THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE KEIGNING KING 
 
 BY 
 
 EMMA WELLMONT. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY BILLINGS. 
 
 SECOND' EDITION. 
 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 BENJAMIN B. MUSSEY AND COMPANY 
 1853.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 
 
 S. 21. Hotoe, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachutetts. 
 
 STEREOTYPED AT THE 
 BOSTON STEEEOTTPE FOUNDBT.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 A DARK cloud in the south-west betokens a heavy 
 shower. Shrinking hearts would be dismayed at 
 its terrific approach, were it not for the sense of 
 security which the lightning conductor gives. 
 
 A ship is telegraphed as having several cases of 
 malignant disease on board ; but we know she will 
 be detained in quarantine until her passengers are 
 examined, and precautionary measures are taken 
 for their removal to the island set apart for their 
 benefit. A sense of security is every where ap 
 parent. 
 
 But there is a wail in yonder hovel. A man has 
 yielded to the debasing influences of a perverted 
 appetite, and become furious and uncontrollable. 
 
 (3) 
 
 112S349
 
 4 PREFACE. 
 
 Officers are called in, and he is removed to the 
 watchhouse, there to await a sentence which shall 
 doom him to the penalty of a temporary home in 
 the penitentiary. The sense of security does not 
 pervade this household. 
 
 In yonder palace, the princely proprietor thereof 
 has fallen asleep upon a damask couch. It is not 
 like common rest, which invigorates toil-worn bod 
 ies, but a heavy, deep slumber, such as comes from 
 perverted indulgence which knows no laws of self- 
 control. He claims the right to partake as freely 
 as he desires of whatever contributes to his grati 
 fication ; and society concedes it to him. There is 
 a false security here, the great standard of wealth, 
 not character, being the observatory from which men 
 have looked out. 
 
 If, therefore, in our utterances from the palace, 
 we have shaded our picture too dark, if in the 
 background there seem indications of a tremendous 
 tornado, do but turn your gaze to the opening blue 
 between those parted clouds, and you will be re 
 lieved to know that we shall soon find ourselves in
 
 PREFACE. 5 
 
 a clear, genial atmosphere, which the bright sun is 
 irradiating with his loveliest splendor. 
 
 Hope on, work on, ye brave and courageous phi 
 lanthropists. The victory is well worth the sacri 
 fice of all your toil ; and the resjalt will open a new 
 paradise, where the serpent shall be lifted up, that, 
 as in olden time, those who look upon it may 
 live. 
 
 BOSTON, July 6, 1853. 
 1*
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The old Liquor Store and its Occupant. The early History 
 of Samuel Deals, Jun. His Marriage, and Death of his 
 Wife 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A Change. The Daughter grown to Womanhood. The 
 new Phase of the Temperance Question. The old Store 
 rebuilt. Uncle Sam proposes a Partner in the Finn. 
 Plans to build a Palace. The Brown Family. Their 
 hard Struggles and hopeful Trust 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Broken Threads. Discussing Copartnership. Office Seek 
 ing and its Consequences 35 
 
 (7)
 
 8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Attorney returns from Washington, and investigates 
 Uncle Sam's Accounts. A Discussion upon the Effects 
 of the Law. Uncle Sam demurs about abandoning the 
 Trade 50 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Tims recoils from the Copartnership. Uncle Sam's Appeals 
 to induce him to engage in the Traffic. The heavy Debt 
 he owes a powerful Neutralizer. Uncle Sam's Views of 
 the Temperance Cause 56 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Tims's Illness. How produced. His entangling Conver 
 sation. The Copartnership ratified. Tims, restored to 
 Health, is admitted to the Firm. Action of the Church. . 62 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Bachelor Suns in Love with Uncle Sam's Niece. Fifty- 
 Two and Seventeen. The Bachelor renounces his favor 
 ite Practice of Smoking, at the young Lady's Command. 
 Her Letter to her Brother upon the Subject of her En 
 gagement. What is Love ? 79 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Uncle Sam and his Daughter visit his native State, Ver 
 mont. His Presents, as an Offset to former Injustice. 
 His Conversation with a Representative respecting the
 
 CONTENTS. 9 
 
 Repeal of the Liquor Law. Death, of Richard Beals. 
 Heart Work 90 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A Country Funeral. Richard Beals's Document, addressed 
 to Uncle Sam. Its thrilling Import and its Effects 101 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Uncle Sam's Compunctions. His Desire to retire from the 
 Business. Blair's Character as a thoroughly Temperance 
 Man. A Glance at the Palace. Trials of Members. 
 Impressions of Memory 115 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Uncle Sam's Connection with Captain "Wilby. Spiritual 
 Rappings. Uncle Sam's Disquietude. His Settlement 
 with Widow Wilby 129 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Office Seeker's Letter. A Peep within his Office. 
 His Courtship. The Church and its Members in the 
 Suburbs. The Temperance Question considered 146 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Uncle Sam's Dread of the Anti-Liquor Law. A Plea for 
 Humanity. Selections from the old Furniture before re 
 moving to the Palace. The Opening of the Palace. 
 The Wedding, &c..... 160
 
 10 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Life in the Palace. Uncle Sam's Weariness and Restless 
 ness. Another Disaffection and Secession in the Church. 
 Parson Grazewell encouraged by Uncle Sam .' 177 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Return of the lost Son. His History. A Warning 
 to Young Men 191 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Plague Spot in the Palace. The Bachelor again in 
 Trouble. A Visit to Saratoga. Life at those fashiona 
 ble Quarters. Mrs. Bumble's Overtures to Uncle Sam. 
 Marcus Brown's Temperance Lecture. Cloudy Scenes . . 209 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Squire Suns is married to Mrs. Richard Beals. A Lecture 
 to Bachelors. The Excesses of Thomas Beals force Un 
 cle Sam to reconsider his past Course. Uncle Sam, for 
 the first Time, examines the Liquor Law. A Discussion 
 with an Enemy to the Law 242 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Thomas Beals is placed in a Home where the Anti-Liquor 
 Law prevails. Description of a Temperance Village. 
 Tims's Convictions. A Mass Convention held at the
 
 CONTENTS. 11 
 
 Palace. Knocking out the Bungs. Uncle Sam's Con 
 versation with Parson Graze-well 261 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 
 New Scenes at the Palace. Uncle Sam's Idea of Office 
 
 Seeking. Sims's Annuity, &c. Rosa Beals and her 
 Spanish Lover. Mustang is married in Cuba. The Ar 
 rival of Thomas Beals's "Wife at the Palace. The Con 
 ference upon the Subject of their Reunion 279 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Reflections suggested by taking Leave of the Proprietor of 
 the Palace. A Vision of the Night. The Reigning 
 King dethroned 301
 
 TINGLE SAM'S PALACE; 
 
 I 
 
 OK, 
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 The old Liquor Store and its Occupant. The early History of 
 Samuel Seals, Jun. His Marriage, and Death of his Wife. 
 
 MR. SAMUEL BEALS, Jun., is a wholesale liquor mer 
 chant, whose place of business is on one of the most 
 
 central wharves in the city of . The store in 
 
 which he traffics has no very inviting exterior it is 
 a low, odd-shaped building, one corner of which was cut 
 off several years since to widen the street upon which it 
 stood. It has a figure of six sides hence it is some 
 times called the " hexagon building." There are no 
 showy glass windows, no high ceilings, no carpeted 
 counting rooms, no outward or inward attractions, as 
 common-visioned people account an "inviting aspect." 
 The sign over the door has lost much of its freshness, 
 2 (13)
 
 14 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OB, 
 
 for it has hung there exposed to the salt water breezes 
 for years, and only when the sun throws a slanting ray 
 across it does it seem to show the once gilded letters 
 of the name " Samuel Beals, Jim., wholesale dealer in 
 choice spirits, importer of wines, teas, &c." 
 
 Now, walk inside the store with me, and let us see 
 wherein the attraction lies, for certainly there is a charm 
 which draws multitudes, and it has been said no man 
 in the city is doing so extensive and lucrative a business 
 as Mr. Beals. But how can we wedge our way within ? 
 The entrance seems completely blockaded by puncheons, 
 pipes, barrels, and quarter casks. Still, by running 
 the risk of snagging your overcoat and encountering the 
 damp rust which surrounds the cask hoops, by carefully 
 threading in a zigzag course, or following that dapper- 
 looking young trader who knows how to enter this place, 
 you, too, may find your way safely. Upon entering the 
 store, you will find the plank floor damp and blackened 
 a sort of steam in a hot day seeming to ascend, so 
 that your olfactories are tingled with the unmistakable 
 odor of a liquor store ; and as you are still surrounded by 
 the standing casks, (all duplicates of what we have just 
 seen at the door,) you are perfectly aware this is a place 
 of extensive business. In yonder dingy counting room 
 two men are standing, apparently settling a bill. A clerk, 
 with a pen behind his ear, is retreating from his leger, 
 and the two gentlemen are intently turning over the
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 15 
 
 " account of sales." Let us wait a moment, and look at 
 the busy truckmen who are so lustily rolling into the cel 
 lar those heavy pipes, and at those stalwart men who are 
 hoisting with their tackle the great butts, which are of a 
 particular stamp, and designed only for the upper story. 
 Well, there is no end to this work : more trucks are at the 
 door ; more liquors are to be landed ; and there is a greater 
 
 % 
 
 difficulty than ever to force an ingress to the premises ; 
 yet still the customers come continually. 
 
 As that business in the counting room seems to be ad 
 justed, we will walk in, and, at the first moment's leisure, 
 rcintroduce you, my friend, to Mr. Beals, the proprietor 
 of this store. He, in turn, will introduce us to Mr. Tuns, 
 the retail grocer, who buys rather heavily, being himself 
 in the city trade, having gained great celebrity by the sale 
 of " choice liquors, of Beals's importation." 
 
 Mr. Samuel Beals is no dandy in appearance. He 
 wears a slouching oversack ; his pantaloons are shockingly 
 spotted ; his vest, being a light buff, is somewhat dingy ; 
 and his large-checked handkerchief upon his neck is tied 
 very carelessly, with the long ends floating, considerably 
 soiled from being frequently tucked within the shirt bosom. 
 
 The countenance of the man could never be correctly 
 taken by the daguerreotypist, and pronounced " a perfect 
 likeness." The trouble lies here : he changes his expres 
 sion so often, that you at times hardly recognize him as 
 the same man. The bland look with which he meets his
 
 16 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 best customers ; that hearty shake of the hand he gives 
 them ; that winning accent with which he inquires, " Do 
 you take a heavy amount to-day?" is altogether different 
 from the manner with which he greets that old delinquent 
 debtor who is munching an apple behind a quarter cask, 
 who receives a very indifferent nod, and only in passing 
 hears the interrogatory, " Can we settle 'our account to 
 day, Mr. Whisk ? " And then there is another expression 
 for the bookkeeper that poor fellow who is goaded with 
 labor which is never done ; who sits up till past midnight 
 half the year, to bring out his trial balances, and draws 
 off such long accounts of liquors sold, that he sometimes 
 fancies the strange buzzing sensation in his head, and the 
 inflammatory state of his vision, is essentially impaired by 
 the fumes of the article he writes about. 
 
 But then the month's settlement makes all right. " A 
 thousand dollars salary," "the good will" of Samuel 
 Beals, and some extra perquisites occasionally, relights his 
 countenance, takes the paralysis out of his fingers' ends, 
 wipes the inflammation out of his eyes, and he is heard 
 to declare " he would not exchange his situation for any 
 other in the city." 
 
 Day in and out, week in and out, year in and out, this 
 business is steadily carried on, without interruption or 
 change. The same shipmasters and shipowners convey 
 the precious liquors across the briny waves, and bring them 
 up safely into the harbor, so that they are speedily landed
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 17 
 
 in the custom house, " pure and unadulterated." But how 
 long, think you, they remain so ? for be assured all the 
 profits of the sales do not come from simply drawing out 
 the article, and transferring it to the buyer's account. 
 When you went into the cellar of this old store, did you 
 notice, in a back corner, a pump f That is the most ser 
 viceable article in the place ; and Mr. Beals would no 
 sooner suffer the pump to remain one day out of order, 
 than he would give up his best customers. There are 
 men, too, employed very 'near this spouting spring ; but 
 we have no fault to find with the introduction of the water, 
 our preference being for filling the casks entirely with the 
 liquid, only we were questioning about Mr. Beals's war 
 rantee statements that what he sold was the "genuine, 
 imadulterated article ; " but this he explained well enough 
 to quiet his own conscience, by the assertion, " he was no 
 professor," as if herein lay a license to traffic just as he 
 pleased. 
 
 Yet Samuel Beals was accounted an honorable mer 
 chant, a good citizen, a shrewd fellow, and altogether a 
 respectable, common-sensed, fair individual. At the time 
 of our introduction to him, his trade was considered just 
 as reputable as any other calling ; indeed, it was highly 
 prized as the most desirable business, if one put into ac 
 count its lucrative advantages. It took but a few years to 
 make a poor man a rich one, if he understood his business. 
 He must be a man, however, who could read customers 
 2*
 
 18 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 one who had sagacity enough to tell who would pay 
 promptly, and who would be a delinquent ; and one of 
 the main principles upon which such a decision was ac 
 quired consisted in ascertaining how freely they used the 
 article individually ; and if it were proved themselves 
 were the best customers, Mr. Beals always sold rather 
 cautiously ; for, even at that time, the effects were certain, 
 although nobody ever thought of prohibiting the sale, or 
 discountenancing the moderate use of the poison. 
 
 Mr. Beals, however, arrived at his present lucrative 
 position by rather slow degrees. lie came to this city a 
 poor boy, the son of a respectable farmer in Vermont, 
 who seemed to have some boys to spare, and " Sam " was 
 resolved to try his fortune. He first worked as a common 
 " lumper " beat up sugars, hoisted casks, carried parcels, 
 and did all kinds of odd jobs ; but being remarkably faith 
 ful, he was, in less than a year from the time he deposited 
 his small bundle upon the counter, taken as a salesman to 
 stand behind it. He used to say the day he accepted this 
 situation was the proudest one in his life. He then threw 
 away his overalls, dressed himself in a suit of satinet, 
 and felt he was a man. His master was a wealthy mer 
 chant ; but the methods of doing business then so mate 
 rially varied from the present time, that the small retailer 
 would now hardly feel he had any position unless it 
 offered more attractions than the wholesale dealer could 
 then make available. The small store in which this man
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 19 
 
 traded rented for four hundred per annum ; the dwelling 
 house above was occupied by the " storekeeper," and Sam 
 Beals boarded in his family. It was then he secured the 
 affections of his master's eldest daughter, which was the 
 foundation of his worldly success. In long process of 
 time, the old man retired, Sam was married, and suc 
 ceeded to all the privileges and appurtenances belonging 
 to the late stock and stand of the former proprietor. 
 
 At first, he lived frugally, and young Mrs. Beals man 
 aged to superintend her domestic concerns unaided ; and 
 a neater dwelling could not be found. But with all her 
 painstaking, she could never make a gentlemanly air in 
 her husband. His rustic habits would cleave to him ; his 
 business was his all-engrossing theme ; consequently, the 
 main care of housekeeping devolved upon his wife. 
 
 By this union they were blessed with but three children : 
 the first died in infancy ; the other two, Thomas and Eu 
 nice, survived their mother. Mrs. Beals was a woman of 
 peculiar organization. She had great frailty of constitu 
 tion, but great energy of character. She was mild and 
 serene amidst all perplexities ; always saw a bright side 
 to every thing ; was devoted in her friendships ; a lover 
 of good order ; a meek, amiable, pious lady, who often 
 regretted the worldly courses of her husband, and often 
 threw in a mild reproof which worked its way into his 
 heart as no other counsel would. She particularly depre 
 cated the rum which followed in the pursuit of his traffic,
 
 20 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 and might emphatically be called one of the first-convicted 
 subjects, who would gladly have joined hands with modern 
 reformers ; but alas ! no such class of persons then existed. 
 She had seen a great deal of evil, in her tune, from the 
 excessive use of ardent spirits ; and it may have been 
 that she prevented her husband from becoming an inebri- 
 'ate, by the delicacy, yet firmness, with which she denounced 
 the common use of them as a beverage. She was often 
 melted by the hardheartedness to which the trade gave 
 rise. She pitied the poor, besotted victims, and frequently 
 prevented her husband from being accessory to their final 
 ruin ; but just as he needed her counsel to check him, and 
 her judicious advice to control him, she was seized with a 
 disease, which wasted her frame, and left her a prey to 
 that incurable malady, consumption. 
 
 Even then she used to feel that she should die a hap 
 pier death could she but emancipate her husband from the 
 thraldom which she saw inevitably must come upon him 
 as he progressed in his business. Money was not her god. 
 She felt that we were accountable how we secured it, and how 
 we appropriated it ; yet the future looked dark and dreary 
 to her. She had, at times, indistinct foreshadowings of a 
 change which must come upon society ; and she continu 
 ally uttered a prayer for a release from the terrible bond 
 age with which intemperance enslaved its victims. She 
 prayed, too, for the redemption and salvation of her hus 
 band ; for she felt he was far from the kingdom, with all 
 his worldly integrity.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 21 
 
 In her last days, she committed the care of her two 
 children to an elderly friend, with strict charge to watch 
 over their education, and train them in the ways of wis 
 dom. To her husband she bequeathed a long and minute 
 detail, with which we fear, he did not strictly comply ; yet 
 a bystander at her death bed remarked, " she felt assured 
 that last fervent prayer for her husband would be heard" 
 
 For a time the family remained unchanged, save by the 
 loss of the maternal head, which may ever be chronicled 
 as the greatest of all possible bereavements, when it falls, 
 as in this instance, and removes the shield, protector, and 
 director of the household. At length the housekeeper 
 became feeble, and incompetent to her task ; the family 
 were broken and separated, the children put to boarding 
 schools, and Mr. Beals was left to pursue his way a lone 
 widower, with nothing to supply his daily happiness but 
 the profits which accrued from his traffic. Indeed, he 
 tried to wear off his heavy bereavement by plunging 
 more intensely into his business. He now engaged in 
 new schemes. He purchased parts of vessels, in which 
 he could bring his cargoes with more profit ; and as he 
 could then number many surplus thousands, he cared, 
 apparently, for little else but his worldly gains, feeling his 
 children were well schooled, their bills promptly paid, and 
 their wants faithfully attended. 
 
 For years he pursued this traffic, until he became a 
 perfect Shylock. His invested money rapidly accumu-
 
 22 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 lated ; he was constantly taking mortgages upon ruined 
 families not their lands and houses merely, but to him 
 they were literally mortgaging their characters ; and, 
 strange to say, he evaded all the questionings of his con 
 science in these matters. 
 
 But travel along the pathway of life as we will, by and 
 by there will be turning points, and we are forced out of 
 the old beaten road into grassy lanes, or in bleak, rocky, 
 uninviting cross ways, which conduct us to our journey's 
 end.
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A Change. The Daughter grown to Womanhood. The new 
 Phase of the Temperance Question. The old Store rebuilt. 
 Uncle Sam proposes a Partner in the Firm. Plans to build a 
 Palace. The Brown Family. Their hard Struggles and hope 
 ful Trust. 
 
 MR. BEALS had little gallantry about him; yet we 
 cannot but believe that the soft and gentle influences of 
 her with whom he was many years so intimately connected 
 did wear off some of those rough and graceless manners 
 which early characterized him in his intercourse with the 
 ladies. For one thing we will give him credit ; that is, a 
 certain kind of respect for the female sex. He was often 
 hardhearted in his business transactions with those who 
 had no exterior polish to the hard-handed working 
 women, ungloved and slipshod in appearance ; yet he 
 never passed a lady associate without the most pro 
 found bow, with a tip of the beaver a minute or so after 
 the recognition, when he did not forget it. That he was 
 often joked upon the subject of a second marriage admits 
 of no doubt ; and that he sometimes used to have " revery 
 fits," while indulging private thoughts upon the subject, 
 helped to explain some eccentricities to the landlady with 
 whom he boarded. He occasionally dined or took tea
 
 24 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 with a friend pleasantly situated in domestic life, and the 
 charm of such an interview always turned his attention to 
 the subject of again securing a home of his own ; but 
 then he had a shrinking from the step-mother. He felt he 
 might possibly select a partner for himself ; but who 
 would assimilate and be to his daughter a true mother ? 
 He never seemed to think it would be possible to keep his 
 son at home, he was of such a wayward disposition. 
 
 And then how often was he told by managing ladies, 
 " Any body will marry you, Mr. Beals, on account of your 
 money " ! So that when Nabby Fields, the spinster, and 
 Mrs. Dawson, the spruce young widow, spoke most feel 
 ingly to his daughter, and kindly took her hand, and in 
 quired, " How is your father's health now, dear ? " he 
 always wondered if there were not some sinister motives 
 at the bottom ; and so this drove out all reflections 
 whether it would not be better to have somebody who felt 
 interested about mending his coats, and sewing buttons on 
 his shirts, and darning his stockings, not to speak of the 
 higher offices of counselling him about the miserly, greedy, 
 avaricious spirit into which he was sinking ; for, say what 
 we will about it, the mark of a good, discreet wife is al 
 ways visible in her husband. There is a controlling, as 
 well as subduing, influence ; and if Mr. Beals had mar 
 ried the maiden lady or widow, undoubtedly he would 
 have become more pliant and yielding in his future char 
 acter. But he used to talk about marriage in mercantile
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 25 
 
 phrases ; always spoke of " taking a risk," and feared he 
 might not get a "prime article," there were so many 
 " below par," in his estimation. To the best of our 
 knowledge, he was never known to have made direct 
 overtures to any lady since he had been a widower, unless 
 Mrs. Flutterbug, the rich southern widow, who spent one 
 summer at the north, and boarded at the same house with 
 him, received some proposals. We are certain she used 
 to advise with him about his daughter's education, and ac 
 tually selected a harp for her, on which she learned to 
 play most exquisitely, only her father had no ear for 
 musical sounds, save the clink of the dollars, and the 
 child used to feel nobody appreciated her efforts, and then 
 she wished she had somebody besides an antiquated board 
 ing-house keeper to speak to, who only knew a couple of 
 tunes, which were Old Hundred and Corinth. 
 
 But years have now gone by. That daughter has 
 arrived at womanhood. A graceful, accomplished, lovely 
 girl rises before us. She opens a new gleam of sunlight 
 in h.er father's heart ; she reawakens those happier days 
 when, by his own fireside, he heard a voice which seems 
 to be reringing in his ears, as that young creature dis 
 courses to him of themes far outreaching her years. The 
 recollection checks the father in his career. It is but a 
 momentary pause ; but who can tell the blessed effects of 
 a transient emotion? There is, too, another cry from 
 3
 
 26 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OB, 
 
 strange quarters. The inebriates themselves are deter 
 mined upon emancipation. They are knocking off their 
 old fetters, and the great temperance reform commences. 
 It has long been unheard by the traffickers in the deadly 
 drugs. They have called it " a fanatical excitement," a 
 determination to put down the trade by which they have 
 acquired their wealth. But the voice waxes louder ; it is 
 heard ; it rings like an unceasing vibration occasioned by 
 a bell tolling ; and it has now reached the pitch which is 
 carried out by waiting thousands, and its reverberations 
 will never cease till it has accomplished its whole work. 
 
 We are compelled to pass over a period of some years, 
 during which time Mr. Samuel Beals has attained the 
 cognomen of " Uncle Sam." He is known far and wide 
 as the " extensive importer," and his wealth is reckoned 
 not less than a million of dollars. He still lives with his 
 daughter in a most comfortable style of housekeeping, but 
 is evidently much troubled by the reformatory measures 
 of the temperance party. 
 
 There are times when he has serious doubts whether 
 he had better remain any longer in the business. It is 
 not reputable, as formerly. This statement meets him 
 every where ; yet he has a position to fill, and he will not 
 yield it, and desert a party who regard him as the cham 
 pion and leader in all anti-reform movements. But he is 
 advancing in life ; he feels the effects of age, which he 
 disguises from himself. He is careworn. There are deep
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 27 
 
 t'urrows upon his cheek ; his form is not as erect as for 
 merly ; and, to say the least, he needs a change in his 
 business. 
 
 For many months his eyes have rested on Tims, the 
 man whom we met in the counting room of Uncle Sam's 
 store ; but that old building has long since been demol 
 ished, and given way to one of massive stone structure, 
 five stones in height, and Uncle Sam is owner of the 
 whole block, and for many months, we were about re 
 marking, he has been on the point of broaching the sub 
 ject of a partnership to Tims, who is a smart business 
 man, largely indebted to him, and who, he desires, should 
 become interested in his wholesale traffic. But this very 
 man has become rather tired of his business rather 
 sceptical whether it is a strictly moral one ; and loaferism 
 and drunkenness, and ruin and wretchedness, have been 
 quite faithfully depicted before him in the " retail trade," 
 and he is resolved to work his way out of the business, 
 only he hesitates about the heavy debt which he owes to 
 Uncle Sam. He sees no way he can liquidate it, and yet 
 discontinue the business ; and he sees no way he can still 
 prosecute it without compromising with his aroused con 
 science. 
 
 Uncle Sam has indirectly hinted at his plan for a part 
 nership several times to Tims ; yet he has never appeared 
 to understand his meaning. He is now resolved to break 
 the subject directly ; so he called upon Sims, the lawyer,
 
 28 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 to whom he has already intrusted much of his business, 
 and informed him he should put into his hands sundry 
 accounts for collection, which would yield to him a fair 
 percentage. 
 
 He now openly declared his plans to his legal friend, 
 which were, to erect a sort of palace in the suburbs of 
 the city, the building of which would give employment to 
 many who have been catalogued long on the " old score," 
 and thus he could consummate his plans, wipe off his 
 debts, partially retire from business, and become a more 
 sedentary man. 
 
 Just at this stage of the conversation, Tims came in. 
 He was in a profuse perspiration, much agitated about the 
 foreclosure of a mortgage which he held upon the Brown 
 estate. Brown, it seems, had just been pleading with him 
 not to cut him off from his equity of redemption ; and as 
 Sims was an office seeker, bound for Washington at an 
 early date, he could listen to no such " declamation," but 
 proceeded forthwith to coerce all his legal measures. 
 
 This would necessarily put the Brown family into ter 
 rible straits. Tims felt he had been accessory to their 
 downfall, and his conscience came in and pleaded power 
 fully ; but there was no time to be lost. The legal gen 
 tleman could not be dictated upon such " petty matters 
 as turning a family out of doors ; " he therefore coolly 
 dismissed the subject by saying to him, " As you have
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 29 
 
 taken possession, and the right of redemption has ex 
 pired, you may put in a tenant as soon as you please." 
 
 Uncle Sam here gave a severe thrust to Tims upon 
 his cowardice ; so, to escape the imputation of effeminacy, 
 he boldly marched out, and the furniture of the Brown 
 family was that evening taken over to two vacant rooms 
 which a particular friend of Mrs. Brown had secured for 
 her. To show the blighting effect of this avaricious 
 spirit, Mrs. Brown had been to Tims a most kindhearted, 
 neighborly woman, and had often pleaded with him not 
 to furnish her husband with more liquor. Still, he did 
 so ; and, as an equivalent for his evil work, he now se 
 cured his services as a master workman upon Uncle 
 Sam's Palace ; but as liquor freely circulated here, Brown 
 was unable to discharge his duty ; yet he was not regard 
 ed as a degraded, ruined wretch. But Tims never wished 
 to remember him, only there were some transactions he 
 never could forget. 
 
 Brown was a man of tremendous energy. He worked 
 with all his might, and he drank with all his might, and 
 he fell as few fall ; for there always seemed recuperative 
 energies about him when he slept off the inebriating 
 draught Moreover, he was a man of good education, 
 and every body seemed to pity him rather than despise 
 him ; yet the fate of the drunkard's family seemed for a 
 short time to be his. An eclipse came over Mrs. Brown's 
 3*
 
 30 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 cheerful, trustful spirit. She looked upon her lovely 
 daughters, doomed to perform stated tasks ; she grieved 
 that she could not procure more eligible situations for her 
 children ; and she saw what is most withering to a sensi 
 tive spirit, the " cold shoulder " among those whom she 
 esteemed as her most valued friends. 
 
 A few days, however, and Providence seemed to gra 
 ciously smile when mortals frowned. She that is, Mrs. 
 Brown was an English lady by birth, a Bateman by 
 name ; and she had long expected a remittance from her 
 attorney in London, who had previously assured her that 
 a sum answering in our currency to five thousand dollars 
 would be forthcoming. A letter, English postmarked, 
 arrived the very week of her ejectment from her old 
 home ; so, had Tims but listened to her entreaties, he 
 would have been the gainer after all. 
 
 To describe the joy which was thus diffused in this 
 family would be no easy detail ; but alas ! there was one 
 impediment, one drawback, to all domestic bliss. The 
 husband was still intemperate ; and often as that crushed 
 and blighted heart had pleaded with and for him, she yet 
 saw but a faint glimpse that favored amendment. Yet 
 hope somehow always solaced her. There seemed a fore 
 boding that a brighter day -was about to dawn ; and much 
 as she prized the amount which had just accrued to her 
 from her father's estate by a rise on a small piece of land, 
 she felt there was a stain, a foul spot, a blemish, she
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 31 
 
 would rather have removed than be possessed of all the 
 wealth of a mine of gold. 
 
 Mrs. Brown was now looking for more eligible apart 
 ments, when, returning home after a fruitless search, she 
 found her husband sitting by the fireside in a more 
 thoughtful mood than usual. As her eyes met his gaze, 
 " Marcus," said she, " I have been running over in my 
 mind the contrast in our past and present condition. You 
 remember the first year of our marriage, how smoothly 
 every thing went on. Every body was then congratu 
 lating me upon the fortunate circumstance of my choice. 
 But I was proud then, foolishly so ; and with your name 
 I hated to have the word ' mechanic ' associated. I al 
 ways felt that a tradesman was a much more reputable 
 calling. Now look at my present cause for blushes. 
 This whole afternoon I have been in pursuit of a few 
 rooms ; and whenever I gave my address, there was a 
 shrinking, a falling back from a partial agreement to let 
 me the premises. There seems a stigma, a reproach 
 resting upon me, and it does seem to me you can yet wipe 
 it off. With the small inheritance which will now fall to 
 me, it would give us a renewed starting point. "We might 
 purchase a cottage which would exceed in domestic fe 
 licity all the palaces built upon wrecked men who have 
 fallen a prey to intemperance. Our children would then 
 be so happy in feeling that no tinge of shame disgraced
 
 32 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 their position in society, and I why, I would lift moun 
 tains of difficulty." The tear trembled in her hopeful 
 eye, and her tones of encouragement carried a deep con 
 viction to her husband's heart. 
 
 Marcus Brown looked in the mirror. He went into an 
 adjoining room, and took down his best clothes, put on a 
 clean dickey, brushed up his rusty boots, put a clean 
 handkerchief in his pocket, mounted his best beaver, 
 and walked out, saying " he had an engagement, and 
 should be back at nine o'clock that evening." 
 
 The heart of that wife died within her. She knew the 
 military company to which he belonged gave a supper 
 that evening ; that Tims, the grocer, was one of the offi 
 cers, and would be at the festal board. She looked with 
 her straining, tearful eyes after her husband. How well, 
 thought she, he looks ! How swiftly he walks ! and she 
 thanked God all his manliness had not yet died out ; and 
 the remembrance of what he was somehow inspired a hope 
 of what he might yet become ; and she fell into a pleasant 
 revery, almost forgetful of the slights and stings she had 
 incurred in house hunting that afternoon; for she was 
 buoyed up with the fact that she could any time pay her 
 quarter's rent in advance, which would soften the rigor of 
 the hardest landlord. 
 
 Thus cheered, she set herself about her usual tasks of 
 repairing and restoring what time had effaced, and knew 
 not why, yet there seemed a presage of good before her.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 33 
 
 It was now nearly nine o'clock. Her children were at 
 their different homes, and she was alone. She raked 
 open the bright embers upon the hearth. She dreaded to 
 watch for her husband's footfall, lest some one should lead 
 him home intoxicated ; but presently a brisk step, not to 
 be mistaken, was heard on the stairs, and Marcus Brown 
 returned in his right mind. He had refused to be present 
 at the military supper, and, instead, had been out in the 
 suburbs and engaged a neat little cottage, stopped at a 
 temperance lecture, and manfully signed the pledge. 
 
 We are often called to witness excessive grief, but more 
 seldom ecstatic joy. Its manifestations differ in different 
 temperaments. Mrs. Brown's heart overflowed with grat 
 itude ; yet she had few words. She could neither sleep 
 nor eat. Her usual labor fatigued her. She felt a frantic 
 wildness which coursed the lifeblood rapidly through her 
 veins ; and were it not for a sense of misgiving that the 
 pledge might not be kept, who can tell to what height her 
 transport might have risen ? Yet she made no open proc 
 lamation of her joy. Her cup was full. She dared not 
 crave a sympathizing friend to share it, lest it should be 
 again dashed to earth. 
 
 The next morning, her husband went off blithely in 
 search of employment. He had no difficulty in procuring 
 it, as he was one of the best of workmen, and returned 
 that night as regular as a clock, having engaged a job 
 which would hold out for the three succeeding months.
 
 34 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 It was a full week before Mrs. Brown acquainted her 
 children of the extent of her improved condition. She 
 was then on the eve of removal, and was about to gather 
 again together the scattered household ; and when she left 
 the city, Mrs. Godfrey, the newsmonger of the neighbor 
 hood, declared " it was her firm belief, that ten women as 
 righteous as Mrs. Brown would save any Sodom." Who, 
 then, could doubt her influence over her husband and 
 family, when they yielded to her undivided sway ? 
 
 Tims and Brown had a long conversation about this 
 time. The former was terribly harrowed by some re 
 marks which were made to him. There were dark deeds 
 and sombre circumstances which could not be explained 
 away ; and really we may well question whether Tims 
 rejoiced at the bright prospect which was dawning upon 
 this family, since it had been recently suggested that 
 Brown was admirably fitted for a temperance lecturer, 
 and, if true to his pledge, would probably soon be actively 
 engaged in the cause.
 
 I 
 THE REIGNING KING. 35 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Broken Threads. Discussing Copartnership. Office Seeking 
 and its Consequences. 
 
 BROKEN threads ! In an operative's room stood a 
 dark-haired girl intently watching the lightning velocity 
 of her shuttle, as, like a thing of life, it darted ever and 
 anon before her wishful gaze. It .seemed, at first sight, 
 as if no impediment ever arrested the busy weaver; 
 when suddenly there was a pause. A thread had broken ; 
 and the machinery was stopped but a moment for repair 
 ing it, and again its busy movement went on as before. 
 In a moment after, when in the full tide of activity, an 
 other broken thread required adjustment. The maiden, 
 observing my watchful attention, exclaimed, " But for 
 these broken threads, I could accomplish a double task." 
 
 How significant, thought I, is the similitude between 
 this machinery of man's ingenuity and the mighty loom in 
 which Providence permits us to weave our life's eventful 
 tasks ! But for the broken threads, how prone are we to 
 believe the fabric of our existence would be of a more 
 enduring texture, and a more desirable finish ! 
 
 But is it so ? Let us look at it, and see. In the hu 
 man machinery no skill can avert certain interruptions
 
 36 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 which compel us to stop a while, and repair the slight 
 breakages which are incident to all human labors. Were 
 that shuttle to continually ply back and forth, never need 
 ing its celerity to be checked, where would be the want 
 of her who so patiently watches and tends it ? Just so it 
 is in our life's experience. Broken threads help us to 
 keep more diligent attention to the woof and warp of 
 our being, if we would make a symmetrical finish to our 
 labors. 
 
 I looked upon that household. There were children, 
 and bright hopes, and eager expectations, and a mother's 
 assiduous care watched over their destiny. But there 
 was a broken thread. The father was an inebriate. Day 
 by day had he drank in the destructive poison, and by 
 gradual processes had it destroyed the vitality of his 
 being. His manliness was sacrificed. The stamp of the 
 divine lineaments was obscured. Still carefully did that 
 mother plan, exquisitely she wrought, or on fabrics of a 
 coarser texture would she fill up all the little gaps of daily 
 life, as if to make reparation for that part of the ma 
 chinery which was not in a sound condition. 
 
 Few hearts were made acquainted with that daily sac 
 rifice. The world looked coldly on, reiterating the ex 
 pression that " a notable housewife can supply the wasted 
 energy of him who should stand at its head ; " and so she 
 was left to struggle with those conflicts which only those 
 who have suffered can realize, but which they can never
 
 THE REIGNIXG KING. 61 
 
 portray, since there is a delicate privacy amidst a wreck 
 of buried hopes, when the sun of existence is eclipsed, 
 which appeals only to Heaven for its succor and deliv 
 erance. 
 
 Now, let the broken threads of such an existence be 
 repaired ; set the machinery once more in motion ; put a 
 cheerful glow upon that late haggard countenance, a light 
 step upon those toilworn feet, a song such as only comes 
 from a merry heart ; let this change be effected by the 
 redemption of that husband and father, and who shall say 
 but for those broken threads the present zest of life would 
 never have been so keenly realized ? Not that Mrs. 
 Brown (whose history has all along run in our thoughts) 
 would have undergone such a fiery ordeal to attain such 
 an issue, but that Providence does so purify the soul by 
 bitter experiences, that the sweet sunshine of life seems 
 afterwards to beam out from those parted clouds all the 
 more radiant for its obscuration. 
 
 All this while, the world, to Mrs. Brown, had been a 
 panorama. She had seen pass before her its hollow- 
 heartedness. She had marked how one companion after 
 another had relaxed their intimate hold upon her friend 
 ship when she labored alone in obscurity ; and when the 
 voice of cheer entered her apartment, the ringing ex 
 pression of gladness was wanting ; rather monotone utter 
 ances, bidding her hope on, seemed the tender expressions 
 4
 
 38 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 of friends; for alas! these were not her "prosperous" 
 days." 
 
 But again the scene shifted. Since her husband had 
 become a man pledged to abstinence, and adhering there 
 to, she had learned to live without the fond friendships of 
 her former associates ; yet now how kindly and tenderly 
 was she urged to renew such intimacies ! And when the 
 crowning grace which money confers was added, and she 
 once more lived in a " genteel way," how many suddenly 
 remembered " what an agreeable woman Mrs. Brown 
 once was ! " Her daughters were now intelligent and 
 talented young ladies. She who stood at the loom watch 
 ing the shuttle was surrounded by admirers, and declared 
 to have a mind above her circumstances, which was not 
 realized before. 
 
 But Mrs. Brown was a woman of rare discernment. 
 She suffered the present aspects to pass before her, and 
 learned therefrom a salutary lesson. A few choice friends 
 were selected, with whom she was on familiar terms ; but 
 the blandishments of fashion, of luxury, and idleness had 
 no attractions for her. It was even a matter of most 
 serious inquiry with her whether what the world calls 
 more " eligible situations," which did not now require so 
 much positive exertion as her former lot, were, after all, as 
 well fitted to develop the true essentials which lie at the 
 basis of all worthy enterprise and exalted character. So 
 she carefully trained her children, as a skilful gardener
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 39 
 
 his choicest hedges, endeavoring to lop off all excres 
 cences, and restrain all enervating indulgences. 
 
 Then, too, she lived in daily fear lest, in some moment 
 of temptation, her husband should yield to its fascinating 
 spell ; and how judiciously was she here called on to 
 minister words of gentleness and gratitude for his deliv 
 erance, knowing, as few women seem to know, that the 
 affectionate, yearning love of a wife will often stand as a 
 talisman to ward off the impending trial of temptation, 
 when all other influences are weak ! Had Mrs. Brown 
 been appreciated, she would have been considered little 
 else than a guardian angel, such as no " spiritual rap- 
 pings " would bring out from the dreamy land, but a living 
 personification of a Christian wife and mother. 
 
 Her children were now all gathered in one home, 
 schooled, disciplined, and usefully employed. Their father 
 was a repentant man, but perhaps not so happy a one as 
 if he had never fallen ; for can we wipe out the spots 
 which have ever tarnished our well being ? At all 
 events, he was an industrious, reclaimed man, who sought 
 to make amends for all the errors of the past by uttering 
 the warning voice, " Beware : touch not, taste not, handle 
 not," to all who fell within the scope of his influence ; 
 and Tims, the grocer, and he had lately had a long con 
 versation, after which Brown never expressed himself so 
 harshly as before concerning his ejectment from his house. 
 So, having arrived at a convenient stopping place to take
 
 40 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 a present leave of the fortunes of the Brown family, we 
 will take a glance at Uncle Sam, his attorney, and Tims, 
 the grocer, who are discussing the grounds of copartner 
 ship, and the liabilities of all the parties interested. 
 
 "What," exclaims my indignant reader, "Uncle Sam 
 has not prevailed, and poor Tims broken his resolution, 
 and about to enter the firm as originally proposed ! " Let 
 us listen a moment to some previous conversations : 
 
 " The indentures must be drawn up before you leave 
 us, Mr. Sims," remarked Uncle Sam. " They may be 
 made to run for the term of five years. I feel active and 
 sprightly enough to hold on that time in a silent capacity, 
 and maintain my seat in the counting room. You, Mr. 
 Tims, may attend the customers, and in a short time you 
 will accumulate sufficient to change your style of living. 
 That will satisfy the ambition of your wife. I suppose 
 most women can be bought with a granite front, and 
 damask, and tapestry," he playfully remarked. Still 
 Tims looked moody. He did not feel quite sure he 
 could enlist in the trade. He wanted further time for 
 consideration. 
 
 Uncle Sam was terribly imbittered by this untoward 
 remark, and appealed to Sims to sustain him; and to 
 show how deeply interested his legal adviser felt in the 
 matter, he replied by inquiring " whether either of the 
 gentlemen had read the article in the Morning Journal
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 41 
 
 under the signature of l Ajax? That," said he, "em 
 braces my views of the political state of our country. I 
 find it proves a taking article, and I suppose it may lend 
 me more influence in securing an appointment than all 
 I have ever done or said in my lifetime." 
 
 Uncle Sam was vexed beyond endurance, and the 
 venom was discharged by a free use of language. The 
 idea that he had been making such important statements 
 as to the manner in which he could draw up the copart 
 nership, added to Tims's desire to postpone the affair, 
 and Sims's interrogatories about the written document 
 signed " Ajax," so completely nettled the old man, that 
 had he not intrusted so many important documents to 
 Sims, he would have rushed out of his office, and left him 
 forever. As it was, he could effect nothing but simply 
 append his name to a check for three hundred dollars in 
 favor of Sims, to enable him to prosecute the business of 
 office seeking at Washington. 
 
 We may as well here subjoin a short history of John 
 Sims's political career, as it helps us to explain some of 
 the eccentricities of his character. For many years the 
 love of office seemed to be the ruling passion of his life ; 
 consequently he had studied the arts of stump oratory to 
 the exclusion of " Coke " or " Littleton." He was there 
 fore an eminent politician, rather than a profound lawyer. 
 In three successive campaigns he had been a foremost 
 leader. He declaimed at home and abroad, and never 
 4*
 
 42 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 wanted for political " backers " who were ready to ac 
 knowledge his claims for preferment ; yet he was contin 
 ually destined to be defeated ; and had John Sims been 
 any thing but an unflinching man, he would have left his 
 party, many a time, in utter disgust. For had he not 
 been promised a seat in Congress again and again, yet 
 failed of securing a nomination? And when his own 
 clique proved recreant to their most solemn asseverations 
 to support him as their candidate, was he not told his de 
 feat was all attributable to a set of " bogtrotters ; " and 
 was not this the secret of his newspaper articles upon 
 " the political eifects of emigration ? " 
 
 Yet the hopeful spirit of Squire Sims did not forsake 
 him. His party still acknowledged his claims. Could 
 they have forgotten them, when the hospitable treatment 
 they had received at his hands rose so vividly before 
 them ? When other people wondered how it was that 
 Sims never had accumulated any more, could they not 
 have explained it by referring to the oyster suppers and 
 the sea of champagne that so often and so freely flowed at 
 his expense? Depend upon it, my friends, this office 
 seeking has some " items " attached to it which make sad 
 inroads upon a professional gentleman's pockets. Million- 
 naires like Uncle Sam do not always foot the bills, although 
 they often furnish the principal entertainment " at cost." 
 And now the old party with whom our legal coun 
 sellor had conferred for years had lost their power,
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 43 
 
 and, for the first time in his life, Squire Sims began to 
 think about a change in his political views. Of course, 
 this had led to much distrust and bad feeling in those to 
 whom he had been zealously attached ; and it was only 
 by a vigorous series of articles in the leading journals of 
 the day, which were devoted to the new administration, 
 could he seek to gam popular favor. 
 
 Still, at this tune, "Ajax" was in no very enviable 
 situation. The surmisings which attend a "turncoat," 
 the distrust with which they are early considered, the 
 neglect of old politicians who have been fed and toasted 
 at the expense of him who has forsaken them, the invec 
 tives which are hurled at him, the loss of confidence 
 which manifests itself in withdrawal of legal patronage, 
 the obliteration of the past, with its many favors all 
 are forgotten when the new views are embraced which 
 have led to a change in the administration of govern 
 ment; and Squire Sims was just now passing through 
 this dilemma. Yet he had espoused a few warm friends 
 had taken the field, and boldly defined his present po 
 sition ; and, of course, not a few promises had been made 
 him that he would be selected for some eligible post in 
 governmental affairs. 
 
 And now how his old associates branded his with 
 drawal from their party as being influenced by sinister 
 motives ! how retentive were their memories to bring to 
 light some mean acts of which he was guilty while
 
 44 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 identified with them! how they recollected about bribe 
 money to secure votes, and of intimate friendships found 
 ed on a desire to secure patronage ! and nobody remem 
 bered the slavish work he had done, and what remunera 
 tion they had promised, because they were defeated and 
 despoiled of power. 
 
 Luckily, however, for Squire Sims, Uncle Sam was no 
 rabid politician. If so, he would have at once withdrawn 
 all intercourse with a man who had swerved from his 
 party. As it was, he had expressed himself most freely 
 upon the folly of office seeking, but always concluded by 
 remarking " it was as natural for Sims to live on expecta 
 tion as his daily food." There was, too, a kind of ac 
 knowledged affinity in the relationship of second cousin, 
 which Uncle Sam and the Squire often talked about. 
 This had led the liquor merchant to throw a great deal of 
 business in his way ; yet greatly to Uncle Sam's regret, 
 he never could find his friend accumulated much. 
 
 The Squire was far from being a " Brummel," yet he 
 led the fashion for his tailor, and defaced a great deal of 
 nice broadcloth. Then he had an inkling for gentility in 
 regard to a boarding house. He liked to be identified 
 among "first-class people," and to associate with mar 
 riageable young ladies, who would occasionally accept, of 
 a ticket at an opera, when he had no engagement at " the 
 club house ; " and that he was by no means indifferent to 
 his personal appearance was evident from his cultivating
 
 THE REIGNIXG KING. 45 
 
 a splendid goatee, and underbrush and whiskers to match, 
 only they were of an iron- gray color, and the process of 
 continually dyeing, when old father Time was forever 
 demanding his due, caused him, at length, to issue a writ 
 of ejectment, and cause his barber to give him a clean 
 shave. 
 
 His credentials were now furnished him by his new 
 party, attesting his eligibility for any office within the gift 
 of the president ; and just at this untimely hour of prep 
 aration for starting for Washington, how could he be ex 
 pected to be interested in drawing up the terms of Uncle 
 Sam's new copartnership ! How could his eyes be forced 
 to rest on the old blank forms, " Know all men by these 
 presents," or, " This indenture of two parts made and con 
 cluded," &c., when the tailor had just sent in his new suit of 
 broadcloth, and the washerwoman his waxy, shining shirt 
 bosoms and high dickeys, with an extra polish and stiff 
 ness ; so that there was no chance of breaking down here, 
 let what calamity follow that might, unless, by repeated 
 friction, his ears wore away, from being constantly fretted 
 against so sharp a surface as his highest dickeys pre 
 sented ! His landlady remarked this day, as he jumped 
 into the carriage equipped for this experiment, " that a 
 neater man than Squire Sims her eyes never rested 
 upon." 
 
