You a Scot!" Frontispiece 1 
 
 "It Might Have Been Joan of Arc" 127 
 
 "This Do" . . 142 
 
 11 He Uttered a Threatening Imprecation " 249 
 
 11 He Laughed, He Cried 342 
 
 The Last of Bonaparte Sharp 368 
 
 The Stone at Drummond s Grave From a Photograph . 394 
 
 PLACES SKETCHED WITH ILLUSTRATED 
 INITIALS 
 
 Page 
 
 Pike s Peak, from Colorado Springs 11 
 
 Tower and Roofs at Yale 48 
 
 Stirling Castle - 63 
 
 University of Edinburgh ...... 79 
 
 Mount of the Holy Cross, Colorado 180 
 
 Lower New York, from off the Battery 219 
 
 Old Greyfriars Church, Stirling 390 
 
The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a 
 steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict 
 which it records, between the material and the moral 
 nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
 
 Slavery has not only been controlled, but it has been des 
 troyed, and yet things have not begun to come right with 
 us ; but it was in the order of Providence that chattel slavery 
 should cease before industrial slavery, and the infinitely 
 crueler and stupider vanity and luxury bred of it, should be 
 attacked. William Dean Eowells. 
 
Foreword 
 
 " The dilemma and paradox of love ? " 
 
 " For more than dividends f " 
 
 " Does that mighty bugle note, l ln His Steps? 
 compass the gospel f " 
 
 Yes, gentle reader, all three of these inquiries 
 are of the very substance of this history. They 
 are, moreover, fused into one at the flaming eco 
 nomic crux of our time. If this offend thee, 
 if a "purpose " herein cause thee to stumble, 
 pray pass by on the other side. 
 
Feudalism, with its domains, its un taxed lands, its re 
 tainers, its exemptions and privileges, made war upon the 
 aspiring spirit of humanity and fell centuries ago with all 
 its feudal grandeur. But its spirit walks the earth to-day 
 and haunts our institutions, in the great corporations with 
 their control of the national highways, their occupation of 
 great domain, their power to tax and to escape taxation, 
 their sorcery to debase most gifted men to the capacity of 
 most splendid slaves, their pollution of the ermine of the 
 judge and the robe of the senator, their aggregation in one 
 man of wealth so enormous as to make Croesus seem a 
 pauper. Senator Cushman K. Davis. 
 
 Almost the worst enemy of human society is the spirit of 
 caste ; and the tragic element in the constitution of our 
 modern society is that, under forms of government that 
 profess long ago to have abandoned it, it still appears in 
 forms more insolent and mischievous than any it has pre 
 viously assumed. While we may be patient with the caste 
 spirit when it survives as a product of earlier ages, or tribal 
 distinctions, or feudal tradition, or distinguished ancestry, 
 or social culture, when we see it, as too often we see it 
 to-day, the mere incarnation of material possessions, held 
 in huge bulk and adroit association, it becomes a menace 
 alike to the right of the weak and the freedom of the poor. 
 A caste of capitalists separated by practically impassable 
 barriers from a caste of laborers, means social anarchy and 
 industrial war. Bishop Henry C. Potter. 
 
The Annie Laurie Mine: 
 
 A Story of Love, Economics and Religion 
 
 DUNCAN MCLEOD S " THIS DO " 
 
 HE man will be dead," said 
 the superintendent, and the 
 earth seemed still to shake. 
 " He was well back of the 
 explosion, but he has no air." 
 " Most men," Duncan Mc- 
 Leod answered, "would be 
 dead, but not Douglas Campbell." 
 
 "But, McLeod, no rescuer can live down 
 there," insisted the superintendent. 
 
 "Wet the blankets. I give you two min 
 utes." That was all Duncan said, but he so 
 said it that not a man at the Annie Laurie 
 
 Mine would have dared to disobey him. 
 ii 
 
12 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 * 
 
 Then he began pumping his lungs as if the 
 compressors were at them, his red woolen 
 sweater expanding and contracting like india 
 rubber, his face getting redder and redder, 
 and his eyes almost starting from their 
 sockets. 
 
 " Swathe me in them," he said. 
 
 The shock had displaced the hoisting ma 
 chinery, but some one had the presence of 
 mind to thrust a long ladder down to the edge 
 of the uppermost level in the shaft, along 
 which the accident had occurred. Down this 
 ladder, into the smoking level, all legs, arms, 
 sweater, and a bundle of dripping blankets for 
 head, plunged Duncan, and the men pulled 
 out their watches. 
 
 " He will smother, himself," said the super 
 intendent, gloomily. 
 
 " He always pumped his lungs that way be 
 fore his long swims under water," answered 
 John Hope. "He took first-class honors in 
 biology at Edinburgh ; and I have heard him 
 say that a man can approximate what the 
 whale can do in the way of holding his breath, 
 if only he will first aerate his blood sufficiently. 
 I have seen him dive from the shore at the 
 
Duncan McLeod s "This Do" 13 
 
 Forth Bridge, and not come up again until he 
 had reached the island amidst stream." 
 
 One minute, two, three, four. They begin 
 to count seconds. 
 
 Then out of the smoke emerges a body, so 
 limp and white and powder-stained that the 
 men shudder ; and, beneath the body, struggle 
 upward the bundle of dripping blankets, the 
 sweater, the arms and the legs. 
 
 The body is laid flat, and its rescuer 
 staggers while John Hope and the super 
 intendent unwind the blankets. Duncan s 
 face is black. To resume breathing costs him 
 anguish. After a moment he gasps. Then, at 
 first slowly, then faster, come the breaths. 
 
 "Not me, men, but Douglas!" cries their 
 hero ; " he lives ; resuscitate him ! " and, 
 though barely himself alive, he leads in the 
 work, until Douglas Campbell breathes, slowly 
 opens his eyes, and moans, " It s mither I se 
 wantin ; " and while not a man of them can 
 speak Duncan McLeod mothers him back to 
 consciousness and to life. 
 
 The story was picked up by a traveling 
 newspaper man within the week, and wired 
 from Leadville to the Denver papers; but, 
 
14 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 long before that, it had gone from mouth to 
 mouth up the canons, and over the Divide, 
 and had been told in a thousand miners 
 cabins. 
 
 "B the Holy Virgin," shouted a burly 
 Irishman, taking his cob pipe from between 
 his teeth in the firelight, and clenching a fist 
 that was a terror to evil-doers all through his 
 particular camp "B the Holy Virgin, I d 
 ruther a been the man to V done that dade, 
 than to a sthruck the Independence Mine!" 
 and he was applauded until the hills rang 
 again. 
 
 This heroism, not yet two months old, 
 rushed back upon John Hope s recollection, at 
 the climax of the following conversation with 
 Duncan McLeod : 
 
 " But that is not the point, Duncan." 
 " I fail, John, to see wherein not." 
 "Duncan, are not these the words: He 
 appointed twelve, that they might be with 
 him, and that he might send them forth ? " 
 
 "Just what I contend, John, that he 
 might send them forth. That is the objective. 
 In His Steps is right. What would Jesus 
 do? This do. The end of the gospel is 
 
Duncan McLeod s "This Do" 15 
 
 deeds. "We Edinburgh men, on whom Drum- 
 mond used to play as we heard Trinity organ 
 played upon the night of the * Elijah at 
 Denver, were taught that. Drummond and 
 Sheldon, though in such different registers, 
 strike the same note." 
 
 " Drummond, I think, wrote * The Greatest 
 Thing in the World ?" 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 " And is said to have lived in the thirteenth 
 chapter of First Corinthians ? " 
 
 " Ay, and far ben, too." 
 
 "And Moody, who was all deeds, counted 
 Drummond a better Christian than he ? " 
 
 " Our time has not seen so good a Christian." 
 
 " You have been through the Biography ? " 
 
 "I have devoured it. The portrait, oppo 
 site the title-page, with the folded arms, and 
 the eyes that blaze, is just how he would look 
 a man through, so quiet ; his voice, when he 
 would search you with questions, hardly louder 
 than a whisper." 
 
 " But does not George Adam Smith say of 
 him" . 
 
 "They were like brothers, and he should 
 know." 
 
16 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 " Does he not say of Drummond : 
 
 " We should greatly mistake the man and his teaching 
 if we did not perceive that the source and the return of all 
 his interest in men and of all his trust in God was Jesus 
 Christ ?" 
 
 " I remember." 
 
 " But what, Duncan, is the major premise in 
 that text? Is it not, That they might be 
 with him ? Is not that, as George Adam 
 Smith says about Drummond, * the source and 
 the return of the minor premise, That he 
 might send them forth ? " 
 
 "But how, John, is any one to be with 
 him except in deeds ? There was a man at 
 Edinburgh in my time. He was in medicine, 
 and very poor. He saw Drummond s whole 
 life a deed. He had a hard head. He did not 
 believe overmuch. I can break Drummond s 
 argument, he would say, but I can t with 
 stand his life. That man, one night, because 
 that was the sort of thing Drummond taught 
 and did, sought out a fellow student in a 
 house where he should never have gone ; first, 
 soundly thrashed him ; then took him to his 
 room, and fed and guarded him there for days 
 till the alcohol and evil passion were out of him ; 
 
Duncan McLeod s "This Do" 17 
 
 then gave up the rest of the year to just 
 living with him; until, one day, Drummond 
 slew both of them with the sword of his 
 mouth, and the twain became humble Chris 
 tians. But it cost that poor medical man an 
 extra year at the university, and little to eat 
 but oat-cake, to do it. Deeds, John, my man, 
 are the things." 
 
 The voice of Duncan McLeod, as he said 
 this, rang out above the rumbling of the ore 
 crushers like a bugle amidst a cannonade. 
 
 The oil lamp did him scant justice, standing 
 there six feet three, his soft hat thrust to the 
 back of his head, his great brow beaded with 
 sweat, and his muscles like steel. A look 
 came into his face, discernible even by a light 
 so poor. His voice suddenly sank almost to a 
 whisper, yet you could hear it, for the quality 
 in it, above the roar of the machinery, and it 
 said, " THIS Do." 
 
 "When John Hope heard Duncan McLeod 
 so speak, and saw the look that had come 
 into his face, the rescue of Douglas Campbell 
 flashed before him again, and he was con 
 scious of a certain shrinking feeling, as if he 
 were the king with ten thousand, going 
 
l8 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 against Duncan with twenty thousand, and 
 as if an ambassage asking conditions of peace 
 were perhaps in order. 
 
 For John could not but reflect that Duncan 
 had not only saved Douglas Campbell s life in 
 a manner which had made him a hero all over 
 the range, but that he had also been at the 
 bottom of pretty much everything of worth 
 that had happened at the Annie Laurie Mine. 
 
 It had been Duncan s faith in that particular 
 fissure vein, which, when a hundred thousand 
 dollars had been buried with almost no return, 
 urged on the work, pledging two years service 
 without pay, if necessary ; and only so had the 
 Annie Laurie " struck," and become a heavy 
 dividend payer. 
 
 Moreover, the whole esprit de corps of the 
 plant had been caught from him. No men 
 loafed on their jobs there. There was no ore 
 missing. The machinery always shone. From 
 shift to shift, thrice every twenty-four hours, 
 the men passed with the swiftness and alert 
 ness of automatic valves. The carrying of 
 weapons had been abolished on the men s own 
 initiative. Duncan, furthermore, had got them 
 to agree to settle their personal differences by 
 
Duncan McLeod s "This Do" 19 
 
 reference to a standing committee, chosen by 
 themselves from their own ranks; or, if that 
 could not be done, to settle them "man 
 fashion," as Duncan called it, that is to say, 
 fist to fist in a fair fight ; and of these adjudi 
 cations they always insisted that he should be 
 the judge. Such, in fact, was Duncan s own 
 prowess at the gloves that no two men at the 
 mine would have cared to tackle him. 
 
 When the crew was first gathered it included 
 many of the profane, the drunken and the 
 licentious. Now all was changed. An oath, 
 an unsavory story, a man not sober and clean, 
 were of the rarest occurrence. Yet hardly a 
 man had been discharged, and there were a 
 hundred of the best men in the mountains on 
 the waiting list for positions, such was the 
 enviable repute of the Annie Laurie Mine. 
 " Turn him over to me," Duncan would say of 
 this and that incorrigible, and the incorrigibles 
 had, one after another, become among the most 
 valued men on the works. " Commend to me 
 the incorrigibles," he would say, in that electri 
 fying way of his ; " the stuff is in them ; all 
 you have to do with them is to get them on 
 the right shift." 
 
2O The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 Duncan was in their " Miners Club." He 
 could not have been drawn by horses to ac 
 cept even the most subordinate office in it, 
 but he was its loadstone. Little by little the 
 club debated politics less, and policies more. 
 One night everybody, except Duncan McLeod 
 and Douglas Campbell, was thunderstruck. 
 Up rose Jamie McDuff. When the crew was 
 gathered he was the worst drunkard in it. It 
 was a drawn fight for a long time whether al 
 cohol or Jamie should be on top. Then, on a 
 sudden, he stopped drinking sharp off. But, 
 even after that, he stoutly refused to take the 
 pledge, and argued for personal liberty and 
 against sumptuary laws. 
 
 He is on his feet now. " Maister Chairman," 
 he cries, and is recognized, " it 11 surprise ye 
 that sic as I should move ye sic a resolution ; 
 but I beg to forewarn ye that, this night, seven 
 days, I shall offer this Eesolve, to wit : 
 
 " That the overseers of the Annie Laurie Corporation, 
 be, and hereby are. respectfully petitioned to bar all intox 
 icants from the lands owned by the said corporation. " 
 
 Such a debate was never heard in the Rock 
 ies before or since. Not till the mine bell was 
 ringing for the midnight shift did it end. 
 
Duncan McLeod s "This Do" 21 
 
 Jamie began, and closed. Not a word passed 
 his lips in the heated hours between. His 
 opening was brief, logical, pointed, but had a 
 dignity and reserve about it, as if he desired 
 not to compromise his clan. The debaters 
 were numerous, and about equally matched, 
 and there was grave doubt whether the motion 
 could pass by even the smallest majority. 
 
 At eleven-twenty o clock Jamie stood up to 
 close. Then the eloquence of Knox and the 
 poetry and pathos of Burns broke loose. He 
 ran unreportably into dialect. At times there 
 would be a sentence or two in the Gaelic, 
 which not ten present knew, but which all un 
 derstood, as at Pentecost. Near the end he 
 adduced Burns. Then one saw, as by light 
 ning flashes, Ayr, Dumfries, the Alloway 
 Kirk, the Witches, Tam-o -Shanter, Scotland s 
 glory and shame. " Was na Tarn Burns him- 
 sel ? " he asked, with indescribable passion, and 
 there was not a dry eye. But his climax came 
 when he began, " An 7 noo oor Duncan " and 
 Duncan left the room as if shot. He had 
 strictly charged Jamie on no account to men 
 tion his name, and understood now how Jesus 
 could not silence those whom he had helped. 
 
22 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 Dialect and Gaelic mixed hopelessly again. 
 " Dinna ye mind," he said in conclusion, " hoo 
 spare oor Duncan was this time twal month ? 
 A the lave he pit up wi-, yet the mair keepit 
 he vigil o sic as me saxteen oors the day an* 
 I stoppit. Tis for oor Duncan I move ye, 
 Maister Chairman, that the Kesolution pass." 
 
 It passed, seventy-seven ayes, five nays, and 
 eleven not voting. The company granted the 
 petition, only too gladly ; and, for a week, 
 teams were coming and going, carrying bar 
 rels, kegs and cases of liquor seventy miles 
 down the valley to the railway station whence 
 they came. 
 
 In all these turnings and overturnings Doug 
 las Campbell was a force in the camp hardly 
 second to Duncan McLeod. Possessing only 
 the most rudimentary education, nearly dead 
 with homesickness for wife and bairns during 
 his first weeks at the Annie Laurie, and with 
 the entire miners craft to learn, he had never 
 theless become, within two years, second to 
 none in the levels in the amount of ore per 
 diem he could dislodge, and was studying 
 mining engineering, under Duncan s tuition, 
 several hours a day besides. He was Duncan s 
 
Duncan McLeod s "This Do" 23 
 
 alter ego. Short of stature, but thick-set, and 
 with muscles and flesh harder than most 
 athletes , he held the Annie Laurie record for 
 putting the hammer, was a universal favor 
 ite, and could " put " character second only to 
 Duncan. 
 
 When the mutiny came, for the devil of 
 alcohol did not leave the camp without almost 
 rending it, Douglas was key to the situation. 
 He told no tales. No man ever accused Doug 
 las of " blawin ." But a look, and a sentence 
 or two, to Duncan, at lesson the day before, 
 which, in point of fact, said nothing, were all 
 that a mind like Duncan s needed. 
 
 At midnight, between shifts, in a dark spot, 
 with the lighted punk in his hand with which 
 he meant to kindle the fuse and blow up the 
 works, Pat Sullivan was jerked a foot into the 
 air with a grip around his throat as if the 
 hangman had him. No man in the camp but 
 Duncan McLeod could give a hoist like that. 
 In another instant Pat is on the ground ; feels 
 the punk thrust into his mouth, where the to 
 bacco juice instantly quenches it; and, in a 
 moment more, is pinioned, hand and foot. 
 Then, out of the darkness, at Duncan s signal, 
 
24 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 twelve trusty men, Douglas Campbell at their 
 head, march on an innocent looking barn, 
 frighten off its concealed guards with a few 
 well-delivered fist blows, and seize fifty rifles 
 and five thousand rounds of ammunition, that 
 the plotters have somehow succeeded in smug 
 gling into the camp. 
 
 The place is all alight now, for some one has 
 started a bonfire. It is a sight never to for 
 get. Pat Sullivan, unable to move, but utter 
 ing the most obscene and fearful oaths, and cry 
 ing at the top of his voice, " Light the fuse ! 
 Fire the works ! " lies there flat on the ground. 
 
 And there is Jamie McDuff at the head of 
 a group of men he has swiftly gathered, with 
 the wild beast of the mountains as much 
 aroused in him now, as Scotland s poetry and 
 eloquence had been when he carried the 
 " Kesolution," and shouting, "Lynch him! 
 burn him that for the luve o whuskie wid 
 hae blawn up the mine, an wid hae murdered 
 or scattered far awa the best crew in the 
 mountains ! " He has jostled Duncan aside. 
 He is over Pat with the noose. Now he has 
 it adjusted, and a dozen men are pulling at the 
 rope. 
 
Duncan McLeod s "This Do" 25 
 
 " Hands off ! " cries Duncan in stentorian 
 tone. 
 
 " When Pat s a ghaist ! " as loudly yells 
 Jamie ; and part of the crowd of wild men, 
 the wilder because their cause seems to them 
 just, lines up, facing Duncan to keep him off, 
 while the others begin dragging Pat away, 
 who, with what breath he can draw, is by this 
 time crying piteously for mercy. 
 
 Pale as death, rigid as steel, with eyes that 
 gleam like stars, Duncan, after a moment s 
 pause, springs on the three foremost in the 
 line-up, closes, drags them down ; throws this 
 way and that a fourth, a fifth, a sixth ; springs 
 through the rest ; seizes McDuff by the throat, 
 as he had seized Sullivan with the lighted 
 punk; and, when the mob begins to cower, 
 loosens his hold, and exclaims : 
 
 " McDuff, I m ashamed of you ! That you, 
 of all men, should do that! And you a 
 Scot ! " 
 
 "But twas murder and arson Sullivan 
 plotted," feebly retorts Jamie, hanging his 
 head. 
 
 " But, McDuff," continues Duncan, "a worse 
 thing than fire and blood-letting had you be- 
 
26 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 gun at the Annie Laurie, had Sullivan either 
 hanged or burned at your hands. To avenge 
 crime with crime is crime basest of all. D ye 
 no ken your John Knox ? " 
 
 All are still now. The bonfire s light shows 
 an astonishing group of faces. Then suddenly 
 one hears : 
 
 "Jamie," and Duncan s voice is tender 
 now " Jamie, take off the rope." 
 
 Jamie takes it off. 
 
 " Jamie, cast it into the fire." 
 
 Jamie casts it in. 
 
 Then Duncan stoops over Pat, as if he were 
 but a hurt girl, unpinions him, and, rising, says : 
 
 " Sullivan, get up." 
 
 Sullivan gets up, all a-tremble. 
 
 " Sullivan," Duncan goes on, searching him 
 with his eyes, "I will answer to the Annie 
 Laurie Mining Company, and to the governor 
 of Colorado, for any harm you henceforth do. 
 Gentlemen," and he turns to the mob with 
 a look like the Judgment Day, " whoever 
 harms Sullivan, dies ! " 
 
 Then Duncan, in his passion of holy love 
 hardly realizing how perilously his own last 
 word nears Judge Lynch s jurisdiction, disap- 
 
Duncan McLeod s "This Do" 27 
 
 pears. "When they seek him out, he is at his 
 assayer s bench making the regular one o clock 
 tests, as if he should say, " What is it ? Noth 
 ing has, I think, happened." 
 
 That midnight, John Hope remembered, 
 was the end of all disorder whatsoever in the 
 camp. The rifles and the ammunition started 
 for the station the next morning. There were 
 no arrests. Sullivan and McDuff became 
 swiftly the warmest of friends. The great 
 and saving love that encompassed them both, 
 made them one. Their only contention was, 
 which should best serve the company. For 
 Duncan either of them would have counted it 
 joy to die. 
 
 Moreover, and this was not the least happy 
 thing about it, so successfully did Duncan 
 seal up the tidings of the mutiny, that no 
 news-gatherer heard of it for more than a 
 month. 
 
 " The thing is dead now," said the syndicate 
 man at Salt Lake City ; " but, Simpkins, when 
 you are going through to Pueblo, just look in 
 on it." 
 
 When Simpkins alighted from the stage at 
 the Annie Laurie Mine, he could find nobody 
 
28 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 that had heard of it. He plied all his arts on 
 a person named Sullivan, whom the syndicate 
 man had mentioned suspiciously ; but, getting 
 no more out of him than Sain Weller yielded 
 in the celebrated Bardell-Pickwick cross-ex 
 amination, though he got Irish wit fully the 
 equal of Sam Weller s English brand, and 
 hearing, moreover, that Sullivan had just re 
 ceived an increase in wages, he telegraphed 
 Salt Lake that the whole thing was a fake, 
 and added circumstantially his reasons for this 
 conclusion by the first mail. 
 
 Singularly enough, McDuff alone, on this 
 occasion, weakened. " Oor Duncan," he 
 thought, should have his due. " I doot, mon," 
 he therefore furtively suggested to Sinipkins, 
 "ye 11 hae a word or twa wi Maister Mc- 
 Leod." The telegram had gone, but Sinipkins 
 was no shirk, and interviewed his man. 
 
 " T was something like this," said Duncan, 
 in his most confiding way. "You have 
 heard, I dare say, of our Miners Club ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed," answered Simpkins ; " and 
 most favorably, Mr. McLeod, thank you; in 
 fact, I am purposing to write it up for the 
 Review of Reviews" 
 
Duncan McLeod s "This Do" 29 
 
 " Do so," continued Duncan ; " people will 
 read it. Well, our men are very fond of the 
 late Henry Drummond ; and, one night, after 
 Club, as the mood struck them, they lighted a 
 bonfire and had some horse-play in honor of 
 him. I happened to know Drummond person 
 ally in the old country, and for I knew 
 nothing would please him better I went 
 in with them, and a jolly night of it we 
 made." 
 
 Simpkins was a man of enthusiasms. He 
 added that night s bonfire and horse-play to 
 his notes about the Club, mentioning partic 
 ularly that the head assayer had entered 
 boisterously into the revels. Then he ques 
 tioned the assayer about Drummond at great 
 length, took copious notes, thanked him pro 
 fusely, climbed to the stage roof, and, con 
 gratulating himself on his Drummond find, 
 was gone. 
 
 Denver called up Salt Lake, a few nights 
 later, to inquire what Simpkins had found out. 
 " They ve an extraordinary Club at the Annie 
 Laurie Mine," answered the syndicate man. 
 "Club reads Drummond. Had a bonfire and 
 some sports in his honor. Sullivan seems 
 
30 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 prominent among them, and is all right. Is 
 liked so well he lately had his wages raised. 
 Queer folks at the Annie Laurie. Better 
 bring them over the mountains to your next 
 Festival of Mountain and Plain." 
 
 Thus, as usual, Duncan McLeod carried his 
 point, and followed, as he supposed, his leader. 
 But for the Douglas Campbell incident, it may 
 be that he would always have supposed so. 
 But that incident had recently occurred, big 
 with meanings ; and how little this strenuous 
 man was at peace within himself, notwith 
 standing his outwardly confident debate with 
 John Hope, even as John Hope had until 
 lately been little at peace, events swiftly 
 culminating will disclose. 
 
II 
 
 JOHN HOPE, WEAVER S SON, OF FALL EIVEB 
 
 T7 OHN HOPE S appear 
 ance was not prepossess- 
 r ing. He was hardly of 
 medium height. He was 
 heavily and awkwardly built. His hands 
 were thick and stubbed. His lower jaw was 
 nearly square. It and its fellow joined like a 
 vise. His forehead was too large. No one 
 could have been so born, except out of stress. 
 
 And yet it rarely occurred to people that 
 John Hope was not good looking. His friend 
 Bowers, the artist, liked to tell why. 
 
 "I am, as you know," Bowers would 
 premise, " something of a cyclone." The 
 accuracy of this characterization tended to 
 induce confidence. " I suppose," Bowers 
 would proceed, "it was the one time in my 
 life, but, when I first met Hope, I entered his 
 office with the silence," here you raised your 
 only query, " and, I fear, with the stealth, of 
 
 3 
 
32 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 a thief. "Why, I have n t the dimmest idea. 
 I am not a grafter." You smiled when you 
 thought of Bowers, the benevolent and the 
 lavish, as " a grafter." " It was the one time. 
 That only, I am sure, can explain it. I wish 
 some one had snapped me, Bowers the silent 
 and the stealthy ! " Here you and he laughed, 
 most likely till your sides ached. (Do n t see 
 why ? Did n t know Bowers !) " Well, Hope 
 was alone. It was his New York office, the 
 inner one. He sat facing the door. He had 
 his eyes closed ; asleep, I supposed ; in point of 
 fact, engaged a habit of his in profound 
 thought. A friend of mine, cartoonist of one 
 of the big dailies, came up in the elevator 
 with me on his way to the office next Hope s. 
 He has made his fame caricaturing a cele 
 brated and obnoxious public character of the 
 What are you going to do about it ? type. 
 If he could only have seen Hope with his 
 eyes shut, as I did, he could have improved 
 the cartoons fifty per cent. I was on the 
 point of sneaking out and bringing him in, 
 when Hope, who was no more asleep than 
 you or I, opened his eyes. I distrusted my 
 senses. I thought I was in the presence of 
 
John Hope, Weaver s Son 33 
 
 a fine-looking man. His eyes did it, large, 
 luminous, penetrating, kindly, commanding 
 you, and yet wells of tenderness and good 
 feeling. Only case I ever met where the eyes 
 were everything. But, by Phidias, I wish 
 Brown could have got the sketch 1 Of course, 
 I could n t ask Hope to give him a sitting ! " 
 Here you and he laughed again. 
 
 John Hope was a weaver s son, of Fall 
 River. There were seven children. Weavers 
 wages weren t large. Frequent shut-downs, 
 in John s boyhood, made matters worse. But 
 no child of William Hope s ever worked in 
 the mills a day that he could be in the public 
 schools. " I draw the line at that," said 
 William, with a look in his face, and his lines 
 were not of the kind that rub out. 
 
 William Hope was a born mechanic. He 
 worked out of hours in the repair shop. He 
 was repeatedly approached to leave the looms, 
 and enter that work, with promise of larger 
 pay ; but no man in Fall River knew weaving 
 as he did ; he loved it, and he was not a quit 
 ter. For a number of years, too, he supposed 
 that he would be promoted to some work of 
 oversight ; but he gradually came to know that 
 
34 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 another kind of man than he got the good 
 places. Did this dishearten him? No one 
 ever knew. He simply continued at the looms 
 as fixedly as ever, only remarking, "A day 
 will come when that sort of thing will defeat 
 itself, and worth will win, not in my time ; 
 perhaps in my grandchildren s." William was 
 an optimist with staying power. 
 
 The repair shop was glad to use all the ex 
 tra hours William Hope could give it, and paid 
 him well for them. Meantime, his wife, Mary, 
 who was a skilful needlewoman, took in sew 
 ing, to eke out the family funds. She and her 
 husband denied themselves at every point 
 where they could wisely save, even to curtail 
 ing or cheapening their own food and clothing ; 
 and .the children were not only kept in school, 
 but were always well fed and well dressed. 
 When not in school, they, too, helped at home 
 and in the mill. Every member of the family 
 had a savings-bank account, and three or four 
 of these accounts were of respectable size. 
 
 The Hopes allowed themselves three lux 
 uries : books, giving, and a four days outing 
 each summer. 
 
 "I find more books," said their minister, 
 
John Hope, Weaver s Son 35 
 
 who, to an unusual degree, was at once 
 preacher, pastor and scholar, "and better 
 bound books in many of our homes ; but no 
 where books so wisely selected, or so much to 
 the purpose, as in Mr. Hope s." 
 
 One evening, in the semi-privacy of his 
 standing committee, the minister also said: 
 " Brethren, I have been making a calculation, 
 based on the giving to our church of William 
 Hope and his family, for every one of them 
 contributes, and based on the seeming pe 
 cuniary ability of our entire parish ; and I es 
 timate that, if all gave in the proportion of 
 that family, foreign missions alone would re 
 ceive from us upwards of five thousand dollars 
 a year, instead of some three hundred as now. 
 Not only so, but they make an unremitting 
 campaign of giving in that home. Every 
 month, Mr. Hope tells me, he has the family 
 together; they confer about various benevo 
 lent exigencies, and what they can do to help to 
 meet them ; they make the matter the subject 
 of earnest prayer ; and then they determine 
 how much money, the coming month, they will 
 try to put into what he calls their Benevolent 
 Bank. They agree on a sum surprisingly 
 
36 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 large for their circumstances; and, all the 
 month, they strive, even to the baby, to reach 
 it. They hardly ever, Mr. Hope says, fail to 
 do so. Since they adopted this plan, he adds, 
 the family never had such excellent health, nor 
 otherwise so prospered." 
 
 The Hopes usually went to New York for 
 their outing. All the family went. They 
 took the boat on a Monday evening. Arriving 
 early Tuesday morning, they would spend four 
 days and three nights in the metropolis, and 
 be back by daylight on Saturday morning. 
 "When the smaller children were weary, the 
 mother would stay with them in some park ; 
 but, so far as was practicable, they went every 
 where together. 
 
 First, the father would take the family on 
 several ferry rides, to see the water front and 
 the shipping. Then he would conduct them 
 over the largest transatlantic liner in port. 
 " That you may know," he would say, " that 
 this is a big world. Thinking it little, shrivels 
 lives." 
 
 William Hope had a friend, a captain of 
 police, a man after Jacob A. Kiis own heart. 
 William would correspond with him, and so 
 
John Hope, Weaver s Son 37 
 
 time the date of their arrival that the captain 
 would be off duty. Under his escort they 
 would next visit two or three of the worst 
 tenement houses in New York. At what they 
 saw, the children would sob piteously ; Mary 
 Hope s eyes would be full of tears; so, at 
 times, would William s ; but they would press 
 relentlessly on. Then, in .some little neigh 
 boring grass-plot, for the multiplying, in re 
 cent years, of such places, God reward all that 
 Mr. Kiis has done ! they would sit under the 
 trees and feed the birds. When all were 
 cheerful again, William would say : " That 
 you may know that the world is not only big, 
 but that there is selfishness and badness in it ; 
 and in the hope that our boys and girls will 
 lift hands to help it. T will be mother s and 
 father s monument, should they do that." 
 
 Besides an afternoon down the harbor, with 
 surf-bathing for all, and perhaps two hours of 
 rollicking fun in Central Park on the other 
 afternoons, some noble music, the finer 
 public buildings, the art galleries and the 
 libraries would get the rest of their outing. 
 " * He hath made every thing beautiful in its 
 time, " William Hope would say, with bared 
 
38 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 head and a voice hard to command, as they 
 stood before the Metropolitan Art Museum. 
 Then they would enter. And, in the Astor 
 Library, " Books," he would say, " have made 
 the world, not their dust, but their life." 
 When he stood over the glass case exhibiting 
 some ancient manuscript, if no one saw, he 
 would kiss it. When he looked upon some 
 rare and famous edition the tears would start. 
 William Hope had a genius for devouring 
 books. Four or five hours sleep a night 
 sufficed him, and this favored that diet. 
 Hardly a professional man of his city was 
 so well read as he. He made excursions 
 into economics. His specialty was English 
 and American history, with general history 
 for background. When the principal of the 
 Fall Kiver High School read a paper before 
 the National Teachers Association on " The 
 Teaching of History," and when his minister 
 gave a course of lectures at Andover on " The 
 English Eeformation," both frankly acknowl 
 edged their large indebtedness to William 
 Hope. When questioned why he confined 
 himself so closely to the history of Great 
 Britain and America, he replied : " Their race 
 
John Hope, Weaver s Son 39 
 
 will determine the destiny of this planet : is 
 there a more important historical pursuit than 
 to search out its beginnings and unfoldings ? " 
 
 William Hope would join no trade-union. 
 He admitted that his position was extreme ; 
 that force required sometimes to be met by 
 force ; but certain practices common to most 
 unions troubled his conscience. This nearly 
 cost his mill two or three strikes; but his 
 straightforward honesty and his never-failing 
 tact averted them. " When trade-union prin 
 ciples are better, I will gladly join," he said ; 
 " for organization has indeed a certain import 
 ance, easily overestimated, though." 
 
 All the Hope children did well, morally, 
 mentally, and in practical efficiency. This 
 was more than could be said of the superin 
 tendent s children, or of those of the president 
 of the mill. On a Thanksgiving evening, when 
 the children and their friends would be play, 
 ing blindman s buff, and the baby would be 
 crowing in his father s arms, William would 
 say to Mary : " Would we exchange with 
 any ? " and Mary, unable to speak, would kiss 
 his forehead. 
 
 John Hope was the third child. The months 
 
4-O The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 before he was born were the family s hardest. 
 The mills were shut down. There was no work 
 to be had. It was a winter of unusual severity. 
 Food and fuel were scarce. All the family s 
 money had been drawn from the savings-bank. 
 How they lived, William and Mary Hope could 
 only explain out of the Bible. In those ter 
 rible months, too, the father fought a fierce 
 fight within himself over the causes of in 
 dustrial and economic depressions ; over, as he 
 could not but conclude, their needlessness ; and 
 over some possible better industrial and eco 
 nomic order. Coincidently, the mother went 
 through a religious crisis, in which all faith 
 left her, and in which she won it back on 
 surer foundations. Had Bowers, the artist, 
 known these facts, he might have understood 
 better the physical phenomenon he loved to 
 describe, putting, for example, the eyes and 
 the faith together. As the reader has now 
 been made acquainted with them, they may 
 throw their own light on certain things to be 
 recorded in this history. 
 
 Like his father, John Hope was mechanical. 
 In addition, he was very ingenious. Like all 
 quick-witted boys of his time, he lost his heart 
 
John Hope, Weaver s Son 41 
 
 to electricity. The engineer at the city power 
 house was a friend of William Hope s. Thereby 
 John, who was a pet of the engineer s, had the 
 run of the shop connected with the power 
 house. The electrician of the plant liked the 
 boy, too. One day the electrician, in referring 
 to a certain desideratum, said : " Whoever will 
 invent an instrument for that purpose will 
 make the public lastingly his debtor." 
 
 That night John prayed long and fervently. 
 " O God," he said a hundred times, with various 
 associated pleadings, " show me this secret, and 
 thereby find a way out for us all ! " 
 
 He thought prodigiously. He read every 
 thing on electricity that he could lay his hands 
 on. He experimented endlessly in his little 
 shop at home. He kept on praying. One night 
 he woke out of sleep, lighted a lamp, drew a 
 rough sketch, kneeled down and thanked God. 
 
 He first confided in his father; then in an 
 attorney who was a member of their church. 
 The attorney was fond of the Hopes. Many 
 were the evenings he and William Hope had 
 spent together in study and discussion of 
 certain law principles that obscurely rooted 
 themselves ia the early development of the 
 
42 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 British constitution. " Your papers shall not 
 cost you a cent," said the attorney ; " I am 
 glad to do a little toward repaying what I 
 owe your father for what he has taught me in 
 my own profession." But the patent was not 
 sought until after John had made model after 
 model during long months by way of perfect 
 ing his invention. 
 
 In due time he took the steamer Pilgrim 
 for New York. The next morning he went to 
 the headquarters of one of the great electrical 
 companies, and, the moment the offices were 
 open, he asked that he might see the proper 
 person for considering an electrical invention. 
 The clerk whom he approached sneered, and 
 showed him the door. A half hour later he 
 accosted a different clerk, and secured, not 
 without taunts first, a grudging admission to 
 the private office of the company s principal 
 expert then in the city. John took his model 
 from its wrappings, and placed it on the table. 
 He caught the eager look that entered the ex 
 pert s face, and took courage. 
 
 " This sort of thing comes to us every day," 
 said the expert, gruffly, coughing, and making 
 his face look hard ; " not one in twenty that 
 
John Hope, Weaver s Son 43 
 
 offers is worth the metal the model is made of. 
 The country has gone crazy on electricity " ; 
 and he waved his hand toward the door. 
 
 "But, sir," replied John, "I have studied 
 the subject, and the model works." 
 
 "Oh, well, taking our chances, we might 
 give you twenty-five dollars for it, the money 
 most likely thrown away," conceded the ex 
 pert. 
 
 John picked up his model, and was leaving. 
 
 "Wait, boy," called the great man, "let me 
 see. I 11 risk a hundred on it, out of my own 
 pocket ; a pure gamble, however." 
 
 John s hand was on the door-knob. 
 
 " Put it down on the table," the man con 
 tinued; "I didn t half see it." 
 
 John did so, and observed the expert mak 
 ing rapid pencilings on the large sheet of blot 
 ting paper that lay on the table in front of 
 him. Suspecting what was up, " Perhaps you 
 would like to see my papers," John said, and 
 produced his letters patent. 
 
 The expert seized the document, ran swiftly 
 through it, bit his lip, and, in the tone of one 
 greatly vexed, demanded : " Who drew up 
 these specifications ? " 
 
44 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 " Mr. L , of Fall Biver," quietly replied 
 
 John. 
 
 " Mr. L ! " the expert exclaimed ; and 
 
 recalled, but did not mention, a case their 
 company had had with him in the United 
 
 States Supreme Court, which Mr. L 
 
 won. He thought, too, but did not say: 
 
 " Any papers Mr. L draws will hold. 
 
 No use sketching the model to absorb the 
 idea." Thereupon, seizing a blue pencil, he 
 blurred over the part of the blotting paper he 
 had marked on, and asked : " Boy, what do 
 you want for that patent ? " 
 
 "I think it worth more," John answered, 
 " but I greatly need money, and I hoped I 
 might get fifteen thousand dollars for it." 
 
 The ridicule, the scoffing and the unreport- 
 able words that ensued turned John almost 
 purple, but he uttered not a syllable, took up 
 his belongings, and made for the elevator. 
 
 " Shall lose my place for doing it," shouted 
 the expert from the door, " but I 11 give you 
 five." 
 
 John looked at a slip of paper, obviously 
 for another address, said nothing, and pressed 
 the elevator button. 
 
John Hope, Weaver s Son 45 
 
 " What will you take ? " asked the expert, 
 this time in his blandest tones. 
 
 " Ten, for I need the money," replied John. 
 
 " Done," concluded the expert. 
 
 When they reentered the office he placed a 
 chair very courteously for John, and touched 
 one button for a stenographer, and another for 
 their legal man. The papers were quickly 
 prepared. 
 
 " How would you like the money ? " inquired 
 the expert, still most courteously. 
 
 John, without indicating his reason, had 
 prepared himself for this question by sundry 
 inquiries of Mr. L about money trans 
 actions, and quietly answered : " Half in 
 currency, please; certified check for the bal 
 ance." 
 
 "Sudden?" asked the president, to whom 
 the expert took the papers for approval. 
 
 "Boy had the other company s address; 
 blood was up; is a corker; they d have had 
 it in half an hour," said the expert, who 
 knew that the president prized brevity of 
 speech. 
 
 " Worth it ? " continued the president. 
 
 " Ten times over," replied the expert. " Dis- 
 
46 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 charge me if it does not prove one of our best 
 paying instruments." 
 
 The steamer Pilgrim made Watch Hill with 
 her usual celerity, not long after the next 
 midnight. Then she ran into fog, breasted 
 rollers, and had to feel her way around Point 
 Judith and up Narragansett Bay as best she 
 might. Not until six in the morning, two 
 hours late, did she make her dock. The first 
 person to cross her gangplank was a boy 
 who had been up since three, to whom the 
 delay had been torture, but who now sped 
 ashore like a greyhound, and who did not 
 once pause till he broke in on the Hope 
 family, just sitting down to breakfast. He 
 said not one word. He took from an inner 
 pocket five crisp one-thousand dollar bills, and 
 a cashier s check on the bank of largest assets 
 in New York City for five thousand more. 
 These he laid down in front of his mother s 
 plate, and hid his face in her bosom. 
 
 Had you heard William Hope pray at 
 family worship that morning, before he 
 started for the looms, you would have under 
 stood some things. Not in vain had that boy 
 been longed for, expected and prayed for, 
 
John Hope, Weaver s Son 47 
 
 that terrible winter so long ago. Through 
 him was beginning to come that which John 
 had spoken of, in his prayer about the inven 
 tion, as " a way out for us all." 
 
Ill 
 
 HE EEGISTEKS A VOW, AND CHOOSES HIS 
 WEAPON 
 
 ITH four thousand dollars, 
 after school, the afternoon 
 following his return from 
 New York, John Hope bought the home he 
 long had selected for his mother and father. 
 He expected it would have cost five thousand, 
 but, for cash, the owner was glad to take four. 
 The six thousand remaining from the sale of 
 his invention, he judiciously invested under 
 Mr. L s direction. 
 
 The next week, though amidst terms, he 
 entered Phillips Academy, Andover ; and Dr. 
 Bancroft, who loved him from first sight, be 
 gan doing for him what, for eight and twenty 
 years, he ceased not to do for boys by scores 
 and by hundreds until he fell on sleep. May 
 some Thomas Hughes arise to paint his por 
 trait, as Arnold of Rugby s was painted ! 
 
 Two years later, in the winter before he 
 48 
 
He Registers a Vow 49 
 
 entered college, John Hope spent a night in 
 Boston. He did so in order to visit the 
 Prospect Union of Cambridge, Harvard 
 University s college for workingmen. Under 
 the inspiring direction of Mr. Ely, its founder, 
 he looked it carefully over; heard Colonel 
 Higginson tell the men of the union about the 
 attempted release of Anthony Burns, the 
 fugitive slave, in Boston s darkest hour; sat 
 with the men through the discussion that oc 
 cupied the remainder of their smoke-talk 
 evening, and, as he left, assured Mr. Ely, 
 who took his pay, as he went along, in hun 
 dreds of such testimonies, that he knew a 
 workingman who, had such opportunities 
 been his in youth, might have broken free, 
 and, instead of tending looms that day, might 
 have been teaching history, perhaps even at 
 Harvard. 
 
 John Hope walked to Boston that night, 
 across the West Boston Bridge. He wished 
 to be alone under the stars. Something had 
 happened. The evening s touch with a 
 prophet of the past, the story of an old 
 struggle, the sight of those eager workingmen 
 and of the young man, their leader, who was 
 
 4 
 
50 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 bringing them into larger life, gave it back 
 ground and setting. What was it that had 
 happened ? 
 
 He had entered the office of a large elec 
 trical concern late that afternoon, he knew 
 not why. Pointing to a certain instrument, 
 he said : " Would you pardon my asking for 
 I have always been interested in electricity 
 what that device is probably worth to its 
 owners?" "Our company," was the reply, 
 " pays an annual royalty on it of fifteen thou 
 sand dollars to the company, and that 
 
 cannot be half what it earns them, not to 
 speak of their own free use of it." 
 
 This was why he wished to be alone under 
 the stars now. Bunker Hill Monument, to 
 the left, stood, a pale specter, reflecting the 
 city s light. The State House dome, to the 
 right, rose silent over all. Silhouetted against 
 the southern sky, loomed the towers of 
 Phillips Brooks Trinity Church and her 
 sisters. Behind him for he often turned and 
 looked back lay the ancient university, the 
 height and meaning of Memorial Hall its 
 crown. Orion, too, was setting over Mt. 
 Auburn, the Westminster Abbey of the 
 
He Registers a Vow 51 
 
 North American continent. He drank it all 
 in. He reached his hotel. In his room he 
 sat, with closed eyes, buried in tumultuous and 
 deep thought until the city clocks, striking two, 
 aroused him. Then he kneeled, and said these 
 words : " O God, give me poise and calm ; 
 give me wisdom and strength ; and cause that 
 I do not die until I shall have made the 
 economic system that could so rob a poor 
 weaver s boy pay dearly therefor. Not 
 vindictively, O God ; thou knowest my heart ; 
 but justly, and for everybody s good. Amen." 
 
 In the strength of that prayer John Hope 
 went many days. It had for him all the 
 solemnity and binding force of a vow, and at 
 the same time all the sweetness and precious- 
 ness of a tryst with his heavenly Father at a 
 supreme moment of his life. 
 
 John Hope was a son of Massachusetts. As 
 such he should have gone to Harvard. He 
 was proud of the most ancient of American 
 universities, almost to the point of mortal 
 sin. He had gloried in it from a child. His 
 admiration for its president took him to 
 Boston or to Cambridge many a time to hear 
 him speak. " There is a man," he would 
 
52 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 sa y ? for this son of the weaver scholar 
 divined what the problem of modern education 
 is, "There is a man, with every power at 
 perfect command, bent on doing one great 
 and emergent thing, and doing it in such wise 
 that the debt to him of America, of the 
 world, and of this age, can never be dis 
 charged." This his hero worship, to tell the 
 truth, became one of the large impulses in his 
 own valiant fight. He liked, too, the quiet 
 dignity of Harvard, contrasting it with what, 
 in those days, he called the " Yale bumptious 
 ness." He liked its high standards of scholar 
 ship; its even, cheerful mood; its strong, 
 ethical bent ; its touch with the larger move 
 ments of citizenship and of human thought. 
 Its pulpit and its board of preachers, Brooks, 
 Hale, Gordon, Abbott, moved him im 
 mensely. " Mornings in the College Chapel," 
 by the chairman of the board, when it ap 
 peared later, became at once a companion of 
 his devotions. As we have seen, the Prospect 
 Union especially appealed to him. But he 
 went, to Yale. 
 
 It came about in this way. In the March 
 before he was graduated from Phillips, he got 
 
He Registers a Vow 53 
 
 from. Dr. Bancroft a three days leave of 
 absence, and went to New Haven. D wight 
 L. Moody was there for a day, and found him. 
 D wight Hall and the Intercollegiate Young 
 Men s Christian Association laid hold upon 
 him. He caught the temper of the great 
 camp of students, and got wings from their 
 tempest of song. He went into the Battell 
 Chapel, and heard a thousand men say, " Our 
 Father." " If I turn my back on Harvard, I 
 shall regret it all my life," he exclaimed. 
 " Oh, that each university might learn from 
 the other ! But I am nearer here to the great 
 academic heart of America, and I must not be 
 without it if I am to win my battle." His 
 vow was working in him. He was making a 
 preliminary choice of weapons. 
 
 At Yale, as at Phillips, he worked his way. 
 At Phillips he ran a students eating-house ; at 
 Yale, the cooperative store. His aptitude for 
 business was so great that neither of these 
 undertakings was so much a burden to him 
 as a pastime, and, from both, he not only 
 paid his way, but added considerably to his 
 capital. 
 
 In both of these institutions he was one of 
 
54 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 the better scholars. Without technique 
 enough for distinction, he always, his instruc 
 tors felt, did excellent work, and laid a grip 
 on his subjects second to that of no student in 
 them. 
 
 He utilized his vacations, too. Some repre 
 sentative journey was generally taken each 
 summer, besides two or three happy weeks 
 spent in his old home. In 1893, at Northfield, 
 he met Henry Drummond. Drummond, like 
 a loadstone, drew him to Scotland. That 
 made him and Duncan McLeod acquainted, 
 and bosom friends. 
 
 John Hope was a social genius. He knew 
 everybody. He sized things up. He sensed 
 movement and spirit, and moulded them 
 mightily. Several student reforms of his 
 time at Yale were due to his silent initiative 
 and to his modest leadership. He was busi 
 ness manager of the Yale football team. At 
 the end of his junior year he put on the Skull 
 and Crossbones, with their implied authentica 
 tions of power. When he sang his last song 
 with his class, dismantled his room, and, with 
 his heart in his throat, started for New York, 
 what he had done at New Haven was of itself 
 
He Registers a Vow 55 
 
 a noble monument to William and Mary 
 Hope. 
 
 By means like these he laid deep and 
 strong his social foundations. He had a very 
 wide acquaintance. It was among the best. 
 Everybody liked him. Everybody had confi 
 dence in him. Unto him that had was given. 
 Also, he had learned to handle men, to measure 
 movements, to organize and to impel. These 
 things, as he planned and hoped, were to be 
 facile instruments, ready to his hand, in the 
 great, bloodless war that waited. 
 
 But why did he go to New York ? What 
 was to be his life- weapon, his calling ? Let us 
 glance back. The choice was rooted in the past. 
 
 John Hope was an earnest Christian. He 
 was such from early childhood. All the Hope 
 children were. They could not help it. It 
 had been longed for, and prayed for, before 
 they began to be. The longing and praying 
 ceased not until their fulfilment. But Will 
 iam and Mary Hope helped to answer their 
 prayers. They impersonated Jesus Christ. 
 
 With William Hope the whole subject was a 
 great deep. His words about Christ and 
 about Christianity were few. Family worship 
 
56 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 constituted, almost exclusively, his vent. In 
 his comments on Scripture, simple, apt, pro 
 found, moving, and in his prayers, as if in the 
 immediate presence of God, you divined a lit 
 tle of what the gospel was to him. 
 
 "Higher Criticism?" he once said to Mr. 
 
 L ; " thank God for it ! I read all of it 
 
 I can lay my hands on. I was a higher critic 
 myself, before I knew there was such a thing. 
 Every one to whom history is more than words, 
 has to be. But if more of those who write 
 on the subject, had the Bible like iron in their 
 blood, it would be a very different writing 
 they would give us. It is their sin, almost 
 their blasphemy, that, without having it in 
 their blood, they attempt tasks that otherwise 
 no one can fulfil. What we require is, not 
 less exhaustive research, not less candor and 
 fearlessness in treating the facts, but more 
 insight, less that is rash and destructive, more 
 that builds. The Bible is surcharged with 
 divine life. It cares very little about the con 
 ductor it employs. It throws its current along 
 poetry, parable, fiction, sinful men, peoples 
 and ages ; even popular error it does not dis 
 dain. All of them become live wires." 
 
