m ■ DOINGS IN MARYLAND. MATILDA DOUGLAS. DOINGS IN MARYLAND, OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. "TRUTH 18 STRANGER THAN FICTION." PHILADELPHIA: B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1811. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. TO nun IT IP "U" IP.I li s {v s i o, » me IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. (v) M527G37 A PREFACE THAT IS NOT A PREFACE. A preface, I believe, by common consent is voted a useless appendage; in lieu of one, therefore, I shall simply forestall the carping of a would-be critic by asking the reader to excuse the transfer and anachronism which place Allston, the great American artist, in Maryland instead of South Carolina, which was, as all the world knows, his native State. Neither has the biographical history of that distinguished man been strictly followed in these pages, because such delineation is not considered necessary in a work of imagination. No straining after literary distinction has been at- tempted in this simple story; and should the perusal of it help to sustain one fainting heart, and establish such in the path of virtue, the writer will feel that it has not been written in vain. ( vii ) CONTENTS. PAGE Chapter 1 13 Chapter II 17 Chapter III.— The Poultry Doctor 20 Chapter IV.— The County School Teacher . . . .23 Chapter V.— Examination 28 Chapter VI.— Mattie 30 Chapter VII. — Malice 31 Chapter VIII.— Trouble 39 Chapter IX.— More Trouble 42 Chapter X. — Bill Bothermenot 47 Chapter XI. — Snowstorm 51 Chapter XII. — Death 58 Chapter XIII 62 Chapter XIV.— Charity . . . . . . . G7 Chapter XV.— The Kelsoes 70 Chapter XVI.— The Kelsoes— continued . . . .77 Chapter XVII.— "Trouble Loves a Train." . . .83 Chapter XVIII: — A New Acquaintance . . . .87 Chapter XIX. — Cogitation and Dreaming . . . .94 Chapter XX.— The Gilts 98 (ix) X CONTENTS. PAGE Chapter XXI.— Change 105 Chapter XXII.— Hugh Haggis 112 Chapter XXIII.— Journey 120 Chapter XXIV.— Dr. Donkur 125 Chapter XXV.— Schools 131 Chapter XXVI.— Mary Brown 136 Chapter XXVII.— A Secret Enemy 140 Chapter XXVIII. — Promotion 144 Chapter XXIX. — Mr. Slytickle wants a Present . .150 Chapter XXX. — The Pleasure Excursion .... 153 Chapter XXXI.— The Star-Chamber Committee . . 158 Chapter XXXII.— Kev. John McGilhooter . . .161 Chapter XXXIII.— Mr. Thomas Abettor . . . .166 Chapter XXXIV.— Letters 172 Chapter XXXV. — An Examination 175 Chapter XXXVI. — More Letters 181 Chapter XXXVII. — Secret Conclave — Star-Chamber Com- mittee 186 Chapter XXXVIII— Proposal .193 Chapter XXXIX.— The Visit 197 Chapter XL. — Vote of Censure 203 Chapter XLL— Triumph 208 Chapter XLII. — The Congress of Asses . . . .213 Chapter XLIIL— Latin 219 Chapter XLIV. — Latin and Lovo '2-2-2 OHAPTBB X L V.— Surprise 228 Chapter XLVL— Deceit 235 Chapter XL VII.— Discovery 239 CONTENTS. xi PAGE Chapter XLVIII —News 243 Chapter XLIX.— Refusal 247 Chapter L. — Pay-Day 250 Chapter LI. — A Visit 255 Chapter LII. — Surprise 258 Chapter LIII. — Mattie among the Tombs .... 263 Chapter LIV. — Recovery 270 Chapter LV.— A Wedding 274 Chapter LVI. — Authors and Critics 277 Chapter LVII. — Mattie an Author ... . 280 Chapter LVIIL— Death 284 Chapter LIX. — Remorse . . .... 286 Chapter LX.— The Artist 291 Chapter LXI. — Dost thou Remember ? .... 295 Chapter LXII 299 Chapter LXIIL— Duplicity 306 Chapter LXIV.— Farewell 313 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. CHAPTER I. " Incomprehensible, Budding immortal, Thrust all amazedly Under life's portal; Born to a destiny Clouded in mystery, Wisdom itself cannot Fathom its history." Brave old Maryland, famous alike for the valor of her sons, the beauty of her daughters, and the impetuosity of her brickbats, has also a metropolis, gentle reader, of which she has no cause to be ashamed. Some miles northeast of this beautiful and rapidly extending mart, and in violent contrast with its majestic buildings, stands a dilapidated log hut. A little clearing or farm surrounds the dwelling, and contiguous, though extraneous to the primitive home- stead, is an extensive woodland. The uncouth establish- ment is small; but the tale of sadness its aspect tells is large enough. Cattle, field, and fence, to the most cursory observer, give startling evidence of neglect and wrong. It is winter, bitter, biting winter, and the scanty woodpile at the door 2 (13) 14 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, (being, indeed, but little more than a brush-heap), with its broken axe, and inadequate pretensions to warmth and comfort, looks like some associations gotten up ostensi- bly for the relief of the poor. The jaunty smoke, born of twigs and rubbish, issuing from the tumble-down chimney, poises itself for an instant, as if to take a view of the surrounding evidences of bleak poverty ; but it does not linger as though unwilling to leave the place in its unsolaced sadness, or hover over, cover- ing with the mantle of charity what it cannot redeem ; it curls (though not its lip) its entire body, and shifts, and twists, and flirts away, scorning even to smoke in such society. Thus the heartless worldling just arisen from the ash-heap, in the flush of new-born greatness, despising parentage and early association, curls the contemptuous lip, and denies to each antecedent a friendly recognition. A horse stalks yonder in a place once intended for an orchard ; the fence is now broken and gone, and the neigh- boring swine, with the implements nature gave them, have plowed the soil and grubbed up the roots of the trees. Like many a grave of hope look the deep excavations made by their relentless snouts. Of the few that remain, the pendant branches are greedily gnawed by the famish- ing cattle ; and should a tiny twig for an instant droop its fragile form within reach of their ravenous jaws, it is in- stantly (not spiritualized, however, but) rematerialized by those needy ghosts that in hungered unrest roam over the premises. The lien, the only one left, is seeking refuge from the piercing blast on the sunny side of a gooseberry-bush, and pressing alternately to her feathery breast, for warmth, her freezing feet. The development of heat in Biddy's system is rather deficient just now, but little crop being in the craw. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 15 Chanticleer stands faithfully, though sullenly, by her side ; he no longer crows defiance, but surveys surrounding desolation with such stoical austerity, that the child Matilda, that would be playful only for the sob in her throat, calls him Marius. " I say, neighbor, that thare cow must be a tarnel green- horn if she gives them folks any milk with the fodder she gits," said a passing countryman to his fellow-traveler. But Brindle is an amiable animal, and submissive to those creatures who, though differing from herself in the scale of being, are nevertheless suffering the like privations, and she gives them all the nourishment she can manufacture from the meager material placed at her disposal. " It grieves me to offer you such a pitiful handful," said the little Matilda, as she dispensed to the cow her morning meal ; " but don't get out of patience, good Brinny ; the Lord will send the sweet young grass again, by-and-by, and then you shall have plenty to eat, and you will give me plenty of milk to make nice custard for my poor sick mother, will you not, Brinny?" And the child patted the shaggy sides of the shivering, starved-out animal, and peered coaxingly into her eyes as if to conciliate the brute and assure her own anxious little heart that " dear old Brinny," as she pettingly called the creature, was not angry because of her wretched breakfast. Child as the speaker was, she felt how extremely dependent her family were upon the sustenance which they derived from the cow, now the only one they possessed. Poor little Mattie ! In tracing her history we shall find this was not the only brute she had to conciliate in her progress through life. The family thus situated consisted of three persons, — a father, a mother, and the little girl alluded to, daughter to both, and an only child. 16 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, A father ! Good gracious ! — what a predicament for a man to place his family in ! the reader may well exclaim. We reply, Alas 1 yes ; and such a man, too ! " With the talents of an angel a man may be a fool," says the poet ; and certainly this man proved the truth of the assertion, for he indeed mistook life's great errand "in a supreme point." Blest by nature with a high order of intellect, by friends with a superior education, by fortune with an ex- alted social position and handsome patrimony, he sacrificed all these advantages and more for the fatal pleasures, worse than death, that are found in the destroying cup, — filled with the costly juice at first, and very social ; but when at last replenished with anything that would produce an oblivion and steep his senses in forgetfulness, very solitary. "Where are now the jovial friends that sported with me in my summer days, and quaffed rich nectar from my brimming bowl, that vowed o'er rosy cups eternal amity to me and mine ?" " The spider's most attenuated thread, that breaks with every breeze, is cord, is cable, to man's tender tie on worldly friendship." Added to intellect, nature's patent of nobility, streams of the best blood from two nations mingled in this man's burning veins ; but what of that? Better their contents had been water, if by being such the fiery influence that blighted his mind and heart would have been quenched, and his helpless family rescued from destitution and death, — for death is even now hard upon their track. It is needless to note the progressive stages by which this appalling change in the man came on, or to dwell upon the mortal agony suffered by his ever-faithful, ever-endur- ing wife, who, with a fortitude which deathless love alone could inspire, clung to his fallen fortune, and became with him an exile and a wanderer. .No means that a loving heart could devise — and what OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. If will not love devise to benefit its object ! — were left untried to break the demon-woven spell by which he was bound, to win him back to himself, to her, and to the society he was so eminently calculated to adorn. But all was over now, the last effort had failed, hope deferred had sickened both soul and body, the stricken wife meekly resigned her cause into the hands of Him who said, "What thou knowest not now thou shalt know hereafter. " And with many an arrow fixed deeply in her bleeding heart, she had sought this lone solitude to lay her down and die. Oh, man ! Oh, woman, woman ! Of such parentage of those thus unfortunate in worldly gear and worldly fame, but who were distinguished for noble wealth of mind and heart, Matilda Douglas was descended. CHAPTER II. "Her daily teachers had been woods and rills, The busy bee, the dewy petal sweet, The silence that is in the starry sky, The rushing tempest 'midst the lonely hills." " Mattie, my love, I have decided you must go to school. The best I can do under the circumstances is to send you to the district school. I know the walk is a long and a lonely one, but you can take a piece with you for your noon's repast, and stay at school until evening; and when the weather is severe you must remain at home. I shall arrange that with the teacher." Mattie was seated by her mother just then, and most happily oblivious to everything save the contents of the book in her hand. At this announcement she looked up 2* 18 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, in bewildered astonishment, and had a boulder from the mountain summit been advancing upon her she could scarcely have evinced more alarm. "Oh, mother," she exclaimed, every nerve in her body quivering with emotion, " do not send me to school — please do not ! I will study at home, I will read [she was always reading], I will do anything you wish, only don't send me to school. I cannot go mother, indeed I cannot !" The big tears that fell like rain, the chest that heaved, and the sobs that choaked her utterance all attested how exceeding averse she was to the proposed arrangement. Mrs. Douglas perfectly understood the nature of her daughter's objections to school, and her own heart bled afresh from wounds those objections probed ; but she felt it to be her duty to insist, and when love and duty spoke, they silenced every minor voice which could appeal to the understanding of that noble mother. Mattie as yet had had but little contact with the world beyond her own fireside. The mother's silent, though not the less vigilant, care had sedulously guarded her helpless one from the rude stare her coarse and homely attire was sure to attract, or from the ruder remarks her father's de- grading conduct might elicit, and, indeed, from all those thousand impertinences and wrongs which helpless poverty is ever certain to suffer from coarse and vulgar prosperity; yet the fine instincts of the child, and her characteristic sensibility, caused her to dread some such oppression, — the inheritance of weakness and misfortune, — and she shrank back with trembling dismay to the covert of her own lowly hearth, and to the love that hallowed it. Mat- tic, though unschooled was not untaught ; Mrs. Douglas was an educated woman, and her daughter had been her heart-pupil ever since the child's perceptions were capable of earliest cultivation. Alas! now the health of the OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 19 mother-teacher was completely broken, the least exertion caused her days of prostration, and well she knew the fact that her pilgrimage on earth was fast drawing to a close. How doubly important, then, that the education of the child should rapidly progress! Sorrow had sapped the foundation of the mother's strength, the tide of time bear- ing her upon its bosom was swiftly ebbing on to the great ocean of eternity, Mattie would then be left to meet the world poor and alone. God help her! 11 If I could but see her educated before I go hence," said the mother, " death would be divested of half its bitterness." And the struggle of her heart in prayer, — the petition she urged with most vehemence and for which she would take no denial, — was, " If all else of earthly good be denied me, Thou alone knowest for what purpose, who art all-power- ful to grant, grant me this one request, — the education of my child!" This life-blood gurgle from the stricken mother's heart was echoed in the courts of heaven, and as faithful, holy prayer ever will be answered, so was this, but how mys- teriously time alone can develop. " Thy paths are in the sea, God !" 20 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, CHAPTER III. THE POULTRY DOCTOR. "But now our quacks are gamesters, and they play With craft and skill to ruin and betray." Mrs. Flax is in great distress, her young poultry are infected with an unknown disease, many have died, more are dying. The anxious woman has exhausted the cata- logue of cures for sick chickens possessed by herself and henwife friends for miles around, and yet the pestilence rages with unabated violence. The dinner-horn has been blown, and Mrs. Flax has been personally summoned to attend the dishing of the pot-apple-pie ; but still she lingers in the poultry-yard, still administers the ineffica- cious dose, still frets and worries with a watery eye, and still the Shanghais gape and stagger and die. A carryall, drawn by a horse, or rather a mare, limping and evidently much lamed, advances up the lane*; beast and man (excuse the precedence) halt in a line with Mrs. Flax. " Want any clocks repaired to-day, ma'am V — from a voice in the wagon. Mrs. Flax in surly mood replies, "Haven't got any clocks to want repairs." " Won't you buy one, then, ma'am ? — have some fine ones; sell "era cheap." 11 1 am not able to buy clocks or anything else, and never expect to be ; luck is agin me. Here are all my beautiful (locks of chickens and turkeys that I expected to bring OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 21 something worth while a-dying off 'most as fast as I ran count 'em I — It is too bad, and work as hard as I do!" sobbed the overburdened Mrs. Flax. " Well, ma'am, there is no occasion for any more of them to die," soothingly said the peddler, " for I am provided with a medicine that will cure all the ills a winged and feathered animal is heir to. I made it myself, ma'am, and I am on my way to Washington to get a patent for it. I sell it everywhere, and the reason you have not heard on it is because I have never been in this part of the country before. Will you have a box, ma'am ?" " How much do you ask for one ?" inquired the troubled mourner of departed poultry. 11 Only a dollar, ma'am, and very cheap at that when you consider what a great cure it is." 11 But s'pose it don't cure at all, then there will be another dollar thrown away!" grumbled the pennywise matron. " We can easily manage that, ma'am, if you are agreed, — I will stay here for a few days and give the medicine my- self," said the cute clock-tinker, with an eye to food and rest for his sore-footed animal, "and if in the mean time the medicine does no good, I will not charge you a cent ! Kow, that is fair ; is it not, ma'am ?" " Well, I don't know but that it is. Come to the house anyhow, and talk to my husband about it," said the hen- wife, rejoiced at even a ray of hope, provided it was a cheap ray, for her perishing brood. For weeks past the weather had been both unpleasant and unhealthy. St. Swithin seems to have influenced more than his share of days this year, and drizzle has succeeded to shower, and shower to drizzle, until the earth is saturated with moisture, and everything upon the earth enveloped in damp and noisome exhalations. The evil resulting from this condition of atmosphere is apparent upon both animal and vegetable life. The mildewing 22 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, blight affects destructively flowers, fruits, and grain. The sluggish blood creeps slowly through the veins, the bane- ful chill crawls deadly over the body like some huge, foul- some caterpillar drags its length along, and in its silent, sly, and slimy progress dulls the ear, dims the eye, and spreads itself upon the livid lips. But now the Wind, oft a capricious tyrant (as the harmonious Thomson sings), again has changed his bleak location and his sullen mood ; now relenting, deigns to dry the tears of earth his cruelty occasioned. He removes from her saddened face the in- cumbent veil of clouds his jealousy had interposed to obscure the varied charms of all-bearing mother from the ardent gaze of her lover-husband — the great and glorious Sun. The sun, happy again to meet in fond em- brace his sorrowing spouse, with peevish ire accuses not of coquetry or wanton dalliance with the sporting winds, but richly spreads around his golden mantle of charity and love. With renovating smile he wakes anew the stagnant powers of latent life, and calls into active use the best and purest feelings of the heart. With pene- trating glance he absorbs the unwholesome damp, expands and paints with loveliest hues earth's teeming produce. The northeast blast, humid and sickly, is replaced by genial and spicy breezes of the "effusive South." The full-blown spring has ripened into luscious summer ; the laughing landscape, the field, the garden, and the tuneful grove, all oiler adoration sweet in perfume and in song. The joyous bleating from a thousand hills finds glad re- sponse in the exulting bosom of earth's noblest sons. " Man supreme walks amid glad creation, musing praise, ami looking lively gratitude." Not so poor, groveling Mrs. Flax, who, although her "ploomy people," too, have; caught the healing breeze and ceased to die, acknowledges no kind Providence to thank and bless: she only blesses Mr. Snipe and his patent sawdust pills. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 23 CHAPTER IV. THE COUNTY SCHOOL TEACHER. " For craft once known, Does teach fools wit; leaves the deceiver more." Me. Snipe, the poultry doctor, is seated on a step of the woodbine-covered porch ; Mrs. Flax is sitting on the porch bench, and as is her custom when not otherwise employed, busily knitting*. Says Mr. Snipe, "I am much pleased with this part of the country. I have often heard of the hospitality of the South, but never before had the happiness to partake of it. I should like to stay here among such kind-hearted people ; but as I am not able to do hard work, what could I get to do?" Mrs. Flax is nattered by this adroit allusion to her kind- ness of heart, and she replies, " Well, you are the best hand among the poultry that I ever saw in my life. I would be glad, too, if you could stay hereabouts." Mr. Snipe continued, " I heard your husband say at dinner to-day, that the School Committee meet to-morrow to consider the subject of education and to elect a teacher. Will you mention me to him in that connection?" "Yes, I will," promptly responded Mrs. Flax. "I am glad you thought of it; hand me yonder sun-bonnet and I will go to my husband at once." Thus equipped, and with the knitting still in progress, Mrs. Flax wends her way to the field in which Mr. Flax is employed. 24 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, " Husband, come and rest awhile under the shade of the tree ; I have something considerable to say to you." " I should think it must be something very considerable, that you could not wait until I came home," said Mr. Flax, seating himself upon the grass, and wiping from his sun- burnt brow the flowing perspiration. She commenced, " Well, Mr. Snipe " " Ah ! I guessed there was a Snipe's bill in the mud," interrupted Mr. Flax, with a derisive laugh. 11 Well, husband, he wishes you to present his name to- morrow to the committee as an applicant for the district school." " W-h-e-w 1" whistled Mr. Flax. " What next ? doctor, teacher, — I suppose preacher next 1 What is it that a uni- versal Yankee can't do ?" "But, husband, he is so useful among the poultry, and so obliging, that really I wish he could be kept in the neighborhood. He hunts the woods for the turkey-nests, and feeds the setting hens; he drives the cows up to be milked, and brings me pails of water from the spring; yes- terday, he even emptied the slops for me; indeed, he is as useful about the house as a cooking-stove. I will willingly give him his board for his help." " Remember you have his horse to board also," said the husband. " I know, but then he said he would milk the cows in cold weather, and split the wood. Indeed, husband, I wish we could manage to keep him about us. You know you said when you got the mortgage that is on our place paid off you would let me have help; but I am afraid I shall be worked to death before it comes." Mrs. Flax was instantly again in oik' of her fretful moods. "J don't think you work any harder now than you did in your native Pennsylvania," said Mr. Flax, a little OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 25 piqued, as a man is sure to be who hears his wife com- plain. "It is not customary for rich men's wives to work in Maryland, though," replied the wife. " But I am not rich," said the husband. " You will be when you get the place cleared of the encumbrance your uncle left upon it ; and I am sure I do all I can to help the cause ; I make as much from my butter and poultry as I can. Oh, yes ; that reminds me. S'pose the poultry were to get sick again, what would I do without Mr. Snipe ? He will not sell the receipt for the poultry pills for anything I can offer him." "As to that," replied Mr. Flax, " I believe the change in the weather had more to do in improving the health of the poultry than his pills ; but since you are so anxious to retain Mr. Snipe's services, I have no objection. We have no children to send to school, and if those who have do not object, I need not. So to please you, wife, I will mention him to the School Committee ; but I shall not recommend him, — I warn you of that fact !" On the day following this conversation between Mr. Flax and his thrifty wife, the promised nomination was made, Mr. Flax remarking, however, that he knew nothing of the man's abilities, either as a scholar or teacher, " but the committee," he said, " could examine him and judge for themselves. Of one thing I would speak positively, Mr. Snipe could be obtained cheap." The School Committee here adverted to consisted of three persons, — Mr. Flax, Mr. Hedge, and Mr. Flum, the last named being President of the School Board and Chair- man of the Examining Committee. We regret, however, that we are compelled to admit those positions of honor and responsibility were not bestowed upon the recipient in consequence of any superior intelligence or erudition to 3 26 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, ■which he could lay claim, but simply in consideration of broad lands which he possessed. He was the largest tax- payer in the neighborhood. A rule of the board required that all business pertain- ing to the schools should be held under advisement a week before receiving definite action ; consequently, that day week was appointed for the examination of Mr. Snipe and other applicants, should such present themselves. CHAPTER Y. EXAMINATION. " But as a dog that turns the spit, Bestirs himself, and plies his feet To climb the wheel, but all in vain, His own weight brings him down again, And still he's in the self-same place Where at his setting out he was." At the appointed time Mr. Snipe presented himself to the committee, and, no other applicants appearing, Mr. Flum proceeded with the examination. "What do you propose to teach, sir?" inquired the examiner. " I can try a hand at 'most anything," replied the would- be teacher. i "Do you understand English grammar V 1 11 1 have forgot some now, but when I left school I could say 'most all through the book." " Well, sir, what is ;i monosyllable?" " I never heard of it before, sir. " What, then, is a dip-thong ?" The teacher began to scratch his head. " Well, a thong OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 21 is a leather strap, and I suppose a dip-thong is a thong that has been dipped in something-." "Oh, no, sir, you are quite mistaken; it is not leather at all, or anything that has been dipped either in grease or tar. It is something in grammar!" 