 But just think, for a moment, of his errand. A full- 
 grown man, six feet high, reputed of sound mind, with
 
 46 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; oft, 
 
 plenty of business in his dingy office, and in constant 
 receipt of more ; able to support himself independently ; 
 descending to ask his friends for credentials to state that 
 what appeared upon the surface was true, with some hun 
 dred names certifying the fact, driving off to the seat of 
 government to present his claims for some appointment 
 within the gift of a man who himself might be dropped 
 at the close of his first term, it looked unnatural; 
 and, further, to find him actually on the spot, wedged into 
 a crowded hotel, content to hang on a bare peg all night 
 with his overcoat ; to mingle with the hungry herd, all on 
 the same errand ; to be repulsed ; told to wait ; assured 
 by some there was not the least chance of success ; to 
 crowd around the doors of the White House, unrecog 
 nized, save by a few equally eager and determinate 
 seekers ; and then, after all this severe and protracted 
 trial, to read that the very appointment he sought has 
 been given to another, every way his inferior why, 
 Mr. Sims, does not your pride revolt, and cause you to 
 take passage on some underground railroad, so that your 
 identity may not be recognized ? 
 
 And then what a swarming summary of " items " rise 
 before you of lost efforts of hours devoted to scribbling 
 political questions and answering them with acknowl 
 edged sagacity and forethought ! So that, taking the 
 clique or party with whom you are associated in question, 
 you begin to fancy their ideas of your adaptation to office
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 47 
 
 actually secure you one. But we will let the man speak 
 for himself : 
 
 WASHINGTON, 
 
 MR. SAMUEL BEALS, Dear Sir: I have now been 
 in this place some six weeks, hoping, expecting, but not, 
 as yet, realizing, any preferment. Yet I am not alone. 
 Scores, who have spent their last cent to get here who 
 have hurrahed and shouted until bronchial tendencies are 
 in their open throats ; men who have forsaken their call 
 ings in quest of something more lucrative ; men who at 
 home demean themselves with dignity are here in as 
 low a capacity as the servants they leave behind, since 
 they only occasionally make a strike for higher wages. A 
 very respectably dressed man, of pleasing manners, ac 
 costed me just now. Said he, " I perceive, sir, you are a 
 patient waiter. I have been here for the last six weeks ; 
 have left a thriving business in a mechanical line, with 
 the expectancy of obtaining the post-office department in 
 our little village ; but I have just been -told that a man 
 whom I never suspected desired it has, by letter, obtained 
 this post ; and I am crowding my way to give the presi 
 dent a piece of my mind upon the subject." 
 
 A man behind us, happening to overhear him, burst 
 into a hearty laugh, and giving my friend a heavy slap 
 upon the shoulder, added, " Go home, sir, and attend to 
 your machinery. The president cannot listen to your
 
 48 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 petty details, even if you are slighted. Why, not less 
 than seven hundred are this day seeking a personal inter 
 view with him." The man shortly after disappeared. 
 Women, too, are among this mighty throng. Walk up 
 Pennsylvania Avenue, some bright morning, and look 
 upon forms clothed in brocade, who are leaning upon the 
 arms of men with careworn countenances ; and by and 
 by, as they closely converse, you will see a richly em 
 broidered handkerchief taken out to wipe away a tear. 
 They, perchance, are waiting for a remittance to carry 
 them back. Hundreds are in a similar case. Still, / 
 have some hope that I shall succeed. 
 
 J. SIMS. 
 
 Infatuated man ! A week after this date, we find the 
 following epistle addressed to 
 
 SAMUEL BEALS, ESQ., Dear Sir: I have expended 
 the whole sum I brought with me. It is enormously ex 
 pensive to support the bearing of a gentleman in this 
 place. My efforts are defeated with regard to obtaining 
 an office. There may, however, le something in the future 
 for me. Please transmit to me, by mail, five hundred 
 more, and oblige, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 J. SIMS. 
 P. S. I shall return immediately.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 49 
 
 Uncle Sam enclosed a draft with a note which ran 
 thus : 
 
 For Heaven's sake, Sims, return. You are playing the 
 part of a madman. 
 
 S. BEALS. 
 
 Sims, soon after, returned rather crestfallen ; but did 
 not Solomon say, "If you bray a fool in a mortar, his 
 folly will not depart from him " ? " Ajax " still writes for 
 the organ of his party, although he never bores Uncle 
 Sam with reading his profound statements. 
 5
 
 50 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 The Attorney returned from Washington, and investigates Uncle 
 Sam's old Accounts. A Discussion upon the Effects of the 
 Law. Uncle Sam demurs about abandoning the Trade. 
 
 AGAIN the office of the attorney is reopened, and 
 Uncle Sam stands by his desk. He utters himself in a 
 choleric tone of voice. " The major's account must be 
 attended to. This family must be broken up. He has 
 mortgaged me his entire property, and I must have pos 
 session. People that will drink, Squire, must pay the 
 penalty. There's no friendship in trade ; and there's 
 Peter Mason, and Jim Sikes, and Theodore Lamb, and 
 Cornelius Buckram, all stupefied with liquor men who 
 are on the verge of drunkards' graves I must have 
 from all of them such satisfaction as you can obtain. 
 They've sold my liquors at a profit, and, had they not 
 drank like fishes, might have been wealthy men." 
 
 " And what shall I do about old Nancy's portrait ? It 
 would not bring any thing if put in an auction room ; and 
 she pleads for it as the only relic of her drunken husband. 
 Shall she keep it, Mr. Beals ? " 
 
 " No," replied the old man with firmness. " She has 
 accused me of continuing her husband in the traffic. I
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 51 
 
 don't stand that. Send the portrait to my house. 'Twill 
 fit a fireplace in my attic." 
 
 " And what shall I do with old Nelly's cows, Mr. 
 Beals?" 
 
 " Sell them for the most they will bring, and give me 
 the balance." 
 
 " And with Johnny Brattle's account ? He has been 
 a hard-working man." 
 
 "Ajax" began to relent; yet he was ready to obey 
 peremptory orders ; and to all these questionings Uncle 
 Sam invariably urged "an immediate settlement." 
 
 Now, one may inquire how so many petty accounts 
 came to be inserted in a wholesale merchant's affairs ; but 
 the truth was, Beals was a man of ready cash always 
 had a surplus for investment ; and so, when a loan of a 
 few hundreds was required, he lent it upon good se 
 curity ; and thus a frequent recital from women of the 
 cruelties and trials to which intemperance subjected them 
 made Uncle Sam rather callous to their entreaties ; and, 
 besides, he was nervously sensitive upon the subject of 
 the anti-liquor law, which threatened to impair his future 
 gains ; for a million of ill-gotten dollars did not satisfy the 
 rapacious, miserly love of gaining yet another. Such are 
 some of the results of the money lender, who thus en 
 courages intemperance by every mortgage he takes upon 
 an inebriate's premises, trusting to his promises for re 
 demption.
 
 52 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 "It's just as I have always said, Mr. Beals, that the 
 law must meet such obstinate cases. You may preach 
 forever to these old soakers ; and unless you put the 
 article out of their entire reach, you can never reform 
 them." 
 
 " Well, I know it's so, Squire ; and that's the reason 
 I never would retail the stuff. Yet I've seen a mighty 
 sight of difference in the working of the law to prohibit 
 it. When it first passed, there was a kind of check put 
 upon the retailers out of the city. They kind o' feared 
 the temperance hands would complain on 'em, and so they 
 didn't dare to buy much ; but I used to tell my best cus 
 tomers, when they came in with their long faces, ' to go 
 it : I'd face the bill. If you are prosecuted, I'll pay 
 your cost/ says I. And most on 'em did try it ; and 
 when they got indicted, I used to send bail and stand 
 costs of prosecution ; and you know as well as I, Squire, 
 money will do e'ena'most any thing." 
 
 Squire Sims bowed a cordial assent. 
 
 " You see the temperance folks are in a nice fix. The 
 judges drink their wine, and the jurors do not all sign the 
 pledge ; and when they look to have their law executed, 
 there is a loophole, or a ' license,' or some chink through 
 which they crawl by paying a small fine ; and then they 
 make up in a day or two twice as much as the verdict, 
 and go on, it may be, forever, without being again prose 
 cuted."
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 53 
 
 The old liquor merchant here chuckled over a story. 
 " There was Bent, the grocer, just out here, that sold an 
 awful sight of liquor. It seemed as if every body got 
 drunk in his village, he couldn't have retailed more. 
 But the law nettled him somehow. There were one or 
 two men who resolved to get him indicted. He came 
 right to me about it ; and I told him, ' Face 'em, my boy, 
 and I'll stand consequences.' After a few days, he came 
 in again, with the sweat standing in great drops on his fore 
 head, and says he, ' Mr. Beals, what shall I do ? They've 
 got me indicted, and my wife is just about crazy. She says 
 I shall give up the trade.' ' Go about your business, you 
 silly dog,' said I. ' Didn't I tell you I'd face 'em ? ' It 
 put new life into Bent ; and, with tears in his eyes, he 
 squeezed my hand, and says he, ' Mr. Beals, you shall be 
 paid for all the liquor I buy of you, if I cheat every 
 other creditor.' And, faith, he was as good as his word. 
 I got every cent of my dues ; but when he failed, Smiley 
 & Co. took tAventy cents on a dollar, and jumped at that. 
 You see wholesale business is profitable. There's no rub 
 bing out the fact, Squire. Where, but for this, should I 
 have been ? And now I have several thousand dollars in 
 mortgages, besides a trifle more where the assessors don't 
 snake it out." And here he crossed his legs and gave a 
 look of defiance as he spoke of " tax gatherers." 
 
 " I don't understand why you wish to sell out and close 
 5*
 
 54 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 up such a lucrative business, Mr. Beals," remarked the 
 Squire. " You are about as hale and hearty as ever, and 
 your experience must profit you a great deal." 
 
 " Yes, I know it, Squire ; but you see things have 
 changed some. It ain't quite so ' reputable ' as formerly 
 to sell, even by wholesale. Some of my old acquaint 
 ances talk a good deal to me ; and that thundering sprig 
 of a minister we settled t'other day made it in 'his way 
 to kind o' reprove me over somebody else's back. He 
 drawled out something after this fashion : says he, ' Mr. 
 Beals, if Mr. Nettleton is so reprehensible for selling his 
 drams by the glass, won't you explain to me the less 
 heinous sin of selling by the pipe ? ' He was a barefaced 
 scamp, to say this to me. I would like to ask him how 
 he would get along without the seventy-five dollar tax I 
 pay him. He'd better take care how he throws stones in 
 his glass house. As you say, however, I'm about as 
 faculized now as ever I was ; but, you see, I've made 
 enough ; and now I'm willing to give a chance to some 
 body else to live. There's Budd, my clerk. I've prom 
 ised him an interest when I sell out. I think the firm 
 will be ' Tims, Budd, & Co. ; ' and this will include in the 
 Co. something of a capitalist, I reckon." 
 
 " O Mr. Beals, I see through you now. You are to be 
 the Co., and, at the same time, live in your splendid man 
 sion, just in the suburbs."
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 55 
 
 " But you know, Squire, I must have all the old 
 accounts settled. I'll show you my other books at my 
 house any evening you may fix upon." 
 
 " Well, sir, if I am not called from home, I will set 
 next Monday evening. I may be ordered to Washington 
 again. I have an expectation" 
 
 The merchant buttoned up his coat, tried the bandage 
 on his gouty leg, felt in his inner coat pocket to see if his 
 wallet was safe, took his cane, and, giving the Squire a 
 rap over the shoulder, made a very untoward remark 
 about the folly of " devilish office seeking," and closed the 
 door.
 
 56 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Tims recoils from the Copartnership. Uncle Sam's Appeals to 
 induce "him to engage in the Traffic. The heavy debt he owes 
 a powerful Neutralizer. Uncle Sam's Views of the Temper 
 ance Cause. 
 
 ME. BEALS went straight from the lawyer's office to 
 close up his terms with Tims, the grocer, and arrange the 
 business so that a change in the firm might be announced 
 at the earliest day. Much to his surprise, he found Tims 
 reluctant to assent to any proposition he could make. 
 
 "Are you a fool, Tims," pelted out the old man, 
 " that you hesitate about getting rich at your time o' life ? 
 Ain't you got a family growing up, brimful of wants ? and 
 it takes no trifle to supply such a parcel, any how. Be 
 sides, don't you want to send Enoch to college, and Sam 
 to the engineering business ? and what do you expect to 
 do it with unless you give up this petty shop, where you 
 are forever surrounded with loafers, and always endan 
 gering your premises by the ill will of such poor devils ? " 
 
 Tims intimated he had thought of trying some other 
 kind of business. 
 
 "Now, look here, my good fellow," said Mr. Beals, 
 calming down the rough tone of his voice ; " you know
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 57 
 
 the old saying, ' A bird in the hand is worth two in the 
 bush.' " 
 
 " And the other," quickly retorted Tims, " ' A burned 
 child dreads the fire.' " 
 
 " But that's nothing to do with the case, here nor there. 
 How many times must I repeat to you the mighty differ 
 ence between the wholesale and retail trade ? I know 
 well enough about your trials in the business. I know 
 what a bad name you got for turning out the Browns ; and 
 you were rather too fast there a little too greedy for 
 the lucre, Tims. Folks called you rather hardhearted." 
 
 This was a tender spot upon which the old merchant 
 hit. Tims had a kind of nightmare dread of alluding to 
 the subject; but the reflections thus awakened embold 
 ened him to speak freely of discontinuing the business. 
 
 " I am obliged to you, Mr. Beals, for your interest 
 in me and mine ; but really, sir, I am unwilling to 
 incur any future stings of conscience by trafficking any 
 further in the business. I have been reading the law 
 regulating the sale of ardent spirits. It maybe a little 
 stringent just now, and for a time, so long as public 
 opinion thus judges of things, it may be overthrown so 
 as not seriously to affect either retailer or importer. 
 But, Mr. Beals, there is no sense in drinking to excess, 
 neither is there any in being slightly elevated by a 
 common dram. I've seen the mischief in all its bear 
 ings. Moderate drinkers sometimes become inebriates.
 
 58 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 You remember when old Job Slant was a likely man, a 
 good citizen, worked well, and how gradually he fell, Mr. 
 Beals. He began to use spirit as a tonic. It braced 
 him up, and he got his strength; but the very thing 
 which procured his strength gave him the habit and the 
 love of continuing the practice ; and, in tune, it produced 
 a reaction, and weakened his physical energies ; and you 
 know his end." 
 
 " I should think I might," replied Beals. " I held 
 his first mortgage." The old man took a fresh quid of 
 tobacco, and then he told a long yarn of a most pitiful 
 history how the Stants begged him to put their father 
 under guardianship, and save something for that decrepit 
 boy that was finally landed in the poorhouse; "but I never 
 meddled. Tims, you ought not to make an enemy of 
 your neighbor's dog. He'll snarl and bark at you every 
 time you pass him ; and if he is restrained from doing 
 this, he'll give a low growl, or look at you through the 
 fence as if he would revenge himself some time." 
 
 " And there was Squire Dawes. I remember when a 
 better-looking man did not enter our church. Straight 
 as a gun barrel, smoothfaced and darkhaired as a Span 
 iard, he had graceful movements and a gentlemanly bear 
 ing, and, withal, he was so capable always on the 
 parish committees, foremost in recommending whatever 
 would conduce to our well being in society ; but he, too, 
 found a drunkard's grave. Now, when I reflect over
 
 THE REIGXING KING. 59 
 
 all these characters, Mr. Beals, and realize the effects of 
 the business in any form, it seems to me we are just as 
 criminal as those \vhom the law considers accessory to any 
 crimes. I cannot get over such an interpretation ; and 
 therefore I am willing a man of more iron nerve than 
 myself should continue in sowing such seeds of ruin." 
 
 " Why, Tuns, you talk like a minister. How long is 
 it, pray, since you fell into sermon making. We'll have 
 you appointed chaplain, or colleague with the minister, 
 or some such office, where your talents may be appre 
 ciated more than by liquor vending. Now, let me tell 
 you, Tims, this is only a bugbear that you have started 
 a fit of hypo that will all end in smoke ; and if you 
 refuse the offer I have made you as first in my firm, 
 don't you count on me as one of your friends." The 
 old man waxed wrathy. " Haven't I helped you out of 
 a thousand straits ? How much money have I lent you, 
 when but for this you would have closed up your shop ? 
 Haven't I told you how to secure mortgages, and not to 
 flinch at woman's tears, nor fear indictments, nor a bad 
 name ? And this is all the gratitude I get, hey ? Now, 
 I'll give you till next Monday morning to decide whether 
 you wish to become partner in a respectable firm, and 
 die a rich man, or mind the foolery of some conscience 
 strainers, who make a hell in every man's bosom where 
 their theory touches. I did think, Tims, you had a 
 stronger head."
 
 GO UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 Poor Tims was glad to accept of any delay by which 
 he could get off without an actual commitment. The 
 most he would consent to do, therefore, was " to consider 
 the case ; " and who ever considered the results of this 
 traffic in ardent spirits, and came to the verdict that it 
 was best for his peace of mind to continue in the same ? 
 Yet the difficulty with Tims lay in the debt he owed to 
 Uncle Sam. If he could have discharged it, think you 
 he would have parleyed further with him ? 
 
 Perhaps there is no grasp more tightly clinched than 
 to be entangled in heavy liabilities to a sordid old man 
 who wishes to use you as the tool by which he can 
 covertly still blindfold others, all the while he is reaping 
 the advantages of a silent copartnership, or, at least, a de 
 clared inactive one. Then to be obliged to contend with 
 an irritated old man, who runs counter to your wishes, 
 and is a complete barrier to exclude one's interest in the 
 onward march of improvement, why, if we were thus 
 populated entirely, when, think you, we should try to 
 enact a law which would interfere with one's pecuniary 
 interests ? 
 
 Uncle Sam stood out a perfect tower of strength, ready 
 to wrestle with any antagonist ready to crush any hu 
 mane effort to suppress the traffic ; and yet he was the 
 very man to declare, at all times, " he was as much in 
 favor of temperance as any body, only he wished no fa 
 natical movements, such as the law imposed."
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 61 
 
 In one word, he only required a license to sell just as 
 he pleased, and to whom he pleased, and to be freed 
 from what he called " impertinent attacks," and a more 
 smiling countenance and hospitable man could not be 
 produced. 
 
 6
 
 62 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Tims's Illness. How produced. His entangling Conversation. 
 The Copartnership ratified. Tims, restored to Health, is 
 admitted to the Firm. Action of the Church. 
 
 ABOUT this time, Tims was taken sick. The disease 
 was a slow, nervous fever. He had stood at the corners 
 of the streets too much, of late, listening to Uncle Sam's 
 persuasions. No doubt, many a fever has been thus 
 superinduced. The mind being agitated, and suffered to 
 brood over a whole tissue of coming evils which we are 
 assured must follow in the steps of wilful transgression, 
 finally induces a morbid state of the physical energies, 
 and from becoming thus enervated, it falls a prey to that 
 common disease termed by the medical faculty " a slow 
 fever." 
 
 Tims was now subjected to this disease, only attendant 
 upon it were paroxysms of excitement, when the brain 
 seemed affected, and he complained of hideous figures, 
 monstrous spectres, and ghostly apparitions which stood 
 before him whenever he attempted to sleep. The drowsy 
 god could not be wooed *by morphine, or any lethargic 
 remedies. A powerful reaction to all such quieting in 
 fluences was working in the conscience.
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 63 
 
 And what had Tims done ? The world surely termed 
 him a " respectable man and an orderly citizen." How, 
 then, came this disquietude within himself 1 ? 
 
 Uncle Sam had lately harassed him beyond measure. 
 Being somewhat in his power, (that is, as we have said, 
 a part of the purchase money of his present " stock and 
 stand " having been furnished by the old man,) he held a 
 kind of subjective influence, which could not be readily 
 resisted. "VVe have all known men drawn by such en 
 tangling processes, and made to act contrary to their own 
 unbiased judgments ; for Uncle Sam was very lamblike 
 when he could carry his purposes, but very wolfish when 
 they were defeated. Indeed, his plans seldom failed ; for 
 his ready cash was such a powerful auxiliary to success, 
 that it only confirmed "in many minds the oft-repeated 
 adage, that " money is power." 
 
 Tims had learned the whole story. For several days 
 previous to his being sick, he had been advancing the idea 
 that he had thought of entirely, changing his business, to 
 which sentiment Uncle Sam in no way responded. He 
 thus laid before him the speciousness of his reasoning : 
 
 " Here you are, Tims, comparatively a poor man, in 
 the prime of life, with a family dependent on your exer 
 tions for whatever figure they may make in the world. 
 You have the requisite qualities for a business man. You 
 are energetic, industrious, always at your post. For this 
 reason, I select you as my successor in the branch of
 
 64 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 business I am about partially to leave. I want to make 
 a whole man out of you, Tims a shrewd money maker 
 
 one who can be reckoned by his thousands ; and don't 
 you see the advantages, my good fellow, that will follow ? 
 Hang a man's conscience ! It won't give him clothes or 
 bread. Conscience does well enough for a bugbear to 
 scare old women, and it is a powerful weapon in the 
 hands of the priests ; but let me tell you from my long 
 experience I have never known your conscientious stic 
 klers and praters about the criminality of pursuing this 
 and that avocation that ever came to be rich men. I've 
 known men, after a long life of traffic in questionable 
 business, when they had accumulated enough to live like 
 nabobs, who would become most morbidly conscientious 
 
 yes, horribly so ; and I generally looked upon such as 
 hypocritical pretenders, or as frightened into the belief 
 that in order to secure the kingdom they had need to go 
 through a purgatorial process of purification. Now, 
 Tims, in the name of common sense, don't listen to such 
 ' old wives' fables.' 
 
 "Don't you want your family to be well educated? 
 and don't it cost a trifle to do it ? My single daughter 
 has had more than two thousand dollars expended on her 
 education. A large sum that ; but the gal is worth the 
 money smart as a steel trap, quick at figures, great on 
 music, and can waltz as well as the best on 'em. Now, 
 your children are just the same naturally ; but how, in
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 65 
 
 the name of wonder, do you expect to bring 'em out with 
 out the means ? Let me see : for five children's good 
 education there must be an outlay of ten thousand dollars, 
 reckoning on the principle I have gone over." 
 
 Tims was moved in this matter. He had desired, 
 above all things, to give his children a good education ; 
 and then his motto ran, " Let them shirk for themselves." 
 This plaster was applied to Tims, and began to take hold, 
 by changing, somewhat, the current of his thoughts. 
 There was force in it. Here was an opportunity to 
 engage in a lucrative and perfectly safe business. Uncle 
 Sam was still to preside at the helm, although ostensibly 
 having retired. So, with such a man to face liabilities, 
 one half the anxieties attendant upon usual business men 
 would be avoided. 
 
 But, behind all these alluring temptations to gain, there 
 was Mrs. Tuns, who constantly entreated her husband to 
 renounce the traffic in ardent spirits, as he valued his 
 soul's salvation. To some people she may seem as en 
 thusiastic and even fastidious in her prejudice against 
 such business ; but to others, who have witnessed how 
 whole families have been ruined, and have looked into 
 the consequences with a clear vision, there could be but 
 one opinion that an evil existed somewhere which ought 
 to be removed. Tims, therefore, concealed from his wife 
 the fact of being shaken in his determination to abide by 
 her decision ; and this engendered no happy frame of 
 6*
 
 66 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 mind ; for concealment is a canker worm which gnaws at 
 the root of all connubial bliss. Where there are right 
 feelings at heart, and a valued judgment is forsaken, you 
 can never obliterate the fact, that, to be happy in the 
 marriage relation, a mutual frankness must be observed. 
 
 Uncle Sam, however, had entered a wedge which he 
 intended should open a cavity large enough to admit all 
 his desires, and permit him to carry into execution aU his 
 designs. So he soon after again conversed with Tims. 
 
 " Suns, the lawyer," said he, " has been adjusting my 
 accounts. He looks them over there by the fire, with the 
 women folks, in the dining room ; and I ain't so certain 
 but there's an undercurrent flowing. My niece and the 
 old bachelor! But that's nothing here nor there. He 
 says he is completely astonished at the sales I have made 
 the past few years. He adds, Tims, you are a fool to 
 reject such an offer, and ought to be put in the insane 
 asylum at once, as a confirmed lunatic, if you refuse the 
 chance. He'd be mighty glad to step in your shoes, I tell 
 ye ; but what does a professional man know about secur 
 ing customers, and discerning the black sheep from the 
 white ones ? Their eye teeth are cut for using their 
 strength upon delinquents : all well enough in their way, 
 but no practical training about 'em. 
 
 " Now, I want a partner that has sold liquor by the 
 glass, then by the gallon, then the barrel, and, last of all, 
 by the hogshead and pipe one that don't look upon a
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 67 
 
 man that sells it like a sea serpent, nor like an imp from 
 his satanic majesty that drinks a little now and then. 
 Look at me. Ain't I a clear specimen of a moderate 
 drinker ? Sometimes I take my brandy sling, sometimes 
 my nice wine, and latterly I've used the best of Holland 
 gin that sometimes agrees with me best ; but I ask you 
 to point to a man of better constitution, of more vigor, 
 (saving this old, gouty leg,) than I am, at my time o' life. 
 I don't advocate your beastly drinkers ; but a little, wisely 
 taken, helps a man bear life's infirmities." 
 
 " True," replied Tims ; " but every body does not pro 
 portion the use of spirit like yourself. I must tell you, 
 sir, that I have seen so much of its mischievous effects, so 
 much of its ruinous consequences, that I do most heartily 
 hate and loathe it." 
 
 " Now, Tims, don't get pathetic, and tell over how you 
 wronged the Browns, and helped yourself to a mortgage 
 on old Dawson's estate, and how Finn was found dead by 
 the roadside, with a jug of rum he procured at your store, 
 and how old Peggy raved, that cold snap, at midnight, 
 about her brutal husband, to whom you sold the liquor. 
 There always must be bitter with every sweet ; and the 
 business to which you are now removing has no such 
 fearful, harrowing expedients about it." 
 
 " But, sir, it is at the root of all the evil. I cannot 
 disguise that fact from myself" 
 
 " Tims, you are worse than a woman no pluck about
 
 fi8 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OB, 
 
 you. You are demented need a guardian ; and I 
 swear, Tims, unless you give over these silly notions, I 
 will' make you raise the sum you owe me ; and when I 
 rip up the old score, you'll sing small, I tell ye. You'll 
 envy the day laborer. But if you will toe the mark like 
 a man, I'll do the handsome thing by you ; and I'm able 
 to do so, I reckon." 
 
 Tims was a man who could not stand a great deal of 
 ridicule or reasoning. He was easily warped ; and being 
 of an amiable disposition, notwithstanding he had the 
 name of doing some hardhearted acts, he could not dis 
 miss, get over, under, nor round Uncle Sam's sophistry. 
 He therefore resolved to passively submit ; and that day 
 the indentures of a copartnership were executed. 
 
 This was the sequel to the sickness with which poor 
 Tims had been 'afflicted. Mrs. Tims, meanwhile, was 
 profoundly ignorant of what her husband had done, and 
 might have remained so much longer, had not old Mrs. 
 Godfrey kindly stepped in to hear about the sick man. 
 
 " You don't think," said she, soon after entering, " that 
 Mr. Tims's sickness had any thing to do with Uncle Sam's 
 dogging him round so, do ye, Miss Tims ? " 
 
 " I'm sure, Mrs. Godfrey, I know not to what you al 
 lude." 
 
 " Why, la suz, didn't he tell you how the -old man per 
 suaded him to join him in business, and how he raved and 
 swore at him just the day before he was taken sick, and
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 69 
 
 forced him into old Sixns's office, where he signed the in 
 dentures ; and now you are to be a rich woman ? Folks 
 thought you would feel it dreadfully, because they all 
 know how pledged you are to temperance ; but old Uncle 
 Sam's entreaties and threats go further than all the pray 
 ers of the saints in the city. You see, when the money 
 comes rolling in, and you are promoted among the aris 
 tocracy, your conscience will yield like India rubber ; and 
 so you won't regret it so much, after all." 
 
 Mrs. Tims was confounded, but suppressed her aston 
 ishment, and let the old lady pursue her gossip. She 
 then detailed about bachelor Sims being in treaty with 
 Uncle Sam for his niece, Rosa Beals, the young lady from 
 Vermont who was visiting there ; and " as that beat all 
 she ever heard," she made it her concluding piece of 
 information. 
 
 After she had left, Mrs. Tims put some of the first 
 items together, and resolved slowly to break to her hus 
 band the subject upon which she knew he was so terribly 
 harassed, and to become to him the comforter, even if his 
 conduct did not meet her approval. 
 
 Sometimes we can half reason ourselves into the belief 
 that we have acted upon partial judgment ; and another 
 side reveals to us that the picture need not be set in so 
 dark a groundwork. Mrs. Tims, therefore, felt it was 
 inevitably decreed that her husband should be victimized 
 by Uncle Sam to earn his daily bread by the importation
 
 70 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 and sale of liquors. She had prayed and pleaded for 
 another issue; but it was otherwise ordered. So, now 
 she resolved to make the best of it. 
 
 That evening she reasoned her husband into so calm a 
 frame of mind, that some sleep was induced ; and the 
 spectral illusions did not trouble him after this. The 
 violence of his disease seemed mitigated ; gentle words 
 of construction were placed upon Uncle Sam's withering 
 speeches ; and the conclusion seemed to be, that if they 
 should be thus thrown into a sinful traffic, yet a partial 
 expiation might be made by appropriating to the poor 
 and relieving the suffering by such questionable gains ; 
 and that other delusive species of reasoning, that what 
 hundreds of others pursued, and were yet called our 
 " respectable citizens," might, after all, not be so diabolical 
 a calling as it once appeared to them. 
 
 Tims became a well man after all this disclosure ; and 
 the sign of " Tims, Budd, & Co." soon appeared where 
 " Samuel Beals " had stood for forty-seven years. 
 
 But when it became noised abroad that Tims had fallen 
 a prey to Uncle Sam's rapacity, and was about to form a 
 copartnership with him, some of the leading members of 
 the church with which he was connected were seized with 
 a "realizing" sense of their duty to take some action 
 upon the subject. 
 
 There were but five men in the society who were active 
 advocates of the temperance cause, and but two of these
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 71 
 
 were church, members. At an informal meeting, however, 
 it was decided that it would be judicious to advise with 
 their pastor, the Rev. Mr. Twirl, as to " the expediency 
 of remonstrating with brother Tims upon the bold, un 
 qualified course he was about entering." 
 
 Deacon Jared Smart and Captain Timothy Tapewell 
 were appointed to wait upon the pastor at an early day. 
 They did so. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Twirl gave them a most cordial recep 
 tion in his morning gown and slippers. When, however, 
 they broke to him the object of their visit, he took the 
 pen from behind his ear, and casually remarked, " Gen 
 tlemen, I will leave you to manage this affair according to 
 your own discretion, premising, however, I have the most 
 profound respect for brother Tims, and believe him to be 
 a man actuated by the highest Christian motives in his 
 daily conduct ; but having a sermon to prepare which re 
 quires a vast amount of labor, I must ask you to release 
 me from any active cooperation in this affair." 
 
 " But," remarked Deacon Smart, " we cannot release 
 you, sir, from an expression of opinion in this matter. 
 "We wish either your signature to a document we shall 
 offer addressed to our brother Tims, or your personal re 
 marks, so that we may feel a confidence in your support 
 of our side of the question." 
 
 To this direct request, Mr. Twirl felt completely non 
 plussed. He twitched down his pantaloons with a nervous
 
 72 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 grasp, making their rather short proportions to considera 
 bly cover the heel of his slipper ; he adjusted his vest, 
 put the dangling ends of his cream-colored cravat into his 
 shirt bosom, smoothed his scanty whiskers, and finally 
 took from his pocket that Yankee quietus, a jackknife, 
 with which he rubbed and scraped off sundry excres 
 cences upon the window sill, near which he was seated. 
 His voice, when he did speak, seemed somewhat tremu 
 lous ; and he repeatedly hemmed, as if troubled with a 
 bronchial difficulty ; and seeming to forget his haste, he 
 thus addressed the brethren who waited on him : 
 
 " Gentlemen, I have been settled over my flock five 
 and twenty years, and never have I found myself in so 
 strait a place before. I know the age demands progres 
 sive action ; and I have endeavored to meet it half way, 
 at least. But you must accord something to my experi 
 ence. We must act with great prudence, brethren, not for 
 getting that blessed injunction of the apostle Paul, ' to let 
 our moderation be known to all men ; ' and likewise that 
 higher saying of our Master, ' "Woe to him by whom the 
 offence cometh' " 
 
 Deacon Smart evidently grew fidgety. He remarked, 
 " But we must not smother our convictions, Mr. Twirl, 
 and become recreant to duty for fear of offending our 
 erring brethren." 
 
 " True, true," added the clerical gentleman ; " yet al 
 low me to tell you, brother Smart, that I have seen so
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 73 
 
 many societies who have meddled with the subject of 
 temperance that have been broken up by fierce and con 
 tentious members, that I must say I dread the encroach 
 ment of such a discussion. Our most excellent and 
 worthy friend, the Rev. Mr. Smalltalk, has been forced to 
 quit the field in consequence of such a dictatorial spirit 
 as was manifested." 
 
 "And brother Babbitt, who succeeded him, who is 
 such a champion in the cause and advocate for the anti- 
 liquor law, has a crowded church every Sabbath," re 
 marked Captain Tapewell, in a singularly felicitous tone 
 of voice. 
 
 " But, gentlemen," pursued the Rev. Mr. Twirl, " it is 
 always dangerous to meddle with a man's pecuniary inter 
 ests. "We all have our ideas as to what constitutes our 
 duty, and undoubtedly brother Tims has his. At all 
 events, Z do not feel it my duty to take any special notice 
 of his continuing in the liquor trade. By and by, these 
 things will take care of themselves. Always remember, 
 brethren, we have a superintending Providence, who 
 knows when it is best to bring about important results. 
 We ought to pray more for the furtherance of great truths, 
 and then we shall become enlightened in due time." 
 
 " And do you mean to say we are to sit down and wait 
 
 for a greater revelation of divine truth, sir ? " inquired 
 
 Deacon Smart. "Haven't we seen enough already? 
 
 Has not poor, oppressed humanity been resisted long 
 
 7
 
 74 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 enough ? I don't believe in such specious reasoning, sir. 
 Now is the time come ; and ' it is high time to awake out 
 of our sleep.' If you will allow me to quote the same 
 authorities you have, ' Work while the day lasts ; ' ' Be 
 instant in season and out of season.' Them's my senti 
 ments," remarked the deacon. 
 
 " Yes, brother ; but remember the words out of sea 
 son. Are we not now debating about an unseasonable 
 thing ? I repeat it, I cannot go to Mr. Tims and say to 
 him, ' You are about entering upon a dangerous calling.' 
 He would only be offended by such a reproof. We ought 
 not to forget that others heavy pillars of our church, 
 deacon are equally implicated. Men who pay the 
 roundest taxes in my parish are partially or wholly en 
 gaged in the traffic in ardent spirits men, too, who are 
 in regular standing." 
 
 " And," interrupted the deacon, " men whom we have 
 1 covenanted to watch over and reprove, warn and rebuke, 
 as needful occasions may arise.' I believe so runs the 
 creed that admits to membership in our church." 
 
 Parson Twirl assented to its correctness. He even 
 added, " A more amiable, consistent man does not occupy 
 a seat in my parish than brother Tims ; and so much 
 have some of the brethren of the church been impressed 
 with his deportment, that the vacancy of a deacon would 
 be offered to him by many of our best men. I believe I 
 must add, gentlemen, that I cannot, therefore, cooperate
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 75 
 
 with you in any personal appeal to our brother. My 
 pulpit performances must suffice for the present ; and 
 pungent preaching upon sin, my friends, is not easily 
 resisted by awakened consciences." 
 
 Deacon Smart and Captain Tapewell now took their 
 leave. They remained together in close conversation for 
 an hour or more; and the afternoon of the following 
 Sabbath Deacon Smart attended upon brother Babbitt's 
 preaching. 
 
 At the next church meeting, however, he was present, 
 having understood that Mr. Twirl intended to make the 
 subject of temperance the ground of special prayer. He 
 listened profoundly to the worthy gentleman's devotions, 
 and only heard the phrases, " that it will please thee, 
 God, to put an end to heathen superstitions and Moham 
 medan delusions, and to arrest the mighty, wide-spread 
 effects of intemperance, that stalks broadcast over our 
 whole land." 
 
 As they came out from the prayer meeting, Mrs. Play- 
 fair remarked to Mrs. Greatwell, "she noticed brother 
 Twirl was rather personal, with respect to brother Tuns, 
 in his devotional exercise," which caused Mrs. Greatwell 
 to inveigh against the absurdity of making one's daily 
 traffic the subject of church dictation. " For my part," 
 she continued, "I am really thankful that / am not 
 troubled with such a tender conscience. What if brother 
 Tims does sell liquor, and people get drunk after buying
 
 76 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 it ? I should like to know what that has to do with Dea 
 con Smart's conscience. And there's Captain Tapewell, 
 so mighty officious in the matter, that he told my husband 
 'he could not resist his conviction that it ought to be 
 made a subject of church discipline ; and brother Tims 
 ought to be counselled and warned, according to the prom 
 ises made in the covenant to offending members.' Dear 
 me, these straight-laced, new-fangled ideas only tend to 
 make quarrels among the members ; and, for my part, I 
 shall clear my skirts from all such interference." The old 
 lady here rapped heavily upon her snuffbox, and begged 
 Mrs. Playfair to take a pinch. They then conversed in a 
 low, mumbling tone, and both finally agreed to advise the 
 leading members to beware of stirring up the coals of 
 contention ; for they thought, with Parson Twirl, " every 
 thing was good in its place, when not abused." 
 
 Somehow it soon became public that all parties in this 
 church were not agreed upon the subject of temperance. 
 Still, not a few thought it " too delicate a subject to be 
 meddled with ; " for there was sister Tims, one of the 
 most active women in the church, a most remarkably 
 benevolent person, likewise, who never shrank from any 
 office imposed upon her ; and at this present time she was 
 president of the Relief Sewing Circle," besides being a 
 regular colporter of tracts for her district, and secretary 
 of the " Auxiliary Branch for the Prevention of Pauper 
 ism." It was, however, accounted most uncharitable in
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 77 
 
 Mrs. Smart, because she remarked, " If Mrs. Tims took 
 her station upon one of the rum hogsheads in her hus 
 band's store, she would probably record the names, resi 
 dences, and manner in which pauperism was induced, as 
 it had not been previously reported." 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Twirl now made it a point to converse 
 with those members of the church " who felt it was not 
 yet time for any decided expression of feeling ; " and the 
 worthy man soon after made a most rousing appeal to his 
 congregation upon the subject of " European forms of 
 oppression." Not a dry eye was to be found as he de 
 tailed the sufferings of little children who are made to 
 groan and tug under such barbarous cruelties as forever 
 cramp their physical energies, and deform their whole 
 moral we'll being ; but nobody had any tears to give to 
 those haggard, half-clad little children that were picked 
 up from an attic chamber, where a father lay in a horrid 
 state of intoxication, by quaffing the contents of a jug 
 which he had bought at brother Tims's grocery on Satur 
 day evening. The drunkard "was a poor, miserable 
 wretch, who ought to be ashamed of himself; " but the 
 sin was traced no farther. Sister Tims was so benevo 
 lent, that she actually provided those children with dresses, 
 with which they appeared in the Sabbath school, looking 
 as respectably as others around them. 
 
 Still, with all this outward expression of fellowship, 
 both Mr. and Mrs. Tims felt often harassed in their own 
 7*
 
 78 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 minds about his " traffic ; " yet they endeavored to reason 
 themselves into the belief that their temperaments were 
 somewhat peculiar; that they were morbidly conscien 
 tious ; and that the sanction of their minister and the 
 majority of the congregation with whom they associated 
 clearly indicated there was no pressing need of being ex 
 cited upon the subject. Mrs. Tims, soon after her hus 
 band's accession to Uncle Sam's wishes, displayed an 
 elegant gold watch, which one of her curious neighbors 
 ascertained was purchased by the old millionnaire for a 
 lady, and for which he demanded a warranty that it was 
 " a prime article ; " and if it proved defective, it was to 
 be returned, and the money refunded within a specified 
 time. This was the manner in which Uncle Sam always 
 made his bargains. He used to instruct his clerks about 
 allowing too much " leeway " in settling the accounts with 
 customers, and laid great stress upon the fractional parts 
 of a dollar.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 79 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Bachelor Sims in Love with Uncle Sam's Niece. Fifty-Two 
 and Seventeen. The Bachelor renounces his favorite Practice 
 of Smoking, at the young Lady's Command. Her Letter to 
 her Brother upon the Subject of her Engagement. "What is 
 Love? 
 
 WHEN we can leave one set of friends in comfortable 
 quarters and in a cheerful spirit, we naturally make a call 
 upon others. So, just now suppose we take a glance at 
 bachelor Sims, the lawyer, office seeker, politician, and, 
 at this time, the lover of Miss Rosa Beals. "We think, 
 with Mrs. Godfrey, it promises to be what the world calls 
 a " curious match." In the first place, is it not a little 
 singular that living as he has, and having been thrown into 
 the society of young ladies for over forty years, he should 
 all at once be caught by this simple-hearted young lady, 
 or " child," as Uncle Sam called her ? 
 
 Now, who shall depict the lover of fifty-two beside the 
 mere girl of seventeen? Yet here is Sims decidedly 
 caught, a victim to Cupid's sharpest arrows. He now 
 finds it necessary to look over those old accounts almost 
 every evening ; but it is more inviting where Rosa sits, 
 and Uncle Sam cannot persuade him to remain in his sit 
 ting room beside his desk half an hour at a time.
 
 80 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 Eosa is a pert, arch plaything ; never thought much 
 about being married ; has had her mind disturbed, occa 
 sionally, about some beau ; but he was only a clerk in a 
 " variety store " in her country home, or the farmer's son 
 who was studying for college ; but she never cared much 
 for either. She only wanted of them a "handsome val 
 entine," or a nice, perfumed billetdoux, that she could 
 laugh over with her circle of young friends. And now in 
 sober earnest to look upon this old grandfather as a hus 
 band, why, it made her laugh first at his folly, next at 
 his presumption, and last of all at the difference in their 
 ages. 
 
 But bachelor Sims had improved his outer man aston 
 ishingly. After his return from Washington, the dentist 
 furnished him with a fine set of grinders ; so that no one 
 could sneer at him as not having his " wisdom teeth " 
 cut ; and since that time, Monsieur Parodi, in New York, 
 " fresh from Paris," had fitted to his head such a wig that 
 it was the admiration of all his friends. The seams were 
 so natural, that more than once had a lock of his hair 
 found its way most clandestinely into some lady's pocket 
 to whom he had been remarkably attentive. His hair 
 dresser had likewise recommended a pair of whiskers; 
 but as they weVe not " classic " in appearance, being 
 tucked in each corner of his mouth, the Squire decided 
 upon his withholding them. And then his barber insisted 
 upon a set which were left to wander about his high
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 81 
 
 cheek bones, giving him a most unnatural expression 
 which he also rejected, although he did not object to a 
 huge set of bristles which protruded from under his shirt 
 collar, imagining such an appendage gave him more the 
 air of a fashionable man, a certain quantity of hair some 
 where upon the face being considered as indispensable. 
 Then his form was faultless. He was tall, well propor 
 tioned, and certainly looked young for one of his age, 
 his complexion being of a sandy hue, which by gaslight 
 or in cloudy weather seemed not to show any wrinkles, 
 unless closely approached. He always dressed neatly, 
 wore a high dickey and a ruffled shirt, visited in good 
 society, and knew many generations who had preceded 
 him upon the stage of action. He was not a man of un 
 common endowments ; had been a great meddler with 
 politics, to the serious detriment of his law practice ; and 
 it was thought by his friends he again held himself eligi 
 ble to the office of member of Congress, should a vacancy 
 occur in his district. When, therefore, such a man falls 
 in love, the excess of his passion seems to make amends 
 for the deferred season at which it occurs ; and if he es 
 capes being branded as " a, fool" he may thank his betters 
 for withholding an expression they feel to be too true. 
 Bachelor Sims, therefore, though professedly engaged in 
 assorting Uncle Sam's papers, had more important . sub 
 jects about which his mind was wholly exercised. 
 
 And now a few words upon Miss Rosa Beals, Mr.
 
 82 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 Sims's intended partner for life. As we have already 
 said, she had been reared in the State of Vermont ; was 
 an only daughter and a petted child, among five brothers. 
 Her training had been most delicate ; for her mother (as 
 fond mothers are wont to think) imagined her incapable 
 of much household service ; and so the cherished daugh 
 ter was always kept at school, where she was carefully 
 watched over by interested friends. Of course, therefore, 
 her self-reliance and independence of character had no 
 opportunity of developing what strength lay concealed 
 within her. 
 
 But Rosa Beals was not prepossessing in her first ap 
 pearance. Phrenologically, she was tolerably propor 
 tioned, although deficient in the organ of adhesiveness, 
 and almost wanting in reverence. Her face was any but 
 a handsome one. Her forehead was rather low, and her 
 long black hair was so adjusted as entirely concealed her 
 ears ; her eyes were black and flashy ; her nose a decided 
 " P u g>" an d her mouth large, with a retreating chin. Of 
 the qualities of her mind and heart we wiU hereafter 
 judge as they are developed ; for it seemed as if some 
 hidden charms must have been revealed to the eyes of 
 our friend, to account for his excessive love and desire to 
 obtain possession of this object, that flitted before his day 
 and nightly reveries. 
 
 And then she was such a tormenting little vixen ; and 
 her old lover seemed proof against the power of long-
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 83 
 
 established habits. And so the Ethiopian really changed 
 his skin, and the leopard the spots of his nature. 
 
 Squire Sims had been one of the most inveterate 
 smokers. He was all saturated with smoke. He smoked 
 when he drew a deed or issued a writ; when he ad 
 justed an account, or received a call from a client in 
 his office ; when he was happy, and when he was sad ; 
 just before he ate, and just after; and never failed to 
 wind up the day with " a smoke." He carried a snuff 
 box, although his olfactories were not impaired by the 
 excessive use of the contents of the box ; and he had one 
 other practice, which, like Uncle Sam, he imagined added 
 to the vigor of his constitution indulged in a very mod 
 erate way. 
 
 Rosa Beals detested smoking. She could not bear the 
 sight of tobacco in any form ; and she resolved to test her 
 power over the bachelor by prohibiting him entirely from 
 the use of the weed. 
 
 I suppose it is but fair to infer that the bachelor had at 
 this time made some serious proposals ; at any rate, they 
 were serious in his estimation, although received with a 
 hearty laugh, accompanied with the expression, " I should 
 look pretty to be the bride of such an old man one who 
 smokes himself to death, and takes snuff, and chews, and 
 guzzles down his wine, and is only a companion for Uncle 
 Sam." But then there was an arch playfulness in such
 
 84 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 expressions, half serious and half comical, which did not 
 preclude all hope in the sanguine lover. 
 
 " Now," said Rosa one evening to Mr. Sims, " unless 
 you leave off smoking entirely, you shall never have my 
 daguerreotype." Perhaps a greater demand upon what a 
 man considered as essential to his comfort could not have 
 been made ; but how did he receive the proposal ? " You 
 will not, of course, expect me, all at once, entirely to re 
 nounce the habit. It must be a gradual process ; for 
 your humane feelings would never require such a sacri 
 fice." " Yes, I do demand it entirely, at once, and for 
 ever," retorted the little vixen. " And, more than this, if 
 I find you indulging yourself in the use of another cigar 
 after I have laid the prohibition upon you, I will never be 
 seen again in public with you, however much I may enjoy 
 the theatre, museum, or concert." 
 