He Registers a Vow 57 
 
 Mary Hope, on the contrary, was a mystic. 
 She was a Highland lass, a Menzies, brought 
 to Massachusetts in her tenth year. She had 
 a singular poise, balance, comprehensiveness 
 and fairness of mind ; was intensely practical ; 
 and yet lived daily as in a higher world, and 
 walked with God. 
 
 To William Hope the gospel was a philoso 
 phy, the profoundest, the simplest. It under- 
 ran history, and was its key. The new 
 science, rightly taken, emancipated it for its 
 world work. Caught up into the third heaven, 
 in this sense, he had heard unspeakable words ? 
 and his own words were correspondingly few. 
 A perpetual calm, a cheerful trust, a daily 
 helpfulness, a simple gladness of life, were his. 
 To Mary Hope the gospel was a daily pres 
 ence with her of Him who drew nigh to the 
 Emmaus-going disciples. It was light, life, 
 vision. She, too, was reticent about religion, 
 but a sentence from her, now and then, 
 changed her children s lives. 
 
 Out of a religious environment like this, so 
 deep, so real, so cheerful, so comprehensive, 
 John Hope very early began pondering, care 
 fully and prayerfully, the question, how he 
 
58 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 might sell his life dearest. To be a foreign 
 missionary, to bring Christ where he had 
 never been heard of, would have been his su 
 preme delight. To be a minister would have 
 been his second choice. To be a Christian 
 worker, among young men, for example, or in 
 the slums, would have been his third. His no 
 tion of what might be accomplished by min 
 ister, or Christian worker, completely devoted to 
 his work, was very high. This was one of the 
 things that drew him to Henry Drummond. 
 
 But John Hope did not feel at liberty so to 
 indulge himself. He had not visited the New 
 York tenement houses yearly for nothing. 
 Not in vain had he heard his father tell, after 
 such visits, the kind of monument that his 
 mother and father coveted. He knew, too, 
 where the center of the battle, in his time, 
 lay; namely, in the industrial-economic situ 
 ation. He felt great powers therefor, already 
 stirring within him ; and even before his elec 
 trical invention he was beginning to be con 
 scious, like young David of old, of the divine 
 summons to go down into the small and fal 
 tering camp that was gathering against the 
 Philistines. 
 
He Registers a Vow 59 
 
 He had as little faith, ultimately, in labor 
 organizations, as in the great combinations of 
 capital. He appreciated the arguments for 
 them ; he repeatedly sided with them ; but he 
 failed to discern, amid their so different atti 
 tudes and points of view, any intrinsic differ 
 ence of principle. " When the Carpenter of 
 Nazareth gets a Union on its feet," he would 
 say, "capitalists will be in it; and artisans 
 will be in it ; and which is which will be 
 hardly discernible ; and one great, good vic 
 tory, it may be in some isolated place, will 
 become a contagion, like Bannockburn, where 
 the armored knights went down before the 
 pikemen, and the solid squares could not be 
 broken. But with the pikemen were the best 
 blood and strongest estates of Scotland, the 
 twain at one in a common love of country and 
 of God. No large emancipation ever came 
 otherwise." 
 
 For like reasons John Hope steered clear of 
 civics organizations, and good government 
 clubs. " They are a sign of the times," he 
 would say ; " I am glad for them ; but I would 
 give more for liquor put out of a city of con 
 siderable size, and partisanship put out of its 
 
60 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 politics, and idealism seizing on all classes of 
 its people, and a chance for workingmen, such 
 as Cambridge and its Prospect Union afford an 
 example of, by no means an isolated ex 
 ample, either, than for the whole roster of 
 them. Not, of course," he would add, " that 
 organization and agitation have not their 
 place; but a proposition put into flesh and 
 blood, into a clean city, and into a city hall fit 
 to be a sanctuary, is worth a thousand of 
 them." 
 
 Among business possibilities, electricity was 
 his chief attraction. The gross wrong that had 
 been done him in the matter of his invention 
 did not deter him. It never ceased, indeed, to 
 hurt. The hurt neither embittered him, nor 
 made him vindictive. Ever present with him, 
 however, was that prayer on Beacon Hill, in 
 his Phillips Academy days, that he might 
 make a system that was capable of such an 
 act, pay dearly for it, though in righteousness 
 and for the good of all. No ; he wanted to 
 go into electricity because he loved it ; because 
 he had power in it ; because its possibilities 
 were only beginning to be developed ; and be 
 cause it would be sweet to get his holy venge- 
 
He Registers a Vow 61 
 
 ance within, and not outside, its citadel. But 
 he knew how it was organized. He knew 
 about the telephone girls, and the tramway 
 employees. He knew its hold on legislatures 
 and city councils, and its seductions of courts. 
 He did not despair even of it ; but he knew 
 that it was good strategy to engage the enemy 
 in the open, not intrenched and fortified as 
 electricity was. 
 
 This matter of " the open " led him to the 
 Kocky Mountains and to mining. Theodore 
 Koosevelt s ranch and hunting life first drew 
 his attention to the general area. He visited it 
 during a summer vacation in his college days. 
 He lost his heart to it, like the Semites to 
 Arabia and to Sinai. After a seemingly inter 
 minable ocean of prairie, growing more and 
 more arid and brown, to behold the far-off 
 peaks, like flecks of cloud along the horizon ; 
 to enter their presence, a north-and-south run 
 ning line of turrets and battlements, discerni 
 ble, in the dry, clear air, a hundred miles to 
 the north and as far to the south ; to ascend 
 the canons, and find one s self amid a sea of 
 eroded and snowy peaks, with their diversified 
 colors, their grimness, their austerity, their 
 
62 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 scant vegetation, their wonder of cliffs, canon 
 walls and mineral outcroppings ; and to come 
 under the spell of a remote, heroic, unrecorded 
 past, suggested only by the fortified eyries of 
 the cliff dwellers, and under the spell of the 
 future, as at the Divide of the "World, set be 
 twixt the Orient and the Occident, and potent 
 for the weal or woe of both, all this drew 
 him with a fascination that was almost weird. 
 When, in his Scottish journey, he came to 
 know and to love Duncan McLeod, and 
 learned from him, as an expert, the possibili 
 ties of the region, and, above all, found in 
 him a kindred spirit, eager to join him in ex 
 ploiting them, the die was cast. He had 
 chosen his weapon. 
 
TWO WOMEN OF STIELING 
 
 MAN may undertake to 
 follow Jesus Christ, and 
 fail him. Judas did. 
 
 A man may undertake 
 to follow him, and fall 
 into a routine of good 
 living, in itself admirable but lacking that 
 distinctive daily initiative and renewal of life 
 which go with the truest discipleship. Such 
 a one, however excellent, abides but too scant 
 ily in the Vine. 
 
 A man may, on the other hand, strenuously 
 follow him, and fall into morbidness or eccen 
 tricity. Such a one who may, or who may 
 not, develop into large things forgets the say 
 ing about the greatest of the prophets who 
 was little in the kingdom, and the saying, "My 
 peace I give unto you." 
 
 At the time when this history encounters 
 
 Duncan McLeod and John Hope, it was im- 
 - 63 
 
64 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 possible that either of them should fail Jesus 
 Christ. They were men of large capacity, a 
 noble record thus far, and that record only 
 begun. It was inconceivable that either of 
 them should prove false or disloyal, or should 
 fail, according to their lights, to come to the 
 most, and to do the most. But the other two 
 perils, like Scylla and Charybdis, were before 
 them; and one of them had long been 
 searched, and the other of them was being 
 searched, by that Spirit which alone adequately 
 knows the things of spirit. 
 
 For the wonderful thing about following 
 Jesus Christ is, that this relation, while it fully 
 suffices moment by moment, runs ahead of one 
 ever, like a horizon ; and the farther one goes 
 the larger it becomes, and the more absolute 
 and yet glad become its imperatives upon the 
 soul. This, its expansive power, or its infini 
 tude, meets the problem of immortality. With 
 out this, to live always were a doom; with 
 it, to live always were bliss just of itself. 
 
 There is at Stirling, in Scotland, a retired 
 street, full of modest, trim houses, with 
 immaculate window glass, spotless curtains, 
 very bright door-knobs and door-plates, and 
 
Two Women of Stirling 65 
 
 flowers in the window seats that seem peren 
 nially blooming. Like Wordsworth coveting 
 Dove Cottage when he first saw Grasmere, 
 you can hardly resist leasing one of them, and 
 beginning to live. From this street you look 
 upward one way to the castle, and the other 
 way toward the Wallace Monument crowning 
 Abbey Craig. 
 
 In that house which you would specially 
 choose to lease, because everything about 
 it is so fresh, and its flowers are so bright, 
 and its firelight at dusk is so inviting, flick 
 ering on the half-drawn curtains in that 
 house a woman, a bit past middle life, but 
 erect, tall, her hair still dark, her eyes, eyes 
 that hold you, her face a benediction, moves to 
 ward the windows, draws the curtains, lights 
 a lamp, and sits down before a large open 
 Bible. Over it she bows her head some mo 
 ments, as in prayer; then she turns to the 
 Ninety-first Psalm, and reads it aloud. Her 
 face, as she reads, Kaphael should have seen. 
 Peace, as after storm, is there, calm, trust, 
 hope, expectation, holy confidence. It seems 
 almost aflame, as from an altar, when she 
 concludes : 
 5 
 
66 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 "Because he hath set his love upon me, there 
 fore will I deliver him : 
 
 I will set him on high, because he hath known 
 my name. 
 
 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him ; 
 
 I will be with him in trouble : 
 
 I will deliver him, and honor him. 
 
 With long life will I satisfy him, 
 
 And show him my salvation." 
 
 Then she takes from her bosom a letter, care 
 fully unfolds it, spreads it out on the open 
 page of the Bible in the full light, and reads 
 it, seeming to devour every word, though this 
 is its seventh perusal since it came that morn 
 ing. This is what she reads : 
 
 " Annie Laurie Mine, October 20. 
 
 " This, mother dear, will be a long letter. 
 
 " I have been meaning to tell you of Douglas 
 Campbell. He is so reserved and modest I 
 fear the wife gets little notion from him how 
 well he is doing. May I trouble you to slip 
 out to St. Ninian and tell her ? He surprises 
 me. No man in the levels equals him. He 
 had it all to learn, too, but there is no old-timer 
 that cannot now learn from him. All, more 
 over, is with such intelligence. ISTot an emer 
 gency arises but Douglas knows how to meet 
 
Two Women of Stirling 67 
 
 it. Every one likes him. He is the subject of 
 frequent favorable remark in the management. 
 His lack of early training is against him, but 
 he is studying very hard, not only mining 
 engineering, but literature and history. He 
 fairly nips them up. Tell his Margaret that I 
 expect ere many months a promotion for him 
 which will mean good prospects for her and 
 the bairns, removal to Colorado, and, perhaps, 
 a holiday for him at Stirling, he coming him 
 self to fetch them across. 
 
 " Since he is as likely as myself to be a 
 fixture at the Annie Laurie Mine, let me re 
 fresh your memory and add some new facts 
 about it. Margaret will prize them, though a 
 part of what I say may be familiar to you. 
 
 " Our ore, as it runs, is of a high grade. It 
 is refractory, and is therefore crushed here, 
 and submitted to chemical treatment for get 
 ting out the gold and silver. The vein is very 
 thick ; increases in richness as we go down ; 
 from the lay of the rock, and the way we have 
 engineered, the ore is gotten out with excep 
 tional readiness; though refractory, it yields 
 to treatment surprisingly well ; and, best of 
 all, as we know from conclusive tests, the sup- 
 
68 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 ply is practically inexhaustible. Moreover, 
 there are occasional pockets of very rich ore, 
 which we ship to the smelters for treatment ; 
 and the indications are that such deposits will 
 be found more abundant as development work 
 advances. 
 
 " The mine s equipment is perfect. Electric 
 lighting only is wanting. That, both above 
 and below ground, has been contracted for, and 
 will be installed in January. Mr. Hope, who 
 keeps abreast of electricity, alas, already an 
 cient history to me ! says he is glad we have 
 waited for it, such improvements have, even 
 within this year, been made in it. And this 
 reminds me to say, that our management is as 
 keen on every mechanical and chemical im 
 provement, as in this matter of the lighting. 
 Everything is kept up. Expense is not spared. 
 It pays, too. Its effect on every worker is like 
 wine. 
 
 " As for our force, there is not a better at 
 any mine in the world ; and you will remem 
 ber that I have seen the best mines in Aus 
 tralia and South Africa. You would think the 
 men were all stockholders in the company, 
 such is their pride in the works, and their zest 
 
Two Women of Stirling 69 
 
 at their tasks. Our product goes away from 
 us in composite bars ; that is to say, the gold 
 is left to be separated from the silver by the 
 refiners, who also remove slight impurities; 
 but the bars, as they leave us, are almost pure 
 gold and silver. I am myself surprised at how 
 nearly the total ounces we get credit for tally 
 with the total weight of the bars as we ship 
 them ; also, at the accuracy with which we are 
 able to gauge the relative amounts of gold and 
 silver in the bars. Between my mother and 
 me, wo have not only the costliest and most 
 accurate instruments, but a certain metallur 
 gist at the works has modified the chemical 
 process of extracting, on which we pay a very 
 considerable royalty, to an advantage which 
 more than offsets the royalty bills. 
 
 " But I was speaking of the men. Our bars 
 accumulate to a high value between shipments, 
 but we take scarcely any precautions against 
 the theft of them or of our rich ore. Some 
 householders are as careful of their coal-bins 
 as we are of our ore and bar storage. Why so 
 little caution ? It is tonic to the men. They 
 see that they are trusted, and you can get 
 anything from men you trust. Moreover, we 
 
jo The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 know all our men, and they are not only hon 
 est, but are themselves a detective force and 
 guards for us. 
 
 " Best of all, mother, one after another they 
 are coming to the Light. Douglas is our Bar 
 nabas for that. He is so slow of speech, as 
 you know, that one rarely gets two consecu 
 tive sentences from him ; but Drummond him 
 self had hardly a truer genius for saving men. 
 More than half our force are Christians already, 
 but we have not held a public service yet. 
 ISTot with observation, but within you, is our 
 motto. By and by we shall have a church 
 here, and every man in it, and you and I know 
 who will be its minister. 
 
 "To end this summary: Our stock is not 
 listed for the stock market. ISTone of it is for 
 sale. Only a half dozen men own it. They 
 have the name of being honorable men. Mr. 
 Hope, no, let us have done with < handles, 
 for we call each other by our first names, 
 John Hope organized the company ; and you 
 know, from what you will recall of his visit at 
 our house when I was on my holiday, what 
 kind of men John would get around him. 
 One may, indeed, mistake a man. A storm 
 
Two Women of Stirling 71 
 
 may, perhaps, brew. They have as yet unlim 
 ited confidence in him, and are more than glad 
 to second his every suggestion. Why not? 
 Dividends are large, and increase quarterly. 
 Will they, however, follow him into a larger 
 success than dividends can register? For, 
 nothing short of that, my mother, is his ambi 
 tion for the Annie Laurie Mine. 
 
 "Ye 11 be verra patient, I ken, wi j a* the 
 speech I was makin aboot the mine, like the 
 gude mither ye always were ; but I doot ye 11 
 be muckle weary wi it, and so, without a mo 
 ment s further delay, here is a sugar-plum as 
 reward. A letter received from John, one of 
 the days I was in bed, written from New York, 
 said that the stockholders had just unani 
 mously voted the last ten shares of the stock 
 to the metallurgist aforesaid, for services ren 
 dered. That metallurgist has, as you know, 
 an excellent salary now, but the dividends on 
 that block of stock for there are only one 
 hundred shares in all will make his salary 
 look small. So, mother dear, you are coming, 
 you know, to Colorado next summer, and will 
 see your laddie, and our mountains, which I 
 can never trust myself to write about, they so 
 
72 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 move me. Then you will be able to say, with 
 out loving Ben Lomond less : 
 
 11 1 1 have seen you in the morning, 
 
 Sixty leagues of crimson towers ; 
 I have seen you in your purple 
 And gold of the evening hours. 
 
 " I have seen your peaks clear-cut, 
 Gainst the terrible deep blue 
 Of skies without a cloud, 
 That God seemed looking through. 
 
 " I have seen you when the lightnings 
 Clove your granite and your pine, 
 And the thunder shook the canons, 
 And shook this soul of mine. 
 
 " I have seen you, billow on billow, 
 
 In the mists that disclose you each, 
 Divide, and mountain, and foothill, 
 As an ocean looks from the beach. " 
 
 Here the woman takes off her glasses, clears 
 them, sings, 
 
 "I to the hills will lift mine eyes," 
 
 and resumes : 
 
 " I was in bed when the news came, as I 
 said, and I fear that the Lady Stirling will be 
 thinking, In bed, laddie, an in ye r workin 
 oors ? Min ye no what the Wise Man will 
 be sayin , " So shall thy poverty come as one 
 that travelleth, and thy want as an armed 
 
Two Women of Stirling 73 
 
 man " ? But, mother dear, there was cause. 
 It got into the newspapers, else neither Mar 
 garet Campbell nor Janet McLeod had ever 
 known. For some Scot will send marked 
 copies to the Stirling papers, and Bruce had 
 better chance to hold the town against Ed 
 ward, than any man to guard his privacy 
 against the press. So Duncan shall himself 
 tell you both. 
 
 " It was in the afternoon, at the four o clock 
 shift. All the men were up save Douglas, 
 the man will always be doing overwork, and 
 none had descended. He was in the top level, 
 which is only thirty feet down the shaft. 
 That level is a short one. He wanted to fin 
 ish a bore he was making at its end, which re 
 quired but a few moments longer. A large 
 amount of giant powder was near the mouth 
 of his level, waiting there to be taken down 
 for charging bores in several lower levels early 
 in the next shift. In some way or other it 
 went off. The hoisting windlass was blown 
 out, but some one instantly thrust a ladder 
 down to the edge of Douglas level. A hun 
 dred men would have descended, but they 
 thought they would suffocate, because the 
 
74 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 level, being short, would be filled with poison 
 ous gases. 
 
 " At the shaft s mouth, when I reached it 
 five minutes later, for I supposed not a man 
 would be down, and so I finished the test I 
 was on, which could not be interrupted with 
 out loss to the company, t was a fight to 
 have my way, but I had it. Do you mind 
 your chiding me for my feats in under- water 
 swimming at the Forth Bridge ? They saved 
 Douglas. You have but to aerate your blood 
 enough, and you may play whale. But you 
 should first pump your lungs slowly for ten 
 minutes at the least. I so feared for Douglas 
 that I took only two, and did it rapidly, and 
 this nearly finished us both. 
 
 " The day before, as God mercifully ordered 
 it, I had spent a half hour with Douglas in the 
 level, and somehow or other had noted every 
 thing about it. Well was it that I did so, for 
 when, my head swathed in wet blankets, I 
 reached the end of the level where Douglas 
 should be, he was not there. Then I remem 
 bered a crevice a bit back, ran to it, found him 
 wedged into it, for he was on his way to the 
 shaft when the explosion came, had him to 
 
Two Women of Stirling 75* 
 
 the ladder, that leaned across six hundred 
 sheer feet of shaft, and there lost all strength. 
 Prayer. Climbed half the ladder. Tottered. 
 Prayer. Was up. Got my breath. He lived. 
 
 " We are both well now, mother. He that 
 was with Duncan McLeod at the Battle of the 
 Nile, and with his son Duncan at Lucknow, 
 was that day with the third Duncan over the 
 yawning abyss. Tell Margaret that her man 
 put the hammer beyond any at the sports last 
 Saturday ; and tell her not, but tell yourself, 
 for ye r ain comfort, that the metallurgist 
 stood off two men with the gloves the same 
 day." 
 
 Here Janet McLeod bows over her Bible, 
 and, in passing her windows, you might hear the 
 cadences though not the words of her thanks 
 giving. Then she reads the letter s trenchant 
 ending, liker Duncan, with his weird Highland 
 temper, than any of the rest : 
 
 " My mother, think me not eerie ; but, when 
 I lost strength at the ladder s foot, I saw Mar 
 garet and her bairns, in the wee cottage at St. 
 Ninian, clear as I ever saw you before our 
 grate by the lamp in the gloaming. 
 
 "But the days I was in bed I saw more than 
 
76 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 that. Much work has been mine these years, 
 but little thinking. In those days of lying 
 still, I made up for it. Better was this to me 
 than the ten shares of the Annie Laurie Mine. 
 
 " I had two thoughts. One was of a woman. 
 I found out a thing I did not know. If a 
 young person, fair and tall, and comparable to 
 none I know but Janet McLeod, shall look into 
 our small house, God will have sent her, and 
 all will be well. Grant her, I pray you, my 
 mother, aught she shall ask. But, if she come 
 not, God means otherwise. 
 
 " The other thought was of Duncan Mc- 
 Leod s life. Conscientious, clean, effective, 
 doing. Aught more? Fruits of the Spirit? 
 Mind of Christ ? No. Emptiness all ! This 
 is not like Henry Drummond (who, forget not, 
 was a lone man, as I have thought to be), nor 
 like that Life which is the Light of men. 
 
 " Could Janet McLeod, in this sair matter, 
 help in any wise the laddie she bore ? 
 " Ever adoringly hers, 
 
 " DUNCAN MCLEOD." 
 
 Just as the mother concludes the reading, 
 she hears a voice of singular depth and sweet- 
 
Two Women of Stirling 77 
 
 ness saying, " James, call for me a half hour 
 later, please," followed by the departing of 
 wheels, and a step on the porch. To her de 
 vout mind it is as God s angel, in answer to 
 her instant prayer since she first read her son s 
 letter. 
 
 She opens the door, and welcomes her visi 
 tor with a dignity, a reserve, a gentleness and 
 a warmth that no one but Duncan s " Lady 
 Stirling " could command. 
 
 The two women sit then in silence. Neither 
 is embarrassed. They understand* As you 
 look from one to the other, you cannot keep 
 the Sistine Madonna and Murillo s master 
 piece at the Louvre out of mind. 
 
 " God be with you, Kathleen ! " at length 
 says Dresden. 
 
 " Thank you, Mrs. McLeod, more than I can 
 tell," answers the Louvre. 
 
 Then, after a stillness that speaks more than 
 words, the long lashes lift, the eyes look 
 frankly out, face and throat glow, the lips 
 part, and they say, " Mrs. McLeod, will you 
 kiss me ? " 
 
 The women rise. They are in each other s 
 arms. Then they sit with shining faces. 
 
78 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 There is nothing more, and yet everything, 
 until the rumbling of wheels. Then Kathleen 
 
 " Would it be wrong, Mrs. McLeod, do you 
 think, if we exchanged letters ? " 
 
 The letters change places, hands tightly 
 clasp, neither can speak, the wheels ascend the 
 heights of Stirling, and Janet McLeod is on 
 her knees. 
 
THE MAKING OF A SCOT 
 
 <!?A:NET MCLEOD was too 
 
 | wise a woman to infer 
 from the tender moments 
 in her little parlor that 
 the battle was won. She 
 greatly feared, on the 
 contrary, that it was lost. 
 Therefore the importu 
 nity of her prayer when 
 Kathleen Gordon had 
 gone. It was with strong 
 crying and tears. Had 
 you heard it, you would have known more 
 about Duncan McLeod and his spiritual inher 
 itance than this history can tell. 
 
 Now she is sitting before her open Bible 
 again. Her face has in it the look at once of 
 solicitude and triumph. She has laid Duncan s 
 letter to Kathleen upon the pages, which are 
 
 open at the story of Isaac and Kebekah. But 
 79 
 
80 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 she will not read it, until she has cleared her 
 thinking after the tumult of the day, and es 
 pecially of the evening. 
 
 Neither Duncan nor his mother was super 
 stitious. They both had, nevertheless, a cer 
 tain second-sight. Janet dated it, more espe 
 cially in her own case and in her son s, from 
 Duncan s reaching the age of twelve. They 
 had, in that year, studied together the child 
 hood of Jesus. The mother wanted her boy 
 to be as like as possible to the Boy of twelve 
 in the temple. She was working out in her 
 own mind, too, and sharing it with her child, 
 a way for the natural boy Jesus to become the 
 Jesus of the ministry. She was too keen to 
 accept, as the study went on, any "double 
 personality" theory. Mary s son, she knew, 
 was as really a boy as Duncan, and as really a 
 man as her hero of the Indian Mutiny. But, 
 as she assuredly believed, and as her profound- 
 est insight taught her, he was also God. How, 
 then, came the transition between Jesus at 
 twelve in the temple, and Jesus some twenty 
 years later on the Mount of Transfiguration, 
 and as sought by the Greeks ? 
 
 Using child s language, and reasoning as 
 
The Making of a Scot 81 
 
 a well endowed child might, they meditated 
 this subject for weeks, coming by slow stages 
 to an inference. Janet s Scripture for the in 
 ference for this Scotch woman had a habit 
 of tying every serious thing to her Bible was 
 the words : " The secret of the Lord is with 
 them that fear him." 
 
 Whatever more there was in Jesus, they 
 said to themselves, a boy and a man were in 
 him. To that which he became, the boy s and 
 the man s behavior was the key. God him 
 self could not have made the Jesus of the 
 transfiguration, and the Jesus whom the 
 Greeks sought, except the boy and the man 
 had done their part. Nor was it an easy 
 thing for the boy and the man to attain to 
 such behavior. It was a boy s and a man s 
 fight. Might not every boy and man approx 
 imate such a fight ? 
 
 To this principle mother and son thenceforth 
 shaped their lives. Both set themselves to be 
 always about their Father s business. Both 
 set themselves to supply the simple but pro 
 found conditions of character and of spiritual 
 life. They were, as they deemed, to be sim 
 ple-hearted, human, joyous. Had not Jesus 
 
82 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 known children s games ? But they were to 
 work, nevertheless, the works of Him that 
 sent them. As they were much in prayer, 
 would not God also speak to them ? This 
 was their belief ; and they believed, from time 
 to time, in no overwrought way, that God did 
 so speak. What he said to them, or seemed 
 to say, was mainly in the range of duties 
 made clear and sweet to them, of inner com 
 fort and of inspiration for living. But not al 
 ways. To these true, earnest, God-acquainted 
 persons, the veil of the future, at times, seemed 
 also to lift. 
 
 They were both certain, for example, during 
 Duncan s getting ready for Edinburgh, that 
 the way which looked a blank wall would 
 open thither, though neither divined how. 
 Similarly, during his undergraduate years, 
 both came to know that the Christian minis 
 try, for which he had been intended, would 
 not be his, though they hardly knew why. As 
 little did they know what other work was for 
 him. Janet knew, too, and presently Duncan 
 knew, that his work would lie largely in foreign 
 lands, and his reading thenceforth included 
 many volumes of travels. The value, both to 
 
The Making of a Scot 83 
 
 mother and son, of these foreknowings, 
 which had not a tinge of superstition or of 
 fatalism in them, but which were as simple 
 and natural and joyous as the praying of the 
 two, no one could measure. Their purpose, 
 their preparation, as in this reading of 
 travels, and their faith, focused at these as 
 yet unverified certainties of the future with a 
 love and passion tonic and inspiring. Faith 
 was, indeed, for them, the "assurance of things 
 hoped for." 
 
 What were the keys to this secret of the 
 Lord ? Blameless living, absolute sincerity, 
 high purpose, steeping themselves in the life 
 and spirit of patriarchs, lawgivers, psalmists, 
 prophets, apostles ; above all, a constant resting 
 in God. Janet still treasured the letter of John 
 Gordon, banker and ironmaster, saying that, 
 as he had no son to speak in the evangel, he 
 begged her that a lad so rugged and joyous 
 and devout as hers, and who, in the Stirling 
 high school, was making such an honorable 
 record, might, at his charges, attend the uni 
 versity. Also, a letter from Prof. Archibald 
 Geikie, about midway of the Edinburgh 
 course, saying he was sure that her son was 
 
84 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 predestined to read God s thoughts in the 
 rocks even more than in ancient Hebrew and 
 Greek. 
 
 When, therefore, Janet read the words in 
 Duncan s letter : " If a young person, fair 
 and tall, and comparable to none I know but 
 Janet McLeod, shall look into our small house, 
 God will have sent her, and all will be well. 
 Grant her, I pray you, my mother, aught she 
 shall ask. But, if she come not, God means 
 otherwise," she felt that another meaning of 
 the future was about to be disclosed. And 
 between her thankfulness for Duncan s and 
 Douglas Campbell s spared lives, for the pros 
 perity of both of them, for Duncan s promise 
 that she should visit Colorado the next sum 
 mer, and her solicitude about the "young 
 person, fair and tall," her entire day was a 
 prayer. She walked to St. Ninian in the early 
 afternoon and read to Margaret Campbell the 
 less confidential parts of Duncan s letter, and 
 the two women commingled their tears and 
 songs of thanksgiving. Janet could ill spare 
 the time that day to go to Margaret, but the 
 news was too good to keep. She reminded 
 herself, also, of the Scripture s disapproval of 
 
The Making of a Scot 85 
 
 holding back good tidings. She worked all 
 the harder when she got back. 
 
 Throughout the day, and even when pray 
 ing, Janet would from time to time find her 
 self wondering whom Duncan had in mind. 
 His acquaintance was large in Edinburgh and 
 elsewhere in Scotland. "Would some young 
 woman, passing through Stirling, call upon 
 her out of respect for her son ? Or could it 
 be some one she herself knew in her native 
 town ? Among these last she thought of sev 
 eral, but most of Kathleen ; and yet, from 
 Duncan s never having seemed to think of 
 her, from the very distinct set of Kathleen s 
 life in scholarly and altruistic directions, and 
 from their wide difference in means and so 
 cial position, Janet tried to dismiss the thought 
 of her, lest she be disappointed. 
 
 Do, however, what she would, over and over 
 again throughout the day the face of the child 
 Kathleen, in her Bible-class, before Kathleen s 
 college days, would intrude itself. Once Janet 
 found herself in a reverie, her work fallen to 
 the floor, and the fire burnt low, she never 
 could tell how long it lasted, recalling the 
 child s mobile and strangely winning face, her 
 
86 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 unselfish ways, her rare insight into Scripture, 
 her fondness for her humble teacher, and the 
 renown she had since won at Girton College, 
 Cambridge, and in" philanthropic work in sev 
 eral British cities. She remembered, too, with 
 quickened pulse, how Kathleen had not for 
 gotten her, though their lives had grown 
 apart ; but how, on the contrary, once a year, 
 at the Christmas season, if not of tener, she had 
 called ; and how, on Janet s birthday, which 
 the child had been wont to make much of, 
 there never failed still to arrive some remem 
 brance, a book by Professor Bruce, or a vol 
 ume of Professor Kobertson Smith s, or some 
 thing of Henry Drummond s, with such words 
 on the fly leaf as only Kathleen could write. 
 Now she thought of it, too, was not Duncan s 
 having maintained absolute silence about her 
 significant? "O God!" Janet was roused 
 from her reverie by hearing herself say; . 
 " O God ! if such a woman, so winsome, so 
 tender, so good, so able, might be for Dun 
 can 1 " but she did not let herself finish the 
 prayer, so shamefaced was she. 
 
 All this rushed back on her afresh when she 
 heard Kathleen dismiss her carriage, and 
 
The Making of a Scot 87 
 
 hastened to open for her the door. Her 
 heart and her hope beat high. Had not 
 Duncan said, "God will have sent her, and 
 all will be well " ? But when she saw that 
 fine creature, dressed so perfectly, sitting 
 opposite her, and looked into the open, frank 
 eyes, and saw her so self-possessed, so tender, 
 and yet so strong, her heart sank. And 
 though Janet had held her self-possession, too, 
 and though they both had been greatly moved 
 during the half hour, as Janet thought it all 
 over, she despaired. Standing thus, inside 
 the closed door, with the carriage wheels 
 receding, she found herself saying : " She 
 will be good to Duncan. She will carefully 
 ascertain the facts, and think them through. 
 That is why she asked for the letter. But her 
 heart will either have gone to another, or to 
 God s work. Oh, ma puir laddie, God help 
 ye!" 
 
 But that was before her prayer. She has 
 wrestled since. She has read, moreover : 
 "The Lord God of heaven, which took me 
 from my father s house, and from the land of 
 my kindred, ... he shall send his angel 
 before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my 
 
88 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 son from thence." She has read of the sign 
 asked by Abraham s servant to be fulfilled. 
 She has heard him exultingly tell: "And 
 before I had done speaking in mine heart, 
 behold, Kebekah came forth with her pitcher 
 on her shoulder." She has heard the ques 
 tion : " Wilt thou go with this man ? " and 
 Kebekah s swift, womanly reply : " I will 
 go." She has, in short, found wings again. 
 So, with a face bespeaking at once solicitude 
 and triumph, she opens Duncan s letter, 
 spreads it out over the love story of so long 
 ago, and reads : 
 
 " Annie Laurie Mine, October 20. 
 " MY DEAR Miss GOKDON : 
 
 " This letter will surprise you. 
 
 " It surprises me, so stupid and so blind have 
 I been. 
 
 " Moreover, as I see it now, I have been rude 
 to you. Not in anything done, God forbid ! 
 but in things undone. Such kindness as you 
 have shown my mother should have received 
 some acknowledgment from me. Will you 
 please forgive me ? 
 
 " In a letter to my mother, going by the 
 
The Making of a Scot 89 
 
 same mail as this, I have told her of seeing, 
 when it was necessary for him and for me, 
 Douglas Campbell s Margaret and her bairns 
 at St. Ninian, as if I were there. I saw more, 
 which I did not tell my mother. 
 
 " I saw a small girl s face bending with my 
 mother s over an open Bible. I saw the love 
 between them, and how the small girl helped 
 my mother perhaps more than my mother 
 helped her. 
 
 " Miss Gordon, I loved that girl. I told no 
 one. I did not tell myself. She is not, I said, 
 for me. Hence the fury of my work and my 
 honors in the high school. It was the only 
 way I could banish that girl s face. But, 
 with all my work, it would come back to me. 
 I saw it in Stirling. I saw it at Edinburgh. 
 It followed me in my walks on the Calton Hill, 
 around Arthur s Seat, on the Braid Hills, and 
 by the Forth. It looked out at me from 
 Latin, Greek, Hebrew, from calculus, from 
 biology, from the rocks Professor Geikie 
 unsealed for us. 
 
 " Then I struck Drummond. He was a lone 
 man. We men talked much of that. When 
 we had put everything together we concluded 
 
go The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 that he had turned his face from that life of 
 love for which he was better fitted than any 
 other living man, to do Christ s work. Then I 
 had my escape, walking, as I fancied, in Drum- 
 mond s steps. It turns out, I am glad to say, 
 to have been no escape, but I only so dis 
 covered the other day when I almost died for 
 Douglas Campbell, and when I saw, for his 
 sake, his Margaret as if present, and also saw 
 that girl. 
 
 "Think me not eerie. It never happened 
 but once. Then two lives depended on it. 
 Also, an emancipation from a great blindness 
 required it, and God was good, as when he 
 sent the ladder to misguided Jacob. 
 
 "Miss Gordon, do you think that, after a 
 while, you could love me ? 
 
 "I have written my mother, as I said. 
 The letter is very full. Douglas Camp 
 bell s affairs as well as mine required it. In 
 it I have neither mentioned nor implicated 
 you. But the letter is so written that, should 
 you look in on her, she will understand enough, 
 I think, to let you see it. But, if you do not 
 go, she will never know, nor connect you with 
 it. So please be quite free, Miss Gordon, not 
 
The Making of a Scot 91 
 
 to go. But, if you see the letter, it will tell 
 you things about me that you ought to know ; 
 if, that is to say, you can think seriously of 
 this matter at all. 
 
 " What shall I say more ? 
 
 "In character, in attainments, in deeds, I 
 hope I could merit your respect. I have been 
 fortunate in this mine; and I believe that 
 your father, if he looked up my affairs, 
 would feel it not imprudent, as regards my 
 ability suitably to care for you, to approve 
 my suit. 
 
 " But, Miss Gordon, there is no man living 
 that is worthy of you. I think, too, of your 
 renown, of your place among the best forces 
 of our British life, and I almost reproach my 
 self for speaking. 
 
 " Yet I cannot but speak. It is my right, 
 and yours, the right of loving, and of being 
 loved. If you can say me, Yes, no man on 
 earth will be so blessed. I hope, too, that it 
 will bless you. If you cannot, a horror of 
 great darkness will fall ; but it can never shut 
 out, thank God, that girl s face bending over 
 my mother s Bible. To have only that will be 
 better than if I had all other faces. 
 
92 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 "My dear Kathleen, forgive my calling 
 you so just once, I love you. God bless you 1 
 " Always yours, 
 
 " DUNCAN MCLEOD." 
 
 " But for the learning," cries Janet McLeod, 
 " it s the same letter his father wrote me after 
 the Belief of Lucknow. Starvation opened 
 my Duncan s een, and the peril in the shaft 
 opened oor bairn s. Ay, and when my Duncan 
 was back from the Mutiny, and told how the 
 hunger wrought in him, he added that his 
 father, though but a lad then, saw, when hard 
 pressed amidst the battle of the Nile, the child 
 face of her that, ten years after, became his 
 wife, saw, and by the sight overcame. O 
 God, that the same blessed outcome may be 
 to oor Duncan and Kathleen ! " 
 
 Thereupon, with streaming face, she seeks 
 her chamber, after a day so eventful, there to 
 wrestle through the night watches for the 
 twain. 
 
 Oh, scoffers at prayer ! oh, respecters but 
 neglecters of it ! in a world in which men are 
 appointed to be coworkers with God, and in 
 which the supreme forces are psychic, little 
 
The Making of a Scot 93 
 
 do you know how much you yourselves owe of 
 blessing to intercessory prayer, or how much 
 of all that is strongest and sweetest in life has 
 that for its initial ! 
 
 But God alone knows the true answer, 
 when prayers conflict as they seemed to that 
 night. 
 
 For it is ten o clock at Stirling House, 
 Liverpool. The settlement s day s work is 
 done. The residents of the house have been 
 along the docks all day, bringing sunshine and 
 hope into the wretched homes of the dockers, 
 and conducting the kindergarten teaching, the 
 mother s meeting work, the night school in 
 struction, and the boys and girls club cam 
 paigns. It has been a day of successes. The 
 successes have proved their genuineness by the 
 dissatisfied feeling they have left in the 
 workers. " What are these among so many ? " 
 and, "Who is sufficient for these things?" 
 they ask one another as they assemble for the 
 devotions which end each day, but which, this 
 night, are turned into a vigil of prayer for a 
 special object. 
 
 The leader reads, out of the Acts, the account 
 of Barnabas leaving the great work begun at 
 
94 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 Antioch to seek Saul. " It was Miss Gordon," 
 she says, as she lays down the Bible, "who 
 suggested this settlement ; for whose town it 
 is named; who has brought each one of us 
 into the work ; and whose supervision of it, 
 with frequent bits of actual residence, seems 
 indispensable to its continued success. And 
 now Melbourne, where Henry Drummond 
 made so profound an impression, summons 
 her to begin a Social Settlement there, and to 
 organize the entire Australian work. The 
 matter before this vigil of prayer is, Can Stirl 
 ing House give her up ? Can England spare 
 her ? Submissive to God s will, we believe it 
 right, nevertheless, to lay on him our burden, 
 pleading that she may remain to do the work 
 that lieth next. Until that is stronger, as, 
 for the large but still infant work at Antioch, 
 Barnabas went to seek Saul, shall we not in 
 tercede that we may retain Miss Gordon? 
 The time is now yours." 
 
 Some one thereupon gently starts, 
 
 " Work, for the night is coming " ; 
 
 and some one else, 
 
 u Rescue the perishing " ; 
 
The Making of a Scot 95 
 
 and yet another, 
 
 "Saviour, I follow on, guided by thee " ; 
 and then the depths are broken up, and 
 prayer after prayer, almost agonizing in 
 quality, ascends. Young women from Chester 
 and Lincoln, from Salisbury and Carlisle, from 
 York and Birmingham and London, follow 
 one another. One tells her heavenly Father 
 of a life of luxury, another of a life of doubt, 
 another of a life nearing a great sin, left, each, 
 for this saving work in the vast seaport. 
 They thank God that ever he led their steps 
 to Girton College ; that Miss Gordon was 
 there ; that she gave learning a new meaning 
 for them ; that she lifted it higher than they 
 had ever esteemed it, and yet subordinated it 
 to character, to spiritual living, and to daily 
 service. 
 
 " O God," pleads she that has spoken of a 
 life nearing a great sin " O God, ships 
 dropped down the Mersey this day for India, 
 for China, for Japan, for Africa, for South 
 America, for Canada, for the United States, 
 for the Mediterranean, for Spain, for France, 
 for the Baltic. "We go to all. All come to us. 
 Is there, O God, any work beneath the South- 
 
96 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 ern Cross so pivotal and needy as Liverpool s ? 
 And, blessed Lord, do not we, too, need Miss 
 Gordon? Consider Girton. Consider us 
 girls. Let not our feet slip. But who, after 
 Jesus, can so hold us as she ? " and the prayer 
 is dissolved in a sobbing as if heart would 
 break. 
 
 There, then, we leave them, past midnight, 
 pleading ; and, returning to the small house in 
 Stirling, just as there is the faintest flush in 
 the eastern sky, we find Janet McLeod still 
 wrestling that Kathleen may go to Colorado, 
 as Stirling House is wrestling that she may 
 stay in Great Britain. Janet is very weary, 
 and seems, in her weariness, to hear aYoice, 
 saying, " Let me go, for the day breaketh " ; 
 to which, with all the might of her nature, 
 she makes reply, "I will not let thee go, 
 except thou bless me." And now, prescient 
 of victory, she adds : " O my God, who 
 grantedst the face to Nelson s hard pressed 
 gunner; who grantedst the face to the man 
 starving at Lucknow ; and who, now, hast yet 
 again granted the face for the rescue o 
 Douglas an Duncan, mercifully do for oor 
 ain laddie as thou didst for them that feared 
 
The Making of a Scot 97 
 
 thy name afore him, and whose bluid is his ! 
 O oor Saviour, be that gude to gie Duncan 
 Kathleen ! " 
 
 An hour later the rising sun, thrusting its 
 bar of gold between curtain and window- 
 casing, lays it across a sleeping face, as it had 
 been the face of an angel. 
 7 
 
VI 
 
 A CALEDONIAN CAPTAIN OF FINANCE 
 
 UR last two chapters 
 have concerned them 
 selves with a day and a 
 night far down beneath 
 the Castle Rock at Stir 
 ling. Its glad surprises, its solicitudes, its 
 wrestlings and agonizings, have passed before 
 us. What of that day and that night on the 
 Heights ? Did stately mansion differ greatly 
 from lowly cottage ? 
 
 Just at the stroke of seven, on the morning 
 of that day, John Gordon sits down to break 
 fast. His saintly Annie, a chronic invalid, is 
 generally able to lunch with him, and some 
 times even to dine with him ; but he is alone 
 at this meal, except when Kathleen is at home. 
 Then, as on this morning, she punctiliously 
 takes her place opposite him, but not without 
 a fervent greeting from her father first. 
 
 The quiet elegance of the room, and, in fact, 
 98 
 
A Caledonian Captain of Finance 99 
 
 of the entire house, is impressive. There is no 
 ostentation; nothing is overdone. Even in 
 such a man s home there are evidences of 
 prudence and economy. A very wealthy 
 person is not necessarily a spendthrift. Yet 
 there is a richness about everything and a 
 faultless taste that captivate the imagination. 
 Kathleen from tender girlhood has aided in 
 effecting these results, but they were already 
 well in progress at her earliest remembrance. 
 
 How is it, let us pause to ask, that John 
 and Annie Gordon, born in the far north, 
 toilers always, who have come up from 
 poverty, have such a sense of the fitness of 
 things, even to forms, fabrics, colors, furnish 
 ings ? How is it, particularly, that not one of 
 the many choice canvases and marbles which 
 surprise you all over the house, is out of 
 taste, or, a rarer thing, inharmonious? The 
 answer is, Janet McLeod s "secret of the 
 Lord." It is the inner eye, to be had in 
 larger or smaller degree by everybody that 
 will walk in the Light. Their simplicity, their 
 trueness, their quick and keen powers, not 
 only of observation but of appreciation and 
 joy in things, and, above all, the beautiful 
 
1OO The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 souls which they had even in cottage and 
 fisher s hut, are in evidence all over this House 
 Beautiful, from the windows of which one 
 looks out on the ancient and massive Grey- 
 friars Church, on the castle, and on the moun 
 tains that, like sentinels, guard Stirling round 
 about. 
 
 "It is a bright, chatty breakfast, with some 
 bits of fun, some gentle raillery, and some 
 really extraordinary repartee. John Gordon s 
 eyes are ever drinking Kathleen in, and set 
 ting her as in an aureole. 
 
 Then the great Bible, in its rich binding, is 
 spread open, the servants come in, and Kath 
 leen, as is her custom when at home, reads. 
 Their reading is in course. They are in the 
 Song of Songs. Her mellow voice seems to in 
 terpret the mystic words, and with passionate 
 earnestness she concludes : 
 
 " My beloved is white and ruddy, 
 The chiefest among ten thousand ; . . . 
 Yea, he is altogether lovely." 
 
 " Oh, what a Saviour ! " John Gordon 
 devoutly exclaims. 
 
 " Yes, indeed," answers Kathleen ; " though 
 that is not the primary meaning ; " and, in the 
 
A Caledonian Captain of Finance 101 
 
 most artless manner possible, she tells of the 
 piece of dramatic poetry, designed to be set to 
 music, which the Song of Songs is, in celebra 
 tion of a deep, pure and holy love, and of 
 loyalty to it amidst great contrary allure 
 ments. By way of making her point clearer, 
 she opens and passes around for inspection, 
 Griffis "Lily among Thorns," with the text 
 printed as a drama. "That is it, father," 
 she adds ; " the Shulamite, whose beauty and 
 character have attracted Solomon and his 
 court, is praising her own true lover, a plain 
 man of the mountains, and will on no account 
 break their betrothal." 
 
 John Gordon shakes his head. 
 
 "But, father," Kathleen urges, "is there 
 anything greater, after one s relation to God 
 himself, than that one should thus love and be 
 loved, and prove true to love at whatever 
 cost ? Take you and mother. I do not know 
 a more beautiful thing than the way you are 
 bound up in each other. It is one of the chief 
 inspirations of my life. Out of that grows, in 
 deed, the derived and even higher thought of 
 the supreme Lover, Jesus, and his Bride, the 
 Church." 
 
102 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 " Perhaps you are right, Kathleen," replies 
 John Gordon, whose heart is touched. 
 
 Then all kneel, and this priest in his own 
 house prays. Such a prayer ! Not one in the 
 home circle is left out. Then his intercessions 
 broaden. He pleads for Stirling, for Scotland, 
 for the United Kingdom, for the Empire, for 
 Our Sovereign Lady, for "the whole world, 
 which is thy footstool, for all the children of 
 men." This last, my friend, and there was a 
 grip about it, included and affected you and 
 me. 
 
 All rise from their knees, the servants with 
 draw, there is a good-bye kiss, the carriage 
 door closes, James touches the reins, Kathleen 
 stands on the porch waving yet further 
 adieus, and John Gordon, looking back, mur 
 murs : " Except for her financial heresy, from 
 which I am hoping her good sense will con 
 vert her, the child grows more and more won 
 derful to me day by day." 
 
 Kathleen s economic views were a sore trial 
 to her father. He considered them not only 
 ill-grounded, but dangerous. He prayed about 
 them much. At times he argued and pleaded 
 with her to forsake them. And she, though 
 
A Caledonian Captain of Finance 103 
 
 she never yielded an inch, was so thoughtful 
 and tactful that he fondly dreamed that the 
 day was not remote when she would be con 
 verted from them, and when his cup of joy in 
 her, now level with the brim, would overflow. 
 
 Had Kathleen been thus converted, two peo 
 ple and a mine in Colorado would have had a 
 very different history. It is not unimportant 
 what a young woman thinks, especially if she 
 thinks about things that undergird life. On 
 the contrary, what she thus thinks, as in this 
 plain narrative, will largely determine the 
 days that are to be. Oh, that, by the shore, 
 on the ocean, and in the mountains, in fash 
 ionable drawing-rooms, and among the Four 
 Hundred, God might touch her heart, as he 
 touched Kathleen s, and as fruitfully ! 
 
 But let us look a little more closely at John 
 Gordon. As we have seen, he was up betimes. 
 The impulses of his poverty and struggle re 
 mained with him. He liked the early start. 
 He liked a quiet time in his private office be 
 fore business began. 
 
 The reader will perhaps be interested to 
 know how this captain of industry and of 
 finance spent this quiet time. The morning 
 
104 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 that Kathleen read from the Song of Songs 
 may serve as an illustration. 
 
 He turned the key on the inside of the door. 
 He raised the shade of that one of the win 
 dows of his office broad, with a deep win 
 dow-seat which looked toward the north. 
 He raised it to the top of the casing. He re 
 membered Daniel, with his windows open to 
 ward Jerusalem. The shade at the top was 
 his approximation. But was Jerusalem to the 
 north of Stirling ? ISTo ; not Jerusalem of old, 
 but John Gordon s Jerusalem, to wit, the Scot 
 tish Highlands. There stood the fisher s hut 
 where he was born. There was the cottage 
 where his Annie grew up. There, by the 
 kirk, slept his mother and his father. Within 
 that kirk he had been married. In it he had 
 found eternal life. The impulse and sustain 
 ing power of that life, and nothing less, had 
 made him one 
 
 11 Who breaks his birth s invidious bar, 
 And grasps the skirts of happy chance, 
 And breasts the blows of circumstance, 
 And grapples with his evil star. 
 
 When John Gordon prayed in the session, 
 or at family worship, though there were ex- 
 
A Caledonian Captain of Finance 105 
 
 ceptions at the latter, he scrupulously re 
 garded certain rubrics of prayer, adoration, 
 thanksgiving, confession, petition, intercession, 
 and the rest. But, kneeling at precisely three 
 minutes past eight, he arrived at eight and 
 there were people who set their watches by his 
 arrival ; kneeling at precisely three minutes 
 past eight, before that uncurtained window 
 which looked toward the Highlands, he at 
 tended, as with everything else done in that 
 office, strictly to business. Without prelimi 
 naries, he asked for just what he wanted, and 
 only what he wanted, and in the fewest possi 
 ble words. He asked, too, with great fervor ; 
 argued and pressed the case; and, all alone 
 there, grappled psychic forces in a more posi 
 tive and dynamic way, even, than in any of 
 the celebrated combats of logic, wit and will 
 which he carried on with the manufacturers 
 and the financiers who were closeted with him 
 in that same room from day to day. 
 