11 Well, well, the fact is my mind has been so taken up with affairs of greater importance, such as the prepara- tion of hen-pills and the like, that I have suffered those little matters to escape me; but when I get into their neighborhood again I can soon catch 'em up." " Are you expert in figures ?" "I am, indeed, sir. I can make figures as fast as any man you ever saw." " What, then, is ratio ?" 11 It is every man's share of the provender." "Oh, no, you mean rations; but I mean the ratio of numbers." "Well, it is every man's share of the numbers, then," said the candidate, quite confidently. Mr. Flum glanced furtively at a paper which he held in his hand, but appeared unable to find the place, and as he could not therefore contest the question he gave the appli- cant the benefit of the doubt. " How would you teach spelling ?" " Spelling cannot be taught, sir; it is a natural talent. Who do you suppose taught Johnson and Webster to spell all the great hard words in their dictionaries ?" This was a new idea to Mr. Flum, but as the parties could not be named who had taught Johnson and Web- ster to spell, he gave up that point also. " What system do you follow in teaching writing?" " Xo genius ever wrote well, sir," — quite dictatoriallv, — "consequently, if you should attempt to teach a boy, and he had genius in him, the divine essence might be ex- 28 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, pelled, dripped off at the end of the pen and drowned in the iak. Plenty of genius has been killed by ink and too much teaching. The man who would attempt to teach writing ought to be indicted by a grand jury as a public nuisance." " You certainly have some very original ideas about teach- ing," said the examiner. " You certainly are in advance of the age, at least you are in advance of this part of the coun- try. I suppose you are from the place where most of the new- fangled doctrines originate, — a regular Down-Easter, eh?" " Y-e-a-s, from towards the place where day breaks and sun rises," said Mr. Snipe in a manner that he thought would be very significant; but the insinuation was all lost u pon Mr. Flum. " Born anywhere about Boston Common ?" 11 No, not exactly on the Common ; but all along the shore, from Nantucket to Cape Cod, as the Indian said." u Speaking about that Boston Common, I wonder you calculating Yankees can spare so much waste ground, — in your pri ncipal city, too. For my part, I think it had better be plowed up and planted in potatoes than kept there for demagogues and fanatics to congregate idlers and make long harangues about women's rights and men's wrongs 1 Why, sir, women have all the rights they have any right to; and as for men, if they all had their rights, the Lord help 'em, not many would be left to walk the earth without the iron ornaments of cuffs and collars, bulls and chains. But, sir, as I always say, our country is a great mixture, and some of the changes do not im- prove the stock either; though, to tell the truth, I don't blame all creation for coming here, for, if I was not here before, I would come myself," — growing animated, — "yes, sir, if I had been born a foreigner to myself, be- fore 1 would have lived with savages, alligators, lions, and tigers, I would have come to this glorious land of OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 29 civil and religious liberty, this land of voting and churches, this land of preaching and gold-digging, where every man can sit under his own fig-tree and knock down chincapins, none daring to make him afraid. Yes, sir, I repeat it, I would have come, and at the worst growed cat-tail swamps for a living ! And now, sir, I wish to know, if you are employed by us to teach our children, if you will teach them any new-fangled doctrines of the present age?" " Certainly not, sir, if you do not wish it." 11 1 can tell you, sir, we do not wish it ; for my part, I would hunt the fellow down with dogs who would attempt to poison the minds of my children with any of the fanati- cal, dogmatical, moonstruck monstrosities of the present steam-puffing, gas-blowing, lightning-talking age. I am perfectly satisfied with the world as I found it, only I would take the thunder-storms out of harvest-time and put them in the winter, when there is no grain standing out to spoil ; and I would have the ice-cutting in the warm weather, when we could not get our fingers frost-bitten. Gentlemen of the committee, I wish a few w r ords of con- versation with you in the next room," said the Chair, leading the way with a majestic air. The Chair returned in a few moments, and informed Mr. Snipe that the committee had decided to make him the following offer : " We will employ you for the next session of five months, for which we will give you twenty-five dollars and your board, if, on rainy days, you will assist me in looking over my accounts ; will teach Mr. Hedge's white hound boy, Tom, of evenings; and will help Mrs. Flax with her poultry." " Speaking of the poultry reminds me of my mare," said Mr. Snipe. " Will you find her in food also ?" 11 Your mare has not laid before the committee yet," said the Chair ; " but when she does, we will come and set." 3* 30 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, CHAPTER VI. MATTIE. "The harvest treasures all, Now gathered in beyond the rage of storms, Sure to the swain ; the circling fence shut up, And instant winter's utmost rage defied; While loose to festive joy, the country round Laughs with the loud sincerity of mirth, Shook to the winds their cares." The harvest-home has been joyously celebrated ; the modest green of matronly summer has deepened into the gorgeous tints of rich and reveling autumn ; the district school has been in session some weeks. Mr. Snipe is fully inaugurated teacher, or rather a hearer of lessons ; he does not even listen, for a good listener is an analyzer. Mr. Snipe does not analyze, comment, or demonstrate, he only hears ; but then he does it so " cheap," you know. Mrs. Douglas, with feeble and tottering step, presents herself at the school, leading by the hand the timid and reluctant Mattie, who already feels that she has entered a howling wilderness. The little preliminary business necessary for the admission of the new pupil is soon transacted, and the mother retires, leaving her sad child alone in the midst of a crowd. " How poor her clothes are !" whisper the girls. " JIow ugly she is !" whisper the boys. " "Who is she, anyhow ?" ask both boj's and girls. No one knows; yes, one does: 11 She lives in the old field-house" (as their place is con- temptuously called). After this announcement, boys and girls sheer off to a greater distance ; no one wishes to OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 31 associnte with the people who live in the old field-house ; their best repute is poverty and dissipation. Mattie is more alone than ever. When the noon recess arrived, with her little basket of lunch, consisting of a boiled egg and a slice of bread, Mattie retired to the shade of an adjacent tree, whose wide- spread arms of umbrageous foliage invited to shelter and repose. When the simple repast was finished, she took from her basket a book, which she had provided for the occasion, and, as usual when reading, was soon absorbed in the subject, and lost to every unpleasant reflection of her own. So completely was she engrossed on this occasion that, when the bell rang for the resumption of school duties, its sound fell upon her ear unnoticed, mingled with the sweet voices that filled the richly-laden air, — the distant waterfall, the hamming of bees, the caroling of birds, the gentle sighing of the breeze. A special messenger had to be sent to summon the loiterer to the ranks. Mr. Snipe had been duly informed of the manner in which the new pupil was employed, — the children said, — sitting all the time under the tree reading, never looking from her book nor noticing any one. He was aware of the fact that in the South, especially in country places, the education of poor children was much neglected, and he was surprised to find that Mattie could read at all, and quite incredulous as to her ability to become absorbed in a subject however trifling; he therefore considered the little affair a simple flourish of affectation ; the child, a would-be impostor, a mere make- believe, like himself. Mr. Snipe had but one element of strength in his character, and that element was cunning. Here we might spend time, a long time, upon a lengthy analvzation of minds of a certain constitution, minds whose caliber the aforementioned word, with its concomitants of 32 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, hatred and revenge, will describe, and then not do justice to either the minds or the descriptive word. Many persons have made fortunes, and their only stock in trade was that one word. I know an author, by courtesy so called, who has made a hundred thousand dollars, and whose whole mental resource was that one word. It is a great word ; no lexicographer has done justice to it. Cunning, I take off my hat to you ! Mr. Snipe had cunning; how I envy you your possession, Mr. Snipe ! When Mattie entered the school-room in answer to the special summons, the teacher, with satire in voice and manner, remarked, "Well, Miss Douglas, since you are such a bookworm as to be buried alive in one, will you favor us with a specimen of your style of reading F" "Yes, sir," said the child, ingenuously. He presented a school- reader, and designating an extract from a poem, commanded her to stand up and read. Mattie had never in her life read in the presence of any one ex- cept her father and mother ; this public reading, then, was a severe ordeal for the first day at school ; but she instantly obeyed. The eyes of all present were now fixed upon the little, ugly, ill clad girl of the old field-house, and silence for once in that Pandemonium "reigned supreme." The poem was new to the reader, but her fine appreciative powers soon caught the sentiment, and her soul read while her lips pronounced the words. As she proceeded, the sih-nce grew more intense, even Mr. Snipe's countenance relaxed in some measure from its sinister expression, when, unfortunately, she encountered a word with which she was not familiar. The pupil stopped abruptly, and raising her eves for the first time to the teacher, asked him for the meaning of the word, Baying her mother did not permit her to pass a word without understanding its meaning. Mr. Snipe was surprised into confusion, and with both OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 33 color and choler replied that he had no dictionary at hand. The child observed his too palpable embarrassment, and quickly added with the most perfect innocence, " Oh, never mind, sir, I will take it to my mother." And drawing from her pocket a pencil, proceeded to write down the word. 11 You may take your seat," said the offended pedagogue ; 11 that will do for to-day." "When Mattie returned home in the evening, she re- counted to her mother the incidents of the day, and espe- cially that of the reading-lesson, with its abrupt termina- tion, — dwelling enthusiastically upon the beauties of the poem, and regretting the interruption which the unknown word had occasioned. Mrs. Douglas was much surprised at what she heard, but was careful not to evince her aston- ishment in a manner that w^ould compromise the dignity of the teacher. Calling for the unlucky word, the mother- teacher went on with the explanation, giving the root and prefix, the meaning of each when disconnected, then the various applications of which the compound word was capable, and its synonyms. 34 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, CHAPTER VII. MALICE. "He hath tied Sharp-tooth'd unkindness like a vulture here." From the era of the reading-lesson, and which, indeed, was Mattie's first day at school, Mi*. Snipe conceived a perfect detestation of the child that had so unintentionally exposed his ignorance to the school. Every pupil in the room had observed the perplexity of the teacher; none, however, realized the unpleasantness of the situation so sensibly as himself. The little affair, trifling in itself, was soon forgotten by all except Mr. Snipe ; silently, maliciously, he remembered the incidental demolition of his assumed dignity, and he determined to avenge his wounded honor. The unconscious offender was helpless and unprotected, — her father, a reckless inebriate; her mother, a heart-broken invalid. He determined to crush her out of the school ; and he determined knowingly enough, for he was never safe a moment while she was there. At every step in her studies, simple as they were, some elucidative question, indicative of latent genius, would suggest itself to her rich and rapidly developing intellect. She naturally applied to her teacher for a solution, but to him such thoughts were monsters that never could have found room to be born in the little and anphilosophical skull of the ever so cunning peddler and poultry practitioner. As Mr. Snipe determined, if possible, to banish Mattie from school, so in furtherance of his design he permitted OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 35 no opportunity to pass unimproved in which he could wound and harass the helpless child, whose feelings he perceived were eminently sensitive and high-strung. If she arose to approach his desk, a thundering, " Keep your seat, Miss Malapert l n sent the little unfortunate crouching back trembling in every limb. Her school com- panions quickly perceived that she was no favorite in high quarters, and a few taking advantage of her prostrate con- dition, heaped upon her an accumulation of insolence and oppression too intolerable to be borne. Others, however, for the credit of humanity, be it spoken, were pained at her distress, and forgot in sympathy for her suffering that she did live in the old field-house, and was poor and plain and unprotected. Mrs. Douglas observed, with much though silent con- cern, that Mattie returned from school more and more depressed and spiritless on each succeeding day ; but as the child made no complaint, the mother prudently for- bore to solicit any, and hoped that time would reconcile the novice to school restraint and restore her wonted cheer- fulness. That mother little suspected what a flood of agony was pent up in that young heart, and how for her sake — for dear mother's sake — it was, and had been long, suppressed. But a climax was approaching. On this particular evening Mattie came home with a face so inflamed and swollen by protracted weeping that the sight of her pitiable condition must have moved the sympathy of even an uninterested beholder; how, then, were the feelings of her tender and heart-crushed mother wrung with keenest anguish ! "Mattie," said the mother, with trembling voice and blanched lip, " what is the trouble ? You have been weeping bitterly. I must know the cause." "Oh, mother!" exclaimed the child, bursting into a 36 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, fresh agony of tears, "I do so wish my father was ' a com- mittee P then Mr. Snipe would not hate me as he does. I cannot tell why, but I know he does not like me, and I have tried to please him, but he spurns me from him like I was a dog ; and to-day he said I was equal to four dogs. Oh, I am so miserable! I am so miserable !" And the child's whole being writhed and surged with intensest agony. As intimated before, Mrs. Douglas knew nothing of the indignities of which her daughter had been persistently made the recipient ; but the present burst of feeling, and the unmistakable evidence of suffering which accompanied it, forced upon her mind the conviction that a wrong had been perpetrated. It required no Solomon to discern the fact that a feud existed between teacher and pupil, and Mrs. Douglas knew the character of the latter too well not to feel assured that she was not the aggressor. Mute with painful apprehension, with a stifling realization of her helplessness and inability to redress the wrongs of her friendless and unprotected offspring, the mother made no further inquiry, but, drawing the weeping girl upon her lap, pressed her to her own sympathizing bosom, and mingled her tears with those of the sorrowing child, while her lacerated heart cried out with one of old, "Those hold me and mine in derision whom my fathers would not have set with their dogs. Oh, my husband, my husband ! what hast thou done ?" Among the pupils that frequented Mr. Snipe's school was a granddaughter of Mr. Flam, whom we remember as President of the School Board, and Chairman of the Examining Committee. This child was an orphan daughter of Mr. Flam's deceased son, an only child of an only child, consequently heir of her grandfather's immense property. But, alas ! she was deformed in person, and scarcely bet- ter in mind. Deformed in person, weak in intellect, and OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 37 ill in health, — partly in consideration of these misfor- tunes and of the fact that she was heiress of large estates, she was indulged in a manner that brought out in bold relief all the native tyranny of her character, — all that domination of an idiotic will that had never been contra- dicted in any of its most absurd caprices. She went to the district school because she would go. Her grandfather wished her to be taught at home, to have a governess, and maintain all the exclusiveness to which her wealth and position entitled her. She defiantly told him she would not be taught at home, shut up in the lonesome house all the time ; she would go to school and play with the children ; and, she might have added, fight with them, too! Mr. Snipe, with native astuteness, quickly perceived it would be to his advantage to propitiate this child, and he spared no pains to accomplish his purpose : she was never displaced from her position at the head of the class, whether she recited her lesson or not ; in short, she was exempted from all the rules that governed the rest of the school. It was the custom in this, as in many other country schools, for the boys to alternate in furnishing the pupils with water, by carrying it round the room once a ses- sion, when those who wished to drink did so, one after the other, and all from the same cup. Among the privi- leges which Miss Flum enjoyed was that of always drink- ing first, — the children said, because her grandfather was a " committee." One spirited boy declared, " when it came to his turn to give out water, he would not wait on Mary Flum first, if her grandfather was a committee : be would begin at the beginning, and leave off at the end." lie put his threat of daring into execution, and the conse- quence was most disastrous to poor Mattie. Being seated 4 38 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, next the door (it was the most uncomfortable seat in the room), she, of course, received the water first; whereupon Miss Flum bridled up, and, resenting the insult offered to her in the curtailment of privileges, declared, "she would not drink after such poor trash as Mat Douglas. Mat Douglas was no better than her grandfather's niggers ; and she would ask her grandpa if she was to receive such treatment." At the mention of her grandpa, Mr. Snipe's little baboon forehead became copiously bedewed with cold and clammy perspiration. With excessive bitterness he asked Mattie how she bad the assurance to drink before her betters. Did she suppose, he said, that a lady like Miss Flum would drink after such people as she belonged to ? " Now go," he continued, in a loud key, and stamping his foot, " take that cup to the spring, wash it, and bring Miss Flum a clean drink." Mattie attempted to obey ; but she felt as if her heart had suddenly grown to be the size of the water-bucket and had then stood still. It seemed to fill her chest, to close her throat, to press upon her lungs like a huge incubus, and suppress her very breathing. She attempted to rise ; her head swam, her limbs refused obedience to her will, and she sank back upon her seat almost a corpse. Happily, a flood of tears came to her relief; and then, her sobs and piteous moans annoying Mr. Snipe, he commanded her to go out into the yard and howl there with her four-dog power, and not disturb the peaceable inmates of the school. And thus the child came by the swollen eyes, the in- flamed cheeks; thus the sobs and convulsive heavings of the breast, the sight of which so pained her tender mother. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 39 CHAPTER YIIT. TROUBLE. "I may not weep — I cannot sigh, A weight is pressing on my breast; A breath breathes on me witheringly, My tears are dry, my sighs suppressed." Mrs. Douglas passed a sleepless night; she debated much with herself as to the course proper to be pursued under circumstances of such new perplexity. Mattie's sun, like her own, appeared everywhere under a cloud. She did not wish it thus to set at school, or, in other words, she did not wish the child to leave school until the preju- dice which evidently existed against her in the mind of the teacher should be removed. Besides, Mattie must be educated. She was not able to send her abroad for that purpose, and Mr. Snipe's school comprised all the educa- tional facilities which the neighborhood afforded. How small those were Mrs. Douglas never for a moment sus- pected. " Back to school, then, Mattie must go, must over- come adverse circumstances by persevering endeavor, must conquer by the omnipotence of will." And thus man reasons and appoints ; but alas for human foresight I In consequence of her vigils, Mrs. Douglas was ex- tremely feeble in the morning, and unable to leave her couch until she had received some nourishment. This Mattie hastened to prepare, and also to attend to other household duties which required immediate care. All being completed, her mother told her to prepare for school, as she had decided upon her return thither, although her 40 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, position there was an unpleasant one. " You know, my love," said the mother, " that besides a preparation for another world I can have no greater object in this than the advancement of your interest : therefore you must consent to be guided by my riper judgment. I wish you to acquire such an education as shall enable you to occupy with ability the situation of teacher. Then you can secure to yourself an honorable maintenance, and the position, if properly filled, will entitle you to respect, and in some measure shield you from the ruder blasts to which a life of meaner labor must expose you." Here the countenance of Mrs. Douglas evinced the fact that a more painful thought struggled for utterance, that something pressed upon her mind which she dreaded, but desired, to express. Summoning resolution, she proceeded : "You will have to labor not only for your own support, but for that of your most unfortunate father. Upon you will devolve the exclusive care of him in his old days. It is you that will have to stay his feeble steps and smooth his lonely passage to the tomb. I shall be gone, and only you left to care for him, whom of all beings upon the earth I have cared for most. And oh, my poor child, if de- parted spirits are ever permitted to revisit this weary earth, be assured your mother's will linger near you to nerve your feeble arm and stay your sinking heart, for well I know the mighty conflicts that must await you. Then go, my love ; go, for my sake, ami achieve the greatest of all victories — the conquest of yourself. Merge present pleasure in the struggle for future good, and in years to come you will exult in the reflection that you did not per- mit yourself to be overcome of evil, but vanquished evil and its effects by yielding to the dictates of reason and to the promptings of the purest maternal love." Mat tie made no reply, but left the presence of her OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 41 mother to give vent to her bursting heart and to make a hast}' preparation for school, as it was already late, and she dreaded the censure of Mr. Snipe worse than the ravings of the fiercest storm that ever rocked their weather- beaten cabin ; ''for God is in the storm," thought Mattie, "but there is no God in Mr. Snipe." In a short time the child returned equipped for school. Her mother observed traces of tears upon her cheek and deep gloom upon her countenance. She made an effort to cheer the sad and dejected pupil. She charged her with a message to the teacher. '* Invite Mr. Snipe to take tea with me, and request him to appoint the evening when it will suit his convenience to come" (said the mother, hum- ble for the sake of her child) ; " and place my knitting upon the bed. I am not able to be about to-day, but I will try and sit up in bed and finish the stockings I have upon the needles, and send them to the store and procure some tea and white sugar, and you shall make the nice biscuit for which you are such a famous little housewife, and we will manage to set Mr. Snipe quite a comfortable tea. Per? haps when he knows more of our history and character he will be more kindly disposed towards us ; at present, of course, he knows nothing of us but from the vulgar gossips of the neighborhood, for I have lived apart from all my neighbors, and made friends of none." Innocent Mrs. Douglas ! She judged others by the purity and magnanimity of her own heart, and little sup? posed or suspected with what a cold slimy swollen frog she was in contact. Napoleon the Great, when at the summit of his glory, might have accepted an invitation from as humble a source ; certainly our own great na- tion's honored father would ; but never this poor country pedagogue, whose empty brain grew dizzy at the thought of his immense elevation. And, indeed, though the posi- 4* 42 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, tion entitled him to naught of compensation save the lonely five dollars per month, yet socially it was to him an ele- vation, if not in a pecuniary sense. Hitherto, in his pere- grinations round the country, it had been his lot to pick cold bones in farmers' kitchens or in his own musty carry- all. But now he is a guest in sumptuous parlors, with lovely ladies of old and noble stock ; his feet press soft, luxurious carpets ; his lips silver and the finest glass ; liveried servants anticipate his wish ; rich and costly dainties, of which his bean-and-pumpkin soul never dreamed, pile his plate, for he dines to-day with the full and empty Mr. Flum. CHAPTER IX. MORE TROUBLE. " Thou art come to answer A stormy adversary, an inhuman wretch, Incapable of pity, void and empty From every drachm of mercy." WHENMattie reached school, she found her fears in some measure realized ; the assembling bell had been rung, and her class was then upon the floor, forming for recitation. She approached Mr. Snipe with an apology for being rather late; he waved her away with scornful impatience, and commanded her to take a position at the foot of the class. The command was contrary to every precedent fur- nished by the school, and manifestly unjust, because, as the class was not formed when she entered, she was of course entitled to her position in it. Mattie promptly obeyed, OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 43 though she felt the injustice. She had, by hard labor, and against every obstacle thrown in her way, steadily main- tained her position at the head; she valued her position, and this Mr. Snipe knew : hence the inflicted mortification. The result, however, was not quite equal to the wish of the amiable man, as the effect of his petty spleen upon the child was less painful than he had hoped and expected to produce. The same utter desolation of feeling did not prostrate her as on former occasions when the victim of the teacher's tyranny. She had been running ; the morning air was fresh and exhilarating, the blood was bounding rapidly through her veins and glowing upon her cheek ; she felt less depressed and cowed than usual. The foot of the class rested upon an open window. At right angles with the window stood a desk, upon which was placed a large stone inkstand. Mattie leaned her left arm upon the window-sill, while her right arm extending forward reached the desk, and her hand unconsciously lay upon the inkstand. In this position she rested, waiting for her turn to recite. The lesson, as usual, was tedious, and dragged its slow length along tediously enough, with no tact or ability on the part of the teacher to make it in- teresting, — though, sooth to say, he heard with all his might. The weather was lovely, one of those luxurious autumn days of hale old Maryland, in which balmy air, mellow sunshine, and richly-tinted clouds seem to pre- sent rival contracts for making Indian summer the grand- est and most beautiful season of the year, Mattie had a ready eye for the beauties of nature, and was, withal, something of a day-dreamer. As she stood by that open casement and gazed out upon the fair broad land- sc: p? and lovely sky, her thoughts became gradually de- tached from lessons, school, teacher, and all that annoyed, roaming at will amid fairy haunts of beautiful imagin- 44 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, ings. She wondered where those lovely clouds went to rest when weary with wandering near the dull earth (for to poor Mattie the earth was very dull), and she thought if she were only at liberty like them to float away and choose her resting-place, how soon she would glide from all that troubled her, and be at peace in the far-off expanse, where the pure light seemed to repose, and from which the holy stars, modest and shy as nuns, peep out from their case- ments when all is still around. But that sweet romancing was interrupted by the counteracting thought, " What would become of poor sick mother ? No one to comfort her or prepare her nourishment if she were away. Oh, no, no ! She would not be a cloud, or visit the stars unless mother could go with her." At this stage of Mattie's musings a body of vapor peculiar in form floated overhead ; it seemed to her childish imagination to resemble a human figure, the upper part clearly defined, the lower draped in obscurity. The child gazed upon the strange configuration spell-bound, eyes expanded, nostrils dilated ; the vapor figure seemed to return her gaze with intelligent recogni- tion ; it seemed every moment more and more to resemble her mother, and, as it receded from sight, spread forth its arms, beckoning her away to join the aerial flight; and the rapt little dreamer was in the act of stretching forth her hands, responsive to the summons, when a nudge in the side from a classmate, and the shrill voice of Mr. Snipe, aroused her from her reverie. " Are you dead ?" he shrieked, in a voice husky with im- patient rage. 11 No, sir," replied the startled child, flurried, and un- conscious of a pun, "but I was buried in the clouds." Some of the larger children tittered. Mr. Snipe felt a little quizzed. u Oh, dear 1" said he, with a sardonic grin that mado OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 45 Mattie'a heart flutter like a bird's wing, <: how very witty 1 Not dead, but buried 1 — and buried in the clouds! What affinity have you with the clouds, I should like to know?" "I mean, sir," said the child, frightened into a confes- sion of her thoughts, "that I was buried in thought about the clouds, one somehow so reminded me of my sweet mother, as it melted into the upper sky." Mr. Snipe interrupted, with horrid malice, "Why don't you say reeled in the upper sky, and then it might remind you of sweet staggering father too ?" The little boys laughed, and Mary Flum laughed; but the larger children looked hard at Mr. Snipe, and did not laugh. This red-hot bolt, hurled with the fury of a demon, con- founded but did not crush its intended victim, as the assassin at heart hoped and intended it should. Mattie had been taught to consider her father as an unfortunate, to pity, but to blame him not. Mrs. Douglas abhorred the thought that child of hers should scorn the author of its being, and she sedulously endeavored to remove from Mat- tie's mind all unkind reflections upon her father, and to implant pity, — not contemptuous pity, but loving, saving pity ; sublime regret, — such as the beholder might feel for some noble palace all in ruins, some grand old castle in which the demon-ghost had displaced the legal inhabitants, and now riots in undisturbed possession, with the owls and the bats ; some majestic tree, that promised, in coming years, to be the "storms' defiance and the flocks' defense, now scathed and blighted by the lightning's untimely stroke." "And you," said the mother, " must be the loving spirit, that, like a gracious vine, entwines with caressing tendrils its shattered trunk, and covers with sheltering foliage, ever green and fresh, its riven heart." Mattie's father, to her poetic imagination, was a sacred 46 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, trust committed to her keeping ; and this unprovoked as- sault, this brutal allusion to his misfortune, touched a harsh chord in her nature, and caused it to give forth its first discordant sound. She felt as if a scorpion had stung her heart, and, with resenting heat, she wished to crush the reptile. The roused blood of the kilted Douglases rushed through her heart, her head, her hand, — through that hand under which lay so temptingly the huge stone inkstand, and the next instant it was flying through the air, in a direct line for Mr. Snipe's head. Fortunately, it struck the wall, and not him ; but his snowy shirt-bosom, buff vest, dove-colored coat, and immaculate pantaloons, all objects of tender regard to Mr. Snipe, and of much solicitude to Mrs. Flax, bore the marks of its murky con- tents. The moment the inkstand left Mattie's hand, minus bonnet and books, she bounded like an antelope from the room. " Catch her 1 Catch her I" shouted Mr. Snipe. The little boys and Mary Flum, eager for the fun, were instantly in hot pursuit ; the larger boys kept their seats, — all ex- cept one. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 47 CHAPTER X. BILL BOTHER MENOT. " His was the gifted eye which grace still touched As if with second nature; and his dreams, His childish dreams, were lit by hues of heaven, Those which make genius." A boy seated at the lower end of the school-room arose, and, taking his hat, quickly followed those who had fol- lowed Mattie. Mr. Snipe and the pupils that remained with him were equally surprised at the movement, for this was quite a remarkable boy. Taciturn, and seemingly un- conscious of passing events, he appeared to take no interest whatever in the affairs of others. He was always draw- ing ; Mr. Snipe never proffered him any assistance or direction ; he never solicited any, but quietly drew on. He was brave, too, in his artistic undertakings, for he attempted to copy everything that came within the range of his vision. He would mount the highest hill to catch a glimpse of the coming sun ; he would linger at even- ing till the last tinge of his departing glory had faded from the western sky, and arrest upon his paper mirror the faintest shadow of its fleeting hue. He would attempt, in the wildest storm, to convey to his uncouth sheet some expression of its terrific grandeur. He drew the bird on bough and on wing, the bee in field and on flower ; he drew the leaf, the landscape, the school, the scholars, and oh, reader, I wish I could show you how he drew Mr. Snipe. This boy, so strangely absorbed, did not like to be interrupted when engaged at the work he loved, and 48 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, when the other boys came peering round to catch a glimpse of his queer doings, he invariably dismissed them with the exclamation, " Don't bother me !" hence he received the sobriquet of Bill Bothermenot. When Mattie left the school thus precipitately, as de- scribed, and found herself pursued, she quitted the lane which led to the main road, and struck across the field in a direct line, as she thought, for home. When Bill got into the lane he found the hounds in rapid chase, and, in- tending to intercept and head them off, he too struck across the field, thus inadvertently tracing Mattie's steps. He and she caught sight of each other at the same moment, and he saw that Mattie, in her bewilderment, was going in a direction entirely wrong, away from her home instead of to it, and that she would either be lost in the forest, or drowned in a stream which wound its meandering circuit at the foot of the hill. The thoughtful boy instantly changed his purpose, and, instead of attending to the yelping pack in the lane, he followed the fugitive for the purpose of overtaking her and changing her route. The frightened girl saw him in pursuit, and of course considered him an emissary of Mr. Snipe. Then, to dis- tance him, she quickened her speed to the utmost; hair flying in all directions, first one shoe off, and then the other. Bill was by far the fleeter of the two, and gained upon her at every step, lie shouted to her to " stop; he would protect her; she need not fear him; 1 ' but Mattie understood not his words; she only heard his voice, and strained her speed until the blood gushed from her nostrils. The roar of the niilldam was frightfully near, the click of the mill admonitory of danger: she heard not, eared not; she dreaded nothing but Mr. Snipe. A quick turn in the copse she had entered, brought her in full view and close to the stream, turbid and swollen by recent rain ; and now OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 49 comes that one great moment in a life which decides for- ever the character of an individual; "sink or swim, sur- vive or perish," must be the motto of those whom God has elevated above the rest. And so the helpless child stood for a moment at bay, the water in front, her pur- suer close behind. The decayed limb of a tree had been brought down by the freshet, and, having caught on either side, lay across the stream, presenting the deceitful ap- pearance of a temporary bridge. 11 1 will risk it, rather than be taken back to Mr. Snipe," she resolved, and gained, by a single bound, the middle of the fragile stick. It crashed beneath her feet like broken glass, and in the next instant she was floundering in the deep and rapid waters, borne on to the milldam, to the millrace, to the great wheel, to the great ocean of eternity, but for this blundering Bill Bothermenot, who, with in- credible celerity, doffed jacket and boots, and, plunging into the stream, in less time than it takes to describe the adventure, saved the drowning girl. " I would rather die than be taken back to Mr. Snipe," she said, as he seated her upon the bank. " You shall neither die nor be taken back to Mr. Snipe," said the determined boy, as he wrung the water from her dripping hair. "But why did you not stop when I called you 1 You feared me ; feared I would take you back to Mr. Snipe ? Why, child, if that worthy were here now I would pitch him into the stream, and he might get out as best he could. But come ; you arc wet and weary, and must hasten home." Bill's jacket, which he had thrown upon the bank, being the only dry article he possessed, except his boots, he bound around the girl's head, tying it by the arms under the chin, and, taking her by the hand, led on in the most direct way homeward. 5 50 DOIXGS IX MARYLAND, jNoble boy ! May the chivalric blood which flows in thy young veins yet bring thee honor and renown ! When these odd-looking travelers, in pitiable plight, — Bill in his shirt-sleeves, with clothes dripping water, and Mattie, equally dripping, with jacket-bound head, — arrived at the old field-house, Bill remarked, — " Had I not better go in with you and explain matters to your mother ? She might be angry with you for this day's work, as she does not fully understand the case." 11 My mother always believes me, and she is never angry with any one," replied Mattie, unbinding the jacket from her brow. "I suppose you will not return to school again?" said Bill, opening the gate to let her pass. " I rather think my college days are ended," said Mattie, with an effort at a smile. And so they were. This transaction at school caused much comment in the neighborhood, and persons said the School Committee ought to investigate the matter, others said Mr. Snipe ought to be dismissed ; but the wily creature had got the right side of Mary Flum, and she ruled her grandfather; besides, Mrs. Flax could not spare the poultry-doctor, so the affair, like most of the injuries indicted upon the help- less poor, was passed over and sooii forgotten. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 51 CHAPTER XL SNOWSTORM. "'Tis easy to accuse Whom fortune hath made faulty by their fall; They who are vanquished may not refuse The titles of reproach they're charged withal." The present chapter of our story brings us back, or rather forward, to the winter when the Doug-las family — father, mother, and child — were first introduced to the reader ; when the ghostly horse, the shivering cow, the famishing hen, composed the entire wealth and resources of this distressed and perishing household. The events we have narrated, degrading as they were, transpired previous to the time when these unfortunates had reached the horrid climax of poverty and destitution sketched in the first chapter ; and from this epoch our story now pro- gresses. Mrs. Douglas is by this time so reduced in health as to be unable to leave her couch. Yesterday her cough was unusually severe; to-day her husband has gone to the store to procure the ingredients for making the mixture which relieves her most. A country store, reader, is an aggregation of stores, — all kinds in one, collective in character as heterogeneous in arrangement. In a well-filled country store, almost everything you need may be obtained, — a cent's worth of salt or a suit of broadcloth. Bacon and blue-pills lie quietly side by side ; gunpowder and lucifer-matches are huddled together in close proximity; hats and spurs hang 52 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, on ladies' saddles ; drugs and dye-stuffs are almost mixed ; peppermint and prussic aeid are scarcely distinguishable; cards and prayer-books mingled like diamonds and corrup- tion in a coffin ; and sad am I to say that there, too, the hydra alcohol is permitted to rear its horrid front and charm its victim while it takes his life. It coils so cunningly among the luscious grapes, and wriggles itself into the heart of the corn and rye. The spicy cordial, the fragrant juniper, each conceals a fang, and scores of unfortunates, whom the neces- sities of life compel to frequent the place, are caught en- tangled in its deadly folds, bitten, and destroyed forever. Statesmen and orators, with you rests this great respon- sibility 1 The day is now far spent, and Mr. Douglas has not yet returned from the store. A violent storm is approaching, and the cold is intense. The night will be a fearful one. Mrs. Douglas is becoming every moment more and more excited and alarmed ; paroxysms of coughing follow each other in rapid succession, — each seems sufficient to expel her life. 11 Go again to the top of the hill, my child," she requests, 11 and see if there is any prospect of your father. Oh, if I could but go in search of him ! He will perish this night if he stays out in the storm." She tries to get from the bed; the effort brings on another fit of coughing, which leaves her nearly breathless. Mattie did as directed by her mother; but no glimpse of the absent one blessed her strained vision. The snow- flakes descended thick and fast, the wind moaned omi- nously through the tops of the trees. The child felt an in- definable apprehension and dread of something — she knew not what. Sadly she returned to the house. Her silence gave the answer to her mother's eager and inquiring look. The night has now closed in, the storm has increased in OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 53 violence ; Mrs. Douglas is frantic with apprehension ; the hectic lire glows and burns upon her cheek and lights with superhuman lustre her sparkling e}^es. Now her anxiety has increased to frenzy. " Mattie," she exclaims, "you must go iu search of your father, you must find him and bring him home, or he will perish iu the woods this night." " Oh, mother," cried the child, quivering with terror, 44 where shall I go to find him ? the woods are so wide, the storm is so awful, and the night is so dark." " You must follow the road that leads through the woods to the main road," replied the mother; " perhaps you will find him by the side of it, He may have grown weary, and, having sat down to rest, has fallen asleep," said the heart- wife, in palliation of her husband's delinquency, " and you must arouse him and bring him home." 11 1 shall lose myself in the forest," cried the child, " and die before morning. What then will become of you, mother, when father and I are both dead in the woods ?" 11 1, too, shall die this night, if your father is not found," said the mother; "but stay, I shall go in search of him myself. I will save him, or die in the attempt ; yes, I will perish with him ! Stay me not, Mattie, I am content to lay my broken heart by the side of his frozen corpse." " Do not attempt it, mother! do not, I implore you !" ex- claimed the child, throwing her arms around her mother to restrain her; "you cannot go, mother, indeed you cannot. Trust to me, mother, I will go in search of my father, and I will save -him, or I, too, will die in the attempt," The child's whole characteristic strength of feeling was now wrought up to the highest pitch of do-or-die resolve. " Get upon the horse, and take Carlo with you ; the in- stinct of those animals will bring you home when your 5* 54 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, own judgment might become confused and lead you astray," was the direction of the mother. The distressed child started upon her almost hopeless search, mounted upon the wretched animal that was scarcely able from hungered weakness to stand up in the storm, but rocked and swayed from side to side at every surge of the blast. Now the snow drove " fast and furious," the tempest roared and howled, the strained limbs snapped and crashed in the crushing blast; and the child braved all this in the dark and lonefy forest, with no companion save the two dumb brutes, with no courage but the strength inspired by filial love. Ye who, while the piercing blast goes screaming by and the savage tempest rages without, recline on soft luxurious couch or undulating sofa, with atmosphere softened and perfumed to pamper the most fastidious sense, think of this lone child amid the lonely hills on such a night — on such a mission. Oh, were there no other world than this, no world to set this one right, then indeed might the child of misfor- tune hearken to the Satan-prompted voice of one of old, who, under the raspings of sore affliction, in bitterness of heart, cried to the companion of her sufferings, "Curse God and die !" Mattie took the road as directed by her mother ; but the violence of the storm was such that she was compelled to lay her head close to the neck of the horse, which she grasped with both hands and anus to avoid being blown from her seat. In this position she could scarcely have seen her lather had she passed quite near him, and the drifting snow which lav in heaps across the path might have concealed his rigid form, and lie (crushed beneath the feet of the animal) heroine a victim to the very solici- tude that sought to save him. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 55 Carlo appeared to understand the object of the journey quite as well as his young- mistress; perhaps he had seen service of the kind before, in company with his older mistress; he ran hither and thither, whining and snuffing at every heap of snow, evidently determined to accomplish his object in spite of the terrors of the tempest. Mattie had traveled on in this manner for some time, certainly in no favorable condition to achieve an important object or to find the Franklin of her Arctic expedition, when by a sudden lulling of the tempest she heard Carlo bark. The joyful cry of " Land ! land !" from the topmast of the gallant Pinta, sent no greater thrill of joy to the weary hearts of the great Columbus' crew than did that bark of dog to the sad, sick heart of the forlorn child-wanderer in the lonely forest. And yet, why the joy ? The dog may have found a wild animal, a rabbit, or a coon. " God of my mother," prayed the child, "grant that this may be my father, if, indeed, he is in the forest, lost and benumbed in this terrific storm." She turned her horse's head in the direction indicated by the barking of the dog, and urged the speed of the sluggish brute to its utmost. As she neared the spot, Carlo came to meet her, w T agged his tail, then, running back to the snow-rick, barked again with all his might. Mattie sprang to the grouud and commenced demolishing the heap of snow ; she scattered the yielding mass in every direction ; she threw aside armful after armful with breathless haste, until, notwith- standing the excessive cold, the perspiration oozed from every pore ; her heart was in her work. She neared the ground, something more substantial than snow presented resistance to her groping thrust; after all, it might be a log; and so it was, — with a human head upon it. " Oh, my father ! my father !" she shrieked, in accents that outshrieked the storm. She threw her arms about 5G DOINGS IN MARYLAND, bis neck, kissed his cold, wet face, laid her glowing cheek to his, as if to impart warmth and motion to the chilled and stagnant blood. By every means in her child-power, she tried to arouse him to consciousness; finding it im- possible to do so, she determined to return to her mother and obtain further directions. She drew from her person the tattered old cloak with which she was enveloped, and, wrapping it around her father's head and shoulders, com- manded Carlo to lie down upon a corner of it. Talking to the dog, the anxious and affectionate discoverer com- manded him to guard both the discovery and its cover; and, in case the torpid object should arouse in her absence, she, in the most solemn manner, and shaking her finger at the dog, directed him "to bring his master straight home.' r Now the storm in some measure abated its fury, seem- ingly in very pity to the child, and the clouds, some- what broken, rolled in heavy masses across the heavens, permitting the moon occasionally to glance upon the earth. Let us hope she never witnessed such a scene but once. "I have found him! I have found him, mother!" cried the child, bounding into the house; "but he is so sound asleep, I cannot waken him ; what shall I do now?" "If you can keep him alive until he has slept some time, he will be able to walk," said the mother. "You must take all the rugs and comforts you can find about the house, and wrap him in them, and here, take this pillow (drawing one from under her own head) and place it be- tween your father's head and the cold ground. \f you can keep up a circulation of the blood until sleep has re- stored him to consciousness, all will he well; and I wish you could carry with you some warm bricks to place to his extremities," said the mother. "lie is far down in the forest," replied the child; "the bricks would cool before reaching him ; but I have seen. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 57 the woodcutter's fires, and I will make one for my father, and I will bring him home in safety, dear mother, so do not fret, but sleep sweetly until we return." And the child playfully patted the shrunken cheeks and kissed the colorless lips of the attenuated being before her, in happy ignorance of the fact that she would never hear that soft, sweet voice again, or look into those love-lit eyes, intelli- gent with recognition. As they had but one principal room in the house, it served for parlor, kitchen, and bedroom ; and Mrs. Doug- las, as she lay there, watched with intense anxiety Mattie's preparations; moments seemed hours to her, and she con- stantly exclaimed, " Hurry, my love, hurry away ! bring him quickly back; I would see him once more, God ! I would see him once more 1" Mattie replenished the fire, and placed the tea-kettle near, that she might have warm nourishment to give the benumbed night-wanderer when he returned. Having completed her arrangements, she was about to leave the house, when her mother raised herself upon her arm, and, stretching forth her hand with the most beseeching ges- ture, cried out, in a gasping, sobbing voice, husky with emotion, " Oh, Mattie, Mattie, your father's life is in your hands ; if you love me, take care of him !" " I will, mother, I will," said the child, and, bursting into tears, she knew not why, again rushed forth into the savage night. 58 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, CHAPTER XII. DEATII. " Misfortune does not always wait on vice, Nor is success the constant guest of virtue." As the sobbing child upon the skeleton of a horse floundered on, through the snow, back to the place where she had left her burden, she turned over in her mind many projects for the immediate rescue of the charge so solemnly committed to her keeping. "If I could but get some one to help me home with him, how glad I would be ! I kuow that generous boy, who drew me from the water, would assist me if he were here; but he lives miles away; and then our nearest neighbor is Mi*. Flax, and Mr. Snipe lives there, — oh, no, I cannot go there, I would die first!" " But your father may die likewise," whispered something in her heart; "how will you reconcile that with your pride?" " He shall not die, he shall live !" she exclaimed aloud, so firm was her resolve, so strong her intent. Now she urged anew the speed of her jaded animal, and, having arrived at the spot, found things much as she had left them, except that Carlo had crept nearer to the object of his guard, and lay enveloped in the cloak close against his master's breast. Mattie made haste to wrap in the covering she had brought the unconscious form before her, and to place un- der his head the pillow of which her mother had deprived her own aching brow, to add to the comfort of one who had procured naught save thorns for her head and daggers for her heart. woman! woman! when thou art true, thy name is but another name for the Paradise of Clod, for OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 59 thou art all of heaven that earth can show! Could that pillow have given its testimony, what a sad story would it not have told ! What charges would it not have brought against the object it came to solace and to save ! In the still hours of the lonely night, when none but true hearts and the holy stars keep watch, how often had that pillow been drenched with the bitter tears of despairing anguish wrung from eyes dull and weary by reason of their wakeful sorrow ! How many sleepless nights had been passed upon its yielding but unsympathizing bosom; how many sobs and sighs that drink up the heart like a sirocco, and render it an arid desert; how many prayers, that ap- peared to fall back upon the soul like burning drops of molten lead, had been breathed in its dull ear, not duller, though, than the besotted heart of the wretched inebriate, the author of all this woe ! He had fallen near a stone-quarry, and the deep excava- tions in the side of the hill had escaped the drifting snow, and now exposed to view an abundance of comparatively dry leaves and twigs. One of these excavations Mattie selected for her fireplace, and, striking a match, commu- nicated the ignition to paper, which she had brought for the purpose, and this again to dry leaves and twigs, then to chips and bits of bark, till, finally, she fanned her little spark into a generous flame. The quarry furnished an abundance of loose stones, which this most laborious child placed around the fire, and, as they warmed, around her father — to his feet, his chest a regular fortification — and so fairly built out death. He was covered with the coarse rugs brought from home for the purpose, and these retained the steam produced by the hot stones upon the snow-covered ground. The sleeper w T as soon enveloped in a copious vapor-bath ; a Thompso- nian practitioner could scarcely have given him a better. 60 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, The rigid muscles relaxed, the arms moved, the lips parted, and a deep and regular breathing proclaimed a natural and recuperating sleep. Mattie seated herself upon the log, and, taking his head upon her lap, chafed the clammy brow, — that gloriously expansive brow, — one which bore the unmistakable impress of genius, — " a temple where a God might dwell." But what doth it here ? Oh, solve me, ye who can ; what doth it here ? Thus the child passed the night in the forest, minister- ing to her unconscious father, who, but for her, ere morn- ing dawned, would have passed into the world of spirits. The prayer so often offered in his behalf, — "Oh, spare the barren lig-tree yet another year," — again was laid before the throne, again was heard and answered. Suddenly Mr. Douglas awoke, and, looking wildly around, exclaimed, — "Mattie, where has your mother gone?" " She is at home, father," replied the child. " Home ! home!" he repeated; "and is not this home?" "No, father, this is not home." "But your mother was here a moment since; she laid her hand upon my brow and kissed my cheek." "No, father; it was I who was chafing your temples and trying to revive you ; and, oh, I am so glad you have awakened, for mother is very sick at home, and so anxious about us out in the cold woods all night. Come, father, let us hasten to her." And the child essayed, with her puny strength, to assist the large man to rise. " Your mother is not sick," sullenly exclaimed the be- wildered man ; "she was here this moment, She did not look ill, but young and lovely as when 1 bore her from her father's halls my bride." " Vou have been dreaming, father," said the child. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 61 "You are not well, yourself. Let us hasten home to mother, who will be so happy to see us return in safety after such an awful night." She placed in his hand the bridle of the horse, upon which to lean, and, replacing upon the animal the baggage, led the way homeward with a light and joyous step. Thoughts of her mother's loving, grateful smile, which she knew would be lavished upon her, so elated the child that she could scarcely restrain her movements sufficiently to keep pace with her father's uncertain and tardy step. Her young heart overflowed with glee; she skipped about on either side, and tried to rouse Carlo to a playful chase " You lazy old fellow," she exclaimed, "why don't you run on before and with joyful bark ap- prise your mistress that we are near ? Home, home, I say, and be the first to tell the joyful news !" But Carlo appeared to think he had done work enough for one night, and with drooping tail crouched closer to his young mistress's side. Arrived at home, Mattie would not wait to unload the horse, but entered with her father, impatient to witness the first burst of joyful surprise, to receive the blessing which she knew would be invoked upon her by her grate- ful mother. By this time the husband and father in some measure realized his own condition, his narrow escape from death, and all the sad circumstances of his plight. As Mattie led him forward to the bed on which lay his wife, he half averted his head, as if ashamed to meet an eye whose very look of sad joy and mournful love would be reproach. But he need not fear; those eyes will never look reproach or love again. A wild shriek at his side caused him to bound from the floor. " Oh, my mother, my mother ! She is dead, she is dead !" 6 62 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, CHAPTER XIII. " Lay her in the earth, And from her fair and unpolluted flesh May riolets spring." Sin must haye an expiatory sacrifice ; the blood of in- nocence must wash oat guilt. It is strange and inexplica- ble, but it is nevertheless true, an atonement for sin must be made, either vicariously or otherwise. From the blood of Abel to that of the Messiah, and from that dark day on which the earth, in horror of the scene it witnessed, turned back upon its course, to the present, the life-stream from purity and innocence has poured forth its rich liba- tions upon the altar of pollution and crime. Mrs. Douglas had spent long years in praying, hoping, waiting to witness the reformation of her husband. No reward for all her constancy had she found, but her un- faltering love still pursued him, and, like a dove holding forth the olive-branch of peace, ever hovered near. Her tears, her sighs, her failing health, her deadly pallor, her pleading looks, eloquent with feeling too deep for utterance, all passed unnoticed, uncared for, by the in- fatuated victim of an uncontrolled appetite. Her spoken and unspoken sorrow was like the lost mariner's dying wail for help, when cast upon desolate shores where none save birds and beasts give audience to the dreadful dirge of the remorseless sea. But now that the wretched man beheld the corpse of her whom he had sworn to cherish and had destroyed, the spell of sensual sorcery was broken, conscience-riven, and his mental vision cleared at OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 63 last, but, alas;, too late, from its dark and deadly obscura- tion! Every principle of the man's strong but hitherto bewildered sense of right cried aloud for vengeance, for vengeance on the destroyer, for vengeance on himself! ** I have done the deed! I have killed my wife !" he ex- claimed, in throes of new-born, keen conviction. " O righteous Heaven, strike the murderer dead! let the same dark grave hide the destroyer and his victim! let the same sheet of death wind us together in everlasting oblivion! But, no ! Why should she be forgotten, the holy, the an- gelic? neither should the vestments that shroud her pure form touch my vile clay. God, death to me would be too great a boon ! I must live ! live to wear out the rem- nant of my days in goading, in harrowing remorse ! But stay, spirit of my sainted wife, stay thy Sight and bear my vow with thee to heaven. Never, never more shaU the accursed cup touch my polluted lips !" The victim was slain, the sinner was saved. The morning dawned in beauty, the sun rose in glory, and looked as gayly and smilingly around upon the snow- clad hills as if there was no sorrow upon earth, no cause for sadness, no strife of elements, no destruction of hopes, no cold corpse lying in the cabin of crushed and broken hearts, — no struggle of a soul compelled to quit its hold on life, just at the very moment w T hen all its profoundest energies of purpose were called into most active use among the living. Mr. Douglas repaired to the village to obtain the coffin and make what preparation he could for the burial. The mean structure which he ordered to be the last receptacle of his wife, was, how different in expense and material from that costly cradle in which her infancy reposed! How very different the pageantry and pomp with which he took her to his arms a bride, from the style in which 64 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, he now put her from him and resigned her to the arms of death! — yet, like Aleestis, of classic memory, she had died for him ! She might have lived, she might have returned to the friends of her youth, and enjoyed in their society elegance and ease, could she but have broken from her heart those bands of love, sweeter than life, stronger than death, that bound her to him first, that bound him last. A boy, whose business with the cabinet-maker that morning was picture-frames and varnish, stood near and heard Mr. Douglas give the order for the coffin ; he in- stantly quitted the shop, and, mounting his horse, hastened with all speed to his mother — for Bill Bothermenot had a mother, he was the only son of his mother — and she was a widow, but not a destitute widow; all the comforts, with many of the luxuries of life, were hers. "Mother! mother!" exclaimed Bill, rushing into the house, " Mrs. Douglas is dead. You must go over there at once. Only think of that poor child alone with her dead mother. Her father is in the village. I saw him just now. And there is no telling when he may go home again. I will have the carriage waiting in a moment, mother. Do please make haste." Bill was in such a hurry now he would scarcely give his mother time to put her bonnet on, and but for him she would have visited Mrs. Douglas long before, because she had felt much interest in the family ever since Mattie's trouble at school, in which her son had played so promi- nent a part; but he constantly dissuaded her, saying Mrs. Douglas did not wish to see visitors. He had drawn the confession from Mattie that her mother shunned society, and a visit under the circumstances would be an intrusion. Bill's mother was not one of our professionally benevo- lent people, not by any means a honeythunder, or the Oil MATILDA DOUGLAS. (;,", seclusion in which the sensitiveness of Mrs. Doug-las chose to enshroud itself would have been invaded ere this. No, she was not one of those who take pleasure in witnessing distress and a pride in probing wounds in the ulcerated heart, and leading on to suppuration gangrenes that else might have healed by the first intention; not one of those who, after dispensing a penny of help and a pound of advice to the poor and afflicted, entertain with glowing accounts of their generous doings the fat parson as he refreshes himself by their fountains of tea and crops delicious herbage from their mountains of dainties. Oh, no, Bill's mother was not one of these; she was only a lady with true womanly sympathies. As Bill and his mother journeyed on to the house of mourning, said the boy, " Mother, I do expect Mr. Doug- las has not a spot upon the earth in which to bury his wife, and I am sure he is not able to purchase now ; he will have to put her in a corner of the woods or in a gully by the roadside. Won't you permit me to invite him to bury her in our family graveyard ?" 11 1 am willing that you shall make him such an offer," said the mother, " and I thank God that He has enabled me to furnish a grave for the stranger; but I thank Him yet more for the noble, generous-hearted son He has given me. Xo property, however valuable,*could be to me an equivalent for a selfish, unprincipled child." And deli- cious tears of pride and joy filled the grateful mother's eyes. The lady, having arrived at the house of death, found the child lying upon the bed, her head resting upon her mother's corpse. She had lain there since her return from the forest, stunned, stupefied with horror. As Mr. Doug- las passed through the room on his way out, he cast a wistful look at child and mother. Supposing the former 66 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, asleep, he would not awake her, but went on, muttering to himself, " Poor child, happy for her could her sleep also be eternal. Happy for both could one grave receive them." The first attention of the lady was given to the child. She seated her upon her lap and tried to soothe and com- fort her. But what comfort can be given to one whose all in life is lost, and lost forever? Mattie's mother was her all. Now that she is gone, what is left to her ? what has she to live for ? "Oh, bury me in the grave with my mother!" she plead to the lady whose arms encircled her. " No, no, my child," replied the lady; "you have some- thing yet to live for, — your father! Transfer your love to him, and struggle on for his sake if not for your own." This remark brought to the mind of the child her mother's dying injunction, when on the preceding night the woman stretched forth her hands in the agonies of death, and cried with her expiring breath, " Oh, Mattie ! Mattie ! if you love me, take care of him !" After the lady had in some measure succeeded in quieting the child, she proceeded to dress the corpse and prepare it for burial. In after-years it was a source of gratification to Mattie to remember that no vulgar or mer- cenary hands had touched that mother's sacred clay, — for sacred it was to her. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 67 CHAPTER XIV. CHARITY. u Methinks the generous and the good Shall woo thee from the shades of solitude, O'er friendless grief compassion shall awake, And smile on innocence for mercy's sake." The burial is over, the devoted wife, the fond, faithful mother, is laid away plainly, humbly, in her cold, dark dome, forever hid from the longing eyes of those dear ones for whom she lived, for whom she died. The excitement of the occasion is over; other excitants are wanting, and Mr. Douglas is prostrate — is ill. Mattie must again take her position as nurse. She had loved her mother with every power of her strong, earnest, faithful nature; every energy of her heart, vigorous to love and to labor, was called into active use, every chord of feeling fully strung, for that dear mother. That channel for her gushing sym- pathies was now closed ; the flood of feeling thus driven back upon her heart happTly found another outlet; another object for care, for solicitude, presented itself; and that ob- ject was her mother's idol, the burden of her dying charge. The resolve of the girl's heart was healthy ; she determined to devote herself to the living for the sake of the dead. The physician summoned to attend Mr. Douglas gave it as his opinion that many months, perhaps years, must elapse before the tone of his system, impaired by long abuse, would be so far restored as to enable the unhappy man to engage again in the active pursuits of life. This announcement fell upon Mattie's heart like a stone. She 68 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, knew some one must labor for their support ; her mother had for years — her father was now incapable, and what could her child-hands accomplish ? Neither was Mattie alone in her anxiety. Her father, aroused at last from his Rip-Van-Winkle torpor, from a lethargy that had chained him during the best years of his life, beheld with dismay the lowering tempest. It was now all too late to retrace his steps ; the storm was upon him, the flood of evil which he had been heaping up for his own destruction bore down upon him with resistless violence — to escape was impossible. " Mattie," said the unfortunate man, " I wish to talk to you of the future ; it is useless now to speak of the past. It appears I shall not be able for some time, if ever again, to engage in active business ; consequently, as I am pos- sessed of no means of support, I must seek an asylum for the present in an institution provided for indigent sick. With what little money I can raise from the sale of my few effects, I will send you to your relations beyond the seas. I will get a person in the neighborhood to put you on board a vessel, and I will write to your friends (though 1 have had no communication with them for years) to ap- prise them of your arrival. You will be kindly received and tenderly cared for by your *tnother's family, and once with them you will not only be safe from the ills that arise from poverty and disgrace, but you will enjoy the luxuries of life and the elegancies of refined society. For this last advantage, especially, I wish you to go, and in the enjoy- ment of that position in life which is your birthright, but from which my sad career lias debarred you, banish for- ever from your breast all memories of your unfortunate father." " No, father!" replied the child, firmly, calmly, proudly. " I cannot go ! The last words my mother ever spoke to OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 69 1110 wore, ' If you lovo me, take care of him !' How, then, could I go away and leave you siek, with none but Btrangers, who do not love you, to attend you ? Oh, no, I cannot go." " But, child," said the man, with deep emotion, " what will subsist us? We have no resource." " I do not know," she replied, " what we will do ; but my mother told me always to trust in God, and He could bring it to pass. I will try that." Mr. Douglas gazed upon his daughter with mingled curiosity and astonishment; she evinced such childlike simplicity, mingled with such matronly firmness, he knew not how to account for the opposites of her character. He did not reflect that the seclusion in which she had been raised fostered the one element, while the burden that he had imposed upon her heart and energies matured the other. Mattie, however, had found a better friend in her emer- gency than Mr. Douglas suspected, or than she herself had dared to hope. Bill Bothermenot's mother was her daily visitor, companion, and counselor. It was curious to observe how everything about the place suddenly changed ; how the shabby brush-heap at the door reformed its char- acter, and became a respectable and comfortable-looking woodpile ; how the horse grew fatter, the cow less shiver- ing, and how even Biddy, the hen, cackled as if her pros- pects in life had brightened considerably. Yet all this was done cautiously, and in a manner the least calculated to wound feelings sensitive and constitutionally independent. The jellies and cake, the nicely-prepared nourishment of every description brought daily by the lady, she told Mattie, were in consideration of the well-known capricious- ness of invalid appetite, which always preferred what came from abroad. "Besides," said the lady, "you are TO DOINGS IN MARYLAND, so much employed in attendance upon your father, you have not time to prepare his nourishment." She did uot wish Mattie to suppose that she was aware there was no food in the house fur her to prepare. Mattie's lip quivered, and her eye moistened; but she only replied, " I thank you, ma'am, and I shall never for- get your kindness or fail to repay it to you or yours." How many years rolled their sad and joyous rounds, how many bitter draughts, mixed with a few sweets, how- ever, had this child to drink, before this promise, thus casually made, was sacredly kept 1 CHAPTER XV. THE KELSOES. "On all sides, from innumerable tongues, A dismal, universal hiss, the sound Of public scorn." Among the myriads flung upon our shores from the isle of "bogs and blunders" were the two brothers John and Thomas Kelso. An uncle had preceded them to this land of Canaan, and, as he had become rich, and was yet a bachelor, these youths, considering themselves his heirs at law, scented him across the briny deep as instinct- ively as the crow scents the carrion. They did not wait, however, for a dead man's shoes or bones, but ob- tained the means of subsistence by becoming drivers of butchers' carts. By helping here and there about the slaughter-house, they obtained a knowledge of the business, which they commenced for themselves, when, upon the OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 71 sudden death of the old miser-uncle, they obtained sufficient means. The lives of these two men may be written in two words, — obtain and detain. For fear one would excel the other in a matrimonial speculation, they married sisters, — Maryland girls from Cecil County. The old field-house, with its field and garden, was owned by the brother Thomas. It was the mere corner-nook of a splendid tract of land, and the grotesque, antiquated cabin of unhewn logs had evidently been one of the first erected while Maryland was yet a colony, and probably occupied by the party who reclaimed the soil from its savage ownership. When rented by Mrs. Douglas, it was perfectly untenantable. With her own hands she made mortar of mud and filled the interstices between the logs where the original filling had mouldered away. The rents in the roof, through which the rain poured in torrents, she employed a colored man to mend. He also dug up the garden-ground, which Mrs. Douglas planted, for, like Abdalonimus, she worked in her garden ; but, alas for the poetry of it ! no Alexander came to her rescue. Uncle Jack, as the man-of-all-work was called, was the ser- vant of a gentleman living a few miles away, and on holidays and moonlight nights, to obtain a little pocket- money, Jack tinkered and did rough jobs of carpenter's work. And rough work it was, indeed, but then the charge he made was small, quite within the reach of all. Mrs. Douglas paid him in sewing for the work he did for her. She made him a Sunday shirt of white cotton, and Mattie hemmed for him a pink cravat, and a red and yel- low flowered pocket-handkerchief, and when, on Sundays, he was dressed in his Sunday suit, bought with his little between-time earnings, Jack felt joyous and proud, and stepped about with the firm and lofty tread of a free-born man. 72 DOIXGS TN MARYLAND, Said Jack to his Dinah, " Now, I don't like to take dis 'ere soin from dat dare lady, bekase I knows as how she am awful poor, and I knows she warn't always as she is now. She is a rale lady, I knows dat, and I hates to make her work for me, but she would not let me mend the ruff till I promised to gib her de soin for to pay for it." Said Dinah, " Well, Jack, can't we make up de price ob de soin to de white lady ? When your pumpkins am ripe, can't you tote some to her, and baskets of taters ? The next holiday we has, I means to go ober and whitewash de cabin inside and out for her, and I means to tote her baskets of 'simmons and chestnuts, and you can give some of de rabbits and birds what you catches in de traps, and so we will kind a make it up to de poor lady." Said Jack, " Dinah, you is de beautifulest critter on dis broad yearth. You has got de best heart dat I ebber did see. I lubs you more and more ebery day, for de good heart dat am in your body." Jack was a faithful servant, and his master had given him a garden- spot among the stumps in the newly-cleared field, and thus Jack owned the pumpkins and potatoes which he was willing to divide with the "poor white lady." On Sabbath, when the white folks were at church sing- ing praise to Heaven from velvct-and-gilt-bound books, Jack was in his garden hoeing down the weeds, and mak- ing hills and valleys ring with his anthems of praise; not sung from books, however, but from a heart overflowing with gratitude to the good God who had given him such big pumpkins and such lots of mealy potatoes. Taken all together, Jack was a pretty good fellow, though not equal to that wonderful old Tiff who went to camp-meeting to "hunt for } ligion" to give his dead mistress's children, and who, by the way, is the best, though the least noticed, of all Mrs. Stowc's peculiar gang. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 73 Frequently, in the morning, when Mrs. Douglas arose, she found a brace of partridges, a pheasant, or a rabbit tied to the latch-string outside the door, and then she knew that kind old Jack had made her a visit while she slept, and left food almost as miraculous as that which the prophet received when fed by the ravens. And so it came to pass, when Mrs. Douglas had plas- tered the walls, and Jack had mended the roof, and Dinah had whitewashed the cabin inside and out, and Mattie had embellished the exterior with all manner of beautiful vines and creeping* plants, the place presented so attractive an appearance that Mr. Kelso raised the rent ! Hitherto, by means of perpetual labor and the most self-denying econ- omy, Mrs. Douglas had managed to pay the rent; but now that it was raised beyond her ability to pay, an arrearage accumulated on the rent-roll, and a weight on her spirits, neither of which she was able to remove. After the death of this martyred woman, Mr. Kelso visited the cabin to collect, if possible, his overdue pit- tance. Learning from the child that her father was sick, and destitute of money, the landlord proposed (we would say coolly, only that he was angry) that the cow and horse should be given up to him, and that a black family should be taken into the hut as co-renters. There were but two rooms, both ground rooms. " One was sufficient for such poor people," Mr. Kelso said, " and the rent would be less in consequence." To be co-renters with blacks, in the South, was always considered the last round in the social ladder; and when this proposal was made to Mattie, she sat so still, and looked so deadly white, that you might have supposed Mr. Kelso had just made an image of the snow that lay in heaps outside the door. At length, forcing back the tears that were chokiug it, the snow image spoke: 7 74 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, " Please, sir, don't tell my father this yet awhile ; he is so sick, it would kill him. Please, sir, wait awhile, and as soon as the weather is a little warm we will go away, and give j T ou up the house; and I expect my father will give you the horse and the cow for the rent that is due." "I'll take them without his consent!" said the stern man. " But how is it that your animals are in such good condition now ? You raised nothing worth while on the place last year. Do you steal food for them ?" This was more than the already overburdened heart of the child could bear, and, bursting into tears, she cried out, " Oh, no ! no, sir 1 we don't steal ; Mrs. Allston sends prov- ender for the cattle, and she visits my father every day ; and I wish she were here now, to tell you that we do not steal." " Mrs. Allston ? Mrs. Allston? Indeed !" When Mr. Kelso heard that Mrs. Allston visited these people, he in- stantly arose, and, without saying another word, left the house. As lucky Mr. Kelso had obtained everything he wanted, so he had obtained the name of being a charitable man, and a Christian. Then here was a pretty muddle ! People would know that he was screwing these unfortunates to get a little rent for a dog-kennel of a lodge, and they with death, sickness, and starvation inside. Soon after Mr. Kelso's departure, .Mrs. Allston arrived. Mattie was still sobbing. The lady asked the cause. Said the weeping girl, "Mr. Kelso has been here, and wants us to take a black family into the house, because we owe him rent." " Pool), pooh ! Nonsense ! A black family, indeed! The man must be deranged," replied the lady. "lie says,'' continued Mattie, "that he will take the horse and the COW for the rent we owe him." "How much do you owe him?" OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 75 "I heard my mother say it was fifty dollars," said the figure, white as snow again at the mention of mother. "Well, surely the old Shylock will not take both horse ami cow for fifty dollars; but, indeed, there is no telling what rapacity, unchecked by law, will not do. I do not pretend to know much about law, but I have heard my husband say that some of the Maryland laws, like those of the English, from which they were copied, were barbarous." M He asked me," continued the child, " if we stole the food for the animals, because they are looking so well now, and we raised nothing on the place last year." Mrs. Allston's indignant blood flushed high into her ex- pressive face, and her eye beamed with a light that was foreign to its benignant sheen. " The brute," she exclaimed, "thus to insult a helpless child!" " I said to him, that you would tell him if we stole, or not, and as soon as I mentioned your name he looked surprised, and left the house." " Well, I shall see the poor creature about the business ; and now you hush crying, and don't you mention one word of this to your father ; as soon as spring comes I shall re- move you both from this place, and in the mean time I shall see Mr. Kelso and secure you from further annoy- ance." Said Bill, who .was a silent, but not uninterested, spec- tator, " Mother, permit me to accompany you when you visit Mr. Kelso ? He might be insolent, and, if he were, I would knock him down, as he does his bullocks." "No, my son," said the mother, smiling, "you need not fear; Mr. Kelso will not be insolent to me; he is of that order of snobs who have courage only to insult helpless and unprotected poverty." "I wish," said Mattie, "that I could do work of some kind, to pay the rent ; I don't know what we will do with- T6 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, out the horse and the cow, if Mr. Kelso should take them." " I will attend to that," said the lady; " he shall not take the little stock you have. But what kind of work do you want ?" " My mother intended me for a teacher ; but I did not get an opportunity to finish my education. I could do needlework, though ; I understand 'most all kinds of needle- work." " Then you could teach needlework, and, I dare say, many other things, if you were a little older, for you are uncommonly well educated for a girl of your age. I sup- pose your mother was your teacher ?" " Yes, ma'am, she was, and she intended that I should be educated for a teacher myself; but she was taken from me so unexpectedly " And here the girl again broke down, and tears choked her utterance. Said the lady, " I should think you might be a teacher of young children, even now, young as you are ; I have read of such things having been done before, and why not again ? You are a thoughtful child, and seem to have a great deal of character, and, I think, independence, too; the wish you have just now expressed for work is indicative of such a trait, aud I am pleased to observe it." Mattie's eye brightened with pleasure, and she replied, through her tears, " If age is my only fault, ma'am, I will try and be old; but I will not be cross to the little chil- dren, and hate them, because they have not a father on the ' committee.' " Mrs. Allston smiled at the earnest simplicity of the child, and replied, " Well, in the spring I shall see what kind of a school 1 can get for you. In the mean time, make your mind easy; I will take care of the present, and the future is with God." OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. \*\ CHAPTER XVI. THE KELSOES — CONTINUED. "We are to blame in this, 'Tis too much proved, that with devotion's visage And pious action we do sugar o'er The Devil himself." The Kelsoes, though wealthy, did not pass as current coin in the neighborhood in which they had located their country residence. They were recognized as vulgar people, bloated with money, and the surrounding gentry rather shied off and left them alone in their gilded glory. A visit from Mrs. Allston, then, was as great a social triumph as Mr. Kelso could have asked, and the plethoric-pursed butcher could scarcely regret, since the visit was actually obtained, that it was, if not his brutes, his brutality which obtained it. The wife of brother Thomas, who was owner of the old field-house, was the impersonation of vulgarity, but, like many such, had the most excessive desire to appear well-bred, and made the most desperate efforts to imitate what she supposed would be the manners and con- versation of people in the higher circles of society. Her mind was as weak as it was vulgar, and her efforts to appear elegant failed oftener than they succeeded, but, with the most laudable perseverance, she still kept trying. If by chance she got hold of a "big w r ord," as she called it, she would fatigue the poor word to death, fairly wear it out; and then, catching at another, it shared the same fate. The preacher made use of the word redundant; Mrs. 7* •78 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, Kelso caught it as it flew along, and henceforth every- thing upon the earth was redundant. She would say- to the waiter, " John, the dust in the parlor is redun- dant." To the cook, " Dolly, the dinner was cooked redun- dant to-day." To her daughter, " My dear, your dress is redundant long." To her husband, " My dear, those horses run so redundant that I am afraid to get in the carriage." The pickles were redundant with spice, the butter with salt, the gumbo with pepper, the crabs with mustard. The parson's grace at table was redundant, and the howling of the dog in the yard was the same. For the time being everything was redundant with Mrs. Kelso; and then she would wring her hands, sway her head from side to side, purse up her mouth, mince her words, make her voice fine (cultivated!), and put on all the airs of a boarding-school- girl of sixteen. The eldest son of these people was a confirmed idiot ; their eldest daughter, little better, though they had bought to be her husband a man who was by trade a minister of the gospel. The Lord have mercy on us! The servants of the Allston mansion were greatly sur- prised one morning when the order came for the large family carriage to be taken from its long resting-place, washed and dusted for use. This carriage of state had never been used since the death of Mr. Allston, now a period of live years; but Bill wished that his mother should not visit what might prove a hostile domain without her attendants and such a display as would at once bring down the pre- tensions of people who scorned elegant simplicity and only respected ostentatious display. Said Bill, "The livery of your servants, mother, will have more effect upon the Kelsoes than all the arguments that could be adduced in favor of the cause of humanity." " If it will benefit the Douglases," said the mother, OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 79 why, then, order the large carnage, though, in truth, I would rather go in the small one." With liveried servants mounted before and behind this carriage of state, Mrs. Allston set out on her mission of mercy. The Kelsoes spent the winter months in their costly city residence, but were out accidentally on the farm at this time, attending to some new dairy arrangements, and thus were easy of access. Mr. Kelso spied the rich equipage advancing up the avenue, and concluded that the riders had lost their way ; but the carriage resolutely advanced, and actually stopped before his door. The ser- vant from behind leaped from his place, and, throwing open the carriage-door, asked for orders. "Inquire," said his mistress, "if Mrs. or Mr. Kelso is at home." In blank amazement, the last-named emerged from his hiding-place, and with much grimace and many bows assisted the most unexpected visitor to alight. Mrs. Kelso came flying into the parlor like a hen frightened from her nest — all in a flutter of amazement, only wonder- ing w T hat she should do, to do like a lady ! She com- menced, — " Well, now, really this is redundant kind in you to come on this cold day. And really it gives me redundant pleasure to see you, Mrs. Allston ; but I regret most redundant that you should find us in such poor trim. Take off your things, anyhow, and spend the day. I know it will give you redundant pleasure to excuse every- thing, as your visit is so redundant unexpected." " I ought rather to be the apologist on this occasion," said the lady, "for visiting you in the country at this un- seasonable time of year, but my feelings are so much interested in a family who are tenants of yours, that I dared to hope you would excuse etiquette for the sake of humanity." Mrs. Kelso smirked, wrung her hands, waved her head, 80 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, and replied, "Certainly, ma'am, certainly. I shall be redundant happy to do anything you wish." Mr. Kelso also assured the visitor that " anything he could do for her should be done in a high state of pleasure." The lady resumed : " I wish to come to the point at once, Mr. Kelso, and therefore promise to assume the debt of Mr. Douglas; but with respect to the admission of a black family into the house, that cannot be thought of for a mo- ment. I have already offered Mr. Douglas an asylum in my house, which he has thought proper to decline. But should }^ou persist in introducing blacks into their little lodge, I shall carry him and the child away by force." Said Mr. Kelso, " Why, really, Mrs. Allston, though it is true I should like to have my rent, yet if I had thought that these people were friends of yours I would not have interfered with them in the least." Said the lady, "They are not friends of mine, sir, — only by the ties of humanity, and in that sense they are equally friends of yours. I never saw the people until the death of Mrs. Douglas made it imperative that some one of human kind should look in upon their misery. I much regret, however, that I did not make the acquaint- ance of Mrs. Douglas, for I infer she must have been a superior woman, to judge from the manner in which she has educated her daughter. Mr. Douglas, too, I find, is a gentleman, both by birth and education, but has unfor- tunately fallen a victim to a vice which bids fair to become a national one." Mrs. Kelso interrupted, — "Oh, Mrs. Allston, Mr. Kelso is the very soul of generosity; indeed, his charities are redundant, and 1 am sure he will be as redundant willing to forgive the debt as you could be to pay it." "The cognizance of the world has a very sensible effect upon our charities sometimes," replied the huh', with a OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 81 feeling of scorn she could not resist. " This debt is but a trifle at most, and, to a gentleman of Mr. Kelso's means, nothing. Besides, the house was unfit for occupancy when Mrs. Douglas entered it; indeed, a person who would have quartered his blacks in such a place would not have been received in the society of the neighborhood; and when with her own hands she made it tolerable, the rent was raised beyond her ability to pay." A bright spot of red was perceptible upon the cheek of Mr. Kelso, but his lady did not appear to understand that any censure was implied in Mrs. Allston's remarks, and went on to declare that the people should have redundant peace so far as they were concerned, "for Mr. Kelso," she said, " was the most redundant kind man in the world, and gave away more money in the course of a year than would be sufficient to support a large family." Mrs. Allston continued: "In the spring, when the weather is sufficiently warm to permit the removal of the invalid, I shall provide other quarters for him and the child, and in the mean time, I ask as a favor, that they may not be subjected to annoyance of any kind, as I promise to pay the rent so long as they remain at ' Old- fields.'" Mr. Kelso assured the lady that the people should not be subjected to any annoyance from him; his greedy eyes glistened with delight when he heard her promise to pay the money. A few evenings after the interview here detailed, this charitable man was in the city, and, with important bustle, preparing to attend a fashionable meeting called by fashionable people for a fashionable purpose, namely, to express sympathy with the Laplanders. It seems the frigid zone had been cheered by an unusually vivid display of the aurora borealis, and the excessive bright- 82 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, ness reflected by the snow had affected the reindeer and given them a soreness of the eyes, which was for the time epidemic. By this most unusual occurrence, the scientific Laplanders had been deprived of a contemplated excursion to the North Pole, or at least the eagerly an- ticipated expedition had to be postponed. A meeting was called for Americans to express sympathy with their cool- headed and cool-footed brothers in a disappointment that affected not only themselves but the world ; as it had been confidently expected that this party of explorers would not only bring home the North Pole, but Sir John Frank- lin with it. The meeting was called, and duly