 Now, to most men, such a command, from such a source, 
 would have implied enough to withdraw all thought of a 
 future alliance, since here was a principle of obedience 
 enforced which, in coming time, would count as a draw 
 back upon one's felicity. 
 
 Yet could the reader believe that the very night after 
 all traces of a cigar had disappeared from office and 
 boarding house ; a refusal to smoke with old associates, 
 and even to once more indulge with Uncle Sam in those 
 curling evolutions which so tranquillized the mind ? All 
 were rigorously resisted, and in no form could Rosa Beals
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 85 
 
 detect a violation of her enforced requirements. Cer 
 tainly here was a sacrifice, " all for love," such as few can 
 comprehend. Here was a captive so completely enslaved 
 that no form of oppression could more than equal, since 
 to a man who, for thirty years, has been an habitual 
 smoker, the resolution to renounce it costs a most painful 
 struggle, unlike that of the man addicted to his dram, be 
 cause he feels that his practice may end in his final ruin ; 
 but what lover of the weed ever could see the criminality 
 or sin of his indulgence ? We are not yet sufficiently 
 advanced in reform to feel that one is equally heinous 
 with the other ; and we do believe Kosa Beals only de 
 sired to test her power over the man she had thus 
 enslaved, she knew not how. 
 
 Uncle Sam and his daughter were most amused at what 
 they daily saw. Squire Sims had lost much of his per 
 sonal identity just by being drawn into the meshes of a 
 mere child's favor ; and they looked upon him as little 
 short of a demented subject ; for no raillery, or gentle 
 reproof, or sharp ridicule, could break the spell in which 
 Rosa Beals held her victim. A mere boy, in his wild, 
 enthusiastic passion, can sometimes be reasoned out of his 
 folly ; a matured mind will listen to argument ; a widower 
 rarely loses the entire balance of his character; but a 
 bachelor, almost in his dotage, yet in love for the last 
 time, must be regarded as an essentially "used up"
 
 86 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OB, 
 
 subject. Have we not a confirmation of this truth be 
 fore us? 
 
 About this time, the flirting plaything of the old man's 
 choice addressed a letter to one of her brothers, in reply 
 to one she had received, with an interrogatory, " Is it 
 true, sister Rosa, that you have engaged yourself to 
 Squire Sims ? Father and mother are anxious on the 
 subject, and desire an immediate answer ; " and here we 
 subjoin the reply which his sister returned : 
 
 DEAR JOE : I know you are all on tiptoe about my 
 engagement, which cousin Eunice must have informed you 
 of, or you would never have known it until I brought the' 
 grandfather in question bodily before you. Whether I 
 shall ever marry him or not is another affair ; but that I 
 am engaged in a regular flirtation admits of no doubt. 
 The subject, as you well know, is a pettifogging lawyer 
 a man something under threescore and ten, but who 
 has all the enthusiasm of a boy of eighteen. It is rare 
 sport to manage him. For example, he has been an in 
 veterate smoker ; but I have laid upon him my veto, and 
 not a cigar has he touched since. 
 
 A new world, dear brother, seems opening before 
 me. Uncle Sam and cousin Eunice are pestering my 
 life out about the conquest of a bachelor ; but what do 
 I care ? My ideas of a husband are rather crude ; but
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 87 
 
 if one will but idolize a wife enough to indulge her in 
 every wish, I should not be particular about his age, if 
 he be in good standing. 
 
 You would be amused, and mother would be " shocked," 
 to see to what a pitch I carry my old beau. I can 
 make him just what I choose. He is passive and yield 
 ing ; says he will live either in town or country ; go 
 with me to as many amusements as I desire ; and that 
 I shall be as a kind of waxen doll, as it respects all 
 labor. This suits me exactly, as I never could endure 
 household drudgery. 
 
 About his money I neither know nor care. I dare 
 say Uncle Sam would give me a house if I wanted one, 
 or we could board with them, or it may be we may be 
 stationed in Washington, as the old gentleman expects 
 some lucrative post there. Tell father he is a democrat, 
 having left the whig ranks. Like New Hampshire, he 
 goes for the present administration. 
 
 I can say no more at this present time ; for. I am 
 just going to have my miniature taken ; and an old 
 face is to be placed at my side. Teh 1 mother she need 
 not be anxious about me, since I am with experience 
 and age ; that should the dear old " fogy " be called 
 to Washington, he will attend me home on the way, and 
 be introduced to you all as the "pet bachelor." I 
 believe they have already heard from him, as he says
 
 88 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 he wishes to do the business honorably and strong. 
 Heigh-ho ! Eunice is laughing, and Uncle Sam says, 
 " Tell brother Kichard, your father, that I'll take good 
 care of you and the Squire." 
 
 He is at iny elbow. How nice to get all one's wants 
 thus supplied! Remember me to all the girls, and Jo- 
 tham and Andrew, my old country beaux. 
 Truly your sister, 
 
 ROSA BEALS. 
 
 From the perusal of the above letter, one may easily 
 infer what sort of a life was before our old friend ; 
 but who can tell what it is that thus obstructs his vision, 
 and makes him impervious to seeing as other people 
 do ? Is the definition of love " a blind instinct " ? and 
 is there no lens through which the future may be read 
 by its victims ? Do we not sometimes see in it an ex 
 alted state of felicity, exerting no unnatural sway, making 
 no false pretensions, holding out no specious baits, but 
 simply a union of two hearts covenanting to be mutual 
 helpers in life's sunshine and storms ? and thus the seal 
 of affection does not blind them to each other's frailties, 
 but is a bridge which safely carries them over perplexi 
 ties, and smooths the rough paths of their earthly pilgrim 
 age. But can such a bond exist based wholly upon 
 earthly foundations ? Are there not elevating influences
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 89 
 
 over which passion and self-interest have no supreme 
 control ? Ought we ever to fail to recognize our rela 
 tions to the Infinite while we pledge ourselves to the 
 finite ? Alas ! these ties are sundered ; the ecstatic 
 charm is dissolved; and unless a purer love takes the 
 precedence of the mere earthly one, where is our support 
 in that trying hour?
 
 90 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Uncle Sam and his Daughter visit his native State, Vermont. 
 His Presents, as an Offset to former Injustice. His Conversa 
 tion with a Representative respecting the Repeal of the Liquor 
 Law. Death of Richard Beals. Heart "Work. 
 
 FOR a time, we seem to have lost sight of Uncle Sam's 
 Palace in the suburbs of the city ; but not so had the 
 workmen who have been busily engaged in carrying it 
 forward. They hope to have it completed before mid 
 summer ; and busy rumor says that Miss Eunice Beals 
 has lately been addressed by a young city merchant upon 
 the subject of marriage. 
 
 It seems almost cruel to agitate the subject to Uncle 
 Sam, who lives beneath her genial influence, and really 
 feels that divorced from it he could scarcely maintain a 
 being. The gentleman in question is, however, most re 
 spectably connected, a young man of sagacity and fore 
 cast, but a real teetotaller, and, as such, does not so readily 
 ingratiate himself at once into Uncle Sam's favor. Per 
 chance, however, it is a wise ordering that, at this time, 
 such an affair should take place. It may have a salutary 
 discipline, an enlightening influence ; and as their homes
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 91 
 
 must be together, the palace may be first opened by the 
 celebration of a wedding. So prophesies Mrs. Godfrey. 
 
 Perhaps we ought here, in justice to Miss Eunice Beals, 
 to make a record of her filial devotion to her -widowed 
 father. She was, indeed, a model daughter. Sweetly did 
 she anticipate his every wish. Uncle Sam had his days 
 of infirmity and pain, when he struggled with earthly 
 trials, and felt it was all an enigma that he should suffer. 
 Sometimes he became even querulous and moody ; but 
 that daughter never seemed weary in her efforts to re 
 move the strife within by gentle offices of love, that pal 
 liated every day of infirmity and pain. There was a 
 kind look in her eye, a mild word upon her tongue, a gen 
 tle influence which, like the sunshine, seemed silently to 
 diffuse itself about him ; and he was comforted, he scarce 
 ly knew how, and endured more patiently, because di 
 verted from the harbingers of death which falls to every 
 aged man to experience. She knew all his plans ; was 
 acquainted with many of his untold griefs ; knew that 
 sometimes there was an agony of condemnation that he 
 meted out for himself for not having lived faithful to his 
 convictions of duty ; and then she would talk to him of 
 the attributes of mercy instead of justice, and thus soothe 
 his worn spirit into a sweet sleep, from which he would 
 often awake as a reinvigorated man. The world, how 
 ever, knew not of these depressed seasons ; for filial love, 
 truly based, never exposes the weakness of a parental
 
 92 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OB, 
 
 heart, nor the lonely griefs which give it disquietude. 
 There is a sacred veil thrown over such an experience by 
 a dutiful daughter's fond and affectionate love. 
 
 It was just after Uncle Sam had recovered from such a 
 period of depression, that his daughter had succeeded in 
 inducing him to visit his relatives in Vermont. He could 
 now leave his business in the care of the new firm with 
 out anxiety, since Tims was at its head, having overcome, 
 apparently, his scruples respecting the justice of engaging 
 in the trade afresh ; and Miss Eunice had so arranged 
 her household as to fear no evil from relinquishing her 
 daily cares. To be sure, she was now engaged to Mr. 
 Blair, a young gentleman of sterling worth, of the purest 
 principles, and of unshrinking veracity ; but how unlike 
 the old bachelor and his pet were this couple ! Each of 
 them was content to walk in duty's path ; and although 
 rejoicing in the hope that their future destiny would be 
 interwoven with each other, yet they were content to wait 
 for the time when they should be thus suitably commin 
 gled. Miss Eunice, therefore, could leave her lover with 
 out being agonized by the thought or feeling that a sep 
 aration would deprive her of all enjoyment, since in the 
 path of duty she always found a garland of flowers which 
 made her prompt at its call. We may now take a glance 
 at this father and daughter among the friends and rela 
 tives of his early youth, in his native state. They are 
 stopping with Rosa Beals's father, Uncle Sam's only
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 98 
 
 brother ; and as we are desirous to do full justice to all 
 parties, we will narrate some of Uncle Sam's good acts, 
 as an offset to some others, of a more questionable char 
 acter, which we are bound to withhold. 
 
 Richard Beals, Sen., was a plain farmer. He was not, 
 however, a man of accumulation. He had always seemed 
 to be what we call an " unfortunate man " had suffered 
 a great deal from sickness ; and had brought up a family 
 of five sons ; and just at the moment when good luck 
 seemed awaiting him, the scale would turn, and, as he 
 expressed it, "his dish was bottom upwards." Uncle 
 Sam, it was true, had often stepped in to his relief; and 
 the acknowledgment of a fifty dollar bill was not an in 
 frequent occurrence ; but this being obliged to be appro 
 priated to either the principal or interest of some old 
 standing debt, although it gave much partial relief, yet it 
 was not like having the way cleared, and being enabled to 
 devote this sum to present comforts. Moreover, there 
 was an independent turn in Richard which recoiled from 
 asking favors ; and as this was the first visit which Uncle 
 Sam had paid him for some years, which was of sufficient 
 length to freely discourse upon pecuniary needs, it is but 
 fair to chronicle that Uncle Sam did not, as the world 
 uses the phrase, know exactly " how his brother stood." 
 
 When, therefore, he ascertained there was a mortgage 
 of five hundred dollars still upon his farm, Uncle Sam at 
 once declared it must be lifted ; and when the eldest son
 
 94 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 suggested how, with a small amount of cash, he could 
 plant an orchard, and repair the house, and put a piece 
 upon the barn, why, his uncle told him " to go to work 
 and do it, and send him the bills." It did seem, therefore, 
 as if there never was so kind a brother, nor so benevo 
 lent an uncle, as this family possessed. Eunice, they felt, 
 was little short of an angel, since she evidently moved her 
 father in these matters with a truly disinterested spirit. 
 And, more than this, Joshua Beals, the second son, was 
 raised from a journeyman carriage builder to a master of 
 his trade, hired a large shop, and while Uncle Sam re 
 mained, actually rejoiced in a successful trade. As to 
 Rosa, we already know she " loved Uncle Sam a great 
 deal better than grandfather Sims : she could not help it." 
 This visit lasted a month, when Uncle Sam and his 
 daughter returned home, leaving the whole village in sor 
 row, and many families in tears, " that the dear old man 
 and Eunice had departed." It had, too, so neutralized 
 their impression of Uncle Sam; for they looked upon the 
 traffic in spirituous liquors in the State of Vermont now 
 as a most unrighteous business, little short of the slave 
 trade, and certainly less justifiable than the Mexican war. 
 But how were they silenced upon the subject, when the 
 product of this business gladdened so many hearts ! for 
 poor human nature is a great turncoat, after all. But 
 how shaU I portray the extent of the old man's bounty ? 
 There was widow "Waddle, with her debt discharged at
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 95 
 
 
 
 the bank, now living in comfortable circumstances ; there, 
 too, was Jerry Train, Uncle Sam's third cousin, with an 
 annuity of seventy-five dollars settled upon him, on ac 
 count of his lameness ; and lots of small presents to the 
 children whose fathers and mothers he well knew, besides 
 quietly putting into the minister's hand the sum of twenty- 
 five dollars the last day he attended upon his preaching. 
 After this you may be sure Uncle Sam was not so harshly 
 judged. They seemed to smother all recollection of the 
 grog shop he kept going, to the destruction of so many 
 individuals ; and even old Mrs. "Waddle forgot the saying 
 of her husband on his death bed, " But for Sam Beals, I 
 should never have sold liquor, nor been made a drunkard. 
 He has a dreadful responsibility lying at his door." In 
 the gifts they entirely overlooked the traific of the giver, 
 that had sent such leanness in their families ; and had 
 Uncle Sam left four times, nay, even ten times, the 
 amount he did for the good of his native village, he would 
 not have made amends for the curse he had entailed upon 
 them by supply hag the dram shops with liquor. But most 
 of the inebriates were dead, and Uncle Sam did not visit 
 their graves ; and so he succeeded in partially obliterating 
 from himself the result of his former courses. Thus does 
 justice sleep, and retribution suffer a suspension. 
 
 That Uncle Sam, however, had not at all swerved from 
 his former principles, we may gather from taking a peep 
 into his city home, where he sits in his easy chair, dis-
 
 96 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 cussing with one of our representatives the probable re 
 peal of the liquor law. As they are both on one side, of 
 course there is little room for debate ; so, as they have 
 just lighted a fresh cigar, we will listen to their self- 
 sustaining views. 
 
 " Talk as people may," said Uncle Sam to his friend, 
 " you cannot push the question any faster or farther than 
 popular opinion will sustain us. I'm for advocating shut 
 ting up the small groggeries. They never pay well. Be 
 sides, they encourage a race of loafers, which makes the 
 trade unpopular, and brings disgrace upon the higher 
 establishments by undiscerning people." 
 
 " Very good," quoth the representative. " I'm of your 
 opinion, Mr. Beals ; but there's no reason why, if a man 
 chooses to drink in one of our first-class hotels, that he 
 should be prohibited from doing so ; but there is a reason 
 why a poor loafer should not take his dram until he be 
 comes a reeling inebriate. Rich people, Mr. Beals, have 
 privileges in virtue of their wealth. If you and I choose 
 to move in our quarter casks to our wine cellars, I would 
 like to know who has a right to prohibit us ; and if we 
 choose to offer the best of liquor to our friends, I would 
 like to see the man who made the law, or helped make it, 
 prevent us from so. doing. To be sure, there are soft 
 headed members enough among us from the country who 
 bewail the effects of intemperance. They will argue and 
 cry over their own statements, and beg for the most
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 97 
 
 stringent law that can be enacted ; but they don't know 
 the result of what they advocate. If the very law they 
 so plead for were executed, ten chances to one they would 
 want it modified another session." 
 
 " You are right, Squire," replied Uncle Sam ; " that's 
 exactly my sentiment. There is always a pack of infuri 
 ated chaps from the country who have a sort of envy 
 towards capitalists, and croak over their advantages 
 fellows who have besotted sons or drunkards somewhere 
 in their families, which gives them such tender consciences. 
 Now, if you think, sir, there is any danger from the car 
 rying into effect of the law, just let me have seasonable 
 notice. I've money, Squire. There is something of a 
 fund already reserved for fighting for our rights ; and 
 there can be more added, if necessary. Remember this, 
 will you, Squire ? and when you can honorably bribe a 
 voter to come on our side, show me the man. He will 
 lose nothing by calling on me. Now, Squire, what will 
 you wash down and digest our arguments with Cognac, 
 Holland, or old wine, of particular brands ? " 
 
 The Squire thought gin rather a warming beverage; 
 and Uncle Sam hobbled to the bell rope, and rang for 
 something quite as old as " Schiedam Schnapps ; " and 
 then they pledged themselves to the support of the anti- 
 liquor law, as a panacea for a conscience that would some- 
 tunes be inquired of whether it were right, in all respects, 
 to trample it under such specious reasoning. 
 9
 
 98 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 Our friends, at this time, were interrupted in their po 
 tations by the appearance of Mr. Blair, who had just 
 received telegraphic information of the death of Mr. 
 Richard Beals, to whom we have so lately been intro 
 duced. This was quite a shock to Uncle Sam. It put 
 entirely out of his mind the conversation he had just car 
 ried on. It made him reflect. He dismissed the repre 
 sentative without further instructions, and, closing the 
 door, remained alone with his daughter. 
 
 " Daughter," said the old man, " this is sudden. Dick 
 was ten years younger than I am. He's been a hard 
 working man a sincere man ; yes, what people call a 
 pious man, of tender conscience. It's a warning to me, 
 Eunice, that I must soon follow ; and when I go, I shall 
 leave you a large estate, child. There's no carrying any 
 thing with us to another world, you know." 
 
 " Only our characters, father, that we have formed here." 
 
 " That's the rub, child. It makes me uneasy sometimes 
 to think I have done so little for my fellow-men. I might 
 have helped Dick more, poor fellow, with his great family, 
 and so uncomplaining and grateful as he always was. I 
 shall always be glad that you encouraged me to make that 
 last visit, and do as we did. That's a great satisfaction to 
 me," said Uncle Sam ; and as it is, I hope to meet Dick 
 in peace in another world." 
 
 I have no doubt of uncle Richard's fitness for heaven," 
 mildly remarked Eunice.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 99 
 
 " Nor could you doubt mine, I hope," said the father. 
 " I've always done right by you, at any rate." 
 
 " Yes, father, you have been one of the most indulgent 
 of parents. I sometimes think I have had so little to con 
 tend with, that the force and energy which a more trying 
 experience gives may be wanting, to render a complete 
 ness to my character." 
 
 " I hope you don't covet trials, to make you better. 
 Now, there's Dick, just gone : he used to reason like you, 
 and say, ' Had life been all sunshine, as with you, Sam, I 
 should not have been half the man I now am, with all my 
 shortcomings ; ' for somehow, good as he was, he never 
 seemed satisfied with his own righteousness ; and I s'pose 
 that's the case with us all. Nobody ever need to have 
 envied me my happiness. Eunice, child, I don't have any 
 inward peace. Sometimes I almost believe there is a 
 devil, and that he goads and torments me. Then I don't 
 know as any body is happy. That law troubles me, child" 
 
 " But, father, the result of a well-spent life always 
 yields some satisfaction not, perhaps, a ground of hope 
 on account of any merit ; for our hope turns upon God's 
 free mercy ; and if we repent of our sins, you know we 
 are assured they will be blotted out." 
 
 " What do you mean by repentance, child ? " 
 
 " When one forsakes all known evil, and resolutely fol 
 lows the convictions of an enlightened conscience, father. 
 Such are always accepted."
 
 100 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 Uncle Sam felt uneasy, just here. His leg was painful. 
 He sighed, talked about the best mode of conveyance to 
 his brother's funeral, and added he should send an invita 
 tion to Tims and his wife to accompany them. " It is 
 dull work, at best. No desirable errand to bury one's 
 lost brother," he remarked. 
 
 His daughter aided him to reflect. She soothed his 
 pains, without an effort to quiet his conscience ; for she 
 was sensible her father was worldly and miserly, and at 
 tached to a business whose effects had carried sorrow and 
 destruction into numerous families ; and she would have it 
 abandoned, if possible. 
 
 Mr. Blair now entered their apartment to say that he 
 had arranged it for them to start in the morning train ; 
 and, of course, both father and daughter had no further 
 time to pursue their conversation.
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 101 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A Country Funeral. Richard Beals's Document, addressed to 
 Uncle Sam. Its thrilling Import and its Effects. 
 
 MY friend, did you ever attend a funeral in the coun 
 try ? From the railroad depot to uncle Richard's house 
 was full four miles, so that the city relatives who attended 
 upon this occasion were forced into a jolting kind of cast- 
 off stage coach, and driven rapidly over rough roads, 
 which had been travelled just enough by heavily-laden 
 teams, after severe rainstorms, to make them most un 
 comfortable, as they were slightly frozen, causing the 
 horses to frequently trip, and almost throw those upon the 
 outside seat to the roadside. Uncle Sam's gouty affection 
 troubled him almost beyond endurance. 
 
 From the top of the hill the house rose in sight. It 
 was an old-fashioned, gable-roofed dwelling, painted a 
 brick red ; and the long well-sweep was quite as far visible 
 as any appendage connected with the establishment. 
 
 As they approached nearer, there were all outward 
 signs of moving, rather than the stillness of death. A 
 large ox wagon was laden with chairs, which were 
 brought for the accommodation of guests. Men and 
 women were seen carrying sundry baskets, and crockery 
 9*
 
 102 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 ware, in every variety, shone out from ill-fitted covers or 
 napkins that did not quite conceal the view. The front 
 door was thoroughly blockaded with the laden teams, so 
 that our friends were forced to alight at the end one, 
 which necessarily carried them first into the kitchen. 
 
 One of the young men received his relatives. But 
 what was Miss Beals's amazement when she first entered, 
 and was met by large women and small ones, some bend 
 ing over a bread trough, with a quantity of flour sufficient 
 for a large bakery, while another was pouring cream into 
 flour for pie crust ; and a firkin of butter stood at her 
 side, ready to be used without stint on this memorable 
 occasion, as " City folks are used to rich food " was con 
 stantly going the rounds. 
 
 Eunice stood a moment almost petrified, pretending to 
 brush her garments and warm herself, wondering where 
 Rosa and her mother were. Two fat men came in to in 
 quire, " How many fowls must be killed ? " Another 
 brought in a round of beef, while the large oven opened 
 and disclosed great loaves of cake, of unwieldy size. All 
 the appearances indicated a thanksgiving, rather than a 
 bereavement. 
 
 In a few moments the widow appeared. She was 
 calm ; and although traces of grief and care were upon 
 her brow, yet she struggled to overcome weeping, and 
 succeeded in doing so. She detailed to Uncle Sam and 
 his daughter the particulars of her husband's death,
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 103 
 
 interrupted frequently with inquiries, in a half whisper, 
 whether " more cake would be wanted," and if " neighbor 
 Titus's tea set had arrived," &c., &c., all of which seemed 
 to Eunice to be entirely irrelevant to the occasion ; and 
 she could not comprehend the meaning. 
 
 " Your brother," said Mrs. Beals to Uncle Sam, " was 
 constantly expecting his summons for two years past. 
 He knew he had a heart difficulty, which, as he used to 
 say, made of him a ' minute man ; ' and I think he lived 
 in constant preparation for the event. He did, however, 
 long to see you once more, sir, and even contemplated 
 visiting you in your new house the coming spring. Ever 
 after he saw you in the autumn, he grieved that he did 
 not express to you ' his convictions,' as he called them. I 
 think he left a writing for you, which is locked up with 
 his private papers." 
 
 Uncle Sam winced. He inquired if he looked natural, 
 and said by and by he would like to see him, evidently 
 desirous of turning the conversation. They were con 
 ducted to an adjoining room, where sat Eosa and Squire 
 Sims. Rosa was in tears, but transported with joy at 
 seeing her cousin, and fell on her neck, and loaded her 
 with kisses. Uncle Sam, too, came in for his full share ; 
 and Squire Sims was not an indifferent spectator, although 
 forbidden to give so personal a manifestation of his joy. 
 The prerogative of women here is universally acknowl 
 edged.
 
 104 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 The house, however, was a scene of confusion. In the 
 room where the dead man lay were large rolls of crape, 
 maiiners arranging bonnet trimmings, mantua makers 
 measuring lengths and widths, and busy in inquiries of 
 Eunice how they now made mourning dresses, and wheth 
 er any new fashions had yet appeared for sleeves, and 
 even the width of the hem upon the widow's veil did not 
 escape most solicitous inquiry. 
 
 In the coffin upon the table lay the earthly remains of 
 uncle Kichard. So calm, so peaceful seemed his repose, 
 it looked like a deep sleep. The lips were slightly part 
 ed, the faint color seemed in them a contrast to the usual 
 seal of death, and there was a smile which seemed to be 
 token his introduction to heavenly rest. 
 
 Eunice and her father gazed long and earnestly upon 
 that face. The past rose before the father. The future 
 seemed already present, when, with a disembodied spirit, 
 he too should be gathered to his fathers. Indeed, there 
 seemed to be little time for other mourners to reflect, 
 such continual inroads upon them were made in the way 
 of preparation for the burial. All was hurry, confusion, 
 and intense excitement. Chairs were being arranged in 
 long rows, tables were being set in due form, chambers 
 were dusted, and beds covered with the best of their 
 own or neighbors' counterpanes. A hurried dinner was 
 served, and the family were attiring themselves for the 
 service.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 105 
 
 About this time, wagon loads of farmers, and their wives 
 and children, began to appear. Carriages were driven 
 into the long yard, and the horses, carefully covered with 
 buffalo robes, stood grouped in close proximity. Some 
 evidently came from a distance, as they brought " proven 
 der" for their horses. 
 
 Long before the hour for the service, the house was 
 filled with women and children, while the men stood out 
 side, discoursing not upon the subject of death or immor 
 tality, but, rather, " how hay was selling now ; " and one 
 actually bargained for a pair of steers, that were to be 
 delivered the next morning. A couple of men sat on the 
 doorsteps, " wondering if the widow Beals would let out a 
 part of her pasturage another year," and ended with the 
 remark that " so smart a woman would be married again 
 in a year or so." 
 
 Just in front of the house was the family burying 
 ground. The open grave was clearly visible from the 
 front door, by the upturned earth that had been scooped 
 out; yet it made little impression upon bystanders, so long 
 as they were not to occupy it. So they discoursed of 
 things pertaining to the interests of this world. Is not 
 man a reckless being? 
 
 And now the minister has come, and the groups begin 
 to disperse, and come nearer the house. The entry is 
 black with men, the stairs are filled, and even the win 
 dows upon the outside are surrounded with sober-visaged
 
 106 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 persons, who greatly respected uncle Richard, because he 
 was a " very clever man." 
 
 A choir sing the hymn commemorating the death of a 
 Christian saint ; a prayer follows ; and then the discourse, 
 setting forth our close relations to another state, and the 
 need of a well-grounded hope to enter the realms of eter 
 nal blessedness, summed up with an abstract of the per 
 sonal character of the deceased, with a fitting eulogy upon 
 his life and character as a citizen and Christian. A short 
 prayer follows, and a benediction, when the mourners are 
 all called out in pairs from the one room they have occu 
 pied, and the crowd fall back, and gaze with earnest curi 
 osity upon the procession as it is formed ; and should 
 there be a cousin misplaced, a record is sure to be made 
 of it ; and if one should, perchance, be omitted, it will call 
 forth the severest censure. 
 
 Eight plain farmers, sterling men, bear the body to the 
 near grave. A circuitous route is chosen, that the whole 
 procession may be seen. "With care the body is lowered 
 to its final abode. The vast procession look into its nar 
 row resting-place, and return to the house again to con 
 verse upon the topics that are nearest to them. 
 
 The pall bearers stand ranged with uncovered heads at 
 the door, ready to let the crowd pass in ; then they fol 
 low ; and soon the loaded tables give evidence that life 
 must be supported by external means and internal sus 
 tenance. One tableful, being satiated, rise, and give
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 107 
 
 place to another, scarcely one departing until he has 
 "taken supper." 
 
 Such is a bare outline of " a country funeral " in the 
 villages and hamlets of the interior of our New England 
 States. 
 
 Uncle Sam and Squire Sims were in deep conversation. 
 Not one of the farmers knew the latter gentleman ; and 
 you may be sure a busy inquiry was made among the 
 women to know " who Rosa Beals walked with to the 
 grave." The old gentleman who wore a wig and heavy 
 chin bristles, and who must have been a relative, they 
 never knew, not one surmising he was a lover and in 
 tended son-in-law. 
 
 The subject upon which Uncle Sam and Mr. Sims were 
 conversing was uncle Richard's will, and the contents of a 
 paper directed, " To my brother Samuel." We will here 
 subjoin its contents, as they give evidence of a man true 
 to the convictions of his own conscience, and anxious to 
 leave his record of the opinions adopted by him relative 
 to engaging in a certain traffic. It begins thus : 
 
 MY DEAR BROTHER : We are most closely allied by 
 consanguinity, and have, through a long life, enjoyed the 
 freest interchange of thought and feeling upon almost all 
 subjects ; but there are one or two topics which now press 
 upon my mind, and make me desirous of committing to 
 paper what I have neglected to do when we have person-
 
 108 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 ally met. I can hardly define the reason, yet with our 
 most intimate friends we sometimes live estranged upon 
 our spiritual interests ; and sueh has been the case with 
 us. Now, to me, who live in hourly expectation of 
 entering into the eternal state, the soul that does not 
 take hold of the future is an object of utter desola 
 tion. , 
 
 Samuel, we have always lived together as if this world 
 were our only home. We have talked exclusively of 
 earthly pursuits ; and, until within a few years, the in 
 terests of time have engrossed all my concern. With 
 small pecuniary means, and a large, dependent family, I 
 felt almost justified in toiling for " the meat that perish- 
 eth," forgetful of the true idea which embodies a religious 
 spirit with an earthly zeal and commendable prudence. 
 But I was arrested, I hope, in time to repent and forsake 
 my sins. I must be plain with you, as a dying man, and 
 ask, How stands the matter with YOU ? 
 
 The subject of your business has long troubled me. 
 When you first engaged in the liquor trade, I know it 
 was considered " reputable business." Men of integrity 
 and sound piety were engaged in it, not suspecting the 
 baneful effects of their profits were jeopardizing the souls 
 of thousands of their fellow-men. 
 
 But, by and by, we became enlightened upon the sub 
 ject, and then the destructive work revealed itpclf. Pub 
 lic opinion was arrested by the fact that from the holds of
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 109 
 
 iniquity the voice of reason had begun to speak. Yes, 
 you know among inebriates the work of reformation com 
 menced ; and the lecturers who first took the work in 
 hand were converted drunkards a miracle of God's 
 providential care to stay the awful ravages of traffic in 
 spirituous liquors. I knew you were a man of good judg 
 ment and fair conclusions, and I looked to you as being 
 one who would first renounce the trade. 
 
 You began to see its evils. You held mortgages which 
 could never be redeemed, because the demon held his 
 captives by a spell. You have seen the tears of broken 
 hearted wives, and listened to the supplications of parents 
 and children that the foul monster might be driven from 
 our peaceful villages, as only this fiend triumphed over 
 our prosperity ; and why, 0, why, my brother, did you 
 resist your convictions, and refuse to obey the dictates of 
 an enlightened conscience? Your wealth must be im 
 mense ; and have I not again and again heard you declare 
 " that no business on earth was so lucrative " ? 
 
 How came you by those mortgages, even in our little 
 village? When the grocer was convinced, and almost 
 signified his readiness to relinquish his traffic, in view of 
 the frightful consequences, how did you laugh at his weak 
 ness, and deride his folly, so that, on the following week, 
 the work we hoped we had accomplished was nullified ! 
 
 People found they could drink slyly; and the habit was 
 so strong that it was not resisted, because the temptation 
 10
 
 110 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 lay still before them. Poor Nelly Twing, how my heart 
 ached for her ! Captain Bellows, too, and Squire Short, 
 and Judge Eamsay all in drunkards' graves, who might 
 have been excellent, as well as eminent, men, but that you, 
 and people in similar business, furnished them with the 
 means of self-destruction. 
 
 My dear brother, it is with great pain I allude to these 
 things ; but you have a conscience, and I fear, unless it 
 be stirred by such remembrances, you will be silenced 
 when judged by that higher Tribunal that looks with jus 
 tice, as well as mercy, upon erring men. Your recent 
 efforts to break down the law regulating the traffic in ar 
 dent spirits met my hearty disapprobation. Men grieved 
 over it, and men triumphed in it, just as they were in 
 clined. Your assertions that "you would pour out money 
 like water to repeal such a law," your efforts to bribe 
 voters, and your willingness to procure bail for offenders, 
 have become as household words among us, which I fear 
 can never be erased in this state. It has brought you to 
 be viewed with mingled pity and odium. 
 
 I have heard you quoted as the apostle of anti-tem 
 perance such a misnomer ! as the friend of the liquor 
 vender, and the man who refused to be convicted by 
 legal or moral suasion ; and my heart has sunk within 
 me, that you were the song of the drunkard. Yes, that 
 you openly trampled upon legal enactments not that 
 you directly helped the reeling inebriate, but that upon
 
 THE REIGNING KING. Ill 
 
 the foundation of your wealth stood pipes, and butts, and 
 quarter casks, whose contents did the deadly work. Now, 
 my brother, as " by this craft you have gotten your 
 wealth," I beseech of you to now abandon it, and make 
 what reparation lies in your power to cancel the accu 
 mulated guilt, and become to the world a converted, 
 penitent man, as you hope for acceptance hereafter. 
 These lines have been penned as if the light from eter 
 nity dictated them. 
 
 I hope to meet you in peace in that world where 
 the accumulations of earthly traffic enter not; but only 
 the characters which have resulted from finite labors will 
 prepare us for the mansions best adapted to our enjoy 
 ment there. I know you will review your course, and 
 bitterly mourn over your folly. I thank you for your 
 many expressions of love to me ; and this is the only re 
 quital I can give even a desire to bless you forever. 
 Your brother RICHARD 
 
 Squire Sims read the above, in a somewhat inaudible 
 tone, to Uncle Sam, in a private room. The old man 
 became tremulous, but struggled through with hearing the 
 whole contents, and then held his head in his handker 
 chief, and wept like a child. 
 
 The " will" was next brought up. It was a most dis 
 creet document, and made some bequests against which 
 the law did not provide, all evincing a well-balanced
 
 112 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 judgment, and showing the conscientious man in every 
 relation. Uncle Sam was most tenderly touched, and 
 Squire Sims would have been more affected had not that 
 mere plaything of a child, Rosa, so fully excluded all 
 other thoughts. 
 
 In the mean time, Eunice Beals and Rosa had been 
 holding a private consultation. Rosa declared to her 
 cousin " that she would never marry the old lawyer ; that 
 she would sooner die than throw herself away ; " and that 
 she had, in part, given him to understand so ; but love is 
 blind, and the old bachelor believed all women were " coy, 
 and hard to please," and did not realize upon what a pre 
 carious footing his future happiness, with respect to Rosa, 
 was now held. She was a creature of excitement, loved 
 attention, admired to flirt, and really had come to enjoy 
 the idea of being loved, without giving a requital, until 
 Squire Sims, between his propensity for office seeking and 
 his engagement, seemed to be much changed, and almost 
 half crazed upon some subjects. He had left a fair busi 
 ness at home, and accepted, for a short time, quite an 
 ineligible post at Washington, hoping it might prepare the 
 way for higher advancement. So Uncle Sam's old ac 
 counts were deferred an examination until future disclo 
 sures should write victory or defeat against his name. 
 
 Rosa Beals, therefore, let him again depart, and prom 
 ised to be to him a faithful correspondent, so that his 
 hope in this quarter was not checked ; and he lived and
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 113 
 
 loved as if a fresh existence, a May day, were about to 
 dawn upon him. 
 
 Uncle Sam had a restless night following upon reading 
 that document. He rose several times, and by the pale 
 moonlight he could look out upon his brother's grave, 
 while an unused hearse, which the sexton had brought 
 and left in the yard, was another object which met his 
 gaze. He never told his thoughts ; but we can conceive 
 how a disquieted man would reason, half resolved to obey 
 his convictions, yet what we call the remains of "old 
 Adam " still cleaving to him. At all events, he resolved 
 to return home, and early directed his daughter to make 
 such provision for his brother's family as was compatible 
 with her judgment ; and, as usual, she was most munifi 
 cent in the bestowal of presents. 
 
 They soon after took their leave, Uncle Sam being too 
 ill to remain longer without medical advice. On his way 
 home he fainted in the cars, and was with difficulty con 
 veyed thither, so great and sudden was his prostration. 
 His daughter, however, understood his disease to be in 
 duced by mental excitement, and accordingly carried him 
 to his quiet chamber, administered an anodyne, and, after 
 a gentle slumber, sent for Mr. Tims upon business trans 
 actions, who could not be their attendant at the funeral 
 on account of the " press of engagements." 
 
 Mr. Tims gave a most flattering account of the extent 
 of his sales ; of the almost certainty of repealing the 
 10*
 
 114 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 liquor law, of heavy orders to supply the country trade, 
 and of the brisk demand for their importations, being con 
 sidered more unadulterated articles than were commonly 
 found. 
 
 Tims talked like a man who never had a misgiving 
 upon the subject. He seemed delighted with his rapid 
 gains, and altogether a perfect verification of Dame God 
 frey's prophecy, "that India rubber consciences are ex 
 ceedingly elastic." 
 
 At this visit Uncle Sam presented Tims with a building 
 spot contiguous to Ms own grounds, so that in his palace 
 he might look out upon neighbors with whom he was inti 
 mately connected. 
 
 The recent trial of bereavement, the dying appeal of 
 his brother, the inward convictions of a violated con 
 science, were all suppressed ; and the old man again 
 clutched at his treasures, gloried in his power, and thought 
 it would be time enough to repent, since he seemed to 
 have quite a renewed lease of life yet unexpired, in which 
 he somehow wanted to live on as he had lived, without 
 being forever harassed upon this subject of " right and 
 duty."
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 115 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Uncle Sam's Compunctions. His Desire to retire from the Busi 
 ness. Blair's Character as a thoroughly Temperance Man. 
 A Glance at the Palace. Trials of Members. Impressions 
 of Memory. 
 
 WHOEVER builds a house in the country must expect 
 to make sundry alterations therein, unless he personally 
 superintends the work. Even then he will often find an 
 afterthought that indicated a want of forecast. 
 
 Uncle Sam, however, had early secured the services of 
 an architect, who draughted a variety of models ; and that 
 chosen by Miss Eunice was pronounced the most perfect, 
 and of exquisite symmetrical proportions. 
 
 Mr. Dash, the architect, was desirous of cancelling a 
 mortgage, by some engagement in his profession, which 
 Uncle Sam held upon a cottage and a few acres of land in 
 the neighborhood of this projected palace ; and he ex 
 pected a remuneration which would about make them 
 square, should he prove himself a successful planner. So, 
 with a double set of motives, he undoubtedly tried to fur 
 nish the best specimen. 
 
 Dash, it seems, had been an improvident fellow, and 
 was once a partner in a liquor firm. Of course, his main
 
 116 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 indebtedness was to Uncle Sam, who, after examining the 
 accounts, finding Dash in a sad predicament, with a cot 
 tage unpaid for, and a lot of land designed to speculate 
 upon, his tender mercies immediately suggested a mort 
 gage ; and giving him a chance to study the principles of 
 architecture with a distinguished designer, he helped him 
 out of his dilemma by giving him a new occupation, for 
 which he seemed fitted by nature. He then employed 
 him, and really was desirous to secure his future pros 
 perity. 
 
 Uncle Sam was not a bad man altogether. He had not 
 a crabbed disposition, on the whole. He never felt ill 
 used only when he was perplexed won the subject of his 
 business calling. 
 
 His religion seemed to be based upon some good deal 
 ings with his fellow-men, and his hope of heaven was 
 made dependent upon some acts of mercy. He tried to 
 overlook or blot out some misgivings \vhich sometimes 
 haunted him, about laying the foundation of destruction 
 for multitudes. Very pious men had trodden the way 
 before him : if they were unenlightened, why should he 
 seek to ferret out his responsibilities? 
 
 In sleepless nights, however, that " document " which 
 his brother Richard left would haunt him. Something 
 almost like spectral illusions would rise before him, and 
 Richard would seem to appear bodily, and, with a look of 
 entreaty, bid him heed his words.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 117 
 
 But then a bright morning, and the presence of his 
 daughter, a walk to the store, and a conversation with 
 men of his own stamp, made him feel he was a foolish 
 man to permit such idle phantoms to disturb his brain. 
 He wondered " how in his soul they ever got there." 
 Perhaps he hated to acknowledge the fact perhaps 
 he was getting old, and debility was the cause. At any 
 rate, spring was now opening, and upon the first day of 
 May he expected to remove to his palace. 
 
 In the mean time, he was talking about retiring from 
 business a thing which was most strenuously urged by 
 Mr. Blair, his intended son-in-law, who, as we have some 
 where remarked, was a genuine teetotaller, and, as such, 
 
 
 had operated much npon Miss Eunice's conscience, in 
 
 leading her to adopt conclusions entirely in keeping with 
 his own ; for to a mind unbiased by interest, devoid of 
 love of the article, and disposed to see things as they are, 
 no cogent arguments are necessary to show the system of 
 trade as nefarious, detrimental to our highest interests, 
 and a nuisance to the well being of society. 
 
 But Mr. Blair was not an infuriated zealot, who could 
 only see through one medium. He was conversant with 
 society, and knew the struggles of many who sought to 
 compromise their interests with the principles of right ; 
 and in a few cases he had witnessed a manly surrender. 
 He had a hope that he should yet, by gentle means, oper 
 ate upon Uncle Sam.
 
 118 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 Just at this time, a severe contest and many angry de 
 bates in public and private were going on. Offenders 
 against the law were tried and discharged, having paid a 
 fine when fully convicted. Mitigating evidence, however, 
 often softened the severity of the sentence ; and there 
 was, on the whole, nothing to prevent the enemies of the 
 law from pursuing their business, but with an aggravated 
 sense that a portion of their fellow-men desired to abridge 
 their rights. 
 
 The "constitutionality of the law" was now agitated 
 in all circles. It was made a subject of judicial investi 
 gation, and pronounced unjust and illegal. Uncle Sam 
 became infuriated ; demanded to know what more was 
 
 dfe| 
 
 needed than such a judicial deci^afcl ; while Blair could 
 account for different opinions upon the same subject, with 
 out throwing a man overboard, when he solemnly stated 
 that such was his candid belief, after long and earnest in 
 vestigation. There were, however, many heated enthusi 
 asts whose blood boiled with resentment at the decree. 
 But why take the sword of justice, and brandish it, as 
 you now interpret things ? Wait a little, and errors will 
 be rectified. Popular opinion does not seek a redress 
 quite yet. A violent storm will uproot the most valuable 
 trees : a gentle rani will fertilize them, and cause them to 
 spring into fresh vigor. If we have a law that is not 
 constitutional, let us frame one that is so. It would be 
 strange if there were no imperfections in our first attempts.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 119 
 
 Our legislators must doubly guard the loopholes and crev 
 ices, so that morality, law, and popular opinion may all fi 
 nally concur. That day is advancing ; and the conscious 
 ness of its dawn was so apprehended by Uncle Sam, that 
 it kept him constantly in a state of turmoil. 
 
 To support his opinion, and maintain the reputation of 
 his traffic, he availed himself of all sorts of help on his 
 own side. He found learned men and judicial men, emi 
 nent statesmen and profound lawyers, who advocated a 
 violation of the law because it was an unsound one ; and 
 sometimes he almost fancied he was doing God service by 
 his strenuous opposition. But then there was the calm, 
 dispassionate Blair, who could reason all his sophistry out 
 of him ; and althougflne was a most worthy man, yet he 
 wished sometimes his daughter had never thought of him 
 as a husband. 
 
 Blair, to do him full justice, was a most consistent man. 
 He was a model for all who strictly advocate the temper 
 ance reform. He never pronounced a harsh judgment ; 
 never talked about the " supreme tribunal of justice as 
 being pledged to support a lie," but continually endeav 
 ored so to elucidate the truth, that conviction was an in 
 evitable consequence. Uncle Sam could support no argu 
 ment with him ; and so he shunned the subject when he 
 saw the man. 
 
 We will now take a glance at the palace in the suburbs, 
 which was being carried forward upon the profits of the
 
 120 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 " reputable business " about which we have been speak 
 ing. No expense is spared to make it a splendid affair. 
 Why should there be, when such a fortune has been 
 amassed by its owner ? Yet Uncle Sam has betrayed no 
 want of shrewdness in the selection of his workmen. 
 
 The master builder, next to the architect, is indebted to 
 him on account of his father's profligacy. There is a 
 mortgage here. The man employed upon the " stucco 
 work " owes a large bill for sundry " quarter casks ; " Jbut 
 let that pass. If they but work out their debts, and incur 
 no future ones, we will not criminate them ; for Uncle 
 Sam did not ; no, never ; and they every one spoke well 
 of him but one " old fogy," who minted in fresco. No 
 matter what he said. " He draraN^ore than he ought 
 to." Uncle Sam had told him so ; for " he mortally hated 
 a downright drunkard." 
 
 The palace began now to be the wonder of the admir 
 ing throngs who came to see it. Its marble floors and 
 gilded panel work, its finished walls of glassy smoothness, 
 its painted decorations, and, indeed, all its magnificent 
 arrangements, became an object for some to envy and 
 others to admire, since such a finished abode was not to be 
 found in the suburbs of the city. Added to all the inte 
 rior finish, for two years past the hand of improvement 
 had been laid upon the natural beauty surrounding the 
 dwelling. 
 
 A territory of thirty acres was enclosed within the lot.
 
 THE REIGXIXG KING. 121 
 
 A sort of playful fancy had presided over its former pos 
 sessor, and the care of a florist was made conspicuous. 
 Besides, there was a splendid grapery ; and Eunice had 
 just caused a summer house to be erected at the foot of 
 the garden, which was to be filled with the rarest exotics, 
 and to be committed to the care of a renowned horticul 
 turist and florist. The lawn in front of the house was 
 smooth and grassy, while circuitous windings of gravelly 
 paths, bordered with box, intermingled with fir trees, gave 
 a charm to the vision of unequalled beauty. The out 
 buildings were spacious, in architectural keeping with the 
 palace ; and, of course, Mr. Blair and Miss Eunice had 
 only to project any reasonable scheme, and it was at once 
 complied with. 
 
 A German agriculturist and his wife were already en 
 gaged to superintend the farming operations. Uncle Sam 
 was now contracting for various new vehicles ; and while 
 his mind was thus occupied, his health seemed improved ; 
 and he then counted upon many years of enjoyment in 
 his new home, where he could review the past ; and a 
 vague consciousness flitted over him that he should be 
 come a good man, and go to heaven at last ; for look at 
 himself as he would, he did not feel prepared to leave this 
 world just at present. 
 
 We have kept out of sight the close proximity to the 
 depot in which the palace stood. From a gravelled walk 
 to the end of the enclosure one could step into the cars 
 11
 
 122 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 more than a dozen times a day. Many account this as a 
 preeminent advantage ; but it ought to be those who are 
 desirous of always having a visitor on hand, or an ac 
 quaintance on the way, not to speak of friends. Every 
 body wishes to see them. Suppose we take a view from 
 the piazza of the palace. 
 