 The foundry, the furnaces, the shops, are all 
 gone over ; the contracts for steel ribs, girders 
 and plates for ships building along the Clyde 
 and at Belfast; his banking-house at Glasgow; 
 its branches at Inverness, Aberdeen, Edin- 
 
106 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 burgh, Dundee and Stirling. Shall he bear 
 longer with that superintendent, or displace 
 him ? If the latter, with whom ? " Sandie," 
 he cries, " honest, faithful Sandie, too easy 
 with the men will discharge none of them 
 shall he not go ? By whom shall he be suc 
 ceeded ? " And, after a moment, apparently 
 getting no encouragement from the Oracle to 
 displace that merciful man, he adds, " God 
 bless Sandie 1" Shall he sign a certain con 
 tract, insist on its modification, or decline it ? 
 There is a pause here ; intense thought ; then 
 he says, "Kemember Hiram s and Solomon s 
 contract, and show me the modification that 
 will make it right for both." Shall his house 
 negotiate that issue of bonds? Shall it buy 
 such a block of stock ? Then he grows per 
 sonal : " Sustain Mr. MacDonald," Mr. Mac- 
 Donald is head of the banking, his most valued 
 and loved helper, but nearing a breakdown, 
 for few can keep John Gordon s pace. " Bless 
 Mr. Blackie," Mr. Blackie is head of the iron 
 and steel, "give him more backbone." From 
 these he passes to other of his more important 
 helpers, a score of them at least. "And 
 Annie," he adds, with voice a bit shaky, " bet- 
 
A Caledonian Captain of Finance 107 
 
 ter, to me, sick, thou knowest, than all other 
 women well, thy best gift ; and her ain lassie, 
 oor Kathleen; gie her soonder views o mat 
 ters pecuniary, I humbly beseech thee, aboot 
 pittin the money into the bank, as the Maister 
 said ; an didna even he an weel toward his 
 last oors too sit ower again the treasury? 
 Amen." 
 
 There is no bridge, be it observed, to get to 
 the "Amen." 
 
 Then he rises from his knees, draws the 
 shade half down the window, reads a chapter 
 from the Proverbs, to the sagacity of the 
 Proverbs he attributes in no small degree 
 his business success, turns the key of his 
 office-door, opens his desk, and tackles his 
 correspondence. 
 
 He is secretive about his business affairs. 
 Sometimes he refers, with a devoutness that 
 people take for mysteriousness, to the Silent 
 Partner he must consult. Thus it comes about 
 that many persons all unwittingly to him 
 suppose that some great but anonymous finan 
 cier is his associate. They all mistake. His 
 Silent Partner is God. Not the Duke of 
 Westminster, nor the Eothschilds, nor his per- 
 
108 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 sonal friend, Andrew Carnegie, could serve 
 him so well. 
 
 Nevertheless, for so does God bear with 
 men ! when his eyes shall be opened, he will 
 shed bitter tears of repentance over sundry 
 items on his side of the copartnership ; items 
 rightly enough intended, but the devil s own, 
 fresh out of hell. Ah, the misery of it is that 
 not the devil s men only, but Christ s men 
 often, with their blinded eyes, are goading the 
 world on toward economic perdition ! 
 
YII 
 
 KATHLEEN GORDON S CORONATION DAY 
 
 f HEN her father s carriage 
 has disappeared from 
 sight, on the morning of 
 the Song of Songs, and 
 the morning of Janet Mc- 
 Leod s memorable day, 
 Kathleen Gordon tends 
 some plants; serves her 
 mother s breakfast in the 
 same radiant way she 
 has had with her father ; 
 tells, among other things, 
 of the discussion about the Song of Songs, 
 to which Annie Gordon rejoins, " I have long 
 so believed " (of course you have, dear saint 
 of God !) ; and has just closed the door of her 
 own room for her Quiet Hour, for she is a 
 " Comrade of the Morning "Watch," when a 
 maid brings up her mail. Among several let 
 ters is one postmarked Melbourne and another 
 109 
 
no The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 from America bearing the mark, Colorado. 
 One might have noted just the slightest start 
 as she observes the latter, but only for a mo 
 ment. The entire mail, unopened, is laid on 
 her desk, and she goes on with Scripture, 
 meditation and prayer as she had intended; 
 for Kathleen is not a person to turn back. 
 For Scripture she reads entirely and aloud 
 that book of the Old Testament which the 
 family worship has drawn her mind toward, 
 together with very considerable extracts from 
 "The Lily among Thorns," concluding with 
 the words : 
 
 "This name of God, [ Jah- Jehovah ; that is, Very 
 Flame of Jehovah, ] used only in poetry, is here set at the 
 culmination of the Poem of Poems most felicitously and ap 
 propriately. This is the divine side of Love ; it has also a 
 human side. The image and superscription are of Jehovah, 
 the worth of stamp and legend must be tested by human 
 experience. As she remembers the deep waters of trial and 
 the bribes of a king she adds : 
 
 " Many waters cannot quench love, 
 Neither can the floods drown it : 
 If a man were to give all the substance of 
 
 his house in place of love, 
 It would utterly be contemned. " 
 
 Kathleen falls into deep thought. Then she 
 
Kathleen Gordon s Coronation Day 1 1 1 
 
 prays, long and fervently. "This is a truth 
 for men and women," she pleads ; " mercifully 
 order it aright for all, but especially for our 
 residents of Stirling House." She is dwelling 
 in the secret place of the Most High now ; 
 has forgotten all about the foreign letters on 
 her desk; is laying the truth of her reading 
 most confidingly and suitably on God for the 
 young women who are dearest to her ; forgets, 
 in her beautiful self-effacement, to lay it on 
 God for herself also. But God is caring for 
 her, as she asks that he will care for them. 
 
 She rises from prayer. She sits down at 
 her desk. She lays Melbourne and Colorado 
 aside. She reads the other letters, and files 
 them, making certain memoranda for refer 
 ence when her stenographer shall come. She 
 opens Melbourne; reads with amazement its 
 contents, already known to us ; carries the 
 letter to her mother, who, looking up with 
 shining face, says : " Beautiful, Kathleen, to 
 be so wanted, is it not, darling ? But you 
 will hardly leave us ? " 
 
 Kathleen writes, seals and sends to the 
 post-office by James, this telegram, addressed, 
 " Stirling House, Liverpool " : 
 
112 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 " Urgent proposal from Melbourne to start Social Settle 
 ment there, and to organize Australia for such work. 
 Residents, all, pray I may know the right answer. Mean 
 time, no publicity." 
 
 At this point Kathleen s stenographer ar 
 rives. "A matter of such moment for our 
 work has come up," says Kathleen, "in this 
 morning s mail, for consideration and settle 
 ment, that I must ask you to let me excuse 
 you to-day. Please come to-morrow night." 
 
 Then Kathleen, to whom a day that opened 
 so peacefully is fast becoming a day of 
 destiny, turns the key in her door, and, with 
 trembling fingers and a strange, suffocating 
 feeling, opens her Colorado letter. Instantly 
 it flashes upon her why her God has led her, 
 that very morning, to study the Song of Songs, 
 and she draws a long breath, and straightens 
 herself up to still the tumult of her heart. 
 Then she reads. The color mounts her face. 
 She holds the letter unsteadily. Her eyes 
 fill. The letter becomes a blur. She dashes 
 away her tears. She reads to the end. Then, 
 the letter thrust within her dress, she throws 
 herself upon a couch, and buries her face in a 
 pillow. There she lies, perfectly still, for a 
 
Kathleen Gordon s Coronation Day 113 
 
 long time. When she uncovers her face, it is 
 far more beautiful than it has ever been be 
 fore. In her simplicity she looks into a 
 mirror, but turns from it startled, as if it were 
 deceiving her. Then she opens a secret 
 drawer of her desk, which is of old mahogany 
 and very quaint, and takes from it a small, 
 cheap photograph of a boy not too well 
 dressed, Janet McLeod s Christmas remem 
 brance for her, one year, while the boy and 
 Kathleen were still children, and gazes on it 
 until, as with the letter, she cannot see it. 
 Then she falls on her knees. 
 
 " O Father in heaven ! " she begins, but 
 cannot go on for a glad sobbing. "O Fa 
 ther in heaven ! " she resumes, when she has 
 steadied herself, " I thank thee that ever thou 
 wast so good. How couldst thou have been ! 
 But, O God, clear my vision. Show me the 
 issues involved. As Jesus pleased not himself, 
 make me brave not to please myself, if I 
 ought not to. Whatever comes, O God, bless 
 Duncan, and comfort his heart forever ! " 
 
 She rises. She goes to the mirror again. 
 This time she is not afraid, for it dawns on 
 her what has happened. She looks at the 
 8 
 
114 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 reflection intently. "Dear Lord," she softly 
 whispers, " does it change a face like that ? " 
 She gazes as if upon another woman, until 
 her eyes are full again, and her breath comes 
 quickly. Then she sings, with voice very low, 
 lest she be overheard : 
 
 " Only one May a year, 
 
 One mystery 
 
 Of bloom, by mount and mere, 
 Coming to be. 
 
 " Only one youth a life, 
 
 One passionate spring, 
 Tender, and warm, and rife 
 With blossoming. 
 
 " Only one dawn of love, 
 
 Apocalypse, 
 Lifting the soul above 
 Its self -eclipse. 
 
 * And May and youth may fly : 
 
 If love remain, 
 Joy will be always by, 
 And frost be gain." 
 
 She dries her face. A wonderful smile 
 steals over it. She lifts herself to her utmost 
 height. She poises her head like a queen. 
 " O God ! " she slowly says, " and Kathleen 
 thought she was living before ! She was, but 
 it was in the starlight. Now the sun is up. 
 
Kathleen Gordon s Coronation Day 115 
 
 I can never thank thee enough. O my dear 
 Lord, bless Duncan McLeod ! " 
 
 Would that we might leave her thus, deep 
 calling unto deep, and the wonderful leadings 
 of God confirming all ; but we must tell the 
 truth. 
 
 There be those who trifle with love. There 
 be those who sin with it. There be others, 
 great multitudes, and true-hearted, who miss 
 love, and who go all their lives hungry for lack 
 of it, because, though it is an exceedingly sim 
 ple matter, they know not how to be such as to 
 win love, nor how to treat it when it arrives. 
 The Bible might tell them, but they heed it not; 
 or they are so much more occupied with ques 
 tions of criticism than with it, that they do 
 not learn its secret. The higher criticism is 
 good, yes, indispensable; so is an arc-light. 
 The sun is better ; so is the Bible itself. The 
 letter killeth ; the spirit giveth life. 
 
 Furthermore, we wrestle not with flesh and 
 blood, but with principalities and powers, with 
 the highest things in ourselves, in our civiliza 
 tion and in our Christianity. There are, that 
 is to say, not only vices, we know them, and 
 we read the riot act on them, but there are 
 
1 16 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 the excesses of our virtues, the excesses and 
 the idiosyncrasies. To hold an even mind, to 
 maintain the simplicity that is in Christ, though 
 it were easy if we were^ focused rightly, is 
 harder than to effect ten reforms. But all 
 reforms would swiftly come, were that sim 
 plicity widely diffused and vitally. 
 
 While Kathleen is standing thus like a 
 queen, for it is, if only she knew it, her Cor 
 onation Day, she suddenly summons the 
 Lord Chief Marshal. That is what she really 
 does, but what she says is : " It will not do to 
 be carried off my feet in this way. Where is 
 my self-mastery ? " 
 
 "Self-mastery," was a great phrase with 
 Kathleen. To do her justice, it was generally 
 almost or quite the equivalent of Christ-mas 
 tery, and a glory with her. 
 
 She straightway removes the letter from 
 her dress, as if she had sinned a sin ever to 
 have placed it there, and lays it on her desk. 
 She thrusts a handkerchief where it had been, 
 and then quickly removes it. She bathes her 
 face, and extinguishes the light out of it all 
 she can. She puts on her golf suit which is a 
 very bewitching thing. She seizes the letter. 
 
Kathleen Gordon s Coronation Day 117 
 
 She takes it to her mother s room, and in the 
 most commonplace manner hands it to her. 
 Annie Gordon can read only the first lines 
 for glad tears. Kathleen, who cannot bear to 
 prolong the interview, gently takes it from 
 her mother s hand, but grimly reads it aloud, 
 every word, as if it were a social settlement 
 report. 
 
 " Kathleen, there is not a nobler man liv 
 ing!" says Annie Gordon, with a strange 
 strength and enthusiasm; and adds, with 
 something very like admonition in her voice, 
 " Does not the letter move you ? " 
 
 "Should one be too much moved, mother 
 dear?" 
 
 " I should be proud of such a son, Kathleen, 
 and I am sure your father would be." 
 
 " But not if I did not so choose, mother ? " 
 
 "May we not choose too much, darling? 
 Are there not leadings in our lives, Provi 
 dence, the heart s voice, the Spirit s sug 
 gestion ? " 
 
 Kathleen s face is instantly suffused with 
 color, and the light she has tried to extinguish, 
 shines ; but she has so placed herself that these 
 are unobserved. 
 
ll8 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 " Providence, mother ? What about Mel 
 bourne ? " she rejoins. 
 
 "Do duties conflict, Kathleen?" Annie 
 Gordon answers ; but she is wiser than to 
 press the matter, and only adds : " It is, dar 
 ling, your question. May God make your 
 way clear ! " 
 
 " That is a dear, and like my mother," says 
 Kathleen ; and, so swiftly that her look can 
 not be observed, kisses the pale, sweet face, 
 and is gone. 
 
 From the landing she returns conscience- 
 smitten to her room ; fervently kisses the lit 
 tle, cheap photograph by way of atonement ; 
 is tempted to get from her mother Duncan s 
 letter, left for her father s perusal, and, in 
 still further expiation, to take it with her; 
 hears the gruff tones of the Lord Chief Mar 
 shal ; hurries down-stairs, instead ; and walks 
 swiftly toward the golf links. As she goes 
 along she extinguishes the light in her face all 
 she can. When she has reached Euth Camer 
 on s, she seems only radiant from her walk. 
 Euth is a Girton classmate. They are rivals at 
 golf. Euth is glad to go with her. The game 
 is soon on. It is close from start to finish. 
 
Kathleen Gordon s Coronation Day 119 
 
 Near the end Kuth has the advantage. On a 
 sudden Duncan s letter takes hold on Kath 
 leen. She excels herself. She wins. 
 
 "What happened to you?" asks Kuth. 
 " You were more than yourself." 
 
 "Don t we have to be more than our 
 selves if we are to do our work?" replies 
 Kathleen. 
 
 On the way back there fall upon them a 
 dozen girls of ten or twelve years, just out of 
 school. They idolize Kathleen and are fond of 
 Kuth, and our alumnce have a great romp with 
 them. 
 
 At luncheon John Gordon shines. He is all 
 gaiety. Annie Gordon does her quiet part. 
 The good stories are tossed back and forth. 
 The repartee is brilliant. Not a word about 
 Melbourne or Colorado. But, when James 
 announces the carriage for his master s return 
 to the office, and John Gordon kisses his wife 
 and Kathleen good-bye, there is a tear, not her 
 own, on Kathleen s cheek. 
 
 The golf and the romp with the children 
 have been to recover her poise. Kathleen does 
 even a better thing, for which she has planned 
 that golf and romp shall have prepared her ; 
 
12O The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 she sleeps like a child all the afternoon. She 
 dresses for dinner. She is as much herself 
 there as she was at breakfast. It is a cheer 
 ful meal. Kathleen gets her father to tell 
 stories of the north and of his life as a fisher 
 boy. She begs for dialect, and he gives it 
 to her, put into the mouths of the wits of 
 the little haven, until all laugh till the tears 
 come. She likes best stories about the girl 
 hood of her mother, Annie Murray that was, 
 and of the old love-making time, but both in 
 stinctively avoid those to-night. 
 
 Before they rise from the table, John Gor 
 don, in the simplest, most natural way, says, 
 " Let us look up." This means that he and the 
 women reverently bow their heads. "Our 
 Father," says John Gordon, and there are no 
 rubrics of prayer now, "Our Father, we 
 thank thee for bringing the wee Kathie to us ; 
 and for all the comfort she has been to us these 
 years; that she never gave us a moment s 
 anxiety, but only ground for daily thanksgiv 
 ings on her behalf. Our Father, we thank 
 thee for the great door and effectual, this day 
 opened unto her. "We thank thee for the glo 
 rious apocalypse that has broken upon her life. 
 
Kathleen Gordon s Coronation Day 12 1 
 
 Steady her. Give her a clear lead. She will 
 be ours always, and we hers always, and all 
 of us thine always, in oor Father s house, 
 here, or far awa , or in the mansions oor Sav 
 iour is preparin for us each. Amen." 
 
 James here announces the carriage for Kath 
 leen, who has arranged with her mother to 
 make the call on Mrs. McLeod, of which a 
 glimpse has already been afforded us, but her 
 father will not let her go until he has escorted 
 the two women to the drawing-room, where An 
 nie Gordon, at the piano, plays a favorite Scotch 
 air, and John Gordon and Kathleen, all up and 
 down the spacious apartment, dance to it right 
 merrily. Such is his life, that neither Annie 
 nor Kathleen notes any incongruity between 
 this act and the prayer. Then John Gordon 
 puts his daughter into the carriage, she is 
 driven to Janet McLeod s, and the two have 
 that memorable half hour together which has 
 already been described. 
 
 Is it surprising that Kathleen, who, for the 
 time, has banished the Lord Chief Marshal, 
 and who does not even try to extinguish the 
 light in her face, reminds one of the Murillo ? 
 But is it not surprising that when Kathleen is 
 
122 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 thinking she will say, Yes, to Duncan, Janet 
 should be thinking the precise opposite ? 
 
 The Lord Chief Marshal grumbles, however, 
 as her returning carriage climbs the Heights of 
 Stirling. With a simple "Good-night" for 
 mother and father she goes to her room. 
 There she reads Duncan s letter to his mother, 
 which, at his suggestion, has come to her by 
 the exchange with Mrs. McLeod at their 
 parting. 
 
 "How the mining success and the shares 
 voted him would appeal to father s pride!" 
 she whispers to herself as she devours the let 
 ter. " Oh ! oh ! " sKe goes on tremblingly, for 
 she has reached the account of the explosion ; 
 " but the hero 1 the hero 1 " When, however, 
 she comes to the heart-revealings at the end 
 she cannot speak, and has again and again to 
 clear her eyes. 
 
 Then she kneels. She joins the praying 
 ones, Janet McLeod, the residents of Stirling 
 House, Liverpool, yes, and John and Annie 
 Gordon, for they are interceding too. But the 
 Lord Chief Marshal has been growling outside 
 her door. She has said to herself, " Self-mas 
 tery ! " again. She cannot pray. " Light ! 
 
Kathleen Gordon s Coronation Day 123 
 
 light ! " she cries, but there is only darkness, 
 for she is herself extinguishing the light. 
 
 So she retires. All night it is a troubled 
 sleep. She dreams of mountains and mines, 
 of Liverpool docks and the Southern Cross; 
 now her mother is chiding her; now her 
 father is kissing her approvingly, but for what, 
 she cannot guess. At last she is a little girl 
 again, at Janet s for Bible study, and sees 
 there a boy bending over his Greek, who will 
 not deign her so much as a look. And Janet 
 seems out of patience with her, too ; but the 
 boy is so honest and sturdy and strong, and 
 knows so much, that she steals up behind his 
 chair, curls herself into a heap on the floor, 
 makes a pillow of the hard back round of the 
 chair, finds it soft as down, and so falls into a 
 peaceful sleep. 
 
 When she wakes, the sun is an hour high. 
 She breakfasts in bed. Then, in a wrapper, 
 seated beside her desk, she reaches down, from 
 a shelf of French authors, "Les Miserables." 
 She reads of the good bishop ; of how he 
 saves the convict, Jean Valjean ; of that saved 
 man as manufacturer, mayor, philanthropist ; 
 of his surrendering himself to be galley slave 
 
124 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 again, to save an innocent man convicted of 
 two petty thefts which he himself committed 
 before the light broke. She comes to the 
 words, before the crowded court, for M. le 
 Maire has been sorely tempted to let the inno 
 cent man suffer, and to save himself : 
 
 44 You all, all who are here, think me worthy of pity, do 
 you not ? Great God ! when I think of what I have been 
 on the point of doing, I think myself worthy of envy." 
 
 " That is it," says Kathleen ; " the sacredness 
 and joy of duty, however much it costs ! " 
 
 But she is suspicious of the fervor even of 
 Yictor Hugo. This time she reaches to a shelf 
 of Greek classics. She takes down her Plato. 
 She is fond of Jowett, and of his incompa 
 rable translation, but prefers the original. She 
 reads the last paragraphs of the "Apology." 
 Then she opens at the " Phaedo." Homer is 
 her rest and song; Plato is her calm and 
 triumph. When the moving end is reached, 
 she turns back to reread these words of 
 Socrates : 
 
 " But then, O my friends, he said, if the soul is really im 
 mortal, what care should be taken of her, not only in re 
 spect of the portion of time which is called life, but of 
 eternity ! And the danger of neglecting her from this point 
 of view does indeed appear to be awful." 
 
Kathleen Gordon s Coronation Day 125 
 
 John Gordon is in Glasgow to-day. His 
 wife will lunch in her room. They have de 
 cided, after careful deliberation, to take no 
 hand in Kathleen s problem, especially as they 
 find themselves shrinking greatly from a trans 
 atlantic residence for their daughter. But, if 
 she asks them, they have agreed to espouse 
 Duncan McLeod s cause. 
 
 Stirred to the depths by the "Phaedo," 
 Kathleen dresses, lunches, has tender, silent 
 moments with her mother, and, in taking 
 leave, says : 
 
 " Pray for me, mother dear." 
 
 "I am praying every moment, Kathleen," 
 answers Annie Gordon. 
 
 And now, this glorious afternoon, first Ab 
 bey Craig, with its Wallace Monument ; then 
 the ruin of Cambuskenneth Abbey; then St. 
 Ninian, with a brief call there on Margaret 
 Campbell and her children ; and, finally, Ban- 
 nockburn, are the objectives of this sorely per 
 plexed young woman in her walk. She wishes 
 to be alone. She wishes vigorous, heartening 
 exercise. She wishes to stir her soul with 
 noble scenery, and with the great memories of 
 her country. She is trying hard to decide 
 
126 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 aright. She is praying, moment by moment, 
 not to be warped in her judgment. 
 
 She is at the Bore Stone now. In this per 
 forated rock, on the crest of the great battle 
 field, Bruce fixed the standard of Scotland on 
 that fateful day. She knows its story by 
 heart. Every knoll, every turn in the little 
 burn, has its meaning for her. She sees 
 Bruce s small army. She sees that of Edward 
 II, thrice its size. On the one side are pov 
 erty, hunger, the yeomen with their pikes ; on 
 the other are wealth, prestige, mailed knights 
 with their splendid horses and gleaming lances, 
 the finest army of Europe. On one side is 
 freedom ; on the other, tyranny. On one side 
 is the old order of chivalry ; on the other are 
 the rising ranks of the plain people. She sees 
 the proud onset. She hears the first terrible 
 crash. What? It is the horsemen that go 
 down ! It is the solid squares that cannot be 
 broken ! Bruce, and the few, and the hungry, 
 triumph. Edward, and the many, and the 
 well-conditioned, are vanquished. Scotland is 
 free. A new day, with these yeomen, their 
 squares and their pikes, breaks for the world. 
 
 Kathleen looks all about. No one is in 
 
IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN JOAN OF ARC PASSING ON HER WAY " 
 
Kathleen Gordon s Coronation Day 127 
 
 sight. She reaches her slender hand through 
 the iron grating that guards the rock, and pats 
 it caressingly. She lifts herself. She sings 
 Burns Hymn of the Battle, beginning with 
 that bugle summons : 
 
 " Scots, wha hae wi Wallace bled, 
 Scots, whain Bruce has aften led, 
 Welcome to your gory bed 
 Or to victorie!" 
 
 Oh, could you have seen her then, you 
 would have understood what it is that has 
 made Scotland great ! You would have known 
 why its race conquers everywhere. 
 
 She turns. " I know my answer," she says. 
 She bends her steps toward Stirling. The 
 westering sun, dipping toward Ben Lomond, 
 lights her face, and is a splendor in her hair. 
 It might have been Joan of Arc passing on 
 her way. 
 
VIII 
 
 " THIS DO " KECOILS ON DUNCAN McLEOD 
 
 ,ERHAPS the reader will 
 comprehend Duncan Mc- 
 Leod. To the writer he 
 is, in certain respects, an 
 enigma. 
 
 Doubtless the first im 
 pression he made upon 
 you, was that of a man 
 doing things. But a hun 
 dred men doing things would not impress you 
 as Duncan did. 
 
 As a child, or as a maturer person, did you 
 chance to see the Corliss engine, at the Centen 
 nial Exhibition at Philadelphia ? That was 
 before the days of the magic transference of 
 power by electricity. Shafts, gearing, belts, 
 transferred it then. The Corliss engine, by such 
 cumbrous connections, was the man Friday, 
 doing the bulk of the work of the great Cen 
 tennial Show. But when you came upon it, in 
 128 
 
"This Do" Recoils 129 
 
 the high, sunny room that, like a glass case, sur 
 rounded it, and looked up at it, gleaming there 
 like burnished silver, and moving so silently 
 that you might hear your watch tick in its 
 presence, your credulity was taxed. It 
 could n t possibly be doing all that ! Why, 
 it was but as a boy at play, or as a girl skip 
 ping rope ! 
 
 That was the way Duncan McLeod did 
 things, as if for the grace and joy of doing 
 them. He had realized, whether he ever read 
 the essay or not, Horace BushnelFs " Work and 
 Play." 
 
 Moral purpose was the next thing about 
 Duncan that struck you. Everything, to his 
 mind, even the huge ore crushers, existed for 
 character. He had experienced some crushing 
 himself, for that matter. 
 
 By three o clock in the afternoon, you 
 wondered whether this did not a little weary 
 you. Couldn t Duncan interject, possibly, 
 something non-moral, to relieve the tension? 
 Just then, most likely, you heard him laugh ; 
 and, after that, you could bear twelve hours, 
 or twelve years, of his moral strenuousness. 
 
 Similarly, Colonel Higginson says that he 
 
130 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 never understood Thomas Carlyle until he took 
 his first walk with him. After a terrible, 
 scathing and pulverizing remark, during the 
 walk, Carlyle burst into a loud laugh. The 
 laugh was a sort of foot-note to the remark. It 
 indicated that what had been said might be 
 diluted with thirty-three and one-third parts 
 humor. Colonel Higginson thenceforth read 
 the sarcasm and vitriol of the great essayist so 
 diluted. 
 
 Take two instances of Duncan McLeod s 
 humor, mainly repressed, but breaking out 
 reassuringly now and then : 
 
 Patrick Sullivan chewed more tobacco than 
 any three men in the camp. He bore, prior to 
 the mutiny, a nickname that implied this pre 
 eminence. When, then, notwithstanding that 
 it was a moment of extreme peril, Duncan 
 quenched in Sullivan s saliva the lighted punk 
 that was to have exploded the Annie Laurie 
 Mine, only the darkness hid the twitching 
 mirth-lines in his face. 
 
 When, again, Duncan had persuaded Simp- 
 kins, the newspaper man from Salt Lake City, 
 that the mutiny was only a Drummond jollifi 
 cation, he contained himself until the stage 
 
"This Do" Recoils 131 
 
 that bore Simpkins away had disappeared 
 around a point of rocks. Then he sought out 
 a dark place behind the ore crushers, where the 
 noise was deafening, and there, detected by no 
 one, laughed his fill for the space of ten min 
 utes. Thereupon he reappeared wearing the 
 solemnity of a pall-bearer. 
 
 Duncan most baffled you, however, in his 
 character. Notwithstanding his devoutness, 
 he had a temper. At a supreme moment of 
 his life, that with which this history closes, 
 he was, not ten minutes earlier, in a mood 
 to overturn gravestones, but restrained him 
 self. 
 
 He adhered tenaciously, also, to a curious 
 heresy of his about what persons have a right 
 to the truth. His throwing Simpkins on a 
 false trail, illustrated it. His course toward 
 one a hundred times keener than Simpkins 
 will illustrate it, as these chapters succeed 
 one another. This heresy the more puzzled 
 you, because you often said to yourself, 
 "Duncan McLeod has the truest soul I ever 
 knew." 
 
 Duncan, once more, was subject to fierce 
 temptations, and, little though you would 
 
132 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 think it, might easily have been a bad man. 
 After the crisis with which the present chap 
 ter ends, for example, a battle of Titans 
 ensued within him. First, he was strongly 
 impelled to plunge into rank sin; next, to 
 contract a marriage of convenience ; next, to 
 turn ascetic, with all the vengef ulness that his 
 hard lines suggested, and with all the abandon 
 that went with his prodigious will. These 
 were, successively, actual and terrible temp 
 tations to him. The beaded sweat poured 
 from him as he wrestled with them. He de 
 spised all of them ; he fairly loathed the first ; 
 the power which they nevertheless exercised 
 over his mind made him reckon himself the 
 chief of sinners ; and yet he actually found his 
 hand, more than once, on the door-knob, to go 
 forth in an evil way, so was he in those dread 
 ful hours sifted as wheat. Only the Lamb of 
 God took away from him these impulses, and 
 gave back to the men of the Annie Laurie 
 Mine him whose words so moved them the 
 next Sunday. " In all points tempted like as 
 we are," was Scripture often on his lips. 
 
 Duncan McLeod, to conclude, was several 
 men in one. It might suffice to call him a 
 
"This Do" Recoils 133 
 
 " Celt," and to leave it there, but for the fact 
 that that would say quite too little. But those 
 several men in one were a glory. "When 
 Duncan s letter, thrust within her dress, trans 
 figured Kathleen Gordon s face, it was with 
 adequate and ennobling cause. 
 
 Now that the writer has made his peace 
 with the reader concerning certain enigmatic 
 elements in Duncan McLeod, or, rather, has 
 proffered a flag of truce, he has an easier 
 mind. He has henceforth only to depict the 
 man faithfully, without fear of being interro 
 gated about him, or of being presumed en 
 tirely to have fathomed him. 
 
 What with our friends in Fall River and in 
 Scotland, it must be confessed that we have 
 left the two men of our first chapter, by the 
 oil lamp in the mill of the Annie Laurie Mine, 
 far too long. 
 
 Duncan McLeod seemed to be, as the reader 
 will recall, under some peculiar pressure. In 
 point of fact, as the sequel will show, he had 
 reason to be. He repeatedly interrupted John 
 Hope in his argument. He spoke without his 
 wonted deliberation. His vehemence almost 
 
134 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 overbore John, who, as he remembered all 
 that Duncan had done for the mine and for its 
 men, felt strangely abashed. " Deeds, John, 
 my man, are the things," Duncan was saying. 
 His voice suddenly sank almost to a whisper, 
 yet you could hear it, for the quality in it, 
 above the roar of the machinery, and it said 
 " THIS Do." 
 
 But John Hope was not one to be put down. 
 "Duncan," he said, "suffer me a few words 
 without interruption, please." 
 
 " Pardon me," answered Duncan ; and, real 
 izing that his side of their debate had been 
 hardly courteous, he gave John his hand as if 
 to make amends, offered him a chair, and the 
 two sat down to finish the talk. 
 
 " I admire Charles M. Sheldon, whom you 
 adduce," John proceeded, " and that very dif 
 ferent man, Henry Drummond, whom you 
 connect with him, more than I can tell. It is 
 a complicated question, because of the mystery 
 that there always was about Drummond, but 
 I do not understand, as you seem to, that their 
 propositions are identical. That, however, is 
 immaterial at this point. 
 
 "Sheldon has confronted Protestant Chris- 
 
"This Do" Recoils 135 
 
 tendom with the question, Will it live its relig 
 ion? To have successfully done that, and 
 Sheldon has successfully done it, were worth 
 many lifetimes of service. This do, as you 
 put it, is, thus, his proposition. Most probably 
 he has another, but this is mainly in evidence. 
 
 "Now I make bold to say, that This do 
 will not do it. I do not think, either, that 
 Sheldon supposes that it will, by itself alone, 
 or wishes his readers to infer that it will. 
 Such a position is that of John the Fore 
 runner, not of Jesus. It is a part of Jesus 
 position, but it is the minor premise of it. 
 He appointed twelve, that they might be with 
 him, 1 that is the major premise. And that 
 he might send them forth, that is the minor 
 premise. 
 
 " I can suggest my reasons for this conclu 
 sion in a very few words : 
 
 " The major premise underruns Paul That 
 I may know him. It is the glow of Peter 
 Who . . . begat us again unto a living 
 hope. That it is the heart of John, who out 
 weighs them all, requires but to be stated. It 
 is the supreme note of that early and great 
 Greek Christianity, which the impulse of 
 
136 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 Kome toward organization smothered. It 
 marks the most vital of the Keformers. 
 Maurice, Phillips Brooks, and, if I understand 
 him, Drummond, center there. It is what 
 made my mother the Christian she is, and, as 
 I doubt not, your mother. 
 
 "My father, if I may illustrate, sleeps on 
 a hillside overlooking Narragansett Bay. I 
 would go to the world s end for an hour with 
 him. Why? For what he did? That was 
 great. For what he insisted that we children 
 should do ? That was much. E"o, no ; for what 
 he was, the rather. To be with him, to be in 
 his atmosphere, was of itself a liberal educa 
 tion to us, and to many others. Do you sup 
 pose that Jesus would disuse the corresponding 
 force ? 
 
 " Moreover, I have tried This do. It is a 
 stress, a self-consciousness, a narrowing. You 
 judge yourself, and you judge others. Action 
 as the correlate of volition is, indeed, indis 
 pensable ; but volition, or, rather, personality, 
 is primary, and must be given the supreme 
 place. 
 
 " This subject has been with me for months ; 
 in fact, tentatively, for a much longer time. I 
 
"This Do" Recoils 137 
 
 think I touch bottom at length. I propose to 
 build now. Abide in me, and I in you. In 
 him was life; and the life was the light of 
 men. Our gospel, in short, Duncan, unless I 
 mistake, is the gospel of a living, present, now 
 Saviour, all authority given unto him, and he 
 with us always." 
 
 John Hope s eyes, as he ended, shone like 
 stars. 
 
 Duncan McLeod shook his head doubtfully. 
 " Good-night," said both the men. 
 
 The transcontinental mail had been delayed 
 six hours by snow along the Divide. The 
 stage was correspondingly late, arriving at 
 midnight; and both the men s packages of 
 letters had been thrown into their rooms 
 while they were talking. Duncan ran over 
 the addresses on his with feverish anxiety. 
 The letter he had expected for six days, and be 
 cause of the delay of which he had grown 
 nervous, though no one knew it, but only that 
 he was abrupt and tense, as in the dialogue 
 with John Hope, was at the bottom of the 
 pile, marked, " Missent to Alameda, California." 
 
 He opened it, with a heart that almost 
 stopped beating, and read as follows : 
 
138 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 " Stirling, November 5. 
 " MY DEAR MB. MCL.EOD : 
 
 " I thank you, more than I can tell, for 
 your beautiful and noble letter. I should not 
 like you to know how deeply it has moved me. 
 
 " I have seen your mother. She was like an 
 angel to me. She gave me your letter to her. 
 The heroism of your rescue of Douglas Camp 
 bell! The goodness of God in sparing you 
 both! I called on Margaret Campbell and 
 her children this afternoon. They can hardly 
 speak of you without glad tears. 
 
 " My mother and father are on the favoring 
 hand. I knew they would be, the moment I 
 opened your letter. 
 
 " Mr. McLeod, God only knows the pain it 
 is to write you what I must now write. You 
 will be brave, I know, to bear the sorrow, and 
 to consider, and, as I hope, to respect my rea 
 sons for inflicting it. Eemember, please, that 
 it hurts me, too. 
 
 " I must say, No. 
 
 " For another ? No. 
 
 " For aught lacking in you ? Far otherwise. 
 Your reference to my renown I fail to com 
 prehend. I have, however, one honor. It is 
 
"This Do" Recoils 139 
 
 the highest I could wish. None other, so 
 great, will ever come to me. Duncan McLeod 
 has asked me to be his wife ! 
 
 "Not, either, because I disbelieve in, or 
 shrink from, marriage. How could I, with 
 the perpetual romance between my father and 
 my mother always going on in this house? 
 No. Pure and deep loving is God s way. 
 The Bible is full of it. I have lately been 
 making a study of the Song of Songs. I 
 doubt not you are familiar with its large 
 meanings, as devout modern scholarship inter 
 prets them. 
 
 " My reason, the rather, is duty. It is our 
 Saviour s, This do. You are several years 
 older than I. You have lived nobly. I am 
 thinking that you have found, as I am com 
 ing to find, that there is no joy like that. 
 
 " But duty, wherein ? 
 
 "First, Scotland. Lwas at the Bore Stone 
 to-day. I lived over again that mighty 
 heroism. Is there anything we ought not to 
 be willing to sacrifice for Scotland ? But it is 
 the people like you that leave her. Dr. Wat 
 son, whom I hear when in Liverpool, says that 
 he finds them all over the United States. Not 
 
140 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 that there are not good and strong people left 
 at home, but oh, her need is so great, so press 
 ing ! For her sake I would not expatriate 
 myself. 
 
 "Next, economics. You are a prosperous 
 man. Judging from present indications, you 
 are likely to be very rich before you die. It 
 is in you. You can hardly help it. My fa 
 ther also has wealth. I know that that has 
 not influenced you. You would take me, per 
 haps, all the quicker from a cottage, as my 
 father took my mother. But people have 
 little idea how much my father has, he is so 
 secretive. Double up riches, then, by mar 
 riage, even by a holy marriage ? How does 
 that look ? How does it strike poor people, 
 those, for instance, among whom I work? 
 Does it not dishearten them, and justly ? Is 
 it, Mr. McLeod, looking largely at it, a right 
 thing ? 
 
 "Once more, economics, but in a sense 
 which I must ask you to hold in strict con 
 fidence. My father is a great admirer of Mr. 
 Carnegie. They sometimes meet. Some of 
 the great steel man s plans are known to my 
 father, libraries, universities, the crime of 
 
"This Do" Recoils 141 
 
 dying rich ! My father seeks to emulate 
 him. In his secretive way, with the best of 
 intentions, too, he is silently laying his hand 
 on this branch of his two specialties, and on 
 that. He designs, if possible, to control both 
 of them in this country, and so to pile up ad 
 ditional millions. Then, as he thinks, he will 
 build libraries, and endow universities. 
 
 "Meantime, the small concerns crushed! 
 the wages kept low ! the honest and industri 
 ous people in the workhouses in old age ! the 
 hunger, the cold, the despair, the crime ! Be 
 cause combination is good, and it doubtless 
 has merits, is that sort of combination good ? 
 Ought not brotherhood, and love, and a 
 chance for everybody, to be in it, instead of 
 power only, and a chance for a few ? * Pov 
 erty is good, my father says ; l it made me. 
 It did not make him, begging his pardon. 
 Other things made him, in spite of his poverty, 
 rather than because of it. Why, too, if it is 
 good, does he not try it on Kathleen? 
 
 "Mr. McLeod, this sort of thing darkens 
 my days. It is the same in principle as 
 Edward II. It is the new tyranny. Ban- 
 nockburn is needed again, bloodless, but not 
 
142 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 less heroic. My influence is great with my 
 father. I have sometimes dissuaded him. I 
 must stay by, and do what I can in such 
 directions. 
 
 " I have not spoken of my social settlement 
 work. Melbourne is calling me. The need 
 of settlements, both in Australia and at home, 
 is appalling. But this work has touched the 
 popular heart. Workers are in training for 
 it. Perhaps it, of itself, would not detain me. 
 
 " May I ask two favors ? 
 
 "You will not, please, try to reopen this 
 matter ? Kindly spare me the pain. 
 
 " Also, you will not think hard of me ? I 
 could not bear that. You will respect me, 
 and breathe a prayer for me sometimes ? 
 
 " Mr. McLeod, God fill your life with light 
 and love ! God help us both to fulfil our 
 Saviour s word, * THIS Do ! 
 " Sincerely yours, 
 
 " KATHLEEN GOKDON." 
 
 Duncan McLeod bowed Jiis head. He was 
 hard hit. The shaft had entered between the 
 joints of the harness. The dearest hope of his 
 life was slain. Not only so, but the arrow 
 
"THIS DO" RECOILS 
 
"This Do" Recoils 143 
 
 that slew it was feathered with that principle 
 in religion which he had, within an hour, been 
 stoutly upholding against John Hope s con 
 tention, and around which he had builded all 
 his maturer life. His thinking swiftly grew 
 impersonal. His mind seemed to reel. His 
 whole being was shaken. Within a half 
 hour s brief space, the ground beneath his feet 
 and the sky above him seemed to have been 
 rolled together as a scroll, and to have van 
 ished, leaving him but as a shade flitting 
 through Erebus. 
 
IX 
 
 A RIGHTEOUS MAN S EEPENTANCE 
 
 HE occurrences at the end 
 of the last chapter be 
 longed to a Monday night. 
 On the morning of the 
 following Saturday there 
 appeared on the bulletin- 
 board, in front of the 
 Annie Laurie Mining 
 Company s office, a notice to the effect that 
 there would be a religious service in the hall 
 of the Miners Club at half past ten o clock 
 the next morning. When the notice was read 
 by the men, many a heart leaped. It would 
 be the first time at the Annie Laurie Mine. 
 
 " Who will preach ? " was asked on every 
 hand. " Some friend of the management, 
 visiting the mine, no doubt," was the general 
 reply ; and all who could do so, planned to 
 meet the stage when it should arrive at six 
 
 o clock that afternoon, and to give the minis- 
 144 
 
A Righteous Man s Repentance 145 
 
 ter a rousing welcome. But the stage was an 
 hour later that night than it had been on 
 Monday, and, at one o clock in the morning, 
 the men were in bed. 
 
 At precisely nine o clock the next day, the 
 mine bell began ringing. "A fire, an acci 
 dent," thought everybody ; but it rang so de 
 liberately and so cheerfully for the space of 
 exactly five minutes, that Lemuel Higgins, 
 from Connecticut, at the end of the second 
 minute drawled out in his queer way, " Why, 
 ef it ain t the nine o clock bell a-ringin , same 
 as in Eocky Hill ! I declare fer it, ef the Sab 
 bath ain t moved clar out West ! " " It is the 
 church bell, the church bell ! " shouted some 
 one else, and his cry was caught up all over 
 the camp, while many an eye moistened. 
 Sunday was always quiet, in those days, at 
 the Annie Laurie, but a hush now fell on the 
 camp like the peace of God. The notes of 
 that bell, awakening a thousand memories, of 
 the British Isles, of New England, of the At 
 lantic seaboard, and of the Interior, healed 
 men s souls like a sacrament. 
 
 At just quarter past ten, for precisely five 
 minutes more, the bell rang again in the same 
 
 10 
 
146 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 manner. Then, for five minutes before the 
 half hour, it tolled, winding up, on the second, 
 with three quick strokes. 
 
 On the quarter hour, more than a hundred 
 and fifty men, in their best attire, and, though 
 their appearance was rugged, looking gentle 
 men, all of them, stood before the Miners 
 Club. On the first stroke of the bell, the 
 doors swung open, and the men began filing 
 in. As the solemn but cheerful tones of the 
 bell hovered over them, " Is n t it good ? " 
 "It is the first time I ve felt at home!" 
 " Bless God ! " and similar hushed ejaculations 
 burst from the throng; and one, a Scottish 
 Highlander, said, as if out of a trance : 
 
 " Therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, 
 And of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar ! 
 
 When, on the half hour, the triple stroke 
 came, not a man in the camp who could be 
 out of bed, and who was not detained by the 
 few necessary duties of the mine, had failed 
 to enter the hall. 
 
 Fresh surprises awaited them. There, on 
 the platform, stood a high-grade portable 
 organ. "Under each chair was a book-rack. 
 
A Righteous Man s Repentance 147 
 
 In each rack were a Bible, a hymn book, and 
 a small volume containing responsive readings, 
 the Apostles Creed, a few collects, etc. The 
 books were all of good print, well bound, and 
 stamped with the words : 
 
 THE PROPERTY 
 
 of 
 TEE CHRISTIAN MEN 
 
 of the 
 ANNIE LAURIE MINE. 
 
 On the back cover ran, in the same clear gold 
 letters, the legend : 
 
 FROM A FRIEND HUMBLY MAKING AMENDS. 
 
 The man he was the Highlander just men 
 tioned who, on request for a volunteer, came 
 forward to play the organ, observed both of the 
 above inscriptions, on a small silver plate, let 
 into the woodwork of the instrument. 
 
 As the men read the words, " The Property 
 of the Christian Men of the Annie Laurie Mine," 
 an exulting look came into the faces of scores. 
 Many of them leaned toward one another, as 
 if to touch shoulders. They felt, for the first 
 time, that they were members of a brotherhood 
 more sacred and lasting than that of the Club, 
 or than that of the mine they were all so 
 
148 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 proud of, or than those indicated by the fra 
 ternity badges which some of them wore. 
 And while the Highlander buried his face in 
 his hands, there on his organ stool, awaiting 
 the first hymn, he whispered : " O God, I thank 
 thee for hallowing the Annie Laurie bell. 
 When it summons us to the midnight shift, it 
 will be as thy voice speaking. I thank thee 
 for hallowing this hall. When we debate 
 within its walls, it will be as if the Assembly 
 debated at Westminster." 
 
 When the bell began tolling, and no minis 
 ter appeared, an anxious look came over the 
 company, as if the men had said, "But will 
 there be a service after all ? " A few of them 
 had by this time come to know, moreover, 
 through the night watchman, that no such per 
 son had arrived by the belated stage. The 
 men sat, however, perfectly silent. As the 
 triple stroke of the bell died away, the ticking 
 of the clock seemed almost painfully loud. 
 
 Then Duncan McLeod entered the door, 
 walked straight to the platform, and said, in 
 his swift, inspiring way : " Shall we not bow 
 our heads, all of us, in silent prayer ; and then, 
 on a signal, rise, and say together the Lord s 
 
A Righteous Man s Repentance 149 
 
 Prayer? Let us use, in doing so, the word 
 < debtors. " 
 
 Like one man the heads went down. The 
 stillness was profound. 
 
 "Now!" said Duncan after a little; and, 
 like one man again, the men stood, bent rev 
 erently forward, and offered together, as if 
 with one voice, but thunderous from its vol 
 ume, the most comprehensive of all prayers. 
 
 When the men were again seated, and the 
 volunteer organist had been secured, Duncan 
 stated that the company, through Mr. Hope, 
 had now granted the free use of the hall for 
 religious services, as it had all along done for 
 other meetings. "In view of this fact," he 
 added, " it seems proper, before we have done 
 anything at this service but pray, that Mr. 
 Hope should be heard from." 
 
 John Hope, who sat with Douglas Campbell 
 half way down the hall, accordingly came for 
 ward, and, without ascending the platform, 
 said: 
 
 "Will Mr. McLeod and this congregation 
 let me speak from the floor, where I belong ? 
 For I count myself one of you in every sense. 
 The only difference which I desire should mark 
 
150 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 me is, that, as I hold the highest official posi 
 tion at the mine, so I should most serve it and 
 you all. 
 
 " A chain of circumstances, still mysterious 
 to me," he continued, " but clear to God, has, 
 to my amazement, made this service possible. 
 It all came very suddenly. Only in the night 
 of Tuesday was it decided upon. A very long 
 telegram leaving here before daylight Wednes 
 day morning, and all Wednesday devoted by 
 a warm friend of this mine residing in Denver 
 to carrying out its details, have alone made 
 it possible that organ, books and fittings are 
 here in perfect order for our use at this time. 
 Only Mr. McLeod and I knew that there was 
 to be a -service, until the notice was posted 
 yesterday morning. We then took into our 
 confidence three of your number, Messrs. 
 Campbell, McDuff and Sullivan. They at once 
 volunteered to fit the racks, and to put the 
 hall in order ; and they have done their work 
 with such silence and reserve that, as I think, 
 what you found here this morning was a sur 
 prise to every one except the five persons I 
 have mentioned. Am I not right in this sup 
 position ? " 
 
A Righteous Man s Repentance 151 
 
 "You are, sir," said George Wilkinson, 
 president of the Miners Club, rising in his 
 place ; " and, while I am on my feet, permit me 
 to say, that I think I express the sentiment of 
 every man present, when I thank those three 
 men, as well as yourself, Mr. McLeod, the 
 Annie Laurie Mining Company, and the un 
 known donor of these splendid appliances, for 
 what has happened. It, I am sure, particularly 
 touches our hearts, that three of our most es 
 teemed men, holding no official position among 
 us of any sort, were chosen by you to share 
 your confidence, and to render service in pre 
 paring this beautiful surprise. This was en 
 tirely in keeping with that democratic and 
 considerate spirit which never fails to mark 
 the management of this mine. All who agree 
 with what I have said will please rise," he 
 added ; and the whole company rose. 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. President and men of the 
 Annie Laurie Mine, one and all," said John 
 Hope, when all were seated again. " I have 
 but two additional points, which will take 
 only a moment. 
 
 " Mr. McLeod, as may not be known to you, 
 entered the University of Edinburgh with the 
 
152 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 purpose of becoming a minister of the Church 
 of Scotland. While at the university, by ex 
 traordinary diligence in taking extra courses 
 of study, he covered not only much scientific 
 and general work, but also most of the ground 
 usual in preparing students for the ministry. 
 He was never licensed to preach, or ordained, 
 because God made clear to him the duty of a 
 different work. I have reason to believe that 
 he turned to the alternate work not without 
 deep regret. He has been very diffident about 
 it, but I have insisted that he should act as 
 minister on this occasion, leaving it for you 
 to determine the course of procedure in the 
 future." 
 
 The look of surprise, pride and joy that 
 crept over the men s faces, as he said these 
 words, John Hope will never forget. It con 
 stituted as loud a " call to the ministry," from 
 the human side, as ever a man had. Duncan s 
 head was buried in his hands, so he missed it. 
 
 "I see, from your lighted faces, that you 
 approve," added John Hope ; " but, as I said, 
 arrangements for the time to coine will be in 
 your hands. One other point : 
 
 " This is the first great step toward realizing 
 
A Righteous Man s Repentance 153 
 
 what has been my chief ambition for this mine. 
 I want this mine to succeed. I want, if I can 
 bring it about, that every faithful worker at 
 this mine, from lowest to highest, shall share 
 in its prosperity, over and beyond wages. 
 But, most of all, I want this to be a Christian 
 mine, belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ as 
 truly as the boats of the fisher apostles 
 belonged to him. Men, I am hoping that you 
 will stand with me for all these ends. 
 
 "Mr. McLeod," and here John Hope 
 turned toward the platform, "by its un 
 voiced and unrecorded but unmistakable 
 choice, as testified by shining faces, you are 
 the minister of this congregation, subject to 
 its continued approval ; and, on its behalf, I 
 hereby declare you to be such." 
 
 " Amen ! " " Amen ! " " Amen ! " rose from 
 all sides of the house ; and a fervent voice rang 
 out the words : " And would God that every 
 mining company in Colorado had such a presi 
 dent ! " To this sentiment the " Amens " were 
 equally as vociferous and unanimous as they 
 had been to that about the minister. 
 