organized by placing Mr. Strokemyback in the chair, and a committee was ap- pointed to draft resolutions of condolence. Mr. Kelso — poor Mattie's persecutor for fifty dollars — arrived rather late for a correct understanding of the object of the meet- ing. Supposing, however, that nothing but money could possibly be wanted anywhere, he arose in the crowd, and, with a thousand fat and fashionable eyes flashing upon him, cried out, " Mr. Chairman, put down a hundred dollars for each of the brothers John and Thomas Kelso." Mr. Kelso was publicly pious as well as publicly chari- table, lie prayed in public by weight much longer than that by which he weighed his beef; long weight and loud weight was the measure of his public prayers. lie thanked God that " he, humble Tom, was worthy to be good and great." And, as an accompanying paean of praise to Heaven, he jingled the money in his pocket as he prayed. The Kc'socs are by no means an extinct race, or few in number, for of all the large bequests that astonish the world, how few spring from the principle which has for its motto, " Thou, God, seest me;" but rather from that OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 83 self-soothing emulgcnt, " Thou, world, look and behold me !" And now we gladly take our leave of the Kelsoes. They are unpleasant people to be with, and never would have received even a passing notice from us, only that we could not set forth Mattie's indebtedness to Mrs. Allston, or the great merit of that most estimable woman, without allusion to those vulgar, purse-proud toadies whom to know is to abhor. CHAPTER XVII. "TROUBLE LOVES A TRAIN." " Death ! death ! death ! thou art not half so cruel In thy destruction of the prosperous, As in not killing wretches that would die." Spring has come, with its fragile, half-developed leaf, its tiny bud, its softened gale, and emerald hillside; with song of early bird and hum of bee ; with its violet and its snowdrop. The squirrel has left his log house, and the swallow his mud cabin by the brook, and gone forth to cater for existence. The sick man and the sad child have left the old field-house and gone forth to meet the world and battle in the unequal contest. They are located in the village; their friend has come nobly to her promise, and not a house in all the neighborhood but has been visited in quest of patronage for the young teacher, and there she sits, surrounded by a group of little, happy, rosy faces. She has received orders, too, for needlework, more than she can fill. The day she divides between 84 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, labor with her pupils and attendance upon her father ; and when evening shadows curtain the earth, when the lowing of the ox and the bleating of the sheep are no longer heard upon the hill, when the bird folds its wing and sleeps peacefully upon the bough, when even the indus- trious little bee retires to its sweet home to rest, Mattie commences anew to labor. She draws patterns of grace- ful and beautiful design, which, with her needle, she em- bodies into form. Patiently, lonely, she toils on, until the weary hours of darkness grow small and then grow large again. " But what of that," she thinks, "if I may but shield my father from want and obey my mother's dying injunction — take care of him ?" It was astonishing to all how successful Mattie was as a teacher. Notwithstanding her extreme youth, she man- aged her school with the utmost facility — and why? She ruled by love, and unassumingly. She made no distinction among her charge because of the adventitious circumstances of wealth and position. The poor laborer's little sunbeam, and the wealthy landlord's pride, were alike to her; hence respect preceded esteem. Baskets of the finest fruits, and bunches of the sweetest flowers, were daily laid at her shrine, evidences, these, of the idolatry of the little, loving, trusting, grateful hearts by which she was surrounded. Though her labor was protracted through the day and night, her income was extremely small, — so small, indeed, that months had elapsed ere she could afford to purchase for herself a shilling mourning-dress to wear in honor of her dear departed mother. But, for all her labor and for nil her poverty, Mattie was not miserable; no heart can be completely wretched that is prompted to exertion by a high incentive, it was remarked that Mattie's love and solici- tude for her father grew stronger as his helplessness in- OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 85 creased. His nervous system had been shattered beyond repair: the prostration now culminated, like the snapping of a string which leaves the instrument useless. The vul- ture Remorse, that constantly preyed upon his heart, aided this lamentable consummation, and paralysis, that affected both mind and body, supervened. Noble-hearted, self- sacrificing' Mattie! many long years of wearing toil and crushing heart-throbs are before thee. May the God of thy mother, in whom thou trustest with such childlike simplicity, help thee through! And yet another blow is about to fall upon the child's defenseless head. An almost breathless messenger rushes into her presence with the news that her generous patron- ess, her sweet counselor, her almost second mother, is stricken with disease, and now lies hopelessly at the point of death. Frantic with apprehension, the grateful girl flew to the bedside of her dying friend, and with con- vulsive agony kissed from her clammy lips the last faint gurgling breath. A contagious disease had broken out among Mrs. Allston's servants, and she, more anxious for their com- fort than her own safety, risked her life rather than that they should be neglected, and thus she fell a victim to the generous impulses of her noble nature. And now she is laid in the earth by the side of Mattie's mother ; together the child's two best friends repose, their much-loved dust mingling. Would that we had to give to this woman of pure and holy life a more poetical death 1 would that, instead of plague-spot and delirious raving, she could have calmly sighed out her breath, redolent with prayer, amid the sweet flowers, the green woods, the blue sky, with the eagle hovering o'er to bear her noble soul aloft! Such was the 86 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, death of D'Israeli's Nicseus, than which a more poetical was never penned. BilFs home has no charm for him, now that his mother is gone. His guardian wishes him to go North to complete his education and improve his health. Bill is delighted with the proposal, and comes to tell Mattie the news, and bid her farewell 1 " Mattie," said he, " I am going away, perhaps forever, certainly for years, because, after leaving college, I intend to travel, I intend to visit lands whose artistic achieve- ments shall both inspire and teach me ; and I will sell every foot of land I possess, but that I will be master of the art that is mistress of my heart, for now that my mother is gone I have nothing to love but my pencil." Mattie replied, somewhat anxiously, " Why, Bill, surely you will not sell your mother's grave?" "Oh, no ! no !" he replied, quickly, and coloring deeply, "certainly not ! I will not sell the home-place, on which is the family graveyard, where your mother and mine are buried side by side ; but if it be necessary I will part with everything else to secure that, the love of which burns into my very bones ! And now, Mattie, as we may never see each other again, I want to take your likeness. A rough draft I know it will be, but I will finish it up as I improve in the profession. Your look in childhood will serve as a link in memory's chain to bind me to my boy- hood's days and (however I may roam) to the scenes and associations of my early home. 1 always intended to paint my mother's likeness; but, oh, the danger of delay! — what would 1 not give to have it now? But I will paint it yet : every line of her sweet face is engraved upon my heart, and when 1 am the painter I intend to be, I shall paint her as she was* The picture may appear ideal to Oft MATILDA DOUGLAS. 8t those who did not look upon her with my eyes; I care not; I shall paint her as she looked to me !" "And as she looked to me, too," said Mattie ; "for your mother always appeared in my eyes to be the twin-angel of my own dear loved aud lost ; and now I am again motherless. Oh, Bill 1 what will become of me, without a friend on earth ?" CHAPTER XVIII. A NEW ACQUAINTANCE. u Oh, fear not in a world like this, And thou shalt know, ere long, Know how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong." Mattie's life is laborious and lonesome enough, now that the friends who were strength to her timid heart are gone. She is alone. Alone I — none can tell the agony that word conveys but those who have felt its meaning. Amid all her afflictions, however, there is mercifully dispensed to her one blessing — a faithful servant. Let faithful Nannie's praise be sung wherever these pages open to the light. She was an Irishwoman, warm-hearted aud true as ever came from that soil made worthy by the whole-souled generosity, by the nobility of nature, to which it gives birth. When Mattie was engaged in school, Nannie supplied her place by the bedside of her father, and thus relieved the mind of the child from an anxiety that would otherwise have been crushing. Mrs. Allston's death left a void in Mattie's circle that no society in the neighborhood could supply ; and, oh, how her heart yearned for the companionship of books ! "If I had 88 DOIXGS IX MARYLAND, but a pleasant book with which to refresh my spirit when I am weary, how thankful I would be!"' This thought the child often sighed to the winds ; but she had now no friendly ear into which to pour her complaint. Happily for her, the few books she had read were of a superior standard, and thus the foundation of her literary taste was laid in strength and correct moral sentiments. Everything to youth are the books they read first. Mrs. Douglas was aware of tins fact; and when her husband's valuable library was sold, by the aid of a neighbor she rescued from the general sweep a few choice volumes which she knew had been favorites with him in days long past and would be valuable in forming the mind and character of her daughter. These volumes Mattie bad read until their contents were memorized ; and now she pined for something new to read, something to divert her mind from its daily drudgery. As she sat in her school one morning, surrounded by her little charge, a visitor was announced. Mrs. Butterfield bustled in and introduced herself. " I have taken the liberty, Miss Douglas," she said, " to call upon you and invite you to visit a lady who is staying at our house ; she is a teacher from the city, and has come out at the suggestion of her physician to recruit her health. She wishes to meet the society of the neighborhood, and especially to become acquainted with the village teacher." Mattie was alarmed, and began to beg off. " Oh, Mrs. Butterfield," she said, " you know I am such a recluse and have seen so little of society, and shall appear to such dis- advantage by the side of the elegant city teacher, that you will be ashamed of me yourself. You had better not pre- sent me." "Oh, never fear!" cried Mrs. Butterfield, courageously ; "you can do as well as any of them, if you will only put it on. Bui you keep yourself back too much. Mrs. All- OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. S9 stem told me you wore as bright a girl as could be found ; and she ought to know, because she was always used to grand society. So now you just put it on and come along." By putting on, Mattie understood her visitor to mean assuming, and she replied, "Why, Mrs. Butterfield, you would not respect me yourself if I should assume what is not my due, and set myself up with womanly airs." 11 Well, never mind, but come anyhow, and get acquainted with the lady, for I expect she is a wonderfully smart one ; she has a prodigious sight of books ; but the doctor says she must not read, only chase butterflies, and ride on horseback, and swing, and do all sorts of romping things ; and so you see she wants a young girl to be company for her." At mention of the books, Mattie's eyes dilated ; she exclaimed, clasping her hands, " Oh, will she let me read some of her books? I will run the risk of appearing a bumpkin, if she will only let me read her books!" Mrs. Butterfield had found the key to Mattie's heart ; she at once opened the door. " Come," she said, "and I promise the books." As soon as school was dismissed, Mattie donned the shilling black, and, with a bounding heart, set off" to make her first visit of ceremony. Miss Bip, the city teacher, angular in appearance, with eye-glass raised, received the village maiden in her best style, evidently intending to strike the country girl with astonishment ; but she was rather taken aback after all, for, although Mattie did not " put on," as Mrs. Butterfield advised, yet her manners were so natively refined without being in the least conventional, her bearing so dignified from very timidity, that Miss Bip was surprised, and eyed her as curiously as if she had beeu a foreign importation on exhibition. 8* 90 DOING S IX MARYLAND, "You are young for the profession," said Miss Bip. "My mother intended me for a teacher, but circum- stances compelled me to enter upon the duties of the office much soqjier than I had anticipated," replied the youthful instructress. "How do you like teaching*?" inquired Miss Bip. "I would like it much better if I had more advanced pupils. I have only a little reading and spelling to teach, and then my pupils- are so small! I can teach arithmetic, and grammar, and composition, but I have no opportunity to show all that I can teach, because the children are so small." " Why don't you go to the city, then ? You could get larger pupils there," said Miss Bip. The suggestion flashed upon Mattie's mind like a reve- lation from heaven. She seemed lost m thought for some time, and then replied, — "I confess I never thought of that before. I thank you for mentioning it, as I expect there are plenty of books in the city." " Books!" echoed Miss Bip, with a shriek ; "why, child, you could read all the books in creation for five dollars a year, by just taking a ticket in a public library" " — h !" said Mattie, in undisguised astonishment. "Besides," continued Miss Bip, "you could perhaps obtain medical aid, which would restore your father's health." The child, bewildered by the presentation of so many new and desirable objects, sat like one who had been in an instant petrified ; or perhaps only struck dumb, like Zach arias, by a heavenly visitor. " Could such things be ? Why had Mrs. Allston never mentioned them? why bad she herself never thought of thorn?" Such were the fluctuating thoughts that passed afld repassed through this young and inexperienced mind. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 91 " What books would you like to read, and what have von read?'' asked Miss Bip. " I have read the English Classics, — Johnson, Milton, Young, Goldsmith " She was progressing with the list, when her interlocutor interrupted her, by exclaim- ing,— " Good gracious! why, you arc a perfect antediluvian ! nobody reads those musty old fogies these days ; they are long since laid upon the shelf. I have heard that there were such books in the world, but I would not read them, for fear of being laughed at." "Excuse me, miss," said Mattie, coloring deeply, "but my father says those authors will never be disregarded or forgotten so long as the English language is spoken or read." " Your father has not mingled much in society lately, I suspect, and consequently he has not learned to supersede his antique notions with the modern and graceful impres- sions of the present golden age of literature. I hope, for your sake, however, that you will go to live in the city, and then you will get rid of your old-fashioned notions about books, and your old-fashioned dress, too, for I see yours is made in the style that was worn when 'my mother was a child. How exceeding savage are the tendencies of habitual country life! I do really expect that country- people would turn Indians again, and wear blankets, if it were not for the fact that a few reside in the city during the winter, and by this means get the rust rubbed off them- selves, and help, on their return, to modernize their neigh- bors." Mattie thought tin's flippant city lady very smart, but, somehow, so unlike Mrs. Allston. Mr. Butterfield now came in from the farm, accompanied by the neighboring physician, Dr. Bramble. The doctor 92 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, was introduced, and immediately after tea was announced. Of course the unexpected guest was requested to stay to tea, and of course he stayed, as what Southerner ever shirks hospitality? He proved a very agreeable companion, and showed himself well read in all the light literature of the day. Miss Bip and himself were perfectly at home in fashionable prose and poetry, and chatted away like chums at school. The conversation turned from works to their authors ; the merits and moralities of each were freely dis- cussed ; and, as the doctor had a good opinion of his own taste and judgment in the matter, he did not hesitate to favor his audience with a specimen of both. Said he, "Dickens is a philanthropist, and deserves a niche in the temple that enshrines Howard the good ; he braved the horrors of pestilence and prison for the sake of suffering humanity, and Dickens, with equal heroism, descends into the slough of society, gropes among the vilest purlieus of pollution, and exhibits to the gaping crowd a gem ex- humed from the deepest filth ; bears forth upon his pointed steel a ray of beauty from the darkest den. That he writes from nature, no one can doubt, for we need not go a hun- dred miles to find the counterpart of his Little Xell and her grandfather," said the doctor, glancing at Mattie. Her quick apprehension took in his meaning in an instant, and her face was scarlet. "And Bulwer," said Miss Bip; "what do you think of Bulwer?" "Alas for poor Bulwer I" said the sympathetic doctor; " he has a vast amount of sin to answer for; he makes the heart boil like a pot of pitch, and he has made many a poor shallow heart to boil over until caldron and' con- tents were alike consumed. The foulest deeds are often the engendering of imaginations diseased and corrupted by literary association. The pure page, just issued from OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 93 the mill, could not pass through the sewer unsettled ; neither can the spirit escape from the effects of immersion, whether the dip be oftenest in the waters of Siloam or in the ink of hell !" The eloquent doctor apostrophized. "Great is thy responsibility, thou man of power; it was thine to have placed thy fellows upon the Rock of Ages, or, to use one of thy own figures, upon a Sea of Wax, and thou hast chosen the latter." Bowing gallantly to Miss Bip, the doctor continued: "A beautiful niche your own sex deserve in the temple of pure and lofty literature, for women are among the best pen-painters of the present day, and in this respect our country is not behind the world. However our men may rank in comparison with the literati of other nations, our female writers are not ex- celled, and therefore we are justly proud of our own Soulhworth, the nation's Fern, the world's Sigourney." "Well, really, I am surprised to hear gentlemen extol Fern, for certainly she is severe upon your sex," said Miss Bip. "I admit she is," replied the doctor; "but when she uses her cutting steel Jn defense of oppressed women and helpless children, I pardon the passes she makes at the monster man." And thus the affable doctor and the self-esteemed city lady discussed the various authors of the day, quite pleased with the subject, with themselves, with the richly-spread tea-table, and just then with all the world ; nor ever dreamed of the volcano they were arousing in the heart of the silent child beside them. She scarcely dared to breathe, lest she should lose a word of the conversation; her heart beat high, her cheek flushed, her eyes sparkled. "I will go to the city and read those books!" was the thought that surged through her mind like the advancing and retreating tide upon the beaten beach. 94 DOIXGS IN MARYLAND, CHATTER XIX. COGITATION AND DREAMING. "While o'er my limbs Sleep's soft dominion spread, What though my soul fantastic measures trod O'er fairy fields, or mourned along the gloom Of pathless woods, or, down the craggy steep Hurl'd headlong, swam with pain the mantled pool." On Mattie's return home from Mrs. Butterfield's house, she had to pass a marsh, along the margin of which grew the fern. She plucked a leaf, and, to conceal it from those who accompanied her, put it in her bosom. " They would call me silly," she thought; " I would not let them see it for the world." Arrived at home, and learning from Nan- nie that her father was sleeping sweetly and had not missed her, Mattie retired to her chamber to think and dream. The remarks of Miss Bip, as to the advantages of city life, had sunk deep into the heart of the perplexed child, and opened a new vista to her inexperienced vision. She seated herself on the side of her little bed, and, clasping her hands involuntarily in an attitude of prayer, began to muse. "If I could but go to that far-oil" city, near to which rolls the majestic ocean, and nearer still the noble bay, and through which pours a tide of knowledge while I perish here for want of the precious draught, how happy I would be! Oh, I would be willing to endure privation and labor, if I could get but books and learn- ing ! If I only knew some person to whom I could apply for advice and direction, I would go at once; but I know no one in all that vast multitude, except the Gilts, OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 95 and I know very little of them, only I know they owe my father money, or an obligation of some kind, and surely they might assist me with their influence. They are rich ; I suppose they have influence. I don't want their money, I only want work and books. Oh, I wish I could read about Little Nell and her grandfather." At this stage of Mattie's musing she became extremely perturbed, her face flushed, her heart fluttered; the thought of being com- pared, if, indeed, only by implication, with the heroine of a book, was almost suffocating. Her thoughts still flowed. " I wonder why that Fanny Fern calls her writings 'Fern Leaves'?" She drew from her bosom the leaf gathered by the roadside, and threw it upon her pillow. " Dr. Bramble says Fanny Fern writes in defense of oppressed women and helpless children. Well, God bless her, then, if she does." The dispirited child, wearied by so many new and tangled thoughts, laid herself upon her little couch and pressed her pure cheek upon the fresh fern leaf. The Gilts alluded to in Mattie's soliloquy were a family whom she had once visited in company with her mother. They lived in the most ostentatious style, and of course moved in fashionable society ; but there was a something in their history that would not bear the light, and it was from this mysterious something that arose the Douglas connection. Mattie knew it to be a money transaction, but under what circumstances they had become debtors to her father she had not then heard, or why such grand and evidently wealthy emulators of gentility should refuse a just demand. Mattie had heard her mother allude to the subject once in conversation with her father; the bare mention seemed to frenzy him ; he rushed from the house and did not return for weeks. After that Mrs. Douglas never named it more, but buried the secret, whatever it 96 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, was, in her own murdered heart. It was previous to this conversation that Mattie with her mother called upou Mrs. Gilt, who received them very graciously ; but it was evident to even the child's perceptions that the object of the visit was not accomplished, for her mother left the house in tears and sighed all the journey home. As Mattie irresistibly sank into a sleep compelled by health and youth and exercise, strange fancies floated through her brain. She had set out for the city, she thought, and was lost in the woods. Night came on, and she took shelter in a