 Just at the further end of the thirty-acre lot, there is 
 the foundation of a house being erected by Mr. Tims. 
 Directly in front is the residence of Mr. Tasso, another 
 eminent liquor dealer, now retired from the trade, with a 
 close mouth upon the subject. In yonder little farm 
 house is the residence of a clerk, in the employ of Tims 
 & Co., who married unwisely, before his means were 
 commensurate with his ideas of supporting a family. 
 Just down that grassy lane lives Mr. Tape, of the firm of 
 Tape, Bodkin, & Co., who are heavy importers of dry 
 goods. This man gives oyster suppers, and his guests arc 
 fond of the best brands of champagne. Beyond him, a 
 few steps, is Mr. Jeremiah Grumbler, his name being a 
 singular coincidence with his conversation, which gener 
 ally runs upon " excessive taxation and the extravagance 
 of the times." The old man holds people by the button, 
 and tells " what the rising generation are coming to ; " 
 says his boys spend more in a month than he should 
 in a year ; that his property will not descend to the 
 third generation ; and " women folks " are no better than 
 men nowadays; for importing silks and satins has sent
 
 THE REIGXIXG KING. 123 
 
 all the specie out of the country ; and this accounts for 
 the hard times we hear about once in three or four years. 
 The next-door neighbor is the minister, a large, square- 
 faced man, who does not give universal satisfaction ; and 
 so two other societies have sprung up since his settle 
 ment. The village is distinguished for its wealth ; yet it 
 is hard work to support these three ministers, and give 
 them a comfortable living. Mr. Grazewell has the most 
 fashionable attendants, however ; and, of course, Uncle 
 Sam will enlist under his banner. He is what is termed 
 a moderate Calvinist ; never discusses knotty points ; but 
 his late position in regard to the temperance cause has 
 disaffected one or two leading men in his parish. He is 
 a sort of non-committal man ; remarks " that popular 
 opinion is not yet ripe for any definite action ; " " thinks 
 the Maine liquor law altogether too stringent an affair ; " 
 "does not believe it is expedient to legislate upon the 
 subject ; " never provokes an angry discussion ; never de 
 nies to his flock the privilege of taking a glass of wine, 
 and has had " some serious doubts whether longevity is 
 not promoted by using spirituous liquors with modera 
 tion." He is not prepared, at any rate, to discuss the 
 question. A few leading men are utterly opposed to this 
 view ; but Uncle Sam is likely to prove a stronger pillar 
 than all the seceders in upholding his doctrines. He has 
 already placed a new organ in the church, put his name 
 on the subscription list for any delinquency upon the pay
 
 124 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 roll ; and, of course, Mr. Grazewell is not open to further 
 convictions. The seceders have mostly gone over to the 
 advocates of the temperance cause, and the little com 
 munity is every day becoming more agitated upon the 
 subject. A great many in Mr. GrazewelTs parish are 
 desirous of hearing both sides of the question ; and this 
 often wakes up the slumbering consciences who are not 
 blinded by self-interest, and with them it is becoming a 
 serious question whether their pastor ought not to be a 
 bold defender of the cause. Uncle Sam, therefore, is 
 likely to be an important personage when he is fairly set 
 tled among them. 
 
 In that city home, however, there is a great work going 
 on. The preparations for Miss Eunice's wedding are 
 rapidly advancing. Is it not one pleasant feature, in ex 
 pending such wealth, that workmen and workwomen are 
 thus employed, who, but for such outfits, would find their 
 time idly hanging upon them ? The palace and the home 
 are employing laborers without stint, and many a dollar 
 finds its way slyly into the pockets of seamstresses, of 
 which no one but the donor and those she benefits are in 
 formed. The old-fashioned maxim, that " we should not 
 do evil that good may follow," is mitigated in our day ; 
 and we almost overlook some slight deviations from duty, 
 when the results conduce so much to the welfare of our 
 fellow-men. Does the eye of Omniscience thus judge? 
 
 Since the legislature has been in session, almost every
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 125 
 
 evening a secret committee have waited upon Uncle Sam 
 to report the proceedings. The city members are bound 
 to protect his rights. They were carefully selected, and 
 every man's honor is pledged not to prove traitorous to his 
 cause. But those old, stiff country members have a ma 
 jority. Some of them look as if they might be reasoned 
 into the inexpediency of enforcing the law now under 
 consideration ; but they are giants in firmness old oaks, 
 that will not be uptorn by tempests. They have seen 
 practical results, and know if the law were but enforced 
 how much more peaceful homes and happy townships they 
 should enjoy. 
 
 There are scores of members in yonder chamber. 
 There are pledged men ; but, of course, varying in tal 
 ents, in zeal, and in argumentative reasoning. The mi 
 nority are keen sighted ; and some predict that Deacon 
 Titus Fully and Squire Southwell might be bought off or 
 compromised with, so that the workings of the law would 
 be hindered. At private meetings in the lobbies such 
 questions are agitated. One bold member asserts he is 
 not afraid to try their metal. He accordingly proposes 
 that a supper shall be given, where wine shall be intro 
 duced so as to cause no offence, leaving it optional with 
 each guest whether or not he partakes of it. The mem 
 bers invited attend. Towards the close of the evening, 
 wine is brought in; and the Deacon and the Squire at 
 once make a motion to adjourn. 
 11*
 
 126 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 You do not catch such men napping. They may look 
 heavy eyed ; they may seem outwardly indifferent ; but a 
 lion is in their hearts, and a beer and dram shop in their 
 neighborhoods at home. A son has yielded to the fatal 
 seduction ; a brother has fallen a prey ; pauperism has 
 increased their taxes, and the sale of liquor caused the 
 pauperism. 
 
 There are bloated men in their towns. There is a gam 
 bling saloon there. There are traps to decoy the unwary ; 
 and think you these sober men, who were selected with 
 especial care to protect them against such evils, would 
 recklessly abandon their convictions of duty ? No ; they 
 would fight a battle, and be ready to fall as victims in the 
 cause, rather than betray it ; so there is no longer any 
 hope indulged by secret committees. They cannot bear 
 even the word " modification." Their settled convictions 
 are, that the evil must be cut down wholly, entirely. No 
 law is stringent enough that does not produce such a re 
 sult. Truly, they have gone ahead of " popular opinion." 
 
 Uncle Sam's conscience has been sleeping more calmly, 
 of late. His intercourse with those of his own craft ; his 
 constant efforts to bring himself into an undisturbed posi 
 tion ; his vague conclusions, that, after all, his nervous 
 temperament has made his business appear a more for 
 midable foe to the well being of society, have materially 
 brought him into a kind of tranquil enjoyment. He 
 wonders how he ever came to be so perplexed ; why
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 127 
 
 images of the past ever rose before him ; and he palliates 
 it all by reflecting, if people will ruin themselves, another 
 is not responsible for their work. Yet, after all, a half- 
 enlightened conscience is sometimes a tremendous accuser. 
 There may be only light enough through the smallest 
 crevices to discover the foul blemishes only gleams 
 through little chinks which cannot be plastered up and 
 made incapable of future gaps ; yet what we have dis 
 covered will not be obliterated, and what once was la 
 belled " sin and transgression " cannot be annihilated. It 
 may be temporarily covered ; but in those deep chambers 
 where Memory keeps a station, and when we dwell in the 
 most apparent security, she will rise unbidden, and force 
 her way through old associations, and bring out such vivid 
 pictures, that no daguerreotypist can draw more accurate 
 figures ; and, more than ah 1 , they are always transcribed 
 on a metal that forever retains its impression. Does not 
 this show us the importance of impressing suitable images 
 those that will smile upon us in our solitude, and when 
 they stand out before us will be as pleasant companions, 
 whom we shah 1 welcome and delight to keep with us ? 
 
 Now, Uncle Sam could not rouse such images ; and, 
 therefore, his society, when alone, was not filled with wel 
 come guests. They were inquisitive, dictatorial, and de 
 manded to be heard ; and he could not make them obey 
 his bidding, and, in one loud note, bid them begone, and
 
 128 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 they would flee. Is it not wonderful, considering the 
 mandates we cannot control after transgression, that we 
 do not more firmly resist the sins which present such grim 
 visages before us ? for our power lies in being able to give 
 them pleasant features and a lovely exterior, that, like 
 sweet dreams, we would fain linger long in their enchant 
 ments.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 129 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Uncle Sam's Connection -with. Captain "Wilby. Spiritual Rap- 
 pings. Uncle Sam's Disquietude. His Settlement with. 
 Widow Wilby. 
 
 YEARS ago, Uncle Sam was connected in navigation 
 with one Captain Bartholomew Wilby. He made many 
 prosperous voyages, and brought home safely an unadul 
 terated cargo of liquors, a part of the profits being his 
 own perquisite, they being joint owners of the ship " Fly 
 ing Witch," that sailed from New York. For years, this 
 trade was successfully carried on. At length, Captain 
 Wilby fell a prey to the indulgence of his appetite for 
 choice liquors ; and long after he was unfitted to com 
 mand, he still acted in that capacity, being the rightful 
 owner of nearly one half the ship in which he sailed. 
 
 Captain Wilby, at last, wrecked his vessel, and, it was 
 supposed, perished himself in a state of intoxication. So 
 likewise did the mate and a part of the crew, while a few 
 of the more hardy sailors were picked up in a starving 
 condition, and they only could furnish a description of the 
 awful scene which they encountered. At the time, there 
 were circumstances which terribly harrowed Uncle Sam's 
 spirits, and exposed him to much mental suffering. 
 
 The ship was insured ; but there was a lawsuit in
 
 130 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 recovering the amount. The proceeds were all intrusted 
 to Uncle Sam's keeping ; and he disbursed to the widow 
 just what he pleased, leaving a large margin for the settle 
 ment of sundry accounts of which he alone could have 
 cognizance, as nobody else was conversant with Captain 
 Wilby's affairs. 
 
 There was some hard talk about Uncle Sam, which men 
 past the meridian of life now recollect to have heard then 
 expressed ; but time so deadens our consciousness about 
 dates and events which do not materially affect us, that 
 nobody could furnish any particulars of their transactions. 
 
 The widow Wilby was reported to be left " well off," 
 and educated her two sons at college. They never fol 
 lowed a profession ; but, probably impressed with the 
 idea that " money enough " would last forever, let them 
 expend it as they might, one of them indulged early in 
 convivial pleasures, and finally coveted the wine cup to 
 his ruin. 
 
 The other was a young man of rare promise. He was 
 graceful and accomplished ; but alas ! he turned his tal 
 ents to no account. He, too, joined in midnight revels, 
 and became a debauchee of most revolting aspect. So 
 ciety was partly responsible for their downfall. 
 
 Their father died when they were young. They were 
 reputed to be heirs of a large property. The necessity 
 for them to labor seemed abridged ; and unreflecting peo 
 ple always urged that it was no consequence whether or
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 131 
 
 not they worked, as they were abundantly provided for, 
 thus putting our efforts to labor entirely upon the ground 
 of earning a subsistence, never once suggesting the great 
 law of accountability which reckons with us for the non- 
 fulfilment of obedience. The right to be idle seems ques 
 tioned with few of our species, if one has paid, and can 
 pay, all his obligations, defrauds no one, and has enough 
 in prospect to carry himself and family comfortably 
 through this life. It is a most obnoxious doctrine, sap 
 ping the fountain head of all progress, and demoraliz 
 ing the head and heart of its advocates. Why should 
 a hard necessity be the only school in which the lofty 
 intellect can be developed? Why should not the aids 
 which a kind Providence so often lends be auxiliaries to 
 conduce to our advancement, inasmuch as the thorny and 
 rough pathway for them is made smoother and more ac 
 cessible ? Or is the struggle such a help to the develop 
 ment of our active energies, that such a training is neces 
 sary to give strength to the character, and a resolution to 
 the will ? If so, why, then, O parent, do you " labor, and 
 tug, and strive " to amass for your children, to become 
 thus enervated by your toils? Had the Wilbys been 
 subjected to a rigid discipline, undoubtedly they would 
 have become more worthy members of the community, 
 while, as it was, they were feeble, inefficient cumberers of 
 the ground, and eventually profligate young men, "who 
 wasted their substance in riotous living."
 
 132 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 Mrs. "Wilby was now reduced to a mere pittance ; and, 
 in her straits, she was determined to make a visit to her 
 old friend, Uncle Sam ; and singularly enough did she 
 detail how she was induced to do so. She had resided, 
 for some months past, in a neighborhood where " spiritual 
 rappings " were agitating the whole people. It was cur 
 rently reported that the widow herself was not only a 
 believer, but an actual medium. She affirmed, in some 
 of her hallucinations, the spirit of her husband had told 
 her to make this visit to Uncle Sam, and by demanding 
 of him the surplus which the underwriters paid him as 
 insurance money on the wrecked ship and cargo, she 
 could eke out enough for a more comfortable living. 
 
 Besides, the medium had many earthly aids in the ef 
 fects which her husband had left in the form of letters, 
 and minute accounts of certain transactions which Uncle 
 Sam had graphically described in epistles to his old friend, 
 all of which were outlawed as far as collection was con 
 cerned. Still, they were remarkable helps to bring out 
 the sentiments from the spirit land. Uncle Sam wel 
 comed the widow of his old friend, and had many com 
 fortable sittings with her, in discussing by-gone days. 
 
 The first evening of which we would make particular 
 mention was stormy. It rained in torrents, and the 
 wind blew most furiously. The lights burned dimly in 
 the city streets, and carriages, with fleet horses, were 
 ready to dispose of their passengers. The storm beat
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 133 
 
 more and more furiously, and heavy, moaning gusts of 
 wind came from the chimney. 
 
 Uncle Sam and the widow "Wilby sat alone, Mr. Blair 
 and Eunice were at a neighboring party, and the domes 
 tics had retired for the night. The conversation between 
 the two turned upon the fatal shipwreck. The widow 
 had just been reading to him some of the wonderful sto 
 ries related of Captain Kidd. Her mind had been for 
 some time disturbed about the probabih'ties of the fate of 
 Sir John Franklin. She really- believed both himself 
 and his crew were enclosed in an iceberg. She, therefore, 
 denounced the Arctic expedition in no measured terms, 
 protesting she believed only a vague curiosity to explore 
 unknown and untracked regions had instigated those who 
 had professedly gone in the humane search for a missing 
 crew. Uncle Sam had thought seriously of bestowing 
 something upon this enterprise ; but his attention was 
 diverted therefrom, lest it should prove a humbug. "While 
 thus conversing, suddenly the centre table moved. Uncle 
 Sam looked at the widow, and she fixed her gaze on him. 
 One, two, three distinct raps were heard. Uncle Sam 
 turned deadly pale, but remained perfectly motionless. 
 The widow Wilby remarked the " spirits " were about to 
 make a " manifestation," and it behooved them to hear 
 their report from the spiritual world. " Mr. Beals," pur 
 sued she, " we must obey their dictates ; and it is neces 
 sary that you should put your hands flat upon this table." 
 12
 
 134 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 Dimly over Uncle Sam's vision rose those old spectral 
 illusions of former days. Witchcraft, and Cotton Math 
 er's account of it, indistinctly floated before him. 
 
 Perhaps his hair stood on end. At all events, his limbs 
 quivered, and pain forsook his gouty leg. A cold per 
 spiration seized him, and he dared not articulate save as 
 the widow commanded. " Inquire," said she, " for your 
 guardian angel." He did so ; and the letters of the al 
 phabet formed themselves into " Mary Cordelia Beals," 
 his departed wife's name. " Ask her if she is ready to 
 reveal herself by writing what concerns your well being." 
 He did so. Never was there a more passive subject 
 than Uncle Sam. Paper was now furnished, and the 
 spirit purported to draught the following letter, which the 
 medium transcribed. It ran thus : 
 
 " I come to lay open the past. Do you remember your 
 acts of injustice ? Nelly Twing was sent unprepared into 
 eternity, and you were the agent of her downfall. Judge 
 Cramer bids you remember the circumstances of his mort 
 gage. A whole host are beseeching me to lay before you 
 their destructive end, which was caused by your advice 
 that they should persist in the traffic in ardent spirits. 
 Your brother Richard speaks of his 'document;' and, 
 finally, the shade of your departed Mary sums up all in 
 the words, ' Beware and refrain,' having done full justice 
 to that wrecked crew, and provided for the widow in her 
 need."
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 135 
 
 After putting the letters which the spirit rapped out 
 together, it was made to read as we have detailed. If 
 spiritual manifestations are accounted for upon nervous 
 principles, certainly, in this case, there was never a better 
 subject to be acted upon than Uncle Sam. He was petri 
 fied. He was overwhelmed. He was harassed beyond 
 measure. The widow Wilby seemed to him nothing less 
 than a duplicate of the witch of Endor. The table still 
 moved, and actually danced around the room. Yes, 
 the veritable old, heavy mahogany centre table, that was 
 always dragged from place to place, on account of its 
 weight ; yet it did not move the widow. She calmly 
 looked on, as if familiar with the arts of divination. 
 Uncle Sam begged an explanation. " She knew nothing. 
 It was controlled by influences which she knew not. She 
 was born a medium ; but the revelation was only recently 
 made known to her." And so she minutely described 
 mysterious deeds which were brought to light, spiritual 
 conferences with the dead ; but still there were no new 
 manifestations by which we could take cognizance of the 
 eternal state, and almost all the developments pertained 
 to things of this life, which a slumbering memory had 
 once hidden hi dark recesses, never to be reawakened 
 until at the final judgment, when the soul should pass a 
 verdict upon the hidden things of darkness. 
 
 Uncle Sam had always dreaded a trying retribution. 
 He would, rather have given the widow thousands of
 
 136 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 dollars than thus to have disturbed his peace. He never 
 did believe in " spiritual knockings ; " yet, now he had 
 heard the rappings, what must be his conclusions ? He 
 had no scientific principles upon which to reconcile them ; 
 and as to the written page, he had entirely forgotten the 
 old manuscripts upon which the widow based her artful 
 disclosures. He, therefore, hailed with joy the footsteps 
 of his daughter, and described to her the painful commu 
 nication he had received. She tried to smooth his fur 
 rowed brow, and determined to effect a settlement with 
 the widow Wilby, and send her and the enchanted table 
 out from his presence ; and having administered an ano 
 dyne, she left her father in a tolerably tranquil state. 
 
 But when the door closed, and the lamp burned dimly, 
 and the storm still beat on in its fury, and the wind 
 moaned even more loudly than before when the house 
 seemed to be shaken by the tempest, there was a wilder 
 and more tumultuous struggle within Uncle Sam's breast, 
 which warred against his peace. 
 
 The rapping of a distressed conscience is a reality. 
 The manifestations of buried transgressions need no " me 
 dium " to assure us of their reawakened power. " The 
 document" from his brother Eichard, and the spiritual 
 manifestations, told no new tale. They only seemed to 
 anticipate the judgment which Uncle Sam had hoped to 
 postpone till a more remote period. So he tossed in his 
 bed, and tried to be calm ; but other subjects would not
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 137 
 
 stay before him. Those harrowing thoughts were so fully 
 developed, that they could not be. charmed away by any 
 substitutes. 
 
 The old man forgot his swollen and painful limb. He 
 needed not the aid of another to assist him to rise. He 
 was above all physical distress, so completely had the 
 mental triumphed over the bodily weaknesses and infirmi 
 ties. In a moment, he was in his easy chair by the fire- 
 i 
 
 side. We talk of an easy chair to such a disturbed con 
 science. How preposterous ! There can be no ease in 
 such frenzies of distraction. Uncle Sam thought of Dan 
 iel's vision, in that great Bible which had lain unopened 
 so long upon yonder table. He had never read it much 
 since his wife died. It was marked and scored in numer 
 ous places traces of where her eyes had rested, and 
 places which indicated the impressions they had left upon 
 her. He turned to the book of Daniel. He felt himself 
 a second Belshazzar. The hand writing on the wall, 
 rightly interpreted, indicated the king's temporal downfall. 
 The handwritings which had been addressed to him did 
 not predict a fall from earthly power or possessions. His 
 mortgages were good securities ; his funds were well in 
 vested ; his trade was never in a more nourishing condi 
 tion ; only his soul was bankrupt. 
 
 Now a man in this conscious condition takes no heed to 
 comfortable chairs, nor a cheerful-looking fire. The one 
 rankling within seems to be fed from all the fuel he looks 
 12*
 
 138 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 upon. The king's " drinking cups " rose before him ; so 
 it was manifest that the destructive agent was permitted 
 to destroy all claims to royalty many centuries ago. It 
 rose before him as an accursed thing. It sapped the 
 foundation of all domestic peace ; and he secretly wished 
 old Nelly Twing could be recompensed in a worldly way 
 for the hardhearted injustice he once did to her. But if 
 he had not, would not somebody else have made her hus 
 band a drunkard, by supplying him with what his appe 
 tite craved ? The bitter cold night rose before him, when 
 he perished a victim to the fumes of alcohol which he 
 had furnished ; and old Nelly's piteous moans, that, after 
 his death, her cows and her cottage might be spared to 
 her only rent free, seemed to awaken a thrill which, at the 
 time they were uttered, were unheeded. Her old, tat 
 tered garments, her maniacal appearance, her finger of 
 scorn that always pointed to Uncle Sam as her destroyer, 
 seemed to be quivering before him ; and it was eight and 
 twenty years since that finger moved. Uncle Sam rea 
 soned : Had Nelly left any descendants whom he could 
 benefit, and thus neutralize, by some good deeds, his for 
 mer barbarities ? There was a cousin Justin Twing ; but 
 he had aided him more recently to smuggle a small cargo 
 of the liquid fire to burn up the good resolutions of the 
 people in Sturbridge village, since the enactment of the 
 law. That gave him no quietus now. 
 
 In vain he sought for any atoning propitiation by which
 
 THE EEIGNING KING. 139 
 
 he could gloss over his iniquity. Then, worse than ah 1 , 
 Judge Cramer rose before him the dignified lawyer 
 who used to adjust his accounts thirty years ago, and 
 when the weariness of detail in the examination of 
 heart-rending catalogues of ruined households used to be 
 washed out of sight by the free use of the same poison 
 which caused the destruction of those over whom he was 
 drawing mortgages, or issuing writs of attachment, leav 
 ing what the law scantily provided as the woman's only 
 unattachable property. Why did he dwell upon such 
 by-gone transactions ? He did not desire to do so. He 
 did nothing but what was common, and accounted " repu 
 table " at the time. He did not remember any thing about 
 misgivings at that time. Truly, why did such thoughts 
 come across him now ? 
 
 And, further, the " spirit " spoke of Judge Cramer, 
 when he became a judge. He looked bloated, and had 
 a carbuncled face, and gouty limbs, and an "asthma," 
 and a " stomach difficulty," which brandy only appeased. 
 How many times had Uncle Sam put up the papers 
 he was examining with him at midnight, and let him 
 have a comfortable sleep before he went home to a 
 heart-broken wife that till morning had watched for his 
 footfall ! 
 
 And when he took himself from the bench, " on account 
 of increasing infirmities" why did he always prefer to
 
 140 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 sit in Uncle Sam's counting room to his own pleasant fire 
 side ? What made him seem more feeble when he went 
 out than when he went in ? And when he died 0, 
 that swollen wreck of a man now rose before Uncle 
 Sam. He sent for him the night before he died ; and, 
 in view of the awful tribunal of justice, he assumed his 
 former manly conversation, and deplored his own down 
 fall, and entreated his friend Beals to desist from fur 
 nishing the destructive element any longer ; " for," said 
 he, "we are becoming a nation of drunkards." And 
 Uncle Sam promised ; and to-night that old promise, all 
 blurred over by thousands of tragic scenes since it was 
 made, rose out of some crevice in his memory ; and 
 there it blazed before him as if it were uttered but yes 
 terday. 
 
 This vision of the night was succeeded by a state of 
 depression ; so that when his daughter went to him in the 
 morning, she found her father sitting before an exhausted 
 fire, pale, and unwilling to be moved. Gently she parted 
 his gray locks, and tender were the words of sympathy 
 she uttered. She did not ask him the cause of his mental 
 distress, nor why he sighed so piteously, nor why he 
 wished her to address a note to Tims. She only knew a 
 heartache caused a headache ; and sometimes when you 
 could make a bodily ailment out of a mental disquietude, 
 and a physician is called, and attention is thus drawn to
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 141 
 
 the bodily infirmities, the mind is sometimes partially re 
 lieved ; and this his daughter often tried, and found the 
 experiment successful. 
 
 Dr. Anderson was therefore called to Uncle Sam. 
 
 Upon entering, the doctor remarked, " If all my pa 
 tients were as hopefully attacked as yourself, how little 
 anxiety I should have ! You are only mentally sick, sir ; 
 and such an affection of the heart can always be cured if 
 time is not chided too harshly for a delay. Cheer up, my 
 good friend. Trade never looked better." Then, in a sort 
 of waggish manner, he inquired, " What success in smug 
 gling the article, nowadays ? " The doctor then detailed 
 the arrest of a man, and the seizure of the liquor he had 
 concealed in a couple of coffins, which, he facetiously re 
 marked, " he thought was somewhat ominous of the final 
 burial of the trade." " Now," said he, " Mr. Beals, you 
 have smiled ; and you only need to repeat and rerepeat 
 smiling, and the recipe will work well, and effect your 
 cure." Dr. Anderson was a temperance man ; and as 
 Mr. Tims now came in, he left his patient better than 
 when -he first entered his apartment. The doctor knew 
 Uncle Sam had fits of " the blues ; " but alas ! he did not 
 know the causes which produced them. 
 
 Tims, as we have seen, was a nervous man. He had 
 been through the ordeal of conviction ; yet, strange to 
 say, he was not converted ; and now outwardly prosper 
 ous in worldly matters, and living constantly abroad, or
 
 142 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 being intensely excited at home, he was putting off his 
 melancholy retrospections until he had accumulated suffi 
 cient to live in ease, or, rather, until the days of torment 
 ing reflections should press upon him. Uncle Sam did 
 not fully unburden himself to him. He feared the conse 
 quences ; so that a marked and striking policy was now 
 clearly discernible in all his movements. 
 
 " Tims," proceeded the old man, " long before I knew 
 you, I was engaged in the importation of liquors with one 
 Captain Wilby. He was a strange man got drunk, 
 Tims ; drank like a fish at last ; shipped with a noisy, 
 profligate crew, but somehow for years weathered the 
 breakers, until he finally made his last voyage, wrecked 
 the vessel, lost his life, and a part of the crew with him 
 self; and those who were saved affirm those who were 
 lost went down in a beastly state of intoxication. Tims, 
 I despise a drunkard. I always told you so. I never 
 saw why a man need to be more than slightly exhil 
 arated ; but the ' cusses ' will keep on until they become 
 shameful, bloated wretches ; and this happened to my old 
 friend Wilby. After the wreck, I had a lawsuit to re 
 cover the insurance, but finally got every copper, settled 
 with the widow, and got a full discharge. Perhaps there 
 might le something over unaccounted for ; but I never 
 expected to hear from it again, when, behold, his widow 
 appeared bodily before me, to demand, with interest, what 
 is long since outlawed. Tims, do you believe in these
 
 THE KEIGXING KING. 143 
 
 devilish mysterious knockings ? The widow Wilby is a 
 ' medium,' and from that dumb table as distinct rap- 
 pings have been heard as ever you gave with your 
 knuckles upon any hard substance ; and the widow sat 
 full two yards off when they first occurred. Tims, I 
 don't like this being brought up to judgment before 
 one is dead. It harrows my very soul. It unmans me ; 
 and I want nothing to do with the infernal agents that 
 produce such results. So I give you leave to draw 
 two thousand dollars from our bank, and pass the same 
 over to the widow as a present from me. In the mean 
 time, I will speak to my daughter. My house shall be 
 cleared of the witch, and that old table shall be sent 
 after her ; for I never wish to see it dancing round my 
 room again." 
 
 Tims could not here suppress a hearty laugh as he 
 saw how completely Uncle Sam had fallen a prey to 
 spiritual manifestations ; but he did not see the writingj 
 nor did he know the cause of the harrowing of his con 
 science, which was anterior to all spiritual rappings. So 
 he promised to do as his patron requested ; and having 
 discussed the intense excitement upon the passage of 
 the law, and the determination to carry into effect its 
 stringent provisions, by seizures of every article that was 
 thought to contain it, strange as it may appear, Uncle 
 Sam became so netthd with the friends of the law, 
 that his conscience was again seared ; and indulging
 
 144 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 in those old antipathies, and being of a resolute, deter 
 mined spirit still, he rose from his seat, and loudly 
 exclaimed, " Fight them, Tims. I have money. Money 
 is power. I will not be cowardly. The trade shall 
 have one powerful advocate. Public opinion is in our 
 favor ; and go ahead, Tims. I may yet walk into the 
 presence of some of the secret committee before night. 
 Tims, I am an old man ; but the fire has not yet all 
 died within me." 
 
 And was this the conscience-stricken, infirm old man 
 who ordered his daughter to summon Mr. Tims before 
 him that morning ? Are we thus traitors to our secret, 
 pungent convictions ? Can we become thus seared, after 
 being so tenderly impressed ? man, what art thou ? 
 Truly, it is a greater problem to interpret Uncle Sam 
 than any " spiritual rappings." 
 
 After Mr. Tims's withdrawal, the loving daughter was 
 again by the side of her father. She noticed there was 
 a flashing of his eye, a sort of tremulousness in his voice ; 
 and with words of gentleness and winning love she 
 calmed his manner, and prepared a nutritive cordial, 
 which, with the aid of a tranquil sleep, so composed 
 his nervous system, that she was obliged to remonstrate 
 against his leaving the house, to engage in those agitating 
 discussions which were now going on in our legislative 
 body. 
 
 The widow Wilby never again appeared in Uncle
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 145 
 
 Sam's presence, being fully satisfied with the result of 
 her rappings, it being the first and only time she could 
 calculate upon receiving two thousand dollars and an en 
 chanted table for a single sitting. "We never again heard 
 of her as a medium. 
 13
 
 146 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Office Seeker's Letter. A Peep within his Office. His 
 Courtship. The Church and its Members in the Suburbs. 
 The Temperance Question considered. 
 
 EARLY the next morning, the postman delivered the 
 following letter, addressed to Samuel Beals, Esq. It was 
 postmarked " "Washington ; " so there could be no doubt 
 from whom it came. Let us examine into its contents. 
 
 WASHINGTON, 
 
 ESTEEMED FRIENDS : I feel compelled to address you, 
 and hope you will forgive my past silence, and not crimi 
 nate or ridicule the promptings of a dire necessity which 
 now obliges me to unburden myself, and try the effect 
 which may thus accrue to a full and bursting heart. 
 Have you heard from Rosa ? I have addressed to her 
 four letters since I have received any answer. I then 
 desired Squire Johns, the postmaster, to tell me if she 
 were in the town. An answer was returned by the next 
 mail that " she was at meeting the last Sabbath, and al 
 most every day was seen riding with a young sprig of 
 the law who was studying in Coney's office." He rallies 
 me most unfeelingly upon "my alliance to a little co-
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 147 
 
 quette," and speaks of the disparity in our ages, which 
 accounts for a diversity of tastes. This letter has led me 
 to reconsider the steps I have taken. I know I am un 
 worthy her attachment, and that the old adage is true as 
 ever it was, "that, " before securing the bird, one should 
 buy the cage." I have never been able to accumulate 
 much beyond the demands made upon me ; yet I am still 
 vigorous, and willing to labor, provided Rosa proves true, 
 and yet promises to become my companion for future 
 time. I know not how nor why I am thus desperately in 
 love ; yet my peace of mind is entirely involved in the 
 affair ; and knowing as I do, sir, that yourself and daugh 
 ter hold an almost absolute sway over Rosa's thoughts and 
 purposes, I am induced to make this appeal in my behalf, 
 that you may persuade her that I shall be incapacitated 
 for any manly action if she turns upon me a cold shoul 
 der. Miss Eunice, shall I plead in vain ? 
 
 The present office I hold here is good for nothing, and 
 the idea of future promotion is all an illusion. I have 
 not been able to more than half meet my current ex 
 penses, and appear as a gentleman. Life in Washington, 
 to an office seeker, is a serious affair. In the hotel where 
 I board, there are herds of men ay, and women, too 
 who are here still living on hope. The landlord told 
 me of a gentleman and his wife, one child, and servant, 
 who have occupied some of his most eligible rooms for 
 the last six weeks ; and upon presenting his bill, he
 
 148 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 begged for an extension, saying, " so fair were his pros 
 pects, that he could safely calculate on the issue." Yes 
 terday another was confirmed in the place he has so anx 
 iously sought. Hundreds, from all parts of the Union, are 
 here, living upon political air, unable to defray their board 
 bills, yet so fascinated and deluded by personal friends, 
 who generally admit to them that their claims are fair 
 and their expectations justifiable, that it makes one sick 
 at heart to see such cold, hypocritical feeling. A thin 
 man, who has twitched his facial nerves into a most un 
 prepossessing appearance, was just now talking with a 
 member with whom he had a former acquaintance. I 
 think he said they were classmates in a southern college. 
 That friend pointed me to the nervous man, and said he, 
 " If that fellow would consent to become a negro driver, 
 his claims to be fed and clothed would be acknowledged 
 by his employers ; while here he may expend his last dol 
 lar, and return, at last, bankrupt in purse, and hope and 
 health, even." 
 
 Thus much can- an office seeker depend on personal 
 friendship, when backed by the best of credentials. This 
 is a dark picture ; but there is little to relieve it. So I 
 am not the only one who has been cajoled. As I have 
 been thus explicit, I will venture on your clemency while 
 I tax you with a recital of my personal pecuniary need. 
 I am in debt here to the amount of three hundred and 
 seventy-five dollars, which I cannot pay. My board has
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 149 
 
 been only fifteen dollars per week, the lowest rate at 
 which a fair aspirant for office would wish to live. My 
 tailor's bill is a good deal increased by a constant attend 
 ance upon "levees," where kid gloves and white satin 
 vests are universally in vogue. Mr. Beals, may I count 
 upon your disbursing to me the sum above named ? and, 
 in return, you shall have my professional aid in defending 
 offenders. 
 
 The liquor law must always be a dead letter here, let it 
 operate as it may in the New England States. Brandy 
 is here bought by the pipe, and wine by the cask, while 
 old brands, of the vintage of '28 and '32, sell at enormous 
 rates by the bottle. In the most aristocratic circles, the 
 mention of the law causes a general expression of con 
 tempt. I have spoken to my landlord of your choice im 
 portations, and have secured an order for a large amount, 
 which I enclose in this letter. 
 
 Remember, Miss E., that I look to you for my success 
 in matters of the affections, the greatest trial which now, I 
 fear, overshadows me. 
 
 Hoping to receive an answer as soon as possible, I re 
 main truly your friend, 
 
 J. SIMS. 
 
 As Mr. Beals and his daughter read the above letter, 
 the most varied expression might be seen depicted upon 
 their countenances. In the first place, was John Sims 
 13*
 
 150 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OB, 
 
 such a fool as to imagine, with such prospects as he de 
 picted, the calm judgment and good sense of Miss Eunice 
 would seek to draw into the meshes of love and matri 
 mony her young cousin, without fortune, affection, or even 
 the prospect of a competence ? Did they not both feel 
 (that is, the father and daughter) that when all these es 
 sential qualifications were held in profusion, it was still 
 a very questionable matter whether true friends should 
 sanction such an alliance ? Here was an old bachelor, of 
 the genuine stamp of " odd fellows." He had never ac 
 cumulated more than he expended ; and if at fifty-two 
 years of age he was a bankrupt, what sort of an appella 
 tion could be applied to him, seeking as he did the addi 
 tional drawback of a young wife who had been brought 
 up as a petted, only daughter ? Surely, the man was 
 demented. It could not be love that led him into this 
 frenzied state : it must be unqualified madness. Miss 
 Eunice resolved upon this head to answer him most 
 explicitly. 
 
 As to the folly of office seeking, she was only required 
 to write according to her father's dictation. The pervert 
 ed taste which again led Sims to seek political preferment, 
 to the neglect of his professional duties^ was discussed in 
 a common-sense manner ; and the gentleman in question 
 could not but feel chagrined when he read the conclusive 
 arguments addressed to him, " to once more return to his 
 law practice." But that " order" how it modified Uncle
 
 THE REIGNIXG KING. 151 
 
 Sam's first determination ! That offer " to defend the 
 violators of the law," how it operated upon his generous 
 instincts ! and, strange as it may appear, Uncle Sam gave 
 Sims leave to draw on him for the sum of three hundred 
 dollars, which enabled the gentleman to return home and 
 visit his lady love upon the route, and, on his return, to 
 openly avow his " engagement." 
 
 Sims's old office had been closed nearly four months. 
 It was filled with cobwebs and dusty files of paper. 
 Miss Eunice volunteered the services of one of her faith 
 ful domestics to clear away the rubbish. She went her 
 self, during the day, to oversee the work ; and Squire 
 Sims begged her to rummage a bureau drawer for a note 
 of hand which a client was waiting to receive, and which 
 was overlaid amidst a confused heap of papers. The pe 
 culiarities of the bachelor she thus found exposed to her 
 gaze. In the farther end of said drawer lay a dingy roll 
 of parchment. It was " the family record ; " and accord 
 ing to dates there furnished, John Sims was in his fifty- 
 eighth year. An old " diploma," much weather stained, 
 tied with a faded blue ribbon, was a carefully preserved 
 relic. An antique box lay beside it, inscribed, in almost 
 illegible letters, " From Antoinette M. Obit January 
 8th, 1815." A finger ring, once some lady's precious 
 bestowal ; an unknown history of buried love in a small 
 casket, whereon was inscribed the word " Ashes ; " sundry 
 locks of hair " known only to the keeper ; " small billet-
 
 152 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 doux, of ancient date ; a little, finely-printed Bible, " pre 
 sented to John, by his mother, on leaving home, 1806 ;" 
 lots of rubbish, hurried into the receptacle to be safely 
 kept, made up the remaining contents. Torn and worn 
 coats, shirts buttonless, stockings undarned, boots unmend- 
 ed, slippers that had lost companionship, and old hats and 
 leather caps graced the closet where Dinah was scrub 
 bing, " in a very dirty place for a gentleman's office, mis 
 tress." 
 
 Miss Eunice sighed over such a compound of oddity 
 and age, of second childishness and ancient loves, as 
 were doubtfully indicated by those yellow papers. She 
 pitied a man who wasted his prime in building air castles 
 who had outlived his early companions, every one of 
 whom had dropped by the way, and asked herself, Is this 
 the fate of all bachelors ? But the missing note being 
 discovered, Miss Beals returned to her home, where she 
 found Mrs. Tims conversing with her father upon some 
 of the news which " Madam Godfrey " had disclosed. 
 
 The many munificent gifts which Uncle Sam had be 
 stowed on her husband ; the present of the " house lot " 
 and watch, as we have before stated ; and the services of 
 many of the workmen which he had requited, added to 
 another gold watch which was bestowed, on last new 
 year's day, to their oldest son, and a set of mathematical 
 instruments to the youngest, all these were so gratefully 
 received, that Mrs. Tims could not but forgive Uncle Sam
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 153 
 
 for overcoming her husband's prejudices against engaging 
 in his present traffic ; and somehow, gratitude being akin 
 to love, she had learned herself to regard the business in 
 a far less criminal light than formerly. 
 
 They were now fast attaining to an independence in 
 moneyed interests. Mrs. Tims had taken a new position 
 in society ; and what once struck her as wearing a false 
 gloss and a sinful aspect gradually lost its heinousness ; 
 and as she was enabled to do a great deal more good by 
 the power which her wealth conferred, the traffic in 
 ardent spirits did not appear so very wicked, after all. 
 
 She hoped, too, she had made no compromises with her 
 conscience by assuming a new style of splendor, and giv 
 ing occasional festive entertainments, where liquor was 
 freely dispensed to her guests. The most " conscientious 
 and genteel" people did so. The dinner party of last 
 week was rather a noisy affair towards its close, to be 
 sure ; and when her husband helped Major Trumbull 
 into his carriage, and he crossed his legs strangely as 
 he walked, and Commodore Betts let the decanter drop 
 because his strength seemed failing, she hoped there 
 would be no duplicate occasion when she should again 
 witness what she had seen ; and if so, she could overlook 
 that scene.. 
 
 Mrs. Tims was a reputed pious woman. She never 
 failed being present at church meetings, and had lately 
 doubled her subscription to "home missions," without
 
 154= UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OB, 
 
 abating her zeal a whit in behalf of " the heathen." No 
 body had ever spoken to her of any worldly encroach 
 ments which perverted her taste or judgment. They 
 always thanked God that wealth flowed in to "brother 
 and sister Tims," because the ability and power to do good 
 were so seldom commingled. Their pastor, too, was a 
 keen, eagle-eyed man, who always reproved professors for 
 any known derelictions of duty ; yet he never failed to 
 ask brother T. "how his trade prospered," and always 
 spoke of the friends of the law as being " decidedly ahead 
 of popular opinion." No one deplored the revolting as 
 pects of tippling shops more than this reverend gentle 
 man. To ease his conscience, he had preached a sermon 
 lately upon the causes of pauperism, and clearly traced 
 the greater part of the misery brought upon indigent fam 
 ilies to frequenting the dram shops ; yet to his wealthy 
 parishioners who purchased by the butt, quarter casks, 
 and at auctions after the decease of those whose cellars 
 were filled with bottles " labelled and cobwebbed " time 
 out of mind, there were no reprovals. Only " those low, 
 filthy dregs of society, to whom we were called to admin 
 ister our charities," fell into the reproach. This was the 
 full extent to which public opinion could at present be 
 carried. 
 
 We think Deacon Bolt expressed the sentiments of his 
 pastor when he made the following confession in a church 
 meeting :
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 155 
 
 " Brethren and sisters," remarked he, with a tremen 
 dous hem, " I have been engaged in the liquor trade, and 
 have renounced it for conscience' sake. Still, every body 
 may not see the evil effects resulting from the traffic as I 
 do. Therefore I criminate no man. To his own Master 
 he must either stand or fall." 
 
 " True, brother," faintly articulated the clergyman in 
 the desk. " Go on, brother Bolt." 
 
 " Well, as I just remarked, I criminate no man ; and I 
 ask no body of men to make restraining laws for me. I 
 got disquieted about the business, and having a lucrative 
 position offered me, concluded I would avail myself of it. 
 I am, however, as much a friend to temperance as any 
 other man. This is all I have to offer. I'm not used to 
 much speaking, as all my brothers and sisters about me 
 know. I only wished to bear my feeble testimony for the 
 good of the cause." 
 
 " Thank you, brother," again ejaculated the reverend 
 gentleman. 
 
 Deacon Bolt was never in such high estimation with 
 the red-eyed members of the church before. We might 
 make a pun out of their solemn remarks which led them 
 to acknowledge they were most favorably impressed with 
 his spirit. Too many had often been powerfully im 
 pressed with the strength of his liquors for some years 
 past. 
 
 The hardest case of all, however, in this church, was
 
 156 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 that of Coleman, the retired distiller. His conscience had 
 recently become powerfully aroused upon the subject of 
 holding property which depended on the trade by which 
 his best dividends were made ; for he was still largely an 
 owner in the distillery at Fair Creek. The old man, for 
 once, had resolved " to free his mind," although his body 
 was not upon the anxious seat. There was an effort, evi 
 dently, to. suppress his speech ; but, after being repeatedly 
 put down, he begged the privilege of saying a few words, 
 premising they should be " right to the p'int." 
 
 "Brethren and sisters," said he, "I have long been 
 troubled about the holding of property connected with the 
 liquor trade. As we get enlightened, some things don't 
 look to us as they used to. I remember the rery first 
 thoughts which made me oneasy. When we had the great 
 mechanics' fair, where every thing that a man worked 
 in and upon was solicited to be put up for a show, the 
 thought struck me it would be a good notion to fill some 
 clear glass bottles with specimens of different articles I 
 had manufactured. I had specimens of gin, whiskey, and 
 New England a leetle touch above all I had ever made. 
 Well, I bottled 'em, and labelled 'em, and carried 'em to 
 be put in the fair. The man who received the articles, 
 howsomdever,took me one side after I told him my arrant, 
 and says he, ' Squire, I don't doubt but your specimens 
 are very fine ; but it won't do to exhibit them. Never,' 
 said he, e was there a drop of liquor exhibited at any fair.
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 157 
 
 Why, the temperance contributors would remove every 
 article they have inserted, should we introduce your speci 
 mens.' 
 
 " Now, I thought if this was raly such a dark business, 
 I would quit it ; and I did so, as you all know. And lat 
 terly I've been thinking about,J:he right of investing my 
 money in this distillery, to have it still carried on. If 
 I'm ashamed to use my influence by giving my name, 
 hadn't I oughter be ashamed to put my property in sich 
 traffic ? Brethren and sisters, I desire to do the right 
 thing ; and I ask your opinions and prayers upon this 
 head." 
 
 There was a dead pause. Some fans, however, flut 
 tered briskly, some men hemmed powerfully, and some 
 glances were exchanged which comprehended a great deal. 
 Finally, the reverend pastor, with outstretched arms, sol 
 emnly said, " Brethren, let us pray." So Squire Cole- 
 man was left as to his " unenlightened duty," not men 
 tioned in the prayer, and branded as " terribly superannu 
 ated." But did not the old man bring out an idea which 
 we may not have thought about ? Why, if all arts and 
 trades are represented in these industrial exhibitions, why 
 have not the improvements in the liquor trade a place ? 
 
 No one who is engaged in the traffic answers the ques 
 tion ; and the old Squire made the right inference when 
 he told about its being dark business ; for every nook and 
 14
 
 158 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 cranny of these exhibitions are accessible to light and 
 inspection. 
 
 In the same church was Deacon Thrale, an extensive 
 wine merchant, in " regular standing," yet unable, through 
 infirmity, to carry about the vessels from the altar ; and 
 there the puffy Mr. Archgr, another retired distiller, and 
 Mr. Coney and Mr. Blaze, all in the traffic ; yet they 
 " were all, all honorable men." From these citadels 
 the enemy derives his strength ; and until we force home 
 the conviction that souls thus perilled must eventually 
 become shipwrecked in high as well as low places, we 
 confess our present hope flags; yet we will not become 
 disheartened. The right is never a dangerous position to 
 occupy, neither is it a sandy foundation, which can be en 
 tirely washed away. "We get impatient for results, forget 
 ting, sometimes, the magnitude of the triumph we seek to 
 achieve unmindful, in our zeal, that this great blot upon 
 humanity has extended to all quarters of our globe, and 
 paralyzed talent, energy, and improvement ; that it dark 
 ens all history ; that conquerors of armies have themselves 
 become thus conquered ; and that even Alexander the 
 Great, who sighed that he had no more conquests to make, 
 himself died from the want of self-control. 
 
 Now, while such a demon has stalked over all coun 
 tries, in all ages, and when we reflect, too, upon the fasci 
 nating spell with which he encircles his victims, and the
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 159 
 
 mighty force of habit ; the ministry it offers to promote 
 wealth ; the allurements it furnishes to social festivity, 
 while it conceals its deadly poison ; the temporary strength 
 it imparts to some sinking spirits, although followed by a 
 proportionate exhaustion ; the anodyne it gives to a dis 
 tressed conscience by its inebriating forgetfulness ; the 
 stimulus to desperation which it emboldens or creates ; 
 the stupefying tendencies which blunt our moral percep 
 tions, added to its easy procurement, I say, when, in dark 
 days of hope deferred, we look upon the law which has so 
 few open advocates and so many violent and talented op 
 ponents, we do feel as if our only trust lies in the rebuke 
 of Heaven, which, in a way we know not, will yet clearly 
 open before us a brighter vision ; and so we hope for 
 poor, bloated humanity still.
 
 160 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Uncle Sam's Dread of the Anti-Liquor Law. A Plea for Hu 
 manity. Selections from the old Furniture before removing 
 to the Palace. The Opening of the Palace. The Wed 
 ding, &c. 
 
 "THAT stringent law" which Uncle Sam constantly 
 affirmed " did not trouble him a jot," yet strangely occu 
 pied his conversation ! He often sent out for his friend, 
 Judge Smallgrace, to talk with him about the prospect of 
 amendment and repeal " whether, as it now existed, 
 it were strictly constitutional ; and if not amended or re 
 pealed, what would be its results." The judge always 
 had one ground of argument, which alone seemed to sat 
 isfy Uncle Sam, and that was, " until public opinion is 
 changed, the law will be comparatively ineffectual." But 
 there was one other dark shade in the picture, which 
 Uncle Sam clearly saw ; and that was, that public opinion 
 was and is changing. He carefully read the action of 
 our sister states upon the subject, and with deep regret 
 lamented over his native state, Vermont, which had so 
 unflinchingly declared herself ready to abide by the most 
 stringent enactments. He knew well that such an awa 
 kened spirit would spread. He read in the public journals
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 161 
 
 of the workings of the " Maine law ; " he had accounts 
 from all quarters of the check to pauperism which was 
 thus induced ; and if he had not so seared his humanity, 
 he could not but have rejoiced that our degradation was 
 in a fair way to be alleviated, if like efforts were only 
 permitted to exist among us. 
 