 John Hope returned to his seat by Douglas 
 Campbell. Duncan McLeod rose, and said: 
 
154 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 " I thank you, Mr. Hope and men of the mine. 
 May God add his blessing ! As we have begun 
 with speaking to him, let us listen while he 
 speaks to us. Shall we read, responsively, the 
 Eighty-fourth Psalm ? " 
 
 The place is found without much difficulty. 
 A motion of Duncan s hand brings the audience 
 to its feet. The words, 
 
 " How amiable are thy tabernacles, 
 O Lord of hosts ! 
 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for 
 
 the courts of the Lord : 
 My heart and iny flesh crieth out for the 
 
 living God," 
 
 and the rest, concluding with, 
 
 41 O Lord of hosts, 
 Blessed is the man that trusteth in thee," 
 
 are read with deepest feeling, and the men are 
 seated again. 
 
 " Since Mr. McPherson has kindly volun 
 teered for the organ," Duncan proceeds, "it 
 has occurred to me that possibly the double 
 quartet of the Miners Club may be willing 
 to come forward and lead our singing. They 
 should have been consulted before the service, 
 for they may have reasons why they would 
 
A Righteous Man s Repentance 155 
 
 prefer not to do so, reasons that we should all 
 respect. The circumstances have prevented 
 such consultation. I therefore take the lib 
 erty of asking them in public, and will read a 
 hymn while they think it over. If they are 
 willing, it will be greatly appreciated; but 
 they must feel entirely free to remain in their 
 places." 
 
 Duncan begins to read. Before he has fin 
 ished the first line, eight burly men, book in 
 hand, are on their way to the organ, where 
 they form a double semicircle around Angus 
 McPherson. So, with a " Thank you, gentle 
 men," Duncan only reads the first stanza of 
 the hymn, as follows : 
 
 "Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear 
 
 My voice ascending high ; 
 To thee will I direct my prayer, 
 To thee lift up mine eye." 
 
 Angus McPherson is a fine player. He im 
 provises a moment, in the very spirit of devo 
 tion and of the hymn, while the men, who now 
 hear their organ for the first time, note with 
 delight its superb musical quality. Then he 
 runs through the tune ; the audience rises ; the 
 eight men seize the notes with great, swelling, 
 
156 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 and yet rich and deeply musical voices ; and 
 the entire congregation joins. Not since the 
 morning stars sang together has a hymn to 
 God s praise ascended, until now, from an area 
 more than a hundred miles square, along those 
 mountain sides and over those mountain tops. 
 To many of the men, too, it is the first time 
 that they have ever joined in, and, in some 
 cases, that they have ever heard, adequate 
 Christian praise. The effect is like a miracle. 
 Heads are thrown back, faces are transfigured, 
 living is glorified. 
 
 Duncan, when all are seated, reads the 
 Twenty-third Psahn, and the Beatitudes. 
 " Let us pray," he adds, and every head goes 
 down. 
 
 " O Lord," he pleads, " make us indeed to 
 lie down. We do not want to. We want 
 always to be bustling about, and doing. We 
 deem our clatter dearer to thee than the love 
 and devotion of our hearts. Forgive us that 
 it is so. May it cease altogether to be so. 
 Make us poor in spirit, and so the kingdom 
 ours. Make us meek, that we may inherit all 
 best things. Make us pure in heart, that we 
 may see God. Forgive us our sins, so many, 
 
A Righteous Man s Repentance 157 
 
 so dark; perhaps the darker, the better we 
 seem, because much has been given unto such. 
 Be with all whom we love," at this point his 
 voice breaks for a moment, and sobbings are 
 heard here and there through the house, " be 
 with all whom we love, over land and sea. 
 Comfort the sorrowing. Succor the tempted. 
 Strengthen the weak. Bring light out of 
 darkness," here he stops for an instant. 
 " Help us to do right. What counts far more, 
 help us to be right. To our rightness and 
 even that is alone from thee add thy right- 
 ness, even the precious and incomparable fruits 
 of the Holy Spirit. Bless this mine. Make 
 it truly to belong to Jesus Christ. Help Mr. 
 Hope in the fight that cannot but come. May 
 we be a wall of prayer and of fire round about 
 him then. Above all, may we abide in the 
 Lord Jesus, and he in us. In his name we 
 humbly beseech all. Amen." 
 
 The men have never heard such praying. 
 Their faces, as they lift their heads, are as if 
 they had seen a vision. " Let us sing, 
 
 1 How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, " 
 
 says Duncan, and that great consolatory hymn 
 
158 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 rises heavenward like the voice of many 
 waters. 
 
 "All who would like to do so, are invited to 
 remain for three-quarters of an hour of Bible 
 study at eleven forty-five," he announces. 
 "Mr. Hope will lead our study. At seven 
 thirty to-night there will be a meeting for 
 song, conference and prayer. Also, at seven 
 thirty "Wednesday evening." 
 
 Though absorbed in the service, the men are 
 more and more centering their attention on 
 Duncan. ISTo one saw him on Tuesday, but 
 John Hope, and he only for a moment, three 
 or four times, as he entered Duncan s room to 
 do him some service. From Wednesday on, 
 Duncan carried every duty, but avoided peo 
 ple, so that not a dozen of the men had seen 
 him until he appeared in the hall Sunday 
 morning. Others were at the fore early in 
 the service, and Duncan, meantime, kept be 
 hind the desk all he could, his face in his hands 
 much of the time. At the hymns, the men 
 had their first chance to study his face. It 
 was drawn, as with suffering. It was spare, 
 as with fasting. It had a pallor, as if body 
 were growing less, and spirit more. His whole 
 
A Righteous Man s Repentance 159 
 
 aspect emphasized this last. His voice kept 
 its swift, inspirational quality, but it was gen 
 tle, tender, pleading, now. It had been kindly 
 authoritative before, but seldom tender. A 
 look, too, was in his face which was never 
 there before, and which the men could not 
 well make out. 
 
 " Didna ye mind," said Angus McPherson, 
 after the service, " that something will have 
 been laid upon Duncan, and that he will have 
 borne it, as in atonement, into the Presence 
 Chamber ? " 
 
 Whatever it was, the men knew that they 
 still had the same old, true, intrepid, inspiring 
 Duncan as of yore, together with a new, and 
 even mightier and more winsome Duncan, 
 though in what respects they could not as yet 
 divine. Their hearts, however, now went out 
 to him as never before. They would have 
 died for him. They bordered on worshiping 
 him. 
 
 " I propose making you two short talks, this 
 morning," says Duncan; "and, for the first, 
 if I were taking a text, it would be the words 
 in a part of James 5: 16: Confess your 
 faults one to another. 
 
160 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 " You remember how things were when this 
 mine began. We were gathering, from every 
 where, the nucleus of our own force. Con 
 tractors were also here, some erecting build 
 ings ; others setting up machinery ; others 
 grading. You remember the great immo 
 rality. At that stage, on my advice, the 
 management did not insist even on the sus 
 pension of Sunday labor. While it had the 
 authority to do so, to exercise that authority 
 would have been like speaking in an unknown 
 tongue ; and, by some, would have been 
 deemed an unwarrantable invasion of private 
 rights. Probably, too, God would be better 
 pleased with those crews working than spend 
 ing the day as they would have spent it if 
 idle. 
 
 "But you recall the company s order the 
 first week that we were by ourselves : That 
 no labor should be performed at the works on 
 Sunday, except the very little that was abso 
 lutely necessary ; that the pay should be the 
 same for six days as for seven ; that the few 
 men required for the necessary Sunday work 
 should not do such work continuously, but 
 alternately with others, either by weeks or by 
 
A Righteous Man s Repentance 161 
 
 months ; and that every man working on Sun 
 day, should have Saturday free in exchange. 
 You remember, too, the memorandum that 
 went with this order, to the effect, that the 
 company desired to interfere with no man s 
 conscience about Sabbath keeping; that it 
 took no stand for ultra Sabbath observance; 
 and that it simply requested, in view of the 
 considerate course outlined in the order, and 
 out of regard, also, for the religious signifi 
 cance of the day, that there be on Sunday a 
 reasonable quiet on the lands of the company, 
 and that games involving groups of people be 
 omitted. To our surprise, in the then moral 
 state of the camp, the men met us more than 
 half way ; and our quiet Sundays ever since 
 have been to us an earnest of the vast moral 
 possibilities of our force, an earnest, I am 
 glad to say, which has been steadily ma 
 terializing in practical directions more and 
 more. The management, I may add, as a 
 testimony to the wisdom of the Fourth Com 
 mandment, believes, as a mere matter of 
 pecuniary advantage, that it has been a great 
 gainer by this course, not to speak of several 
 
 higher considerations. 
 ii 
 
162 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 "So far, so good. The management felt, 
 however, that the matter of religious services 
 belonged with the men. What Mr. Hope has 
 said this morning indicates his sense that 
 autonomy should be yours as regards them. 
 To-day s and this week s services are, indeed, 
 called by a member of the management. The 
 reason for this will appear in a moment. After 
 this week, however, all will be in your hands. 
 At the Wednesday night meeting and it es 
 caped me to say so in giving the notice of it 
 you will be asked your wish about religious 
 services in the future ; and, if you so desire, 
 will have opportunity to appoint a provisional 
 committee to act for you in such matters, 
 always, in that case, be it said, with the com 
 mittee responsible to you, and to you only, 
 expect as it is responsible to God. 
 
 "But regarding religious services, to be 
 undertaken on the initiative of Christian men, 
 among you and in the management (not, in 
 the latter case, however, as managers, but as 
 individual Christians), I have steadily ad 
 vised against holding them; and my opposition 
 has been the cause why, except at funerals, 
 there has never been, until to-day, a religious 
 
A Righteous Man s Repentance 163 
 
 service at the Annie Laurie Mine. I may add, 
 that the fact that I have been the cause, has 
 been the reason why, as a concrete way of 
 confessing what I deem to have been my 
 grave error, I have myself announced to-day s 
 and this week s services, instead of merely 
 withdrawing my opposition, and leaving the 
 initiative to those desirous of starting services. 
 
 " The grounds of my opposition were two : 
 first, that, in the immoral conditions when we 
 began, the effect of such services would be, 
 almost inevitably, to draw lines among us, in 
 the holier than thou sense, though not with 
 that intention ; whereas we needed, the 
 rather, to fraternize, grow together, and let 
 light, by its- own mysterious power, drive out 
 darkness. I believe that this position was 
 sound, both before the contractors left, and 
 for a considerable time afterwards. But for a 
 long period now, nearly two years, I should 
 say, our men have maintained a moral tone 
 so excellent, and have so well understood one 
 another, that this position has had neither 
 force nor applicability. 
 
 " The second ground of my opposition has 
 been a certain passion for reality, for being 
 
164 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 rather than seeming, for the kingdom within, 
 as our Saviour said, rather than for the king 
 dom coming with observation. This principle, 
 in itself, is, of course, correct. It had special 
 applicability when there were here a large 
 number of men prejudiced against religion. 
 To live Christianity rather than to proclaim 
 it, was, under such circumstances and for the 
 time, as I think, the wise course. But that 
 condition has long ceased. 
 
 " To have pressed on, then, in adhesion to 
 this principle of silent witnessing for Christ, 
 when the reason for silence no longer existed ; 
 and to have neglected its associated principle 
 of public worship, of gospel proclamation, and 
 of uniting and organizing for Christian fellow 
 ship, growth and service, has been contrary 
 to the Bible, to Christ s precept and example, 
 to common sense, and to the longings of the 
 human heart. Think, for instance, of our joy 
 this day 1 Think how, for nearly two years, 
 there has been no sufficient reason why we 
 should not have had the like joy week by 
 week! Think of the men who, during this 
 period, have died, in each instance, by God s 
 mercy, such, indeed, in character, that their 
 
A Righteous Man s Repentance 165 
 
 faces were heavenward, who went up into a 
 fellowship of the skies, which they had never 
 known through its counterpart on earth ; and 
 this for the sole reason that Duncan McLeod, 
 who had studied for the ministry of the 
 Church of Scotland, blocked the way ! " 
 
 Duncan s voice had been tremulous for sev 
 eral sentences. Here he hid his face in his 
 hands, and bowed it upon the desk. You 
 could feel the convulsive shaking of his frame. 
 Then, with a mighty effort, he commanded 
 himself, dashed away the tears, and said : 
 
 " Men, I ask your forgiveness. Now that I 
 have confessed this sin as publicly as it has 
 been committed, and have forsaken it, I feel 
 that God forgives it." 
 
 Then the men knew why the legend on the 
 backs of the books, and on the organ, read : 
 
 FROM A FEIEND HUMBLY MAKING AMENDS. 
 
PENTECOST AGAIN 
 
 O study the faces of the men 
 during the progress of this, 
 the first general religious 
 LJ service at the Annie Laurie 
 Mine, was wonderful. First, 
 there had been the joy of 
 religious fellowship and 
 united worship, so long 
 hungered for, though the 
 hunger in many instances had not been real 
 ized as such. Next, there had come the glad 
 surprise contained in the authentic announce 
 ment that they had among them, in effect, a 
 minister amply prepared for his work, loved 
 and admired by everybody, and a man after 
 their own hearts. Thirdly, within the com 
 pass of two brief sentences, John Hope had 
 laid the axe at the root of the industrial- 
 economic situation, and of the religious situa 
 tion as well ; and this, not as theory, but as a 
 
 1 66 
 
Pentecost Again 167 
 
 preliminary announcement of the definite bet 
 terment, materially at least, of every employee 
 of the Annie Laurie Mine who should have 
 proved himself a " faithful worker." To crown 
 all, Duncan McLeod s lucid resume of the relig 
 ious history of the mine, and his clear state 
 ment of the principles which had wrought 
 within that history, had been to the men little 
 short of an apocalypse. At this point it was 
 with them as when the hearers of Demos 
 thenes were ready to cry, " Let us rise and go 
 against Philip." 
 
 But when Duncan s voice grew low ; when 
 he confessed his sin against them, and against 
 God ; and when, amidst unmistakable signs of 
 the deepest contrition, he craved their forgive 
 ness, lips quivered, tears streamed down faces, 
 hearts were being searched by God s Spirit, 
 and a crisis drew on. Well did Duncan 
 meet it. 
 
 "We must be wise about our emotions, 
 yours and mine," he said. "When God s 
 Spirit takes hold on us we must show our 
 reverence for his workings by being thorough. 
 I read in your faces that you forgive me, 
 and " 
 
i68 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 "Amen!" "Amen!" "We do indeed, a 
 thousand times over ! " " God and Mr. Mc- 
 Leod forgive us, the rather ! " and like ejacu 
 lations here filled the house. 
 
 "I thank you all," continued Duncan, si 
 lencing the men by a wave of his hand ; " and 
 I feel in my heart that God, too, forgives me, 
 even as the Psalmist sublimely puts it, 
 
 1 As far as the east is from the west, 
 So far hath he removed our transgressions from us. 
 
 But let us fix our thoughts, which have now 
 become so tender, on a saying of Jesus, in the 
 hope that the duty it makes plain may give 
 our emotions worthy exercise, and so may, 
 like a dynamo, at once conserve them, and 
 turn them into power." 
 
 Faces lifted and lighted as he spoke. Tears 
 were dashed away. All were expectant. 
 
 " In Kevolation 3 : 20, a part of the verse," 
 he said, "are these words of the Saviour: 
 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. 
 Since we are friends here together, and for 
 the sake of making my point clearer, let me 
 bring you to these words out of personal ex 
 perience. 
 
Pentecost Again 169 
 
 " I have been a Christian from a child. 
 Christ was to me, at first, he that saved me 
 from the penalty of my sins, and, incidentally, 
 though indispensably, from their power. The 
 realization of this changed my life. I was 
 grateful to him, and tried to do as he would 
 wish. 
 
 " When a university student I came under 
 the power of the Chris tliest life I ever knew.. 
 In that person s living, and, as I thought, in 
 his teaching, though I doubt that now, I 
 got a new doctrine of Christ. According to 
 that doctrine, Christ, though divine, was the 
 surpassingly manly, noble, heroic person, going 
 about doing good. As such, though he did 
 much besides, he was preeminently the Leader 
 and Saviour of men. Thenceforth I gave my 
 self to walking, so far as I might, in his steps, 
 and to emulating his great life. To do, to 
 serve, were, with me, everything. 
 
 " These two views of Christ, the one follow 
 ing upon the other, have ruled my life until very 
 lately. One of these views is expiatory ; the 
 other is exemplary and inspirational. There 
 is much Scripture for both of them, and large 
 truth at bottom of both of them ; though they 
 
170 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 are both frequently misstated and miscon 
 ceived. 
 
 " Within a short time God has laid hold on 
 me in ways dark and strange. How, I shall 
 not tell you. Even Mr. Hope does not know, 
 and probably never will. The way God laid 
 hold on me disclosed to me, besides yawning 
 chasms of evil within myself, a yet larger 
 truth about Christ, to which I had been 
 strangely blind; and I thank him for rough 
 usage, like clay on the blind man s eyes, if 
 only I may see Jesus, and not merely some 
 things about Jesus, as heretofore. It is only 
 just that I should add that Mr. Hope, by his 
 faithful testimony, and gentle, Christly living, 
 has been of the greatest help in bringing me 
 to this changed view. 
 
 " Jesus, as I now apprehend him, is, indeed, 
 a Saviour from the guilt and power of sin ; not 
 outwardly and formally, however, but vitally 
 and by spiritual forces. He is also exemplary 
 and inspirational, beyond any possibility of 
 measuring. But these, it is growing clearer 
 and clearer to me, are only some of the 
 many things he does for us, though eminent 
 among them ; whereas the great and central 
 
Pentecost Again 171 
 
 thing he does for us is the personal gift of 
 himself. 
 
 " Of Christ as thus a personal and present 
 and living Saviour, the New Testament is full. 
 He did great things for men, but himself was 
 far greater. And is there not the profoundest 
 reason in this great reality ? 
 
 "Perhaps your mother did everything for 
 you; mine did for me. But were any or all 
 of the things she did for you, for one moment 
 to be compared with what she was to you ? 
 They were not, in my home. 
 
 " Which, too, is the greater, the gift, or the 
 person back of the gift ? Is not the gift bare, 
 as Lowell says, without the giver ? 
 
 " What, moreover, makes the world go, life 
 go, things go ? Forces, you say. Yes. But 
 do you know any supreme force that is not 
 more than a force, that is not personal ? 
 
 " In your country, in the Civil War, there was 
 a slouched hat at Winchester on a day, that 
 was better than a whole army corps, because 
 Sheridan was under it. In my country there 
 would not have been any Bannockburn if 
 there had not been a Bruce. 
 
 "Such is the New Testament thought of 
 
172 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 Christ. Careful and troubled about many 
 things is man ; but one thing is needful to 
 sit at his feet. Worlds of things he does for 
 man ; the supreme thing he does, including 
 and transcending all the others, is that he 
 gives himself to man ; to you, to me, to every 
 one. 
 
 " And this is what the words in the Kevela- 
 tion tell us. He stands at the door and 
 knocks. He wants to come in. If we open the 
 door, he will enter, and will sup with us, and 
 be an ever-present, familiar guest. 
 
 " Now I could go through the floor, or the 
 earth, for shame of it, but I have to confess 
 that I never let him in, in any such sense as he 
 means, until very recently. Being grateful and 
 trying to do as he would wish is not letting 
 him in. To do, to serve, are not letting him 
 in. I did similar things for my mother ; had I 
 stopped there I had not let her in. My mother 
 and I had our trysts, the rather ; we dwelt in 
 each other s hearts, and always shall. Nor are 
 the results of the contrary course satisfactory. 
 You knew me before. You liked me, as I did 
 you. But I was not simple, and Christlike, 
 and tenderly loving. I let a notion of mine, 
 
Pentecost Again 173 
 
 for example, keep you out of such a service as 
 this that we are having here to-day, for nearly 
 two years beyond the time when there was 
 any good reason for doing so. Had Christ 
 been let in, such a thing would have been 
 impossible, even as it has been impossible 
 since I let him in. I was doing a lot of 
 things, good enough things, too, but I was 
 keeping the latch-string inside. 
 
 " Men, will you do that ? Do you not see 
 him there, with the pierced hands, knocking, 
 knocking ? Will you bar the door to such a 
 one? 
 
 " This is all I have to say at this time, ex 
 cept to extend some invitations, namely : 
 
 " Between three and six, this afternoon, at 
 your convenience, and not all at one time, 
 please, in this room, Mr. Campbell will be 
 glad to have any meet him, who have given 
 their hearts to Jesus, and who are willing to 
 unite, in some simple way, for Christian fel 
 lowship, growth and service. 
 
 "At four o clock, at the company s office, 
 Mr. Hope will be glad to meet any, not Chris 
 tians, who would like to become such. 
 
 "At five o clock, in the assayers room, I 
 
174 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 shall be glad to meet any, not Christians, nor 
 particularly desirous to become such, who 
 would like, nevertheless, man-fashion, to talk 
 about the Christian life. 
 " Shall we sing, 
 
 1 Behold, a stranger at the door ! 
 
 and, while still standing, be dismissed with a 
 word of prayer ? It will then still lack several 
 minutes of eleven forty -five, when Mr. Hope 
 will lead the Bible study with those who care 
 to stay. Will not such open the windows in 
 order to change the air, and rest themselves 
 by moving about a little, before Mr. Hope calls 
 them to order ? " 
 
 The singing, and Duncan s three or four sen 
 tences of prayer in closing, were, if possible, 
 more moving than anything that had gone be 
 fore. 
 
 The windows were at once thrown up, and, 
 very silently, the men, as Duncan had sug 
 gested, moved about by way of changing posi 
 tion ; but when, on the minute, the windows 
 were closed, and John Hope came forward, not 
 a man had left. 
 
 He asked them to find in their Bibles, at 
 
Pentecost Again 175 
 
 John 1:35-49, what he called "The Begin 
 nings of the Gospel," and soon had the men 
 freely reading verses, answering questions, and 
 offering pointed suggestions and inquiries. He 
 was a born teacher. It was his inheritance 
 from that weaver-scholar, William Hope. 
 Soon, just as he intended, the men were at the 
 fore, and he in the background ; but, with 
 brilliant bits of word-painting now and then, 
 and with skilful guidance of the discussion, 
 he got in his work marvelously nevertheless. 
 
 " What, friends," John began by asking, " is 
 the metal of the gospel ? Should not the first 
 strike show? Assayed, should it not afford 
 sure indications ? You are to be the assay ers 
 this morning." 
 
 Thereupon he drew out of them, how An 
 drew, John, Simon, probably James, Philip and 
 Nathanael, were won : not by words, theories, 
 programs, but by "Come and see," "Fol 
 low me " ; and by that mighty loadstone which 
 Jesus, on being so tested, proved himself to be. 
 His seeing the rock in sand-like Simon, and the 
 Israelite indeed in bitterly prejudiced Nathan- 
 ael, came out in splendor. 
 
 "We infer, then," John summarized, "as 
 
176 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 the gold of this assay of yours, that Jesus is 
 the one person in the world who wholly sees 
 the best in us ; who sees it all the time ; who 
 is not blind to our faults (how, for example, he 
 scored Simon, upon occasion !), but who takes 
 lavish stock in our excellences ; who, in short, 
 is the discoverer of men." 
 
 You should have seen the men look at 
 one another, and their faces kindle. "Just 
 as Mr. McLeod did b me ! " cried Patrick 
 Sullivan. 
 
 When, near the close, they had done with 
 the fig-tree, and with NathanaePs prejudice 
 and unbelief turned to enthusiastic faith by 
 the fact that Jesus had seen him even in that 
 crisis, " Bigger and better buttons l yet," 
 John said; "Jesus present in every darkest 
 hour; Jesus passing with us, undismayed, 
 through our gloomiest doubt ; Jesus the chief 
 mourner at every funeral ; Jesus proving him 
 self the Friend in need ; Jesus, on such authen 
 tication, the Son of God and King of life. 
 May we not well, then, center our lives at him, 
 well respond with all our souls to these his pri- 
 
 1 The smaller or larger globules of gold or silver that test 
 assays yield, are, in mining parlance, "buttons." 
 
Pentecost Again 177 
 
 mary and all-inclusive invitations, < Come and 
 see, and Follow me ?" 
 
 Then, by a transition scarcely perceptible, 
 he began talking with Jesus, in the most sim 
 ple fashion, about himself and all there pres 
 ent, and about how they, too, each wanted to 
 come, to see, to follow, to be discovered, to 
 have a living, present Saviour, words of sym 
 pathetic, winged, moving prayer. 
 
 " Can t he question ? " " How he draws 
 you out ! " " Never saw the apostles alive be 
 fore ! " " What a teacher ! " " May God an 
 swer that prayer in my life ! " and the like, 
 were the ejaculations, when, at twelve-thirty, 
 to the second, John Hope said, " Amen," and 
 dismissed them. He had taken the men by 
 storm. No one was more surprised and proud 
 than Duncan. He wrung both of John s 
 hands, and exclaimed : " Archibald Geikie 
 never taught more effectively ! " 
 
 Of the one hundred and seventy-seven men 
 then on the works, Douglas Campbell s private 
 list showed ninety -six Christians; but eleven 
 of these were so conservative and reticent that 
 he did not expect them to come to him. These 
 men all came, however, and the eighty-five he 
 
 12 
 
178 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 had counted on, and nine more who, they said, 
 had unlatched the door because of Duncan 
 McLeod s plea, and of John Hope s assay. 
 Douglas spent some time with each of these 
 nine. " Genuine cases," he reported to Dun 
 can and John. Thus one hundred and five 
 stood " willing to unite, in some simple way, 
 for Christian fellowship, growth and service." 
 
 At four o clock, twenty -nine, not Christians, 
 but wanting to be, met John; and at five, 
 seventeen, not Christians, nor much caring to 
 be, met Duncan, " man-fashion, to talk about 
 the Christian life." At the evening service, of 
 John s twenty-nine, twenty-one ; and of Dun 
 can s seventeen, nine, testified that they had 
 come, seen, and would follow. These all gave 
 their names to Douglas Campbell, who person 
 ally dealt with and approved each, it took 
 him until the midnight shift began to do it, 
 so that he had one hundred and thirty-five on 
 the provisional roll of that Christian band 
 which was to count for so much at the Annie 
 Laurie Mine in the days to come. 
 
 The evening service was a Pentecost. On 
 Wednesday night this was repeated. By this 
 time eleven more were added to Douglas 
 
Pentecost Again 179 
 
 Campbell s list, one hundred and forty-six in 
 all, leaving but thirty-one persons at the mine 
 not thus enrolled. It was voted to hold relig 
 ious services regularly thenceforth, and a pro 
 visional committee, with power to make ar 
 rangements, was chosen, consisting of Messrs. 
 Campbell, McDuff, Sullivan, McPherson, and 
 against his stout protest McLeod. John 
 Hope was also chosen, but declined to serve 
 because he had frequently, for considerable 
 intervals, to be in New York. 
 And better things than these were yet to be. 
 
XI 
 
 BISHOP GKEATHEART ORDAINS UNCAKONIC- 
 ALLY 
 
 
 ATKICK SULLIYAIST, 
 a communicant of the 
 Church of Kome, chosen 
 a member of the Provi 
 sional Committee of the 
 * Union for Christian 
 Fellowship, Growth and 
 Service at the Annie 
 Laurie Mine ! " 
 
 Precisely, my friend ; but possess your soul 
 in patience long enough to learn how it came 
 about. 
 
 On the Sunday of the first public service, 
 and as soon as he had swallowed his dinner, 
 Sullivan went to Duncan McLeod. 
 " I m a Catholic," said Sullivan. 
 " I would not have you otherwise," rejoined 
 Duncan. 
 
 180 
 
Bishop Greatheart Ordains 181 
 
 " Nor I, ye," continued Sullivan. " Can I be 
 o the meetin ? " 
 
 "Yes, as I think," answered Duncan. "I 
 know devout Catholics, some of them are 
 among my best friends, who, upon occasion, 
 meet with Protestants where prayer is offered, 
 and for practical work; and I know Protes 
 tants who so meet with Catholics ; in fact, I 
 myself am one of them. That is just the situ 
 ation here." 
 
 " I will do it," Sullivan went on. " Ye 11 
 tell nobody, Mr. McLeod, but I knows a praste 
 in Colorado, and sure there s no better praste 
 than he, who is to that ex tint a Christian, 
 that, as I J m a-thinkin , he d give me the like 
 advice himsilf. Leastways, I ll shtake me 
 soul that he 11 confess and absolve me. Will 
 ye shake hands wid me on it, Mr. McLeod ? " 
 
 " With the proviso, Patrick, that when I am 
 among Catholics I may do, as nearly as I can, 
 the same thing." 
 
 " Sure, sir. I niver sot me eyes on so good 
 a Catholic as ye, barrin the mass; ye con 
 fessed and got absolution this very morning" 
 and they shook until, Sunday though it 
 was, it became almost an athletic contest 
 
182 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 which of them could squeeze until the other 
 cried, " Enough ! " 
 
 " God bless you, Patrick ! " said Duncan ; 
 "you are my joy and crown." 
 
 "And, Mr. McLeod," answered Sullivan, 
 " b the Lord s grace, and the Holy Mother s, 
 ye are me saviour," and, with his rough hand 
 dashing away a tear, he made the sign of the 
 cross, and was gone. 
 
 The nominating committee insisted on pre 
 senting his name for the provisional com 
 mittee; it was received with applause; no 
 " ayes " were so emphatic when the names 
 were voted on separately; and Patrick Sulli 
 van proved second in value to almost no 
 member, either of the provisional committee, 
 or of the Union for Christian Fellowship, 
 Growth and Service that followed. 
 
 But he was rarely without his joke. 
 " "Would ye ha thought it," he would exclaim, 
 " that he that led the mutiny would ha been 
 created a cardinal ? Me red hat I keeps under 
 me bed though, lest, wearin it, and some day 
 forgettin , I misbeseem it, and so make light 
 o the Holy Father s app intment." 
 
 Duncan was away the next Sunday. John 
 
Bishop Greatheart Ordains 183 
 
 took the service. The third Sunday Duncan 
 was back. There were water, bread and the 
 cup on the table before the platform. Dun 
 can spoke on the meanings of baptism and of 
 the communion. He did this so simply, with 
 such apt illustration, so tenderly, and in such 
 a direct and practical way, that even mature 
 Christians, like Douglas Campbell, said that 
 the sacraments never meant so much to them 
 before. The men got him to write out the 
 substance of what he said, and had it printed 
 as part of a manual which they soon issued 
 for the use of their Union. "Why I ad 
 minister these sacraments," Duncan said, "I 
 will make clear on Wednesday evening." 
 Then he put the water of baptism on the fore 
 heads of forty-seven men. After that he 
 invited all who loved the Lord Jesus Christ to 
 commune, and one hundred and sixty-four did 
 so. He broke the bread, poured the wine, 
 blessed both, and gave them to the provisional 
 committee, who, the cardinal included, dis 
 tributed them to the congregation. Then 
 Duncan served the provisional committee, and 
 its son of Eome partook "in both kinds" 
 for the first time. It was a day of heaven, 
 
184 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 beyond even the first Sunday of their ser 
 vices. 
 
 Wednesday night Duncan made this speech : 
 " There are," he said, " many Protestant 
 denominations ; so many that we ought not 
 to start another at the Annie Laurie Mine. 
 Though so many, they are of but three types, 
 Episcopal, ruled by bishops; Presbyterial, 
 ruled by leading men, elders ; and Congrega 
 tional, ruled by the congregation. Politically 
 speaking, monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, 
 are, respectively, their key words. Forget 
 not, however, that the true monarch is serv 
 ant of all; and that aristocracy means the 
 rule of the best/ Each type claims the 
 authority of the New Testament ; and rightly, 
 for they all commingle there. The ultimate 
 church will not be at some one of these three 
 sides of the field, but at its center, utilizing to 
 the full all of these divinely suggested forces 
 in church life. 
 
 " Meantime, each man chooses his type. I, 
 for example, choose the Presbyterial, with its 
 elders and general assembly ; and Mr. Sullivan 
 God bless him ! chooses the Episcopal, with 
 its bishops, archbishops and supreme pontiff. 
 
Bishop Greatheart Ordains 185 
 
 " Probably we could all coine together with 
 the least sacrifice of individual convictions, 
 and most conveniently, in some Congregational 
 way, which, in some respects, is what we are 
 doing. But that, if carried out fully, would 
 cause men of all three types to become make 
 weights for one of them; would involve, in 
 short, denominationalism, councils, and the 
 rest, conditions not conducive, as I am think 
 ing, and as I know many of you think, to the 
 straight, simple work we want to do here for 
 Christ. Shall we not keep even nearer than 
 that to the New Testament? Shall we not 
 utilize all the forces it suggests : the con 
 gregation governing; the provisional and 
 other committees, as if they were elders, 
 governing; and your minister, whoever he 
 may be, with a sort of bishop s authority 
 lodged in him, also governing, so long, that 
 is to say, as, in wisdom and character, he shall 
 deserve to do so ? 
 
 " That was the way it looked to me ; and, as 
 time was precious, and as, also, what could be 
 done was problematical, I went, on my own 
 responsibility, to the Atlantic seaboard, partly, 
 indeed, on business for the mine, but, to be 
 
l86 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 frank, mainly on Christ s business. Since I am 
 Presbyterian, and our union is acting Congre- 
 gationally, it seemed the fair thing to approach 
 an eminent bishop of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church. That polity, it should be added, is 
 much simpler in its workings in America than 
 over sea, and also has within it, though not 
 much developed, besides its conspicuous mon 
 archical principle, the aristocratic and the 
 democratic principles also. 
 
 "I sketched to the bishop our situation; 
 also, my notion of church polity at the 
 present time. It is that of many eminent 
 Christian thinkers, and is likely to be accepted 
 more and more. I told him that I was no 
 Episcopalian, nor ever meant to be, in present 
 conditions ; though I added that I wished 
 Episcopacy would so build out its undeveloped 
 sides, that I, with all Protestants, might be 
 included in it. I went so far, even, as to say 
 that I believed any true Christian, on occasion, 
 had, intrinsically, the right to administer the 
 water of baptism and the bread and cup of the 
 communion; but that, while so viewing the 
 case, we of the Annie Laurie Mine were not 
 anarchists in Christ s Church, but wished to 
 
Bishop Greatheart Ordains 187 
 
 respect all suitable usages and precedents. I 
 pointed out how the personal authority of 
 Episcopacy, and its largely latent but mightily 
 potential capacity on those two other sides of 
 authority which I have mentioned, caused it, 
 in certain respects, to be a partial asylum for 
 us, as nothing else could be, in the peculiar 
 conditions in which we found ourselves. In 
 fact, I said, for our talk was becoming solemn, 
 and required enlivening, Bishop Greatheart, I 
 desire, from you, admission to the Apostolic 
 Succession. The bishop smiled, said, Corne 
 at ten to-morrow morning, and, as he bade 
 me Good-afternoon, brushed away a tear. 
 
 "The next day, when I went to him, he 
 said : This is what I have prayed for, and 
 longed for, many a year, but have not had the 
 faith that I should live to see. Many are our 
 faults and grievous ; but, at least potentially, 
 we have that which no other English-speaking 
 Protestant body has for the varied needs of 
 the flock of Christ. Oh, that we might build 
 out, as you say ! And oh, too, that the com 
 munions which you, in a way, represent, might 
 see their needs, and our possibilities for meet 
 ing the needs ! But to the point. What I am 
 
i88 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 about to do, you may tell anywhere, using my 
 name freely ; for, with your problem on hand, 
 I should give a stone for bread if I refused 
 you. I shall not spread it much abroad, how 
 ever, men of the Annie Laurie Mine, and I 
 hope that you will not ; for there are many 
 ecclesiastical gunners loading and firing in 
 these days. And, though I have told you 
 how fearless that brave man was, I shall not 
 even give his name, except that I shall call 
 him, as I have begun to do with you, Bishop 
 Greatheart. You might almost identify him 
 by that appellation, such are his character 
 and fame. 
 
 " Duncan McLeod, Dr. Greatheart con 
 tinued, by what authority soever resides in me 
 as a bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 in the United States of America, I do now, 
 and he laid his hands on my head, " in the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost, authorize you to administer 
 the sacraments, to preach the Word, and to 
 shepherd the flock scattered abroad on the 
 mountains far away, not only those of granite 
 and porphyry, but those of this world s schism 
 and sin. Amen. Thereupon, after a collect 
 
Bishop Greatheart Chdains 189 
 
 or two, like an eagle that has broken from his 
 cage, he soared away into the empyrean of 
 free prayer, as St. Paul or St. John might 
 have done. When he finished both of us were 
 profoundly moved. I knew, then, that I was 
 ordained. * Mr. McLeod, he said, * you are in 
 the Apostolic Succession, so as you prove 
 worthy of it. I know you will. Christ s grace 
 be with you ! Good-bye. 
 
 " So, men, not without some due regard to 
 order and propriety, did the water, the bread 
 and the cup leave my hands on our first 
 sacramental day. As I stood thus, minister 
 ing in Christ s name, the vision came up before 
 me, as if I were wafted far away, of Bishop 
 Greatheart, standing on the steps of his house, 
 and waving me adieu. A glory was in his face, 
 and seemed an aureole about his head, as I 
 have often at sunset seen it above the brow of 
 the Mount of the Holy Cross. His words, too, 
 tremulous with emotion, sounded still in my 
 ears, * You are in the Apostolic Succession, so 
 as you prove worthy of it. " 
 
XII 
 
 FOB MOKE THAN DIVIDENDS 
 
 ( HE remarkable religious 
 life at the Annie Laurie 
 Mine, which blossomed 
 so suddenly into its sum 
 mer after the crisis in 
 Duncan McLeod s per 
 sonal religious experience, would have been 
 impossible except for the long and efficient 
 subsoil processes which have been indicated in 
 this history. Its summer, moreover, could not 
 have arrived so swiftly, except for the mighty 
 personal hold which certain very able men at 
 the mine had long had on their fellows, and 
 except for the virility and force and sagacity 
 and zeal with which they bent their every 
 energy toward results. 
 
 Large religious harvests follow much the 
 same laws as large natural harvests. They 
 can be had, or not, according to the tillage. 
 190 
 
For More Than Dividends 191 
 
 Try such living, such faith, such wisdom and 
 such love as prevailed at the Annie Laurie 
 Mine, anywhere, and see. Men are naturally 
 religious. They want God. Give them a 
 God, a real one, incarnate in great living all 
 about them, and they will make him theirs 
 too. Gold drives out inferior coinages. God 
 supplants all else, and hallows all else, if only 
 men give him the chance to do so, by bringing 
 him, in warm flesh and blood and life, to 
 men. 
 
 Furthermore, the large industrial-economic 
 triumphs recorded in this chapter and the 
 next, would never have been possible except 
 from truly religious men. You cannot get 
 the best results, even of a material sort, ex 
 cept through character, and through skill and 
 energy sublimated by character, and through 
 character itself lifted and glorified by a pres 
 ent and living Christ. Only when he is 
 vitally present is the industrial-economic net 
 adequately taut and ready to break with great 
 fishes. 
 
 It now becomes our duty to glance at the 
 more material side of the Annie Laurie life. 
 
 Said Duncan McLeod to John Hope, in his 
 
192 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 enthusiastic way, when they were canvassing 
 the question of entering mining together: 
 " You will find men, in such an enterprise, at 
 their worst and best : rough, adventurous char 
 acters; many of them hardened in sin; not 
 greatly valuing human life ; isolated, and long 
 unused to the restraints of more civilized 
 conditions ; but splendid stuff under the sur 
 face, like gold within the grim mountains; 
 and virgin soil with which you can do any 
 thing." 
 
 The two friends had an inexpugnable faith 
 in pure goodness, in "grit and grace," and 
 flung themselves on the situation like Paton 
 on the New Hebrides, indeed, as we have 
 seen, after a different method, but in the same 
 spirit. They had, when this history encoun 
 ters them, long been reaping. Liquor had 
 gone from the camp nearly two years before ; 
 and, as has appeared, on the men s own initia 
 tive. The hard characters, with few excep 
 tions, had become sturdy friends of law and 
 order, and of religion, and their lives matched 
 the friendship, which cannot always be said of 
 such friends in " more civilized conditions." 
 
 Among results which had already been real- 
 
For More Than Dividends 193 
 
 ized, were several which should be specially 
 mentioned. 
 
 The Annie Laurie Mine was in one of those 
 Colorado counties that are big enough for a 
 state. The county had but a few hundred 
 inhabitants, living mainly in one corner of it. 
 When John Hope sent in the mine s valuation 
 to the county assessor, that functionary almost 
 fainted. When he had recovered himself, he 
 sent it back for correction. " Obvious error," 
 was endorsed across the sheet. John Hope 
 returned it, saying that it was exact, and that 
 to deviate from it, in addition or diminution, 
 would be to defraud either the mine or the 
 county and state. 
 
 When the mine s valuation was added to 
 the small other values of the county, the total 
 was a large sum ; the tax rate became thereby 
 almost incredibly small ; only a few dollars 
 were assessed even on those ranchmen, cattle 
 men and storekeepers who were accounted 
 well-to-do citizens ; and a large check came 
 from John Hope. One day he said to Duncan 
 McLeod, in discussing the matter : " There are 
 those who remove from cities to small coun 
 try towns in order to avoid taxation. They 
 13 
 
194 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 even go so far, at times, as to offer to pay the 
 entire town expenses, if the assessors will let 
 them alone. This offer they carry out in true 
 Gradgrind fashion. We, on the contrary, have 
 been strictly honest ; we have paid a large, but 
 only a just tax, our fair share ; and with what 
 result ? The county is better looked after 
 than ever ; it has all the money it wants, and 
 is prospering ; we get no small share of the 
 advantage of this, as, for example, in our fine 
 road to the railway station; and, in addition, 
 we are granted virtual autonomy. For, ex 
 cept in certain intrinsic county functions, like 
 maintenance of highways, records of transfers 
 of real estate, vital statistics, and probate mat 
 ters, the county s gratitude to us is so great 
 that it gives us self-government. Jamie Mc- 
 Duff is, indeed, a deputy sheriff, but he has 
 never made an arrest. What have we not 
 escaped, and what have we not gained, in be 
 ing thus free from the average public officers 
 politically appointed ? It is Utopia, Duncan, 
 in its possibilities ! " 
 
 And he that tells the story, adds : O young 
 men of America, those of you who long to 
 make your lives count, why not get John 
 
For More Than Dividends 195 
 
 Hope s and Duncan McLeod s point of view ? 
 Why not acquire your Utopias, and realize 
 them ? So there went, in the late eighties, 
 into a certain Eocky Mountain village, a 
 young educator, to an institution with almost 
 no assets, human or monetary, except a large 
 debt and small credit. There he set himself 
 to his task. Nothing could tempt him away. 
 He declined offer after offer, far more flatter 
 ing, of educational leadership in "more civi 
 lized conditions." To-day he has an institution, 
 out of debt for a decade, admirably equipped, 
 splendidly manned, and crowded with stu 
 dents, with a spirit and standards second to 
 none in America, turning out men and women 
 of a like type. He carved out his Utopia, for 
 he could not have accomplished many things 
 that he has accomplished, in a less flexible en 
 vironment; and he is magnificently realizing 
 its possibilities. 
 
 Go ye, O young men, and do likewise ; and 
 especially do likewise with the practical bent 
 of our two friends of this history. Preaching 
 and theorizing, the Philistines will laugh at. 
 Before the shepherd boy, with holy purpose 
 and a sure aim, some of them will fall. 
 
196 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 The week after liquor went from the camp, 
 by an almost inevitable economic law, the 
 Annie Laurie Institution for Savings was or 
 ganized. George Wilkinson, President of the 
 Miners Club, was made its president. 
 
 A word about George Wilkinson. He was 
 a righteous, forceful, silent, disheartened 
 miner. He saw Duncan McLeod, and the 
 sight transformed him. He was never known 
 to make but one speech, that already recorded, 
 when public worship was begun at the mine, 
 He read a paper sometimes, as we shall see. 
 He was so reticent on religious subjects that 
 even Douglas Campbell did not know where he 
 stood, except that he always communed when 
 Duncan McLeod gave the invitation. He had 
 a head for business fit for "Wall Street. He had 
 an honesty and a power of self-effacement 
 that would make "Wall Street fitter. He never 
 lost an hour in his miner s work ; but he put 
 his evenings into the Institution for Savings. 
 He got two or three of the miners who were 
 good accountants to assist him with the de 
 tails. By special arrangement his and their 
 miner s shifts were so adjusted that they had 
 their evenings free for this work. In it he 
 
For More Than Dividends 197 
 
 exercised an insight and skill, both in organiz 
 ing and conducting the institution and in mak 
 ing investments, which were already laying 
 the foundations of modest competencies for 
 some men of the mine, and which were help 
 ing all of them. He had this peculiarity also ; 
 he steadfastly refused to accept any compensa 
 tion for his services, except pay by the hour, 
 at the same rate as he earned in the levels. 
 The men and he nearly came to blows about 
 this. " Two thousand a year would be small 
 pay for such service," their spokesman said. 
 But George Wilkinson had his way notwith 
 standing. In a paper he once read before the 
 Miners Club, on an economic question, there 
 occurred this sentence, which partly cleared 
 up to the men the mystery of his course about 
 his compensation : " God have mercy on the 
 man with large gifts in industry or finance, 
 whereby he might render high service to the 
 human race, who prostitutes those gifts by 
 impoverishing multitudes of men in pay there 
 for ! " 
 
 The Institution for Savings had two depart 
 ments. They were antithetical to two great 
 departments of modern social life, the liquor 
 
198 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 saloon and the pawnshop. It was a remark 
 of George Wilkinson s worth recording, -that 
 " Instalment plans and chattel mortgages tend 
 to be pawnshops under another name." By a 
 unique by-law, it became the duty of the di 
 rectors of the Institution for Savings to loan 
 modest sums of money to persons in need at 
 five per cent, interest, without security if 
 their character justified, and with security 
 only when there was a doubt. How many 
 miners were tided over sicknesses and a hun 
 dred other exigencies thereby, without loss of 
 self-respect and without pecuniary sacrifice, 
 only the Judgment Day will reveal. "The 
 well-to-do," said George "Wilkinson, "can al 
 ways borrow at reasonable rates ; it is the 
 poor whom the pawnshop and its congeners 
 bleed." It was he, whose hate of that sort of 
 thing amounted almost to a passion, that sug 
 gested and drafted the by-law creating this 
 department. 
 
 The other department, that of savings and 
 investment, was conducted as is usual in such 
 institutions, except that expenses were only 
 nominal, that each depositor reaped the ad 
 vantage of this, for the institution was 
 
For More Than Dividends 199 
 
 strictly mutual, and that the returns in in 
 terest and dividends were almost phenomenal. 
 What the saloon used to get, with all manner 
 of extra costs, the Institution for Savings 
 now got, to bless men and to help the eco 
 nomic world. 
 
 Of the reading room ; the library ; the even 
 ing school ; the lecture courses ; the instruction 
 in mining engineering, freely given to large 
 classes by Duncan McLeod, and by men he 
 trained to assist him ; the gymnasium ; the 
 swimming pool ; the clean and bright local 
 paper, without an advertisement in it, sus 
 tained partly by its sales, and partly by a 
 small assessment on the men, which they 
 voted and rejoiced in (" We would sustain the 
 pulpit," they said, " and our paper is one form 
 of pulpit, clean, moral, sparkling, uplift 
 ing ") ; and of the superbly managed coopera 
 tive store, space suffices not to speak. It 
 requires, however, to be added at this point, 
 that the training of the men which these 
 things afforded, but especially Duncan s classes 
 in mining engineering, a training always as 
 sociated with its application in daily work, 
 developed persons of such quality that Duncan 
 
200 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 was repeatedly asked to name individuals from 
 among them for responsible positions at other 
 mines ; so that he and his men were becoming 
 large forces in that general mining area. Such 
 was a mine run for more than dividends. 
 
 But our two friends were far from satisfied 
 with these achievements. They were not 
 socialists. They believed in individualism; 
 but in individualism realizing itself fully, as it 
 only can, by social development. Hence, as 
 they shared in the direction and profits of the 
 mine, they desired that, along principles of in 
 dividualism, every humblest worker at the 
 mine, who was faithful to it, should share like 
 wise in its direction and profits. The entering 
 wedge thereto, with some of its results, will 
 appear in the next chapter. 
 
XIII 
 
 PROFIT-SHARING AT THE ANNIE LAURIE 
 
 HOPE insisted on 
 paying the men of the 
 Annie Laurie Mine 
 weekly, and on paying 
 them weekly their entire 
 wage, to a copper, with 
 out anything " held back 
 on account." "It is a 
 little more trouble," he 
 said, " but the men have a right to the interest 
 on their money, not we." In the pay envel 
 opes, on the Saturday following the first Sun 
 day of public worship, along with the money 
 was a slip on which were printed these words : 
 
 "The management hopes that this company will presently 
 admit all its faithful employees to a just share in the profits 
 of its mine ; and, ultimately, to some real share in the 
 mine s ownership and management. For the sake of experi 
 ment, pending the formulating of a plan for this, a certain 
 sum has come into the control of the president, to be used 
 for a few weeks as if the first item of the plan were already 
 20 1 
 
2O2 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 in operation. The memorandum accompanying the cash 
 in this envelope will indicate what part of the cash is wages, 
 and what is a share of the profits." 
 
 The proportion, be it said, was ten per cent, 
 of the estimated profits of the mine for the 
 week, distributed to the entire pay roll, pro 
 rata to each man s total earnings. Be it 
 added, also, that the " certain sum " was per 
 sonally contributed by John Hope and Duncan 
 McLeod, and that no one besides themselves 
 ever knew its source. Be it added, moreover, 
 that George Wilkinson, who was like a wizard 
 at figures, volunteered to apportion the bulk 
 sum to each man, and did it with a zeal and 
 accuracy that could not have been excelled. 
 Be it added, once more, that such were John 
 Hope s intelligence and perfection of manage 
 ment, that, at the middle of each week, the 
 mine s net profits for the even week preced 
 ing were posted in a book prepared for the 
 purpose, with a precision that, on its being 
 tested through long periods, like a quarter or 
 half year, surprised even himself. What came 
 about, during the weeks that followed, was 
 profit-sharing, with this qualification, that two 
 men, who, however, owned nearly half the 
 
Profit-Sharing at the Annie Laurie 203 
 
 mine, contributed the funds which the em 
 ployees shared. This, moreover, was done as 
 an experiment with a view to strict profit- 
 sharing later. 
 
 An angel from heaven would not have been 
 so effective as this slip in the pay envelopes on 
 that Saturday. Hope had at length turned to 
 sight. No faithful worker was longer a mere 
 wage-earner. He was in the business. He 
 shared its proceeds. He might accumulate 
 beyond a pittance, and so provide for himself 
 and for others. Furthermore, the mine was 
 so profitable that the additional sum to each 
 man for that week alone was surprisingly 
 large. In the mail that departed from the 
 Annie Laurie Mine on the following Monday 
 morning there went seventeen letters asking 
 wives to be ready to remove thither with their 
 children upon the opening of the spring ; eleven 
 proposals of marriage from men who would 
 not have asked the hand of the woman they 
 loved for average mining conditions; and 
 forty-nine letters containing remittances to 
 persons dependent upon the writers. 
 