cave, where, to her astonishment, she found her father, who had come to look for her and lost himself. Then, in imagination, she was transported to the bank of a stream upon whose bosom cities floated by like steamboats in a race. "I'll risk it, or perish," thought the resolute girl ; and with a single bound she gained a city that was flying past. A man approached to sell her books ; he offered all the literature of the age for a dollar, which she did not possess. Being un- willing to miss the books, she asked the man if he would take a cow for them, and, he consenting, she returned home for the cow. The creature submitted to be driven along quietly enough until she came to the top of a huge stair- case, which Mattie thought must be the library of which Miss Bip had spoken, when, suddenly turning upon her pursuer, the enraged brute began to complain of ingrati- tude. Said the cow, "Have I not sustained your family, lo, these many years, and fed you from my blood when I had nothing in my bowels ? And now you are going to give me away for a few seraps of paper which no one can either eat or drink." And here she made a furious onset with her horns, and pushed Mattie from the top to the bottom of the stairs. The troubled sleeper awoke with OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 97 the fright, and so vivid was the sense of danger that she actually felt her limbs to ascertain their sound condition. Mrs. Butterfield's cake was too rich for Mattie's stomach, unaccustomed to such dainties. Again she slept; and again she dreamed. This time she thought Mrs. Gilt was transformed into a pitch-fork, and the fork taking her — Mattie — upon its prongs, threw her to the top of a pile of books as high as a tree, from which she came rolling, thumping, bumping, splashing into a stagnant pool that lay in filthy, fetid green at the base. She arose from her troubled sleep in the morning but little refreshed, and somewhat discouraged by the horrors of the night; but when fresh air and cheerful sunshine had dissipated the nightmare, the longing for books returned with even greater force, and increased until it became an appetite that would take no denial ; and the poor little lonely heart cried, " Oh, if I had some one to go with me to that wonderful city where everything is to be had, — doctors, books, companionship, everything that I want and cannot get!" Miss Bip had promised to return Mat- tie's call, and she now anxiously awaited the expected visit, intending to consult the city lady on city matters; but, alas for human hopes, instead of the visitor came the news that she had returned home without so much as a word of parting salutation. Again thrown back upon herself, with none to make a suggestion for the future, Mattie was like a ship becalmed, without either wind or steam ; and though Miss Bip was not much better than a broken oar, yet even that had floated beyond her reach. But the girl's feelings had reached a climax, and now came the stern resolve of self-help. " I shall go to the city and seek out the Gilts. Perhaps they will not ridicule my old-fashioned dress, as Miss Bip 9 98 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, did, and, if they do, I don't care, so that I can get help for my suffering father and books for myself." Making an arrangement with her pupils, and enjoining upon Nannie to be, if possible, still more faithful in her absence, the young pilgrim took up her lean carpet-bag and walked to the cars that should convey her to the — as she thought — city of refuge. CHAPTER XX. THE GILTS. "In the flash of her glance were passion and pride, In the curve of her lip there was haughty contempt, As she spoke of the power to riches allied, Of the evils and painB from which she was exempt." The Gilts were a stylish family; they lived in a stylish house in a stylish part of the city, the widow Gilt and her two stylish daughters. Mattie arrived at their stylish residence, carpet-bag in hand, dressed in her shilling mourning dress, with sun- bonnet of the same material, and, ringing the front-door bell, inquired if Mrs. Gilt was at home. The door-ser- vant, supposing her to be a person in quest either of em- ployment or charity, turned upon her an angry scowl for ringing the bell with so much confidence, and had a mind to send her to the alley for entrance; however, she did not, but sullenly commanded her to stand in the hall until she should sec if her mistress chose to hi' at home. " Madam," said the servant, " there is a person here who asks to see you. I think she wants to hire, or else she is begging." OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 99 "In either case I don't wish to see her; send her off," said the mistress. The servant returned to Mattie and informed her that Mrs. Gilt was engaged, and did not wish to be interrupted. Mattie made no reply, but, drawing from her pocket an old-fashioned silver card-case, took from it a slip of paper, and, writing her name upon it, directed the servant to hand it to her mistress. Mrs. Gilt glanced at the name, and screamed out, " Why, as I live, it is Matilda Douglas! You stupid goose, you said it was a beggar !" And, flying into the hall, she overwhelmed Mattie with a profusion of apologies. That such stylish people as the Gilts should have such plain acquaintances as this girl with carpet-bag in hand, was a great mystery to the door-servant. Said Miss Belinda, the elder of the stylish daughters, "Now, ma, for Heaven's sake, don't bring that ill-dressed girl into the parlor this evening, for I looked into her car- pet-bag, and she has not even a change of dress; and some of the most fashionable of our acquaintances — the Grand- spirts and the Spangles — will be here, and we would cer- tainly lose caste were we to present such people as she." " Take care, Belinda," said the mother : " you know there is danger in this case. That girl could ruin us. You had better treat her politely, and not irritate her, or she may give to the wind the charge her father has against us, and, whether true or false, the bare mention of such a story, in connection with our name, would forever banish us from society." " I hate her !" passionately exclaimed Miss Belinda, " for, although she dresses no better than a servant, she bows like a princess, and is as grand in her manners as a queen." Said Caroline, who took delight in teasing her ill-natured sister, " I believe you are afraid to compete with her in the 100 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, parlor. I intend to dress her up in nw black moire-antique, and present her. I hope she will catch Frank Grandspirt, and cut you out." Said Mrs. Gilt, "As to her manners, she inherits them from her mother, and, to do the child justice, I really don't think she is conscious of her elegant and high-bred bearing; but you need not fear a rival in her; I shall keep her close enough, while she remains. I wonder what on earth has brought her to the city, anyhow ? It cannot be to injure us, or she would not have sought our hospitality." After tea Mrs. Gilt said to Mattie, in her sweetest man- ner, "My dear, your mourning is too deep for fashionable society; you and I will spend the evening together, when we can have a nice chat, all to ourselves." And, taking the child by the hand, the fashionable lady led the way to her own chamber. Mattie Was not entirely deceived; she felt that it was rather the shabbiness of her mourning, than its depth, which caused her rejection from the parlor; but being weary with travel, and heart-sick with the scornful airs of Miss Belinda, she thankfully accepted the oifer of spending the evening in retirement. So great was Mrs. Gilt's anxiety to know Mattie's object in visiting the city, that she could scarcely restrain herself from betraying the most vulgar curiosity, and seized the first opportunity to put to her a series of worm-it-out questions. " How could you, my dear, make up your mind to leave your father, in his helpless condition, ami to the care of servants only, when he is scarcely able to tell whether he is properly treated or not'/" inquired the bland lady of fasti ion. " I have cvi^-y confidence in Nannie," replied Mattie- "and the case is urgent. I am extremely anxious to ac- complish the object of my visit to the city." " Tray, may 1 ask what is your object, my dear ?" OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 101 " It is to obtain a school." "A school I" "Yes, ma'am; the one I teach is not remunerative, and I wish to live in the city, on account of books, and the means of completing my own education: besides, some persons think perhaps my father could obtain medical aid, which would restore him to health. For these various reasons I am anxious to live in the city, and I came to you, thinking' that a lady of your position and influence might assist me in obtaining pupils, or at least you would advise me for the best." Mrs. Gilt looked sharply at Mattie when she called her a lady of position and influence, but, finding no sign of satire or irony on her countenance, the child's manner being perfectly earnest, honest, and truthful, she proceeded to answer. " My dear, you are taking too much upon yourself; you have no idea of the difficulties you will have to encounter, in all you propose. You cannot get pupils from the circle in which I move, unless you go to them as a governess." "That I cannot do," said Mattie, quickly, "because I cannot leave my father.'" " You see, then, dear child, how impossible it is for me to assist you, because the children of the high class, with whom I associate, all go to fashionable schools, except such small ones as are taught at home ; and it is the cus- tom of society to disregard those who are struggling, and to patronize such as are already replete with patron- age ; therefore you must have prestige in the world of teachers, or you could not get a single pupil among wealthy people." "Perhaps I could get them among poor people, then? ' said the anxious inquirer. " I am not acquainted with the poor class," replied the 9* 102 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, lady of fashion, contemptuously ; "but I ascertain from the newspapers that poor children all go to the public schools, and they are supported by the city. That, of course, shuts you out from patronage in that quarter, as poor people must regard cheapness in education, as in everything else, a primary requisite." " Could I not get a situation in the city schools, then ?" said the eager candidate. " I would try very hard to please." " You could not, without very decided help from a prom- inent politician, or the friends of politicians, and, as you are a stranger, without influence in the political world, you could not get a single vote, though I am entirely convinced of your ability to fill such a position. Your mother was a woman of fine education, and I am certain she has not neglected yours. My advice to you, then, is to remain in the country, and get along the best you can, for the pres- ent, and should I hear of anything that would benefit you, I will let } r ou know." Poor Mattie's heart sank within her at sight of the picture presented by Mrs. Gilt. Just then the rich tones of the piano, accompanied by a sweet 'voice from the far- off parlor, fell upon her ear, and old familiar strains brought back memories of the sweet, sad voice of her dear departed mother. M attic could hear no more, and requested permis- sion to retire for the night. The request was readily granted, and she was shown into a chamber almost Oriental in its splendor. She surveyed the luxurious comfort of the place, and could not help contrasting it with the poor cottage-chamber in which her father was laid; and yet his money had purchased all this, — money, too, that had been fraudulently obtained, and the GHltS knew it; though they refused to assist the child to earn a crust for herself and the defrauded man. They feared to let her breathe the OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 103 same atmosphere with themselves, lost she might taint it with a word of truth. When Mattie was disposed of for the night, Mrs. Gilt dressed and went into the parlor, — excusing' her late ap- pearance by saying "she had been in attendance upon a sick servant, for whose life she was apprehensive." When the company had retired, Mrs. Gilt hastened to inform her daughters of Mattie's object in visiting the city. " She wishes to get a school," said the mother, " and requests my aid in procuring pupils." Miss Belinda was up in a moment. 11 1 hope to Heaven, ma, you are not so green as to bring that girl into our set, or place her in a position where she Can injure us by repeating the story her father chooses to originate about mine, who is not here to defend himself and his family from the aspersions of a wretch who pro- fesses to have been his benefactor." " Of course I shall not," said the mother; "but how are we to get rid of her? That is the question. I am afraid she will talk to the servants about us; and yet if I bring her into my room to sleep, she might think I was watching her, and out of pure revenge set afloat the story of your father's misfortunes in the old country, our change of name, and all the horrid vicissitudes of fortune that we have experienced. I wish we were rid of her now and forever I" Said Caroline, who really had more principle than all the rest put together, "I don't believe she would talk to the servants, or out of revenge try to injure us. I like that girl ; and if we owe her father and herself anything, we ought to pay it, because they stand more in need of it than we do." "It would inconvenience us to pay it," said Mrs. Gilt, glancing at Belinda. " We would have to reduce our style of living." 104 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, Belinda blazed, brought down her hand with violence upon the table, and exclaimed, " I would rather die than to descend one step in the scale of fashionable life ! What is life without fashion, and how can fashion be upheld without money? Ma, whenever you decide to reduce our style of living, just let me know, and I will commit suicide and be done with it ; for if I can't marry Frank Grandspirt I want to die, and of course the Grandspirts are not going to marry into an unfashionable family." Said Caroline, "I would not rather die than live un- fashionably ; I would rather do justice than live splendidly ; but I am in the minority here, because Belinda is equal to a dozen, and ma always sides with Belinda ; but one thing I will do, and that is pay that money, if it be ever in my power, and remove the stain from my father's memory. " Said Mrs. Gilt, emphatically, " We deny the debt. Mr. Douglas tried to fasten the charge of dishonesty upon your father, but we deny the charge." " I thought," said Caroline, "my father acknowledged it upon his death-bed, and directed the money to be paid." Mrs. Gilt became very red in the face, and told Caroline if ever she addressed such language to her again she would banish her from her presence forever. The ladies in going to their chamber had to pass the one appropriated to Mattie. " Let us look in upon her," said Belinda,; "I expect she is now in confab with a servant." They entered. The child was sleeping sweetly, her pure check resting upon her little dimpled hand, the picture of unconscious innocence. "I wish I could burn her up alive," said Belinda, ad- vancing the night-lamp to the line drapery that surrounded the bed. "Are you mad ?" cried Caroline, snatching the lamp from her reckless sister. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 105 u T would burn the contents of the room to get rid of the hateful brat," she said, in a low and hissing voice. " Gome," said the mother, "no more of this nonsense. Let us go." CHAPTER XXI. CHANGE. " Kind sleep affords The only boon the wretched mind can feel, A momentary respite from despair." The fashion and elegance of the chamber appropriated to the young traveler, however such things might solace Miss Belinda, who, by her own account, loved fashion more than life, brought no joy to Mattie's troubled spirit. Yet not a pang of envy crossed her breast; she never, for a moment, wished the comfort of the Gilts less. She only sighed for a humble home, where she could procure what her father and herself would need, — and procure it by the labor of her hands and brain. Mrs. Gilt bad shown every avenue to labor closed, yet, to Mattie's mind, a rich field of labor lay all about; and oh for one friendly hand to open the gate! But alas for the helpless child of pov- erty, with none to care for her ! Driven thus from every hope of human agency, as a last resource, the child again prayed, "God of my mother, help me !" When she had arrived at this stage of feeling, and was thus enabled to roll her burden upon the strong, then came calm repose, and refreshing sleep sat sweetly on the slumberer's lids. At breakfast, next morning. Mrs. Gilt again opened the subject of Mattie's visit, and urged upon her an immediate 106 DOIXGS IX MARYLAND, return to the country, trying to excite her fears for the safety of her father in her absence. Said the lady of fashion, "I am quite certain, from what you tell me of his condition, that he cannot live long, and then you will be at liberty to accept the situation of governess ; in the mean time, it is dangerous for you to be absent from him for a single hour, as there is no telling at what moment death may supervene." The tears rushed to Mattie's eyes. She sobbed oat, "Oh, I would be so unhappy if my father were to die! I would rather work for him all my life; and as you say there is danger of his sudden death, like that of my mother, I will return home by the next train of cars." She arose from the table, the breakfast sticking in her throat, by reason of her fears for her father and the scornful looks of Miss Be- linda, and remarked to Mrs. (lilt, " I will walk out and see the city, while I am waiting for the train." When Mattie left the room, Miss Caroline remarked, "Ma, it is a shame to let that child go about town with that calico sun-bonnet on. Do give her a bonnet." Replied the mother, " Well, if you can find a bonnet in the old-clothes-closet, give it to her; I have no objection." An old mashed-up bonnet, that had been tossed about the garret floor ever since the family had ceased to mourn fashionably for Mr. Gilt, was found, and a crape veil, used to dust the parlor, was shaken out, and tied upon the bon- net. Thus equipped, Mattie sallied forth to view the town. Mrs. Gilt's residence was situated in the most fashion- able part of Madison Street. As you descend the hill, on that street, you come abruptly upon a stream called "The Falls," and this stream divides the city into two parts, designated Uptown and Old-town. Cross this stream on Madison Street, and you emerge immediately from ele- gance ami ostentation, into the humble and unpretending OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 107 locality of laborious life. The small dwelling of the me- chanic, the smaller one of the laborer, the wretched hovel of the mendicant? and the prison of the felon, all meet you, with one broad stare. Yes, reader, those stately mansions of Mount-Monument Place keep vigil day and night, in sight of wretchedness and despair, in sight of agonized hunger and hardened villainy, nor ever blink with sorrow at the sight. Mattie, who, as we stated before, was entirely unac- quainted \\ith the city, by chance strolled into this loca- tion of humbled humanity, and was astonished at the change so abrupt from grand to mean. It was now ten o'clock in the morning, and the street was filled with dirty, ragged children. Mattie stopped to look at them ; she had never seen so many children together before. " A school in the street," thought Mattie. Involuntarily, she asked herself, Why are these children here? — and, being un- able to solve the problem, she asked them. 11 Because we haint got nowhere else to go," said a dirty, rosy-faced fellow. " Why do you not go to school ?" she asked. " We haint got no school worth a-goin' to," replied the same robust urchin. " Are there no public schools in this part of the city ?" asked Mattie. "They haint good for nothin'; nobody don't learn nothiu' in 'em ; mother says it haint worth a-wearin' our trousers out a-settin' thare." "Are there no private schools in the neighborhood?" she inquired. "None as I knows on," replied the same spokesman. Mattie turned to walk away; a sign on a shutter at- tracted her attention : " Rooms to Rent. Inquire Within." " Why may I not rent these rooms, and have a school 108 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, with these children?" Mattie asked herself. Actuated by- some mysterious impulse, she knocked at the door. A woman, with an infant in her arms, answered the summons. " 1 wish to inquire about the rooms," said Mattie. " Walk in," replied the woman ; " I can give you all the information necessary ; but who is it that wants the rooms ?" " Myself, ma'am." "Yourself! Why, child, what do you want with rooms ?» " I want one for my father and one for a school-room." The woman pondered. " 1 don't know whether or not my husband would rent the rooms for a school ; and, besides, where do you expect to get scholars from ?" " Out of the street, ma'am. I see plenty of children playing in the street; they tell me they do not go to school." " Yes, there are enough children in the street at all times to make a school ; but would they come ? and, if they did, would you get paid for your trouble?" " I expect I would, ma'am ; because I would try very hard to bring them on, and when their parents were pleased with their learning I think they would pay me." "Yes, child, if they had it to pay with, I dare say they would; but this is a poor part of the city; the people about here have not much money to spare for the educa- tion of their children, it is as much as they can do to live." " The prospect is a gloomy one," replied Mattie, sadly ; u but yet I would like to try it, because I can see no other." " How could a child like you keep a school?" asked the woman, though not unkindly. "1 do keep a school," replied the child. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 109 H Have you no one to help you?" II No, ma'am, I have none to help me ; my father is sick and my mother is dead." " Poor child !" exclaimed the woman, and she pressed the babe in her arms still closer to her bosom. She mused awhile, and then said, " Well, when my husband comes home to dinner I will ask him about it, and if he is will- ing I will rent you the rooms. I will assist you in getting pupils, but I cannot promise you the pay ; you will have to risk that." II I thank you," said Mattie ; " I will walk about the city in the mean time, and call again after twelve o'clock." The man who occupied this humble dwelling was a plasterer by trade ; the woman and child referred to con- stituted his entire family, and, to reduce expenses, he rented a part of the house, small as it was. When applied to for the rooms for the purpose named, the husband objected on account of the noise and inconvenience to his wife ; but the wife was greatly prepossessed in favor of the young teacher, and pleaded for the privilege of renting her the rooms. Said she, "John, think of it before you refuse. We don't know what is before ourselves ; I may be dead and you sick, and our sweet little Molly have no home for herself and you." Honest John's eyes moistened at the bare supposition of such a thing, and he replied, " Well, do as you please, Mary ; you will have the trouble with the noisy little vaga- bonds ; I am only home when school will be out, so it does not matter to me." Said Mary, " It is respectable to have a school in the house, and these people don't seem like common people ; the girl's manners are so sweet and ladylike, and yet so natural. I should like to know who they are, anyhow." 