 It would have been an enigma to Uncle Sam himself 
 to have interpreted his own conduct. He was a profess 
 edly law and order loving citizen ; he deprecated heavy 
 taxation ; he was always troubled if a reckless, profligate 
 tenant occupied one of his dwellings ; and he could count 
 over his landed property, besides his wharf and store 
 rents, not to mention his dividends from distilling estab 
 lishments, and his extensive mortgaged property ; so that 
 the desire to accumulate still farther must have been a 
 miserly propensity, which long habit had induced. 
 
 Besides, he was an old man. "We will admit that his 
 early gains were when the traffic was considered " re 
 spectable," and reputable men engaged in it, never ques 
 tioning about " moral responsibilities ; " but now there 
 seemed a demand for another course of action. Men of 
 indomitable energy solicited the influence of those who 
 kindled the fire, and begged of them to smother its rage, 
 now that they were awakened by witnessing its heavy 
 devastations ; and why did such as Uncle Sam refuse 
 their aid to benefit them by practice and precept ? Did 
 he really believe it was so unjust thus to prohibit the sale 
 14*
 
 162 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 of liquor ? or did lie maintain a deadly hatred to those who 
 advocated doing so ? Was he fearful for the many whom 
 he had influenced to continue in it, that, by breaking in 
 upon their business, he should fail to secure all his out 
 standing debts ? Could he not afford to sacrifice a little, 
 when others had done so much ? And, more than all, 
 was he not anxious to leave his name upon record as hav 
 ing aided one of the most philanthropic enterprises of 
 our day which helped to rebuild men who had ship 
 wrecked their property, wasted their intellects, and ruined 
 their families, not to speak of that infinitely more mo 
 mentous topic, namely, who had perilled their souls ? 
 
 He, too, was on the verge of a day of retribution, 
 when the purity of motives and a sel-sacrificing spirit 
 would be the chief grounds of satisfaction. And did 
 such a one expect that then the specious arguments 
 of popular opinion would avail him ? The vast pos 
 sessions he had acquired must be left, while the un 
 heeded cries of humanity would be reechoed in the 
 future world ; and did he not know that among those ex 
 cluded from the kingdom, the catalogue had enumerated 
 " the drunkard " ? How did he expect to answer to his 
 dread account? Plainly, he was cheated by the influ 
 ences about him. He yielded to the sophistry which 
 looked only at present accumulation that most shallow 
 hope, which affords no satisfaction beyond a few brief 
 hours of misnamed enjoyment. And there was that fire
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 163 
 
 of revenge which he could not bear to extinguish ; that 
 love of power over which no portion of his fellow-men 
 should gain their control ; that resolve not to surrender, 
 because he would not be manly enough to confess to an 
 enlightened 'conscience ; and that mean, cowardly spirit 
 which dares not brave the sneers of misjudging friends, 
 lest they should be branded as " apostates," or followers 
 of a new party, whose aims seemed always misappre 
 hended, or placed upon sinister ground. We would not 
 here conceal the fact that party purposes and political zeal 
 have all conspired to retard the glorious work ; but as all 
 workmen are frail, and many will throw over themselves 
 any cloak wherewith to serve a purpose, or accomplish an 
 end, so our antagonists herald their deserts by making the 
 few odious to the many. 
 
 But our contention should not be with men. It ought 
 to be with principles ; and just so far as we lose sight of 
 this as our fundamental basis, we must expect popular 
 opinion will continually throw its missiles at our work. In 
 no cause do we need more brave, self-denying, unflinching 
 advocates than in the present position of the temperance 
 question. 
 
 Methinks, could the heavy wail of misery which is 
 every day wrung from hearts who in various ways are 
 connected with the disastrous consequences of intemper 
 ance but be concentrated in one groan, it would reverber 
 ate with such deafening force, that all who were startled
 
 164 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 by the heavy peal would never again question the neces 
 sity of a law which strikes at the extermination of the 
 evil. Like Sinai's thunder, the affrighted people would 
 be awed by this convulsive throe from the heart of hu 
 manity, and we should need no other plea to drive the 
 enemy from his established citadel. 
 
 But alas ! we have too many Uncle Sams, who are but 
 personifications of the evils with which we must longer 
 contend. The work is such a mighty one, that we must 
 be content if we but lay the corner stone in our genera 
 tion upon which the great temple of emancipated freedom 
 shall be built. If a single star is permitted to stud our 
 diadem of glory, may it be from the constellation " Tem 
 perance." For when we have taught the race that to be 
 men this blot must be washed out from our social, politi 
 cal, moral, and military glory, we would cheerfully retire 
 from the contest, humbly thanking Heaven that we were 
 permitted to be soldiers who fought for the rights that 
 would redeem them from the direst chapter of slavery, 
 without a claim to be pensioners, only as the plea of 
 Mercy shall sweetly whisper, " He that converteth a soul 
 from the error of his ways shall save his soul from death, 
 and hide a multitude of sins." Our recompense should 
 always consist in right doing, and its attendant conscious 
 ness. 
 
 But here we are again forced to look upon Uncle Sam
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 165 
 
 as contending with his half-awakened conscience, public 
 opinion, and the law with the infirmities of age, and the 
 prospect of being obliged to surrender his claims as an 
 active merchant and a silent partner in the firm of Tims, 
 Bucld, & Co. His palace is nearly completed ; and he is 
 now busily engaged in preparing to enter it. There is to 
 be a public auction at his city residence ; for his daughter 
 is fitting her new home in a style suited to its magnifi 
 cence, her father's wealth, and her own marriage portion. 
 
 Uncle Sam accedes to all her propositions as sensible 
 and sound ; yet he finds himself so attached to the inani 
 mate objects upon which his eyes have so long rested, that, 
 like his traffic, he hates to relinquish his hold. He is now 
 busily engaged in selecting what he will retain, and with 
 what he is willing to dispense. Now comes up the force 
 of association. Old mahogany furniture, which a fashion 
 able taste is about reviving, enables his daughter to decide 
 upon keeping many things which a short time ago would 
 have been sacrificed by, the quick stroke of the auction 
 eer's hammer ; yet there is a collection from an old house 
 keeper's inventory which modern improvements have dis 
 carded ; and were it not that there are those who are 
 unable to purchase the modern, we fear the cast-off furni 
 ture would be itemized at a low rate. 
 
 The old gentleman, however, resolves upon furnishing 
 one room in his palace with his old effects. He cannot part 
 with that Turkey carpet upon his bed chamber. What if
 
 166 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 it have no set figures, but seems woven only with refer 
 ence to texture and indelible coloring ? It is downy and 
 grateful to his weary feet. It is time hallowed, as his 
 wife's own purchase. And those large, leather-bottomed 
 chairs, with not a brass-headed nail out of its regular 
 order, but still glittering as when new how can he part 
 with those comfortable seats for a set of modern, straight- 
 backed, red plush ones, which a single glass of wine from 
 his tremulous hand may change from a bright red to a 
 dingy yellow, just as the draught may change the bright 
 current in which, perchance, his thoughts were flowing ? 
 
 And there is that antique desk, which opens at the 
 top, and its supporters are drawn out from the sides. 
 Upon that leaf how many accounts he has adjusted ! and 
 then those secret drawers ; and how many deeds and 
 mortgages that long drawer has contained ! how many 
 notes of hand and unredeemed old bank notes now lie 
 unlooked upon and worthless in this enclosure ! Then 
 there is the central apartment, " a lock up within a lock 
 up," where the silver dollars used to be deposited in " war 
 times," together with some doubloons and yellow-colored 
 eagles, upon which Mrs. Beals used to look as her ground 
 of security. Let come what might, no embargo would 
 make this coin worthless. 0, this was a dear old friend. 
 He could not think of sacrificing the desk for that splen 
 did secretary, with its glossy finish and commodious apart 
 ments. What if the drawers to the new article were
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 167 
 
 lined with cedar or camphor wood ? The old ones, lined 
 with cherry, had a greater value to Uncle Sam, although 
 they were " shoal," and in his shutting, with sundry jerks, 
 always rumpled his shirt collars, much to his laundress's 
 displeasure, who affirmed " she had no credit for smooth 
 ing irons." 
 
 And there was the high-post bedstead, with its faded 
 patch curtains, made to exclude air, and make one's sleep 
 almost a death such as it prefigured ; yet there they had 
 hung, and, drawn at full corners, had Uncle Sam slept. 
 What cared he for low, " Frenchified" receptacles, scarcely 
 elevated above a ground worm, with the gaudy drapery 
 drawn from the wall through the loophole of a fancifully 
 devised ring ? The old bedstead must be reserved. 
 
 And there, in yonder corner, stood the ponderous easy 
 chair. "We have no account that it moved by the widow 
 Willy's spiritual rappings. It was a highly-esteemed 
 relic of by-gone days. The chair in which the family 
 always sat when recovering from diseases ; where many, 
 too, in health often reclined for an afternoon nap ; where 
 the children were often deposited when babies, with their 
 mother in the foreground, attempting to eke out a bad 
 day's work by sewing a little while they slept. Why, this 
 chair was worth a dozen of your modern flour barrels, 
 scooped out so as to wedge in a spare man, and either 
 burst in the sides of a fat one, or burst out its own slen 
 der cooperage.
 
 1 68 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 But Uncle Sam cared not a groat for the faded drapery 
 curtains -which for years had hung at his windows, nor yet 
 for the drawing-room furniture, which had been essentially 
 modernized since his marriage ; but when they displayed 
 the contents of the china closet, he eagerly clutched the 
 " two punch bowls " one with variegated figures on 
 glass, and the other a ponderous China one, which was a 
 part of his wife's portion. The old tankards, too, he 
 would not consent should be transformed into modern sil 
 ver teapots. He had rather his daughter should purchase 
 a set of silver suited to her own taste. Some of the pic 
 tures, too, such as General "Washington at full length, 
 somewhat smoked by age, and the surrender of Burgoyne, 
 or " Bugwine," as he pronounced it, for every thing 
 seemed to savor of the traffic, he ordered packed 
 among the reserved list. Yet formidable as were all 
 these collected articles, the contents of the wine cellar 
 far exceeded all other things. It was remarked by an 
 opposite neighbor, that a whole week was occupied in 
 assorting and trucking the articles from their own store 
 house to the palace ; and yet at the auction the sale of 
 old wines exceeded more in amount than the whole fur 
 niture. 
 
 The auction day was a bright one, and a large gath 
 ering assembled. Uncle Sam was conspicuous in the 
 crowd, being somewhat lamer than usual, from his re 
 cent exertion to place things in the most advantageous
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 169 
 
 light. He was, however, constantly annoyed by rude by 
 standers, who remarked, " People hadn't oughter bid on 
 the old millionnaire's property. It's no matter if it don't 
 bring a cent," and such like coarse, vulgar expressions, as 
 often came from men whose breath evinced they were 
 favorably impressed with his business, if not his furniture. 
 But boarding-house landladies found here a rich lot from 
 which to replenish ; and, ever after, it would be undoubt 
 edly transmitted that their venison blazers, and whaffle 
 irons, and old Canton china came from " Beals's auc 
 tion ; " and many an old, bandaged, gouty, tremulous 
 soaker who boarded with them could recall what a sub 
 stantial old man Beals, the liquor merchant, was, how 
 much spirit he imported, how many home distilleries he 
 owned, and what " an awful sight of money he made in 
 the traffic ; " for such people are wonderfully posted on 
 such matters. 
 
 Besides, there was always a set of comical anecdotes 
 told, to illustrate Uncle Sam's peculiarities. It was said 
 he always treated his customers from a different cask 
 from the one he sold them, it being a more mellow brand ; 
 and if, perchance, the customers sometimes inquired, when 
 they drew the contents from their pipes in their own cel 
 lars, whether there was not some mistake in those fur 
 nished them, Uncle Sam always told them that the purity 
 of a certain spring of water, which flowed upon his prem 
 ises, so corrected the taste, that he did not wonder at their 
 15
 
 170 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 inquiry. And yet going into his store, one day, unexpect 
 edly, lie found Budd, his clerk, treating some of his best 
 customers from the wrong quarter cask. He was heard 
 to reprove him, as soon as they left, in no very gentle 
 terms, adding, " You young scamp, don't you know better, 
 after your long apprenticeship, than to treat from the cask 
 you sell. This" said he, pointing to a quarter cask, " is 
 the one to treat from : that is to sell from," at the same 
 time venting his indignation upon the latter cask by a 
 severe blow with his cane, which happening to hit a proof 
 glass, broke it in a thousand pieces. 
 
 Uncle Sam and his daughter had not yet removed from 
 the city, but temporarily resided at one of our first-class 
 hotels, where their board was undoubtedly paid in ad 
 vance ; for it was a tremendous labor to arrange the pal 
 ace and prepare for the wedding ; and as it is so tiresome 
 to narrate the process, we prefer to introduce our readers 
 at once to its gorgeous and fascinating splendor. 
 
 Do you see that illuminated observatory, full a mile in 
 the distance? Do you notice how many carriages are 
 hurrying along towards it ? And there is a loud whistle 
 from an extra train of cars. Truly, they are all going to 
 Uncle Sam's " housewarming," and his daughter's wed 
 ding. The walk leading from the station to the palace is 
 arched, and covered with an awning, so as to be more im 
 pervious to wind and water should it chance it to be a rainy
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 171 
 
 evening ; for, as one of the wags remarked, " Uncle Sam 
 plainly shows he has a prejudice to cold water still." 
 
 Truly a motley gathering is to be seen at the palace ; 
 for the invitations were extensively given, and almost uni 
 versally accepted. Decrepit old men, who had not been 
 out by moonlight for years, were in the party. Old, re 
 tired merchants, who had sat in their corners because they 
 were " stiff and rheumatizy," and their wives, who wore 
 respirators in clear weather, and had not attended an 
 evening meeting, nor been to church of an afternoon, 
 since they could remember, resolved on making " an 
 effort ; " for they calculated their eyes would rest upon a 
 magnificent spectacle. Of course, there were groups and 
 groups of the white kid gentry of young merchants 
 and professional gentlemen, of Mr. Blair's acquaintance ; 
 and, as one remarked, Miss Beals knew every body, and 
 was so popular, that all her friends would fain attend her 
 levee. On the whole, the village never saw such a gath 
 ering before. House servants esteemed it a particular 
 favor to stand any where outside, content to look only 
 upon the illuminated arched walk ; and little boys and 
 girls stood around the area in front of the dwelling, to 
 gaze at the strange novelty. But to the invited guests 
 the scene opened rich. The palace was fully illuminated, 
 and ready for the inspection of all. The works of the 
 best artisans in the country were here displayed ; and 
 some almost anticipated the splendor of the Crystal Palace,
 
 172 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 which, though varying in degree, could not exceed in 
 effect the beauty which was thus circumscribed. 
 
 The drawing rooms were so tastefully, yet so lightly 
 and gracefully, furnished, that the fair possessor had no 
 need to be extolled. There was no superabundance of 
 fancy articles, such as modern parlors too often exhibit, 
 which remind one of a showy " variety store," where 
 every thing is placed so it shall glitter most, but a judi 
 cious selection, so that every article had a use as well as 
 exquisite beauty. 
 
 Uncle Sam stood at the entrance of the drawing rooms, 
 with his bandaged leg in the threshold of the large hall 
 which ran along this wing of the building, ready to re 
 ceive all his friends with a hearty grasp ; and teetotallers 
 and genteel drinkers here freely mingled. The marriage 
 ceremony being the principal feature of the evening, all 
 eyes in the spacious drawing rooms were turned towards 
 the entrance door of the bride and bridegroom. The 
 two clergymen seemed to be waiting for their approach ; 
 for an invitation had been extended to both the village 
 and the city ministers. There was soon an extra rus 
 tling, and preceded by groomsmen and bridemaids came 
 the happy pair. Squire John Sims and Rosa Beals stood 
 nearest the couple about to be made one, and Mr. Blair's 
 brother and sister ranged next. 
 
 The bride was attired in the plainest, yet most perfect 
 bridal dress a white muslin frock ; and the most ex-
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 173 
 
 quisite moss rose bud and orange blossoms rested upon as 
 finely a chiselled neck as nature ever gave. She was a 
 neat, tasteful bride, with no display of ornaments. Noth 
 ing but a diamond broach, which held the simple nosegay, 
 appeared about her person; and with that sweet expres-' 
 sion of countenance, which always made her so attractive 
 that she was pronounced beautiful, there seemed super- 
 added a thoughtful, dignified demeanor, which attracted 
 every one's gaze. The bridegroom needs no description, 
 as well-formed, good-looking gentlemen always wear, for 
 full dress, rich black broadcloth, and white vests, and kids 
 to match. 
 
 We will only remark, therefore, in passing, that Squire 
 Sims's party dress at "Washington came into good service 
 on this occasion ; and Eosa Beals put on her cousin's 
 ornaments, and equipped herself in jewelry enough for a 
 show case in a manufacturer's window. And then she 
 was so full of sport, why, she could hardly contain her 
 self during the solemn ceremony ; and certainly no reflec 
 tive mind is ever disposed to be light hearted and merry 
 while the seal is being set to so momentous a transaction. 
 It is to be feared, in some circles, however, that the light 
 esteem in which marriage is coming to be held will not 
 be propitious to future enjoyment. Marrying merely to 
 escape from wholesome parental bondage, that two light 
 and inexperienced hearts and giddy heads may indulge 
 in frivolous pleasures unrestrained, or that one may be 
 15*
 
 174 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OB, 
 
 merely the toy, like a waxen doll, upon which embellish 
 ments may be lavished, or, worse than all, to marry to 
 secure "an establishment" from the hands of a rich 
 father, without any business qualifications or mental re 
 sources at command this is what ? Is it not one of the 
 follies of the age ? Pardon the digression ; for while we 
 have been looking at this feature of our times, the words 
 " man and wife " have been pronounced, and the servants 
 are in all directions offering cake to the guests. "Wine is 
 not excluded from the ceremonial accompaniments ; yet 
 we do not hear of it again at the magnificent supper 
 table. But there is a " popping sound " in Uncle Sam's 
 private apartment, where his particular friends seem very 
 much disposed to enter. 
 
 Uncle Sam had exhibited so remarkable a trait in his 
 character, that we will make mention of it for the benefit 
 of future occasions. He considered Mr. Blair's position, 
 and knew his abhorrence to liquor in any and every form. 
 Blair had always acted the gentleman towards him not 
 by any sort of compromise or disclosure of his senti 
 ments, but by never obtruding them when he knew they 
 would only be provocatives to anger ; and this course had 
 commanded Uncle Sam's respect ; so that, from purely 
 courteous feelings, he withdrew every sort of liquor from 
 the feast table, although the private room gave evidence 
 he still maintained his large hospitality to his own party. 
 Indeed, the old man had a merrymaking in his room ;
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 175 
 
 cards were introduced ; games, such as gentleman play at 
 " club houses," followed, and ill luck here, as there, was 
 washed down by particular brands ; so that the meeting 
 was prolonged till a late sitting ; for the extra train was 
 ordered long after midnight. 
 
 The other guests were merry as waltzing, plays of 
 every variety, and leaders of games could make them, 
 Rosa Beals being the most coquettish, roguish little hoi- 
 den among the party, and Sims, as usual, was looked upon 
 as some relative who filled the gap of a delinquent, who, 
 for unknown reasons, was missing. We ought here to 
 mention that her mother, the widow Richard Beals, and 
 two of her sons were present, and conversed steadily with 
 Sims, while his eyes were jealously turned towards Rosa 
 and the young gentleman whose attention she so continu 
 ally attracted. 
 
 Having a moment to spare, we will just take a peep 
 into Uncle Sam's apartment. It is full. The old man, 
 however, holds an empty glass in his hand ; and, as true 
 as life, he is carrying on a discussion in the midst of all 
 this revelry with Judge Barnes upon the "extended li 
 cense question." His ruling thought must have vent ; yet 
 he is not likely to be much enlightened, as the subject has 
 no sort of interest to the judge, and only through courtesy 
 does he lend a listening ear. 
 
 But all festive scenes have an end ; and well it is if
 
 176 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 the retrospect can be satisfactorily surveyed, and afford us 
 as much pleasure as did the anticipation. The last train 
 of cars has departed ; the last carriage is waiting to take 
 home the guests. It is a still night without, and seems in 
 strange contrast with many of the excited guests who 
 have so lately been surrounded by that everlasting buzz 
 which the clatter of tongues occasions. The Babel confu 
 sion has ceased; and the few hours preceding the dawn 
 of another day, we fancy, will not give repose to many 
 sound sleepers.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 177 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Life in the Palace. Uncle Sam's Weariness and Restlessness. 
 Another Disaffection and Secession in the Church. Parson 
 Grazewell encouraged by Uncle Sam. 
 
 UNCLE SAM was a man who could never bear to feel 
 that his influence was abridged ; and as Mr. and Mrs. 
 Blair well knew his temperament, they were perfectly 
 willing to accede to his proposal that he should still act as 
 the master of the palace, as well as assert his proprietor 
 ship while he lived. A change of place is generally 
 quite enough for an aged person to survive. A change 
 of objects, of associations, and, as it were, a new life, is 
 often detrimental not only to the happiness of such, but it 
 is seldom promotive of longevity. 
 
 Mr. Blair, therefore, early began to enact the part of a 
 model son-in-law. He never evinced a dictatorial spirit, 
 nor called in question the absolute sway which his father- 
 in-law maintained. He was inflexible, however, in the 
 advocacy of his own principles ; and on no account would 
 he compromise them, neither would he officiously obtrude 
 them, as is sometimes the case with inexperienced young 
 men, when they feel that they have secured an enviable 
 position. Probably the reason why so much domestic fe 
 licity is abridged can be traced to the inharmonious action
 
 178 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 of sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, who are too often 
 regarded with jealous distrust ; and feeling the position in 
 which they stand, a kind of independence or turbulence 
 of spirit is often manifested, which spreads discord in all 
 the family. 
 
 It was beautiful to witness how this young couple re 
 solved to steer clear of such breakers. If the old gentle 
 man desired Mr. Blair to drive him into the city, he gen 
 erally made it convenient to do so. If he oddly preferred 
 that his man should drive him, why, Mr. Blair took the 
 cars with equally pleasant feelings. If a variety of er 
 rands were intrusted to him, they were always performed 
 with alacrity and good will not forgotten, as we some 
 times find the requests of old people, thinking to-morrow 
 will do as well ; for age, like childhood, is impetuous, and 
 desirous of immediate gratification. 
 
 Uncle Sam, in his new home, found a great deal to su 
 perintend ; and his many directions took up the whole of 
 the first days of his removal, besides receiving the many, 
 many calls which were made on them by friends and 
 strangers. 
 
 The close proximity of the palace to the depot was 
 likely to prove a great convenience to many. This was 
 very clearly made manifest ; and hundreds, prompted by 
 curiosity as much as friendship, made bridal calls of con 
 siderable length. There was never likely to be a day 
 when they would lack for company. The village about
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 179 
 
 them, as we have seen, was composed mainly of city peo 
 ple. The heads of families, therefore, found it convenient 
 to call in the evenings, while the younger portion per 
 formed this piece of etiquette in the day. Mrs. Blair 
 found she had unwisely calculated that she should find 
 more leisure in her country residence. People excused 
 themselves for untimely intrusion, " on account of the 
 hours the cars ran ; " others, that they desired to breathe 
 the balmy airs of spring, and so they gave themselves an 
 extra hour to do so. Then every body wished to inspect 
 the palace, besides perambulating over the garden and 
 greenhouse. " It was so beautiful to live in the country 
 as they lived," was one of the most common remarks ; 
 and this, too, seemed to be uttered without a conviction 
 that very few had Uncle Sam's wealth to enable them to 
 do so. 
 
 It was supposed that many went away quite fretted 
 that their lot was not like Mrs. Blair's. They wondered 
 why their fathers could not have imported liquors, and 
 become millionnaires ; for it is to be feared the love of 
 extravagant expenditure is becoming such an alarming 
 feature of our times, that the means by which the end is 
 attained is every year making heavy demands upon the 
 principle of right living and the manner of accumulation. 
 
 We forget that, to a man of Uncle Sam's wealth, the 
 channels in which he diverts it, by which a refined taste 
 is gratified, and the embellishments which adorn it, both
 
 180 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 externally and internally, give employment to many arti 
 sans, who would otherwise pine in obscurity, and eat the 
 bread of poverty ; yet what is commendable in a million- 
 naire can never be safely followed by those who have 
 only a comfortable competence ; and we regret to add, the 
 definition of this distinction often introduces imitators into 
 a labyrinth of trouble, from which it is hard to become 
 extricated. 
 
 There were remarks, too, made by those who had vis 
 ited the palace which savored of envy ; but could they 
 but have unmasked all the splendid gayety, and gone into 
 the depths of disguised feeling with which Uncle Sam 
 surveyed all its surrounding beauties, they would have 
 seen little to excite their desire to exchange situations ; 
 for there was still a disquieted conscience, which would 
 not always sleep, and the infirmities of age, which would 
 admonish him that he could carry nothing away to that 
 country which he must soon inhabit but himself, and with 
 himself he was not on the best of terms. Then there 
 was Mrs. Blair well married, happy in her choice, but 
 full of anxious solicitude for her father, which she dared 
 not reveal; and, besides, he had so many peculiarities 
 which the affectionate benevolence of her nature was con 
 tinually trying to gloss over, that, with all the sunbeams, 
 there were shadows, and many a working inmate in her 
 service had a lighter heart than herself. 
 
 Living near the depot ! was it so very desirable ?
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 181 
 
 Why, yes. Many people found it so ; for the fame of 
 Uncle Sam's wealth, and the palace in which he lived, and 
 the hospitality for which he was distinguished brought 
 to his door every remote branch of his family ; and 
 wherever there was a " Beals," the individual claimed an 
 affinity, and on that score resolved on a visit. Invalid 
 friends, particularly, enjoyed the quiet of such a home ; 
 and even the dyspeptic fourth cousin, now over three 
 score and ten, thought he would advise with his quack 
 doctor, who would be in the city certain days in the week, 
 and he could stay with his cousin Sam, in his country 
 home, while thus advised. So he hobbled down to the 
 city, and took the cars to " Beals's Crossing," where, for 
 any length of time, he was willing to abjure his sawdust 
 puddings, and try the efficacy of a rare bit of surloin ; 
 and sometimes, to give a " little tone to his stomach," he 
 would try what did not prove him to be a pledged man. 
 
 Hypochondriacs, too, who were advised by their medi 
 cal friends " to try a change of air and diet," remembered 
 that they were schoolmates with Uncle Sam ; and as he 
 kept " tonics " for the stomach, they imagined some for 
 the mind might thus be attained gratis. Uncle Sam's 
 private room was thus filled with guests who were to 
 bacco chewers, cigar smokers, anti-cold-water men, and 
 old cronies with whom an intimacy would not be consid 
 ered very desirable. Yet the old man seemed content 
 with any society who would favor his side of the temper- 
 16
 
 182 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 ance question ; and little as we account the influence thus 
 exerted, yet it helped swell the amount of those who de 
 fied all attempts at reformation ; and sundry hits and 
 flings at the cause, thus retailed among young people, 
 helped them to support their law-hating position ; for 
 these old visitors always narrated what " Mr. Beals said " 
 with more confidence in its being sound, than they did 
 their Bible texts as being true. So, even here, Uncle 
 Sam's influence was baneful. 
 
 In a short time, however, he began to grow uneasy. 
 Talking with his old German gardener ; examining plants 
 and rare exotics with his Hibernian florist ; looking at the 
 coachman, as he brushed the fine span of horses, with 
 much more satisfaction and pride than he felt as the 
 owner of them ; and then indulging in a social walk 
 around the grounds with some \ ,?itor, not always of an 
 agreeable turn of conversation, Uncle Sam's old restless 
 ness returned, and he sighed for his station in the dingy 
 counting room on the wharf, for a look at his daybook and 
 leger, and an order for " puncheons," " butts," and " quar 
 ter casks," accompanied with a personal interview, where 
 in was set forth the defiance which the law encountered 
 in some misguided regions, and the probability that the 
 traffic would be continued uninterruptedly, since so many 
 leading characters were in favor of "amendments and 
 modifications " who voted for the law as it now stood. 
 
 To this sort of conversation Uncle Sam never seemed
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 183 
 
 tired of listening. It strengthened him on certain points, 
 where, by reflection, he was prone to find a weakness 
 coming over him ; and so, on the whole, he wondered 
 what the dream of his youth meant which depicted his 
 happiest days those of retired leisure, with sufficient to 
 minister to every gratification. He had attained them 
 now all, every thing but the happy part of his lot. 
 When he had amassed fifty thousand dollars, he remem 
 bered to have promised his wife, when he doubled that 
 sum, he would retire to some pleasant nook in the coun 
 try, and pass in retirement the remainder of their days, 
 eating the satisfactory fruits of their wealth. But alas ! 
 when that period arrived, his wife was dead ! And then 
 he promised again, when his son Thomas should arrive at 
 maturity, that he would surrender to him his business ; 
 but when that day came, the son was in Calcutta, and 
 since then he had shipped to California; and now, he 
 greatly feared, he was dead, as a journal chronicled that a 
 party of miners, who set off for the dry diggings, were 
 robbed and most shockingly murdered ; and the name of 
 " Beals " was among the catalogue. This was more than 
 two . years ago, and yet no information to confirm or con 
 tradict such a report arrived. 
 
 The subject was one of such painful interest, that Un 
 cle Sam never alluded to it. Indeed, it was his habit, if 
 any thing greatly weighed upon his spirits, to avoid all 
 conversation upon it ; because it was a settled conviction
 
 184 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 with him, that what we cease to talk about we think less 
 of; and this theory he carried into every thing but his 
 business. When he was vexed here, he always gave vent 
 to his troubled soul. And now he had reached the other 
 climax of his past expectations, which was, if his daugh 
 ter could but be happily settled and judiciously married, 
 he would give his thoughts more entirely to subjects fitted 
 to the verge of old age, and let party legislation, and their 
 triumphs and defeats, find in him an uninterested observer. 
 
 He was now just in this stage of existence, and how far 
 had he redeemed those promises ? He had omitted the 
 cultivation of those interior resources which would have 
 kept him calm and tranquil. He seemed to be unwilling 
 to believe that he was a traveller almost at the end of his 
 journey, and that it became him to rejoice over those 
 reformatory movements which he now so virulently op 
 posed. "Was he too old to retire ? or were his thoughts 
 too undisciplined, and his feelings too unsubdued, to allow 
 him peace in his once-coveted leisure ? 
 
 And we may ask here if Uncle Sam is the only indi 
 vidual who has found that prospective dreams and actual 
 realities do not coincide ? Is it not a rare sight to. find 
 one who has actively engaged in the enterprises of the 
 day, been absorbed in its commerce, and counted his 
 gains from year to year I ask, does not the tyrannical 
 habit of our minds become so much a part of our being, 
 that we cannot turn aside and find the peaceful, tranquil
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 185 
 
 enjoyment we had hoped to realize ? It would be well if 
 in our activity there were more preparation to enter upon 
 other pursuits if the absorbing love of accumulation 
 could have fixed boundaries, and thus give a freer play 
 to our benevolent aspirations. 
 
 Uncle Sam felt the need of something which riches did 
 not procure for him. It is doubtful whether the subject 
 which harassed him the most, namely, the passage of tJie 
 liquor law, if it were entirely annulled, would have made 
 him perfectly at ease. Who can say but some harrowing 
 misgivings of his wicked influence in thus fighting against 
 the great promoter of that true basis upon which good 
 order and sobriety are conspicuous would not have inter 
 nally disquieted him ? It may be he could not have 
 reconciled his conduct to himself any more than we that 
 observe his course can do. 
 
 Yet thus fretted and chafed with an opposition to the 
 right, and a determination to do all he could to contravene 
 its advancement, he never rested without participating in 
 every thing, which constantly kept him in a state of fer 
 mentation. 
 
 Just at this time, the parish over which Mr. Grazewell 
 ministered began to be seriously agitated. It commenced 
 in the fact of his refusal to join with certain leading mem 
 bers of his church, who had invited a distinguished lec 
 turer to set forth to them the difficulties which really 
 stood in the face of the law, and to consider the objections 
 16*
 
 186 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 which the opponents of the law urge as a reason for its 
 nullification. Mr. Grazewell refused to lend his personal 
 countenance, and even advised that the vestry of his 
 church should not be desecrated by such " itinerant catch 
 penny lecturers." Evidently he was not a man of sound 
 judgment, or he would not have thus spoken ; at least, he 
 was bound to maintain a neutral position until he had heard 
 the argument, and then the independent action which he 
 maintained himself he ought to have been willing to have 
 conceded to others. 
 
 But Uncle Sam, it was currently reported, put the 
 sanction of his influence upon the reverend gentleman's 
 course. And have we not seen whence came much of 
 the indifference, if not the hostility, with which some 
 men's lips are sealed ? Think you clear heads and sound 
 hearts, who can trace out all the intricate windings of 
 theological warfare, and predict the effect of this and that 
 system of religion upon the community, that can ex 
 plore the scientific advantages of modern inventions, and 
 follow out their glorious results in coming time, are so 
 blinded that they cannot see that whatever removes the 
 great stain upon our moral character should be zealously 
 pushed forward, if the film of self-interest, the cataract 
 of popular favor, did not effectually render the light im 
 pervious ? All honor, then, to an open avowal of manly 
 conviction, whenever and wherever found. 
 
 An energetic man in Parson GrazewelTs church was
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 187 
 
 one day heard to remark, for his part, he never could find 
 out what Uncle Sam did believe. Whereupon, Flash, 
 who was formerly a clerk in Uncle Sam's liquor store, 
 and who was something of a wag, thus wrote down his 
 " creed," gathered from maxims frequently enforced upon 
 the attention of clerks in S. Beals's employ. It ran 
 thus : 
 
 " I believe in the unspeakable advantages which money 
 confers ; in the undeniable truth, that, by taking care of 
 the cents, the dollars will take care of themselves. I be 
 lieve that choice spirits may be adulterated, and yet sold 
 as the genuine article, .free from any foreign admixture. 
 I also believe in labelling sundry casks so as to deceive 
 the purchaser. I believe all temperance movements are 
 obstructed by branding them as fanatical. I believe it is 
 unwise to legislate upon the subject ; that all prohibitory 
 laws which curtail the traffic, and put in jeopardy one's 
 pecuniary interests, deserve the indignation of the public ; 
 but that when we are made to suffer by such lawmakers, 
 we are bound to secure such an extended license system as 
 shall render said law perfectly inoperative. 
 
 ' I believe in a stomach, rather than a conscience ; that 
 the flutterings of the former are often mistaken for the 
 rapping of the latter. I also believe that intemperance is 
 an evil, but that it cannot be eradicated unless we import 
 a race with new appetites, and whose pecuniary interests 
 are not involved.
 
 188 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 " I also believe in the enjoyment of the good things of 
 this life ; and as to the retributions of another state, / am 
 not so clear about the matter." 
 
 A little leaven is quite likely to leaven the whole lump. 
 The members of Parson Grazewell's church \vho would 
 think independently wisely concluded they would be 
 trammelled no longer ; and so they seceded from the 
 society. This might have induced others to have followed 
 in their footsteps, for fear of the heavy taxation which 
 might fall upon the few ; but was not Uncle Sam's wealth 
 the foundation stone upon which a firm structure could be 
 maintained ? and had not Mr. Grazewell acted in refer 
 ence to this knowledge ? Yet not wisely, as we prophe 
 sy ; for hushed, and blinded, and fed by self-interest, or 
 led by party spirit, know ye not that a day is coming 
 when such specious reasoning, such reluctant setters-forth 
 of great truths, will hide their diminished heads ; when 
 the broad, diffusive light of the sun of temperance shall 
 have pierced every cranny of our hearts ; and the secret 
 defiers of law shall then gladly touch so much as the hems 
 of the garments of the bold pioneers who now, though 
 often obstructed, are forced to remove the barriers which 
 public opinion sanctions as suitable drawbacks to an on 
 ward course ? The wailing cry of an orphaned heart ; 
 the bitterer anguish of a crushed and pleading wife, that 
 her home may once more be guarded by its rightful head ; 
 yea, more, the imperative plea Avhich the inthralled victim
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 189 
 
 makes for himself, that society may not place such tempta 
 tion within his reach, will be heard ; and Uncle Sam, and 
 popular opinion, and reckless opposition, and Parson 
 Grazewell, with his self-interested party, shall all be as 
 things which were, and are not ; and no bitter irony sug 
 gests such a conclusion ; for we trust nothing but the pure 
 love of humanity prompts us to work on, assured we shall 
 conquer, though we die in the struggle. 
 
 The next Sabbath, therefore, witnessed many vacant 
 pews in the church where Mr. Grazewell ministered ; but 
 Mr. Tims came in, and was about negotiating for two 
 pews, and the clerk we before mentioned was presented 
 with one by Uncle Sam ; and one and another often re 
 counted the kindness of the old man who had so recently 
 come among them. And was he not a good man, in his 
 own way ? And here we find the only apology for the con- 
 temners of the law, in the resolute determination by which 
 they shut themselves from all examination of the claims 
 thus urged upon them, whereas, could they but be placed 
 so that the necessity of such intervention were made clear 
 ly apparent, would not more of those who have amassed 
 a fortune by the traffic be willing to quit their iron 
 grasp upon what they considered so fatal to their pe 
 cuniary interests ? And then, again, we put in the plea, 
 that, associating mostly with those who are indoctrinated 
 with the same belief, the absolute necessity of thus en 
 lightening the community is not made apparent, or, as
 
 190 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 Madame Godfrey expressed it once to Uncle Sam, " If 
 you had been tied down, and made to listen, you would 
 have become a convert, since you are rich enough to live 
 without the traffic," so much confidence had she in the 
 soundness and directness of appeal in the lecturer's argu 
 ments, which Uncle Sam refused to hear. But Provi 
 dence works not as man works, to bring about positive 
 results.
 
 THE BEIGNING KING. 191 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Return of the lost Son. His History. A Warning to 
 Young Men. 
 
 UNCLE SAM sometimes took " Vulcan," his large family 
 horse, and rode into the city alone in an easy, square- 
 topped chaise, made to order, which carried his body very 
 gently, let the state of his mind\>Q as it would. The day 
 we are now recalling before us was one which he had set 
 apart to hold a consultation with Squire Sims about some 
 old accounts, which required adjustment. He had been 
 detained later than usual ; and it was in the early twi 
 light, as he was jogging along, musing upon the amount 
 which he had paid as bondsman for the offenders who 
 had been convicted of a violation of the law, (and, alto 
 gether, he was not in so comfortable a state as he could 
 desire,) when a young man stepped out from the roadside, 
 and, in a somewhat harsh tone of voice, inquired, " Can 
 you tell me how far it is to Beals's Crossing ? " 
 
 Uncle Sam replied somewhat evasively, like a genuine 
 Yankee, and inquired of him whom he wished to see at 
 that station. 
 
 The young man replied, " Old Mr. Beals, who, they 
 say, has built a splendid palace out there ; and if so, I 
 want to see it."
 
 192 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 " "Well, well, young man," continued the old gentleman, 
 " it will be rather late for you to satisfy your curiosity to 
 night. Hadn't you better defer your visit till to-morrow ? 
 I suppose you belong to some of my old friends." 
 
 " May be you are Mr. Beals yourself, sir," inquired the 
 young man. 
 
 " Yes, that's my name. I'm Samuel Beals," replied 
 the old gentleman, a little pettishly. 
 
 " Did you ever have a son Thomas," pursued the trav 
 eller, " who went to California, and and " 
 
 " And what ? " breathlessly asked Uncle Sam. " He 
 died, didn't he ? Tell me, are you one of the party who 
 escaped the robbers ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir," said the young man, putting his foot into 
 the stirrup of the chaise. " I'm Tommy Seals, your son" 
 
 " Thomas ! No, no, you are not Thomas. He was a 
 slender boy. You must not quiz an old man, my lad. 
 Tell me, what do you know of my son ? I believe he 
 died, years ago, in California. He was a tall, straight 
 young man. I've had some misgivings about the manner 
 of his death, as reported ; but they tell me it's no uncom 
 mon thing, in that region, to rob and murder. Many a 
 sleepless night have I had on the poor boy's account ; and 
 now, if you know any thing of the history of Thomas 
 Beals, I'm in a hurry to hear it." 
 
 "Father," replied the young man, "lam he" 
 
 Uncle Sam let go the reins. He was in a cold perspi-
 
 THE RECOGNITION,
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 193 
 
 ration. That voice did sound natural. He began to 
 know his boy ; and when again, think you, he adverted to 
 the thoughts which a moment ago occupied him ? 
 
 After he had recovered himself a little, and had gazed 
 and gazed again, to detect the lineaments of his son by 
 the dim twilight, and had put his hand upon his cheek, 
 and rubbed down his linsey-woolsey overcoat, as if there 
 were an instinct in the touch which nature gives us to 
 recognize our own, he bade him put his dingy carpet 
 bag into the front of his chaise, and seat himself beside 
 him, and, even then, his emotions overpowered him ; and- 
 had it not been for a powerful blowing, and a kind of 
 "hacking cough," one might have supposed there were 
 tears. But the flowing current, if there were one, was 
 absorbed by the free use of a large, red bandanna, which 
 seemed to prove just what the old man desired a per 
 fect concealer ; for it was feminine to weep. Uncle Sam 
 seldom allowed himself to do so. 
 
 Vulcan, who had all this - time been standing, now 
 started without waiting for his master's " chirrup ; " and 
 the father and son rode on at an animated pace, the father 
 often putting to Thomas the question, " What will your 
 sister think ? And, Thomas," pursued he, " how did you 
 come here ? " as if now his senses hardly credited what 
 he saw. " When did you arrive ? and are you poor, my 
 son ? What has altered you so ? for it seems to me I 
 should never have known you. How fleshy you look ! " 
 17
 
 194 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 It took but little time for Thomas to reply that he ar 
 rived from New York yesterday evening ; that he went 
 at once to the old house, where he found another occu 
 pant ; and then he hurried to the nearest hotel, and found 
 that his father having become immensely rich, had retired 
 from business, and had built a palace in the suburbs ; and 
 that his sister was married. Almost penniless as he was, 
 it gave a new impulse to his lost ambition ; and so, repre 
 senting his case to the landlord, he found no difficulty in 
 borrowing a sum sufficient for a decent outfit at the tai 
 lor's ; for the landlord well knew Uncle Sam, and was not 
 fearful of the consequences. 
 
 Thomas, from his host, gathered all the information 
 which was current about the extent of his father's wealth, 
 and, before retiring, washed down the whole with a 
 heavy glass of whiskey, besides replenishing his flask, 
 which he took with him to his chamber. Of course, he 
 rose late the next morning ; and having engaged to meet 
 a few of his old, returned travellers that day, he was 
 punctual to his engagement ; and not until towards even 
 ing was he in a fit condition to appear as the lost son at 
 his father's house ; and then he had missed the cars, and 
 so was plodding his way on foot when overtaken by his 
 father. 
 
 Was it any wonder that Uncle Sam was so incredulous 
 and reluctant to recognize the traveller ? for many times 
 during that short ride he would add, " You may not be
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 195 
 
 my Tommy, after all ; but your voice is a little like your 
 mother's. I can tell, however, when I get you landed ; " 
 and then he gave the horse a violent jerk with his reins, 
 which caused him to rattle off at a tremendous speed. 
 
 Thomas told but the outlines of his history before 
 they arrived at the gate of their home. Vulcan trotted 
 straight into the spacious barn, and there neighed for the 
 groom to release him from his tackling, while Uncle Sam 
 and Thomas threaded their way through a short, winding 
 walk, to a spacious piazza ; and opening a central door, 
 they were led through the hall into the dining room. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Blair were there, awaiting their father's return. 
 An elegant, and somewhat showy, exterior, to Thomas, 
 made him glance at the ceiling, and then to the couple 
 seated at the farther end of the spacious room. 
 
 " Well," said Uncle Sam, in rather an agitated tone, " I 
 have brought a stranger to see you, daughter. I want 
 you to inspect him, and tell me who he is. Come, child, 
 turn up the solar lamp a little higher, and let's have light 
 enough." 
 
 Mrs. Blair stepped forward, and in a moment rushed 
 into her brother's arms. " Brother Thomas," said she, 
 " are you alive, and here ? " She then sallied back, and 
 was only prevented from falling by being seized by her 
 husband, who was completely overwhelmed by the spec 
 tacle before him. 
 
 It is needless to add, that the supper that night was
 
 196 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OB, 
 
 deferred till a late hour, and that little appetite was felt for 
 any of the viands. Such an astonishment always makes 
 us insensible to the claims of hunger, and sleep, too ; for 
 what can quiet such a tumultuous rush of feelings as those 
 reawakened by lost affection ? No, there was little sleep 
 for the father and daughter that night ; yet the returned 
 son lay upon his downy bed, and quickly yielded himself 
 to a sound slumber, as if he had not been stirred by any 
 extra emotion. "We sometimes meet the phrase, " hard 
 ened sensibility." We think we see it manifested here. 
 
 Thomas was not a guest at the breakfast table the next 
 morning. Indeed, he did not rise until the gentle tap of 
 his sister upon the door made him answer it in a some 
 what coarse tone, " Hallo ! who's there ? " apparently, at 
 the moment, forgetting himself and the new situation in 
 which he was placed ; yet how could he remain insensible 
 to the assiduous care of his affectionate sister, who attend 
 ed so scrupulously to his outward appearance, furnishing 
 him with the nicest linen from her husband's wardrobe, 
 and brushing off the dust and dirt which adhered to his 
 new suit, which was worn yesterday for the first time ? 
 And how it delighted her to find a ready compliance, after 
 all, with her wishes ! for, at her suggestion, he relieved 
 himself of that unsightly patch of hair about his mouth, 
 and of those heavy whiskers, which, to his sister's eyes, 
 gave him such an unnatural appearance ; for she would
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 197 
 
 fain make him a boy again, hoping thereby to exert an 
 influence that might yet be salutary. 
 
 When Mrs. Blair had thus fitted her brother to appear 
 in the morning in her father's presence, she found there 
 were marks of a wasted life which she could not efface. 
 There was that impress upon the countenance which no 
 art or contrivance could conceal. His eyes were red and 
 heavy, or glassy by turns ; and his face was blotched, and 
 needed sundry patches to conceal a pimple or a blotch ; 
 so that, after having done her best, she could not effect 
 what an inward purification might have done ; yet she 
 put her slender hand within his coarse, hardened one, and 
 they walked together into their father's room, where he 
 sat thoughtfully looking at some stray papers. And what 
 a sight was here ! Purity and imperfection, innocence 
 and transgression, a guileless daughter and 'an improvi 
 dent, dissipated son. Could Uncle Sam, at this very 
 moment, have said one word in defence of the liquor 
 trade ? 
 
 In the course of the day, Thomas was introduced to the 
 servants about the establishment ; and the duties of each 
 were made known to him. He did not, however, mani 
 fest much personal interest in the lovely landscape which 
 his sister pointed out to him, nor much enthusiasm in 
 surveying the many attractions which were concentrated 
 about the lovely spot whereon the palace stood. His 
 taste seemed depraved, his appetite perverted ; and, 
 17*
 
 198 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 before twilight, John, the coachman, carried him from the 
 house of the German farmer in a sleep which intoxication 
 had produced. 
 