 Meantime Duncan McLeod began, as part 
 of the program of the Wednesday night 
 
204 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 meetings, a series of brief talks, pithy, full of 
 illustration, and of the keenest interest, on 
 practical duties, such as sincerity, industry, 
 thrift, getting on in the world, social obliga 
 tions, marriage, making a home, etc. 
 
 " B* the Holy Mother," cried Patrick Sulli 
 van, after the first of these talks, as his eye 
 ran down the winsome list of topics for the 
 next few weeks, which Duncan had had printed 
 on a neat card, " if Sullivan had heard talks 
 like thim whin he was one and twenty, he d 
 ha been a man ! " 
 
 But the greatest change that came at the 
 mine was in Duncan McLeod himself. It was 
 everybody s talk. But for a chivalrous del 
 icacy that, like the breath of a home, had be 
 gun to mark the men, Duncan would surely 
 have overheard some of it. As it was, he was 
 beautifully unconscious of it all, and of what 
 had happened within himself, save as some 
 words of his to his mother, about to be re 
 corded, will indicate. John Hope did, indeed, 
 one day, in his wise way, remark : " Duncan, 
 you always reminded me of a Messianic psalm 
 in this camp; but, since the services began, 
 it has been more as if the Messiah himself had 
 
Profit-Sharing at the Annie Laurie 205 
 
 come." Then John s lips quivered, and he 
 turned away. 
 
 The services had begun the last Sunday in 
 November. In a letter to his mother, written 
 in the middle of February, Duncan said : 
 
 " My mother, my heart is broken. It seems 
 as if it never would heal. In fact, I do not 
 want it to. Something would be the matter 
 with me if any but Kathleen could heal it. 
 
 " But, O my mother, the disclosures of God 
 this sair hurt has brought me ; the manifesta 
 tion of Jesus Christ as a present Saviour of an 
 infinite love; and the tenderness for every 
 body, even the vilest, that the twain have 
 wrought in my heart, I would have died a 
 thousand deaths rather than to have missed. 
 
 " The Valley of Baea, my mother, is become 
 a well." 
 
 Some glimpses of an evening at the Miners* 
 Club, late in February, the night before John 
 Hope started for New York to attend the 
 meeting of the Annie Laurie stockholders, to 
 be held March 1, will set forth how profit- 
 sharing worked, and what the general tone of 
 the mine had by this time become. 
 
 It was a special occasion. By an adjustment 
 
206 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 in the mining work, it was possible for nearly 
 every man to be present, and no one able to 
 be there was absent. After some preliminary 
 business, a paper by George Wilkinson was 
 announced, with the statement that Mr. Hope 
 would like to say a few words before the paper 
 began. Mr. Hope rose in his place, but was 
 called to the front, and, on coming forward, 
 paused until the silence became almost oppress 
 ive. He then spoke as follows : 
 
 " Gentlemen," he said, " I can hardly control 
 myself to speak." His chin twitched, his eyes 
 filled, and only by the most resolute self-re 
 straint did he, after a moment, command him 
 self. Then he proceeded : " I will not dwell 
 upon the religious side of the months since we 
 began public worship here. The souls born 
 into the kingdom, the Christian lives quick 
 ened, and the entirely new life that has be 
 come like a second nature to us now, cannot 
 be suitably characterized. But when I think 
 of the women and children that, perhaps be 
 fore my return, will be reunited with husbands 
 and fathers ; and when I think of the confi 
 dences that have been reposed in me by lovers 
 who will shortly be slipping away to claim 
 
Profit-Sharing at the Annie Laurie 207 
 
 their brides, I am deeply moved. I am, as 
 you know, a lone man, but I had a mother and 
 father, and they were lovers until the father 
 passed on, yes, are lovers, I am sure, still. I 
 thank God ; and I thank the splendid bearing 
 and temper of our men, which, so soon, will 
 make possible a very considerable community 
 of homes gathering around our plant. Pardon 
 me, but I could not help referring to these 
 matters. They mean better days yet for the 
 Annie Laurie Mine. 
 
 "What I want specially to speak of is a 
 somewhat fully matured plan which I am to 
 lay before our stockholders next week, con 
 templating, out of the assets of the mine, a 
 regular percentage, week by week, on its prof 
 its, to go to every approved worker from low 
 est to highest. This has been the case, experi 
 mentally, for a good many weeks, out of a 
 fund in the president s hands, but I desire it to 
 become the established policy of this mine. 
 Wot only so, but, in some just way, hard to 
 be worked out, because it is an intricate sub 
 ject, but which, if I can have my way, shall be 
 worked out, I am going to propose to the 
 stockholders that the men of this mine shall 
 
208 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 themselves presently have opportunity to own 
 an appreciable part of it. That this plan be 
 not one-sided, I am going, moreover, to suggest 
 to the stockholders the appointment of one or 
 more persons on their side, to confer with one 
 or more persons on your side, in formulating 
 the method. I suppose, since the shares are 
 so few, only one hundred, and you are so 
 many, that such ownership will have to be in 
 bulk, the stock held, perhaps, by a board of 
 trust on your part ; but, whether in that way, 
 or in some other, I want it to be a real owner 
 ship in this mine by the men who desire it. 
 And, on the same principle, I want the men to 
 be represented in the management, propor 
 tionally to their share of the ownership." 
 
 Prolonged and prodigious applause ensued, 
 which John Hope silenced by a motion of his 
 hand. 
 
 "Gentlemen," he proceeded, "I may not be 
 able to effect these things ; but I have some 
 impressive facts to present to you, which you 
 yourselves have brought about, and which will 
 be the strongest possible argument to sustain 
 my proposition. As you are perhaps aware, 
 we have a system of accounting and estimat- 
 
Prolit-Sharing at the Annie Laurie 209 
 
 ing at this mine, so that, every Wednesday, 
 we know, with an accuracy that is truly sur 
 prising, just what our profits were for the pre 
 ceding even week. For the first full week 
 after you began sharing in the profits, they 
 increased four per cent. ; the next week, seven 
 per cent.; the next, nine. The fourth week 
 was one of terrific cold. This so interferes, as 
 you know, with our work, that, ordinarily, our 
 profits would have dropped from ten to 
 twenty-five per cent, below the notch they 
 were at. On the contrary, they a little more 
 than held their own. For the fifth week, 
 reckoning, as in all these instances, by com 
 parison with the last week before the profit- 
 sharing began, which, by the way, was a very 
 good week, the increase became eleven per 
 cent. From that time on, it has been steadily 
 climbing, until, last week, our profits, with no 
 appreciable change in conditions, but only in 
 the spirit and efficiency of the men, were nine 
 teen per cent, above that standard. In short, 
 by your deepening interest and faithfulness, as 
 the result of this experiment, you have more 
 than earned the ten per cent, of profits which, 
 week by week, have gone to you in your pay 
 14 
 
2io The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 envelopes. This, gentlemen, to say nothing of 
 the righteousness in the case, demonstrates 
 that the system pays for itself, which I have 
 always contended that it would. For this 
 superb result, men of the Annie Laurie Mine, 
 I thank you with all my heart ; and, God help 
 ing me, you shall have your reward." 
 
 Hereupon John Hope returned to his seat, 
 but not for long. The applauding that began 
 upon his last syllable went on until the men 
 stood on their chairs, threw up their hats, and, 
 as by a common impulse, rushed upon him, 
 lifted him upon their shoulders, and, forming 
 in procession, like college boys when they have 
 won on gridiron or river, bore him around the 
 hall, singing songs as they went, and cheering 
 him to the echo. This he meekly bore, for he 
 had a boy s heart, though he would gladly 
 have prevented it, until, at a favorable mo 
 ment, between the stanzas of a song, he leaped 
 down, ran to the platform, and, in thunderous 
 tones, exclaimed, " Gentlemen, I am astounded 
 at such unparliamentary conduct ! You will 
 at once come to order." The laugh was then 
 on them, the chairman assumed the gavel, and 
 John Hope went back to his seat. 
 
Profit-Sharing at the Annie Laurie 2 1 1 
 
 When George Wilkinson rose to read his 
 paper, he prefaced it by these words : " Karely 
 have you heard a religious expression from my 
 lips. What I want to say now, and especially 
 after what we have just heard, is, that if 
 heaven is more blessed than life at this mine 
 has been since the profit-sharing began, I shall 
 be afraid the blessedness will hurt us." 
 
 This speech for, to the minds of the men, 
 so many consecutive words not read from a 
 paper, and proceeding from their president, 
 seemed a speech occasioned another tumult 
 of applause. 
 
 " It is important, in considering the indus 
 trial-economic problem," George Wilkinson 
 read from his manuscript, " to see the whole 
 question, and not merely a part of it. Each 
 side has a case. If each side would try to oc 
 cupy the other s point of view, we should get 
 on faster. We have often considered the side 
 of the workingman, and of poverty. We 
 have too often forgotten the side of the capi 
 talist and of wealth. I am asking you briefly, 
 to-night, to let me state the case on the side of 
 capital and wealth. Answers to these posi 
 tions will, in part, readily occur to us all ; but 
 
212 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 the point I am making is, that we tend to see 
 our side, and not the other side. Will it not be 
 best, on the contrary, to-night, for us to give 
 our attention, not to answering these points, 
 and making out a counter case, but to under 
 standing and appreciating the points them 
 selves? Consider, too, the means, the stand 
 ing and the power, classifying as capitalist 
 power, which belong to our president, to the 
 stockholders in this mine, and to our head 
 assayer. And yet consider that these persons 
 are trying, nevertheless, to see our side of the 
 question, and to meet it in the magnificent 
 way in which they are meeting it. Is not the 
 class which, however little they may sympa 
 thize with it, they, in a sense, represent, and 
 are not they themselves, entitled to the treat 
 ment which I now propose ? " 
 
 Here the entire audience applauded, not, in 
 deed, in the nature of the case, with the 
 abandon of the earlier demonstrations, but 
 with a hearty good- will, and the applause was 
 much prolonged. 
 
 " Thank you," said George Wilkinson ; " and 
 may I now ask your attention to the following 
 ten points, which I venture to name 
 
Proiit-Sharing at the Annie Laurie 213 
 
 " * THE CASE ON THE SIDE OF WEALTH ? 
 
 " First. Poverty is, in many instances, and 
 to no small extent, the fault of the poor. 
 Many of them drink. They have other vices. 
 Or they are indolent, unenterprising, bad 
 managers. Unthrift and poverty are next of 
 kin. 
 
 " Second. Poverty s case is made worse by 
 bad advisers. Instead of counsel looking to 
 obviating it from within, by courage, industry, 
 thrift and enterprise, all sorts of nostrums 
 are offered for outward application. Particu 
 larly, in labor organizations, which have many 
 excellences, there is, nevertheless, much cheap 
 demagogism, and, in frequent instances, an ab 
 sence of reason, of good judgment and even of 
 common justice. In America this is far of- 
 tener the case than in Great Britain. 
 
 " Third. Poverty has its advantages. If 
 it occasions anxiety, so do riches. The rich 
 man would often be glad to exchange his for 
 that of the workingman. Poverty, also, is a 
 great spur to endeavor. Most persons of 
 wealth came up from poverty, either directly, 
 or within two or three generations ; and its 
 pressure was largely the goad that occasioned 
 
214 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 their escape. The struggles of poverty, more 
 over, induce strength, endurance, a valiant 
 temper, and other highly serviceable traits. 
 
 "Fourth. Wealth develops the country, 
 undertakes large enterprises, organizes in 
 dustry, and affords it employment. It is a 
 public benefactor, even were it never benevo 
 lent. 
 
 "Fifth. Wealth, in its very nature, re 
 quires wealth. The conditions which it in 
 volves necessitate vastly heavier expenditures 
 than the conditions of labor necessitate. For 
 this reason, wealthy men are often under as 
 great pecuniary pressure, relatively speaking, 
 as the person who knows not whence his next 
 meal will come. Living, too, as its possessors 
 feel themselves obliged to live, the plain con 
 ditions of many workingmen s lives would be 
 injurious or fatal to them, and to those de 
 pendent on them. The great brain power, 
 moreover, required in organizing industry, and 
 in carrying on large enterprises, deserves 
 large compensation. Such compensation is, 
 though often extravagantly, the wage rate for 
 it, as comparatively small pay is for the laborer. 
 
 " Sixth. Wealth gives. It gives unceas- 
 
Profit-Sharing at the Annie Laurie 215 
 
 ingly. The sum total of its benevolences, if 
 that total could ever be ascertained, would be 
 almost incredibly large. 
 
 " Seventh. The { unearned increment/ so 
 called, in the value of real estate and other 
 properties, has, closely paralleling it, an un 
 divided decrement. Values shrink from in 
 numerable causes, and incessantly ; there are 
 losses, failures and disasters, all the harder to 
 bear because of previous affluence. Any 
 theory of profit-sharing, or of joint ownership 
 with labor, must carefully take into account 
 the undivided decrement, and provide for it. 
 It is this matter of the undivided decrement 
 that introduces almost the most perplexing 
 element into any application of the theory of 
 profit-sharing. 
 
 " Eighth. In very many instances, if not 
 a majority, certainly a large minority, 
 employers would be glad to pay higher wages, 
 and otherwise to do for their employees ; but 
 they cannot, because of the stress of competi 
 tion, because of the arbitrary requirements of 
 combinations of wealth, and, also, not infre 
 quently, because of the arbitrariness of labor 
 organizations. Such employers, speaking in 
 
216 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 the large, are, very generally, doing the best 
 they can, and deplore the fact that they cannot 
 do better. One of them, for example, who was 
 undergoing Herculean toils to keep a large 
 factory from shutting down, and who was doing 
 so, in the then circumstances, at a slight loss, 
 and almost exclusively with the motive of pre 
 venting his employees from having nothing to 
 do, said on a certain occasion : I would far 
 rather take a dinner-pail, and go to the mill 
 for my day s work, than carry what I shall 
 carry to-day. 1 Because there are many shock 
 ing instances of the precise opposite, we should 
 not be blinded to the fact that there are multi 
 tudes whose theory and practice are the best 
 that conditions will permit. 
 
 " Ninth. The hearts of many of the well- 
 to-do, and even of the very rich, are right on 
 this problem. They brood over the situation 
 as painfully, often, as do wage-earners. This 
 fact is very largely overlooked when motives 
 are estimated, and harsh judgments passed. 
 
 "Tenth. It follows, as a corollary," George 
 Wilkinson concluded, "that the way out is 
 not in the opposition of class to class, of capi 
 tal to labor, of wealth to poverty ; but in their 
 
Profit-Sharing at the Annie Laurie 217 
 
 getting together ; in their understanding one 
 another; in a large forbearance one toward 
 another; and in those profoundly rational 
 principles of brotherhood and of cooperation, 
 which shall not restrict individualism, in 
 itiative, the right of holding property, enter 
 prise, ambition, and so forth ; but which shall 
 conform the operation of these capacities, with 
 love for others, with zeal for the common 
 good, and with those large and comprehensive 
 interests of mankind in which every in 
 dividual s interests are inseparably bound up." 
 
 Applause ensued as George Wilkinson took 
 his seat. It was of a quiet but sincere sort, 
 and continued for a considerable time. A 
 number of the members, in remarking upon 
 the paper, emphasized its stronger points. A 
 motion of thanks for it was carried by a unan 
 imous rising vote, and the meeting ad 
 journed. Before the men dispersed, they 
 formed in line, and shook hands good-bye 
 with the president of the mine, the hand 
 shaking being accompanied by many touching 
 words of personal appreciation and gratitude. 
 
 Such was the spirit prevalent and regnant 
 at the Annie Laurie Mine, when John Hope, 
 
218 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 gladder than he had ever been in his life be 
 fore, mounted the stage at three o clock on 
 the following morning, and, under the stars, 
 rode down the valley, entered the canon, and 
 thence pressed on his way, in the tender 
 breaking of the morning light, for the railway 
 station, seventy miles distant, whence he was 
 to take, at six o clock the next evening, the 
 transcontinental mail for New York, where he 
 hoped to see the dream of his life begin to 
 take lasting shape by a solid vote of his stock 
 holders. 
 
XIY 
 
 BONAPARTE SHAEP, CAPTAIN OF FINANCE 
 
 E. BONAPAETE 
 SHAEP lived on Mur 
 ray Hill. He had a 
 large estate at New 
 port. His lodge in the 
 Adirondacks was the admiration of his set. 
 It was pronounced "truly baronial." On a 
 height along the middle Hudson stood "The 
 Eetreat " ; his "little place," he would remark, 
 " to run to for a day, when you are tired and 
 want to be alone." Mr. Bonaparte Sharp was 
 never tired, never wanted to be alone, and 
 rarely gave himself a day off from his cap 
 taincy of finance ; so that the words, " when 
 you are tired," and so forth, in this character 
 ization, were more accurate than he intended. 
 As it was but a " little place," he had econo 
 mized, and had put only three-quarters of a 
 million into it. 
 
 It was admitted that Mr. Nicholas Stone s 
 219 
 
22O The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 yacht was fifty feet longer than his, and that 
 two hundred and fifty thousand dollars more 
 had been spent on it; but Mr. Bonaparte 
 Sharp s set regarded its magnificence as 
 coarse, if not vulgar, and was entirely certain 
 that Mr. Bonaparte Sharp s yacht, for perfec 
 tion of design, ease at sea, speed, richness and 
 elegance in every appointment, quiet, well- 
 bred luxury, chef, table, and brands of drink 
 ables, was the one yacht worth speaking of in 
 New York waters. It was, it should be 
 added, like Mr. Nicholas Stone s, a " yacht " 
 only by courtesy, being in point of fact a sea 
 going steamship of considerable size, which 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp would have enjoyed 
 himself, if he could ever get away from busi 
 ness, but which was always at the service of 
 his friends, cruising now toward Labrador in 
 summer, to the Bahamas or the Mediterra 
 nean ports in winter, and performing countless 
 lesser journeys, like a run to Old Point Com 
 fort and up the Potomac to Mount Yernon, 
 or around Cape Ann to the Isles of Shoals, 
 or setting down some nervous invalid at 
 Fayal. 
 
 To be exact, there were voyagers on this 
 
Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 221 
 
 yacht, some of whom took the longest and 
 most charming cruises, who failed to look 
 back on the experience with unqualified sat 
 isfaction. Something would happen while 
 they were absent, in stocks, or in real estate, 
 or in some comprehensive corporation char 
 tered under the laws of the State of New Jer 
 sey, which would cause them to stay at home 
 the rest of their lives. ""We must always," 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp would say to his con 
 fidential man, "see to it that the yacht pays 
 its way." "With rare exceptions, whatever 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp said must be done was 
 done; and, as a consequence, painful though 
 it is to record, as time went on, Mr. Bonaparte 
 Sharp s yacht was not considered a whit less 
 elegant, nor its cuisine less to be desired, but it 
 grew more and more difficult to make up 
 cruising parties for it. 
 
 Besides the four residences already men 
 tioned, and this his floating palace, Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp had intended a domicil in the 
 Rocky Mountains. True, he could never spare 
 the time to go there ; but an architect and ex 
 pert in landscape, of really extraordinary 
 talent, but bankrupt and helpless pecuniarily, 
 
222 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 to whom, as one of his " bargains," he paid a 
 pittance for being always at his beck and call, 
 and whom he had sent to exploit those high 
 lands of America, assured him that certain 
 eyries near Colorado Springs were exactly his 
 location ; and he had already gone so far as to 
 have this gifted servant of his invite a confer 
 ence of several foremost New York architects 
 about designs and probable cost. " I intend," 
 said Mr. Bonaparte Sharp to them, " that no 
 private establishment between the Alleghanies 
 and the Pacific coast shall equal it for extent, 
 startling and yet tasteful effect, and richness 
 and magnificence of appointment. I shall, 
 myself, rarely, if ever, occupy it ; but I have 
 purposes in that area, and it is important 
 there, as everywhere else, to make an impres 
 sion." " "We 11 figure to get the money back," 
 he added to his confidential man. 
 
 Now it chanced that there was in Colorado 
 a captain of finance of another feather. He 
 got wind of Mr. Bonaparte Sharp s design, 
 and, somehow, it became impossible for Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp s representatives to acquire 
 any of the desired freeholds. It was like the 
 Connecticut story, much tasted in its day, 
 
Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 223 
 
 tradition assures us, concerning an old-time 
 minister of East Hartford. A certain great 
 man from one of the Hartford churches began 
 to attend the East Hartford ministrations. 
 He always remained after service to thank 
 the minister for his sermon, and, incidentally, 
 to complain that he never got " fed " on the 
 west side of the river. Presently he inter 
 viewed the minister about transferring his 
 church membership, and, of course, his bene 
 factions, to East Hartford. The minister lis 
 tened with rapt attention to the tale, which 
 was very long and affecting, and the great 
 man supposed he was getting on famously, 
 when, suddenly, the minister closed the inter 
 view with the following unexampled words : 
 
 " It is very kind of you, Brother , I am 
 
 sure, to be drawn toward us of East Hartford, 
 in our humble place, and with our small min 
 isterial gifts; but, to tell the truth, Brother 
 
 , the church in East Hartford is full" 
 
 When, however, some years later, the Colo 
 rado captain of finance before mentioned had 
 disposed of a very large corporate property 
 which he had built up by just methods and 
 great energy, foresight and sagacity ; and 
 
224 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 when, after the sale, he divided a million of 
 the proceeds among the men who had helped 
 him to make the enterprise a success, Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp was furious. " Great luck," 
 he said, " that kept me out of Colorado ! Such 
 neighbors would drive me wild. They are 
 pulling down the whole fabric of modern so 
 ciety over our heads ! " 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp rented the costliest 
 pew in a fashionable New York church. 
 When its minister preached straight, which he 
 generally did, Mr. Bonaparte Sharp slept. 
 But that minister had imagination, genius, and 
 the mystic power of eloquence, and there 
 would always be five minutes, somewhere in 
 the sermon, when Mr. Bonaparte Sharp would 
 wake up, rub his hands, and get ready to say, 
 when going out, "Our minister can preach 
 all around any man in Greater New York." 
 There came a crisis, as was inevitable, between 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp and that minister, in 
 which Mr. Bonaparte Sharp undertook, as he 
 expressed it, to " discharge " him. Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp s grievance was " heresy " ; not, 
 however, let any one imagine, the plain, ordi 
 nary brand, but " economic heresy." The up- 
 
Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 225 
 
 shot of this attempt was, that Mr. Bonaparte 
 Sharp himself came very near being "dis 
 charged." Then, for several months, he un 
 dertook, at a number of other fashionable 
 churches, the East Hartford scheme, with pre 
 cisely the same result, except that it lacked 
 the element of humor. After these various 
 attempts, he re-leased his old costliest pew, 
 lengthened his naps, and felicitated himself 
 that, "For pure and downright pulpit elo 
 quence, though I often find myself disagree 
 ing with it, our church has cornered the entire 
 preaching market." 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp s favorite Scripture 
 character was Jacob. Mr. Bonaparte Sharp, 
 however, never read farther in the patri 
 arch s biography than the stock-raising period. 
 " Jacob is my ideal," he would say, with re 
 assuring frankness ; " everything against him ; 
 got there notwithstanding ; contracted with 
 Laban ; kept contract to the letter ; courts 
 could n t interfere ; fixed it, though ; got the 
 sheep. A little near ? Of course; had a 
 right to be ; man with business in him s got a 
 right to realize. Good thing for Laban, too ; 
 never prospered so much as after Jacob came, 
 5 
 
226 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 The leavings of a man that has business in 
 him are better than the entire assets of a man 
 that has n t. So, too, some of my specialties 
 have, perhaps, squeezed; hard lines for some 
 folks ; but the goods were never put on the 
 market so cheap ; the general public dividends, 
 anyhow." 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp acquired Annie Laurie 
 stock through Peter Wainwright, a million 
 aire college classmate of John Hope, who was 
 engaged to marry Miss Eugenie, Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp s daughter. A multi-millionaire 
 appeared; Mr. Bonaparte Sharp commanded 
 Miss Eugenie to break the engagement; and 
 the multi-millionaire was the second of the 
 two central figures at the great wedding, at 
 the " truly baronial " lodge in the Adirondacks, 
 which, candor compels us to state, had been 
 largely arranged for while it had been still ex 
 pected that Peter Wainwright would have 
 said the responses along with Miss Eugenie. 
 
 The great wedding filled the papers for a 
 fortnight. It was the social event of the sum 
 mer. A few days before it came off, a special 
 steamer up the Hudson and a special train into 
 the woods took to the "truly baronial " lodge 
 
Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 227 
 
 a small army of newspaper artists and corre 
 spondents. " Nothing like making an impres 
 sion," said Mr. Bonaparte Sharp to his confi 
 dential man ; " the money will all come back." 
 What the bride-to-be did, and did not do ; how 
 she spent her time, morning, afternoon and 
 evening ; her toilet on all of these occasions ; 
 whether she looked pleased, abstracted, or 
 anxious ; her exact remarks to her footman on 
 her drives, and to her waiting-maid in her 
 walks ; all this, with much besides, not with 
 out a certain delicacy, either, be it said to the 
 credit of artists and correspondents ; for poor 
 Miss Eugenie was a sweet girl, who deserved to 
 have had a different father, and to have married 
 the man she loved, and whose look in those 
 tragic days was mainly " abstracted," and, to 
 be entirely truthful, very sad, all this, with 
 much besides, was photographed, crayoned, 
 polychromed, scare-head-lined, double-leaded, 
 editorial-noted, editorial-leadered, four-col 
 umned, four-paged, and Sunday-editioned, to 
 the satisfaction, if possible, even of Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp. 
 
 Since he enjoyed print so much, this modest 
 history would be derelict to duty if it did not 
 
228 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 set down faithfully a few additional points of 
 his "highly instructive" (so a biographical 
 dictionary man characterized it to him, as he 
 took copious notes) obituary ? far other 
 wise ! biography, having, alas ! according to 
 all appearances, yet many years to run. 
 
 There was a man Smith, let us call him 
 in a certain section of this great country 
 which we also call free. He had built up a 
 large and prosperous business by industry, 
 thrift, enterprise, square dealing, paying the 
 best wages possible, treating his employees 
 considerately, and serving his thousands of 
 patrons well. One of Mr. Bonaparte Sharp s 
 specialties entered his section. It got small 
 foothold because its methods were diametric 
 ally opposite to those the section had been 
 used to. About this time Smith received 
 from several mysterious sources proposal after 
 proposal to sell out. Smith said, No : he had 
 put a lifetime into the business ; it was re 
 munerative; it benefited the public; he was 
 proud of it; he wanted to leave it to his 
 children. 
 
 " But why not leave them the money ? " he 
 would be asked. 
 
Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 229 
 
 "Money?" Smith would scornfully answer ; 
 " what is money, compared with an occupation 
 that you like, that you are fitted for, that you 
 can serve the community by, that you are 
 prosperous in, that you are proud of, and that 
 you expect your sons to inherit ? " 
 
 Smith, as the reader will have perceived, 
 was the kind of person that looks straight 
 into the barrel of a hold-up s revolver, with 
 holds his purse, expostulates, and, if necessary, 
 grapples with him. A considerable number 
 of such men, widely distributed, would make 
 the hold-up business unpopular. He did not 
 know that it was different with the Bonaparte 
 Sharp specialties. 
 
 They cut the price in two. 
 
 He met the cut, and corresponded, and 
 visited E~ew York, in expostulation. 
 
 They cut the price in two again. 
 
 So did he. 
 
 When he had little left, he offered to sell. 
 
 They laughed at him. 
 
 He is a poor man now ; lives in a small 
 tenement ; earns monthly wages by clerking 
 in the only line he knows ; bears his successive 
 reductions of wages with the best grace he 
 
230 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 can command ; is apprehensive of losing his 
 job ; fears the poor-farm. 
 
 " I know a railroad, near the Atlantic sea 
 board," he once said, " that has the shortest 
 route between two great cities, and that was 
 built largely by poor people, with expectations 
 which the geography justified. The circuitous 
 lines already constructed, however, discrimi 
 nated against it, impoverished it, themselves 
 consolidated, had therefore completer power, 
 starved it out, and then bought it for a song. 
 I knew they would do that sort of thing to a 
 railroad ; I did n t suppose they would do it to 
 a man." 
 
 While Mr. Bonaparte Sharp was rehearsing 
 to himself his favorite theorem, that "the 
 leavings of a man that has business in him are 
 better than the entire assets of a man that 
 hasn t," and was boasting that the section 
 he had invaded bought his goods ten per cent, 
 cheaper than it ever bought the corresponding 
 goods before, he cut his pay-roll in that 
 section, first fifteen per cent., then twenty- 
 five, and eventually fifty ; paid less than one- 
 fourth the taxes that were paid by the man 
 whom he had ruined ; loaned money (never on 
 
Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 231 
 
 security less than twice the face of his loan, 
 and "gilt-edged") to fight every just strike 
 that occurred in that section; and, speaking 
 generally, was a malign and pestilent in 
 fluence in a part of the United States that, be 
 fore his advent, had had an enviable industrial- 
 economic record. These were his " leavings." 
 This was the manner in which, to use his 
 characteristic expression, " the general public 
 dividends, anyhow." 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp never cornered. He 
 was too knowing. There were few great 
 corners in his time, however, that he did not 
 indirectly, if not directly, instigate, and that 
 he did not largely profit by. "I have the 
 stuff," he would say within his set ; " I put it 
 up ; risky business ; big interest ; see ? " Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp never risked twenty-five 
 cents, however, in any of them. He merely 
 used " risky " to crowd up his interest charges, 
 and only loaned where he could not possibly 
 lose. 
 
 Item the last : "When the big strike 
 
 was on, a just one, with public sentiment be 
 hind it ; and when the recommendations of 
 the mutually acceptable arbitration commit- 
 
232 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 tee, in the strikers favor, were about to be 
 acceded to, it was Mr. Bonaparte Sharp s 
 secret threat so to work the stock-market as 
 to ruin the concerns involved, in case they 
 granted the recommendations, which caused 
 that sudden and mysterious suspension of 
 negotiations, and occasioned those painful and 
 resultless months of the strike s continuance, 
 which had no satisfactory outcome for any 
 body. 
 
 " Sharp, why did you do it ? " asked one of 
 his set. " Strike was just ; people were with 
 it; concerns might just as well have acceded 
 as not; twould have done them good, like 
 trimming an apple-tree ; besides, their product 
 did not affect your specialties in the least." 
 
 " I did it on principle," Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 
 angrily retorted. "That sort of course, 
 though it was no direct concern of mine, 
 would have been one way of helping to pull 
 down the whole fabric of modern society over 
 our heads." 
 
 But Mr. Bonaparte Sharp gave. When he 
 had schemed in a million, by effecting some con 
 solidation, by stock watering, by adding to the 
 price of this or that staple and indispensable 
 
Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 233 
 
 commodity, or by some similar stroke of eco 
 nomic " sagacity," he would donate ten thou 
 sand to a hospital. When it was three million, 
 and a transaction liable to be sharply criti 
 cized, he would put fifty thousand into a new 
 town hall for his native village in Maine. Ten 
 million "absorbed" sometimes meant a hun 
 dred thousand for one or two technical schools. 
 All this attracted attention. It operated like 
 what the old Hebrew patriots plainly called a 
 gift to blind the ruler s eyes. For only that 
 side of his life, by reason of his benefactions, 
 caught the public gaze. His donations occa 
 sioned his being interviewed, written up, de 
 picted in the magazines ; and, by degrees, 
 caused him to think himself, as other people 
 thought him, a benefactor of the human race. 
 Such was Mr. Bonaparte Sharp, a conspicu 
 ous and typical product of civilization and of 
 religion down to date. To render possible 
 such as he, martyrs had bled ; patriots had 
 fallen on crimson fields the names of which 
 are the synonyms of liberty; and the whole 
 heroic and much-suffering army of discoverers, 
 explorers, pioneers, inventors, educators, art 
 ists, statesmen, poets and seers, not to speak 
 
2 34 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 of the other measurelessly larger and equally 
 heroic and much-suffering army, that of the 
 plain toilers of all times, had endured and 
 died. 
 
XV 
 
 HIS BLANK WALL 
 
 ETEK WAINWKIGHT 
 did not marry Miss 
 Eugenie Sharp, but Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp got 
 his thirty shares of the 
 Annie Laurie stock. 
 Peter deemed it a mere 
 incident, not thought 
 of by his prospective 
 father-in-law twice. 
 Peter did not know his 
 man. Mr. Bonaparte 
 Sharp never did business that way. Before 
 he invested, he looked up John Hope, and 
 learned of his electrical invention, and the 
 sale of its patent. So far from thinking that 
 any wrong had been done to John in the 
 transaction, he thought that the electrical 
 company had been very liberal with him, and 
 
 that the boy John s getting ten thousand 
 235 
 
236 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 dollars from it betokened business precocity. 
 He searched out, too, his academy and college 
 record, and his notable business career since. 
 " There," he said, " is a young man among a 
 thousand ; the sort of young blood that I must 
 absorb." "Absorb" was one of Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp s talismanic words. 
 
 He also looked up Duncan McLeod, in Scot 
 land, Australia, South Africa and Colorado. 
 He was equally pleased with Duncan. " If I 
 can yoke in those two young fellows," he said, 
 as if he had discovered the Kohinur diamond, 
 " John Hope for combines, and Duncan Mc 
 Leod for mining, I 11 * do the Kocky Moun 
 tains. Good thing for the young men, too; 
 give them twenty-five thousand a year ; make 
 three hundred millions before we re through." 
 
 When the Annie Laurie Mine got well run 
 ning, and large dividends were coming in, Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp had John Hope to dinner. 
 Mrs. Eugenie, his daughter, chanced to be 
 visiting at home. Beside her sat a little, sad- 
 eyed, but beautiful girl of perhaps three years. 
 John and the mother looked across the table 
 full into each other s eyes once, and were loth 
 to do so again. It was too painful for them 
 
His Blank Wall 237 
 
 both. For John was Peter Wainwright s col 
 lege chum, who knew his heart s history ; and 
 Mrs. Eugenie had another patronymic than 
 Peter s, and a wound that never would heal. 
 
 After dinner, in his den, while he blew cir 
 cles of cigar smoke up toward the ceiling, Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp said : 
 
 "Now I want you, Mr. Hope, to put in 
 some good, cheap man in Mr. McLeod s place, 
 and send Mr. McLeod out in search of choice 
 mining locations. He 11 find them, as a witch- 
 hazel stick finds water. Be very particular to 
 have him keep shady ; instruct him to get 
 options where necessary ; but make it, as far 
 as possible, a still hunt. Meantime, I want 
 you to put in some good, cheap man in your 
 place to look after details, especially those at 
 the mine ; and I want you to spend the bulk 
 of your time in New York, and to exploit the 
 whole subject of Colorado mining among cer 
 tain men, a list of whom I can give you, and 
 also among others, whom this acquaintance 
 will bring you to know. A still hunt, as I 
 said, in all this, too. When we are ready to 
 spring our plan, I can easily find a hundred 
 millions, or two hundred if necessary, or what- 
 
238 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 ever amount we may need ; we can corral all 
 the desirable mining locations not already 
 spoken for ; and, managing right, we can hold 
 the balance of power as regards the precious 
 metals in all that country. 
 
 " And now, a point I want you specially to 
 think of. I ll give you both large salaries. 
 I m not so young as I was once. If you and 
 Mr. McLeod pan out, as I think you will, I 11 
 do very handsomely by you, and increasingly 
 so, from year to year ; and I 11 do even better 
 things as I begin to let go." 
 
 All this was, if possible, a harder thing for 
 John Hope than the look into Mrs. Eugenie s 
 eyes. That was a tragedy already in its fifth 
 act ; here were countless tragedies beginning 
 to be plotted. 
 
 But not a muscle of John Hope s face 
 changed. He sat serenely calm. He was too 
 wise to reveal his thought. After a moment s 
 silence, fixing his eyes steadily on Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp, and thanking him for his gener 
 ous thought for himself and his friend, he 
 began a detailed, admirably illustrated and 
 intensely interesting argument, which, by slow 
 degrees, brought out the point conclusively, 
 
His Blank Wall 239 
 
 that the mine could not, at present, without 
 heavy sacrifice, dispense either with Duncan 
 McLeod s constant presence, or with his own 
 for much of the time. 
 
 This persuasion of Mr. Bonaparte Sharp did 
 not last over night. A heated interview oc 
 curred the next day. Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 
 assailed, and largely overthrew, to his own 
 mind, John Hope s objections, and maintained 
 that the one sensible thing for him and Duncan 
 McLeod to do, was to fall immediately in with 
 his plan, and begin, what seemed to Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp, the very small contract of corral 
 ling, by the use of from one to two hundred 
 millions, all the choice obtainable gold and 
 silver properties in Colorado ; of erecting 
 them into a vast mining combination ; of 
 themselves becoming the chief magnates 
 therein, on huge salaries, with Mr. Bonaparte 
 Sharp the power behind the throne, and with 
 these two young men the persons who might 
 hope eventually to be the continuators of Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp s mighty captaincy of fi 
 nance, not only in this new field, but in many 
 another. " I tell you," he concluded, rubbing 
 his hands, " follow me, and you 11 absorb a 
 
240 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 billion betwixt you before you re my age. 
 Steel ain t in it, mark my word." 
 
 John Hope never appeared to better ad 
 vantage. He was reserved, gentle, modest, 
 and indicated, so far as he sincerely could, his 
 appreciation, on his own and on his friend s 
 behalf, of the flattering proposition. He 
 planted himself, however, inflexibly upon the 
 difficulties in the case, including the smallness 
 of the areas of mineral land that could, under 
 mining laws, be acquired, although admitting 
 that these might be indefinitely multiplied 
 under successive claims ; and, with singular 
 clearness, comprehensiveness of knowledge 
 and point of view, and depth of insight, dem 
 onstrated the disadvantages of a vast combi 
 nation for such work. When, however, Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp, almost maddened by the 
 very force of John s reasoning, still insisted, 
 and assumed a threatening attitude, John 
 drew himself calmly up, gazed unflinchingly 
 into his eyes, and courteously but flatly re 
 fused to be a party to any such proposition. 
 
 It was two days later that the meeting of 
 stockholders was held, after the explosion at 
 the Annie Laurie Mine, when the last ten 
 
His Blank Wall 241 
 
 shares of its stock were voted Duncan McLeod 
 for services rendered. 
 
 While this proposal was under debate, John 
 Hope was subjected to a speech that tried him 
 more, perhaps, than any words he had ever 
 heard in his life. 
 
 " I am," Mr. Bonaparte Sharp said, " in 
 favor of the proposition of voting these shares 
 to Mr. McLeod. But I am in favor of it for 
 altogether different reasons from those which 
 seem to actuate you gentlemen. I am not in 
 favor of concessions of this sort to employees, 
 or of coddling, in any manner, the employed 
 class. It is only beginning to pull down the 
 whole fabric of modern society over our 
 heads. Nevertheless, I think these shares 
 should be voted purely as a matter of business 
 good sense. I believe that something of this sort 
 must be done or we shall lose Mr. McLeod. 
 Advices which I have received from Cripple 
 Creek indicate that Mr. John Hays Ham 
 mond, the South African expert, who knew 
 Mr. McLeod there, has advised one of the 
 heaviest mines at Cripple Creek to employ 
 him on a very large salary. If the proposi 
 tion is made in that shape to Mr. McLeod, we 
 16 
 
242 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 shall surely lose him, and, for the sake of re 
 taining him, I believe that we are putting 
 money into our pockets by giving him these 
 shares, and in this way binding him to us. 
 
 "Permit me to add, Mr. Chairman, my 
 judgment, that if we should lose Mr. McLeod 
 we should lose almost the whole thing. I 
 cannot figure it any other way than that our 
 president is of little more value to us than an 
 errand boy. I had great hopes of him for en 
 larging our business in many respects : but he 
 stoutly refuses to entertain certain most ad 
 vantageous suggestions, looking in this direc 
 tion, which I have offered him ; and, as I have 
 pondered the whole subject, I am inclined to 
 think him hardly more than a supernumerary. 
 The president of a mine such as ours, of the 
 record of the gentleman in the chair, who can 
 let the local interests of the business so en 
 gross his mind that he cannot see its larger 
 bearings is fast bordering on degeneration. 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, as a means of retaining our 
 only highly valuable man, whom we are in 
 danger of losing, I hope the motion will pass, 
 and believe that, by its passing, we shall 
 though in itself it is an absurdly generous act, 
 
His Blank Wall 243 
 
 and very bad as a precedent put money into 
 our own pockets." 
 
 John Hope, who was in the chair, listened 
 to this insulting speech without changing 
 color, or altering the position of a line in his 
 face. He immediately put the motion. It 
 was unanimously carried. In fact, he so bore 
 himself that Mr. Bonaparte Sharp deemed 
 that his judgment that John Hope was begin 
 ning to degenerate, had received substantial 
 confirmation. In mentioning the incident 
 later to his confidential man, he said: "A 
 man on whom a studied insult falls without 
 effect is either a fool or a knave. Hope never 
 could be a knave; but I believe he is fast 
 going to pieces mentally." 
 
 As bearing on future developments of this 
 history, it should here be added, that, when, 
 on returning to Colorado, John Hope told 
 Duncan McLeod of the suggested Cripple 
 Creek offer, which was strictly true, and 
 which, though its compensation was enormous, 
 Duncan had instantly declined, in favor of his 
 Annie Laurie work, and, characteristically, 
 had never told anybody of it, Duncan looked 
 John straight in the eye, and said : " Might 
 
244 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 not a stenographer s notes have misled Mr. 
 Sharp? Should not the name have been, 
 Dunbar McLean ? He had a great metallur 
 gist s record at Johannesburg in my time, and 
 was anxious to go to America." This state 
 ment of a fact completely threw John off the 
 scent. " I shudder to think, however, of hav 
 ing mentioned Dunbar McLean," Duncan at 
 once thought, but did not say; "I would 
 as soon have the bubonic plague appear in any 
 Eocky Mountain mining camp as Dunbar 
 McLean." 
 
 The singular interpretation of John Hope s 
 self-command, above recorded, doubtless had 
 much to do with bringing about, after that 
 meeting of the stockholders, a comparatively 
 unstrained relation between him and his an 
 tagonist. In fact, when, several months later, 
 John reached New York for the March meet 
 ing, and the two met, no one would have 
 dreamed that their relations had ever been 
 otherwise than satisfactory. It facilitated this 
 outward good-will that a winter of extraordi 
 nary prosperity had marked the mine, and 
 that Mr. Bonaparte Sharp was in particularly 
 good spirits over the results. 
 
His Blank Wall 245 
 
 When the stockholders met, a large amount 
 of routine business, much of which was very 
 interesting, was transacted in the smoothest 
 possible manner. John Hope then reported 
 on the experimental profit-sharing ; exhibited, 
 by means of a chart drawn to scale, the in 
 creasing profits of the mine under it ; and, be 
 cause Mr. Bonaparte Sharp for the time being 
 controlled himself, seemed to be carrying all 
 the stockholders with him. 
 
 When the subject had thus been laid before 
 the meeting, every man present, except the 
 president and Mr. Bonaparte Sharp, one after 
 another, in ringing speeches, advocated the 
 profit-sharing proposal, and the appointment 
 of a committee from the stockholders to con 
 fer with a committee from the miners about 
 formulating a plan by which a portion of the 
 ownership and direction of the mine might be 
 vested in the men. When all but himself and 
 the president had spoken, Mr. Bonaparte 
 Sharp, who had maintained entire reticence, 
 rose to speak to the question. 
 
 " Gentlemen," he began, " it has been very 
 hard for me to listen to the president s account 
 of the absurd experiment which has been tried 
 
246 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 at the Annie Laurie Mine, and to your hot 
 headed advocacy of the most foolish scheme 
 that I ever heard rational men propose. The 
 president s own showing is ridiculous. He and 
 the head assayer have been getting up one of 
 those exciting religious revivals in the camp. 
 Somehow they have hypnotized the men. 
 They have coddled and hobnobbed with them, 
 and then, suddenly, from somebody s pocket 
 that must be very full, they have been making 
 them handsome cash presents week by week. 
 You know, and everybody knows, how this sort 
 of thing could not but affect men, especially in 
 the peculiar conditions of isolation which mark 
 our camp. The statistics of the president, the 
 chart he has exhibited, and the poetry he has 
 been giving us about the men, cut no figure 
 whatever. 
 
 " Going into the merits of the case, such a 
 proposition is inimical to the whole fabric of 
 modern society. There always has been, and 
 there always will be, a small, wealthy, ruling 
 class. There always has been, and there al 
 ways will be, a large majority of the human 
 race, toilers, ruled, dependent. Their ig 
 norance, their indolence, their vices, and their 
 
His Blank Wall 247 
 
 more or less depraved tastes, will always keep 
 them at such a point. The idea of anything 
 different ! Such a book, for example, as Mr. 
 Bellamy s Looking Backward, is, of course, 
 pure moonshine ; but even the more restrained 
 programs which many preachers are now 
 giving us Dr. Gladden, of Columbus, for in 
 stance, or my own minister are the rankest 
 idiocy. I can hardly contain myself seriously 
 to consider this proposal. Why, d n it! 
 gentle " 
 
 John Hope was instantly on his feet. " We 
 are gentlemen," he said, "and language of 
 that"- 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp was not in the habit 
 of being called down. He had a tremendous 
 eye, and he simply glared at the chairman. 
 The chairman, however, also had an eye, and 
 he fixed it with equal concentration on Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp. Silence that could be felt 
 ensued. The stockholders held on to their 
 chairs. Neither man winked for the space of 
 two minutes. Then the eyes of Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp fell, for he was a wise enough 
 man to know when he was beaten, and he 
 continued : 
 
248 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 " Beg your pardon, gentlemen, but I just 
 came from an interview with a hog man whose 
 conversation was interspersed with oaths al 
 most as incessantly as hogs squeal at a packing 
 house." Mr. Bonaparte Sharp then resumed his 
 argument, but he was so much shaken that any 
 one impartially watching him might have sup 
 posed that the process of degeneration had be 
 gun in him. As, thus, he made no headway 
 in argument, he grew very angry, carefully 
 confined himself to parliamentary language, 
 but spoke with the utmost violence. He ut 
 tered heavy threats, and at length took his 
 seat with a face so flushed as to suggest im 
 pending apoplexy, and with the perspiration 
 rolling down his cheeks. 
 
 " Question ! " was immediately called ; the 
 chair inquired whether there were any further 
 remarks; and, there being none, the motion 
 was passed. Another motion was also imme 
 diately offered, and voted, appointing John 
 Hope and Duncan McLeod a committee of two, 
 on the side of the stockholders, to confer with 
 a committee, of such size as might be deemed 
 best, from the miners, about some plan of 
 joint ownership and direction. When this 
 
BONAPARTE SHARP S DEFEAT 
 
His Blank Wall 249 
 
 motion was carried, Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 
 brought his fist down on the table with such 
 violence that a large ink-well, full to the brim, 
 and standing near the edge of the table, was 
 thrown to the floor, with its inevitable be 
 spattering of men and things. This accident 
 induced a general laugh, in which Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp could not help joining ; but, as he 
 left the meeting, which he at once did, he ut 
 tered a threatening imprecation, and slammed 
 the door so hard as to jar the entire room. 
 
 Oblivious, in his rage, to the possible pres 
 ence of others, he growled to himself, in an 
 undertone, as he swept along the corridor: 
 " That d d calf, like a bunch of steers on the 
 Plains stopping the Golden Gate Limited, 
 has n t known any better than to lift the first 
 blank wall that ever halted Bonaparte Sharp. 
 I 11 smash it. I 11 pulverize it. Were it not 
 bad form, I d be tempted to make a shambles 
 of him into the bargain." 
 
 On Mr. Bonaparte Sharp s withdrawal the 
 meeting at once adjourned. The other stock 
 holders gathered around John Hope with 
 felicitations. But he, swiftly excusing him 
 self, disappeared. A grave look was on his 
 
250 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 face ; and, immediately going to a telegraph 
 office in their building, he wrote, on pink 
 paper, for instant transmission, a message in 
 cipher, which, fifteen minutes later, Duncan 
 McLeod, twenty-five hundred miles away, re 
 ceived, and which, translated, read as follows : 
 
 "Profit-sharing indorsed. Joint ownership and direction 
 approved. McLeod, Hope, committee on latter, to work 
 with Miners Committee. Tell men. Let them rejoice 
 while they can. Confidential : Seventy shares enthusiastic 
 ally favored. Thirty shares insanely angry. Not improb 
 ably would spend million to down us. Trouble, oceans of 
 it, doubtless brewing. " 
 
XYI 
 
 DILEMMA AND PARADOX OF LOVE 
 
 OW love makes or un 
 makes ! And, in the 
 making or unmaking, 
 bow merely incidental 
 is its outward success 
 or failure ! 
 
 At thirteen or four 
 teen Duncan McLeod 
 saw a child s face. It 
 was fine in its propor 
 tions, delicately outlined, and nobly beautiful ; 
 but had it been even a very plain face, such 
 thoughtfulness, such quickness and intelligence 
 of perception, such insight, and such unselfish 
 love lighted it, that it would equally have won 
 him, bending there, all rapt and eager, over his 
 mother s Bible. 
 
 The face belonged to a daughter of wealth. 
 Duncan was a poor widow s son. The mo 
 ment he thought of this, he saw the tragic 
 251 
 
252 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 side of these so different environments, and, 
 bravely making his resolve, he never breathed 
 his secret to a human being, not even to his 
 mother. But that face, joining with the boy s 
 deep religious impulse, made the man. It was 
 with him like a vision until far on in his uni 
 versity career, the key to his honors and 
 triumphs at the Stirling high school and at 
 Edinburgh. Then Henry Drummond, a lone 
 man, in order, as Duncan assumed, yet more 
 completely to serve Jesus Christ, gave him a 
 fresh ideal ; and, passionately absorbed thence 
 forth in doing for his Master, he succeeded, 
 at length, in banishing Kathleen Gordon s 
 face. 
 
 After great years in Scotland, in Australia, 
 in South Africa and in Colorado, an act of 
 heroism, that nearly cost him his life, brought 
 back the vision. He was not disobedient unto 
 it. He spoke; he was denied; but he was 
 denied, as he instantly perceived, against 
 Kathleen s heart pleadings, and on the ground 
 alone of outward duties ; of, in short, conduct, 
 the very foundation upon which he had 
 builded all his own maturer life. In that 
 awful crisis, for Kathleen s letter in reply 
 
Dilemma and Paradox of Love 253 
 
 had made his further suit impossible, when, 
 in consequence at once of the denial and its 
 ground, the solid earth seemed gone from be 
 neath him, and the flaming stars from above 
 him, and himself seemed to be dissolved into a 
 flitting shade, there broke upon him, after 
 certain fierce preliminary struggles, a sense, as 
 if apocalyptic, of the emptiness of outward 
 deeds, however heroic and noble, and of the 
 valuelessness of all things else but love, love 
 toward God, love toward love, and love 
 toward men. He of Patmos had not a clearer 
 revelation. 
 