 Uncle Sam and his daughter sat together, that even 
 ing, alone. They talked over what course had better 
 be taken with the son and brother ; and again were the 
 father's fainting hopes revived by the encouraging tones 
 of her who had so often warded off many dark aspects 
 of life by her genial sunshine of cheerful trust, "that 
 there was something better in store ; " and then she nar 
 rated how many who had fallen as low, and become as 
 degraded, as her brother, had been restored, and become 
 useful members of society. 
 
 When it was thus made a personal matter, how willing 
 ly Uncle Sam drank in the comforting influences which 
 temperance - confers upon a redeemed man ! But alas ! 
 how inconsistent was his course ! The effort to redeem 
 the son would cost him about as painful a struggle as it 
 would that son to redeem himself. Did he sometimes 
 wish or feel he could be entirely reconciled to his death 
 or absence, or, at least, some change by which he could be 
 removed from his presence ? "We cannot always put out 
 of sight that which offends us, without paying a penalty 
 for doing so. 
 
 We will here subjoin a little history of the course Un 
 cle Sam early pursued with his only son, trusting that, 
 should any unreflecting parent glance over the pages who
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 199 
 
 is making any approximation to a similar one, it may 
 arrest his attention, and cause him to pause before he 
 proceed* 
 
 Thomas Beals, in early life, was an ungoverned child. 
 As we have said previously, he early lost his mother 
 that judicious, and almost indispensable, guardian, we were 
 about to add, of his future character. The father pleaded 
 a want of time to manage him properly a plea which 
 can never be safely urged by any discreet parent, since 
 what appropriation of time can be better made than 
 moulding, guiding, and restraining a child of such a pe 
 culiar temperament as was his boy ? 
 
 But no ; he must sell his liquors ; and there was an 
 enormous business accumulating when Thomas was a 
 boy ; and he was troublesome at home ; and so he 
 thought, by placing him at a first-class boarding school, 
 he should accomplish all he could desire. Let us hear 
 the directions he gave to the principal of the school the 
 very day he left him in his charge. 
 
 He first fumbled over his pocket book, and took out & 
 twenty-dollar bill, and handing it to the teacher, added, 
 " This, sir, is for my boy's spending money. He cannot 
 live without some little perquisites. Sometimes he wants 
 a few cents for powder, sometimes for confectionery ; and 
 I wish you to apportion this money at your own discre 
 tion." 
 
 The teacher replied, u I know- no such wants among
 
 200 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 my boys. We teach them the principles of rigid self- 
 denial in these matters, Mr. Beals." 
 
 " Well, well," replied Mr. Beals, " I don't want him 
 put in too straight a jacket. I can afford him such indul 
 gences as I have named ; and it is my belief, that if you 
 restrain a boy when it is in your power to indulge him, 
 by and by, when he comes in possession of means to in 
 dulge himself, he will run riot, and resolve to take double 
 pay for past prohibitions." 
 
 But not so thought the teacher. He contended for self- 
 control at an early age ; so Mr. Beals only added, " I 
 don't care how strict a watch you keep over my son. 
 Make him mind ^ make him study ; in one word, make 
 something of him, sir, that I can look upon as a man. 
 That's what I want ; and if you succeed in doing this, 
 any pecuniary compensation I can give you will be most 
 readily bestowed. The boy 'is smart ; but he wants cor 
 recting ; and, as I said, I hope you will fix him so that he 
 will never dishonor the name of Beals." 
 
 The teacher promised to do his best ; and the father of 
 the boy went away satisfied that he had done all he could 
 for his child. 
 
 Thomas, however, did not fit in very well to the niche 
 which was assigned him in this school. The instructor 
 soon found he had a hard subject to manage. There was 
 a wild, uncouth manner about him a native vein of 
 independence which produced a great turbulence of spirit
 
 THE BEIGN'IXG- KIXG. 201 
 
 when corrected ; and he did not prefer to assimilate with 
 the gentle and amiable lads around him. He was always 
 up to some species of fun full of roguery ; yet, on the 
 whole, as there was no real malignity of disposition man 
 ifested, the teacher hoped to set him on the right track. 
 But he was an exceedingly troublesome lad to manage. 
 He was not a dull scholar ; for he readily committed his 
 lesson, and, when his task was completed, seemed to be 
 planning some feats by which to entangle others, so that 
 the influence he thus exerted was soon perceptible ; and 
 before half his first quarter had expired, Mr. Beals re 
 ceived a note from the principal, saying he must request 
 the removal of his son, " as his course was so very annoy 
 ing, and prolific of influences which he was obliged to 
 condemn." 
 
 Mr. Beals, however, passed them all over to the score 
 of boyish propensities ; and smoothing over the whole 
 with the phrase, " I used to do just so myself when a 
 boy," and with a slight self-conceit, we may suppose an 
 unexpressed thought ran through his mind "If my son 
 makes as likely a man as I have, I shall be satisfied." 
 He therefore persuaded the teacher to let Thomas remain 
 to the end of the term, when he came back with no very 
 flattering letter of recommendation, although his teacher 
 gave him full credit for many magnanimous traits of 
 character. 
 
 From this school lie was sent to bis uncle Richard's ;
 
 202 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 and to this day does his aunt remember the ships she used 
 to find floating in her pans of milk, and the perforated 
 pies which had lost the nice preparation between the 
 crusts, besides the empty egg-shells, and the hams from 
 which the lean and savory parts were extracted ; and 
 then his uncle often found his tools displaced, and his 
 locks out of order in fact, every thing which indicated 
 that kind of mischief which goes very far towards making 
 good-natured people peevish ; so that, in less than a 
 month, Thomas was again returned as " the city boy who 
 learned country lads bad tricks." 
 
 And the housekeeper at home always met his fa 
 ther with a sad tale : either the boy had locked up his 
 sister, or committed some depredation which marred the 
 peace of an otherwise well-regulated family ; so that 
 Uncle Sam had been heard time and again to say, " he 
 had rather bring up a dozen girls than one boy," ever 
 seeming to suppose that all boys were alike. It were well 
 if parents did not impute too much to the volatile spirit 
 of boys, thereby affording a kind of justification to con 
 duct which ought to be severely reprimanded. 
 
 When Thomas returned from the country, his father 
 resolved to put him in a store. He had a friend in the 
 hardware trade, who had advertised " for a boy Avhose 
 parents resided in the city." Mr. Beals applied for the 
 situation, and obtained it for his son. For a short time. 
 Thomas went along swimmingly. He was strong, worked
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 206 
 
 well, and appeared to satisfy his employer ; and his fa 
 ther's heart beat for joy, supposing his " wild oats " were 
 all fairly sown. In course of time, however, Thomas in 
 formed his father that he should be detained, for a season, 
 late at night ; and to avoid disturbing his slumbers, and to 
 prevent his awaiting his return till past midnight, he de 
 sired the use of a night key, which would obviate all trou 
 ble. The unsuspecting father, never questioning the mo 
 tives of his child, immediately procured one ; and this 
 was the seal of his reckless course. 
 
 He had now connected himself with an association of 
 young men, whose ostensible object was to meet and prac 
 tise on a popular system of bookkeeping, but whose real 
 one was thus to meet ; and as each member contributed a 
 certain sum, it was expended to procure some convivial 
 enjoyment. The animal spirits thus elicited craved more 
 stimulus, and wine was introduced, as an enlivener of 
 mirth. In a short time, however, the party became bois 
 terous ; the police interfered ; the rowdy young gents 
 were secured, their place of rendezvous broken up, and 
 their fathers informed of their excesses. The whole com 
 pany were thus scattered ; and the usual resort which a 
 disappointed parent and a reprobate child find falls to 
 their lot is frequently to ship for some foreign port in a 
 merchant vessel which is commanded by a strict and 
 faithful captain, where the only requirement demanded is 
 common wages, plenty of work, and good usage ; "
 
 204 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 otherwise the incorrigible young men are sent to some 
 farm house in the country, or apprenticed away from 
 home. 
 
 The task of rearing and disciplining such hard subjects 
 is thus committed to foreign hands a common but un 
 suitable course. Would it not be more judicious to hire 
 some one for the task of overseer of other business, 
 rather than quench the sacred influences which should 
 be maintained beside our own hearthstones ? Admitting 
 there must be severity, and a restraint which is painfully 
 oppressive, who should improve it with such power as a 
 parent ? I know there are shrinking hearts and incom 
 petent hands ; but if you are a parent, you must remake 
 and remodel yourself, and not shrink from responsibilities 
 which God and nature impose upon the trust thus com 
 mitted to you. Besides, is it not the dictate of common 
 sense, that the most solicitous in one's well being should 
 guard the character ? I know there are refractory spirits 
 and wayward tempers who rush in hot haste from pa 
 rental control ; but go back to their childhood : was your 
 training judicious when the bud first opened ? There is a 
 fearful amount of responsibility on this head somewhere. 
 
 And Thomas Beals was next sent on an East India 
 voyage, for a year's absence. Had we time here, we 
 could narrate that sister's motherly care ; how nicely she 
 prepared her brother's outfit; how thoughtful she was, 
 lest, in days of weariness, he should not be fed with
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 205 
 
 profitable employment for his mind. So a book was in 
 terspersed between the folds of every garment, with a 
 note here and there, indicative of love ; and at the bottom 
 of the trunk lay many keepsakes, which fond memory 
 always cherishes a watchguard from the glossy hair of 
 his departed mother ; her miniature ; likewise that of 
 herself and father, and the Bible. 0, did not the reck 
 less young man sometimes pause in his career, and weep 
 in the presence of the crew? for sailors have not all 
 hardened hearts, that correspond with their occupations. 
 
 And then the long months which elapsed before a sin 
 gle word came informing that father or daughter of the 
 ship's arrival, and the good health of the crew ! How 
 they sat together, often busied with the same thoughts, 
 yet making no mention to each other of the subject ! for 
 we again see the father always desired to banish from his 
 lips what was unpleasant to his thoughts. And when this 
 same young man returned, he did not look as they hoped 
 he would. There was a swaggering air, a coarse de 
 meanor, a profane jest, and sometimes a vulgar utterance, 
 which stung that sensitive sister to the quick. His asso 
 ciates, too, were of the same character as himself. He 
 would often absent himself for the space of twenty-four 
 hours, and thus give a continual anxiety to those two 
 hearts, to whom he was bound by the tenderest love. It 
 would be revolting to our taste, and give no favorable 
 impression to others, to narrate the young man's impru- 
 18
 
 206 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 dences and recklessness. "We are obliged too often te 
 look upon such spectacles ; and a minute description of 
 the petty deceits and evil practices which one habituated 
 to foolish sins commits needs no record to those who are 
 obliged to look upon them ; and if there are those who 
 have escaped such knowledge, w r e would not disturb a 
 happy ignorance of the depravity to which such excesses 
 lead. 
 
 Suffice it to say, when Thomas Beals shipped for Cali 
 fornia, many hearts rejoiced that so baneful an influence 
 was removed from the society of their children ; and the 
 bitterness of parting was somewhat mollified even to the 
 father and daughter by a vague hope that somehow and 
 somewhere a change would yet give to them a son and a 
 brother. The father, therefore, negotiated with the cap 
 tain in whose service Thomas was placed that his son 
 should have all reasonable indulgences, be kindly treated, 
 and a place secured to him on his arrival a promise 
 which was faithfully made, but not kept, by the com 
 mander ; yet the young man really proved himself so 
 agreeable to the passengers, that no little interest was felt 
 in his welfare. 
 
 In a strange land, therefore, he soon joined a party of 
 explorers ; and being of a constitution which could endure 
 much hardship, he shrank from no exposure ; but, some 
 times working in deep water, and sometimes in mines, he 
 still continued robust and healthy. " When there was no
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 207 
 
 liquor to be had," writes one of his company, " Beals was 
 a treasure ; but when he went into cities, he fell a prey 
 to its destructive influence." 
 
 For months afterwards, being in a locality from which 
 liquor was excluded, Thomas worked well and success 
 fully, and amassed that which, divided, yielded each of 
 the party the sum of three thousand dollars. The reck 
 less young man then separated from his company, and 
 joined a race of strangers, who, in a fit of intoxication, 
 robbed him of his treasure, and wrote to his friends that 
 he was undoubtedly lost, and then despatched a list of 
 names, (all spurious,) including Beals, who shared the 
 same fate. "We hear no more of him, therefore, until 
 he met his father on the eventful evening we have nar 
 rated. 
 
 This epitome of the history of the son of a rich man 
 it has been painful to describe. We would so much 
 rather live and linger amidst the sunny influences of a 
 virtuous course and a correct life, that we have excluded 
 much which would have given no more favorable aspect 
 to the young man's character. We would only hope that 
 such a history as we have portrayed may teach any 
 young man who is prone to deviate from the path of rec 
 titude that he enters upon a thorny road ; and it behooves 
 him to stop and consider, before he advances another 
 step, whether the gain of a broken reputation and a shat-
 
 208 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 tered head and heart is worth coveting whether the 
 loss of the esteem of the good and the friendship of the 
 wise is recompensed by nightly excesses, and by the re 
 morse which follows when one feels himself an outcast 
 and a stranger from those in the sunshine of whose af 
 fections he was once prized as their dearest earthly 
 treasure.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 209 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Plague Spot in the Palace. The Bachelor again in Trouble. 
 A Visit to Saratoga. Life at those fashionable Quarters. 
 Mrs. Bumble's Overtures to Uncle Sam. Marcus Brown's 
 Temperance Lecture. Cloudy Scenes. 
 
 THERE seemed but one dark shadow which rested upon 
 Uncle Sam's Palace, so far as the outward observer could 
 look. When the old man was fretful, why, it was all 
 passed over to the account of having so worthless a son ; 
 and to solve the question why Mrs. Blair lost a part of 
 her usual vivacity, the same reason was assigned. Yet 
 sometimes a hope would rekindle in the lacerated hearts 
 of the father and daughter, that the object over which 
 they mourned with such intense solicitude would yet re 
 deem his character, and become a man. " If lie could but 
 be placed without the reach of temptation" remarked Mr. 
 Blair, " it might prove his salvation." But so long as he 
 saw such convivial parties at the palace so long as the 
 father continued to keep the quarter cask in the cellar on 
 tap, and to bring, for the entertainment of his guests, 
 those old, labelled bottles, which often gave a boisterous 
 character to their mirth, so long would the son contend, 
 18*
 
 210 TJNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 that if he but followed what he saw the father do, wherein 
 had Tie the greater guilt ? 
 
 Mr. Blair had so urged this argument upon Mr. Beals, 
 that he removed to a lockup all the exposed wine which 
 stood in his cellar ; but had not Thomas frequent calls to 
 the city ? and did he not there meet with companions who 
 would decoy him into the " licensed saloons," where the 
 appetite could be satiated to repletion ? and then, with 
 swollen eyes, was he not cast out to make his way home, 
 to send a fresh thrill of anguish into their crushed hearts ? 
 
 What could Uncle Sam urge in defence of "licens 
 ing " such places of resort ? Was it not made sufficiently 
 obvious to him that he was only reaping what he had 
 sowed ? To how much of this plague spot had he admin 
 istered '? Those old books in the counting room on the 
 wharf had no tongues to tell for how much of his wealth 
 he was indebted to such purchasers, who tenanted these 
 places of fashionable resort. And how he had advocated 
 their rights ! How strenuously had he fought for them ! 
 Was it but a righteous retribution that he should be 
 forced to feel the practical workings of a system he 
 had thus advocated? Depend on it, Uncle Sam had 
 thoughts which never pressed upon him with such force 
 before. All night long he would toss upon his bed of 
 anguish, not daring to divulge his feelings, not courageous 
 enough to openly acknowledge the error of his ways ; and 
 so the stings of an aroused conscience would weaken his
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 211 
 
 physical nature, and in narcotics and drugs, he would 
 vainly hope to find relief. 
 
 A disquieted conscience makes a demand which can 
 not always be put to sleep. Unlike the paroxysms of 
 fever, which may be affected by outward appliances, or 
 the inroads of any contagious disease, for which some 
 specific may be successfully applied, unlike any of the 
 thousand forms in which poor humanity is catalogued, for 
 which every quack nostrum is advertised as completing 
 " a perfect cure, or no pay," this little disquieting tor- 
 menter will assert its prerogative ; and if you seek to 
 drown it by a heavy potation, or silence it in the zest of 
 some luxurious viands or animated conversation, when 
 you have exhausted these expedients, it will come tapping 
 at some midnight hour ; and, however unwelcome may be 
 its intrusion, it will come in ; and the best way to make it 
 an agreeable guest is to give it a cordial reception. Hear 
 its plea, listen to its prohibitions, follow its guidance, and 
 always secure a friendly regard for it by obeying its 
 dictates. 
 
 Suppose you had a friend who was charged with an 
 important message, something which a telegraphic de 
 spatch had announced as needful you should be immedi 
 ately informed about, and you should determine upon 
 not answering that bell which the faithful messenger kept 
 ringing until you closed your eyes in sleep. In the 
 morning, when he made known to you the reason for his
 
 212 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 persistency, would you not feel that an apology was strict 
 ly due him? and, even then, you could hardly forgive 
 your own perversity. Now, if thus chagrined by shut 
 ting out the message from a friend, how much nearer 
 affinity, and more important message, had your conscience 
 when it stood without all night, pleading for admission ! 
 and you repulsed it when it did enter. It is of no use to 
 attempt any further resistance, Mr. Beals. You are in 
 dicted, and must answer to the moral prosecution. 
 
 How could he have spoken out from his oppressed 
 heart ? But there was a feeling lest he should betray a 
 cause he had so long advocated. There were his best 
 friends, whose opinions he so highly valued. There would 
 be a tremendous sensation produced if the stronghold 
 upon which others had so long leaned were weakened ; 
 and the only alternative was to still " brood over the sin 
 he had the power to heal," or, at least, arrest, in high 
 places. 
 
 Was he a man, thus to shrink from the dictates of duty, 
 parental love, and moral obligations, which haunted him 
 wherever he turned? Let us leave him a while to strug 
 gle with his conflicts, premising, however, that the absorb 
 ing topic of his conversation, " that the law shall be re 
 pealed or modified" is not so strenuously maintained as 
 formerly. 
 
 Our life pictures, at this particular time, are not like 
 fancy sketches which we would prefer to present before
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 213 
 
 our readers of specimens of benevolent hearts, of happy 
 homes, and of cheerful sunshine, which make this world 
 a fair abode ; but we have to show our bachelor friend, 
 Sims, in a painfully intense, feverish anxiety, lest the af 
 fections of Rosa Beals should be transferred to another 
 and younger object. Having administered upon the es 
 tate of Mr. Richard Beals, Mr. Sims made it necessary 
 to do personally what is usually done by proxy ; and the 
 conduct of Rosa had not, of late, been satisfactory. She 
 vexed him continually, affirming " an old man's heart was 
 not worth preserving ; that he was fitted for some widow 
 who had parental trials ; " and although there seemed no 
 particular object upon which poor Sims could wreak his 
 jealousy, yet there was an unrequited sentiment which 
 was not aroused in her young heart. Even her mother, 
 much as she respected the character -of the bachelor, had 
 her misgivings whether she ought to urge her daughter to 
 accept of such a position ; so that the lover was certainly 
 in no enviable condition. He wondered why he did thus 
 brood over so heartless a girl's affection, or, rather, the 
 want of it. Sometimes he felt himself a fool ; but the 
 feeling would not abide with Mm. 
 
 Uncle Sam was now very much depressed by the 
 course his son was pursuing. He was not every day 
 under the immediate influence of liquor ; and when par 
 tially restored, there were so many manly, generous traits 
 of character developed in him, that the father most ear-
 
 214 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 nestly yearned for his redemption from the thraldom in 
 which he was held. This subject so preyed upon his 
 thoughts, that Mrs. Blair feared the result upon her fa 
 ther's health. She therefore proposed a change of scene, 
 where the novelty might, for a time, wear off the painful 
 circumstances which were always threatening his peace 
 of mind. She also proposed that Thomas should be left, 
 so that John, the long-tried and faithful coachman, should 
 oversee him, should he plunge into any excesses during 
 their absence ; and, the following week, she wrote, by her 
 father's dictation, a note to John Sims, at his Vermont 
 residence. 
 
 BEALS'S CROSSING. 
 
 DEAR SIMS : I have been a good deal harassed in 
 mind lately ; and my daughter proposes I should change 
 the scene for a short time. We are desirous that you and 
 Rosa, with her mother, should accompany us to Saratoga, 
 where we shall be joined by Tims and his lady. I shall 
 cheerfully defray all expenses ; so you may hold your 
 selves in readiness to receive us by the middle of the 
 month. "We shall stop but a short time with you, as our 
 rooms are engaged at the " United States Hotel," Sara 
 toga, from the l$th. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 S. BEALS. 
 
 Upon the reception of this letter, the first thought of
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 215 
 
 the mother and daughter, of course, now turned to the 
 subject of dress ; but the first thought of the bachelor 
 was, " could he thus expose Rosa to the view of so many 
 fashionable young men, without losing his entire hold 
 upon her affections ? " and most people will concur with 
 him in thinking it was a very sensible question. 
 
 But, of course, the invitation was gladly accepted ; and 
 Mrs. Richard Beals was now fitted in a suit of " second 
 mourning" from which orange flowers in her dress caps 
 need not be excluded. She therefore equipped herself in 
 a variety of apparel suited to the stage of her widow 
 hood, and certainly succeeded in her efforts to be pos 
 sessed of becoming materials with which she should ap 
 pear in that great promenade of fashion and exposure. 
 Rosa was fully prepared, having always been dressed a 
 la mode, as she was so often a visitor at the palace. So 
 the party promised well for the ladies ; but poor Sims, 
 we must repeat, had terrible forebodings ; for he was no 
 stranger to the free-and-easy access with which young 
 gentlemen there approach the ladies. Yet we must dis 
 miss his doubts, and pass over all the intervening per 
 plexities and pleasures which attend so large a party, and 
 introduce our friends at once into the gayeties of the sea 
 son, which are so conspicuously obvious upon one's first 
 entrance to the head quarters of fashion, wine, and high 
 life at the " United States" 
 
 Uncle Sam, who had been gloomy for some time, felt
 
 216 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 revived at his first entrance. There were jolly old dram- 
 drinkers, who had heard of him, from all parts of the 
 Union. No master of what infirmity they were victims, 
 no matter how they were situated at home, all here was 
 devoted to pleasure seeking. Hundreds of old men of 
 his stamp were daily arriving. There was the freest in 
 tercourse in the world, and the greatest leisure for every 
 one to do as he pleased, provided he outraged no known 
 laws of good breeding; and if this were done, instant 
 satisfaction was demanded. Old men were here rejuve 
 nated. They carried their gold, if not their wit, about 
 them heavy fob chains, and golden opera glasses, with 
 headed canes to match, superb vests, exquisite quality of 
 broadcloth, plenty of ruffle shirt, and, above all, a swag 
 gering independence which could dip anew into life's fri 
 volities, sit at the gaming table without a blush, turn off a 
 small sea of champagne and other liquors, walk about 
 highly excited, or sit still and blink with each other upon 
 the colonnade, not forgetting to mark and remark upon 
 the belles who graced the " last hop," or flirted so admira 
 bly with some old, seedy beau. 
 
 Here, too, the parson met his parishioner, all on the 
 same footing. Perchance he came in from the " Union," 
 or " Congress Hall" just to give a higher zest to his ani 
 mal spirits. They had all, for a season, left the " confer 
 ence rooms " and " united prayer meetings," and omitted 
 or relaxed their efforts to regenerate the heathen, since
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 217 
 
 they had come to be regenerated themselves. And then 
 all the restraints of times and seasons, as it respects ob 
 servances, were here omitted. There were no public pray 
 ers offered at these fashionable houses. Every thing 
 seemed to rather say, " This is pleasure ground ; walk ye 
 in it." 
 
 There are two celebrated divines in yonder corner. 
 Mark you how they slyly peep into the adjoining ball 
 room. " There is something enlivening in the air of that 
 music," remarks Dr. A. 
 
 " And a fascination in that lively dance," replies Dr. B. 
 " Have you seen how lovely the belle of the evening 
 looks ? " 
 
 How many subjects for sermons are thus secured ! But 
 have a care, gentlemen. Don't lose too much of your 
 staid demeanor. The world is looking on. 
 
 But why depict the enjoyment of the gentlemen in this 
 gay scene ? 
 
 See you that moving thing of life, composed of silver 
 gauze, diamonds, and bouquets ? Mark you the delicacy 
 of her complexion, the glossy wave of her ringlets, the 
 perfect symmetry of her form, the matchless elegance of 
 her movements ? To-morrow evening shall present the 
 same lovely fair one bedecked again for voluptuous pleas 
 ure seekers to gaze upon ; for she has a change of splen 
 did apparel, varying in color and texture, but all of equal 
 magnificence and costly materials, with which she will 
 19
 
 218 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 appear every night during her month's sojourn. She is, 
 perchance, the " peerless Miss E.," engaged, it is sup 
 posed, to the " exquisite Mr. F.," of such remarkable 
 standing and unsurpassed wealth. How she is looked 
 upon! Is she modest? One would almost vouch for it; 
 for there is a downcast expression, a faint blush, a gait 
 that savors little of affectation. And what if you did 
 overhear that these are " all borrowed charms ; " that, for 
 successive summers, this butterfly has exhibited her gor 
 geous coverings ; and that she is the same heartless para 
 gon of fashion who caused the duel between Colonel E. 
 and Commodore N. ? She has a new set of admirers, 
 this year, who care not for this. 
 
 And do you notice that widower, Colonel B., from the 
 south, with whom you have a slight acquaintance ? You 
 were in Charleston, a few months ago, when his wife died. 
 He was a frantic man then could not attend to any 
 business transactions, on account of the violence of his 
 grief. He has been urged by his physician to try a 
 change of place. His minister has told him the conse 
 quences of such grief are often fatal ; that he ought to 
 be resigned ; and the man has been trying to imagine 
 he is, because dire necessity prompts him to be so not 
 that his acquiescence has been derived from trustful faith 
 and secret communion that all events are ordered in love, 
 and intended as salutary discipline to abate our attach 
 ment to the fleeting and perishable. O, no. He has not
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 219 
 
 been so taught by adversity. His lesson, rather, is, that 
 he must seek in fashionable glare and enlivening society 
 the panacea for earthly troubles ; and so he has put off 
 the serious, gloomy face he once wore, and is now what ? 
 asking the beautiful Miss S. " if he shall have the pleas 
 ure of the next dance with her." He, too, wears a white 
 satin vest, and carries a moss rosebud in his button hole ; 
 and he bows so obsequiously, and laughs so heartily, and 
 brandishes his perfumed handkerchief so continually, and 
 watches every varying movement t>f his partner so in 
 tently, there is no doubt but a " change of scene " has 
 changed the current of his thoughts. To-morrow you 
 shall see him in a gay cabriolet, driven by his coachman 
 to the " lake," while the fair Desdemona is attired in her 
 gorgeous brocades, seated by his side ; and they are chat 
 ting just as he used to do with that lady whose sepulchre 
 is away off where the orange grove and the tall pine sur 
 round it, and where, when he looked into the chamber of 
 her repose, he forever bade adieu to all that remained to 
 bless him in this life. And is woman the only inconstant 
 being whom we meet ? 
 
 Yet there she sits, with all her inconstancy, that wid 
 ow, the length of whose veil, and the shaded aspect of 
 whose dwelling, for months, nay, it is nearly a year 
 now, so corresponded with the sombre tenor of her 
 thoughts. She was never abroad never in public, save 
 at church ; and then how reverently she listened beneath
 
 220 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 those sable weeds ! and, from the church to the carriage, 
 how dignified was her deportment! To her intimate 
 friends did she not again and again declare " her treasure 
 was intombed ; that never again should she look out upon 
 a cheerful world with a light heart " ? Yet she had ex 
 pressed a desire, during that time, to retain her coachman 
 and carriage, and that fine span of horses, because they 
 afforded " her dear husband " so much pleasure, and were 
 all of his selection. And her splendid dwelling why, 
 lonely and desolate a* it now appeared, it was his home. 
 The associations were undoubtedly dear to her. But how 
 came she in that lighted drawing room, among those pleas 
 ure seekers ? and who is that large, elegantly-formed gen 
 tleman, upon whose arm she is so languidly leaning? 
 He is reported to be a wealthy cotton planter ; and to 
 morrow he will sit in her coach ; and they will converse 
 alone about the "security of property," and whether 
 Jane shall remain north, or John shall go south ; and, 
 by and by, they will drive to the old English church, 
 and Mr. and Mrs. Sprigg will know no more about deso 
 lation, since change has produced such pleasing realities. 
 Depend upon it, Congress water and its accompaniments 
 have a very invigorating effect upon most people. 
 
 But why should we forget that interesting maiden, who 
 has so rapidly improved, of late, in her health? See 
 you that clerical gentleman, with whom she daily takes 
 her walk to the Empire spring? There seemed to be
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 221 
 
 so great a similarity in their bodily ailments, it became 
 necessary that each should take about the same quan 
 tity of water, at the same time ; yet the effervescence of 
 the draught gives no quickening effect to their gait. In 
 deed, they every day seem to loiter as if a great fund of 
 conversation is yet in reserve ; and when one or the 
 other's time is expired which had been previously marked 
 out, how opportune comes that letter from the consulting 
 physician, advising, nay, enforcing upon them, the impor 
 tance " of continuing a longer period, where the beneficial 
 effects are so obvious " ! 
 
 By and by, in early autumn, a stranger will appear in 
 the quiet village where our once invalid, but now restored, 
 friend resides ; and there will be a rumor afloat, that, 
 instead of the lungs, the heart of each is alike affected ; 
 and it is soon conclusively manifest, that, to cure the pres 
 ent difficulty, they must daily drink " Empire water " from 
 the same can ; and now the minister, instead of the doc 
 tor, is consulted; and the parish priest soon after an 
 nounces to his flock that he has secured a helpmate that 
 will greatly extend his usefulness ; and, for the first time, 
 the parish understand how it came to pass that their min 
 ister was so benefited by the trip he took to the Springs 
 in midsummer. 
 
 Uncle Sam was so impervious to all feminine charms, 
 it was of little moment to him what fascinating images 
 sought to attract his attention. Yet Mrs. Bumble, the 
 19*
 
 222 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 widow of Captain Bumble, who once brought a cargo of 
 choice spirits to Mr. Beals, had treasured the fact to this 
 day, (proving, at least, she had a retentive memory;) and 
 so she contrived, on warm afternoons, to sit on the piazza 
 with the old millionnaire ; and who can tell which rattled 
 the loudest, her stiff, full-skirted silk dress, or her tongue, 
 with its unceasing motion ? 
 
 How often did she find it convenient to inquire of Un 
 cle Sam if his evening papers had arrived! And having 
 listened attentively to his general tone of conversation 
 with gentlemen, although she came here a professedly 
 total abstinence widow, yet her sentiments were beginning 
 to take a qualified turn ; and she was heard to admit to 
 Mr. Beals, a few moments since, that she always had seri 
 ous doubts whether the enforcement of the liquor law would 
 be an expedient measure. And did you observe how sud 
 denly this remark aroused the old man from his unexcita- 
 ble state, and how he hitched up his chair a little nearer 
 to the widow, while she leaned towards him, as if she 
 might be made an easy convert to his self-sustaining 
 views ? But how did Uncle Sam, upon reflection, know 
 but she might prove another medium, similar to the widow 
 Wilby ? The next afternoon, he changed his location ; 
 and, that day, Mrs. Bumble sought in vain to enlist the 
 old gentleman in a prolonged conversation ; yet she 
 formed the most intimate companionship with Mrs. Blair ; 
 and rumor saith that one day she inquired of the daughter
 
 WIDOW BUMBLE,
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 223 
 
 whether she thought her father would ever change his sit 
 uation in life. The answer caused her to look sorrowful ; 
 at the same time she remarked, " I know, child, what it 
 is to live a solitary life ; " and this was accompanied with 
 a deep sigh, as if her fate were inevitably sealed. 
 
 Uncle Sam, about this time, complained of mosquitoes 
 troubling him, towards evening, upon the piazza ; so he 
 was not seen there as often as formerly, for fear of being 
 BITTEN. He was, however, taken aback on meeting the 
 veritable Mrs. Bumble at an early hour, the next morn 
 ing, at the Congress spring. Being unusually fleshy, she 
 had wisely concluded to adhere to the rule which Uncle 
 Sam followed ; and it so happened that she was in readi 
 ness to attend him when he set off ; but he limped forward 
 a little in advance of her. They, however, met at the 
 spring ; and while they were standing around it, awaiting 
 their turn to drink, Miss Chatterwell, a genuine absti 
 nence woman, remarked to Mrs. Bumble, " If the multi 
 tude with whom we temperance people have to contend 
 could be made to feel the beneficial effects of cold water as 
 those about us do the medicinal properties of this spring, 
 we should not be obliged to labor much longer in the 
 cause." 
 
 Mrs. Bumble made no reply, but looked at Uncle Sam ; 
 and this refusal -to indorse her last remark was treasured 
 by Miss Chatterwell ; and here we desire to add, that 
 Mrs. Bumble is not to be taken as a fair representation
 
 224 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OB, 
 
 of her sex ; for they rarely vacillate in this cause. In 
 proof whereof, we will quote Miss ChatterwelTs remark 
 to Mrs. B., when she had been told of the great wealth 
 of the widower, Mr. Beals : 
 
 " And," replied she, " he got it all by the importation 
 and sale of liquors, did he ? " to which Mrs. Bumble as 
 sented. " Then," said she, " if, by raising my finger, I 
 could cause his old heart to beat with the velocity of a 
 young man's, and he should turn towards me his favorable 
 regard, / would spurn the thought of changing my name 
 from Ghatterwell to Beals. No, Mrs. Bumble ; an old 
 veteran liquor dealer never need expect to gain the affec 
 tions of a genuine total abstinence woman any more than 
 he can hope to be chosen as candidate for the presidency 
 by the temperance party. We women have got to take a 
 position here, Mrs. Bumble; and when we pledge our 
 selves not to marry men in any way connected with the 
 shameful traffic, I rather think it will sometimes be aban 
 doned on other than conscientious scruples. Do you sup 
 pose, if I had chosen to prove recreant to my principles, 
 that I need to have lived a life of single blessedness till 
 this day ? Major "Witherspoon pretended he did not un 
 derstand me, when I told him he must first close his dis 
 tillery before we could proceed any farther in the topic he 
 was urging upon my attention." 
 
 " Well, I don't know," replied Mrs. Bumble, " as one is 
 obliged to press home the matter quite so closely"
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 225 
 
 " Then your temperance principles rest upon a wrong 
 basis, Mrs. Bumble. If active, resolute, unflinching wo 
 men, years ago, had gone forward in this movement as I 
 have, I'll warrant you the liquor law would never have 
 been a bone of contention. The rib lone might have 
 closed up the contest," added Miss Chatterwell. " I blush 
 for my sex, when I think of their want of moral courage ; 
 and what spectacle is more disgusting than to see a wo 
 man disguising her real sentiments, to gain the affections 
 of a man or the use of his money, both of which are 
 founded on a liquor cask ? I once owned a copy of the 
 New Testament that had a page at the close of the book 
 stating who were forbidden to marry together. I wish I 
 could add a few more to the list, such as, 'Thou shah not 
 marry an importer of liquors, nor a distiller, nor a whole 
 sale vender, nor a petty retailer in the same traffic.' Such 
 an interdiction would be a mighty help to the anti-liquor 
 law, I can assure you. You see I'm pledged to total ab 
 stinence every where ; as much abroad as at home ; as 
 much, and even more, when I am talking with an old im 
 porter as a pledged man, Mrs. Bumble ; for I hold that 
 women may exert a tremendous influence on this subject." 
 
 Mrs. Bumble betrayed some restlessness at this time. 
 In a day or two, Uncle Sam forgot all about her ; and so 
 she returned to her former position, to hold it, we trust, 
 with a firmer grasp when temptation again assails her in 
 such a questionable form.
 
 226 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 Now, all this spectacle, and much more that is unre 
 corded, did Uncle Sam's party quietly witness from the 
 first of their arrival. The magic charm to Mrs. Richard 
 Beals and Rosa completely bewildered them. The re 
 mainder of the party had before looked upon many such 
 spectacles. Rosa had already seen some of the most " di 
 vine young men that ever existed." There was one with 
 " such a lovely mustache ; " another with such a " splendid 
 goatee ; " and a third with such a set of " admirable whis 
 kers" and such " a commanding imperial, he was per 
 fectly adorable" How did the old Squire wane in her 
 admiration ! Think you she would permit him to be her 
 acknowledged lover ? No. " If he never smoked an 
 other principe ; if he never tasted another drop of wine ; 
 if he bowed at her feet, and pledged himself as her truest 
 and most ardent admirer, it was of no use. There were 
 young men adapted to her taste young men who could 
 join in the dance ; who sported splendidly ; who had such 
 independent movements ; who chatted so lively, and were 
 such perfect paragons of fashion. Never, never again 
 would she be flattered by such a fool as John Sims ;" 
 and she went to sleep that night with that vow upon her 
 lips. Her mother did not attempt to smother her indig 
 nation. 
 
 The next morning, Mr. and Mrs. Tims joined the party, 
 accompanied by Thomas Beals, who had, at this time, the 
 exact air and manner of " a fast young man." He
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 227 
 
 Appeared at Saratoga in a milk-white artiste hat, a high 
 Mickey turned down a la Byron, an open-worked, dan 
 dified shirt bosom, and a wide-checked, flashy neck tie. 
 Over a showy embroidered vest dangled a watch chain, 
 the pattern of which he probably selected from a ship's 
 cable. He carried a ratan in his hand, and a Spanish 
 cigar in one corner of his mouth, and wore a large seal 
 ring upon his little finger, and was about cultivating an 
 "imperial." His leg encasements were adder colored, and 
 the last style of a bobtail dress coat helped to complete 
 his appearance. His Congress boots were tipped with 
 patent leather ; and occasionally they were exchanged for 
 a pair of dust-colored gaiters, with shoes that showed 
 heels of surpassing height, so that the swaggering air he 
 was wont to assume was modified by a fear, when he had 
 partaken too freely of " brandy smashers," lest he should 
 not strike a right balance upon the sidewalk. 
 
 At this place, his favorite resort was at the billiard 
 room and the ice cream saloon, where he often took a sec 
 ond glass, to regulate Ms stomach, and to neutralize the 
 effect of the cold substance he had so lately taken into it. 
 
 His arrival was so unexpected, that his father felt a de 
 gree of mortification he had not anticipated. Among the 
 ruffle shirt gentry there was much inquiry who the 
 "young blood" was ; and it was remarked, within Uncle 
 Sam's hearing, " That fellow seems determined on a fash 
 ionable run" Uncle Sam took him alone, and extorted
 
 228 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 promises which he broke the very next hour ; and ill luck 
 at the gaming table, it was said, bore heavily upon his 
 father's purse ; yet he tried to gloss over the aggravation 
 of his course, and attain a cheerfulness which he found it 
 difficult to assume. 
 
 The second week passed as most of such weeks pass 
 among pleasure seekers. There was the morning draught 
 at the Congress spring ; the sumptuous breakfast ; the 
 important decisions how the intervening time should be 
 spent previously to dressing for dinner ; the drive in the 
 rich cabriolet ; the gossamer or brocade dinner dress 
 for the ladies, and the last change which the fashion 
 plate announces for gentlemen; the long sitting which 
 follows ; the sentimental glances which succeed ; and the 
 engagement for the afternoon, when a farther extended 
 arrangement follows for the " evening hop." Such is life 
 at a watering-place not alone as it passes with the 
 young and inexperienced, but alike with maturity, and 
 even age, when the sands in the glass are nearly run 
 out. Such, we repeat, is life, fashionable life, wherever 
 the throng congregates. Youth, certainly, ought to be 
 carefully spent and well regulated, so that no wrinkles 
 shall deform the fair complexion, no crowsfeet shall settle 
 beneath the lustrous eyes, no silvery hair shall crown the 
 summit of glory ; for it is a long process, and hard labor, 
 and expensive detail which contrives to cheat old father 
 Time out of his demands ; and dearly do pleasure seekers
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 229 
 
 earn the rejuvenated appearance which they sometimes 
 assume ; yet as this is the only labor of many, is it not a 
 salutary infliction upon idle hours and gossipping propen 
 sities ? 
 
 Not so, however, were our party entertained. The 
 young were young. Thomas Beals was in his heyday of 
 manly independence, and his cousin Rosa was frantic with 
 her images of beauty and fashion. Mrs. Beals was a de 
 lighted widow, Squire Sims a jealous lover, and Uncle 
 Sam an old man trying to extract a few more dregs from 
 the last sip of pleasure's cup, while Mr. and Mrs. Blair, 
 and Mr. and Mrs. Tims, were looking on the gilded show, 
 not generally moved by the intense excitement around 
 them. 
 
 Most of the above party, two or three mornings after 
 our last account, were standing upon the long colonnade 
 which surrounds the " United States," promenading and 
 remarking upon the peculiarities in the guests, as they 
 crossed and repassed each other on their return from the 
 springs, when Mrs. Blair suddenly remembered she had 
 not seen Rosa for the morning. Her mother remarked, 
 she had not finished dressing when she left the chamber ; 
 but as ample time had now been allowed her to make 
 her toilet, and she did not appear, a search was instantly 
 commenced. Squire Sims knocked loudly at her door, 
 and, receiving no answer, slowly opened the unlatched 
 premises, where he found no occupant. Upon looking 
 20
 
 230 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 hastily around, however, on her table he discovered a note 
 which ran thus : 
 
 Do not be anxious about me. I am going to Lake 
 George with a small party, and shall return to-morrow 
 eve. Miss Haliday and her brother, and Mr, Mustang, 
 the Spanish gentleman, will accompany us. We break 
 fast in private. 
 
 ROSA. 
 
 This note produced no little excitement in the party to 
 which Rosa belonged. Sims was nearly frantic ; for he 
 had witnessed the marked attentions of the Spaniard to 
 Rosa since the day after their arrival, he having there 
 been introduced to Uncle Sam as the proprietor of the 
 house in Havana of the firm of Mustang, Bend, & Co. ; 
 and they solicited orders from Uncle Sam for the intro 
 duction of a new species of cigars, highly fragrant, and 
 prized among the smoking gentry. Uncle Sam, in turn, 
 then introduced the young gentleman to his niece, who 
 happened to be present ; and, from that hour, her old 
 lover had watched his attentions with most jealous solici 
 tude. Sims had, however, persuaded himself to believe 
 that Rosa would never attach herself to an inveterate 
 smoker, as well as vender, of an article which she, long 
 ago, had prohibited him from using ; yet this young man 
 would throw aside his weed, and with his breath perfectly
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 231 
 
 redolent of smoke, and nothing but smoke, he would bend 
 down his tall figure to her dumpy form, and converse with 
 the greatest sang froid in the world ; and she, to his as 
 tonishment, inhaled the perfume as she would the delicious 
 " verbena extract " from her gauzy, embroidered handker 
 chief. And yet, for her sake, he had foregone his habit 
 of smoking, and complied with every request which a co 
 quettish fancy had made, just to be succeeded by a smok 
 ing Spaniard, who, perchance, was only playing the part 
 of a deceitful lover. Yet that was better to bear than a 
 real one ; and how did he know but he would really in 
 gratiate himself in her charms ? 
 
 Truly, John Sims, you are a doomed man. The affair 
 of Rosa's flight exasperated Thomas Beals so, that he 
 swore he would take vengeance into his own hands upon 
 their return ; and neither Mr. nor Mrs. Blair could per 
 suade him to abandon his design, so that they trembled for 
 future consequences. 
 
 Young Beals had little fear of a dirk knife or a pistol. 
 He had given and escaped a good many slashes, as well 
 as random shots ; and he was not intimidated in reveng 
 ing himself upon the Spaniard. He therefore stealthily 
 slipped a dirk below the waistbands of a pair of large- 
 checked pantaloons, which were made at the south, and 
 walked about the premises with a good degree, of non 
 chalance, not omitting to occasionally slake anew his in 
 satiable thirst by a glass of brandy, not very essentially
 
 232 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 diluted, so that he was in readiness for an attack at any 
 moment when the party should drive up. 
 
 Mrs. Blair grew more and more apprehensive for com 
 ing results. She would gently tap her brother upon the 
 shoulder, and entreat him to desist from any violent acts, 
 pleading, as her gentle nature always did, that, " for fa 
 ther's sake, if no other, he would keep calm." But stung 
 to a wild frenzy by the maddening poison he so freely 
 quaffed, her entreaties were unheeded ; and, for the first 
 time in her life, she even hoped he might be so overcome 
 by liquor as to be powerless, and incapable for an attack, 
 when the party should arrive. 
 
 Uncle Sam, however, branded all these proceedings as 
 idle follies, the thing of magnitude with him being what 
 related to his traffic, and a desire to cheat his conscience 
 into the belief that to furnish the destructive agent to 
 others was no very heinous sin. He was now in the 
 right place to strengthen the sentiments which he longed 
 to approve. Here was no law, no restraint. Men of 
 wealth and fashion, who were accounted worthy men, 
 nay, even Christian men, drank, daily drank, hourly 
 drank, if their inclination prompted ; and there was no 
 " principle " called in question. Here was untrammelled 
 public opinion, just such as existed twenty years ago 
 every where. And then what sportive remarks were 
 hurled at the temperance cause ! how they gloated over 
 " its inoperative law and unsuccessful defenders " ! Very
 
 THE REIGNIXG KING. ZOO 
 
 well. Talk on, gentlemen. A bad cause needs able ad 
 vocates. 
 
 To men of business habits, this pleasure seeking soon 
 tires and satiates. Mr. Tims and Mr. Blair could not en 
 dure the restraints of fashionable society, and as they had 
 laid aside all foolish coquetry, and were plain married 
 men, satisfied with their partners, and derived their prin 
 cipal enjoyment from domestic intercourse, the gay fri 
 volity which characterized so many about them was un 
 heeded. They walked out to enjoy the beauties of nature, 
 and see the varieties which were abroad. Sauntering 
 leisurely along, their attention was attracted by a placard, 
 which was attached to a post, whereon was inscribed, 
 " Temperance Lecture. This evening, at seven o'clock, 
 Marcus L. Brown, the distinguished champion of the glo 
 rious cause, will lecture at Hall, to which all citizens 
 
 and strangers are invited." 
 
 Tims involuntarily stopped. Had he received an elec 
 tric shock, he would not have been more suddenly arrest 
 ed. " Marcus L. Brown ! " Yes, the very same name 
 which had always awakened in Tims's mind the most un 
 pleasant associations. Blair, knowing nothing of the 
 matter, playfully remarked, " So, my friend, your traffic 
 is beginning to be impeached even here ; and when ten 
 righteoiis men are found, the city is safe. "We will go 
 to-night, and hear this famous man." Tims had a strong 
 desire to do so, and, on his return, informed Uncle Sam 
 20*
 
 234 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 of his determination, he gladly accepting the proposition 
 to accompany them, to hear what " the mechanic " would 
 say. The remarkable coincidence of his being in town 
 just at the time of their sojourn, and a desire to hear his 
 skill in lecturing, made them eager for the hour to arrive ; 
 and quite a formidable party started from the " United 
 States," to hear and vilify the arguments in favor of the 
 cause. Tims and Uncle Sam felt that in a multitude of 
 counsellors there was safety. 
 
 At the time appointed, Marcus Brown entered the hall, 
 accompanied by a few distinguished friends. Tims had 
 never seen him since the decided change in his fortune ; 
 but well did he remember their last interview. There 
 were some dark doings in his conduct towards the Browns, 
 for which, for years, his conscience had sorely troubled 
 him. lie would not have them again reawakened for 
 half his wealth. 
 