 Thus Duncan McLeod was once more born 
 again, for he had lived in deeds before. Love 
 regenerated him. In that new life which en 
 sued, the hero of the Annie Laurie mining 
 camp, admired almost inordinately, and fol 
 lowed passionately, became, over and above 
 all that he was before, another St. John, calm, 
 tender, winning, a resistless loadstone of char 
 acter and of the Christed life. 
 
 Until Kathleen Gordon shall herself speak, 
 we, like Duncan, may not know what is going 
 on in her soul. When that time comes, how 
 ever, if it comes at all, it will be strange if her 
 
254 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 experience does not prove to have paralleled 
 his. For they serve the same Master. They 
 have the single eye. Those that follow him, 
 he promises, shall not walk in darkness ; their 
 whole body shall be full of light. 
 
 Love is for Christ, and Christ is for love. 
 They are the foci of the ellipse in which the 
 soul moves. Christ regenerates ; love regen 
 erates. Deeds, though priceless as expressions 
 of love, are emptiness and less than nothing, 
 except for Christ and love. Even In His 
 Steps we walk but as slaves and vagabonds, 
 save as, at the same time, we walk In His 
 Light. " Covet earnestly the best gifts : and 
 yet show I unto you a more excellent way," 
 writes St. Paul ; and, in indicating that way, 
 bursts forth into nothing other or less than 
 the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. 
 For, " Love is of God." " Every one that loveth 
 is born of God, and knoweth God." " God is 
 light, and in him is no darkness at all." 
 
 But if love, though outwardly unsuccessful, 
 made Duncan McLeod and Kathleen Gordon, 
 it, outwardly also unsuccessful, unmade Peter 
 Wainwright and Eugenie Sharp ; and unmade, 
 also, the Annie Laurie Mine and several hun- 
 
Dilemma and Paradox of Love 255 
 
 dred lives inseparably bound up in the mate 
 rial, the moral, and the spiritual significance 
 that, under the lead of Duncan McLeod and 
 John Hope, the Annie Laurie Mine had at 
 tained. 
 
 To trace how love unmade these two would 
 require a volume ; a volume, be it added, of a 
 sad but fascinating interest. A few para 
 graphs must here suffice. 
 
 Had Eugenie Sharp s love for Peter "Wain- 
 wright been yet deeper, and had it been joined 
 with a consuming love for Jesus Christ, the 
 great wedding at the " truly baronial " lodge 
 in the Adirondacks would not have occurred, 
 unless Peter Wainwright had said the re 
 sponses with her. But though Eugenie s love 
 for Peter was sincere and strong, so sincere 
 and strong that the violence she did it finally 
 killed her, it had not, as she had not, the 
 single eye. The pageant of wealth and of 
 society commanded her, less, indeed, than her 
 love for Peter, but with a divided allegiance. 
 The passion of loving, too, was strong within 
 her, as was right ; but, in her thinking, for it 
 is the pure in heart that alone see God, she 
 had suffered herself to disunite and to make 
 
256 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 two what God meant should be one, the pas 
 sion of loving and loving itself. 
 
 Thus it came about that three distinct forces 
 were in the field without the single eye justly 
 to coordinate them. Mr. Multi-millionaire 
 represented to her, for the time, and he was 
 not a bad man, the pageant of wealth and 
 of society, and also the passion of loving; 
 whereas Peter Wainwright, under her father s 
 prohibition, only represented loving. Accord 
 ingly it happened that, in the balloting of 
 those brief and feverish weeks, pageant and 
 passion outvoted loving, with that poor, dis 
 tracted, heartbreaking and yet heartburning 
 young woman, though it was virgin voices 
 that said the responses ; and only after her 
 child, sad-eyed but beautiful, lay crooning in 
 her arms, did she make the dreadful discovery 
 that it was the popular vote alone that had 
 won, while the electoral college had lost. Be 
 it said, however, to her everlasting honor, the 
 enduring jewel in her crown, that she kept 
 her plighted troth, kept it and died. 
 
 How, on the other hand, did Peter Wain 
 wright, who had been such in character that 
 he had been John Hope s chosen and bosom 
 
Dilemma and Paradox of Love 257 
 
 friend, bear himself in his great trial ? He so 
 bore himself that he almost broke John Hope s 
 heart. For to see one s dearest friend, in 
 whom one has reposed implicit confidence, 
 falter and fail at life s crisis, is little short of 
 tragedy. 
 
 Peter Wain Wright s pride was hurt, inevi 
 tably, properly, but disproportionately to the 
 many other considerations involved. Scrupu 
 lously upright, too, though Peter "Wainwright 
 was, he made the same mistake that Eugenie 
 Sharp made, of disuniting in his thinking the 
 passion of loving and loving itself, and fierce 
 fires burned within him. So when Miss Marie 
 Stone, daughter to him of the rival yacht, 
 clapped her small hands on reading a note 
 from a friend which said that Peter "Wain- 
 wright s engagement had been broken, and set 
 her thin, firm lips in a silent vow that she 
 would marry him, he passed unwittingly, but 
 also ill-defended, into the category of " the 
 hunted." In his pride and his passion he 
 stilled the deeper voice. John Hope s expos 
 tulations fell on dull ears. The life-oppor 
 tunity to wait, after a love that had proved 
 itself inadequate, for one that, God willing, 
 7 
 
258 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 should prove adequate ; and the life-oppor 
 tunity, while he waited, to develop in himself 
 larger living, and larger capacity for loving, 
 he despised, as did Esau his birthright, and on 
 the same principle. Consequently, the same 
 week that the events at the " truly baronial " 
 lodge in the Adirondacks were the u feature " 
 of the New York papers, a quieter but elegant 
 wedding, for Miss Marie Stone had sense of 
 a certain sort, whatever else she lacked, was 
 recorded at considerable length, and in far 
 better taste, in the same journals. It occurred 
 at Newport ; the two passed the remainder of 
 the summer in Europe ; and, in October, Peter 
 Wain wright, goaded on ever by Marie, put his 
 nose on the monetary grindstone, where it has 
 remained unto this day. " Whatever you do, 
 or don t do, Peter," she would say, "get 
 money, and keep it. If we manage rightly, 
 we shall be able to buy out Eugenie s husband 
 before we are done." 
 
 Peter and Marie were childless. Little love 
 was lost between them. Existence became 
 swiftly, for both of them, a scheme of con 
 quest, conquest pecuniarily, conquest socially, 
 conquest in the range of several collateral am- 
 
Dilemma and Paradox of Love 259 
 
 bitions, Marie s, in literature ; Peter s, in art 
 and music ; that of both, to be able to as 
 semble distinguished people at their various 
 residences and social functions. They both 
 adhered to outward uprightness. Marie, how 
 ever, never had ideals; and Peter, who had 
 had them, violated them more and more as his 
 career went on. Had any one told him, for 
 example, the week before his engagement 
 to Eugenie Sharp was broken, that for the 
 sake of money he would betray his and John 
 Hope s ideals for the Annie Laurie Mine, he 
 would have resented the assertion as libel- 
 ous. Within three or four years, however, 
 while he had still a scruple, the scruple was 
 not about his earlier ideals for the mine, but 
 about the wound it would inflict on John 
 Hope. In short, love, in its failure, and in 
 its fickle substitution of formal success for 
 failure, while it left Peter Wainwright an out 
 wardly upright man, undid all that had made 
 John Hope his friend, and that was noblest in 
 him. 
 
 Love, then, presents this twofold dilemma : 
 It makes or unmakes ; and it must choose be 
 tween putting asunder and holding as one 
 
260 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 that which God hath joined together, namely, 
 the passion of loving and loving itself. 
 
 And this is the paradox of love : Holding 
 these two as one, its outward success or 
 failure is but an incident; it makes, in any 
 case, and can nowise unmake or be unmade. 
 
XVII 
 
 BONAPARTE SHABP SMASHES HIS BLANK 
 WALL 
 
 ,KOM the moment that 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 
 uttered his imprecation, 
 and shut the door on 
 the Annie Laurie stock 
 holders with a crash, 
 he had but one supreme 
 purpose. It was with 
 him day and night. 
 He thought of it wak 
 ing, and dreamed of it sleeping. It so ab 
 sorbed him that it interfered to some extent 
 with his ordinary complete concentration on 
 business in business hours. That purpose was 
 to acquire control of the Annie Laurie Mine ; 
 to humiliate John Hope and his coadjutors, 
 chief among whom, he now perceived, was 
 
 Duncan McLeod ; and to reverse, in a monu- 
 261 
 
262 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 mental way, all that for which the mine had 
 come conspicuously to stand. 
 
 As the mine was not intended for the stock 
 market, but to be a conservative and perma 
 nent industry, John Hope had organized it 
 with only a hundred shares. There had been 
 put into it about two hundred and fifty thou 
 sand dollars. After that it and its plant had 
 been steadily improved out of its surplus 
 earnings. Thus the hundred shares had a 
 face value reckoned at twenty -five hundred 
 dollars each, but their actual value was more 
 than thrice that amount. 
 
 The hundred shares were held, thirty by 
 John Hope, thirty by Mr. Bonaparte Sharp, 
 twenty by Peter Wainwright, ten by Duncan 
 McLeod, and five each by Hugh MacDonald 
 and Theodore Wilson. Hugh MacDonald and 
 Theodore Wilson, as well as Peter Wain- 
 w right, were college classmates of John Hope, 
 and all three of them, when they entered the 
 company, were men after his own heart. 
 Hugh and Theodore remained so. Hugh was 
 a person of wealth. He was very conserva 
 tive in his business methods. He gave much 
 of his time and strength to certain altruistic 
 
He Smashes His Blank Wall 263 
 
 enterprises in his native city of New York. 
 Theodore was a brilliant and virile scholar, 
 rapidly making a reputation as an inspiring 
 teacher. He had little money, but John 
 Hope was so fond of him, that he put him in 
 the way of acquiring and gradually paying 
 for his five shares in the mine. At the time 
 when this history encounters him, these shares 
 were entirely paid for. 
 
 When Mr. Bonaparte Sharp took account of 
 the stockholders, he perceived that Hope, 
 McLeod, MacDonald and Wilson were of the 
 old guard, and held fifty of the shares ; that 
 the holders of the other fifty were Wain- 
 wright and himself; that he would have a 
 hard tussle with Wainwright because of the 
 "truly baronial" lodge incident; and that, 
 even if he won with him, he would still 
 control only one-half of the stock. " It looks 
 rocky," he said, and the problem seemed so 
 difficult of solution that he lost sleep and lost 
 flesh worrying over it. 
 
 John Hope returned to Colorado within 
 a week after the stockholders meeting of 
 March 1, much sooner than he had intended, 
 in order to intrench his work there before the 
 
264 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 battle, which he knew was sure to come, 
 should begin. Mr. Bonaparte Sharp had him 
 shadowed ; knew the day and the train of his 
 departure ; and, the second evening there 
 after, when John Hope would be beyond the 
 Missouri Kiver, saw, in an afternoon paper, 
 an account of the sudden death, from pneu 
 monia, of Theodore Wilson. Theodore had 
 been overworking with his pupils ; a cutting 
 March wind to which he had been exposed 
 had sent him to bed ; he had died that after 
 noon. 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp was alone in his den. 
 He dropped his paper and rubbed his hands 
 with glee. Then, as it grew upon him, he 
 danced around the room. Then he said, " You 
 fool ! " but he did not use those words in 
 their adequate sense. Then he rushed into the 
 next room, and rang for his carriage, his 
 hurry-up ring, and, in ten minutes, was rat 
 tling over the pavements toward a door with 
 crape on it. " Must fix it," he said to himself, 
 " before John Hope sees to-morrow morning s 
 Denver papers. Associated Press will wire it ; 
 it will not escape his eyes; he ll write her, 
 which will be all right ; but what if he wires 
 
He Smashes His Blank Wall 265 
 
 her condolences, and a judicious caution ? " 
 Then he dropped the window, put his head 
 out of it, and cried, " Hurry up, William ! " 
 
 Mrs. Wilson received a call which she 
 looked back to as of inexpressible helpfulness 
 until the trouble at the Annie Laurie Mine 
 broke. It was brief, tender, consolatory. 
 Here and there, at intervals during it, occurred 
 these sentences : " I knew Mr. Wilson well in 
 our stockholders meetings." "Let me help, 
 any way I can." "My carriages will be at 
 your disposal for the funeral." " You will be 
 having heavy expenses. Your husband s Annie 
 Laurie stock stood for some twelve or thirteen 
 thousand dollars. If it will help you any, I 
 will gladly send you my check to-morrow 
 morning for twenty-five thousand. We must 
 help one another at such a time." This meant, 
 what she longed for, but supposed would be 
 impossible, that the burial might be in Green 
 wood ; that the lot might be an eligible one ; 
 that a suitable monument might mark tho 
 spot ; and that, combining the check with her 
 husband s life insurance, she and her boy 
 Theodore would have a modest competency. 
 She could not speak. She pressed Mr. Bona- 
 
266 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 parte Sharp s hand with a fervor of thankful 
 ness that almost shamed even him. 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp rightly conjectured 
 that John Hope would see the item about 
 Theodore Wilson s death in the Denver papers 
 the next morning. It came to John as a per 
 sonal affliction. He instantly telegraphed his 
 sympathy, and then wrote Mrs. "Wilson a let 
 ter which she treasures to this day. He de 
 bated with himself whether he would not turn 
 back for the funeral ; but did not do so from 
 the fear that this would delay interment, and 
 thus unduly prolong the strain which Mrs. 
 "Wilson was undergoing. After the hour s 
 delay in Denver, accordingly, he pushed on 
 with the trans-continental mail ; but first ar 
 ranged that, an hour later, five hundred dol 
 lars should be transferred to Mrs. Wilson by 
 telegraph as his act of respect to a memory 
 that was to him unspeakably precious. He 
 thought, and so did Hugh MacDonald, of the 
 peril of some sharp practice by the captain of 
 finance ; but he said to himself, as Hugh did, 
 " He will not be so indecent as to approach 
 her on the subject until after the funeral." 
 
 But when Hugh MacDonald came in that 
 
He Smashes His Blank Wall 267 
 
 forenoon, as he had been in repeatedly on 
 the day of the death, Mrs. Wilson showed him, 
 with an emotion of gratitude she could scarcely 
 control, Mr. Bonaparte Sharp s check, and said 
 that she had sent back the certificate of stock 
 by the messenger who had brought the check. 
 " It was such a kind act ! " she continued. 
 "How could one, so much a stranger, have 
 been so considerate ? I shall never forget it, 
 
 so long as " but here she burst into tears. 
 
 Hugh MacDonald will never forget that 
 hour. He had himself intended offering her 
 forty thousand dollars, if she cared to part 
 with her stock, so soon as it seemed decent to 
 broach the subject to her. That appeared to 
 him a fair valuation, and he had had no little 
 satisfaction in thinking how comfortable the 
 sum would make her and her boy, besides in 
 suring such use of the stock s voting power as 
 Theodore would have desired. He could say 
 nothing at this spectacle of tender gratitude 
 for what seemed to him the act of a fiend. 
 As he went down the steps when he had bid 
 den her adieu, he whispered to himself : " Oh, 
 if Theodore had told her of the scene at the 
 March meeting! But Theodore was charity 
 
268 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 incarnate, and I suppose that he sealed his 
 lips ! " 
 
 Peter Wainwright sealed his lips about the 
 March meeting, but for a far different reason. 
 He feared, if he opened them, that Marie 
 would drive him into some deal with Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp. He had done violence to 
 his ideals so long, that he had no scruples 
 against such a deal from that point of view ; 
 but he did not regard Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 
 with affection, and he would not willingly 
 give John Hope pain. After several days and 
 nights of badgering, however, Marie, whose 
 suspicions were aroused by Peter s reticence, 
 succeeded in prying his lips open. " There s 
 money in that, Peter ! " she cried, and clapped 
 her hands in glee. It was at such times that 
 Peter, with all his music and his art, ques 
 tioned whether life were worth living. 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp did not sleep the night 
 of his return from Mrs. Wilson s. He was 
 too jubilantly happy. When the messenger 
 returned to his office the next forenoon with 
 Theodore Wilson s five shares of Annie Laurie 
 stock, he felt like kissing them, such was his 
 sense of triumph. " I have thirty-five now," 
 
He Smashes His Blank Wall 269 
 
 he said, " and Wainwright has twenty ! After 
 the annual meeting, June 4, Hope and his fel 
 low idealists, including that idiot, McLeod, 
 and their impudent attempts to pull down the 
 whole fabric of modern society over our 
 heads, will bite the dust ! " Then he sent a 
 long cablegram to Dunbar McLean at Johan 
 nesburg. For although Duncan McLeod, in 
 order to conceal his having refused a huge 
 Cripple Creek salary, had merely suggested to 
 John Hope contrary to the fact the query, 
 whether Mr. Bonaparte Sharp might not have 
 confused two former Johannesburg names, 
 those of McLeod and McLean, Mr. Bonaparte 
 Sharp knew about both the men, and Dunbar 
 McLean was his choice, now that Duncan 
 McLeod had fallen under his disfavor. 
 
 But the shoe, even yet, pinched a little. 
 How could he ask a favor of Peter Wain 
 wright ? How, on the other hand, could he, 
 with self-respect, coerce him a second time ? 
 This worried Mr. Bonaparte Sharp. After 
 the cablegram had gone, nevertheless, he lost 
 not a moment in beginning his campaign, 
 and carried it strenuously forward for several 
 weeks. This campaign consisted in getting 
 
270 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 various persuasive persons to approach Peter 
 Wain wright with offers, of different dimen 
 sions, and urged on a variety of cogent 
 grounds, to buy his twenty shares of Annie 
 Laurie stock. Peter and Marie Wainwright 
 were not lacking in penetration. The many 
 mysterious offers to purchase, each one at a 
 higher figure than the last, so far from de 
 ceiving them, afforded them not only amuse 
 ment, but also no little vindictive delight. 
 " We 11 make him beg ! Is n t it sport ? " said 
 Marie. 
 
 In middle April Mr. Bonaparte Sharp cabled 
 Dunbar McLean to start for New York at 
 once ; and, because everything in the way of 
 blind negotiations had proved a dismal failure, 
 began operations in the open. He went 
 straight to Peter Wainwright. There was no 
 beating about the bush. He offered him a 
 round half million: for he had reached the 
 point, as Peter and his wife well knew, where 
 he must control the mine at any cost ; and, 
 because of the strained past, he had decided to 
 facilitate negotiations by lavish offers of cash. 
 " Not enough," said Marie, on being privately 
 conferred with. After Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 
 
He Smashes His Blank Wall 271 
 
 had crowded this offer, in a variety of ways, 
 for a week, he proposed three-quarters of a 
 million. " Take it immediately," said Marie. 
 But Peter, having scruples still on John 
 Hope s account, stood for a million, and 
 thereby walked into a trap. Mr. Bonaparte 
 Sharp was furious. " I offered a half million," 
 he said ; " five times the rate I paid for Wil 
 son s. I even added a half to that, for I did 
 not want to be hard on you twice. You took 
 advantage of me, and, as was clear enough, in 
 a vengeful spirit. You undertook to squeeze 
 me. That, sir, is unpardonable. You will 
 now sell at the Wilson rate, that is to say, 
 for a hundred thousand, or I will go into the 
 
 market and ruin your C stock, and you 
 
 will have no one but yourself to blame for 
 having to charge six hundred and fifty thou 
 sand dollars to profit and loss." 
 
 Peter s face fell. He asked for time. Marie 
 was more than angry. She raged. "I told 
 you to take the seven hundred and fifty thou 
 sand," she said ; " you refused ; Mr. Sharp is 
 justly aggravated ; he will now never go be 
 yond the rate he cheated Mrs. Wilson on, 
 which is simple larceny. It is terrible ! terri- 
 
272 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 ble ! " Peter thought this opened a way out. 
 " Keally," he said, " I never wanted to sell. 
 Think of John Hope ! " " But Mr. Sharp will 
 make you sell," Marie replied. " Why, Peter, 
 how shockingly obtuse you are 1 " and she 
 went into hysterics. 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp did just as he said he 
 would, and, under the same threat, exacted 
 absolute silence about the transfer until he 
 should himself announce it at the June meet 
 ing of the stockholders. Notwithstanding 
 that the Atlantic Monthly for the first 
 time wrote appreciating and accepting one of 
 Marie s poems, which, under ordinary circum 
 stances, would have been joy enough to her 
 for one season ; notwithstanding that New 
 York had a great musical spring; notwith 
 standing that an art exhibition opened, which 
 had never been equaled in the metropolis ; and 
 notwithstanding that Marie and Peter enter 
 tained an unusual number of eminent persons, 
 those were dreadful weeks at the Wainwright 
 mansion. 
 
 On June 4 the stockholders met. The min 
 utes were read and approved. Suitable reso 
 lutions were introduced by Hugh MacDonald 
 
He Smashes His Blank Wall 273 
 
 concerning the death of Theodore "Wilson. 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp seconded them, paying 
 the deceased a high tribute, and remarking, 
 incidentally, that he hoped he had been of 
 some little service to Mrs. "Wilson in taking her 
 husband s Annie Laurie stock off her hands " at 
 a generous figure," within an hour of his learn 
 ing of the death. The resolutions were voted. 
 
 The annual election of officers was then 
 proceeded with. Mr. Bonaparte Sharp nomi 
 nated himself for president and general man 
 ager, and, for head assay er and assistant gen 
 eral manager, Mr. Dunbar McLean, lately of 
 Johannesburg, whom, Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 
 said, he had carefully looked up, and who was a 
 distinguished metallurgical expert recently ar 
 rived in New York. This was considered only 
 a thrust at John Hope and Duncan McLeod, 
 and was not expected to receive more than 
 thirty-five of the one hundred votes of stock. 
 There was, however, a blank look on Peter 
 Wainwright s face, and he voted his twenty 
 shares with Mr. Bonaparte Sharp, which 
 elected that gentleman s ticket. 
 
 " For shame, Peter ! for shame ! " cried 
 Hugh MacDonald, urging reconsideration, 
 
 18 
 
274 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 and buttonholing Peter with a view to induc 
 ing him to change his vote. At this Peter 
 colored scarlet, looked as if he would like to 
 go through the floor, and called on Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp to explain. 
 
 " I will explain, sir, with the greatest pleas 
 ure," said Mr. Bonaparte Sharp. " Gentle 
 men, you all imposed on me at the March 
 meeting. Not only so, but you made me the 
 butt of some very discourteous laughter. Mr. 
 Wainwright has, in addition, undertaken to 
 impose on me a second time, since the March 
 meeting. Nobody does that sort of thing to 
 Bonaparte Sharp with impunity. I vowed to 
 humiliate you all, but especially Mr. Wain 
 wright, because it was his second offense. I 
 own fifty-five shares of the Annie Laurie 
 stock. I am president and general manager. 
 My man will replace Mr. Hope s tool, that 
 lunatic, McLeod. The change of management 
 will go into effect June 16, twelve days hence. 
 Because Mr. Wainwright undertook to impose 
 on me the second time, I have compelled him 
 to come here, and, in your presence, to go 
 through the form of voting in the new assist 
 ant general manager and myself. Gentlemen, 
 
He Smashes His Blank Wall 275 
 
 this meeting stands adjourned. There won t 
 be any more meetings in a good while. You 
 are empowered, indeed, under the by-laws, to 
 call them, but you will regret it, let me fore 
 warn you, if you do." 
 
 Thereupon Mr. Bonaparte Sharp, his face 
 wreathed in smiles, bowed himself out of the 
 room. " Last March they browbeat me, and 
 laughed at me, and carried a fool vote, peril 
 ous to the whole fabric of modern society, 
 against my solemn protest, and encouraged 
 that donkey, "Wainwright, to try to work me, 
 and they are satisfied now, I hope," he 
 chuckled to himself as he went down the ele 
 vator. "If anybody builds a blank wall 
 across my right of way," he continued, " I 
 smash it, I tell you ; and, when it s school 
 boys, like Hope and Company, I smash them 
 into the bargain." 
 
 On June 16 began the reign of Dunbar Mc 
 Lean at the Annie Laurie Mine. He was a 
 great metallurgist. He, however, drank, did 
 worse things, and had a singularly vindictive, 
 venomous and cruel disposition. These pecu 
 liarities had not escaped Mr. Bonaparte 
 Sharp s investigation ; but, in his mood at the 
 
276 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 time, some of them pleased him rather than 
 the contrary, and he contented himself with 
 this summary and characteristic conclusion : 
 " If he s an expert, and everybody says he is, 
 trust me to regulate the rest. John Hope was 
 the only person I ever yet failed to manage, 
 when I set out to ; and I reckon I d have 
 managed him easily enough, if he d known 
 that pneumonia would garner Wilson, that I 
 was so clever at consolation, and that I had a 
 cinch on Peter Wainwright." 
 
 Dunbar McLean s first act was to discharge, 
 in a gratuitously offensive manner, Douglas 
 Campbell and George Wilkinson. Next, he 
 expunged the rule against liquor ; ordered 
 Sunday work, a diminution of wages, the sus 
 pension of the cooperative store, of the local 
 paper, and of the Institution for Savings ; and, 
 in particular, required the entire disuse, for 
 the present, of the hall of the Miners Club. 
 " THIS MINE is RUN FOE DIVIDENDS ONLY," 
 his initial fulmination concluded. " It is not 
 a camp-meeting. It is not a section of the 
 prohibition party. It is not a society to pro 
 mote social purity. It is not a charity tech 
 nical school. It is not a Chautauqua. It is a 
 
He Smashes His Blank Wall 277 
 
 mine to get out gold and silver. Angels can t 
 mine. That takes miners. You know what 
 miners are. Only such are wanted on our pay 
 
 roll. A WOED TO THE WISE IS SUFFI 
 CIENT ! " 
 
 With such dust and noise seemed Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp s blank wall to have been pul 
 verized. 
 
XVIII 
 
 FOE DIVIDENDS ONLY 
 
 UNE 16 came at the mid 
 dle of the week. Dun- 
 bar McLean, the new 
 executive of the Annie 
 Laurie Mine, arrived by 
 the stage at six o clock 
 on the previous Saturday 
 night, his countenance 
 ruby, and several cases 
 of drinkables accompanying his luggage. He 
 attended the Sunday morning service, but, 
 before it was over, went out under consider 
 able excitement. Duncan McLeod spoke on 
 " Patient Continuance in Well Doing " ; and 
 his plea for patience, for charity, for standing 
 by the mine, for deference to authority, and 
 so forth, was so precisely the opposite of Dun- 
 bar McLean s own temper, that it cut him to 
 the quick. 
 
 The acts and the posting of the order, sum- 
 278 
 
For Dividends Only 279 
 
 marized at the close of the last chapter, oc 
 curred early Monday morning, to take effect 
 when June 16 should arrive. The precipi 
 tate haste and brutal tone of the order were 
 all too significant. Though the men of the 
 mine had determined to stand together, and to 
 try to make headway against whatever might 
 be morally objectionable under the new 
 regime, they now decided to leave the camp 
 as fast as might be practicable. They were 
 the more impelled to this by the arrival, Mon 
 day afternoon, of two disreputable-looking 
 men, who had in charge three wagon-loads of 
 liquor ; and by the arrival, with them, of a 
 squad of miners of the same ilk, who applied 
 for jobs and were promised them, and of some 
 women, ostensibly to get places as cooks and 
 table waitresses, whose appearance and man 
 ners hardly comported with those occupa 
 tions. 
 
 On the night of the fifteenth, therefore, 
 under an order, John Hope s last, giving 
 them all the evening, the men of the Annie 
 Laurie Mine gathered for their last public 
 service together. They did not meet in the 
 hall, too many persons of the D unbar McLean 
 
280 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 stamp were already in the camp to make that 
 desirable, but in a readily accessible neigh 
 boring canon, lighted by torches and the moon, 
 which was nearly full. The precaution had 
 been taken to leave enough men in the camp 
 to prevent looting ; and, as if under a kind of 
 awe, the rough characters contented them 
 selves with quietly drinking and gambling. 
 Duncan McLeod gave out, 
 
 " Oh, safe to the Rock that is higher than I," 
 
 and, 
 
 41 1 know not why God s wondrous grace," 
 
 and, 
 
 "My hope is built on nothing less." 
 
 An opportunity for prayer being given, be 
 tween forty and fifty men poured out their 
 souls in brief, moving supplication. Then 
 George Wilkinson said these words, not from 
 a paper : 
 
 "I speak advisedly. Not one of our men 
 should stay at the Annie Laurie Mine, except 
 Sullivan and Wilkinson. As you value our 
 lives, apprise no one that we intend staying. 
 
For Dividends Only 281 
 
 They that be with us are more than they that 
 be with them. 
 
 " As a dream when one awaketh; 
 So, Lord, when thou awakest, thou 
 shalt despise their image. " 
 
 Then John Hope said : 
 
 " I leave to-morrow morning. So does Mr. 
 McLeod. I return to New York. Mr. 
 McLeod, who is in very great need of rest, 
 journeys westward ; whither, he has not di 
 vulged to me. We would both gladly stay, 
 and help you to bear the heavy cross laid upon 
 you, and further, if we might, your reengage- 
 ment at other mines ; but such is the personal 
 bitterness of the new management toward us, 
 that we feel that we shall do you a kindness 
 by not embarrassing you with our presence. 
 
 "There was a time, under Nero, and there 
 have been many times since, when Christians 
 met, as we meet to-night, in wild places and 
 under the stars. The spirit of greed and of 
 arbitrary force which then compelled such 
 meetings was not intrinsically different from 
 that which has forced us to our present plight. 
 Where, however, is Nero now ? Where is his 
 Rome ? Where are Philip II and Alva ? 
 
282 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 Where are their Spain and their Europe? 
 Gone. Looked back upon as nightmares of 
 the world. Objects of universal reproba 
 tion. 
 
 " Similarly, this cannot last. The stars in 
 their courses fight against it. The Man of 
 Nazareth has drawn the sharp two-edged 
 sword of his mouth for its overthrow ; nay, 
 for the redemption even of it. Let no man 
 be embittered by that which has happened. 
 Let no man lose faith. Let no man be greatly 
 cast down. 
 
 " We are nearing a new century. Never 
 did gold and arbitrary power seem more 
 potent. Never were they, in reality, so weak. 
 The child is already in his cradle who will see 
 gold used rightly ; capital used rightly ; com 
 binations of money and of men used rightly ; 
 and the man whether capitalist or labor 
 agitator; and both, let me say, are liable to do 
 so who shows himself capable of this that 
 we now experience, and of similar things that 
 are experienced widely over the world, looked 
 upon and treated as a monster. 
 
 " Men of the Annie Laurie Mine, what you 
 have already done, even should you do no 
 
For Dividends Only 283 
 
 more, will work mightily to usher in the new 
 day. You have proved certain things. You 
 have made a preliminary and conclusive assay. 
 Principles of highest importance have been 
 forever demonstrated by what you have ac 
 complished, and by what you have yourselves 
 become. I thank you, and I thank God, for 
 all this. But you will do more, and Mr. 
 McLeod and I will do more. We are not 
 quitters, and God is not a quitter. 
 
 "God bless you, my brothers, all! As 
 surely as God is on his throne, and as his 
 promises cannot fail, this precious fellowship 
 of ours will be knitted up again, either here, 
 or beyond the stars ! " - 
 
 There was not a dry eye when John Hope 
 thus closed. There was not a face that did 
 not glow with confidence, courage and high 
 purpose. 
 
 Then Duncan McLeod said : 
 
 " We would better not stay here long. We 
 would better not say much. We would better 
 knit up our fellowship with the Man of 
 Nazareth, for we shall sorely need it after this 
 night. 
 
 "I am asking pledges. When you are 
 
284 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 where alcohol is, will you continue to let 
 it alone ? " 
 
 Every right hand, except Patrick Sullivan s, 
 went up. 
 
 "When you are where licentiousness is, 
 will you continue to let it alone ? " 
 
 Every right hand went up. 
 
 " Will you be the straight, efficient, valiant 
 men that have given Mr. Hope and me the 
 courage to force this issue with the stock 
 holders of this mine ? " 
 
 Every right hand went up again. 
 
 "Will you, and please think carefully 
 before you indicate, will you follow the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, cost what it may ? " 
 
 Every right hand went up, and " Amen ! " 
 " Amen ! " " Amen ! " were ejaculated on all 
 sides. 
 
 " Then we will sing," continued Duncan, 
 
 " Blest be the tie that binds, 
 
 and I will lead you in a word of prayer ; but, 
 first, I give you this watchword, which you 
 will find in your Bibles at Daniel 3 : 24, 25 : 
 
 " Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and 
 rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, 
 Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire ? 
 
For Dividends Only 285 
 
 They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He 
 answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the 
 midat of the fire, and they have no hurt ; and the form of 
 the fourth is like the Son of God. " 
 
 Then that was done which Duncan McLeod 
 said, but the scene and that which occurred 
 within it were too sacred for us to intrude 
 upon. 
 
 Within the week that followed, it came 
 about that not a man of the old force was left 
 at the Annie Laurie Mine, except George 
 Wilkinson and Patrick Sullivan. It was not 
 possible, on such short notice, for all the men 
 to secure satisfactory positions at once; but 
 what Dunbar McLean was pleased to charac 
 terize as a " charity technical school," namely, 
 Duncan McLeod s free classes in mining en 
 gineering, together with the other elevating 
 influences of the camp, had been the means of 
 placing so many of its good men in responsible 
 positions in various mines of that general 
 area, that, by their cooperation, within a 
 month, every man had found reasonably satis 
 factory work, though, of course, not under 
 such favorable conditions as had been enjoyed 
 at the Annie Laurie Mine. Their homesick- 
 
286 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 ness, too, and sense of being somehow or 
 phaned were very deep. 
 
 Patrick Sullivan had been, until the mutiny, 
 a hard drinker, could carry a large amount 
 of liquor without the slightest inconvenience, 
 and had no scruple about its use by himself 
 personally, except that he believed it better, 
 on general principles, to abstain, which he 
 had now done for more than two years. In 
 consultation with George Wilkinson he asked : 
 
 " Did not Mr. McLeod read us, on a Sunda 
 oncest, o two sons of prastes, whin the King 
 David was driven out, that stayed wid that 
 bastely son o his that insurricted ; an did 
 they not feign thimsil friends to the baste, 
 and sind the word to King David o all his 
 bastely doin s?" 
 
 " Yes," answered George Wilkinson. 
 
 " An sure," continued Sullivan, " if sons o 
 prastes did the likes o that, would a cardinal 
 require absolution if he should do that 
 same ? " 
 
 "Seemingly not," George Wilkinson re 
 plied. 
 
 "Gi me yer hand, thin," said Sullivan; 
 " an b the Holy Mother I 11 be the merriest 
 
For Dividends Only 287 
 
 lad in the camp. Sure, they 11 not discharge 
 Pat fer bein a camp-meetin man. But, Mr. 
 Wilkinson, excipt fer the feignin , I 11 do no 
 sin, barrin whiskey, an sure, Mr. Wilkinson, 
 I 11 give straight reports, like thim prastes 
 sons did, an may the Blessed Virgin cause 
 that they be to good purpose ! " 
 
 Thus it came to pass that Patrick Sullivan 
 remained a miner in the camp, while George 
 Wilkinson built himself a cabin on ground 
 just off the company s land; and that the 
 two kept their ever vigilant watch. Sullivan 
 passed for a rough and roistering man, fond of 
 hard drinks, and his ruse was never suspected. 
 "Kind of converts that hypocrite, McLeod, 
 would be sure to make ! " exclaimed Dunbar 
 McLean; "and I ll wager three-quarters of 
 them have gone the same way by this time." 
 
 Dunbar McLean was, however, greatly in 
 censed by George Wilkinson s staying, and 
 secretly instigated a succession of petty perse 
 cutions against him with the hope that he 
 would depart in disgust. After this had been 
 tried for some time, and most exasperatingly, 
 without success, Mr. Wilkinson was, one fore 
 noon, in broad daylight, set upon by three 
 
288 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 thugs, accompanied by a group of toughs, who 
 obviously had come to see the sport. 
 
 " Hands up ! " said Thug Number One. 
 
 It chanced that their intended victim was a 
 man of almost preter naturally swift motions 
 and an extraordinary shot. While seeming to 
 be lifting his hands, he had his revolver out of 
 his breast pocket, with it knocked up his as 
 sailant s weapon and shot him through the 
 forehead. 
 
 The other thugs started to run; suddenly 
 thought differently of it, apparently from fear 
 of ridicule ; and, in the person of Thug Num 
 ber Two, made a ferocious rush on Mr. Wil 
 kinson. For this he got a bullet that severed 
 his jugular vein. The others of the assailing 
 party, crying " Murder ! murder ! murder ! " 
 thereupon took to their heels, and, before 
 noon, were far along the road back to civiliza 
 tion, where people move less swiftly and are 
 not such sure shots. 
 
 Whatever may have been the instigating 
 cause of the first assault, that cause seemed to 
 divine that quiescence was its policy ; and for 
 several weeks George Wilkinson had peace. 
 He was then apprised by Patrick Sullivan, 
 
For Dividends Only 289 
 
 with great stealth, at dead of night, of what 
 might be expected ; and, at one o clock in the 
 next night, as he lay snoring vigorously, he 
 was not so soundly asleep as to be unaware of 
 a shaft of light from a dark lantern thrown 
 across his bed. The light was intended to 
 render the aim of a third would-be murderer 
 absolutely sure ; but served, the rather, to lend 
 accuracy to another extraordinarily quick mo 
 tion on the part of the snoring man, which 
 resulted in his assailant s being shot through 
 the heart. The report operated as a signal, 
 and accomplices rushed into the room ; but, as 
 George Wilkinson continued to snore, and to 
 seem profoundly sleeping, when these gentle 
 men beheld the gruesome sight that met them 
 on the floor, they whispered, " His gun went 
 off into his own side ! " Straightway, then, 
 what with the ghastly spectacle, and their 
 superstitions, they ran precipitately away; 
 and it was soon spread abroad, among mem 
 bers of their persuasion widely over that area, 
 not only that George Wilkinson could move 
 more swiftly than any other living man, and 
 was a surer shot, and had more nerve, but 
 
 that, even when he was asleep, the fates safely 
 19 
 
290 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 guarded him. This last was true, but in a 
 sense profounder than the assassins intended. 
 
 About a week after this occurrence, the as 
 sistant general manager found a note under 
 his door which read as follows : 
 
 " Annie Laurie Mine, August 7. 
 " To ME. DUNBAE McLEAN, 
 
 " Head Assayer and Assistant General Manager, 
 
 "Annie Laurie Mine, 
 "MY DEAESlE: 
 
 " I have been at this mine since it began. In our first 
 months we had as rough a group of men here as could be 
 found in the entire Rocky Mountain area. Many -wicked 
 things were done by them ; but there is honor among 
 thieves, and especially among mining men, who, while they 
 might not hesitate to steal, or to do worse things, at heart, as 
 I have observed them, and I know them pretty well, almost 
 invariably ring true. Consequently there never was a time, 
 even in the worst conditions, when human life was not safe 
 here, provided people behaved themselves. 
 
 " Within a short time, on the contrary, without any prov 
 ocation whatever, my life has been twice attempted, and it 
 has been necessary for me to kill three men in self-defense. 
 Of the first attempt I took no outward notice. Of the second 
 I have taken no notice until I have had a week to reflect 
 upon it. With such judgment as I am able to use, after 
 this continued and careful thought, I can in no way account 
 for these occurrences, save by connecting them with the 
 changed management of the mine. 
 
 " Except in these two instances of self-defense, I desire to 
 add, I have never laid violent hands on a human being. 
 Not only so, but I have never, since I was a boy, made a 
 threat against any one. I very much regret, therefore, the 
 
For Dividends Only 291 
 
 necessity for what I am about to say ; but, after mature de 
 liberation, and as a protection to human life, for I do not 
 wish to send more men into eternity, I beg leave to say to 
 you that, the first time I see any sign of inoffensive human 
 life being unsafe in this camp, whether in my own case, or 
 in the case of any one else, you are a dead man. 
 "Sincerely yours, 
 
 " GEORGE WILKINSON. " 
 
 Whether or not the suspicion that prompted 
 this letter was well grounded, may be inferred 
 from Dunbar McLean s answer. It was very 
 obsequious. It made no reference whatever 
 to the serious implication made by George 
 Wilkinson. It flattered him. It affirmed the 
 writer s regret to have discharged him. It 
 excused that act on the ground of Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp s antipathy to the principal men 
 at the mine under the former management. 
 It offered him an important situation. It 
 mentioned, incidentally, toward the end, the 
 shock it had been to the writer to know of the 
 " unfortunate " occurrences referred to, and 
 professed, verbosely and emphatically, a de 
 sire to cooperate with Mr. Wilkinson, and 
 with all friends of good order, in preventing 
 acts of violence in the future. " If they can 
 not be discontinued," the letter said, in con- 
 
292 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 elusion, " I fear a mine which has had such an 
 excellent name in times past, will be seriously 
 discredited." 
 
 To this communication George Wilkinson 
 made not the slightest reply. He would not, 
 for a fortune, have undertaken work under 
 Dunbar McLean. He bore himself toward 
 that great man as nearly as possible as Mor- 
 decai bore himself toward Haman. Dunbar 
 McLean felt himself almost as much humili 
 ated by this as Haman was by the treatment 
 to which he was subjected by Mordecai ; but, 
 being a coward, as Haman was not, he caused 
 George Wilkinson to suffer no disadvantage 
 therefrom. 
 
 Leaving, then, the Annie Laurie Mine under 
 the eye of two such competent and deeply in 
 terested observers as George Wilkinson and 
 Patrick Sullivan, and delaying any resume of 
 the pecuniary and other successes of a mine 
 managed for dividends only, until they shall 
 appear in their inevitable connection with this 
 history, it now becomes our duty to inquire 
 to what extent this policy " smashed " the de 
 posed president, and also to what extent the 
 usurping new president and his pusillanimous 
 
For Dividends Only 293 
 
 accomplice furthered their own standing by in 
 augurating it. 
 
 John Hope went at once to New York. 
 Before he arrived, though neither he nor his 
 intimate friends had made any talk about the 
 gross wrong that had been done him, the story 
 had got abroad. 
 
 Feter Wainwright had been badgered about 
 it incessantly, and had been sometimes se 
 verely criticized. " So you acted on the prin 
 ciple that one good turn deserves another, in 
 selling out to your former prospective father- 
 in-law, did you ? " said one. 
 
 " That is the way Yale men stand by their 
 college chums, is it ? " he was sneeringly asked 
 at the University Club by a Princeton man. 
 
 One of the heaviest men on the street met 
 him in the elevator, got off at his landing, 
 almost shoved him into a corner, and sternly 
 inquired : " Is it true that you sold out John 
 Hope ? " 
 
 Peter undertook to evade. 
 
 "Don t try to work that on me," his in 
 quisitor continued. " You in effect confess it. 
 I refused to believe it until I should have seen 
 you face to face. It is the scurviest trick I 
 
294 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 have heard of in New York, among presumably 
 honorable men, this man} r a day." 
 
 " But Sharp threatened to ruin me," feebly 
 responded Peter. 
 
 " And you were coward enough to do a das 
 tardly deed," cried the speaker, fiercely, " be 
 cause of his threats ? Is he the only person 
 of means in this city ? Had you played the 
 man, a dozen of us would have joined in with 
 you, and made Sharp come off. "Wainwright, 
 I am ashamed of you. It is that kind of act 
 that disgraces "Wall Street, many of whose 
 men, as you well know, are persons of unim 
 peachable honor, and as much interested, at 
 heart, for social betterment, as John Hope is," 
 and, with a scornful wave of his hand, he 
 turned on his heel. 
 
 "I hear, Wainwright, that you have been 
 heaping coals of fire on Father Sharp s head," 
 said a Yale contemporary of his. "Did the 
 old man threaten to send you to Fayal on his 
 yacht?" 
 
 Finally, Bowers, the artist, whose indigna 
 tion against Peter was something fearful, got 
 him cartooned most effectively in a leading 
 daily, and hit off Marie, by the edge of a 
 
For Dividends Only 295 
 
 skirt disappearing in the background of the 
 picture. 
 
 John Hope was held in such high esteem in 
 New York, and had, without any particular 
 effort to make them either, such a multitude 
 of friends, that Peter and Marie Wainwright 
 actually fell, for a time, under a social cloud 
 for this transaction ; and the distinguished 
 persons whom they were continually inviting 
 to their home, almost invariably sent regrets, 
 for several months, until the matter had 
 partly died out of memory. 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp himself was compelled 
 to wince repeatedly under the thrusts made at 
 him. " I thought, Sharp," said one of his set, 
 " that there was no young man on the street 
 who stood so high in your estimation as John 
 Hope. Don t you see the ridiculous place 
 you have put yourself in, even among your 
 friends, by going back on him so out 
 rageously ? " 
 
 A captain of finance of another feather 
 and, as the plain dealer with Peter Wain- 
 wright suggested, there are many such per 
 sons, in New York and elsewhere, as honor 
 able, as high-minded, and as intent on the 
 
296 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 public good, in their respective ways, as John 
 Hope was called at Mr. Bonaparte Sharp s 
 place, waited an hour to see him, was ad 
 mitted to his private office, and there gave 
 him such a dressing down as he had not 
 received since he was a boy. He looked the 
 great man straight in the eye, recited the 
 circumstances, said that such an act was un 
 paralleled in his recollection among the re 
 spectable business men of New York, and pro 
 ceeded to say, that, if he ever heard of Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp s doing a like thing again, 
 he, and a number of his friends, would, most 
 likely, be heard from on the street in a way 
 not conducive to Mr. Bonaparte Sharp s peace 
 of mind or pecuniary advantage. 
 
 John Hope, on the contrary, without lifting 
 his hand for them, received several advan 
 tageous offers of important business positions ; 
 took time to consider them carefully; and, 
 finally, selected one, made him by a very 
 prominent and honorable concern, in a line in 
 which he was deeply interested and felt him 
 self strong, and which called for the use of his 
 best powers ; but which, aside from the exer 
 cise, day by day, of excellent judgment, gave 
 
For Dividends Only 297 
 
 him much leisure time. The salary going 
 with it was a large one, and the desire was 
 expressed by those who offered him the posi 
 tion that what he now undertook might prove 
 the entering wedge toward a permanent and 
 pivotal place in the concern. 
 
 Getting on well pecuniarily, thus, conscious 
 that he was doing, and thoroughly doing, a 
 man s work, and yet in comparative leisure 
 and freedom from burdensome care, this 
 resolute man straightway put himself upon 
 a comprehensive and strenuous course of read 
 ing on industrial and economic subjects. Not 
 only so, but he was fortunate enough to 
 secure private instruction from a celebrated 
 expert on these matters at Columbia Uni 
 versity, so that he got the academic point 
 of view, as well as that which his own experi 
 ence afforded him from the practical side. To 
 hear him, as this work went on, confirming 
 many of the conclusions of his profound and 
 masterful teacher, and stoutly dissenting, out 
 of the Annie Laurie record and along the line 
 of his weaver father s thinking, from others 
 of them, would have made your blood leap. 
 
 " When the tide turns," said John Hope to 
 
298 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 Hugh MacDonald, who, like Duncan McLeod 
 and himself, was not a "quitter" "When 
 the tide turns, and I have another chance, 
 I propose to be second to no man as a prac 
 tical expert in these directions ; and I am sure 
 that, though we were on right lines at the 
 Annie Laurie Mine, I can greatly improve on 
 what we so crudely undertook there, in any 
 program which it may seem best to inaugu 
 rate. In fact, I hope so to augment wisdom 
 and power by what I am now doing, that the 
 cause I stand for may have occasion to thank 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp, as for a real service, in 
 this which he, with quite other intentions, has 
 seen fit to do." 
 
XIX 
 
 JOSEPH MAKES HIMSELF STRANGE 
 
 UNOAIST McLEOD S 
 course of action, while 
 his men of the Annie 
 Laurie mine were scat 
 tered like sheep over 
 the mountains, and 
 while the mine itself 
 was being run for divi 
 dends only, will shortly appear. In this chap 
 ter we are concerned to inquire in what 
 temper he met this second great crisis of his 
 life, which was also his first outward defeat. 
 This will be best suggested by the following 
 paragraphs from a letter to his mother, writ 
 ten at once on his return from the public 
 service in the canon. Janet McLeod treasures 
 it still, with the tear stains on every page, 
 telling their sorrowful but heroic story. 
 
 After reciting the events already familiar 
 
 to us, and describing this page is hardly 
 299 
 
300 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 legible the meeting he has just dismissed, he 
 goes on : 
 
 "You will not hear from me again, my 
 mother, for a long time. First of my heart ; 
 then of my plan. 
 
 "My heart is broken. What I have now- 
 set down were enough to break it. I never 
 had a brother ; but, if brother love is greater 
 than that I bear our men, it must be a perilous 
 thing to carry about in one s breast. I have 
 wrought for them. I have watched them let 
 in the light. I have seen them open the door 
 to Him that stands knocking. I would die for 
 any one of them. Then, with one wanton, 
 cruel stroke, we are thrust apart, and they are 
 scattered abroad. I could not speak in the 
 canon. I took their pledges; gave them a 
 watchword ; announced a hymn ; asked Wil 
 kinson to the front; shook hands with him 
 good-bye for them all; prayed a few short 
 sentences ; and fled from them up the steep 
 canon-side. 
 
 " But Kathleen has done it. The sair hurt 
 at her hand disclosed to me the Elder Brother, 
 and so made all men ma ain brithers. Is the 
 hurt beginning to heal? you will be asking. 
 
Joseph Makes Himself Strange 301 
 
 On the contrary, it was never so deep. Its 
 depth renders even this parting almost a light 
 thing. 
 
 u Am I, then, unduly cast down ? No, my 
 mother. I could not have the memory of her 
 face with me, as it always is, and be cast 
 down. I never was so brave, had such cour 
 age, had such faith, in my life. Even this 
 Nero s act of a captain of finance will be re 
 versed. The Annie Laurie Mine will be a 
 glory to Christ yet. I saw Kathleen in my 
 dreams last night, and I saw the Saviour. I 
 know not which seemed to me sweeter, for his 
 grace clothed her like the light. Then it was 
 that I understood that the imperial edict of 
 the captain of finance would yet be reversed. 
 
 " So, my mother, I am valiant, and strong, 
 and glad ; cast down, but not destroyed, as 
 the apostle said. 
 
 " As for my plan : I am about to disappear. 
 I shall bear another name. My nearest, not 
 even you, my mother, will know where I am. 
 Did not Joseph make himself strange to his 
 brethren ? Spake he not roughly unto them ? 
 Did he not these things against their tyran 
 nous envy and hate? Were they not thank- 
 
302 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 ful, afterward, that he had deemed it wise so 
 to bear himself? Similarly, if God will be 
 with me in this way that I go, and I feel in 
 my soul that he will, I shall yet defeat the 
 envy and hate even of a captain of finance ; 
 and, my mother, not in wrath or vengef ulness, 
 but, as with Joseph and his brethren, for his 
 own good, in money, and in every other re 
 spect. 
 