 The lecturer was a dignified, fine-looking gentleman, 
 unostentatious, yet of that manly bearing which at once 
 commands our confidence and esteem. His style was 
 earnest, yet bore a truthfulness in his statements which 
 carried conviction to the hearts of his hearers. In the 
 course of his lecture, he commented upon his first intro 
 duction into the field immediately preceding his downfall, 
 even at the" precise period when he resolutely pledged 
 himself to be a man. He remarked, " I was on the high 
 road to ruin. A man, in the guise of a good citizen, often
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 235 
 
 urged me to take the accursed glass from his counter, 
 when he was a petty retailer. The habit was daily 
 strengthened, and various stratagems were used to induce 
 me to surrender my property to his control. He em 
 ployed me, and paid me in liquor. At that time, I held a 
 subordinate rank in a military company, to which this, my 
 enemy, belonged. We met at .social parties. We had 
 suppers for the company ; and I generously footed the 
 liquor bill. My waning reputation disheartened me ; and 
 how did he encourage me ? I had but three hundred dol 
 lars in the world, but a rich treasure in an abused wife 
 and four lovely children ; yet this traitor to my peace in 
 toxicated me ; and in that hour I signed a note of hand 
 for three hundred dollars, for which my only return was 
 BRANDY. Upon reflection, in my sober moments, I called 
 for a redress of the wrong thus inflicted on me. I threat 
 ened the force of the law ; but the lawyer whom I had 
 employed in my more prosperous days was himself acces 
 sory to my ruin, since in his clique lay his spoils. He 
 was an office seeker. He was soon after in Washington, 
 a used-up man ; and I have reason to know that my last 
 three hundred dollars were advanced to this pettifogger, 
 to pay his current expenses while residing in that city." 
 Murmurs of indignation here ran through the assembly. 
 " In the hour of my degradation, I applied to my dis 
 guised friend for labor. One who had amassed a princely 
 fortune by his heavy importations of choice liquors
 
 236 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 who had sold my enemy thousands of hogsheads of the 
 vile stuff was now about erecting a palace in the sub 
 urbs of his native city ; and, to entangle me still further 
 in his meshes, he gave me the superintendence of the la 
 bor. I entered upon my duties with a resolute determi 
 nation to do well ; but this enemy again enticed me to 
 drink, and then reported me to the millionnaire as a man 
 unfit for his service. My all was mortgaged to him. 
 All ? Not all : my family were mine still, unworthy as I 
 proved myself. My wife solicited that six months might 
 be allowed before cutting off our equity of redemption. 
 We were answered, ' It is out of my hands. The lawyer 
 has the settlement.' A writ of ejectment was issued, and 
 we were houseless. But a kind Providence yet brooded 
 in mercy over us. The good pastor to whose church my 
 wife removed hired a few rooms, and I procured a few 
 jobs ; but the hardhearted creditor, who might have re 
 lented, was himself in the clutches of the old man whose 
 palace was being erected ; and he dared show no mercy. 
 The fangs of the viper fastened upon him. I was an out 
 cast, and for his hardheartedness he was rewarded by that 
 flinty old man. He encouraged him nay, more, he re 
 ceived him into his firm ; and when his deeds of iniquity 
 would have softened his heart by retrospection, he made 
 him callous to such sensibilities, until his seared con 
 science readily acquiesced in all that old millionnaire's 
 requirements.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 237 
 
 " There was to be a temperance gathering that evening. 
 The pledge was taken by many, and my resolution to con 
 quer my foe prevailed. I signed the paper pledging my 
 self to total abstinence ; and from that hour not a drop of 
 liquor has passed my lips. My wife received a small 
 sum from her relatives in England ; and we first rented, 
 and afterwards purchased, a small cottage in the neigh 
 borhood of the city, our children were placed in good 
 schools, and prosperity has since dawned upon me." Tre 
 mendous cheers here followed. 
 
 And in yonder corner sat Mr. Tims, Uncle Sam, and 
 Squire Sims ! The electric words had scathed their very 
 souls. They looked pale, and walked out of the hall, 
 feeling, undoubtedly, as all guilty people do fed, that they 
 were gazed at by the whole assembly, as the men so truth 
 fully described. Tims was strangely affected. A cold 
 perspiration stood on his brow, a faintness came over him, 
 and he returned to his lodgings as one taken suddenly ill, 
 to the alarm of his wife. Uncle Sam seemed dull and 
 taciturn. He had no playful remarks for his old asso 
 ciates, but, as usual when he was sick at heart, com 
 plained of his gout in the leg a fact which Mrs. Blair 
 well understood. She then gave him his anodyne, and he 
 retired. Last of all was the agitated Sims seen walking 
 the colonnades rapidly, as if in deep thought and pain 
 ful anxiety. Mrs. Richard Beals, supposing it was all 
 attributable to Rosa's absence, begged him to be quiet j
 
 238 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 but alas! he had two sources of unhappiness, and one 
 aggravated the other. He was really fearful that all their 
 past iniquities were about to be heralded to the world 
 deeds which had long been buried in the waters of obliv 
 ion, as they all vainly hoped. But where is sleepless 
 justice ? Did they not know there was a registry where 
 the recording angel never blotted out the offence, unless it 
 were washed away by the tears of penitence ? and those, 
 surely, had never been shed. 
 
 By and by, however, the scene again changed. Eosa 
 and her party drove up in a splendid equipage. The 
 clear moonlight made all countenances visible, and Thom 
 as Beals darted towards the vehicle^ as if he had risen 
 from the ground. He stepped up fearlessly to Mustang, 
 and demanded to know " why he had inveigled his cousin 
 to accept his attentions, when her affections were already 
 pledged to another." The young Spaniard replied, " That 
 is no concern of yours ; " whereupon Thomas drew from 
 his inner pocket a pistol, and flashed it in the Spaniard's 
 face. The most profane oaths were uttered by the Span 
 ish gentleman, as he boisterously inquired "what right 
 the scapegrace of a Yankee had to meddle with affairs 
 which did not concern him." 
 
 Young Beals was never tardy in giving an answer 
 when full of liquor ; so he manfully replied, " You are a 
 mean, unprincipled scoundrel, to entice the affections of 
 my cousin, who is solemnly pledged to marry my friend j "
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 
 
 whereupon a roar of laughter was heard among the spec 
 tators, as so ludicrous an assertion was made touching the 
 person of the man upon whom more than half a century's 
 experience had laid an impress not now to be mistaken ; 
 for since he had been in such a panic respecting Rosa, the 
 wrinkles had settled most strikingly under his eyes, and 
 very recently some red flushes appeared upon his face, 
 which would be likely to prove a serious barrier to his 
 receiving many retainers, as an advocate for the anti- 
 liquor law. 
 
 Sims, however, attempted to protect Rosa ; but she 
 quite indignantly resisted his attentions, twitching herself 
 away from his person, and apparently anxious to interfere 
 in the contest, until she was conveyed from the scene by 
 Mr. Blair, who led her off in so resolute a manner, that 
 all resistance was in vain. 
 
 In the mean time, a large crowd had collected ; and as 
 the pale moonlight disclosed bloody noses and scratched 
 faces, the young men were separated, every one seeming 
 to justify the Spaniard in resisting an unprovoked attack, 
 and criminating Thomas Beals, who was so intoxicated 
 that he became furious. Uncle Sam had retired before 
 the affray commenced, and was not informed of it until 
 the next morning ; and that day the gout in his leg was 
 intensely painful. 
 
 Rosa now loudly pleaded that her new beau should be 
 exonerated from all blame, declaring that it was her
 
 240 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 sincere determination to attach herself to him hereafter, 
 thus evincing her consummate weakness before she knew 
 any thing of Mustang's character. 
 
 Sims proposed an immediate return ; for since, in so 
 short a time, so many distressing occurrences had taken 
 place, he deemed it expedient to quit such an unfortunate 
 spot. The whole party gladly accepted the proposition, 
 save our little coquette ; but her wish was lost in the mi 
 nority. 
 
 The gay bustle and cheerful life in which our friends 
 at first partook suddenly lost their relish. No longer 
 were they amused at looking upon " managing moth 
 ers," who seemed emphatically to have "daughters to 
 sell," nor yet with gay widows, and their troops of ad 
 mirers ; for the fountains of pleasure were dried up, and 
 all, save Mr. and Mrs. Blair, seemed to be on the verge 
 of retributive justice. And was it not a remarkable fea 
 ture in the case, that here, where all the restraints of 
 sobriety were removed, where giddy pleasure held an 
 undisputed sway, where no vigorous law exacted obedi 
 ence, and no public opinion questioned the expediency of 
 free gratification, there yet was a law in themselves a 
 harrowing consciousness which disturbed all their pleasant 
 anticipations ? Truly, vengeance seemed to pursue them. 
 
 Rosa, however, managed to accept the present of a 
 diamond ring, and carried away with her the daguerreo 
 type of the Spaniard, they promising mutually to keep
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 241 
 
 " a diary " of their daily lives, and faithfully to transmit 
 them to each other, until an interview, a few months 
 hence, should further consummate their designs. 
 
 "Why is it that parental influence thus to check such 
 youthful imprudences becomes so powerless when most 
 needed ? When the first step is taken in coquettish im 
 prudence, how easily the next succeeds ! until we hear 
 the fond parent acknowledge, " I have lost all power to 
 restrain my child. She is so wayward and impulsive, I 
 cannot govern her now " a frank admission, neverthe 
 less too often a true one ; and such a being was Rosa 
 Beals. 
 
 Our party, therefore, soon settled their bills, and made 
 homeward tracks. None but Mr. and Mrs. Blair seemed 
 at peace with themselves. Sims, the bachelor, knew he 
 must surrender his claim ; his wig gave marks of the neg 
 ligence he felt to his outward appearance, being often 
 displaced ; he grew attenuated and dull ; he sometimes 
 talked foolishly, " as if he had nothing to live for," and 
 showed a manifest contempt for his business. Tims 
 looked haggard and uneasy ; and Uncle Sam was sorely 
 vexed ; for Thomas was likely to prove a profligate and 
 ruined son. The sunshine seemed taken out of all their 
 countenances not that life need to have been distasteful, 
 only as a departure from the path of rectitude will make 
 it so. 
 
 21
 
 242 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Squire Sims is married to Mrs, Richard Beals. A Lecture to 
 Bachelors. The Excesses of Thomas Beals force Uncle Sain 
 to reconsider his past Course. Uncle Sam, for the first Time, 
 examines the Liquor Law. A Discussion with an Enemy to 
 the Law. 
 
 " How in the world did it come to pass so suddenly ? " 
 was the first exclamation of Mrs. Blair. 
 
 " And yet it was the best thing that could have hap 
 pened," said Uncle Sam. 
 
 " Why, what has happened ? " inquires Mr. Blair of 
 his wife. 
 
 " Neither more nor less than that aunt Beals is mar 
 ried to John Sims. Instead of the daughter, he has 
 taken the mother ; and Rosa has most playfully alluded 
 to the fact * that she has a most loving father, in lieu of a 
 beau.' " 
 
 Henceforth let bachelors take warning. Having pent 
 up their sympathies for half a century in their own 
 breasts, having looked abroad, and found nothing which 
 quite fills the ideal of their thoughts, when the mothers 
 who once made their fluttering and youthful hearts bound 
 with rapture have now daughters upon whom their
 
 THE EEIGNIXG KIXG. 243 
 
 dimmed vision turns, as suitable for their companions for 
 life, then beware how you suffer yourselves to become 
 entrapped. 
 
 The idea of youth and beauty seems to have a superadd- 
 ed influence as the hair whitens and the furrows thicken. 
 You vainly imagine in the charm of that volatile girl you 
 would find quite substantial happiness ; that she would 
 " help to keep you young ; " and then there would be a 
 pride in introducing so sweet a creature as your wife. 
 You imagine there is no great disparity in your tastes, 
 after all ; that she is sensible, and will conform to your 
 whims, or that you would be willing to forego old habits at 
 her dictation ; and so you strangely interest yourself in 
 all her giddy pursuits, and dream that life would be more 
 correspondent to that vision of your early years, if you 
 thus gave your late affections to the keeping of so young 
 and beautiful a being. 
 
 But remember there is another side to the picture. 
 When you are fairly won, and would fain rest in your 
 elbow chair, and talk over the incidents of the day, and 
 draw the curtains, and keep out the world, she, your 
 young wife, will sigh for the concert, or opera, or social 
 party, and " call you dull, and unequal to her expecta 
 tions ; " and so you shall be forced to find your pleasure 
 abroad, instead of in that quiet home. 
 
 Perchance, too, in that party, young gentlemen shall 
 throng about that young wife, and she shall wear sunny
 
 244: UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 smiles, and bedeck herself to meet them with more scru 
 pulous care than you shall witness on your own account ; 
 and then that "green-eyed monster" called Jealousy shall 
 torment your peace ; and too late you shall ask the ques 
 tion, " How came I thus deceived ? " 
 
 Why should we forbear to publish this lecture to bach 
 elors, now we have a case in point a case of perverted 
 fancy, which has ended, as it ought to have done, in the 
 wedding of the mother, instead of the daughter ? So we 
 will leave our newly-married pair in their "Vermont 
 home," while we again take a look around the palace, and 
 see what is now agitating the occupants. 
 
 Uncle Sam is examining sundry bills that have just 
 been presented him on " Thomas's account." 
 
 One is " for driving the roan horse, Highflier, immod 
 erately, thereby causing his death," which is set down at 
 the damage of " two hundred and fifty dollars." 
 
 Another is " for damaging a rockaway, breaking springs, 
 &c., seventy-five dollars." 
 
 A third is from the dram shop and oyster saloon, of 
 fashionable resort, " for a supper given to six young men, 
 champagne included, twenty-four dollars." 
 
 Uncle Sam mutters an oath. He is greatly vexed 
 when he does this, arid orders his coachman to come to 
 him. He reads the bills, and, in his extremity, even in 
 quires of him what can be done with his son. He has 
 not, however, ferreted out all his evil doings ; for John
 
 THE FAST YOUNG MAN.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 245 
 
 tells him that Vulcan has been severely lamed by hard 
 driving ; that the spring to the new carryall has been 
 broken ; and that Thomas was returned in a bad plight 
 last night, and was pitched into the gardener's house, on 
 the premises, whereupon John remarks, "And all this 
 comes, sir, from licensing dram shops" 
 
 " Humph" replies the old man. " They are cussed 
 holes, John, and no mistake" 
 
 " If the law to abolish drink altogether could prevail" 
 quoth John, "Mr. Thomas would be a likely young 
 man. A great deal is in him, sir ; but he has bad asso 
 ciates ; and they repute you to be worth your millions, 
 sir, and say that you advocate the license system, sir ; and 
 here is the trouble. 
 
 " If if I hardly dare say it, sir. It's not becoming 
 in me to be impertinent ; but if the young man could be 
 sent where he could not find a drop of liquor, depend on 
 it, sir, 'twould prove his salvation." 
 
 Uncle Sam felt there was a great truth uttered here, 
 and it set him thinking. At length he inquired, " John, 
 do you know a good place where I could put Tom ? " 
 
 " I have a real temperance brother in the State of 
 Maine, sir. He goes for the new law altogether ; says it 
 has saved him and hundreds of others. I don't know, 
 but I suppose he would take your son, and make a man 
 of him. Saving the use of liquor, Mr. Thomas is a fine 
 fellow ; noble, generous traits ; only that one thing takes 
 21*
 
 246 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 / 
 
 all the manliness out of him. I wish," said John, (and 
 he twirled his hat violently,) "I wish he could be re 
 deemed ; for he will have it in his power yet to do great 
 good with his money, when you shall have done with 
 it, sir." 
 
 Uncle Sam sighed most bitterly. Said he, "John, 
 here's a check for five hundred dollars. "Will you take 
 these bills, and settle them as if they were your own. 
 Bring them to me receipted. That's all." 
 
 " And 'shall I write to my brother about receiving the 
 young man, sir ? " 
 
 " I wish you would, John ; and, in the mean time, I'll 
 talk with my daughter and Blair upon the subject." 
 
 John had done this long ago, and well knew their senti 
 ments ; and thus, for a few days, the matter rested. 
 
 After John closed the door, and Uncle Sam was left 
 alone, what a variety of sensations pervaded his bosom ! 
 How naturally did he revert to the past ! For a lifetime 
 ay, and a long one, too how had he swelled the pile 
 of retributive justice that seemed meted out to him ! And 
 now he was about to seek the protective influences of that 
 very law which he had so violently contended against. 
 Self-interest again prompted him to act contrary to his 
 former course. The law he had vilified was made for 
 others. Now it became necessary for himself, to secure 
 peace in his home, and redeem the character of his 
 only son.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 247 
 
 * 
 
 Was there no other way whereby his salvation could 
 be effected ? He hated the idea of becoming a convert, 
 even under such necessity. Yet what had he left undone 
 that would avail? Had he not, again and again, tried 
 the force of moral suasion? And then how those old 
 arguments which his friends who pleaded for him to aban 
 don his hostility rose before him ! Again parental solici 
 tude was excluded. He supposed his son was dead ; and 
 almost in a frenzied desperation, he would exclaim, 
 " "Would to God it had so proved ! " Still again came 
 the thought of a restoration. Even the coachman, John, 
 had suggested, if he could but be cured of this one vice, 
 his manliness would return. And now how strongly 
 those parental instincts appealed to him for succor and 
 deliverance, let it come when and where it might ! 
 
 As it was, Thomas was an insufferable guest at home 
 or abroad. Every day he abandoned himself to the use 
 of ardent spirits, in some form. If he went penniless 
 from his home, he would soon encounter a party of his 
 old associates ; and together they would hie to some 
 " saloon," where inebriating draughts were quaffed. And 
 when his father supposed he had broken up such associa 
 tions, and the " saloon " was deserted, the "fashionable 
 hotel " had its open or private bar, from which his appe 
 tite could be fully satiated. In these excited moments, 
 his comrades could easily persuade him to procure an out 
 fit from some livery stable ; and being now well recognized
 
 248 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 as " the rich man's son whose father would settle what he 
 was unable to do," without difficulty, he obtained horses 
 and carriages to convey his friends to any race ground, or 
 neighboring establishment in our country villages, where 
 " fast young men " meet for purposes connected with gam 
 ing, fowl shooting, or other similar purposes, which gener 
 ally ended in a " smash up " to the vehicle, a scratched 
 face, and sometimes a sprained limb, while the wonder to 
 all observers was how they could have escaped with their 
 lives. 
 
 Living under such a continual dread of fatal conse 
 quences, and forced to meet unexpected debts, Uncle Sam 
 was driven to that last resort, the law, which effectually 
 prohibited the sale of an article which produced such 
 shocking results. And yet the old pride of position 
 the feeling that he was about to surrender the principle 
 upon which, and for which, he had ever been the cham 
 pion and advocate, drove him almost to desperation. In 
 wardly he loathed himself and all his works. These 
 thoughts, too, continually preyed upon his peace, because 
 they must be privately borne. If he mentioned them to 
 his daughter or her husband, he well knew he had no 
 weapons with which he could meet such powerful assail 
 ants. If he opened the subject to Tims, why, it was only 
 rekindling a fire which, for months, he had kept smoth 
 ered in his breast ; and as to Parson Grazewell, he had 
 not much confidence in his judgment ; for although he had
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 249 
 
 ever found him ready to yield to his principles, yet he felt 
 there was an insincerity, a reluctance to avow manly sen 
 timents, for fear of contradiction, or worldly loss. 
 
 And do we not despise, in our secret hearts, those very 
 friends whom we secure, if that friendship is not based 
 upon the highest standard of moral conviction ? And what 
 good would it do, should he summon his old plausible legal 
 adviser, Sims, from his comfortable quarters ? He knew 
 just how far he would follow the argument ; and now he 
 was not anxious to know about " the constitutionality of 
 the anti-liquor law," nor was he puzzled to divine whether 
 a " repeal " would follow, or " extended licenses " would 
 be current. O, no. All his anxious inquiry seemed now 
 to turn on the plain, simple question, "Is there a spot where 
 my son may be placed out of the reach of temptation ? " 
 and his whole heart cried out, " If there be such an asy 
 lum, let me patronize it." 
 
 Truly, these were new thoughts with which Uncle Sam 
 was contending ; but they were tremendously harrowing 
 to pursue. It did sometimes seem as if the book of re 
 membrance was unsealed before his vision, and his right 
 eous doom was foreshadowed, so that no earthly palliatives 
 could appease his awakened conscience. And those secret 
 whispers which inquired why he had so long withstood 
 the searchings of that prompter which again and again 
 had revealed the sinfulness of the traffic those argu 
 ments, as if from the spirit land, seemed reiterated by
 
 250 UNCLE SAM'8 PALACE J OR, 
 
 that departed brother not revealed by earthly mediums 
 or ghostly spectres, but written by his own hand, as he 
 was on the verge of eternity. And now, last of all, the 
 parental instincts, which surmounted all these impressive 
 warnings, must they not, with scorching blasts, have swept 
 through the chambers of memory, over which self-interest 
 and a desire to sustain public opinion had set a seal, or 
 carefully kept locked in the painful past ? So that when 
 the heart of the old man throbbed almost to bursting, the 
 only sympathy which he now sought was from his coach 
 man, John, who, although in a servant's capacity, had a 
 noble heart to pity, and a generosity of nature which 
 could readily forgive the mistakes of a whole life, pro 
 vided there was a disposition to retrace past errors. 
 
 Do not smile, my friend, because the rich millionnaire 
 chose his coachman for his sympathizing friend, in his day 
 of trouble. Does not poor human nature often resort to 
 feeble means for sustaining strength ? "With John he had 
 perfect freedom. He was not fearful of being accused as 
 a seeeder from his party as a traitor who had left the 
 ranks of his friends ; but in the simple expressions of 
 such a man he heard the dictates of common sense, un- 
 warped by party feeling ; and these were tones to which 
 Uncle Sam was not habituated. 
 
 He, however, looked intently into John's face for a mo 
 ment, while a hesitating, half-expressed sentence seemed 
 about to fall from his lips. At length he inquired, " Have
 
 THE BEIGKIKO KIHO. 251 
 
 you a copy of the anti-liquor law, John ? My good fel 
 low," said he, " would you believe that I never read the 
 law in my life ? I only knew it was prohibitory, and that 
 it affected my moneyed interest ; but I don't know, John, 
 but I shall be obliged to try its practical effect* upon 
 Tom." 
 
 " Twould work like a charm, sir," replied John. " In 
 deed, I know no other way to save him, sir. I think, too, 
 it would give you great peace of mind to reflect that you 
 availed yourself of such a safety rope, sir." 
 
 " But, John, what will be said of me if I thus yield to 
 these convictions ? There's a party, yon know, who would 
 forever hold me in derision for leaving them." 
 
 u And there's your son, sir, who will be lost to yon un 
 less he avails himself of the benefit ; and it must come 
 through yon, sir." John appeared to gain confidence, and 
 he added, " Which, sir, is of the most consequence to yon, 
 the friendship of liquor venders, or the reformation of 
 your only son ? That settles the question, Mr. Beak. I 
 hope Pm not too forward in my remarks, sir." 
 
 Uncle Sam patted John on the shoulder as he replied, 
 u You've been with me many years, and always proved 
 yourself a consistent man, John. I respect your opinion. 
 Ton know my trials. Ill examine the copy we spoke 
 about. Go, now, and bring it to me." 
 
 John came immediately back, bringing the paper con 
 taining the anti-liquor law in full, as it now stands, unre-
 
 252 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OB, 
 
 pealed. Uncle Sam closed his door, and began to exam 
 ine the law for the first time. "It is stringent" muttered 
 he, " and that is the reason I have quarrelled about it ; 
 but what less than this will give the remedy I seek? If 
 my son can get any liquor at all, the appetite becomes 
 unappeased ; and he is wild until he drinks to excess. 
 Well, this cuts off the license system only for medicinal 
 purposes ; and why should it not, to be consistent ? If 
 there is a place where the stuff can be bought, Tom will 
 avail himself of it. I suppose Blair is right, and Tims 
 was right years ago ; and there's brother Dick ; " and, for 
 the first time since the day Squire Sims read to him that 
 document, he went to his private drawer, and took it out, 
 and read it over. 
 
 Uncle Sam was not aware that any one had heard him 
 in his cogitations ; yet Mrs. Blair sat in an anteroom, 
 and, with her brother Thomas, heard his low muttcrings. 
 Thomas seemed deeply moved by the intensity of his fa 
 ther's anguish on his account ; and he said to his sister, as 
 they soon after talked together, " I would be thankful to 
 reform, if I knew how to begin." 
 
 " Do tell father so, then," replied Mrs. Blair. " It Avill 
 so delight his heart to feel that you are willing to yield 
 yourself to redeeming influences ; and, Thomas, think 
 what a dear brother you will become to me, if you only 
 subdue this propensity." And she sent him to his father's 
 room.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 253 
 
 There was a struggle, painfully exciting, upon the part 
 of both father and son. Convictions that had been long 
 resisted now pleaded for a rehearing in the father's breast, 
 and a renewed determination to reform led the son to 
 repeat many old promises ; but how did he strengthen his 
 father as to his duty in this particular ? 
 
 " I can never reform," remarked Thomas, " while there 
 are so many baits to entrap me. Father, it is the licensed 
 saloons and the hotel bars that continually keep me in 
 my slavish debasement. I resolve, on leaving home, to 
 return a sober man ; but I am met by some acquaintances, 
 and I am not manly enough to withstand their invitations ; 
 and I drink one glass. Then my desire to drink another 
 succeeds, and I become wild and giddy ; and you know 
 the rest." 
 
 " Indeed, child, I do ; and I am going to turn about, 
 and direct my influence to another channel. I mean to 
 advocate the anti-liquor law, Thomas, in future" 
 
 " That's the true way, father, to root out drunkenness. 
 The law must be put in force, without such a license sys 
 tem as we have had ; for I can procure liquor almost any 
 where. I don't know what people quarrel so about. 
 Every intemperate man I converse with acknowledges 
 the law is none too stringent, if we mean to effect a ref 
 ormation. I think, father, the opposition is mainly on 
 account of pecuniary interests involved in the traffic? 
 
 u Just so, my son. I'm glad to hear you reason like a 
 22
 
 254 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 man. It puts new life in me. Thomas, I've been talking 
 about your reformation with John ; and he says he has a 
 real, pledged temperance brother, who lives where the 
 law is operative ; and he is an excellent farmer. Now, 
 what do you say, my son, to going there until we bring 
 about a state of society here that will not so endanger 
 you ? " 
 
 " I would vote with both hands to go there, sir. I wish 
 I could be sent to-day." He added, " There are a great 
 many reasons why I wish to reform ; " and then he hesi 
 tated, as if he had said enough ; but he brushed away a 
 tear, and left the room. 
 
 Uncle Sam next talked with his daughter she who 
 always strengthened him in his good purposes. We can 
 not narrate all they said ; but the old man wondered he 
 had never before minutely examined what he had been 
 contending against. He even went so far as to say he 
 did not believe but many would be convinced of their 
 error in such wilful opposition, if they would calmly ex 
 amine the necessity which made an anti-liquor law indis 
 pensable. He thought over the domestic ties which sur 
 rounded the most inveterate condemners of the law. 
 None of their dearest treasures had fallen victims to in 
 temperance, that he could recall to his memory. They 
 only looked at it in a selfish view, just as he had done for 
 years. 
 
 " But it is never too late to confess our errors, father,"
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 255 
 
 replied Mrs. Blair. " It is so manly not to resist convic 
 tions of duty, that one always gains the respect of the 
 wise and unprejudiced; and then the consciousness that 
 we have risen out of our foggy, narrow views, into the 
 bracing atmosphere of truth, always makes one feel a 
 conscious dignity in his new position which he would 
 not exchange again for all the bribes which wealth can 
 bestow. Money is nothing, you know, father, to inward 
 quietness of mind." 
 
 " Eunice, child, I believe you are an angel, sent to 
 strengthen me. I feel all you say is too true ; and if we 
 can but bring about Thomas's reformation, do you suppose 
 I will ever again fight against the means which procured 
 it?" 
 
 " And we will ask God to assist us," replied the con 
 scientious daughter. " He never frowns upon our sincere 
 endeavors to do right." 
 
 The father nodded his assent. And now we will see 
 how soon after the old man was made to attest the con 
 victions that he had expressed to his children. 
 
 Just at this time, an enemy of the law called on Mr. 
 Beals for funds wherewith their opposition could be main 
 tained, this being an object upon which Uncle Sam had 
 hitherto freely lavished his money. His friend quickly 
 detected a change in the old man's feelings ; for he even 
 expressed the thought that he wished he might never
 
 256 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 again be troubled with the subject; for, remarked he, 
 after all, " We must have the law" 
 
 " Must have the law, do I understand you to say, Mr. 
 Beals ? What widow's plea has operated so powerfully 
 on your heart, just now ? Surely, you are not about to 
 flinch from your long-established principles, and thus jeop 
 ardize such large investments of property as are exposed 
 to those engaged in the traffic." 
 
 " "Well, well," said Uncle Sam, " I have been looking at 
 this matter as I never gave it attention before. Hitherto 
 I have had my liquors safely lodged in my cellar. They 
 were a harmless enemy, under lock and key. I ordered 
 them brought out, as my friends desired. I never drank 
 immoderately myself, as you well know ; for I have al 
 ways despised a drunkard. But, sir, I must tell you, the 
 matter has been pressed home to me as I never expected. 
 You know I have a son an only one a smart, capable 
 young man, except this habit of drinking. 
 
 " "Well, I thought I could govern his appetite by closely 
 watching him, and keeping the article out of his reach, 
 and not furnishing him with means to obtain it ; but, sir, 
 I find I was mistaken. He will find a friend or old com 
 panion, who decoys him in the city to those cussed saloons, 
 where they drink, then gamble, or drive off to some other 
 rendezvous ; and I am obliged to foot the bills a thing 
 not so important, either, as the mortification of having a 
 child with such a depraved appetite. I have been thinking
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 257 
 
 over this matter deep thoughts, I assure you. Thoughts 
 I did not wish to have knocking at the door, have come 
 unbidden ; and I have, in my imaginings at such times, 
 cut off the licenses from petty dram shops and saloons 
 of fashionable resort ; and when Thomas obeyed my 
 interdiction not to enter these, why, at the first-class 
 hotels, some young man was sure to give him the first 
 glass ; and then it was all over ; for when his appetite 
 is fed in a small way, it craves further gratification ; 
 and he returns home as you, sir, would not have a son 
 of yours, provided there was any way, under God's 
 heaven, to prevent it. And now, in the name of hu 
 manity, I ask you, Is there any way to redeem my son 
 but by a law which effectually prevents him from procur 
 ing the article ? " 
 
 The retailer looked abashed, as well as astonished, and 
 replied, " But, sir, we did not expect a desertion from 
 this quarter in our ranks. You have ever been our 
 steady friend ; we could count on you as willing to face 
 any amount of funds ; and, just now, we are anxious 
 for a further addition, as we, engaged in the traffic, are 
 determined to conquer or die in the cause. "We have 
 already, as you know, a heavy reserved fund with which 
 to wage the battle ; but if we are prohibited from calling 
 on you to aid us, how can we look to weaker props to 
 sustain us ? Admitting you have an inebriate son, does 
 it follow, that, for him, a law must be made which shall 
 22*
 
 258 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 jeopardize my interests ? Must your interest work my 
 downfall ? " 
 
 Uncle Sam grew indignant. The very arguments he 
 had used for years to others were now tauntingly thrown 
 at him ; and he would not bear them. He hastily re 
 plied, "I have made sacrifices enough on account of 
 the traffic. I have given my money as freely as if it 
 were dug from a mine of gold. I have advocated the 
 party through every discouraging aspect. I have in 
 curred enmity and disgrace, as I now look upon the 
 thing ; and yet you demand the further sacrifice of my 
 child. He shall not be laid upon your infernal altar. I 
 will, if necessary, the rather knock in the head of every 
 butt and quarter cask in my store, than peril him any 
 longer. No," continued he, " you must not ask me for 
 funds to carry on this traffic. If I escape my future 
 doom by repenting of what I have done, God be praised ; 
 but don't ask for more." 
 
 Uncle Sam, now he was beginning to avow his con 
 victions, seemed to be changed in the style of his phrase 
 ology. We see a marked purity in his conversation, 
 somewhat different from his former vulgarities ; and is it 
 wonderful that so cleansing a process as the right aspect 
 of the temperance question involves should affect the lan 
 guage, as the mind clearly discerns its purifying effects ? 
 and he thus continued : 
 
 " I have now, sir, laid open my heart as I did not
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 259 
 
 intend. Never before have I uttered myself aloud in 
 this manner ; but the crushing weight of parental obliga 
 tion compels me to conceal no longer what I see the dire 
 necessity of supporting the law" 
 
 "Perhaps, sir," replied the retailer, "these are only 
 passionate words, uttered in your hour of perplexity. 
 I shall not publish them as coming from a man whom 
 we hare so highly esteemed, and whose name we have 
 borne so triumphantly upon our list as a foremost leader." 
 
 " Mr. Flinn," replied Uncle Sam, " no gassy language 
 or flattering commendation will now avail. Report me 
 or not, as you choose. I have been too long entangled 
 in such meshes. I have too long resisted the pleas of 
 humanity. Nor am I a sudden convert. I have wilfully 
 closed my eyes for years upon the destructive process of 
 intemperance ; and the last bribe money I paid to secure 
 voters stung me to the quick, as a criminal deed, although 
 I silently consented to the act." 
 
 " And so I suppose, Mr. Beals, you will now herald all 
 our business transactions to the friends of the law. A 
 pretty detail will be thus furnished, wherewith they will 
 strengthen their cause. In the name of all that is honor 
 able and manly, promise me that you will not betray us. 
 All parties have secret influences to effect the results they 
 desire. Our bribe money, and the fees paid to legal ad 
 visers, what our committees have felt bound to advocate, 
 and all the secrets with which you are acquainted, of
 
 260 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OB, 
 
 course, cannot be divulged by you, unless you greatly 
 criminate yourself; for you have been our first leader, 
 and a traitor is a despicable character, Mr. Beals." 
 
 " So we are all, all despicable. Why have I suffered 
 myself to be so entangled, just to keep in favor with a 
 party, just to support my gains in the traffic, and just to 
 mislead others in the destructive way ? 1 know I may 
 seem like a maniac to you, Flinn, in my remarks > but an 
 aroused conscience speaks out in firm tones ; and where it 
 has long been pent up, when it vents its indignation, it 
 does so earnestly. I have no apologies to make. My 
 heart is oppressed, and cries out for deliverance." 
 
 Flinn was more and more astonished. This was deser 
 tion in the high places. It would prove a fatal blow to 
 the party, a mighty influence to operate on public opin 
 ion, a heavy drawback upon their future plans, and, per 
 chance, an incentive to others to become baptized with the 
 same spirit ; for did he not know many whose moral con 
 victions almost turned against worldly advantage ? Yet 
 what was to be done ? Uncle Sam was inflexible. It 
 would not be judicious to try to bring him over. He was 
 still of sane mind and sound judgment ; and so the least 
 said upon the matter the better. Flinn left him with deep 
 regret thus to separate.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 261 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Thomas Seals is placed in a Home where the Anti-Liquor Law 
 prevails. Description of a Temperance Village. Tims's 
 Convictions. A Mass Convention held at the Palace. 
 Knocking out the Bungs. "Uncle Sam's Conversation with 
 Parson Grazewell. 
 
 THE arrangements for the removal of Thomas Beals 
 from the reach of temptation were about completed ; and 
 he continued quite pleased with the idea of being emanci 
 pated from the power of evil associates. Many an affec 
 tionate appeal had been addressed to him by his sister, 
 and many an urgent solicitation had been set forth, that, 
 by being restored to sobriety, he could become a useful 
 citizen, and an inheritor of vast wealth, with which she 
 always planned he could help redeem those who, like him, 
 were debased by the free use of liquor ; for her generous 
 nature always contrived some amelioration of human woe 
 by earthly possessions, probably feeling that the property 
 her father had accumulated was mostly wrung from hu 
 man suffering, when traced to its true source: she felt as all 
 true, noble-hearted people do feel, that its appropriation 
 ought to be devoted to allaying the evil it had engendered. 
 
 While Thomas's outfit was preparing, there seemed to
 
 262 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 be something which preyed upon his mind that he dared 
 not divulge. Mrs. Blair, supposing it was some account 
 of ill luck at the gaming table, never pressed him for an 
 explanation ; and he went away with his untold secret. 
 
 The morning of their departure was a delightful one 
 The hot rays of a summer's sun were tempered by a cool 
 breeze, and the copious showers of the preceding day 
 caused all nature to smile. John, the coachman, had 
 trimmed his horses with fly nets and green boughs ; and 
 having been kept on high feed, some days, for this intend 
 ed journey, they were antic and showy in the extreme. 
 
 To amuse Thomas, his father suggested that he should 
 take the reins when they were fairly under way; and 
 with varied conversation and occasional stops, riding 
 through a romantic and picturesque country, the whole 
 way passed off finely, the journey occupying three days 
 by carriage, while the fleet steam horse took only a few 
 hours to complete it. 
 
 Thomas Beals would have made an excellent farmer, 
 had he been early trained to the occupation ; but rich 
 men then felt that they could do better with their sons 
 than cause them to hold or drive the plough. It was a 
 sad mistake with many thus to judge of an enlightened 
 agriculturist, who is now coming to be viewed as occupy 
 ing one of the most enviable and exalted positions which 
 is assigned to toiling humanity. 
 
 Uncle Sam was only associated with a farm just enough
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 263 
 
 to think of drudgery and a hard lot, whereby one could not 
 accumulate money ; and the heavy demands his business 
 had since made upon his time had not essentially changed 
 his opinion. He had not read many scientific journals 
 which treated of modern improvements in husbandry ; 
 but he was, in truth, the owner of the land upon which 
 he was now taking his son. John had obtained money 
 from his master to purchase the farm, giving him a mort 
 gage of the same ; and then he let it to his brother, to 
 whom we are about to introduce our readers. 
 
 Thomas Beals was acquainted with Jhis fact, whicli cir 
 cumstance gave him more interest in the premises ; for, 
 now he was about trying another course of life, his ideas 
 did not expand to obtain any higher position than to be 
 come owner of a country house and a few acres of land. 
 But why did he covet a house, without a blithesome wife 
 to occupy it ? "We will not answer the question just now, 
 but take a glance at the occupants and premises, at which 
 John has just halted, and, in a most familiar manner, is 
 signifying, by a most vociferous " whoa," that they have 
 actually arrived, where they are most cordially received, 
 and an air of thrift was every where apparent. Farm 
 er George was a hale, robust man, with a countenance 
 full of cheerful merriment. His wife bore marks of a 
 cultivated intellect, and, by the agreeable tone of her 
 conversation, completely won Uncle Sam's heart ; and 
 Thomas thought she resembled his sister. A daughter,
 
 264 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 eighteen years of age, moved about with great alacrity ; 
 and although diffident, and unable to speak without a deep 
 blush, yet she conversed sensibly, and appeared no way 
 deficient in a good understanding. The son, a young man 
 of twenty, was laboring in an adjoining field. While the 
 dinner was in preparation, Captain George Treadwell pro 
 posed that his guests should take a look over their pleas 
 ant village. As they were doing so, the captain often 
 called upon his company to stop and listen to his varied: 
 accounts of the beneficial workings of the temperance 
 law. " You observe," said he, " that old, dilapidated 
 house upon the opposite side of the street. That, two 
 years ago, was a rum tavern. Many is the man that re 
 members the terrible scenes he has there witnessed, before 
 the passage of our law. There were seasons when a riot 
 ous spirit more especially prevailed, such as ' muster 
 days,' 'town meeting days,' and whenever the militia 
 met, and particularly when there was any agitating ques 
 tion in the town to be settled by vote, it was a common 
 practice 'to treat' certain members, in order to secure 
 their votes. This, in the end, always produced a riotous 
 spirit, which was seldom quelled until the poor inebriates, 
 in their besotted condition, lay in piles upon broken set 
 tees, or were carried home in a state of horrible stupor. 
 A town meeting came, at length, to be looked upon as a 
 scene of disgraceful procedure. The landlord drank, and 
 his son followed the example, until, by and by, they
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 265 
 
 became unfitted for any sort of employment ; and the 
 tavern was about being closed up, when one of the fathers 
 of the town, a stanch friend of temperance, agreed to re 
 lease the premises to the old landlord, on condition he 
 would become a pledged man. To save himself from 
 ruin, the old man consented, and so did the son. I would 
 like to have had you witness the change at our next 
 election of town officers. Scarcely a man was seen hov 
 ering round the portals of that tavern, unless he had busi 
 ness with some other man. Long before sundown, every 
 citizen was safely returned to his home ; and the greatest 
 unanimity prevailed. There never was such an argument 
 in favor of the anti-liquor law witnessed before. In a 
 month or two, however, Sykes, the landlord, concluded he 
 had rather change his business; and he turned farmer. 
 The old house was closed, and has never been reopened. 
 One of our citizens has just bought it, and is to repair and 
 open it upon temperance principles ; for we need a public 
 house among us." 
 
 Passing on a few steps, they again halted. " This is 
 the residence of Sykes, the old rum landlord, about whom 
 we were speaking. See how neatly he has trimmed up 
 his hedge, and how finely his gravel walk is laid out to 
 to his front door. The man is thoroughly renewed) gen 
 tlemen, since he quit liquor." Uncle Sam had seen 
 Sykes, and sold him liquor years ago ; but he kept the 
 secret. 
 
 23
 
 266 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 As they further proceeded, the white dwellings, and the 
 neat, and even tasteful, outbuildings, all indicated thrift, 
 while upon the highest hill in the village stood an elegant 
 carved figure-head, not unlike what we sometimes see 
 upon our steamboats. They were told that the man who 
 resided here was formerly a master of a vessel, and an 
 intemperate man ; but, years ago, he reformed, and placed 
 on his summer house, upon that height of land, the figure, 
 which he named the " Goddess of Temperance ; " and as 
 she now ruled the destinies of the whole village, she 
 might well cast her smiling countenance upon the inhab 
 itants she overlooked. 
 
 Thus had Temperance not only increased the thrift, but 
 she had improved the taste, of the villagers ; for, as Cap 
 tain Treadwell remarked, " what was saved by the relin- 
 quishment of liquor would soon build a tasteful cottage for 
 any man." 
 
 During this walk, they frequently were accosted by men 
 who were going to and returning from their laborious pur 
 suits. Every one looked a personification of his newly- 
 adopted principles. There were no ragged children, no 
 shabbily-dressed loafers, no hats from broken panes of 
 glass, no fences broken down, and overrun with nettles. 
 Uncle Sam was touched. He never felt the need of an 
 entire surrender more keenly than at the present moment. 
 He had no misgivings about his recent declarations in de 
 fence of the law. His misgivings were at his withholding
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 267 
 
 his influence so long. "What could the most violent op- 
 poser of the law have found for an argument to support 
 his position here ? Even Captain Treadwell himself was 
 a reclaimed man. Formerly he had been the commander 
 of a small fishing schooner ; hut he was never long suc 
 cessful. Sometimes he made unprofitable voyages, some 
 times he was overtaken by gales, and driven into ports for 
 repairs, and sometimes he was "top-heavy" himself, which, 
 after all, was the secret of his ill success. But he aban 
 doned the sea and the use of liquor simultaneously, became 
 a farmer, and, ever since, had been prospered by good 
 crops, a kind brother, (John, the coachman ;) and he was 
 now a useful citizen, and a leading member of society. 
 John had bought the farm at a bargain, and mortgaged it 
 to Uncle Sam ; so that, by carefully laying by his earn 
 ings, he hoped, at no distant day, to redeem it. 
 
 But our party have returned to that cheerful home, and 
 a well-spread table awaits them. There are grateful hearts 
 
 and cheerful voices ; and -Uncle Sam felt that a cottage, 
 
 
 
 where sobriety and decorum reign supreme, is even pref 
 erable to a palace. Thomas was safe in the keeping of 
 such a family. He even thought he should be happy 
 there himself; for there was a tranquil contentment, un 
 disturbed by the petty annoyances with which he had 
 long been surrounded, by adherence to his party. Thomas 
 felt its power, and was resolved to try the influence upon
 
 268 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 himself which, had so wonderfully changed those about 
 him; and the encouraging tones of Captain Treadwell's 
 voice had a powerful influence upon his good resolutions. 
 
 This is an important consideration in the work of re 
 form. Be careful always to place a pledged individual 
 where he will be encouraged, and, if possible, furnish him 
 with that employment lest adapted to his taste. Little 
 things greatly affect character ; but to those who are 
 struggling to obtain a victory over evil habits they are no 
 trifles. Perchance the young man in question, had he 
 been more closely watched, and early influenced by pa 
 rental counsel, would have escaped the foe which now 
 destroyed his peace. Yet it may be so ordered by Prov 
 idence, that such signal deliverances shall be wrought out 
 to exhibit the weakness of men who rely upon their own 
 unaided strength. 
 
 At evening, Captain Treadwell showed that he incor 
 porated a religious trust with daily labor, and implored 
 divine strength to 'enable him to keep in the true path. 
 He read some passages which came home to Uncle Sam's 
 conscience with withering force, such as, " Thou hast set 
 my secret sins in the light of thy countenance ; " and this 
 so agitated the old man's heart, that, after prayer, he in 
 quired of Captain Treadwell about his ideas of a future 
 judgment, and seemed anxious to have the query an 
 swered, " whether our secret sins would, in the day of judg 
 ment, be made manifest to an assembled universe, or that
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 269 
 
 each soul would be so convicted by the awakened power 
 of memory, that it would acknowledge the justice of its 
 condemnation, without the intervention of mercy " a very 
 agitating question to Uncle Sam, who felt he had been 
 one of the chief of sinners ; for since he changed his ar 
 guments in support of the law, he found the religious ele 
 ment in his nature was not so easily stifled. Captain 
 Treadwell and he pursued such inquiries till a late hour ; 
 yet Uncle Sam was not weary with the conversation. 
 
 Day by day, however, he saw Thomas becoming more 
 at home, and willing to engage in agricultural labor. He 
 had already selected a few acres of choice land, whereon 
 he proposed to plant an orchard, his father promising 
 him that he would send him some hundreds of well- 
 selected fruit trees; so that the family where he lived 
 had a superadded motive to treat him with affectionate 
 care. 
 
 Uncle Sam now proposed to John that they should 
 return ; and as they did so, many a scheme was devised 
 whereby a benefit should accrue to all parties ; and it did 
 really seem as if the old man's smothered humanity began 
 to reassume its rightful authority. 
 
 On his return, he was gladly welcomed by his daugh 
 ter ; and the pleasing picture which he drew of the effects 
 of the temperance movement, and of her brother's safety, 
 completely overjoyed her. " My dear father," she could 
 not but exclaim, "it is worth more than all the mine 
 23*
 
 270 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OB, 
 
 of gold you could bestow upon me to know that you are a 
 convert to this doctrine. It is what Mr. Blair and I have 
 prayed for, have hoped for ; and now the realization 
 makes us an undivided household." Uncle Sam was 
 moved. Think you his full heart regretted the announce 
 ment of convictions that had long preyed upon his peace ? 
 
 It is tune, quite time, that Mr. Tims should speak to us. 
 After Uncle Sam's disclosure to his old friend who came 
 to solicit the funds wherewith to fight, the store was liter 
 ally besieged, to ascertain the truth of the rumor that 
 they had lost their zealous supporter ; yet as Tims was 
 not informed of it by any direct avowal, he could only 
 give evasive answers. He was shocked at the barbarity 
 with which his old friends treated the subject. 
 
 " He is a demented old fool," exclaimed one. 
 
 " Driven to madness by a drunken son," remarks an 
 other. 
 
 "The old man has. got his millions, and he may well 
 turn traitor," says a third. 
 
 Indeed, not one conceded that an honest conviction had 
 induced the change. Is it not so, whenever we leave a 
 party whose principles are questionable, that they will 
 impute every motive but a sincere one to the seceder ? 
 
 Tims, therefore, early consulted with Uncle Sam on his 
 return, and a long interview followed. We have already 
 seen that his convictions of the sin of the traffic were
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 271 
 
 stifled by Uncle Sam's entreaties and threats ; and we 
 may well suppose that, if reawakened, the desire to 
 change his business would be more likely to follow. 
 Ever since the lecture by Brown, Tims had felt discon 
 certed. He had attempted to quiet his conscience by re 
 storing the money he did take from the then degraded 
 man ; for he had enclosed in a note the sum of five hun 
 dred dollars, which, by way of raillery, he added, " would, 
 he trusted, prevent him from ever again repeating the 
 tale which had so vexed his soul;" while, in reply, 
 Brown said, " Should I tell the stery again, be assured, 
 Mr. Tims, I shall not forget to add the afterpiece? 
 
 Uncle Sam soon perceived that a new set of visitors 
 now frequented the palace. Brave temperance men 
 called to give him the right hand of fellowship ; and, 
 what was the best feature of all, many who had been 
 swayed by his example, yet had long felt convinced of 
 their unsound position, now courageously avowed them 
 selves friends of the law ; and letters from almost every 
 town in the state announced to him their approbation of 
 the stand he had taken. 
 
 Uncle Sam soon proposed a mass convention, to [meet 
 at his palace, and sent his invitations far and near, that a 
 large assemblage might be present. 
 
 How different was this from all his former entertain 
 ments ! Here were judges, senators, representatives, men 
 of talent, and men of principle. The palace was not
 
 272 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 full; for those who ought to have entered it were not 
 there. Non-committal men ; men who doubted the ex 
 pediency of making the law ; men who doubted whether, 
 if it were made, it could be sustained ; men who had 
 large wealth in the traffic, and purblind men who advo 
 cated higher claims than poor humanity's call, because 
 property, to them, ought to be " legally and religiously pro 
 tected ; " and that large class of men who are dependent 
 upon public breath and office ; and, last of all, religious 
 men, ministers of the gospel of Christ, who preached 
 the necessity of regeneration, " many of these, with one 
 consent, began to make excuse." Yet, like the feast in 
 the Gospels, the halt and the blind, the maimed and the 
 outcast, were compelled to enter ; and the palace was 
 full. And was not every guest filled with a joyous 
 heart ? and was it not right they " should make merry 
 and be glad " ? since those who were lost were found, and 
 those who were dead were restored to life. 
 
 But what means that shout from the multitude ? 
 Whence issues that stream the odor of which brings 
 fresh recollections of distress and want so vividly before 
 many of this assembly ? Why, Uncle Sam has ordered 
 John, the coachman, to become his temperance agent ; 
 and not a butt, puncheon, hogshead, or quarter cask has 
 escaped his heavy blow. He has beheaded them all, and 
 they are furiously disgorging their contents. 
 
 And what a supper was spread for those guests ! Tell
 
 KNOCKING OUT THE BUNGS.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 273 
 
 me not that we need the enlivening draught to make our 
 spirits glad ; that, without wine, our social feasts degen 
 erate into dulness ; that the healthful pulse needs the ac 
 celeration of the poisonous cup; for here was genuine 
 mirth, yet so chastened, that no succeeding reaction made 
 the past loathsome to contemplate ; but all was as sun 
 shine without a cloud. 
 
 Uncle Sam had invited the Rev. Mr. Grazewell to be 
 present at this entertainment ; but he declined the privi 
 lege ; whereupon his parishioner appointed a day for an 
 interview, Avhich took place at no distant period ; and we 
 cannot withhold some of the conversation which then 
 passed between them. 
 
 Here, again, we are called to remark upon the correct 
 language with which Uncle Sam clothed his thoughts. 
 Indeed, the purity of his thoughts seemed to keep pace 
 with the chastened character of his convictions. 
 
 " I have been thinking," remarked Uncle Sam to the 
 clerical gentleman, " that had the pulpit been a more effi 
 cient organ, many would have been converted, long ago, to 
 the doctrine of temperance. This may sound oddly, com 
 ing from me, who always expressed the greatest satisfac 
 tion with the manner you have treated the subject. You 
 must know, however, that, for years, I have with difficulty 
 winked out of sight the convictions of my own conscience ; 
 and the voices from the pulpit to which I have listened 
 have been to me as a siren song to lull my half-awakened
 
 274 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 conscience. When I first conversed with you upon this 
 subject, I did secretly hope you would forever quiet my 
 disturbed feelings. I tried to make out plausible argu 
 ments, in self-defence ; and sometimes I gained a partial 
 vindication for myself to continue in the traffic ; but Prov 
 idence sent upon me such a powerful motive for my en 
 tire abandonment of my former course, that now I cannot 
 see how others could prop me up with such specious ar 
 guments." 
 
 " But," replied Mr. Grazewell, " had I preached any 
 ether doctrine, you would have closed the door against me, 
 and either allied yourself to another, or quit the house of 
 God altogether. I am no party man, Mr. Beals no 
 agitator. I never saw the necessity of driving the subject 
 of temperance with a sledge hammer into my parishioners' 
 hearts. I have always uttered the prayer, that ' an end 
 might be put to intemperance and its kindred vices ; ' and 
 no man respects sober, discreet citizens more than I do." 
 
 "But," pursued Uncle Sam, "you ought to be influ 
 enced by a higher law than my desire that you should 
 yield to my prejudices. This non-committal course kept 
 me still more blindfolded in error ; for I always reasoned 
 with myself, l Well, here are men set apart to point out 
 the dangerous sins of our tunes ; and if my calling is such 
 an aggravated one, would they be bribed by worldly con 
 siderations to keep silent ? ' " 
 
 Mr. Grazewell here interposed. " Sir, this subject has
 
 THE KEIGNING KING. 275 
 
 occasioned not only myself, but our whole association, a 
 great deal of uneasiness ; for we have desired to meet the 
 wants of our people, not to gloss over their sins, neither 
 to deal so harshly with them as to drive them out of the 
 sanctuary. In nearly all our congregations, there were 
 men connected with societies and churches who had more 
 or less interest in the traffic of ardent spirits. They were 
 wealthy men, of the stamp of yourself, sir. They were 
 sensible men, who held our public offices, and presided 
 over our political interests; and, with the exception of 
 their occupation, they were righteous men. It was harsh 
 judgment to look such men in the face, and say to them, 
 ' You are perilling your souls.' Mr. Beals, I hold that 
 every man is responsible for his own sin ; and I have yet 
 to learn that I am accountable for the different manner 
 with which we judge of various subjects. 
 
 " Among us was yourself ; Deacon Tibbetts, who is a 
 retired distiller; Captain Bates, who has for many years 
 been engaged in the liquor trade ; Mr. Tims, your part 
 ner ; Mr. Slow, the clerk of our society ; Jethro Edwards, 
 and Squire Holiday all our first men. So, then, any 
 appeal to give to foreign missions, to promote education, 
 to pay regular instalments for the support of the poor, 
 for the cause of seamen, for the interests of the town, and 
 the good of society in general, has always met with a 
 ready response. I have never felt like telling such men 
 they were invoking the displeasure of their Maker by
 
 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 continuing in their traffic. I may be wrong, but if so, I 
 pray that I may be enlightened." 
 
 " It is just this talk," replied Uncle Sam, " that keeps 
 up the delusion that men can gain their thousands by a 
 sinful trade, and yet atone for all the evil by giving small, 
 paltry sums to arrest vice in general. Mr. Grazewell, 
 until you ministers adopt a more independent course, you 
 are responsible for the sacrifice of the souls thus jeop 
 ardized. Is not the pulpit always accounted one of the 
 most popular and sure means of arresting misguided opin 
 ion ? Are not the incumbents generally accredited pious 
 men, who would not wink at flagrant sins ? Now, why is 
 this evil so palliated, unless it be from motives of self- 
 interest the feeling that the doctrine of abstinence 
 would not meet public opinion, and that it would conflict 
 with heavy tax-paying members of our religious societies? 
 I am an old man, Mr. Grazewell ; and, thank God, I am, 
 at length, an awakened one ; yet never, in any of our 
 social conversations, have you adverted to the subject of 
 my business never but to justify me in the opinion of 
 others. I never had but one faithful pastor ; and he used 
 to talk in plain English, and tell me he had a solemn duty 
 to discharge ; that he was impressed with the sinful nature 
 of the traffic in liquor vending ; and that, as an ambassa 
 dor set for the defence of the gospel, he was bound to ex 
 press such convictions. I opposed his theory, it is true ; 
 yet, at that time, I invariably held the man in reverence.
 
 THE REIGNING- KING. 277 
 
 J respected him as a true man, as an honest man, as a 
 righteous man ; and I do believe, by his winning method 
 of addressing his parishioners, that he has impressed a 
 multitude ; for some of his parish are now the most influ 
 ential leaders in the great temperance reform. You see, 
 then, that mealy-mouthed Christians do not secure half 
 so much respect as the plain, reproving ones, who have 
 the true interests of their people at heart." 
 
 " But, Mr. Beals, all have not become converted like 
 yourself. We (that is, some of my brethren) have serious 
 doubts about the matter of property whether it can be 
 legally thrown out of the scale. Now you have accumu 
 lated such immense wealth by the traffic, Mr. Beals, some 
 of your party are struggling to become equally rich by 
 following in your footsteps ; and they do not relish being 
 put down by one who has no further need of accumula 
 tion. How you would have pursued a party, a short tkne 
 ago, who wilfully interfered with your business ! No man 
 would have given a sharper rebuke." 
 
 " I acknowledge it all, Mr. Grazewell ; but because / 
 should thus have felt myself persecuted, if you were 
 really set to arrest an evil, should my pecuniary interests 
 weigh heavier in the scale than the perilled souls of thou 
 sands ? Sir, we must cut off the evil ; and it must be 
 done in high places. I have hitherto always had a de 
 canter or bottle of wine placed upon my dinner table. 
 That single circumstance furnished my son with an argu- 
 24
 
 278 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 ment that he, too, should drink ; and how could I plead 
 for his reformation when I, too, was a somewhat inthralled 
 man ? Yes, sir, I resolved to abolish the sight of liquor. 
 It was my habit to drink what is called moderately ; but 
 I now see that I ought to renounce the habit ; and I have 
 done so, without feeling any loss of strength, or diminu 
 tion of cheerfulness. Yet I have sad misgivings that I 
 have lived so incorrigibly in the past, that I merely wish 
 now to say to you, Mr. Grazewell, that, unless you deal 
 more openly with the sin, I must beg to release myself 
 from any longer sitting under your ministry." 
 
 And so they separated ; but, that evening, Mr. Graze- 
 well held another consultation with his people, and was 
 gratified to find, that, if Uncle Sam's tax were withheld, 
 there were members remaining who would make good the 
 deficit on his pay roll.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 279 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 New Scenes at the Palace. Uncle Sam's Idea of Office Seeking. 
 Sims's Annuity, &c. Rosa Beals and her Spanish Lover. 
 Mustang is married in Cuba. The Arrival of Thomas Beals's 
 Wife at the Palace. The Conference upon the Subject of 
 their Reunion. 
 
 SINCE Uncle Sam's reformation, the visitors to the pal 
 ace were much changed. Indeed, he could hardly induce 
 some of his old friends to call on him at all. They were 
 once pledged to his choice liquors, not his personal friend 
 ship ; and of what use were such acquaintances ? Yet he 
 had no lack of visitors ; but they had an outward look of 
 healthful exhilaration, such as temperance advocates al 
 ways have, which carries the argument for the doctrine 
 most commonly in the countenance. 
 
 Gouty men, and hypochondriacs, and old soakers, that 
 delighted to stop at the palace, now shunned it ; for the 
 enjoyment of a good dinner has not half the charm that a 
 well-filled decanter affords to such individuals ; yet how 
 Mr. and Mrs. Blair gloried hi the change ! The loud 
 laugh which wine often induced, the indelicate language 
 which some, half inebriated, suffered to escape them, 
 were no longer heard, and even Uncle Sam's gouty
 
 280 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OB, 
 
 affection was far less troublesome than it had been for 
 years. 
 
 But what is the intelligence from our sister state, Ver 
 mont ? How does our friend Sims regard the temper 
 ance law ? Let Mrs. Sims answer that question, as they 
 are now paying their respects to Uncle Sam. 
 
 " When I was last married, Mr. Beals," says this lady, 
 " I was surprised to find that my husband felt ' it essential 
 to his comfort,' as he called it, to every day drink a glass 
 of brandy and water. I, sir, revolted at such an idea ; 
 for you well know what a temperance advocate your 
 brother, my first husband, was. Well, he daily drank, 
 until his supply was exhausted. The jugs, one morning, 
 were in our front entry, waiting for the express man to 
 carry them to your city. I took my husband into the 
 dining room, and begged of him to let the empty demi 
 johns be returned to the lockup. I told him of his run 
 ning counter to public sentiment among us ; that he would 
 lose the confidence of our best men, who were pledged to 
 temperance, if he did not follow my prescription ; and, to 
 please me, he consented to do as I desired. A woman, 
 Mr. Beals, is, or can be, the best temperance lecturer in 
 the world. Mr. Sims, however, complained, a few days, 
 of 'great faintness at his stomach.' This alarmed me 
 greatly ; for I had ever heard that this indicated a con 
 firmed habit ; and the idea that I should be allied to a 
 drunkard would have driven me to distraction. The very
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 281 
 
 shade of my Richard seemed to stand before me, and say, 
 ' Persevere.' I at first quelled the gnawings of a vitiated 
 appetite by nutritious diet, until I at length made him ac 
 knowledge, that, since he had quit the custom of drinking, 
 ' he had felt more vigorous than he had for years.' Rosa, 
 as you recollect, long ago, cured Mr. Sims of smoking ; 
 and as both these habits seem no w eradicated, I have 
 only to ask you and Mr. and Mrs. Blair to help me sub 
 due one other inordinate propensity, which is the love of 
 office seeking? 
 
 " Does he still crave an office under government ? " in 
 quired Uncle Sam. " "Well, let him seek it. He will 
 never receive the offer of one he would deem worthy of 
 acceptance. It will always be a second-rate appointment, 
 at which his dignity will revolt." 
 
 Mr. Sims now entered. " What say you, Mr. Beals, to 
 my application to our president for a consulship at some 
 foreign port ? " 
 
 " I say it's all nonsense, and not worth the paper you 
 will spot to make the application, Sims. Why, are you 
 deranged upon this subject still ? You are a monomaniac, 
 Sims. Let me never hear you again speak upon this 
 subject." 
 
 Sims took the hint, and dropped it ; but that farm, and 
 
 his new office, which was appended to the dwelling house 
 
 since his marriage, held out but little inducement to him 
 
 to quietly sit down. Indeed, I have sometimes queried 
 
 24*
 
 282 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OB, 
 
 whether a drunkard cannot sooner be induced to yield to 
 argument than an inveterate office seeker. The settle 
 ment of Uncle Sam's accounts had already considerably 
 enriched him, and the old man was now about securing an 
 annuity to him, so that he need not complain that it was a 
 matter of necessity to change his business. 
 
 And now we will introduce Rosa and her Spanish 
 lover, Mr. .Mustang. For a considerable period they had 
 kept up a " diary," recording the most trivial events. 
 Indeed, our little coquette had been more minute than 
 was needful, or perhaps helpful to the security of her 
 prize ; for she thought of scarcely any thing but what 
 had a reference to him ; and her conversation, of course, 
 became quite disagreeable to her acquaintances. Her 
 mistake, however, let me here premise, is no uncom 
 mon one. 
 
 Do not some people, both old and young, evince a 
 strong desire to converse almost exclusively upon what 
 ever may Be the subject of their thoughts ? seeming to 
 think that the person whom they may have chosen for a 
 companion for life is as much an object of interest to 
 others as to themselves ; so that, pursuing this subject un 
 warrantably, a disgust is engendered, and the friend is 
 shunned, as having no conversational powers but what 
 relate to the loved or lover. 
 
 Now, Eosa Beals was one of this class. " Her divine 
 Mr. Mustang " was a hated household word ; and even
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 283 
 
 the old Squire no longer regretted that he had been cast 
 aside ; for her manifest indifference to him had long ago 
 chilled the ardor of his affection, and he looked upon his 
 wife as a paragon of perfection. 
 
 The young lady was now preparing for a visit to the 
 palace. She had informed her cousin, that, probably, it 
 would be the last that Rosa Beals would ever pay her. 
 She then spoke of her lover's devotedness, and his urgent 
 solicitation that their union should not be longer postponed 
 than necessary ; yet as she knew nothing of his char 
 acter, her mother and step-father protested against her 
 advancing any further, until some information could be ob 
 tained. Squire Sims had written again and again to peo 
 ple resident on the island ; yet nothing satisfactory was 
 elicited. That there was such a firm, and that they were 
 reputed as doing a fair business, was admitted ; but as to 
 the habits and characteristics of the gentleman in ques 
 tion, there was a dead silence. 
 
 Of late, Mr. Mustang had complained, in his letters, 
 that his business so engrossed his time, that he must be 
 pardoned for writing incoherently ; that he might not be 
 able to come north as soon as he originally promised ; 
 and, to a keen observer, there was less of the " ardent 
 attachment " than formerly. Still, Rosa was blind, and 
 did not so construe it. 
 
 One day, a postman handed her a newspaper published 
 on the island whither her thoughts so often tended, and in
 
 284 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OB, 
 
 which she was so deeply interested. She read and re-read 
 it, without observing, as she did afterwards, a slight mark 
 under the following notice, which ran thus : " Married, in 
 Cuba, Mr. Henry Mustang to Miss Josepha Don Miguel." 
 Rosa was found, soon after, faint, and in a state of uncon 
 sciousness, holding, with a tight grasp, the paper which 
 had caused her trepidation. 
 
 For days after, she was nearly frantic. She raved, and 
 wrote to him her most vehement utterances ; " she would 
 never again trust the sex ; " and ended by calling Heaven 
 to witness that such vile conduct would meet with a fear 
 ful retribution. And so, indeed, it deserves ; yet having 
 been warned, was not her persistence a ground of serious 
 self-condemnation ? 
 
 Violent expressions in love, as in grief, yield the soon 
 est to other influences ; and, as a proof that no deep and 
 abiding love long remained in Rosa's breast, we next 
 hear of her as engaged to the son of a wealthy farmer, 
 who is now a sophomore in college. The breach seems 
 all healed, which only shows how she could accommodate 
 her affections to all latitudes and tastes ; but on one thing 
 she seemed fully intent, which was, that she would never 
 exist " without a beau." Mrs. Blair has her now more 
 under her control, and advises with her upon propriety of 
 conduct ; so that, if she keeps on the course she has 
 marked out, she may yet become a useful and domestic 
 woman. Uncle Sam, too, will always look upon her with
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 285 
 
 peculiar interest ; and he rewards his friends with the 
 " material aid," when necessary. We will therefore pre 
 dict a happy close to her waywardness, and a return to 
 the path wherein a woman exercises the best influence 
 even in making herself a sunbeam in her own home, in 
 which all the graces and virtues are conspicuously devel 
 oped. 
 
 Let us pause here a moment, and change our pros 
 pect. 
 
 Sitting by the window which commands a view of the 
 path that leads to the railroad, a delicate-looking woman 
 is discerned leading a flaxen-haired boy. The little crea 
 ture seems unwilling to walk ; but the lady gently chides 
 him ; and as she picks a flower and gives him, he is con 
 tent to trot along in front of her. 
 
 Mrs. Blair cannot divine who this stranger may be. 
 The woman looks pale and careworn ; but still she ap 
 pears young, very young. She is not a beggar, surely, 
 unless she is made so by another's fault ; for there is a 
 sweetness of expression and a countenance which indicate 
 that she belongs to no vulgar train. The door bell is 
 softly rung, and the stranger inquires for Mr. Beals. 
 
 Mrs. Blair supplies her father's absence ; and the lady 
 thus continues her inquiries, as the little boy sits demurely 
 at her side, much fatigued : 
 
 " It may, it must, strike you very strangely, Mrs. Blair,
 
 286 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 as I suppose you are, to be informed that lam the wife 
 of your brother Thomas" 
 
 Mrs. Blair raised her hands and exclaimed, " It cannot 
 be. Thomas was never married. He would have told me 
 of such an event." 
 
 " Please deal gently with me," pursued the stranger ; 
 " for it would take but little rough usage to entirely break 
 my throbbing heart." She turned deadly pale, and seemed 
 unable to proceed further. 
 
 The tender sympathies of Mrs. Blair were at once 
 aroused ; and raging with curiosity as she was, she yet 
 comforted her guest, and begged her to postpone her fu 
 ture account until she could partake of some refreshment ; 
 and as she looked at that little, tired creature who sat by 
 her side, there could be no imposition here. It was 
 stamped with his father's likeness ; and she could not but 
 caress him, feeling he was indeed of her kindred. 
 
 Mrs. Blair now adverted to the past. A thought a 
 burning thought, which caused the blood to rush in hot 
 haste to her temples, brought to her recollection that un 
 expressed secret which she saw preyed upon her brother's 
 peace when she last talked with him. She left the room 
 a few moments, and asked for divine strength to meet this 
 unexpected event ; then recovering her usual cheerful 
 manner, with an elastic step, she went again into the 
 presence of the stranger, and begged her to tell her all 
 about her business with her father ; and, after partaking
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 287 
 
 of some light refreshment, and becoming a little wonted 
 to the magnificence of the room in which she sat, she thus 
 continued her narrative : 
 
 " When your brother sailed from New York to San 
 Francisco, I, too, was a passenger in the same ship. 
 About two years previous to that period, I was left an 
 orphan, the little property which fell to me by my moth 
 er's decease being placed in the hands of my step-father, 
 who was an exacting and harsh man. A company of my 
 acquaintances were about to sail for the golden regions, 
 and induced me to go out, alluring me with the prospect 
 of becoming a teacher in music after my arrival. During 
 the passage, I became acquainted with your brother. 
 "When I was sad, he encouraged me ; when I was lively, 
 he often participated in my enjoyment ; and before we 
 ended our voyage, we became warmly attached to each 
 other ; so that, in a week after our arrival at San Fran 
 cisco, we were married. For a little time, I hoped I had 
 effected a complete reformation in his habits ; but a set of 
 miners from 'the States' made his friendship, and in 
 duced him to accompany them to the dry diggings, a great 
 distance off. My heart died within me when Thomas 
 came in, one morning, and informed me he should set off 
 that day in search of treasures. I knew the men were 
 not suitable companions for him ; for they supplied them 
 selves most profusely with liquor, to the exclusion of real 
 comforts. I was left alone in a hotel, which, soon after,
 
 288 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 changed hands, and early found no accomplishment could 
 be made of much account unless it brought the music of 
 dollars to the ears of the eager multitude. I was never 
 accustomed to such society ; yet, to earn my daily bread, 
 I worked as seamstress, and did odd jobs for those who 
 were weather beaten, and almost without clothing, on 
 some of their return marches. Small lumps of gold were 
 frequently thrown into my lap by noble-hearted men for 
 whom I had repaired clothing ; but I was wretched, as 
 nearly all my party had gone to a settlement some miles 
 above, and left me to feel the desolation of a heart without 
 a home. But I enlisted the sympathy of a family who 
 went from New York ; and they kindly took me in, and 
 provided what was needful, that I could not obtain ; and I 
 remained with them nearly a year, during which time my 
 little Sammy was born." 
 
 " And where was Thomas all this long time ? " inter 
 rupted Mrs. Blair. 
 
 " Why, madam, I received intelligence, that, on his re 
 turn homeward, he was seized with the fever of the cli 
 mate, and died. I never heard any thing to the contrary ; 
 and when I could procure a passage, I sailed to New 
 York. 
 
 " Upon my return to that city, I was welcomed, and 
 made it my home with an old friend. Supposing myself 
 a widow, I struggled with my adverse fate, and solicited 
 the patronage of those who remembered my former
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 289 
 
 musical attainments ; and thus I secured a class which 
 enabled me to support myself comfortably. Judge of my 
 astonishment, my dear Mrs. Blair, when I received the 
 following letter, in your brother's well-known handwrit 
 ing : 
 
 " MY DEAR WIFE : I am now safely returned to my 
 father's ; and finding he is a very wealthy man, I do not 
 know why I cannot receive a portion of his riches. 
 When I was in New York, I sought to find you, but was 
 not able to do so. I wish much to see my boy ' Sammy,' 
 who, I understand, is named after my father. I think we 
 can yet live together. That was a vague, unfounded ru 
 mor about my death, made up by those who robbed me of 
 my bag of gold when I was intoxicated. I must tell you 
 I still drink. I cannot help it. Ned Fleming and Sam 
 Tony are always lying in wait for me ; and when I take 
 one glass, my appetite demands another. But hang me 
 if I can tell why I should not indulge my appetite as well 
 as other people. The old man sits beside his decanter 
 every day at dinner ; and what is good for one is good for 
 all. That's my theory. 
 
 " If, however, you would come to me, I will try and re 
 form. The old man thinks I had better go where the 
 traffic is entirely cut off; and I shall accept his proposal, 
 if he insists upon it. I love farming ; and if I could but 
 be kept from my old companions, and placed in a temper- 
 25
 
 290 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 ance family, Thomas Beals would not disgrace you for a 
 husband. 
 
 " At any rate, come to the city, take the cars to ' Beals's 
 Crossing,' and you will hear or see something to your 
 advantage. If the old man would set an example him 
 self, I would follow it. My sister married a Blair. Ask 
 for her if father is absent when you arrive. I have 
 never told any body, since my return, of our marriage. 
 So you may explain all. But come to me, and bring the 
 boy, whenever you can. 
 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 T. BEALS." 
 
 Mrs. Blair needed no other assurance that no imposi 
 tion was being practised upon her. She therefore kindly 
 bade the stranger throw off her outside covering; and 
 little " Sammy " seemed wild -with delight in his new 
 quarters. 
 
 But here was a most unexpected development, which 
 required much discretion to act upon, and disclose to her 
 father and husband. She conferred with Mrs. Sims, who 
 was at the palace ; and they both concluded that there 
 ought to be a reunion between the husband and wife ; and 
 although" it was mortifying to feel that a brother's and 
 son's confidence had been withheld, yet, as matters stood, 
 did not expediency point to burying all that was so pain 
 ful in the past ? Now a new life must be begun.
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 291 
 
 Uncle Sam, Mr. Blair, and Squire Sims had just re 
 turned from the city in high spirits. Indeed, the old gen 
 tleman seemed renovated since his determinations were 
 put in effect ; for if he was calumniated in one quarter, 
 he was cheered in another. 
 
 The wife of Thomas Beals and his little boy were in 
 the dining room when they entered. Mrs. Blair intro 
 duced her as " Mrs. Beals, a stranger, who had but just 
 arrived." 
 
 Uncle Sam cast a glance at the stranger, and then play 
 fully added, " Your name Beals, madam ? If so, I sup 
 pose you are some of my kin ; for all the stock came 
 from one place, I suppose." 
 
 " Yes," said Mrs. Blair, " she is very nearly connected 
 to us, father. She is our Thomas's wife ; he married her 
 in California." 
 
 The old man threw down his hat upon the floor. " No, 
 Eunice," said he, " never. Thomas is not such a boy, let 
 him be as he will." 
 
 But Mrs. Blair could always irradiate the darkest pic 
 ture ; and she reminded her father of her brother's ap 
 pearing to leave her with an undivulged secret. " There 
 fore," said she, " rather than make his concealment a 
 wilful act to blind us, do we not have reason to believe a 
 sense of modesty, and, perhaps, an inward conviction that 
 he had done wrong, prompted him to keep the fact from 
 us, father ? "
 
 292 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 A ray of hope played over Uncle Sam's countenance 
 at this explanation ; and he cast a compassionate look 
 towards the stranger, and bidding the little, flaxen-haired 
 boy, of scarce two summers' growth, come to him, he im 
 printed a kiss upon his downy cheek. In a low tone, he 
 then addressed his daughter ; but the words " conclusive 
 evidence " were only heard. 
 
 The stranger blushed deeply, and burst into tears ; 
 whereupon Mrs. Blair explained what had transpired ; 
 and, of course, the father received the conclusive evidence 
 beyond doubt. 
 
 And now here was another emergency which Uncle 
 Sam was called upon to meet. To those outsiders who 
 envied the rich man in his palace, if but a disclosure of 
 the proprietor's feelings, that night, could have been laid 
 open, who, among the poorest and humblest aspirants for 
 wealth but would have said, " Give me my poverty ; give 
 me my laborious trade, with my rugged but healthy chil 
 dren, in my lowly cottage ; give me my daily wages, and 
 frugal meal, and coarse clothing ; yea, give me any thing 
 but a dissolute child, and the effects which flow there 
 from" 
 
 This was a bitter draught for Uncle Sam. There 
 was such a withdrawal of confidence in his son, it stung 
 him to the quick ; and he passed a sleepless night in the 
 contemplation. 
 
 Again : had it not been for the judicious advice of his
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 293 
 
 daughter and son-in-law, we know not what earthly re 
 source would have been left to him ; but, with such treas 
 ures, his heart was always lightened of its troubles, and 
 he felt the profound security which such an alliance con 
 ferred ; for there is a sure calculation which never fails, 
 when two hearts are regulated by sterling principles. 
 Uncle Sam, therefore, early conferred with his children 
 upon the course he ought to pursue. 
 
 Indeed, there could be no vindictive feelings towards 
 the mild but misguided stranger, who, in a moment of 
 rashness, had connected herself with so unworthy a com 
 panion as that dissipated young man. Ought she not to 
 be tenderly cared for, and watched over, and made com 
 fortable, out of such abundance ? Besides, she presented 
 no imperious claim. She only asked to be restored to 
 her husband, and expressed a willingness to aid him in 
 his future course. 
 
 Stand aside, ye of harsh exterior, who would drive 
 from your hearts those who, for one such rash act, are 
 forced, in their extremity, to commit yet others, because no 
 sympathizing heart beats in unison when their repentant 
 souls would cheerfully perform any task whereby they 
 might regain their former self-respect ; for such were the 
 feelings of her whose character now attracts our criticism. 
 
 It took no very persuasive arguments to induce the old 
 man to yield to the suggestions of his advisers, that John, 
 the coachman, should take the large carriage, and they 
 25*
 
 294 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OK, 
 
 would accompany the wife to the home of her husband, 
 thus continuing him in his unexposed condition ; and 
 when the arrangements were completed which placed in 
 the wardrobe all necessary articles that would confer com 
 fort upon the newly-acknowledged daughter and sister, 
 they set out on their journey. 
 
 It was soon discovered that Thomas Beals had married 
 no helpless being ; that she was well educated, chastened 
 by her struggling anxieties, and desirous of becoming a 
 helper in her husband's emancipation. That little boy, 
 too, was one of the most interesting of his years. He 
 loved every body who gave him a kind glance ; and the 
 permission to call Uncle Sam " grandpa " was almost 
 overwhelming to the sensitive mind of his mother. On 
 the whole, the conclusion seemed to be, that what, at first, 
 appeared such an untoward circumstance as this marriage, 
 might, after all, but more contribute to the well being of 
 him whom they were about to visit. 
 
 We will next look in upon our arrived party at Captain 
 Treadwell's fireside. The interview between the husband 
 and wife, the first sight of the father as he beheld his son, 
 we will not portray. There are meetings over which we 
 gladly draw the veil of privacy ; and this was such a one. 
 
 After the long and private interview with the reunited 
 pair was terminated, while the overpowering sensations it 
 occasioned were attested by the marks which a channel of 
 tears had left upon their cheeks, Thomas Beals sought an
 
 THE REIGXING KING. 295 
 
 interview with his sister. " Eunice," said he, " this is 
 overpowering. I did not expect so much from your kind 
 ness. What did father say when he was told I was mar 
 ried in California ? And have I not a nice wife ? and 
 that boy, too ? " Is it any wonder he was incoherent in 
 his expressions ? for his heart was deeply touched. 
 
 The replies of Mrs. Blair were such as accorded with 
 her sympathizing nature. She added, her father only 
 asked if he were willing to be forever pledged to the doc 
 trine of total abstinence from intoxicating draughts ; and 
 we must subjoin his manly reply : 
 
 " Sister," said he, " I cannot express my feelings. The 
 idea that I am now rescued from the power of tempta 
 tion ; that I am not likely to be assailed by companion^ 
 who would decoy me, if possible, to partake again of the 
 destructive poison ; the thought that I am not now the 
 victim of a habit which used to demand a daily gratifica 
 tion, mikes me feel as I cannot tell you. Eunice, the 
 teetotaller's emancipation has never been fairly written 
 out. I intend to do it, some day. I want to speak of the 
 freedom, the escape, the conscious manliness which attends 
 one who is thus rescued." 
 
 " But be humble and grateful, Thomas. Let not your 
 enthusiasm betray you into a vain confidence that you are 
 able to keep yourself. You must every day repeat the 
 petition that you may be kept from temptation, and be 
 able to overcome, if tempted. Eemember this, my brother.
 
 296 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 And now, Thomas, I have come on purpose to provide a 
 home for you, where you can be settled, and become, foi 
 a time, a useful citizen ; for Captain Treadwell speaks of 
 the important influence you can now exert in reclaiming 
 others." 
 
 " And does father still hold on in advocating the law ? " 
 inquired Thomas. 
 
 " Indeed he does," replied Mrs. Blair ; " and never was 
 a man more thoroughly converted to the doctrine of total 
 abstinence ; " and she narrated the history of knocking 
 out the bungs at the palace, much to the amusement of 
 her brother. 
 
 But to look upon the changed aspect of her brother 
 filled the heart of Mrs. Blair with a thrill of transport. 
 He was so relieved of that bloated exterior, of that 
 blotched face, and of those swollen and watery eyes, that 
 she could hardly credit the rapid progress which a tem 
 perate habit had induced. And then his nature*seemed 
 alike altered with his external appearance ; and Captain 
 Treadwell and his family spoke hi such flattering terms 
 of his behavior, that she could not but be more and more 
 established in the doctrine of total abstinence, which had 
 produced such a transformation. 
 
 And why should not Thomas Beals be settled in a 
 home of his own ? There was General Roby, about to 
 leave this country for Australia ; and he was desirous of 
 renting or selling his farm and utensils, together with his
 
 THE REIGiaNG KING. 297 
 
 furnished dwelling, as his family would board in his ab 
 sence ; and the captain suggested, that Thomas might be 
 most pleasantly situated where the tempter had lost his 
 foothold. 
 
 It is needless to add, that Thomas Beals and his wife 
 felt as if they should be the happiest of mortals, to be thus 
 situated ; for he could not but love one who had made 
 such heavy sacrifices for him ; and as to woman, why, the 
 song says, that, " when she loves, she loves forever." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Blair had no misgivings with respect to 
 their father's approval of any measure they might carry 
 into execution ; and, in less than a fortnight, the whole 
 business was arranged, Mrs. Blair remaining, " to put 
 things to rights." 
 
 She now looked out upon this happy community. 
 There was no strife ; there were no furious competitions, 
 no swaggering demeanor, such as intemperance often en 
 genders, but an industrious thrift, a cleanliness, and an air 
 of sobriety which plainly showed the power and potency 
 of the law which regulated their movements all clearly 
 attributable to the presence of temperance as their rule 
 of life. 
 
 Upon Mrs. Blair's return, she narrated to her father 
 the pleasing change which was effected in his son. It 
 filled the old man's heart with delight ; and he could only 
 exclaim, " If such are the regenerating influences of total 
 abstinence; if such comfort is permitted to descend into
 
 298 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 my heart by the contemplation of my son who is thus res 
 cued, how many thousands of hearts may be cheered in 
 like manner ! since what has effected the salvation of one 
 prodigal son may be applied to scores of others ; and 
 where all entreaties are vainly urged, and all our efforts 
 are ineffectual, and we are led to deplore the day that such 
 offspring ever saw the light, then comes in the potency of 
 Law. The poison is not to be found, and the disease is 
 subdued, and a renewal of life again blesses the parental 
 heart" 
 
 "We cannot omit the following letter, which was written 
 by Thomas Beals to his father when Mrs. Blair returned, 
 leaving them eligibly situated in their new home : 
 
 DEAR FATHER : I hardly know how I shall find words 
 to express my gratitude to you for your repeated acts of 
 kindness ? I feel I have been a disobedient son ; that I 
 have yielded to a depraved appetite, which nearly de 
 stroyed all the generous instincts of my nature. But, fa 
 ther, I have reformed ; and I know you will only ask that 
 I should hold out as I have begun. I know I am impul 
 sive, and used to break all promises of amendment ; but 
 it is not so now. 
 
 My heart goes out to rescue others. For the delightful 
 home you have furnished me I am truly thankful, and my 
 wife daily blesses you ; but I can never tell you the free 
 dom I feel as a rescued man. I want to urge you on to
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 299 
 
 press the necessity of advocating the total abstinence prin 
 ciple, as the only saving one. Did I not try every other, 
 and then fall ? Reason will not always avail a besotted 
 man. Promises made in good faith are often broken. 
 Nothing but the removal of the temptation can effect the 
 cure. Do not dally about a license system. It was that 
 system which gave me as much liquor as I needed ; and 
 all law must be inoperative where it works. 
 
 Father, your influence is great. It used to be in the 
 old ranks. It may be doubly so in the new field you 
 have entered. 
 
 Captain Treadwell and I have chatted a great deal to 
 gether upon the appropriation of so much wealth as you 
 possess, being the result of your traffic. When awakened 
 to the sin by which it has been accumulated, ought not a 
 portion of it to be devoted to relieving from degradation 
 all whom we can by the power such wealth confers ? 
 
 These are questions you would never have supposed 
 me to have asked ; but when a man is thoroughly re 
 formed, he looks at principle, rather than self-interest ; 
 and I should be glad to know that you have devised some 
 way to benefit those who have become total abstinence 
 men. A little encouragement ought to be furnished them 
 by a fund which could be appropriated to give them a 
 start, if they have spent all their substance. I hope, one 
 day, to do something to gladden the hearts of those who
 
 300 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE; OR, 
 
 have emancipated themselves from the thraldom which 
 intemperance produces. 
 
 Keep easy about me, father. I feel an inward assur 
 ance I shall never again yield to the temptation to taste 
 of liquor in any form. 
 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 THOMAS. 
 
 Uncle Sam took the above letter to his chamber, and 
 read it over and over again ; and whenever he was re 
 proached for leaving his old party, he always took out 
 this letter, and inquired " if such a son was not worth the 
 saving."
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 301 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Reflections suggested by taking Leave of the Proprietor of the 
 Palace. A Vision of the Night. The Reigning King de 
 throned. 
 
 DURING Mrs. Blair's absence, Mr. and Mrs. Tims had 
 been much at the palace. "We need not be surprised, 
 therefore, to hear that a dissolution of copartnership now 
 took place in the firm of " Tims, Budd, & Co.," and that 
 Mr. and Mrs. Tims are about to make a European voy 
 age, as it is hinte'd, solely at Uncle Sam's expense ; for as 
 he now considers himself accessory to his continuing in 
 " the bad business, with heavy profits," he probably feels 
 the desire to remunerate him for the qualms of conscience 
 which he has encountered in consequence ; for Mr. Tims 
 believes in the expediency of the workings of the law as 
 much as Uncle Sam, and will never resume his traffic. 
 
 And now the old gentleman proposes an alteration in 
 his will. The new situation in which he finds himself 
 renders the act obligatory ; and out of his abundance, un 
 doubtedly, his interest in the cause of temperance will 
 prompt him to give more efficiency to the subject to which 
 he daily acknowledges his indebtedness for his present 
 comfort ; and he means to act upon his son's suggestion.
 
 302 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 Every week brings the most gratifying intelligence 
 from Thomas Beals ; and when the full force of the law 
 is executed in his native state, he will undoubtedly return 
 to it a reformed and useful citizen. 
 
 It is pleasant thus to take our leave of the old proprie 
 tor of the palace. We call him a personification of pub 
 lic opinion. Taking the bitter and violent opposition 
 which he first sent forth, that there should be no law, as 
 the sense of the greater part of the community when it 
 was first broached, his half-awakened conscience is that 
 same opinion still fighting against light and evidence, 
 and his final surrender to the awakened community who 
 are roused to the necessity of a law which involves their 
 domestic peace in its faithful execution. 
 
 We, too, see the temperance cause depicted in the 
 character of Mr. Blair ; for while he is a full believer in 
 the doctrine of total abstinence, he is so fearful of incur 
 ring personal ill will, that he does not resolutely set him 
 self about carrying forward the great enterprise ; and in 
 Mr. Tims we have the enslaved victim who is held in the 
 meshes of his despicable traffic, because he is bound to 
 protect his pecuniary interests, which are staked at the 
 mercy of the millionnaire. 
 
 But this is the past ; and may it stand as a fearful bea 
 con of warning for the future. 
 
 And, now, when our ears shall be assailed by furious 
 antagonistical principles, "that the rights of property
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 303 
 
 are hazarded," and that an innovation, unwise and illegal, 
 has struck a death blow to the traffic in ardent spirits, 
 wherein thousands are forced to sacrifice their calling, let 
 us still bear up the ark of our moral safety, and remem 
 ber that all great evils, to be exterminated, demand a sac 
 rifice commensurate with the stupendous weight of the 
 sin ; and let us derive an encouragement, that, if some 
 pecuniary interests are involved in the issue, the degraded 
 condition of millions who are thus perilled without law is 
 as a sand upon the sea shore, compared with the mighty 
 heap which surrounds it. 
 
 Are we not wearied and worn with the degrading pic 
 tures of intemperance, as we hear of their blighting influ 
 ences upon the hovels of the poor ? Do we not cast out 
 such victims, and satisfy our consciences that we have 
 provided for them temporary asylums, and then go on, 
 with an appeased conscience, to swell still higher the cata 
 logue of poor inebriates ? Now let us turn to the palaces 
 of the rich ; and tell me how you solve the problem, that 
 he who is sleeping off the fumes of the 'last night's de 
 bauch, or reeling under the excesses which he poured 
 down from yonder dinner table, is any the less reprehen 
 sible or amenable for his conduct, because, forsooth, he lies 
 upon his luxurious bed, which is canopied with gorgeous 
 daapery, than he who, in the same state of intoxication, 
 lies upon his pallet of straw, with an upturned gaze, on 
 whom the light of heaven falls through the chinks of his
 
 304 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OK, 
 
 dilapidated roof. We may make distinctions here ; but 
 how stands the record above ? 
 
 We are commanded, by sanitary laws, to clear our 
 premises from all obnoxious substances which may en 
 danger our health; but when thus obedient, let us re 
 move, or hermetically seal over, the deleterious influences 
 which come from that receptacle we call " the wine cel 
 lar ; " and if no law is, nor can be, provided which forci 
 bly ejects those " quarter casks," and " old labelled and 
 cobwebbed bottles," which have sailed round the world, to 
 give to them a " higher zest and greater body," let the 
 force of public example so far neutralize such influences, 
 that alone, and unseen by human eyes, it may be quaffed 
 by its rightful owners, while they shall shrink abashed 
 from public exposure. 
 
 We must turn with hope to the generation to follow 
 after the inmates of such palaces ; but give to us but a 
 law which cuts off the supply, and we may soon hope to 
 stop the demand, since only the craving of a perverted 
 appetite is the -difficulty which obstructs our path; for 
 God has given us bodies which require no inordinate stim 
 ulus but such as freely gushes from every sparkling rivulet 
 that gently trickles beside our daily pathway. 
 
 And, in a vision of the night, three grim spectres stood 
 before me. One was of boastful exterior ; and he de 
 tailed his mighty acts upon the battle field. He had slain
 
 THE BEIGNING KING. 305 
 
 his thousands ; for he was a victorious "chieftain, who had 
 sent desolation into many innocent hearts. He had kin 
 dled what he called " the fires of patriotism," and, incens 
 ing his followers to yield to his mandates, the thirst for 
 territory, and the false ambition that sacrifices the masses 
 for the glory of the few, had achieved the object for which 
 he thirsted; and he pointed me to his trophies. There 
 were fields red with blood, over which the grass of centu 
 ries had now grown ; and beneath that soil were buried 
 victims by scores, who fell in one fatal encounter with the 
 enemy ; and there were yet other more painful sights, in 
 asmuch as, after the reign of what we call " the Christian 
 dispensation," the same spectre still held his undisputed 
 sway. He had only to appeal to his false standard of 
 honor, to his instinctive love of country, and make others 
 feel that bullets were but playthings, which would cover 
 the victor's head with a garland of glory, and his potent 
 decree to fight was still obeyed. And then he pointed me 
 to our national pride, our high monuments, our admired 
 paintings, in which artists had embodied their most con 
 summate skill to portray the sickening and revolting spec 
 tacles anew ; and " these," said he, " these are the boast of 
 my advocates. I have truly earned the name of ' Con 
 queror ; ' for my love of dominion and power has subju 
 gated mighty empires ; and I am still waiting to arouse 
 other fires, and victims, by thousands, shall fall under my 
 26*
 
 306 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE ; OR, 
 
 imperial reign." He wore a helmet, and upon its front 
 was inscribed, in legible letters, " WAR." 
 
 A few paces behind this hideous fiend stood yet an 
 other spectre. The philanthropist had long since dipped 
 his pen, to write an inscription upon his tombstone ; but 
 he lingered on, acknowledged by the historian as the great 
 blot upon our national freedom ; and even the noble- 
 hearted planter conceded he was an " entailed curse," 
 which he could not cast out, because his pecuniary re 
 sources would be thus withdrawn, and the master and 
 slave would be alike beggared ; for his soil was worn 
 and unproductive ; yet he could market its present toiling 
 gangs, and with the proceeds he could still maintain his 
 princely proprietorship, and fatten upon this commodity. 
 The low-crouching child of misery looked vainly in his 
 face, and entreated him to desist from sending him to a 
 foreign or distant market. The woman who clung to 
 what she called her husband, in distracted agony, begged 
 that no separation might come upon them ; and as she 
 clutched her blue-eyed, laughing infant, she tremblingly 
 inquired, " Why, 0, why is he not mine own ? " But the 
 planter looked out upon his cotton fields ; the trader urged 
 his claim ; the sum which parted them was compromised ; 
 " the chattels " were chained, and driven to another terri 
 tory, ignorant of whose lash they should become the prey, 
 but certain that all they had once called " mine and thine " 
 was henceforth to be forever cruelly separated. And the
 
 THE REIGNING KING. 307 
 
 spectre saw the big tear of resentment, and lie heard the 
 warning expostulation, and yet stood before me with his 
 seared humanity, but with the lineaments and figure of a 
 man ; and upon his crest was written, in golden characters, 
 " SLAVERY." 
 
 And yet another, more destructive, and, if possible, more 
 hideous and revolting, rose to my view. " I," said he, 
 with a vaunted air, "I am the great destroyer. The 
 other spectres may boast of having slain and carried tei'- 
 ror and dismay to the hearts of thousands, but I have 
 slain my tens of thousands. In yonder palace, in the 
 distant cottage, in the marts of commerce, in the home of 
 industry, in the saloon of fashion, in the mighty places 
 where talent and genius do congregate, on the bench of 
 justice, and amidst the cry of the populace, I inthrall my 
 victims. I resist the widow's tear, the orphan's wail, the 
 great cry of humanity, which seeks redress for cruel op 
 pression, /sit at the board of the sumptuous entertain 
 ment. / ride triumphant in yonder gilded chariot. / 
 tread my heel, with crushing effect, upon the home of in 
 nocent mirth, and cause infancy and age to be down-trod 
 den by my potent spell. / laugh at oppression, sneer at 
 the cry of humanity, ride rampant upon the necks of 
 subjugated millions, and in all lands, and in all ages, my 
 power is acknowledged as the 'mighty conqueror, the 
 universal bondman, the triumphant king.' / am INTEM 
 PERANCE."
 
 308 UNCLE SAM'S PALACE. 
 
 And a sweet, enchanting nymph, by her magic spell, 
 sought to drive out this furious monster. He stood 
 abashed at her presence, and seemed awe-stricken by her 
 lovely exterior. She brandished no vindictive sword that 
 slew .her captives. She only uttered melodious sentences ; 
 and, by her magic wand, she caused a new Eden to ap 
 pear ; and the old serpent had no place in her garden of 
 delights ; for she sang a song of joyous melody, and the 
 chorus rang loudly, so that all under the canopy of the 
 new paradise caught the sound, " THE LAW HAS TRI 
 UMPHED ; THE REIGNING- KING IS DETHRONED ! "
 
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