 " What explanation will you give when you 
 are asked about me ? Simply say that Dun 
 can was sore worn at the Annie Laurie Mine ; 
 that he needed to be free from business alto 
 gether, even that by telegraph, and therefore 
 withheld his address ; that he pined to look 
 again on the Southern Cross; that he will 
 write, and will be back again, after a time ; 
 and that you are quite at ease that it should 
 be so, for his sake. All these items, unless 
 the last, are strictly true. You will make the 
 last true, my mother ? 
 
 "If any harm come to me, even were it 
 death, you will get a cablegram instantly, for 
 I shall have arranged against all contingen 
 cies, in ways that cannot miscarry. No news 
 will therefore be good news. 
 
Joseph Makes Himself Strange 303 
 
 "But what if harm shall come to my 
 mother ? Ah, that is the hard thing ! But I 
 have faith that such will not befall. 
 
 " Good-bye, my mother. Love for my men 
 of the Annie Laurie were motive enough for 
 that which I am now undertaking; but, be 
 lieve me, it is chiefly for the love of the Lord 
 Jesus, and of Kathleen, and of you, that I 
 do it." 
 
 Waiting until his plan can consecutively un 
 fold itself before us, it requires only to be 
 noted here that Janet and Duncan McLeod 
 were so at one, that her confidence in him 
 and in God was so complete, and, especially, 
 that she had so vicariously entered into his 
 anguish about Kathleen, that, notwithstand 
 ing the terrible strain upon her of his silence, 
 and of her uncertainty where he might be, she 
 made true that which Duncan requested, and 
 was " quite at ease that it should be so, for his 
 sake." They, be it added, are right, who re 
 ject certain artificial interpretations of the 
 "vicarious sacrifice" of Jesus. Janet and 
 Duncan both did that. But, be it further 
 added, a truth which experience had pro 
 foundly taught them, that no adequate love 
 
304 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 can exist, least of all that of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, without "vicarious sacrifice" in its 
 true and eternal sense. 
 
 But even Duncan s letter to his mother does 
 not so perfectly reveal his temper under his 
 terrible defeat, as does the following incident : 
 
 Registered, some months later, at Mel 
 bourne, as Thomas Bennett ; in outward ap 
 pearance a portly English gentleman, with 
 heavy side whiskers ; and never for one mo 
 ment suspecting that Kathleen Gordon is else 
 where than in Great Britain, Duncan un 
 avoidably overhears, at his first meal after 
 landing, this conversation across a dining-table 
 of the chief hotel in Australia : 
 
 " She s a wonder ! " 
 
 "Is n t she?" 
 
 " First woman speaker I ever heard that 
 completely commanded me." 
 
 " And they say that, with all her splendor of 
 moral purpose, she is very simple and win 
 some." 
 
 " Perfectly charming. Was the light of the 
 government ball last night. Wins the admi 
 ration and confidence of everybody. Has 
 smashed a dozen hearts, people on the top 
 
Joseph Makes Himself Strange 305 
 
 wave, too, since she came, and does not even 
 surmise it. It will be a brave man that asks 
 her hand. Beg pardon for such talk ; spoken, 
 however, in no trifling spirit, but to show 
 what she is. Daughter of a multi-millionaire, 
 and loves the people of the slums best ! Is it 
 not like Jesus and the fishermen ? Do n t fail 
 to hear her last address at the Opera House to 
 night. She sails for home to-morrow morning." 
 
 Duncan has landed in the late afternoon. 
 It is now seven o clock. The men talking have 
 gone, without mentioning a name. He knows 
 not to whom they refer, and dares not make 
 inquiry, or even look into a newspaper, lest he 
 betray himself. He shoves away his plate un 
 touched. He hastily dresses. He is at the 
 Opera House at seven thirty. Already it is 
 three-quarters full, but he secures a seat that 
 perfectly commands the stage, though pur 
 posely one a little sheltered from view. At 
 seven forty-five there is not a vacant sitting ; 
 at eight there is no standing room. 
 
 The governor-general brings her in. The 
 applause is deafening. She bows acknowl 
 edgment and takes her seat modestly, yet 
 with perfect composure. The simple, manly, 
 
 20 
 
306 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 felicitous words of the governor-general, in 
 introducing her, are said, and she rises to 
 speak. It is Kathleen ! 
 
 She is tall and fair, has a certain dignity 
 that is almost stately, and yet is lithe and 
 swift and graceful in movement, like a girl. 
 Her face reminds you of the Murillo of our 
 fourth chapter. Her eyes hold you like stars 
 in a June night. When she speaks, Duncan 
 divines, from the quality of her voice, that her 
 experience has paralleled his. Tenderness, 
 gentleness, a great, deep, suffering heart, ap 
 pear to him to be behind the words. 
 
 She begins in low tones, but is perfectly 
 heard throughout the great auditorium. Her 
 diction, mainly Anglo-Saxon, is exquisite ; her 
 modulation, perfect ; her hold on the audience, 
 from her first syllable, absolute. Her story 
 of the rise and progress of the social settle 
 ment movement in Great Britain and Amer 
 ica is clear, graphic, full of illustration, and 
 so moving that tears, at times, stream down 
 many faces. Occasional touches of humor, 
 too, and even of mirth, cause ripples of sub 
 dued laughter to play over the audience. She 
 speaks of Hull House, and even of John 
 
Joseph Makes Himself Strange 307 
 
 Hope s beloved Prospect Union, as if she had 
 visited them both. Then, as she draws to the 
 close, occur these words : 
 
 "Men and women of Australia, duty for 
 bade my accepting the kind invitation to 
 come to you. It arrived, however, at a crisis 
 in my life, steadied me to go forward, and 
 I thank you for it. It has, I regret to say, 
 taken me fifteen months to fulfil my promise, 
 then made, of a brief visit to you. I hardly 
 ought to have come at all, such is the pressure 
 at home; but, sailing as I do to-morrow 
 morning, I shall go back stronger for the 
 work there, by reason of the touch I have had 
 with this young commonwealth of yours, so 
 full of inconceivable possibilities, so advanced 
 along many good lines already, and so eager 
 for yet fresh forward steps. May I illustrate, 
 in closing, the spirit of enthusiasm and sacri 
 fice which the sort of life I have been de 
 scribing, evokes ? " 
 
 Then Kathleen adduces example after ex 
 ample, American, English, Scottish. Crown 
 ing them is this : 
 
 "I know a young woman who had loved 
 from a child. None knew it. She never ex- 
 
308 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 pected that her love would seek her. Sud 
 denly it did. It was glorious. It sought her 
 gloriously. She was caught up, as the apostle 
 said, into Paradise." Here Kathleen s face 
 shines like the sun. "Then," she goes on, 
 "not for social settlement work, for there 
 are many eager to enter that, but because 
 she had opportunity, as she thought, to modify 
 those deplorable conditions which render so 
 cial settlements necessary, that young woman 
 said, Nay, to the dearest longing of her life. 
 I am not saying that she acted rightly, and 
 would not have you so interpret me. It is 
 not casuistry that we are thinking of to-night, 
 but a far larger thing, namely, willingness for 
 utmost sacrifice in a great cause. Whether 
 rightly or wrongly, then, and I know several 
 parallel cases, she made the costliest sacri 
 fice that it is possible for a woman to make in 
 order to be true to this great exigency of our 
 time. 
 
 " O men, O women, of Australia, while 
 your commonwealth is yet young, forefend, 
 I pray you, those industrial-economic condi 
 tions for which such sacrifices as these can 
 only partly make amends in countries hoary 
 
Joseph Makes Himself Strange 309 
 
 with age when yours began. May God, in 
 his great mercy, grant such grace to Aus 
 tralia 1 " 
 
 She closes. The applause, deafening and 
 long-continued, turns into, "God Save the 
 Queen ! " sung by three thousand voices 
 profoundly moved. Then this fair creature, 
 her face like that of St. Cecilia listening to 
 the angel, is surrounded by an enthusiastic 
 throng, and Duncan faces once more the Hill 
 Difficulty. 
 
 For deep has called unto deep. The an 
 guish in that woman s heart, transmuted into 
 cheer, enthusiasm, and love for the suffering 
 ones of earth, Duncan knows, more plainly 
 than if she had put it into words, and only as 
 one can know who has experienced the same. 
 Had he not been a man of highest principle, 
 Kathleen had not sailed for Liverpool the 
 next morning, without first saying to him, face 
 to face, whether or not her decision seemed to 
 her to have been the true one. On the con 
 trary, amid that mighty assembly, taking 
 one last, hungering look at that queenly form 
 and transfigured face, he turned on his heel, 
 left the hall, went to his room, and did not 
 
310 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 leave it again until Kathleen was far out 
 at sea. 
 
 Two considerations, perceived with absolute 
 clearness, and as mandatory over him as if 
 Kathleen had herself enjoined them, decided 
 him upon this course. The first consideration 
 was the same as that which deterred Jesus from 
 making stones into bread. The second, was 
 Patrick Sullivan and Jamie McDuff and 
 George "Wilkinson and the rest, his sheep in 
 the wilderness, whom he must first gather 
 into one fold. 
 
XX 
 
 A RIGHTEOUS WOMAN S REPENTANCE 
 
 HILE Duncan McLeod 
 is ascending, thus, the 
 Hill Difficulty, look 
 ing the lions straight 
 
 ^ in the eye, nothing 
 
 daunted; and is on 
 his way, as one cannot but hope, to enter some 
 time the House Beautiful, we are permitted to 
 read this letter from Kathleen Gordon, written 
 from the Levant on her voyage to Australia, 
 and postmarked Port Said. For Kathleen s 
 closing words at Melbourne, to which Duncan 
 has just listened, had their spring in certain 
 heart-revealings which the voyage out had 
 brought to her, and which, as a sort of annota 
 tion, require, frankly and at once, to be placed 
 before the reader. 
 
 " Eastern Mediterranean, January 10. 
 " MY DEAREST MOTHER : 
 
 " How can I tell you of these great days ! 
 "We have had perfect weather. I prove on the 
 3" 
 
312 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 long voyage, as always on shorter ones, a 
 faultless sailor. Though it is midwinter, the 
 weather, even on the North Atlantic, has 
 been springlike, and I have been above deck 
 fifteen hours out of every twenty-four. The 
 first day or two I received many social atten 
 tions : but, in a way not to offend, but rather, 
 as I think, to enhance respect, I let it be un 
 derstood that I needed quiet ; and, conse 
 quently, I have had enough very pleasant com 
 pany, and yet much also of that solitude which, 
 out of so full a life, I greatly craved. The 
 moon was growing serviceable on the Atlantic, 
 and we have had it coming to the full on the 
 Mediterranean. Thus, nights and days alike 
 have given me a succession of never-to-be-for 
 gotten pictures. 
 
 " The people themselves have been tonic. 
 The Australian ships are spacious and mag 
 nificent. The table and service are admirable. 
 The passengers, as a rule, are Australian, with 
 means, breadth of view, ideals, and a breath, 
 somehow, of the open, that we of the Snug 
 Little Isle tend to be a bit deficient in. I have 
 been making a study of them, as a preparation 
 for my brief Australian work. The empire, 
 
A Righteous Woman s Repentance 313 
 
 and intense loyalty to it ; federation of our 
 colonies ; local autonomy, as with the States 
 in America ; a united front withal, common 
 purposes, one flag, and, wherever that flag 
 flies, altruistic aims for the world, are the 
 ruling notes, so far as I can judge, for this 
 youthful but mighty commonwealth beneath 
 the Southern Cross. 
 
 " How it stirs one s heart ! What a Provi 
 dence there has been in British history ! isola 
 tion of our Islands ; close touch, nevertheless, 
 with the Continent, and most helpful interac 
 tion between the two ; on our side the * streak 
 of silver sea, homes, freedom, a spiritual re 
 ligion ; and then these, as time has ripened, 
 gradually colonized all over the world, in the 
 United States, in Canada, in Africa, in India, 
 in Australia, and dotting, here and there, 
 almost the whole globe ! 
 
 " Consider the way, too, in which the United 
 States, through strikingly providential lead 
 ings, is bursting forth into a great, free, world- 
 power ! Are there not signs already, my 
 mother, that the two great English-speaking 
 nations, at heart one, will, ere long, go forth 
 conquering and to conquer, not with sabers 
 
314 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 or cannon or war-ships, but with liberty and 
 social regeneration and religion ? 
 
 " But it is the past that has been mainly 
 with me. Off our Islands, off France, off 
 Spain and Portugal, how the entire history of 
 Europe has seemed to be looking out across 
 the bright waters ! Then the Pillars of Her 
 cules, the shores of Africa, of Italy, of Greece, 
 of Phoenicia, and of Egypt, have reviewed for 
 me the story of this planet. Caesar, and Han 
 nibal, and Alexander, and David, and Rameses ; 
 Augustine, and Paul, and John, and Epictetus, 
 and Plato, and Socrates, and Homer, and Isa 
 iah, and Moses, and Abraham have seemed, 
 all of them, very near. Oh, that our ship 
 might have entered the JEgean Sea 1 Oh, 
 most of all, that I might have seen Bethle 
 hem, and Nazareth, and Calvary, and Olivet ! 
 But, my mother, He who gave these their 
 meanings, yes, and who gave the others their 
 meanings, too, has been present with me as 
 never before. 
 
 " And this leads me to what is most on my 
 heart. I have wronged you, my mother, and 
 you, my father. Not in anything outward, 
 God forbid ! but, since November 4, a year 
 
A Righteous Woman s Repentance 315 
 
 ago, when the letter from Colorado came, in 
 what I have withheld from you; for I owe 
 such a mother and such a father my confi 
 dence. You were both so good to me then ; 
 so tender, considerate, sympathetic; so open 
 and inclining in the direction I should natu 
 rally have taken ; so wisely reticent, neverthe 
 less ; and so helpful in every way ! Believe 
 me, though I almost adored you before, 
 neither of you ever so shone in my eyes as 
 in those days and since. 
 
 " But I sealed up my heart against you. I 
 made myself a kind of Amazon in outward 
 temper. I plunged fearfully into work. 
 Where it would all have ended, I know not, 
 but for something that happened in a docker s 
 home in Liverpool the next spring. A frail 
 little wife lay dying. * Could you fetch 
 Philip ? she asked, between breaths, plead 
 ingly. I hailed a cab, gave its driver two 
 sovereigns, and dashed like a mad woman two 
 miles and back through the congested streets 
 in thirty-five minutes. 
 
 " Aw, my Mary ! the docker exclaimed, 
 as if his heart would break. 
 
 " * My Philip 1 the sick woman answered. 
 
316 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 1 Do n t go, Miss Gordon, she added, for I was 
 trying to leave them alone ; I want you next 
 after Philip. 
 
 "He wrapped her in a blanket. He lifted 
 her, the Hercules that, when I found him, 
 was putting, unaided, an upright piano, just off 
 the Etruria, upon a dray, he lifted her into his 
 arms. They spoke, in the next hour, scarcely 
 a dozen words. Their eyes, their looks, his 
 caresses, her touches of the hand, told, how 
 ever, far more than volumes could have done. 
 
 " Kaise my head, please, Philip, she at 
 length said ; and then, with a strange strength, 
 asked : * Miss Gordon, would you be offended 
 if a dying woman should speak ? 
 
 " * By no means ; please do so, I replied. 
 
 " Miss Gordon, she went on, praising the 
 Stirling House work, saying that it had 
 changed their neighborhood, and the life of 
 Philip and herself, and adding to what person 
 she thought it had been primarily due. But, 
 Miss Gordon, she continued, as one who must 
 unburden one s mind, forgive me, but you are 
 not the woman you used to be. 
 
 " Then she motioned her husband to lay her 
 back for breath, and, as he did so, placed her 
 
A Righteous Woman s Repentance 317 
 
 hand against his cheek with a tenderness that 
 I never saw even between you and father, 
 though your relations are so beautiful. 
 
 " Raise me up again, please/ she said, after 
 a little, and resumed : Miss Gordon, are you 
 not killing some man ? Are you not killing, 
 thereby, the highest things in yourself ? Miss 
 Gordon, she tried to add, but her breath was 
 failing, Miss Gordon does not it say 
 " He that loveth is born of G " but 
 here she fell back, ceased breathing, and 
 yet, even then, somehow succeeded in laying 
 her hand once more against her husband s 
 cheek. 
 
 " I slipped out, and left him alone with his 
 dead. In a half hour he emerged, that burly, 
 begrimed docker, and, oh, my mother, some 
 great artist ought to have seen him, and to 
 have studied his face for a Dante meeting 
 Beatrice in the other world ! 
 
 " It was after that that I went alone, the 
 fortnight, to Arran. I hope that I have been 
 a different woman from that time. It was all 
 deeds before. I hope that it has been love and 
 deeds since. Before, it was all a following of 
 the Hero Jesus, but in that spirit in which 
 
318 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 Saul of Tarsus idealized and heroically set 
 himself to serve, as he thought, the ancient 
 Law. Since, it has been, I hope, a sitting, the 
 rather, at Jesus feet. 
 
 " But, even since that, I have kept on with 
 holding. It came over me, in its unloveliness, 
 selfishness and ingratitude, under the full 
 moon, while we sailed past Malta, the scene 
 of St. Paul s shipwreck, and while I was medi 
 tating upon his great sin amid, as he thought, 
 highest moral purpose and even actual right 
 eousness. (It is the next day after Malta, that 
 I am writing you.) 
 
 "What is it that I have withheld? The 
 weightiest thing, after God, in my life. You 
 see I could not bring myself to speak to you 
 of Duncan McLeod, as I ought to have done 
 when his letter came ; yes, and perhaps even 
 before. For I loved him from my going to 
 Mrs. McLeod s for Bible study. I never 
 dreamed he could be mine. He would not 
 dare ask for me, even if he wanted to, because 
 of father s money, I thought. That consider 
 ation, of itself, gave me an aversion to wealth 
 which I can hardly yet overcome ; and which, 
 long before my study of the industrial-eco- 
 
A Righteous Woman s Repentance 319 
 
 nomic situation, laid the foundation of the 
 views on that subject which I now hold, and 
 which father so deeply deplores. Later, when 
 Duncan s honors and successes began to come, 
 I was sure he would not want to ask for 
 me, under any conditions, that I was not 
 enough for him. But loving him and, until 
 I am now writing, none but God ever knew 
 made me, nevertheless, by God s help, the 
 woman I became. 
 
 "When, then, on that November 4, I got 
 the letter, it was as if heaven had descended 
 to earth. But, meantime, I had grown so 
 strenuous about duty, and about the Hero 
 Jesus, for that was the way I took, all mis 
 takenly, even Henry Drummond, as Duncan, 
 in his letter, implied that he, too, had done, 
 that I would not listen to your suggestion 
 about the divine leadings, and the voice 
 within, but wrote him, Nay. I did so, indeed, 
 on most conscientious grounds, of which I have 
 never spoken to any one except Duncan ; but, 
 if I ought not to leave Scotland, as I then 
 thought, and still think, that was no reason 
 why I should not frankly have said, * I have 
 loved you almost since I can remember ; and 
 
320 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 no reason why I should have done far worse, 
 namely, why I should have forbidden him, as 
 in effect I did, ever to reopen the subject. To 
 think that I did that ! That I affirmed a uni 
 versal negative ! That I undertook to limit a 
 free man, and God s providence for all the fu 
 ture ! "Why, setting all thought of self aside, 
 that act seems little short of blasphemy ! 
 
 " Now you know all. Please, mother, make 
 sure that father reads this letter. Please for 
 give, both of you, my withholding all this 
 from you, even as I trust that God forgives 
 me. 
 
 " Of one thing I am sure : there can be no 
 back track at present, if ever. I cannot re 
 open the matter. Nor can I let you or father 
 reopen it, through Mrs. McLeod, for in 
 stance, of whom you are both so fond. Dun 
 can will not improbably have turned in some 
 other direction. Not that he is unsteadfast ; 
 far otherwise ; but that, when he saw me so 
 churlish, he would naturally say, Kathleen is 
 not what I thought her to be ; I loved an 
 ideal, not her. And, even if he still regards 
 me, there is a way of the Divine Providence 
 from which one may not arbitrarily withdraw 
 
A Righteous Woman s Repentance 321 
 
 herself, especially if she has once made light of 
 its leadings. Man shall not live by bread 
 alone. The cup which rny Father hath 
 given me, shall I not drink it ? 
 
 " With my heart s best love, save that for 
 Duncan, which, as with the love for Jesus, 
 makes my love for you both even greater, 
 " Your ain lassie, 
 
 "KATHLEEN." 
 
 Inclosed with this letter, Annie Gordon 
 found the following lines, clipped from an 
 Australian newspaper : 
 
 1 Love comes with the morning s flush, 
 
 With the blaze of noon, 
 With the dew at the evening s hush, 
 With the rising moon. 
 
 "He knows neither high nor low, 
 
 Neither young nor old, 
 Nor the fiery tropics glow, 
 Nor arctic cold. 
 
 " He beams in the maiden s eye, 
 
 In the eye of the sage, 
 In the eye if a warrior die, 
 In the orbs of age. 
 
 "And out of his fires, in pain, 
 
 And smiles, and tears, 
 Are forged the links of the chain 
 That binds the spheres." 
 
 21 
 
XXI 
 
 BONAPARTE SHAEP CATCHES A TABTAE 
 
 UNO AN McLEOD was 
 a law unto himself. 
 What he did, as in this 
 chapter record ed, his 
 " plan," as he called it in 
 writing to his mother, 
 this writer neither indorses nor condemns. 
 Duncan seems to have been a kind of third 
 cousin to Jamie Soutar of Drumtochty. He 
 would debate the proposition with John Hope 
 by the hour, " That not all people have a right 
 to the truth." But, though you might con 
 demn him therein, you would require, as with 
 his third cousin, to travel a long way to find a 
 truer man. 
 
 To bring this whole matter in outline before 
 us, we shall have to return to Colorado, to the 
 Annie Laurie Mine, and to the small hours at 
 
 the beginning of June 16, following that 
 322 
 
Bonaparte Sharp Catches a Tartar 323 
 
 memorable service, the previous evening, in 
 the canon, under the ripening moon. 
 
 The seventy miles ride to the railway sta 
 tion, from three o clock that morning until 
 five o clock the next afternoon, was destined 
 never to be forgotten by both Duncan Mc- 
 Leod and John Hope, After mounting the 
 stage and getting under way, each man closed 
 his eyes, and supposed that the other thought 
 him asleep. On the contrary, each man was 
 never more awake, and the intensity of their 
 thinking could not be expressed in words. 
 This condition continued until at seven o clock 
 they stopped at a ranch for breakfast. 
 
 When they were on their way again, each 
 tried, for an hour or two, to keep up the 
 other s spirits by an outward gaiety not lack 
 ing in humor, bright repartee and brilliant 
 passages, amid which, for the moment, they 
 really had a very merry time. As the fore 
 noon waned, and until after dinner at another 
 ranch, they largely relapsed into silence but 
 kept a cheerful mien. After dinner they went 
 through the sleeping act again, each supposing 
 that the other was blissfully oblivious to all 
 outer things ; but, as before, each man was do- 
 
324 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 ing prodigious thinking. When they alighted 
 at the station, each was very bright and sunny, 
 full of jokes and good fellowship, and this 
 mood continued almost until the moment of 
 their parting. 
 
 During the day s more serious conversation, 
 John frankly outlined to Duncan that general 
 course of procedure which he intended enter 
 ing upon when he should reach New York, 
 and with the working out of which the reader 
 is already familiar. 
 
 Duncan, on the other hand, maintained the 
 utmost reticence about his plans, simply say 
 ing, in the tone which he had requested his 
 mother to assume, that, after such a long and 
 unbroken period of exacting toil, he wanted 
 an extended rest, and, probably, before his 
 return would see some of the islands of the 
 Pacific and come underneath the Southern 
 Cross. 
 
 " Do not for a moment, John," he added, 
 " think me unduly downhearted, though this 
 is a terrible blow for us all ; but assume that, 
 after these full years, I shall be lying fallow, 
 filling up, and, I hope, learning something. 
 My plans are not fully matured, and I think 
 
Bonaparte Sharp Catches a Tartar 325 
 
 it better, until I have further light on the sub 
 ject, to withhold even my address, and, much 
 more, any itinerary of my wanderings. I am 
 liable, as you may imagine, to various over 
 tures in mining directions, particularly when 
 it shall come to be at all generally known 
 that I am unemployed. I want to be free, in 
 particular, from the interminable letter-writ 
 ing, telegraphing, and even cabling, of that 
 sort; but, John, however long I may disap 
 pear from the world, do not for one moment 
 think that the friendship which has so long 
 existed between us, and the common objects 
 which we have in view, can in the least grow 
 dim. Sooner or later you will hear from me, 
 and I hope, when the time arrives, to give an 
 account of myself that will be satisfactory 
 even to a person of your exacting standards." 
 These words were said after the merry 
 making of the forenoon, just before both the 
 men lapsed into more or less of silence. 
 When Duncan had spoken them, as if some 
 thing weighty were off his mind, he seemed 
 less tense than earlier; and John, who care 
 fully refrained from questioning him, felt 
 greatly relieved thereby : for, in view par- 
 
326 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 ticularly of Duncan s several uninterrupted 
 years of hard work, he feared that a break 
 down might impend. Moreover, although he 
 was greatly puzzled by what Duncan said, 
 he did not in the least indicate it, but was 
 content merely with saying to himself : 
 " Strange ! Some profound mystery ! Devel 
 opments later that will surprise everybody 1 " 
 
 When the eastbound transcontinental mail 
 pulled in, Duncan, with the tenderness of a 
 girl, saw that John s belongings were snugly 
 bestowed in the sleeper; presented him with 
 an elegant edition of Burns poems as a part 
 ing gift ; bade him good-bye with a voice that 
 choked ; as the train, under the shadow of the 
 giant Kockies, climbed toward the Divide, 
 stood watching it until it plunged into a 
 canon; and then, looking up into the open 
 sky, whispered to himself words which were 
 obviously those of most heartfelt prayer. 
 
 But for he had yet an hour to wait for his 
 own train, and this was Duncan all over he 
 ended his prayer quickly, strode up a neigh 
 boring gulch, seated himself upon a boulder 
 in a secluded spot, and thus soliloquized : 
 " Yes it will do. I think I see him when he 
 
Bonaparte Sharp Catches a Tartar 327 
 
 finds it out! he that offered three-quarters 
 of a million for a fifth of the stock! of 
 course he did not pay it and that warned 
 Hope and MacDonald against stockholders 
 meetings ! It will do yes." Thereupon he 
 laughed until the tears ran down his face, and 
 until he rubbed his sides for their aching. 
 
 He ticketed for San Francisco. He spent 
 three weeks along the Pacific coast, which he 
 had not seen, visiting some of its many at 
 tractive places, and being especially moved by 
 the old missions of the Mexican days. He 
 read, in this connection, everything he could 
 lay hold of, by " H. H.," and got from a pub 
 lic library certain old tales in the same tem 
 per, including the "Saxe Holm s Stories." 
 Their rare insight into the life of love clari 
 fied his thinking on that subject, comforted 
 him, and greatly steadied him to be strong 
 and to wait. 
 
 On the tenth of July, he took passage for 
 Australia by a steamer which called at Hono 
 lulu. He withheld himself almost altogether 
 from acquaintance and even from conversa 
 tion on board ship. The one exception to this 
 was his room steward. This man he found to 
 
328 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 be very intelligent, earnest of spirit, and, as 
 they grew better acquainted, a devoted Chris 
 tian. The man had a family dependent upon 
 him. He had seen better days. The after 
 noon of the day before they sighted the 
 Hawaiian Islands, Duncan said to him in the 
 most casual way : " I have never seen these 
 islands, and ought, properly, to stop over one 
 or two ships in order to visit them. During 
 the hours that the ship remains in port, I am 
 proposing a pretty full run out into the 
 country ; and, of course, it may happen that I 
 shall be belated. In that case, will you kindly 
 say as little about it as possible, to avoid mak 
 ing me appear ridiculous, and see that my lug 
 gage is put on shore ? The two small trunks 
 and the suit case are marked distinctly with a 
 Maltese cross. Do not, however, attend to 
 this, please, until the last moment, lest I 
 should come hurrying in with only time to 
 reembark, and without a minute to have the 
 luggage brought back again." 
 
 The ship made the beautiful harbor in 
 the early forenoon, and lay there until five 
 o clock in the afternoon. Duncan s room 
 steward whom he had presented with a large 
 
Bonaparte Sharp Catches a Tartar 329 
 
 fee, saying, " You are carrying a heavy load, 
 and you will not mind, will you, if I lend you 
 a hand in this way ? " kept careful watch up 
 to the last moment, and, five minutes before 
 the sailing, as Duncan was nowhere in sight, 
 sent the luggage ashore. Duncan did not ap 
 pear, the ship sailed, and the room steward 
 saw him no more. 
 
 Duncan, on the other hand, as the reader 
 will have surmised, had no intention of re 
 turning to the ship. He went straight out 
 into the country instead, and there secluded 
 himself for several weeks. Then he returned 
 to Honolulu, registered at its principal hotel 
 under the name of Thomas Bennett, and 
 claimed his luggage by the mark upon it of 
 the Maltese cross. His appearance, on his 
 return from his seclusion, was so completely 
 changed that some passengers by his steamer, 
 who remained in Honolulu and even at the 
 same hotel, failed to recognize him. He let 
 his heavy beard grow ; assiduously cultivated 
 striking side-whiskers ; ate like a gormand ; 
 refrained from exercise, so far as he could do 
 so without positively injuring his health ; and 
 put on flesh at the rate of several pounds a 
 
33 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 week. " I did not take first-class honors in 
 biology at Edinburgh for nothing," he would 
 say to himself before his looking-glass, and 
 then he would laugh. 
 
 Though his headquarters were at Honolulu 
 until January, his time was spent at a number 
 of points, and on a variety of excursions 
 through the islands. He retained his room at 
 his Honolulu hotel, paid his bills with punctil 
 ious promptness, and only attracted attention 
 by the circumstance of his extreme quiet and 
 of his receiving no mail. When some one in 
 nocently inquired whether all his friends had 
 forgotten him, he stated that he had expressly 
 arranged not to receive correspondence, in 
 order that he might the more completely give 
 himself up to a much needed rest. 
 
 When, in January, Thomas Bennett sailed 
 for Melbourne, he weighed nearly, sixty pounds 
 more than when he landed, was brown as a 
 nut, and had the bearing, accent, and general 
 appearance of a portly English gentleman of 
 wealth and leisure, who, those who knew him 
 supposed, had been badly overworked, and 
 whose seclusion and efforts at recuperation 
 had been crowned with astonishing success. 
 
Bonaparte Sharp Catches a Tartar 331 
 
 " I wish you would give me your recipe for 
 quiet living and flesh-gaining," was a remark 
 often made to him. 
 
 We have been present on the evening of his 
 arrival at Melbourne, and have been witnesses 
 of the extraordinary scene at the Opera House, 
 in which, to his amazement, he was a sharer. 
 He had intended to remain in Australia for 
 some time, and thence to proceed to South 
 Africa ; but the words he heard at the Opera 
 House quickened his pace, and he took passage 
 by the next ship that sailed for Liverpool. He 
 ticketed, however, only as far as Port Said, 
 gave himself three weeks in Egypt and the 
 Holy Land, and then sailed for Italy. From 
 there, as swiftly as possible, he made his way 
 by rail to Havre, and thence sailed for New 
 York, where he landed in the latter part of 
 March. 
 
 Meantime he had continued to put on flesh 
 and to affect the bearing of an English 
 gentleman. He took elegant bachelor quar 
 ters in the metropolis, and immediately began 
 doing something in stocks and cultivating as 
 siduously the acquaintance of moneyed men, 
 though with a quiet and reserve that, particu- 
 
33 2 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 larly in view of the style of the man, surprised 
 all who came to know him. He did exceed 
 ingly well in his Wall Street operations; so 
 much so as to attract attention. 
 
 " Uncommon man, that Bennett," said a 
 leading man of the street ; "a complete 
 stranger, and yet investing like an old hand ; 
 he s a man to cultivate." This remark was 
 repeated, in differing phraseology, scores of 
 times before the grass in the parks required 
 cutting. 
 
 The degree to which Thomas Bennett s ac 
 quaintance bore cultivation was astonishing. 
 He was gentlemanly, affable, full of good 
 stories, on the search constantly for informa 
 tion, extremely reticent about himself, helpful 
 on many sides to those about him, and soon 
 grew to be very much of a favorite in the 
 select circle which he admitted to a certain in 
 timacy. He was an enigma to them all. The 
 only direction in which he referred to himself 
 was in mining matters ; and on these topics he 
 spoke with a fulness, an aptness of illustra 
 tion, a candor, a grip of the subject, and a 
 penetration, which led swiftly to his being 
 much consulted about mining investments. 
 
Bonaparte Sharp Catches a Tartar 333 
 
 During the interval covered by this chapter, 
 matters had gone from bad to worse at the 
 Annie Laurie Mine. Before the snow flew, 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp had been compelled to 
 discharge Dunbar McLean; and it was only 
 by some extremely clever moves that the lat 
 ter escaped the country without the institu 
 tion of criminal proceedings against him. Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp appointed in his place a man 
 named Williams, but, though plodding and 
 faithful, he was not at all adequate to so im 
 portant a position. He knew enough of his 
 business, however, to be able to report the 
 havoc which Dunbar McLean had wrought. 
 
 For Duncan McLeod had not left the for 
 mula in modification of the chemical process 
 for extracting gold and silver on which the 
 mine paid a royalty, and which he had im 
 proved upon to a very marked degree ; and, in 
 order to keep up dividends, Dunbar McLean 
 had ceased development work almost alto 
 gether, and had mined here and there where 
 he could find pockets of very rich ore. The 
 effect of this on the whole underground situa 
 tion was something fearful. It took the new 
 assistant general manager more than two 
 
334 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 months to get the levels properly cleared and 
 into adequate operation ; and, in the mean 
 time, as the aftermath of Dunbar McLean s 
 administration, the esprit de corps of the mine 
 was so low, and the skill of the workers so 
 slight, that not until February did the mine 
 get back to a point where it met its expenses. 
 This, moreover, made no account of large out 
 lays which Dunbar McLean s extravagant 
 management, ill-advised schemes for pushing 
 the mine, and so forth, had obliged Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp to undergo; for that financier 
 was so chagrined at this outcome of his 
 regime, that he himself met the bills, and did 
 not assess the other stockholders. During the 
 month or two following, while the mine paid 
 its way, there were no dividends and no pros 
 pects of any in the near future. 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp who, it should be 
 stated, had never seen Duncan McLeod was 
 at first indignant, then anxious, and then de 
 spondent. " Oh, that I could find a suitable 
 man to put in charge of that property ! " he 
 said, among his set, over and over again. 
 About the first of May, one of his friends sug 
 gested the query, whether Thomas Bennett 
 
Bonaparte Sharp Catches a Tartar 335 
 
 were not his man ; and the always alert Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp began, first to look him up, 
 and then to cultivate him. This he did 
 swiftly, and in a way highly satisfactory to 
 himself, except in one particular. "What is 
 Bennett s record ? What mines has he been 
 with ? Can he refer to John Hays Hammond, 
 or to any other well known South African or 
 Australian expert ? " the great man asked. 
 
 "It is singular," replied his friend, "but 
 Bennett is obviously an extremely reserved 
 man, out of whom nothing can be got about 
 his past record. In most men this would be 
 ground for suspicion. In Bennett s case, how 
 ever, I know him so well, and others in whom 
 I have confidence so thoroughly believe in 
 him, that I am almost absolutely sure of his 
 integrity, of his ability, and especially of his 
 great capacity in mining matters. Sharp, you 
 yourself, or I, if we were going to London or 
 to Berlin, might choose, as a mere idiosyncrasy, 
 to shut our mouths like clams about our rec 
 ords, and yet that would be nothing against 
 us." 
 
 The next evening the captain of finance had 
 Thomas Bennett to dine, and was completely 
 
336 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 won by him. His bearing, the clear evi 
 dences of integrity and noble living in the 
 man, his facility in conversation, the wide 
 range of his information, his astuteness about 
 mining matters, and a certain winsome per 
 sonal charm, fairly " carried " Mr. Bonaparte 
 Sharp. 
 
 "Mr. Bennett, may I tell you about my 
 mine ? " asked the latter, when they were in 
 his den. 
 
 "Certainly, I should be glad to hear," an 
 swered Thomas Bennett. 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp then went elaborately 
 into the story of his sorrows and misfortunes, 
 now of nearly a year s continuance, in con 
 nection with the Annie Laurie camp. " Mr. 
 Bennett," he concluded, " from all that I can 
 learn about you, and from our conversation 
 this evening, I feel sure that you are the one 
 person who can put that mine again on its 
 feet. I am willing to pay you a high salary, 
 and I am hoping you will do me the kind 
 ness to accept my proposition." 
 
 "I am not, Mr. Sharp," Thomas Bennett re 
 plied, "one who desires a large salary. The 
 mine, in fact, can hardly afford to pay such a 
 
Bonaparte Sharp Catches a Tartar 337 
 
 salary, if it is in the condition in which you 
 represent it to be. I shall be glad, on the con 
 trary, to undertake the work at whatever 
 salary was paid in the earlier years of the en 
 terprise ; but, on the other hand, I am not 
 willing to put my experience and life into that 
 work without owning some appreciable por 
 tion of the stock." 
 
 This was a poser for Mr. Bonaparte Sharp. 
 He was sure he could not yield that point. 
 He argued, cogently and persistently, but 
 Thomas Bennett was inflexible. They parted 
 without coming to any agreement. Early the 
 next morning, however, a messenger called at 
 Thomas Bennett s apartments, and asked him 
 to come, as soon as he conveniently could, to 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp s office. 
 
 " How much stock do you want ? " inquired 
 the captain of finance, when Thomas Bennett 
 arrived. 
 
 " You say that the face value of the shares, 
 before the change of management, was twenty- 
 five hundred dollars ; that, at that time, they 
 had a much higher value ; and that there are 
 only one hundred shares?" rejoined Thomas 
 Bennett. 
 
 22 
 
338 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 " Exactly," answered Mr. Bonaparte Sharp. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Sharp, if I undertake this work," 
 said Thomas Bennett, " I shall make it a suc 
 cess ; and, in ordinary circumstances, I would 
 not touch it without the right to acquire a 
 quarter interest. But, as you are anxious not 
 to diminish your holdings too much, I am will 
 ing to take a sixth interest, or, to avoid frac 
 tions, fifteen shares, and to pay you their face 
 value, which, so nearly as I can learn, exceeds 
 their worth, as the mine has for some time 
 been doing." 
 
 " And how will you pay me ? " asked Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp. 
 
 "I will give you my check at once for the 
 total amount on the First National Bank," re 
 plied Thomas Bennett. 
 
 " Draw it," cried Mr. Bonaparte Sharp, and 
 check and certificate of stock exchanged 
 places. 
 
 " How soon can you take hold at the mine ? " 
 inquired Mr. Bonaparte Sharp. 
 
 " I shall need to give a few weeks to some 
 other matters," said Thomas Bennett ; " but, 
 by the first of July, Mr. Sharp, I think I can 
 be on the ground to begin work." 
 
Bonaparte Sharp Catches a Tartar 339 
 
 " That will do admirably," exclaimed Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp, rubbing his hands. "Be 
 tween now and that time I shall be able to 
 close out matters with the present incumbent, 
 and have everything in shape for you to take 
 up the work." 
 
 The two men parted. That afternoon 
 Thomas Bennett sailed for Liverpool. When 
 the pilot went over the ship s side at Sandy 
 Hook, he bore in his letter bag this communi 
 cation to John Hope : 
 
 " /S. S. Teutonic, Down the Bay } May 15. 
 " MY DEAR JOHN : 
 
 " Shake ! Oh, that we might shake, and 
 might pound each other, and laugh to our 
 heart s content ! Sometimes it seems as if I 
 should burst. About what ? Let we tell 
 you. 
 
 "I have reappeared in the world. This, 
 however, is the first moment. I did not study 
 biology to no profit. I have been in New 
 York for some time as a portly English gen 
 tleman, Thomas Bennett by name, operating 
 somewhat in "Wall Street, a business I hate ; 
 but I did nothing not strictly honorable, 
 
340 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 and, especially, cultivating the acquaintance 
 of men interested in mines. Some of them 
 were friends of Mr. Bonaparte Sharp. They 
 thought I could get him out of his troubles. 
 After considerable negotiation, we came to an 
 understanding. He offered me a high salary, 
 which I maintained that the mine could not 
 afford to pay. All I asked was such compen 
 sation as the mine s early pay-roll called for. 
 But I was inflexible on one point, namely, 
 that he should sell me fifteen shares of Annie 
 Laurie stock. He was resolute, at first, not to 
 do this ; but, at nine-thirty this morning, I 
 gave him my check on the First National Bank 
 for thirty -seven thousand, five hundred dollars, 
 and my certificate for the fifteen shares of 
 stock is at that bank, to be called for by John 
 Hope. This, if the old conditions have not 
 otherwise changed, leaves the present holdings 
 of stock as follows : 
 
 Sharp 40 shares. 
 
 Hope, 30 shares. 
 
 McLeod, 25 shares. 
 
 MacDonald, 5 shares. 
 
 "If I am correct in this assumption, you 
 ought to be able to have an edifying annual 
 
Bonaparte Sharp Catches a Tartar 341 
 
 meeting of the stockholders, June 3, notwith 
 standing the warning the great man gave you 
 against such gatherings. 
 
 " I am going to see my mother, but shall be 
 in New York not later than June 10, ready to 
 take hold with you along any lines that may 
 seem best; that is, assuming that the stock 
 is as above indicated. Cable me fully at 
 Queenstown, please, using the old cipher; and 
 manage until my return according to your own 
 sweet will. 
 
 " I have had, I ought to say in conclusion, 
 some compunctions about using an assumed 
 name. It is the only respect, however, since 
 we parted, in which rny conduct has been 
 questionable. But Joseph did virtually the 
 same thing with his brethren, to the good of 
 them and of everybody ; and, in war, no reason 
 able person would for a moment hesitate to do 
 it. That is to say, there are honorable duties 
 of a spy ; we praise Nathan Hale and Major 
 Andre ; and what Mr. Bonaparte Sharp levied 
 on us, and on some hundreds of souls closely 
 associated with us, was nothing less than war, 
 and that of a most unjustifiable, venomous 
 and cruel sort. Such action, on his part, in 
 
342 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 my judgment, and I have been entirely con 
 scientious in this whole matter, ought not to 
 be given place to, no, not for an hour. And, 
 John, believe me, from my shaking hands 
 good-bye with you, June 16, last, until now, I 
 have not for one hour given place to that in 
 carnation of the devil which the policy of Mr. 
 Bonaporte Sharp constitutes. My course 
 agrees, also, with my old-time contention, 
 That not all people have a right to the truth. 
 " With my love to the Old Guard, as fast as 
 you may be communicating with its members, 
 and with a devotion to you that knows no 
 bounds, I am 
 
 " Always yours, 
 
 " DUNCAN McLEOD." 
 
 When John Hope received this letter the 
 next forenoon, that alw ays self -mastered man 
 went almost wild. He sent his bookkeeper, 
 his stenographer and his office boy on a holi 
 day till the next morning. He posted a no 
 tice reading, " Office Closed Until To-morrow," 
 and doubly locked the outside door. He even 
 bolted the door of his inner office. Then, be 
 hind it, he danced, he sang, he laughed, he 
 
CiKUS 
 
 HE SANG, HE LAUGHED, HE CRIED" 
 
Bonaparte Sharp Catches a Tartar 343 
 
 cried, he opened his Bible, laid it down on a 
 chair, and, kneeling over it there, poured out 
 his soul in such a volume of thanksgiving as 
 had never before escaped even his lips. Then 
 he picked himself together. He sat calmly 
 down. He closed his eyes. Thus for the rest 
 of the day he sat motionless and engaged in 
 profound thought, save that, thrice, he paced 
 the room for perhaps a half hour. At five 
 o clock he opened his eyes, closed his desk, left 
 his office, and sent this telegram, in cipher, to 
 Mary Hope at Fall Kiver : 
 
 "The counsel of Ahithophel is defeated. Duncan Mo- 
 Leod and John Hope control the Annie Laurie Mine. The 
 men, scattered far abroad, will be on duty at the mine July 1. 
 God is good, my mother. Join me in thanksgivings, and 
 pray that Duncan and I may be granted wisdom, grace and 
 power to do God s work in the industrial-economic world." 
 
XXII 
 
 HIS BLANK WALL EISES AGAIN 
 
 HEN the Tartar had been 
 caught by Mr. Bonaparte 
 Sharp, he kept his head, 
 save in one particular. 
 
 At five o clock of John 
 Hope s tumultuous day, 
 when he came to unlock 
 the door of his outer 
 office, he found the after 
 noon s accumulation of 
 mail lying on the floor 
 beneath the letter slot. 
 Each letter had its return 
 mark printed in its upper left corner, and 
 was clearly of a business nature, except one. 
 This was in a plain, cheap envelope ; inclosed, 
 obviously, equally cheap letter-paper; and 
 was apparently addressed by some awkward 
 farmer, in a crabbed hand which was per 
 fectly legible, but which permitted itself 
 
 344 
 
His Blank Wall Rises Again 345 
 
 several angles of inclination. The letter was 
 somewhat crumpled and soiled, and was post 
 marked Morristown, "N. J. John threw the 
 rest of the mail upon a table, but thrust this 
 letter into his pocket, supposing that it was 
 from some rural correspondent, and that he 
 might extract some amusement from it while 
 he dined. It resulted, however, in his not 
 dining at all. 
 
 For, when he had sent the telegram to his 
 mother, had boarded an uptown Elevated 
 train, and had reached Chambers Street, he 
 bethought him of the letter, tore it open, 
 glanced it through, got off at the next station, 
 took the next downtown train, alighted, sent 
 his mother a second telegram, bought a sand 
 wich from a stand at a street corner, and, re 
 turning to his office, ate the sandwich, and did 
 not emerge to the outer world until nearly 
 midnight. The second telegram, which, like 
 the first, was in cipher, read : 
 
 " Earlier message strictly confidential until after June 
 third. Tell nobody. Do n t refer to it even in writing me. " 
 
 The letter from Duncan McLeod, received 
 in the forenoon, and which we have been per 
 mitted to read, was on elegant White Star 
 
346 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 stationery, which comported with Duncan s 
 own, for he was punctilious in such matters. 
 This letter was from Duncan, too, and in his 
 usual handwriting, excepting the address. 
 When John Hope had read it, he understood 
 that its cheap stationery, like its rustic ex 
 terior, was a part of Thomas Bennett s art, 
 and not to be attributed to Duncan McLeod. 
 He also inferred that the pilot had come 
 at once up the harbor ; had promptly and 
 properly deposited his regular steamer mail at 
 the New York post-office, as the postmark on 
 the White Star envelope indicated; but had 
 left in his pocket this epistle, handed him as 
 he went down the ship s side, and had forgot 
 ten it until reaching Morristown, where he 
 not improbably lived. It was hardly legible 
 because of the haste in which it had been 
 written. It read as follows : 
 
 " & Teutonic, May 15, Later. 
 "Thomas Bennett, like Melchisedec, has 
 neither beginning of days, nor end of life. 
 No one but himself was ever to have known 
 whence he came, or whither he went, not 
 even his mother. 
 
His Blank Wall Rises Again 347 
 
 "But when the Teutonic got below the 
 Battery, this perfect day, under the afternoon 
 sun, the city, the East Eiver and its bridge, 
 Brooklyn, the North Kiver, the Palisades, 
 Hoboken, Jersey City, Bergen Hill, Staten 
 Island, the shimmering green ridge of Orange 
 Mountain, the forts, the Narrows, the sea be 
 yond, they simply * carried me. I accord 
 ingly threw caution to the winds ; locked my 
 self in my stateroom ; wrote you as I did. 
 * Better tell the whole thing, glory over our 
 enemy, glory in the deed ourselves, if we care 
 to, I said. In fact, I was so sure on this 
 point, that, without one compunction, I sealed 
 the letter, dropped it into the pilot s bag in 
 the main saloon, and gave myself up to enjoy 
 ing our getting out to sea. I did so even 
 until we had passed Quarantine. 
 
 "Then, thank God! I came to myself. 
 The pilot s bag had been taken; he himself 
 would drop to his skiff in twenty minutes ; 
 it was too late to recover the letter; there 
 fore this. Also, inclosed with this, the 
 letter which I had planned to send, that 
 you may see how secretive I meant to be. 
 I see the pilot already preparing to leave 
 
348 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 the bridge. I will give this to him as he 
 drops off. 
 
 " Tell nobody. Divulge nothing until June 
 3. Let Bonaparte Sharp lead then, and show 
 his cards if he will. Even after he has done 
 that, tell nothing, but simply vote my stock. 
 We deal with a treacherous enemy. If profit- 
 sharing maddened him, what will not be his 
 sentiments toward Thomas Bennett? Besides, 
 to look on the serious side of any glorying 
 over him that might be proper, no judgment 
 on such a man can equal a mysterious and in 
 explicable one. His forces are material, and 
 are capable of being accurately gauged. Let 
 him seem to himself, on the contrary, to have 
 been challenged and worsted by forces imma 
 terial and incapable of measurement. Noth 
 ing that we can do will so move him as that, 
 and for his good, let us hope. 
 
 " Pilot is going. I return by the Eiver St. 
 Lawrence shall give New York wide berth 
 do n t cable or write me will wire from St. 
 
 Paul. 
 
 D. McL." 
 
 The letter " inclosed " that John Hope 
 might "see how secretive" Duncan McLeod 
 
His Blank Wall Rises Again 349 
 
 had "meant to be" was entirely typewrit 
 ten, excepting the initials at the end, which 
 were autograph ; and was identical in station 
 ery and address with the Morristown letter. 
 It was as follows : 
 
 " 8. S. Teutonic, Down the Bay, May 15. 
 "Kindly call at First National Bank for package of in 
 terest to you. Please use it, June 3, to utmost advantage. 
 I am on way to see my mother. Deemed it inexpedient to 
 send you so little even as this, before I was almost at sea. 
 Tell nothing to any human being. Know nothing. Don t 
 try to communicate with me. On or about June 15, you 
 are likely to be communicated with. 
 
 "D. McL." 
 
 The gist of the foregoing was what Duncan 
 McLeod was thinking through, during both of 
 the sleeping acts of June 16 of the previous 
 year, when he and John Hope were quitting 
 the Annie Laurie Mine. His letter to his 
 mother, written the night of June 15, a part 
 of which has been reproduced for us, was 
 already in the mail at the time of the sleeping 
 acts, or he would have recalled the words- 
 even to her, and extremely vague though they 
 were about Joseph s conduct toward his 
 brethren, and Duncan s project of undertaking 
 something of the same sort. " This kind of 
 thing, and especially in dealing with a man 
 
350 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 like Bonaparte Sharp, would better be known 
 to no one but to God," he said to himself, as 
 he opened his eyes on arriving at the ranch 
 where he and John Hope breakfasted that 
 summer morning, so beautiful, so heartbreak 
 ing; and he has never been able to forgive 
 himself, since, for the letter, so lightly writ 
 ten, on the Teutonic s stationery, the next 
 May, when the tables were beginning to turn. 
 
 Cowardice, it need hardly be added, had no 
 part in this secretiveness, nor in the return 
 " by the Eiver St. Lawrence," and his giving 
 New York a " wide berth." Both of the 
 latter were parts of his original plan, from 
 which he only wavered in his ecstasy the 
 afternoon he put to sea after Thomas Bennett 
 had given his check to Mr. Bonaparte Sharp. 
 His only motive, in this entire astute pro 
 gram, was to effect, with a certainty the more 
 absolute, the ends to which he had dedicated 
 his life. 
 
 John Hope was not less penetrating or fore- 
 sighted than Duncan McLeod ; but, although 
 he had spent several hours in profound thought 
 on the entire general problem, and had done 
 so to excellent purpose, he, like Duncan, had 
 
His Blank Wall Rises Again 
 
 been so " carried " by this sudden defeating of 
 " the counsel of Ahitbophel," as he character 
 ized it to his mother, that he only got Dun 
 can s point of view when he read the Morris- 
 town letter. This was why he dined on a 
 sandwich, and did not leave his office again 
 until nearly midnight. When that time ar 
 rived, he not only had the general problem 
 well thought through, but the problem at its 
 most perilous point, namely, anent Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp ; and Duncan himself could not 
 have been more circumspect than was John in 
 the successive steps which he thenceforth took. 
 He did not, for example, go into the First 
 National Bank for a week after the Teutonic 
 sailed. Then he happened in on important 
 business for his firm. " By the way," said the 
 president, while that was being transacted, " I 
 think I heard one of our tellers say that a 
 messenger boy left a package for you in 
 his care a week or two ago." John Hope 
 seemed hardly to notice what the president 
 said ; talked earnestly on points connected 
 with the business that had brought him to 
 the bank ; when that was finished, would have 
 left, as the president thought, without the 
 
352 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 package, if his attention had not been drawn 
 to it afresh ; and, finally, took it with an air 
 of the utmost indifference. 
 
 In his bolted inner office, twenty minutes 
 later, he opened it. The envelope was heavily 
 sealed, after the manner of valuable express 
 envelopes. Its address was typewritten. It 
 contained nothing but the certificate of stock, 
 and a sheet of paper, like that of the Morris- 
 town letter, on which appeared only these 
 words, also typewritten : 
 
 "John Hope is hereby authorized to vote, on June 3, and 
 at all other times, my twenty-five shares of stock of the 
 Annie Laurie Mining Company. 
 
 "DUNCAN MCLEOD." 
 
 The signature, however, was unmistakably 
 in Duncan s handwriting. The certificate of 
 stock was indorsed, in a uniform hand : 
 
 "Neu> York, May 15. 
 
 11 For value received, I hereby sell, assign and transfer to 
 Duncan McLeod, and his heirs and assigns forever, the 
 within mentioned fifteen shares of stock of the Annie Laurie 
 Mining Company, and I hereby vest in him all powers 
 thereto pertaining. 
 
 " THOMAS BENNETT." 
 
 The transfer was attested by a well known 
 notary public. John Hope replaced both 
 
His Blank Wall Rises Again 353 
 
 papers in their envelope, put the envelope in 
 an inner pocket, took his hat, went straight to 
 his safety deposit box in the next building, and 
 there left the precious inclosure until the 
 morning of June 3. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Annie Laurie 
 Mining Company, of that date, Mr. Bonaparte 
 Sharp seemed to be in great feather. He was 
 bland, cordial, conversed freely with the stock 
 holders, and told good stories. After the 
 meeting had been called to order, and some 
 routine business had been transacted, he made 
 this speech, as if " from the throne " : 
 
 " GENTLEMEN : 
 
 " McLean was a failure. Perhaps 
 he was a criminal. We lost money under him. 
 I discharged him. 
 
 " His successor, Williams, is a good man. 
 He has brought the mine back to a paying 
 basis, and dividends are in sight. 
 
 " I hand you an exhibit, in duplicate, of con 
 ditions and moneys to date. 
 
 " Williams, with all his excellences, lacks 
 force. I am happy to announce that I have 
 found a man to take his place. Great things, 
 23 
 
354 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 I am confident, may be expected from him. 
 His name is Thomas Bennett. He will enter 
 on his duties, July 1. 
 
 " I nominate and vote him to be McLean s 
 and Williams successor, and myself to be 
 president and general manager ; and I hope 
 that you will concur. As I hear no objec 
 tion," here he paused a moment, " I so 
 declare the vote, and it will be recorded as 
 unanimously for the proposed ticket. Thank 
 you, gentlemen. Nothing like harmony. Is 
 there any further business ? " 
 
 " Summary ! " thought Hugh MacDonald. 
 
 "May we vote by shares?" inquired John 
 Hope. 
 
 " We have done so," answered the chairman 
 sternly ; " fifty -five shares for my ticket, and, 
 as I understood it, and have ordered it re 
 corded, forty-five also." 
 
 "But this exhibit," exclaimed Hugh Mac- 
 Donald, whose business sense was outraged, 
 and who missed altogether what John Hope 
 was driving at "But this exhibit shows an 
 actual deficit, and a very large one, except for 
 an even larger cash credit from an unindicated 
 source. Is there no explanation, not to say 
 
His Blank Wall Rises Again 355 
 
 apology, for this blind sort of an annual re 
 port, and for no dividends for nearly a year 
 from a property that, until your sharp practice 
 captured its control, yielded handsome and 
 steadily increasing returns ? " 
 
 "Sharp practice wherein?" asked Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp. 
 
 "To say nothing of your course of pro 
 cedure in the case of Mr. Wainwright, in your 
 working, sir, on Mrs. Wilson s feelings, and in 
 your buying of her, almost before her hus 
 band s dead body was cold, for twenty-five 
 thousand dollars, what was worth forty thou 
 sand," replied Hugh MacDonald with scorn. 
 
 " I flatly deny it ! " cried Mr. Bonaparte 
 Sharp in tones of thunder. 
 
 " Well, how about cutting off our handsome 
 dividends for a year ? " continued Hugh Mac- 
 Donald. 
 
 "Liable to happen any time. Happens 
 again and again in many enterprises," re 
 torted Mr. Bonaparte Sharp at the same pitch. 
 
 " Never happened in ours until, like a pirate, 
 you stole its management, sir," rejoined Hugh 
 MacDonald fiercely. 
 
 " Unparliamentary language ! " exclaimed 
 
356 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp, at the top of his voice, 
 and pounding savagely with his gavel. 
 
 "Is there not a prior unparliamentary 
 action, sir," quietly interposed John Hope, 
 " in your failing, as chairman of this meeting, 
 to effect its annual election of officers by a vote 
 of stock ? " 
 
 " We have done so, did n t I tell you ? " 
 roared Mr. Bonaparte Sharp. 
 
 "Will you have the goodness to poll us, 
 sir ? " persisted John. 
 
 "Certainly, if your time counts nothing; 
 mine is worth big money," answered the 
 chairman, sullenly, and then proceeded, snap 
 pishly, to call the roll, as follows : 
 
 "HughMacDonald?" 
 
 " Five shares for Hope and McLeod." 
 
 "John Hope?" 
 
 " Thirty shares for the same." 
 
 " Duncan McLeod ? " 
 
 "Twenty -five shares for the same, cast by 
 John Hope, holding his proxy." 
 
 " Which makes sixty," interjected the chair 
 man, with a sneer, " which would be very fine 
 indeed, sir, and would elect the lunatic ticket, 
 if onlv McLeod had twenty-five, but, in point 
 
His Blank Wall Rises Again 357 
 
 of fact, he happens to own but ten. Do n t try 
 to impose on me, sir ! " 
 
 " Here are Mr. McLeod s other fifteen, and 
 my authority for voting them," said John 
 Hope, in the calmest manner possible, laying 
 the Bennett-McLeod certificate on the table, 
 and the accompanying indication of proxy, 
 while Hugh MacDonald, utterly astounded, 
 held his breath, and seized tightly the arms of 
 his chair. 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp snatched the papers, 
 read them, turned purple, then turned white, 
 wiped the perspiration from his brow, and 
 cried, in a passionate falsetto, "A forgery, 
 sir ! " 
 
 "That is a serious charge, Mr. Chairman," 
 replied John Hope, in the same quiet, master 
 ful way. " Will you deny, sir, that you own 
 only forty shares of Annie Laurie stock ; that 
 your man, Thomas Bennett, bought from you, 
 at a fair price, his fifteen shares; that the 
 memorandum of transfer is in Thomas Ben 
 nett s handwriting, and attested by a prominent 
 notary public; and that, if Thomas Bennett 
 transferred them, Duncan McLeod, being ab 
 sent, would probably give me the proxy which 
 
358 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 I hold in my hand ? In other words, sir, 
 you please, here and now, without further 
 evasion or chicanery whatsoever, proceed to 
 vote those fifty-five shares of stock which, a 
 few moments ago, you declared, and reiter 
 ated, and ordered recorded, to have been 
 voted for your ticket ? " 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp turned ashen; sat 
 down; buried his face in his hands over the 
 table; shook like an aspen leaf; pressed his 
 palms tightly against his temples, as if to pre 
 vent them from splitting ; and, in the awful 
 silence that ensued, seemed to stop breathing. 
 Then he gasped ; lifted his head ; displayed a 
 small, round, deep carmine spot at the center 
 of each blanched cheek ; stammered ; got his 
 voice ; said, brokenly, as if dying, " I declare 
 this meeting adjourned until ten o clock 
 to-morrow morning " ; and staggered from 
 the room. 
 
 " Let us follow him ! He will fall in a faint ! 
 Did you not notice the spots?" exclaimed 
 Hugh MacDonald. 
 
 " Follow him not at all," said John Hope. 
 " When the iniquities of a man whose heart is 
 harder and crueler than steel are finding him 
 
His Blank Wall Rises Again 359 
 
 out, it is a mistaken kindness to interfere with 
 God s work. Pity him, pray for him, want to 
 help him, as you and I both, I hope, do, but 
 leave him in God s hands. Those two carmine 
 spots should help him more than we possibly 
 could if we tried." 
 
XXIII 
 
 THE LAST OF BONAPAKTE SHARP 
 
 T ten o clock the next 
 morning, June 4, the ad 
 journed annual meeting 
 of the Annie Laurie Min 
 ing Company was held. 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp did 
 not appear. By a vote of 
 sixty shares, and none opposing, John Hope 
 and Duncan McLeod were reinstated, were 
 given power to make all additional appoint 
 ments, and the meeting dissolved. 
 
 Neither on June 3, nor on June 4, nor later, 
 would John Hope, to Hugh MacDonald s 
 puzzled and persistent inquiries, divulge aught, 
 except to say : " I know, Hugh, almost noth 
 ing. Our deliverer, whoever he may be, 
 wishes that it should be so with me, and with 
 us all; and, as honorable men, we must re 
 spect his reticence. But two things I do 
 
 know : First, Bonaparte Sharp sold the fif- 
 360 
 
The Last of Bonaparte Sharp 361 
 
 teen shares for as large a price as they were 
 worth at the time. Second, the purchaser 
 transferred them, legally and freely, to 
 Duncan McLeod." 
 
 The afternoon papers of June 4 represented 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp as ill from overwork ; 
 and, for the first time since he began opera 
 tions in Wall Street, and in his specialties, he 
 ceased to be a malign force therein ; for the 
 space, however, of only twenty days. Then, 
 pale, haggard, slow of movement, but with the 
 same set jaw, and penetrating, gray -yellowish, 
 all-comprehending eye, he began making up 
 for lost time. The day he returned was a 
 hard one in Wall Street. No man, even of 
 his intimate friends, ever succeeded in getting 
 from him any information about the Annie 
 Laurie Mine, except the ablest criminal law 
 yer in New York, and a force of the keenest 
 and most experienced detectives that money 
 could hire. The detectives, even, only got 
 their knowledge at second-hand through the 
 lawyer. 
 
 After many months work, and enormous 
 expenditures, Thomas Bennett was traced 
 from Honolulu, by way of Australia, the 
 
362 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 Mediterranean and France, to New York. 
 Where he came from was shrouded in mys 
 tery. He sailed, moreover, from New York 
 for Liverpool by the Teutonic on May 15; 
 was a cheerful shipmate, but ate next to noth 
 ing and rapidly lost flesh all the voyage ; had 
 no other peculiarity, except that, on one oc 
 casion, he was found by himself laughing im 
 moderately for no apparent reason, and ex 
 plained, when questioned, that an old story 
 had come to his mind, which, however, he 
 could not be persuaded to repeat, though 
 strongly urged to do so later by the entire 
 smoking room ; disembarked at Queenstown ; 
 went, by Cork and Mallow Junction, to the 
 Lakes of Killarney ; that very afternoon, just 
 before a fierce thunder-storm broke over the 
 Lakes, went rowing upon them alone ; was 
 never seen more; and left no trace behind 
 him except an upset and damaged boat, 
 ashore on the Upper Lake, and some luggage 
 marked only by Maltese crosses, found at his 
 hotel, and brought to JSTew York, not, how 
 ever, until the detectives had settled his frac 
 tion of a day s bill, and had paid for the 
 damage done to the boat. Mr. Bonaparte 
 
The Last of Bonaparte Sharp 363 
 
 Sharp locked that luggage in a vault, but the 
 foremost detectives in the world failed to get 
 from it any clue whatsoever as to Thomas 
 Bennett s identity, his origin, or his fate, be 
 yond the presumption of his having been 
 drowned in the Upper Lake at Killarney. 
 
 It was found that Duncan McLeod, on the 
 other hand, sailed from San Francisco, July 
 10, of the previous year ; disappeared there 
 after, in search of rest, somewhere in southern 
 latitudes ; reappeared in Scotland on or about 
 June 3 ; spent twenty-four hours at Stirling ; 
 sailed the afternoon of June 4 from Glasgow 
 for Montreal, his movements becoming trans 
 parently clear thenceforth; and went from 
 Montreal, by the Sault Sainte Marie, St. Paul, 
 Omaha and Denver, to take up his duties 
 afresh at the Annie Laurie Mine. 
 
 The detectives were perfectly sure that the 
 two men nowise resembled each other. They 
 took dozens of snap shots of Duncan McLeod, 
 and had the photographs inspected by a score 
 of persons in New York, who had known 
 Thomas Bennett well, in fact, some of the 
 detectives had themselves shadowed Bennett, 
 on Mr. Bonaparte Sharp s orders, while the 
 
364 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 latter was making preliminary inquiries about 
 him, but no one could be found who was 
 able to discern any resemblance between the 
 two. 
 
 Some connection between the two men was 
 suspected, but no evidence of it anywhere 
 appeared. What the connection was, if it ex 
 isted at all, defied conjecture even. The rec 
 ords of both men were found to have been 
 not only irreproachable, but highly commend 
 able. They were both, the detectives felt 
 certain, in JSTew York on May 15, because 
 Thomas Bennett not only bought his stock 
 that day, and sailed by the Teutonic there 
 after, but made, in the meantime, a genuine 
 transfer of the stock, as proved by his hand 
 writing, which was like copperplate, and 
 which was verified as unmistakably his by 
 twenty or thirty of his undoubted letters that 
 had been painstakingly collected, and then 
 most carefully scrutinized by experts. Dun 
 can McLeod s signature to his proxy, though 
 without date, was, furthermore, undoubtedly 
 genuine ; and was left, with the certificate of 
 stock, by a district messenger, at the First 
 National Bank at noon on the same day. It 
 
The Last of Bonaparte Sharp 365 
 
 was, indeed, possible, the detectives conceded, 
 that Thomas Bennett had somehow obtained 
 possession of this proxy earlier, and sent it to 
 the bank on May 15 ; but the freshness of the 
 paper on which it was written, of the type 
 written impression, and of the signature, made 
 this in their opinion extremely improbable. 
 
 "Beats the Arabian Nights!" said Mr. 
 Bonaparte Sharp. "Bring in your bills; I 
 give it up." He only said this, however, to 
 the lawyer who had represented him on the 
 case from June until April of the next year. 
 He maintained absolute silence, otherwise, 
 about the Annie Laurie Mine, even to his con 
 fidential man. He held on, nevertheless, to 
 his forty shares of Annie Laurie stock as if 
 they had for him some special fascination. 
 He did this, as he said to himself, "in the 
 interest of the whole fabric of modern society " > 
 and also, perhaps, because, notwithstanding the 
 " lunacy," as he characterized it, of the mine s 
 management, it paid him large and steadily 
 increasing dividends. 
 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp was not superstitious. 
 Duncan McLeod was right, however, in main 
 taining that no judgment which could be 
 
366 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 visited upon him would be so effective as a 
 mysterious and inexplicable defeat. Mr. Bona 
 parte Sharp regarded what had happened as 
 uncanny, and often fell into deep gloom be 
 cause of it. He had an undiminished confi 
 dence in the forces that he represented, as the 
 Philistines of old had in theirs ; but he felt 
 that other and yet higher forces had joined 
 issue with the Bonaparte Sharp forces, and 
 were defeating them, even as it is written : 
 " The Lord thundered with a great thunder on 
 that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited 
 them." 
 
 " Sharp reminds me," said a member of his 
 set, after these occurrences, putting his own 
 characteristically superficial interpretation 
 upon them, " of the saying of an old planta 
 tion slave who belonged to my grandfather in 
 the South. He accompanied my grandfather, 
 on one occasion, on a hunt for wild turkeys. 
 My grandfather hit, high in the air, an enor 
 mous cock, which came screaming and careen 
 ing down into a swamp. Dogs and men went 
 after him. He was badly hurt, wing broken 
 most likely, but, in spite of all they could do, 
 he got away. My grandfather was greatly 
 
The Last of Bonaparte Sharp 36? 
 
 vexed, and could hardly get over it all day. 
 * Well, massa, said Hannibal, trying to con 
 sole him, dis one ting am sartin : dat yere 
 ole turkey cock, he not roost so high any moa, 
 shua ! " 
 
 As time passed on, Mr. Bonaparte Sharp 
 came to this theory : That Thomas Bennett 
 was absolutely trustworthy ; that he was lia 
 ble, at rare intervals, to go out of his mind 
 (this proclivity, he thought, threw light on 
 Bennett s extraordinary reticence about him 
 self); that the wily McLeod, dogging his 
 tracks, took advantage of him at such a mo 
 ment ; and that Bennett perished by drown 
 ing, as the facts seemed to indicate. He often 
 dreamed of the lonely oarsman dying, thus, in 
 the fierce storm, and, after this dream, invari 
 ably had a gloomy day. Next summer, on his 
 physician s orders, he went over sea for the 
 first time. He landed at Queenstown; fol 
 lowed Thomas Bennett s route to Killarney; 
 stayed at the same hotel ; had himself rowed 
 to the point on the shore of the Upper Lake 
 where the damaged boat had been found ; dis 
 embarked, and was deeply moved. "That 
 man," he said to himself aloud, " was one in a 
 
368 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 thousand ! Had he lived, the clouds had not 
 begun to settle down over Bonaparte Sharp s 
 life ! " 
 
 He had been assisted up the rugged and pre 
 cipitous shore by the boatman. He had then 
 requested his helper to withdraw himself a 
 considerable distance, saying, in explanation: 
 "No man knows the meaning this spot has 
 for me, and I wish to be absolutely alone 
 here with my thoughts." But such was the 
 pallor that had overspread his face, especially 
 after the boat reached the Upper Lake, and 
 such a dead weight, almost, had he been in as 
 cending the slope, that the boatman, instead 
 of obeying him, hid himself behind a project 
 ing rock not far away. There, after a few 
 moments, he was just lighting his pipe, when 
 he heard the foregoing words about Thomas 
 Bennett, spoken in a shrill, tremulous voice, 
 utterly pathetic, that ended in a wail of 
 anguish. Peeping superstitiously out, in fear 
 of something unearthly in that weird place, 
 the boatman beheld Mr. Bonaparte Sharp tot 
 ter and fall. He ran to him, but there was no 
 respiration. He felt for his heart, but it had 
 ceased to beat. 
 
THE BOATMAN BEHELD MR. BONAPARTE SHARP TOTTER AND FALL 
 
The Last of Bonaparte Sharp 369 
 
 They buried Mr. Bonaparte Sharp in what 
 he had boasted was the most splendid tomb in 
 America. At his right lay the wife of his 
 youth, whom drudgery and his petty econo 
 mies had driven, many years before, into a 
 decline. At his left lay his daughter, Eugenie, 
 whose heart he had broken. There was none 
 to mourn him, save the sad-eyed but beautiful 
 child, now in her sixth year, whom Eugenie had 
 left, and whose kin at once plunged into huge 
 litigation about his estate ; but she could by 
 no possibility mourn one whom she had always 
 regarded with abject dread. " Can t grandpa 
 get out of the church ? " she timidly, wistfully 
 asked ; and, being answered truthfully, clapped 
 her dimpled hands, and cried, " Oh, goody ! " 
 
 Widely over the land, the day after his de 
 cease, hundreds of men whom he had ruined 
 took one another solemnly by the hand, say 
 ing, " We thought God was dead, but he lives." 
 Widely over the land, other hundreds of men 
 whom he had impoverished, and who had daily 
 expected him to ruin them, for the first time 
 in years breathed freely. It was with them as 
 it is with the birds, when a bullet brings out of 
 the sky a large and particularly ferocious hawk. 
 
370 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 But the newspapers gave his portrait a full 
 page, and printed in heavy type two lists of 
 his benefactions, the one alphabetical, the 
 other chronological. His estate aggregated 
 something more than two hundred and fifty 
 millions, independently of the billion or more 
 that he controlled. His benefactions, only 
 five of which reached a hundred thousand, and 
 only nine of which, fifty thousand, but which 
 consisted of many smaller sums, footed two 
 million, four hundred and fifty-six thousand. 
 " Credit him also with this," fervently added 
 one who had just finished reading the two 
 lists of his benefactions, "that he did not 
 leave a numerous progeny to taint, if not to 
 imperil, every American home with the rumor 
 of their social intrigues, their sensational 
 divorce suits, their insufferable luxury, and 
 their rivalries, jealousies and feuds among the 
 Four Hundred." 
 
 It is beautiful, the place where he lies. The 
 gifted but impecunious architect and expert in 
 landscape, who was for many years almost his 
 slave, has there reaped a kind of mournful re 
 ward by outdoing himself. The tomb simu 
 lates a noble Byzantine church. It stands on 
 
The Last of Bonaparte Sharp 371 
 
 a commanding knoll. It is approached by 
 magnificent terraces. These are connected by 
 monumental staircases, which are enriched 
 with ecclesiastical symbols done in the man 
 ner of the period of the Church s greatest out 
 ward splendor. Around all, the rarest trees 
 lift themselves, and the choicest plants and 
 flowers blossom. The vestibule, the nave and 
 the transepts of the seeming church are brill 
 iant with mosaics and sculpture. The Byzan 
 tine brightness and cheer are everywhere, for 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp hated gloom. His sar 
 cophagus, in the chancel, mimics a shrine. 
 Across it falls the radiance of prodigal stained 
 glass by day, and of hundreds of automatic 
 ally lighted electric lamps from sunset to 
 sunrise. The expense of maintaining all this 
 would support in comfort a moderate sized 
 village of artisans. The interest on the origi 
 nal cost would carry on a very considerable 
 hospital. Let us, however, be kinder than en 
 tirely to regret that it is always light around 
 the ashes of one whose life was a thick dark 
 ness. A lifetime ought to net a man some 
 thing. 
 
XXIY 
 
 AULD LANG SYNE 
 
 FTER nine and a half 
 months of hard work 
 at the Annie Laurie 
 Mine, with George 
 Wilkinson as superin 
 tendent above ground, 
 with Douglas Camp 
 bell as superintendent 
 in the levels, and with 
 results far beyond the most sanguine expecta 
 tions of the Old Guard, whose very lives were 
 bound up in the success of their enterprise, 
 Duncan McLeod was about starting to spend a 
 month with his mother at Stirling, and to bring 
 her back for a summer in Colorado. There were 
 reasons, physiological and diplomatic, in view 
 of the program which he was then carrying 
 out in relation to Mr. Bonaparte Sharp, why 
 he had given her only twenty-four hours in 
 June of the previous year; but he had 
 promised her a full month when the Scottish 
 372 
 
Auld Lang Syne 373 
 
 hillsides should be wearing their early garb of 
 flowers and of green the next year. 
 
 The night before his departure there was a 
 great gathering of the people of the Annie 
 Laurie Mine in the hall of the Miners Club. 
 All work had been suspended in honor of the 
 occasion, and no well person, not absolutely 
 prevented from attendance, was absent. 
 Glimpses of what occurred at the meeting will 
 perhaps interest the reader. 
 
 There was singing by the double quartet of 
 the Miners Club. There was some excellent 
 violin and other instrumental music. A 
 chorus of school children, trained by Angus 
 McPherson, for the mine had already become 
 a place of homes, sang superbly a piece spe 
 cially composed, both the verse and the music, 
 in honor of their departing hero. Then there 
 was a recess, at which the women of the mine 
 served some very appetizing light refresh 
 ments. The second part of the evening s ex 
 ercises consisted of several short speeches, fol 
 lowed by the distinctive farewell. 
 
 George "Wilkinson spoke first. He read 
 from a paper. This is what he said : 
 
 " I stayed here during the troubles at the 
 
374 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 mine, as you know. I had three reasons for 
 doing so, namely : 
 
 "First. To watch, to post our president, 
 and to be brakes, so far as I could be, to a car 
 that had broken its couplings, and was run 
 ning wild down a steep grade. 
 
 " Second. To do a large amount of reading 
 on industrial, economic and social questions. 
 It has not always been with me as it has been 
 since we have been acquainted. I have widely 
 known the world. I had a considerable col 
 lection of books in this department when the 
 bolt fell, and Mr. Hope, thereafter, purchased 
 for me, on my successive orders, large addi 
 tional instalments. I read, during that black 
 year, as steadily and persistently, almost, as 
 Mr. McLeod must have seen honor students 
 read at Edinburgh. 
 
 "Third. To make a study of the old in 
 dustrial-economic system, introduced here by 
 Mr. Bonaparte Sharp, in comparison with the 
 new which it displaced. What this study, 
 undertaken along with prodigious reading, 
 taught me, is to me of priceless value. Suffer 
 me to state briefly some of my conclusions : 
 
 " No man should undertake seriously to bet- 
 
Auld Lang Syne 375 
 
 ter the industrial-economic situation without 
 much reading and study ; but, at the same 
 time, a large proportion of what is written 
 is of little worth. The first value in the 
 literature of the subject is the facts which 
 it marshals. But, after you have come upon 
 about BO many of them, they largely duplicate 
 one another. Furthermore, while the facts 
 are all-important, they are, at the same time, 
 simple, and bear almost exclusively, so far as 
 they have pertinence, in a few practical and 
 easily apprehended directions. The second 
 value of the literature is the formulation, as 
 yet very imperfectly done, of theories, justified 
 by facts and experience, looking toward in 
 dustrial-economic betterment. That which 
 grieves you, let me add, and at times almost 
 maddens you, in the literature, is the abstract, 
 untested, unvitalized theorizing and preaching 
 on the subject. Kead, then, I would say in 
 summing up ; yes, read widely and profoundly ; 
 but understand that much of the reading is a 
 rubbish heap, and that one may readily be 
 warped away from practical views and from 
 actual service by the mere glitter of its wordy 
 tinsel. 
 
376 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 " Regarding current methods of economic 
 and social betterment, it requires to be said 
 that, while most of them are actuated by high 
 motives, and many of them are of consider 
 able value, they in large degree miss the 
 point. To make enormous benefactions, for 
 example, to universities, colleges, technical 
 schools, libraries, hospitals, and so forth, is, of 
 itself, praiseworthy ; and much of it is, and, 
 as time goes on, will tend more and more to 
 be, of high service. But to put, in these 
 directions, the main strength of efforts for the 
 betterment we are considering, is a mistake, 
 from either of two points of view. Such 
 benefactions largely operate, on the one hand, 
 whether intentionally so or not, as covers for 
 most reprehensible industrial-economic prac 
 tices in getting the money, a fraction only, 
 and often only a very small fraction of which, 
 perhaps hardly one per cent., is thus donated. 
 On the other hand, such benefactions very 
 generally undertake to heal the surface of the 
 industrial-economic disease, instead of reach 
 ing and removing its underlying causes. It is 
 like medication, instead of building up the 
 system. It is like battling epidemic and 
 
Auld Lang Syne 377 
 
 contagious diseases while taking no account of 
 bacilli. 
 
 " Combination, centralization, and the trust 
 principle, have, doubtless, great merits, when 
 we shall have learned properly to apply them ; 
 but I am sure, and particularly from my 
 study of the two systems of running this 
 mine, that they tend to grow top-heavy, and 
 to lose in initiative what they gain in facility, 
 in fact, to lose much more than that. There 
 is such a thing as organizing too much. A 
 thing may be had too cheaply. After a certain 
 limit is reached, as with putting on flesh, big 
 ness becomes an incubus, and, carried far 
 enough, means death. Our men have made 
 this mine a success, on the contrary, because 
 cheapness was not a main consideration here ; 
 because the mine, in its organization, was not 
 part of an endless chain, but was a very 
 winsome chain by itself; because it was not 
 too big; because our people could grasp it, 
 love it, put their lives against it, and see it 
 gain; because, in short, it was their own 
 Annie Laurie. 
 
 "Finally, and this was what my com 
 parison of the old with the new system during 
 
378 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 that dark year absolutely confirmed me in, 
 one may plant one s self, without fear of suc 
 cessful rebuttal, on this fundamental proposi 
 tion, namely : Any departure from the sound 
 est industrial-economic righteousness is busi 
 ness folly not less than moral folly. 
 
 " The laborer is, indeed, worthy of his hire ; 
 and capital, by the same token, is worthy 
 of its hire. Individualism and self-interest, in 
 their true sense, in short, so far from being ig 
 nored, must have their place and initiative 
 and reward. The denial of this, by socialistic 
 programs, weakens the entire betterment 
 campaign. On the other hand, nevertheless, 
 nothing is good in the way of individualism, 
 or of self-interest, which is not good for 
 the mass of men, or, at any rate, which works 
 injustice, discrimination or damage to the 
 mass of men. On this principle, the manage 
 ment of this mine, not only in a friendly 
 adjustment of grievances on the few occasions 
 when they have arisen, but also in granting 
 every faithful employee a generous share 
 in its profits, over and above wages ; in per 
 mitting the men to acquire a reasonable part 
 of the stock of the mine, and to be corre- 
 
Auld Lang Syne 379 
 
 spondingly represented on its directorate ; and, 
 at the same time, in adapting these privileges, 
 as they have been successfully adapted, so as 
 not to work injustice to the large amount of 
 capital here invested, in the ( undivided decre 
 ment, or in any other respect, all this has, in 
 an all-round way, laid the industrial-economic 
 foundation for the large success that has here 
 been attained. 
 
 "Bonuses, on the contrary, rewards, bene 
 factions, and even social settlements, though 
 these last, rightly applied, are particularly 
 valuable, can never, of themselves, bring in 
 dustrial deliverance. Mr. Williams, our late 
 assistant general manager, for example, re 
 ceived instructions from Mr. Bonaparte Sharp, 
 at a desperate moment in that dark year, to 
 spend money lavishly in some of these direc 
 tions, and I was consulted about the carrying 
 out of those instructions. To a certain extent 
 I advised it and cooperated with it ; but it got 
 no grip even on the few earnest men that were 
 then at the mine. It was a sort of tip. It was 
 a gift to blind the eyes against the patent and 
 palpable injustices, which, under that manage 
 ment, were continually practiced on the men. 
 
380 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 " Do not for a moment, I pray you, infer, 
 from what I have said, that I consider that we 
 have attained perfection at this mine. We 
 have yet much to learn and much to accom 
 plish. But I am absolutely certain that the 
 fundamental principle of even and inflexible 
 industrial-economic justice toward all parties 
 and interests concerned, which underlies the 
 conduct of this mine, is that on which alone 
 success may ultimately be expected anywhere 
 and everywhere. 
 
 " The world is waiting, in short, not so much 
 for more gifts, funds, rewards ; not so much for 
 more good deeds, kindnesses, altruisms, as for 
 even-handed justice ; for a chance for all ; for 
 a sense of responsibility on the part of all men 
 for the good of all ; and for a jealous and 
 chivalrous defense, on the part of all, of the 
 rights and possibilities of each. This, indeed, 
 will never adequately come, it may be safely 
 predicated, without the transforming power of 
 that religious life which has been the supreme 
 distinction of this mine ; and without, like 
 wise, that glow and enthusiasm and tenderness 
 which have been here embodied in warm human 
 loving, which last is the distinctive mint 
 
Auld Lang Syne 381 
 
 mark, if I mistake not, of religion. But re 
 ligion even, and love even, will get small 
 headway until justice arrives; justice indus 
 trially, justice economically, and justice so 
 cially." 
 
 When the applause that followed this speech 
 had died away, Douglas Campbell arose from 
 his place, half way down the hall, and walked 
 to the front. It -was the first time. It took 
 all but two or three persons by surprise. The 
 clapping of hands, which had begun on general 
 principles, turned, when the men perceived what 
 was coming, into an ovation that was simply 
 thunderous. Patrick Sullivan was equal to 
 the occasion. He jumped on a chair. Doug 
 las hung his head like a frightened girl. It 
 was Erin s innings. With equal education and 
 opportunity, it might have been O Connell 
 that spoke. While the stillness was such that 
 one could almost hear people breathe : 
 
 " Him, men o the Annie Laurie Mine," be 
 gan Sullivan, " that made Mr. Hope s an 
 Mr. McLeod s thoughts for us possible to be 
 wrought out ; him, the modist, the silint, the 
 unsilfish, the helper of iverybody, beatin 
 ivery man wid the drill, ivery man wid the 
 
382 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 hammer, ivery man wid pick an shovel, ivery 
 man in bein good, ivery man in not knowin 
 he s anny wort at all, admired a most like 
 Mr. Hope, an worshiped a most like Mr. Mc- 
 Leod, I m a movin , Mr. Chairman, free 
 cheers fer him. Whin that hiretic, McLean, 
 had done his worst, wid all the drinkin , an 
 swearin , an gamblin , an bein lewd fifty 
 ways, an loafin on jobs, an fillin out lyin 
 time cards, an stealin ore, an takin life ; an 
 whin that anti-pope, the auld Grandmither 
 Williams, had got some of the levels clared up 
 a bit, an the house scrubbed a mite, an fit, b 
 this time, mebbe, fer pigs to live in, along 
 comes the bist man, b the Holy Mother ! in 
 the Kockies, barrin his two big brithers afore- 
 mintioned, an the mine is the glory she is to 
 day because o him. T ree cheers, thin, fer 
 that good Catholic, Douglas Campbell ! " 
 
 Patrick Sullivan s voice, as he spoke, not 
 withstanding his accent and dialect, was so 
 norous, well modulated, full of passion, and 
 there were tears on many a cheek before he 
 was done. The three cheers became nearer 
 thirty ; the men rose in a body ; made for 
 Douglas Campbell, Sullivan leading them ; 
 
Auld Lang Syne 383 
 
 seized a table ; detailed four stalwart men to 
 officiate, one at each leg ; and, when they had 
 it level and steady as a rock, high above the 
 men s heads, they lifted Douglas upon it, there 
 to make his speech. Then, all standing, they 
 awaited what he should say. 
 
 He could not command himself at first. His 
 trying to do so brought a sympathetic lump 
 into many throats. After that, he was stage- 
 struck, until he caught Margaret s eyes. For 
 Margaret had come in the previous autumn, 
 she and the bairns, from St. Mnian, and alone. 
 Duncan McLeod s favorite project of her man s 
 going to fetch her could not be managed, 
 such, in the peculiar circumstances, was the 
 pressure of work at the mine. Margaret, 
 moreover, had not been in the camp two 
 weeks before she was, to all the women and 
 children there, what Douglas was to the men. 
 When he caught her eyes, a look came into 
 his face, and he read from a paper these words : 
 
 " You remember July 1. The Jews coming 
 back to Jerusalem scarce excelled it. Men 
 laughed, and cried, and hugged and kissed one 
 another like women. You remember the first 
 service, and Duncan s sermon, from, When 
 
384 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, 
 we were like them that dream. It has, men, 
 been a dream ever since, but a true dream, 
 thank God ! and a dream getting more won 
 derful, and yet more wonderful, day by day." 
 Here there were a stillness and sobs, and 
 then Angus McPherson started, 
 
 "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow! " 
 
 "Duncan," Douglas continued, when the 
 singing had ceased " Duncan took pledges of 
 us, that night, in the canon. I am to report 
 on them. Not a man broke the moral pledges. 
 The pledge to Christ only eleven men broke. 
 They were, all of them, in infidel camps, and 
 their lapse was of the head, not of the heart. 
 Nine of them have turned again. The other 
 two are in the mood of Thomas, the week 
 after the resurrection, wanting to believe, but 
 not yet quite able to do so. They will get a 
 glimpse of the Lord soon, as Thomas did, and 
 then all will be clear. 
 
 " Only one more word, men. Looking back 
 on all that has been accomplished at this mine, 
 that word is: Christ did it. Economics did 
 not do it. Sociology did not do it. Those 
 
Auld Lang Syne 385 
 
 two personal fountains of love and inspiration, 
 even, whom we think of with special grati 
 tude to-night, did not do it. Were I at liberty 
 to divulge some of the secret history of this 
 mine, the proof would amount to a demonstra 
 tion. But none of us needs to have it demon 
 strated. We know it. He who filled the 
 nets, and the fish s mouth, is under, and behind, 
 and above, and beyond the economics, the 
 sociology, the wise, intrepid and inspiring 
 leadership, the capital and the labor. With 
 out me, he says, and the Annie Laurie Mine 
 attests it, ye can do nothing. " 
 
 "Amen!" "Amen!" "Amen!" rose on 
 all sides, and Patrick Sullivan was two sec 
 onds ahead of Angus McPherson in start 
 ing, 
 
 " All hail the power of Jesus name! " 
 
 When all were in their seats again, John 
 Hope rose from beside Douglas Campbell 
 and walked to the front. Hearts were too 
 tender for applause. Before he could begin, 
 however, George Wilkinson was on his feet. 
 " Gentlemen," he said, " I propose that our 
 demonstration for this speaker be on this wise : 
 2 5 
 
386 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 upon due signal, let us rise, and say together 
 these words from Tennyson, out of the Well 
 ington Ode : 
 
 " On God and Godlike men we build our trust. " 
 
 "When the entire audience, standing, had, 
 like the roar of Niagara, recited that great 
 line, John Hope, blushing scarlet, said, when 
 all were seated : 
 
 "A duty has been assigned me to-night; 
 but, before I discharge it, suffer me this word : 
 
 "The two experts that have preceded me, 
 one in economics, the other in religion, have 
 credited the success of this mine to its sources, 
 to justice, and to the Lord Jesus Christ. I am 
 sure we agree with all that both of these men 
 have said, but there is one factor, referred 
 to, indeed, by Mr. Wilkinson, in his words 
 about religion s mint mark, which I cannot 
 but emphasize. Mr. Campbell has intimated 
 that there has been a secret history going on 
 here. I know something of that secret his 
 tory, as well as he. We had a touch of it just 
 now. When he was stage-struck, towering up 
 yonder on that table with human feet, there 
 was a secret history about how he got over it. 
 
Auld Lang Syne 387 
 
 I glimpsed it. Perhaps it did not escape others 
 of us. Eyes did it." 
 
 At this ensued, first a smile, then laughter, 
 and then three cheers for Margaret Camp 
 bell, led also by Patrick Sullivan, while two 
 lovers, of fifteen years standing, hid their 
 faces like children. 
 
 " Men," John Hope continued, " Love is of 
 God. Great, deep, passionate love, God s 
 best human gift, has been a main factor in 
 making our mine what it is. The homes here, 
 the women, the children, the deep romance of 
 living, have been God s beautiful instruments 
 in effecting what we thank him for to-night. 
 
 " Mr. McLeod," John added, while Marjorie 
 Campbell, Douglas and Margaret s sweet girl 
 of thirteen, brought forward a mysterious 
 something covered with a drapery " Mr. Mc 
 Leod, it was agreed that our love-token to 
 you, as, for a season, we part to-night, should 
 be a gift from the women and children of this 
 mine. Nothing short of the mine itself, and a 
 half dozen others, could adequately express 
 what we men think of you." 
 
 Here the men went wild, and Duncan hid 
 his face in his hands over the desk, until, after 
 
The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 some moments, John stilled the rounds of ap 
 plause. 
 
 u Mr. McLeod," John concluded, in a voice 
 much shaken, " the best people of this mine, 
 its women and its children, present you" 
 here Marjorie dropped the drapery, and 
 handed Duncan some elegantly bound vol 
 umes " present you with the works of two 
 men : Phillips Brooks, who, as no other man 
 in our time, has lifted up his voice in the 
 evangel; and Henry Drummond, your per 
 sonal friend, who, as no other man in our time, 
 has laid hold on life for Jesus Christ." 
 
 Duncan cannot speak. Again and again he 
 tries to, but his face gets into his hands again 
 over the desk. Then Jamie McDuff comes to 
 the rescue. He can speak little except dialect, 
 but he trusts that its witchery may at least 
 serve to draw the fire away from somebody 
 else who is in peril, and he says : 
 
 "We hae had a braw meetin . We hae 
 barkened to muckle learning an nane ower 
 muckle either, an* it has been verra pleasant 
 to the ears, an j edifyin* to the heart. But, 
 Maister Chairman, I m a thinkin ilka ane o us 
 wid like to hae a pairt ; an* I m a proposin that, 
 
Auld Lang Syne 389 
 
 after oor Duncan has pit up a bit o prayer, 
 an has said the blessin , we a tak haud o ane 
 anither s hands, an sing a thegither that gude 
 sang o Babbie s, Auld Lang Syne. " 
 
 Jamie saved the day. Before he was done, 
 Duncan s head was up. He never seemed so 
 erect and tall and beautiful before. " Mar- 
 jorie, I thank you," he said, when Jamie 
 ended, " and I thank every one at the Annie 
 Laurie Mine." Then, at a motion of his hand, 
 all were on their feet. " Let us say together, 
 * Our Father, " he added, and their voices, as 
 of many waters, ascended again. Then, after 
 the blessing, you might have passed an electric 
 current through three hundred and twenty- 
 nine pairs of clasped hands, while they sang 
 " a thegither that gude sang o Babbie s." 
 
 While its mighty notes, and its mightier 
 sentiment, are rolling heavenward, let us 
 hastily slip out, lest it pain us to bid them, and 
 all that they stand for, good-bye. 
 
XXV 
 
 AT DRUMMOND S GRAVE 
 
 NE of the hardest days 
 in Kathleen Gordon s 
 life was that on the 
 evening of which Dun 
 can McLeod tapped on 
 his mother s window, 
 in the firelight, and, 
 rushing in, lifted her 
 into his arms. 
 
 The morning mail 
 brought a proposal from 
 
 one of the heaviest business corporations in 
 England, lavishly to endow Stirling House, 
 Liverpool, and otherwise to push settlement 
 work. The corporation was not only very rich, 
 but was notorious for the concerns it had 
 crushed, and for the enlightened parsimony and 
 arbitrariness with which it treated its thousands 
 of employees. But its head was a delightful 
 
 man personally, full of individual kind deeds, 
 390 
 
At Drummond s Grave 391 
 
 and popular, consequently, from John o 
 Groat s to Land s End. He was connected by 
 marriage, moreover, with one of the highest 
 and most favorably known peers of the realm. 
 
 " I know not how American altruists recon 
 cile their consciences with accepting that sort 
 of offer," Kathleen said to herself in an agony, 
 " but I cannot think Jesus would do it, nor 
 Socrates, though Plato might." Then she re 
 peated the words of St. James : " Your gold 
 and silver is cankered ; and the rust of them 
 shall be a witness against you. . . . The 
 hire of the laborers who have reaped down 
 your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, 
 crieth : and the cries of them which have 
 reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord 
 of sabaoth." 
 
 After luncheon, as if this were not enough, 
 John Gordon asked his Annie and Kathleen 
 into his library, bolted the door, and, with an 
 air of mystery and triumph, divulged the suc 
 cessful termination of negotiations by which 
 he was to absorb several large enterprises, 
 weed out a useless (so he said) two* or three 
 hundred men, on pay-rolls at high salaries (so 
 he said), and add a very large sum to his al- 
 
392 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 ready enormous annual income. " The papers 
 will be signed this afternoon; then I shall 
 endow St. Andrews," he exclaimed with ardor. 
 The women looked grave. " You know, 
 father," said Kathleen, " whether or not this 
 is good news to me." Then, for the first and 
 last time in his life, and he could never for 
 give himself for it afterward, he frowned 
 on his wife, made a bitter retort to his daugh 
 ter, and left the house in a rage. 
 
 Kathleen supposed that an hour s nap 
 would restore her equilibrium, but, instead of 
 sleeping, she sobbed as if her heart would 
 break. Then she duplicated the walk of 
 the day when she wrote her letter of refusal 
 to Duncan McLeod. But, when she reached 
 the Bore Stone, where she had never before 
 failed to find comfort, a deep gloom had 
 spread over the sky, as if to mock her; and 
 she was obliged to hasten home in order to 
 avoid a brief but violent thunder-storm. 
 
 As soon as she reached home she plunged 
 into work ; was silent at dinner ; accepted, 
 with fresh pain, her father s apology, then 
 humbly tendered; and, after an evening of 
 tremendous exertion on her correspondence, 
 
At Drummond s Grave 393 
 
 retired. She was so weary that she slept at 
 once. She had a beautiful dream. 
 
 She was, she thought, a child again, and at 
 Mrs. McLeod s for Bible study. Duncan, as 
 usual, was absorbed in his books, and scarcely 
 noticed her. Then, suddenly, after the man 
 ner of dreams, a thing happened, the precise 
 opposite of anything that ever had happened. 
 Duncan shut up his Homer with a sharp sound, 
 laid it down, came over to her, and asked, 
 " May we learn the Psalm together ? " It began, 
 "When the Lord turned again the captivity 
 of Zion." When they had learned it, they 
 had a good play. " Mother," he then asked, 
 " may I walk up as far as the Grey friars with 
 Kathleen ? " and, when they were on their 
 way, their hands touched for an instant, and 
 he looked a look at her. The thrill of the 
 one, and the joy of the other, awoke her. 
 
 For an hour that touch seemed vibrating 
 through her whole being, and that look seemed 
 to make the darkness lighter than the day. 
 Then, as in a moment, this strange psychic 
 phenomenon passed, and her problems pressed. 
 "Oh," she said to herself, "if only Henry 
 Drummond were alive, and I might go to 
 
394 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 him, and talk these questions through ! " She 
 slept no more. With the first faint flush of 
 morning she dressed, put on a heavy, dark 
 mantle and hood, let herself out of the house, 
 and, in the twilight, came to Drummond s 
 grave. There she bowed herself against the 
 stone, in long, importunate prayer. Let us 
 not blame her if the human element was 
 strong within her, as well as the divine. Sud 
 denly, amidst a prayer to Jesus, she found 
 herself saying, " O Henry Drummond, if 
 you know of my perplexities, send me some 
 relief; a thought, perhaps, or clearness, at 
 least, of mind!" Then, comforted, she re 
 sumed her pleading with the Lord. 
 
 Now it happened that Duncan McLeod, 
 when his tryst of the previous night with his 
 mother was done, could not sleep, his head 
 and his heart were so full. Also, that, on 
 his voyage home, he had been making a 
 special study of Drummond, to discover his 
 more primary meanings. " He was so alert, so 
 sympathetic, so responsive," Duncan said to 
 himself, "that, unconsciously, he would some 
 times so put himself beside you that his point 
 of view seemed to coincide with yours when it 
 
DRUMMONDS TOMB 
 
At Drummond s Grave 395 
 
 did not. Thus, without any lack of clearness 
 on his part, one might, at times, readily mistake 
 him. Therefore one must study him carefully. 
 Why, what is this, in the Address to Edin 
 burgh Students, of February 23, 1890 ? " 
 
 11 A personal invitation. Christ has set his heart on you 
 here and now ; and now and here invites you to enter into 
 his life. . . . Gentlemen, he will be your leader, he 
 will be your guide, he will be your highest ideal. He has 
 asked you for your life, and he will make you just as you 
 are at this moment his entirely his." 
 
 " That settles it," Duncan cried, and, as he 
 sped Stirling-ward, his heart was at rest on a 
 point that had long perplexed him. 
 
 It happened, morever, in his wakefulness, 
 that first night at home, that a great longing 
 came upon Duncan to go to Drummond s 
 grave, which he had never seen, and because 
 of which Scotland seemed dreadfully lonely. 
 
 "When it has grown light a little, he is, ac 
 cordingly, on his way thither, that he may be 
 alone with the dead. As he nears the old 
 church, he sees a woman, heavily draped, 
 bending almost prostrate at the place where 
 he knows that the grave must be. " The 
 mother, doubtless," he says to himself, " of 
 some student Henry helped, but who went to 
 
396 The Annie Laurie Mine 
 
 the bad after all ! " and he is greatly annoyed. 
 "It was difficult to get a moment with the 
 living Drummond, so did people throng him," 
 he adds, " and, when you have come six thou 
 sand miles to stand by his grave, even that is 
 preempted ! " 
 
 To kill time he turns aside, hoping the 
 woman will go ; but she stays. Therefore, in 
 no very amiable temper, he trudges toward 
 her, but she is so engrossed that he is close 
 upon her before she perceives. Startled, she 
 turns to flee ; but the height and build of the 
 man cause her to look again. Their eyes 
 meet. They look into each other s souls. 
 She advances a step, and reaches out her 
 hand. It is as if two continents spoke to each 
 other by cable for the first time. 
 
 After some moments ecstasy, during which, 
 though their hands are clasped, they are 
 somewhat apart still, 
 
 "We did not understand Drummond, did 
 we ? " he asks. 
 
 "But all is as he would have wished," 
 she answers. 
 
 Then, dropping her heavy, dark mantle and 
 hood, and taking a step nearer, she leans her 
 
At Drummond s Grave 397 
 
 beautiful head against one of his massive 
 shoulders, and the arms that were made for 
 her are around her that was made for them. 
 
 Thus they stand, in the deepening dawn, 
 over the grave of the best loved man of 
 his time ; and, to the dew on the grass above 
 it, are added the gladdest tears in Scotland. 
 
 Then she loosens a little the arms, lifts 
 the Murillo face full to his, and lips, that have 
 hungered since childhood, begin to be filled. 
 At the same moment the sun, from beyond 
 Abbey Craig, throws its gold on the highest 
 stones of the old Greyfriars Church. 
 
 " It is morning, at last, Kathleen," he says. 
 
 "Of an everlasting day, Duncan," she re 
 sponds ; and the look in her face makes him 
 think of the face of the Son of God. 
 
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