10 HO DOINGS IN MARYLAND, 11 Where will she get pupils from ?" asked the man ; " the people about here don't send their children to school." " She thinks she can induce people to send, because she intends to teach so faithfully," replied Mary. II Well, let the poor girl have a chance, then," said John, as he snatched up his hat, kissed the baby, and strided off to his work. Mattie returned according to promise ; she felt as if her destiny was suspended upon a hair ; all her soul was in her eyes as they rested upon the countenance of the woman. " I like the looks of you," said the woman ; "you don't seem like low people, and I will take you into my house and do the best I can to get you a school." Mattie's heart leaped high within her, and overflowed with gratitude to the kind-hearted woman, though plain in speech, and she replied, " Indeed, ma'am, you shall have no cause to regret taking me into your house, for I con- sider it evidence of great kindness of heart to thus receive a stranger without recommendation." II I want you to make me one promise," said the woman. " I will do anything in my power to oblige you," replied Mattie. II Well, then, I want you to educate my little Molly, here (holding out the babe), and make her a lady with sweet manners, like yourself." II I will," replied the young educator, — smiling through her tears, and, kissing the babe, bade farewell to the amia- ble mother. As soon as Mattie had left the house of Mrs. Gilt, that lady entered into conversation with her housekeeper on the subject which she knew was being discussed in her establishment. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. HI Said Mrs. Gilt to Mrs. Paste, "That strange-looking girl that has bolted upon us so rudely is the deranged daughter of an English nobleman. My husband and her father were like brothers in the old country ; but his, her father's, dissipation caused his friends to disown him, and his wife and daughter went deranged in consequence of the reverse of fortune." As Mrs. Gilt well knew would be the case, this story was soon repeated in the kitchen, and the servants were dreadfully alarmed at the thought of being in contact with a " mad woman !" Said Sam, the waiter, " If she am 'ranged, she talk more sense at de table den de rest on em. I don't believe she 'ranged at all ; she only poor !" But when Mattie re- turned to say farewell to the Gilts (and she determined it should be forever), Pattie, the cook, ran through the house looking for her little grandchild, a bright mulatto that played at pleasure, and conveyed it to its mother for safe custody until the crazy girl should leave. M Keep dis ere chile, you ; dat dare crazy gal might 'vour it !" said the grandmother to the mother. Mattie did not mention to the Gilts the fact that she had rented rooms, but quietly took leave of this by no means uncommon class of snobs — the Gilts. 112 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, CHAPTER XXII. HUGH HAGGIS. " Trust not those cunning waters of his eye, For villainy is not without such rheum, And he long traded in it, makes it seem Like rivers of remorse and innocency." A certain nation, wise in council, and humane in law, except a little plague-spot here and there on the statute- book, in order to get certain fellows out of the community, and yet make them of use to the world, very properly sends them on voyages of discovery. This method of punishment is far better than that which shuts up in filthy prisons strong hearty men, there to rot out their wretched lives, engender pestilence, and send death floating over all the land. A gentleman of the nation alluded to, had a servant whose name heads the chapter. This servant had acquired, and continued to practice, such propensities of appropria- tion, as to make it necessary for the good of society, that he should take the voyage. Being an adept, however, of the Jack Sheppard class, he managed to elude his ene- mies, — the friends of honesty, — and, by virtue of his villain y, to escape the shackles of the prison-ship, and thus without indebtedness to the crown for either passport or passage, to make his way to America. The father of this fellow had lived and died in the employ of the father of our un- fortunate Mr. Douglas. This circumstance occasioned the boys to *be much in each other's society ; living on the same farm, they, as children, played together until the OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 113 ever-surging tide of time threw them asunder, — Douglas to go to school, Haggis, upon the death of his father, to go to service in a distant part of the country. As boys, these two never met again, but when long years had passed, and they were matured by time, they met in a street in New York City. Mr. Douglas, in the new world, had heard nothing of the career of Hugh in the old ; but, alas ! Hugh had heard over and over again the details of the reckless career Mr. Douglas was pursuing, — one which must, as all knew, eventuate in ruin. Borne upon the breeze, across the trackless ocean, came the mournful sound — " all is not well! All is not well with the loved ones far away!" Both for his sake, and that of his much-esteemed wife, strenuous efforts were made to induce the wanderer to return to the bosom of friends and country, where the loving vigilance of those jealous for his good, it was hoped, would act as a restraint upon him, and check his mad career. " No, no, no ! I will never return to my friends worse than I left them 1" was his persistent reply. The wily Hugh knew enough of all this to decide his actions and induce him to a course of villainous manipulation. He determined to seek out Mr. Douglas, and fasten upon him as the milk-snake is said to fasten its vile jaws upon the udder of the innocent cow, and when it has exhausted her milk, drink her blood. The bigger devils' better luck favored him even in this resolve, for a few days after landing in New York he met Mr. Douglas in the street. The family likeness was so strikingly displayed in his majestic mien that the villain, sharpened by long practice, knew him at a glance, though he had not seen him since he was a boy, — but he knew he was a Douglas, and, ap- proaching, claimed his acquaintance. 10* 114 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, "Why, my young master, have you so entirely forgot- ten the playmate of your childhood? — the Hugh Haggis that drew you from the run, when you fell from the nut- tree ?" Said Mr. Douglas, "I remember well the boy Hugh Haggis, but I should never have taken the pale-faced, crafty-looking creature before me, to be the same rosy, romping fellow that sported with me on my father's lawn, that followed at our heels when we rode a-hunt, fleet as the hounds, and always in at the death. Can it be that you are the same Hugh Haggis ?" " The same in person, my master, but not the same in heart. The world has dealt hardly with me, Master Douglas, and I am pale-faced from care, and crafty-look- ing, as you are pleased to express it, from necessity ; for I am even now on a chase, flying before my creditors, an outcast from my country, because of a few paltry debts. You know, sir, that a man in my station in life could get but little credit, and yet for that little I would now be rotting in a prison had I not succeeded in making my escape." And here Hugh put his hands to his face and actually wept. Mr. Douglas was moved with compassion, moved even to sadness, and he replied, "Well, Hugh, I think it would have been better for both you and myself if we had remained children ; we were happy then : neither of us has gained much by manhood." Hugh saw by this childish remark, and the maudlin ex- pression of his eye, that Mr. Douglas was even then under the influence of liquor, and he determined to follow up his advantage. 14 Will you take me for a servant, Mr. Douglas ? I will take care of your horses, drive your carriage, wait on table, blacken your boots, or do anything you wish, if you will only take me into your employ." OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 115 A flush of pride and shame mounted to the cheek of Douglas, and he replied, " I am not able to pay you much, Hugh, for I am not so well off now as when I left home, and no doubt you can command situations that would be more profitable to you than any I could offer, and thus enable you the sooner to pay your debts." " I would rather serve you, Master Douglas, because of my love for your family and of our boyhood's memories, so that if you will consent, I will not be particular about the pay or the price; give me anything you please, only shelter me from my pursuers, for they will be after me like a pack of hounds; and do not call me by the old name, but call me Dan Drummond, or anything you please, ex- cept the old name !" Mr. Douglas never for a moment suspected the truth, and he remarked, — " Why, it is strange that for a few debts you should be thus unmercifully persecuted ?" "I have an enemy! I have an enemy, who has tried to ruin me ; for years he has been trying to ruin me," said Hugh, seemingly much excited. " Poor fellow ! Well, then, I will try and protect you ; so here, Dan, take this order to Nelson & Co., and bring to my house the articles named in it," said Mr. Douglas, laughing at the change of name. "And here is the direc- tion to my house, and be certain to have these things brought home this evening, especially the wine, brandy, and cigars, for I am going to have some hearty whole- souled fellows with me to-night, and you may attend us, and give yourself out as my butler, waiter, or anything you please." Hugh, in his new home, soon made himself as indispen- sable to Mrs Douglas as to her husband. He was not long in finding out the haunts of the latter, and would go in quest of him in the dead hours of the night, and bring 116 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, him safely home. This affectionate care won the good opinion of the mistress, and the position of general facto- tum of the establishment was conferred upon this seem- ingly devoted servant. He went to market, he went to store, and, oh, fatal confidence, he went to bank. Hugh's object was now attained, and he proceeded to wind up affairs and make his master serviceable to him on a grand scale. He approached Mrs. Douglas first. "Madam,'' said he, " I am in a continual sorrow on account of my wife and little ones at home. I send them all my wages, and my wife works with her needle, yet we can never hope to be united as a family again unless I receive assist- ance, and I have none to whom I can apply except your- self." " What can I do for you, Hugh ?" inquired Mrs. Douglas, in some surprise. 11 1 wish you, madam, to ask Master Douglas to lend me sufficient money to bring over my family, and, as my wages will not support a family, I want him to let me have the price of a little grocery store down-town, the good-will and fixtures of which are to be sold. I will work hard and pay as soon as I can, but I have no security to give except my honor! My wife is a very clever woman, and could make a figure in the world if she had the chance; but, with none to lend us a helping hand, our case is desperate." "Your children are small, I think you said ?" " Yes, ma'am : and both girls." "Well, I shall talk to Mr. Douglas about your request. How much money do you require for the purpose named?" "I can bring out my family, set up housekeeping on a small scale, and purchase the little shop I mentioned, for about nine hundred dollars, ma'am." When Mrs. Douglas found her husband sufficiently sober to talk on business subjects, she mentioned Hugh's request, OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 117 gently hinting at the propriety of spending some money in a benevolent cause, whence, like bread cast upon the water, it might return in after-days; but being spent as it now was, the only harvest it could bring would be that of tears. Mr. Douglas did not want to hear remarks of this kind, and, to silence his wife, he assented to what he thought would gratify her benevolent propensities, but remarked to her at the same time, " I have strong suspicions of that fellow's honesty; on various occasions he has chiseled me out of change, and I have observed other signs about him that I do not like; but as he seemed to be such a favorite with you, I have said nothing on the subject. His father was an honest fellow, but his mother was a great villain, and I fear Hugh has inherited her character." Said Mrs. Douglas, " Could you not take security upon the store until he pays for it ?" u Lord, wife !" he exclaimed, " would you have me act like a Jew money-lender ? If I do the fellow a favor I shall do it like a gentleman." Mr. Douglas was a princely-hearted fellow ; he had but one failing, — an inability to deny himself the pleasures of jovial companionship and the cup. Generous at all times, he was doubly so when under the influence of generous wine ; those who approached him for a favor then, were sure of success. This Hugh had noted with reference to future action, and the opportunity, alas, was but too soon afforded. A few nights after this conversation with his wife about Hugh, every word of which Hugh had heard, Mr. Douglas was in fine spirits, — spirits flowing in and spirits flowing out. It was late; he was alone with his bottle, Mrs. Douglas having retired. Hugh approached him on the subject of the loan. Said the master in reply, "Mrs. Douglas has mentioned 118 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, your request to me, Hugh, and I dare say I shall lend you the money." " I knew you were a gentleman, every inch of you !" exclaimed Hugh, excitedly, and, crouching down, embraced the knees of his victim ; then, rushing from the room, he soon returned with a bowl of hot punch, foaming and fra- grant. " Now, my master," said he, " here is a delicious draught; drink this to make you sleep sweetly, and I will carry you to bed as gently as if you were an infant." Mr. Douglas drank the contents of the bowl, and was then about finished and read\ r for use. Hugh produced writing- materials. " Now, master, just write me the check for the money ; but a gentleman like you would scorn to say nine hundred ; say nine thousand, and set your poor servant afloat in the world." Mr. Douglas attempted to speak, but only hiccuped ; Hugh put the pen in his hand and the check-book before him. Mr. Douglas attempted to write, but could not guide his hand. Hugh put his hand on that of his victim, and, thus controlled, the poor hand had no will of its own, but humbly wrote whatever the tyrant that sat upon it dic- tated ; and thus nine thousand was written instead of nine hundred. Mr. Douglas was then conveyed to bed, where he safely reposed until the noon of the next day. As soon as the bank opened the next morning, Hugh presented his check. The first customer was Hugh that morning, and blithe as a lark. "Why," said the banker, "Mr. Douglas has drawn out all his money except a few hundreds ; but, as you are in the habit of attending to his bank business, I suppose it is all right." " He has purchased a piece of property," said Hugh, "and wants this money to pay for it." OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 119 "A transfer might have been made, perhaps," said the banker ; " but Mr. Douglas knows no more of business than a child." Hugh deposited the precious wallet in his breast-pocket, and, taking the next train of cars, was soon out of reach of Mr. Douglas and his second sober thought. The mis- creant had heard of a place down South called Rogue's Harbor, on account of the protection which the laws gave to strangers, and thither he bent his steps. Being unable to find the place, however, without inquiry, w r hich might lead to detection, he dropped into Maryland, and from an advertisement, finding an opening for business, Arab-like, pitched his tent. Hoping that a brilliant name might daz- zle his pursuers, and help to elude pursuit, he changed his last cognomen of Drummond into Gilt, and thus the Gilts staud confessed in all their brazen greatness. Hugh Haggis, alias Drummond, alias Gilt, was suc- cessful in business, became a wholesale merchant, made a fortune, built a palace in the park, died a rich man, and left a fashionable family, — the widow Gilt and her two fashionable daughters. Now that we have given a succinct account of the fash- ionable Gilts, we return to the unfortunate Douglas, and his unfashionable daughter. 120 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, CHAPTER XXIII. JOURNEY. " Man, though limited Ey fate, may vainly think his actions free, While all he does was at the hour of birth, Or by his gods or potent stars, ordained." The die is cast; Mattie has disposed of the little stock her father possessed, — the old horse, the cow, a few pigs and chickens. The money thus obtained will defray the expense incurred by removing the family to the city. To the interrogations of patrons and well-meaning inquirers, who considered the step of doubtful propriety, she replied, — 11 1 go to the city because I feel impelled by an impulse which I cannot resist. I want books and knowledge for myself, and medical aid for my father; and I want these things so much that I have no rest for my spirit night or day. My hungry heart is continually crying, craving, and reaching forth into the unknown future. Like a bird that is trying to fly and cannot, so rises and falls my soul as hope and fear alternately predominate. 1 believe I could not live another year in this fluctuating state of mind." Said a shrewd old farmer, ''As to knowledge, you may perhaps get more than will be good for you, young and inexperienced and unprotected, too, as you are." " I am lonely, it is true, but God will protect me," re- plied the child, thai was always a child and always a woman: a woman, because of her steady habits and serious care; a child through life, because of the purity OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. . 121 and simplicity of her character. " God will protect me," she replied, with the most earnest and simple faith. Faith in what, dear reader? In the words of a dead mother! Think of that, mothers, when talking to your children. And kind old Nannie said " she would go to the ends of the earth with the child, and sure ; for what was the use of her staying all alone by herself in the country, where there was no company that she liked, when she might go to the cit} 7- , where it was more heartsomelike, and more lifesomelike, and sure there was luck for her anyhow?" The news had spread that a school was to be opened in the plasterer's house, and the day of the teacher's ex- pected arrival having been announced, a crowd of urchins gathered about the door. As Mr. Douglas was being lilted from the carriage, young America set up a shout, — " Ha ! old one, you can't whip !" • ''I'll come to school to you." " But mebbe it's the gal. though," from the other side. " Don't care if it is, I can take the whip from her 1" Mattie deduced the conclusion that city and country children were different ; but she was in for it now, her hand was on the plow, there was no looking back. A heterogeneous mass was Mattie's school ! Ragged Bob and crying Bill, lying Nell and saucy Bet. " Patience must have its perfect work," was her motto. But the struggle was desperate ; she began to think she must sink, when, at the moment of despair, came encouragement. Pupils were brought to her from the adjacent public school in consequence, parents said, of the reformation she had made in certain notorious characters in the neighborhood. Also, there was a complaint that the city school was not efficient, and as Mattie's had proved eminently so, the transfer of pupils became so frequent and numerous as to elicit the attention of the school authorities. 11 122 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, And now the young teacher had plenty of labor but little pay; her charge was small, and even that pittance often went unpaid, because, as she had been warned by the plasterer's wife, of the inability of the parties con- cerned. Mattie smiled at the remembrance of her terrific dream, as she put away five dollars of those received for the cow, and with this sum purchased a year's member- ship of the Public Library. And now her hungry heart, as she expressed it, reveled in an intellectual feast. The authors most favorably mentioned in that never-forgotten conversation between Miss Bip and Dr. Bramble she read first, and with much of their contents, though never seen before, the studious girl felt familiar. Sentiments latent, though hitherto dormant, were now aroused into activity, simply by seeing the same expressed, and she would pause, press her hand upon her brow, and exclaim, " Why, surely this thought is but the echo of an old memory 1" And thus many a best thought appeared to her as an old friend might who had been absent for a time, perhaps upon a journey, and who now returned with other news to tell, but told the new story with the same loved voice, the same familiar expression of face and ges- ture. And why this strange sympathy, this reflux as of a tide ebbed out but now returned, only with greater force ? Simply because the tones those writers uttered, the ideas they eliminated, the beautiful visions they presented, had many a time and oft passed through the brain of the em- bryo artist, had shaped themselves in her mind's eye, had been echoed deep down in her heart. Oue has remarked, "No thought was ever thought that was not thought before, and will be thought agaiu by those who have not seen the thought expressed." This reflection some- what takes down the vainglory of the so-called original thinker. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 123 Mattie read voraciously that year, and it is incredible what a number of volumes she perused. She made the circuit of modern literature, novels, poetry, history, travels, biography; but with the gratification the appetite increased, and her insatiate heart still cried, "Give! give!" How- ever much she might have wished to continue this luscious repast, she did not, but obeyed the dictates of her better judg- ment, and commenced a systematic course of sterner study, embracing mathematics, astronomy, French, and music. We remarked before that Mattie's school afforded abun- dance of labor but little remuneration. The pupils were of that class, the scanty and hard-earned income of whose parents renders it inconvenient to pay for the education of their children ; and this state of things, which exists to a greater or less extent in every community, renders a system of public instruction indispensable to the well-being of society. Nothing can be more incumbent upon the wealthy than a provision for the education of their less fortunate fellow-beings ; and to such a provision the city in which flattie lived laid the most ostentatious claims. But this provision or system, if such it could be called, was so in- complete in its working, so imperfect in its development, as to render it unworthy of public confidence, and dear to the community at half the expense entailed. One news- paper said, " People pay their taxes promptly, teachers receive their salaries regularly, school commissioners are elected yearly, and, with grave importance, meet weekly ; yet the poor children starve daily for want of a crumb of education." But among the class of people referred to, and thus re- stricted in means, are found many noble spirits who de- prive themselves of even the necessaries of life, that they may bestow upon their offspring some little strength of heart and principle (by means of education) before send- 124 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, ing them forth to battle with that monster — the World — before they engage in the dreadful contest of life, — a con- test that is prepared for us without our consent, and from which we may not escape, and in which so many are borne down to rise no more, no more in this world at least. With such the gallows groans beneath its burden, the prisons cry " It is enough," and that worst of earthly hells — the brothel — receives its horrid and abundant quota. Oh, wise women of the age, look to this, this most fearful stain upon your sex! And the noble and self-sacrificing, for the sake of their children, did patronize Mattie's school, but not in suffi- cient numbers to sustain it; yet she never rejected a pupil because of non-payment, consequently the income was by no means in proportion to the outgo of labor or adequate to the comfortable support of the family. But the bread cast upon the water in time brought its reward. As a legitimate result of her charity, Mattie's school in- creased in popularity, while that of the neighboring city school, from causes equally natural, decreased rapidly, and thus was brought about a climax which produced an entire revolution in the affairs of this remarkable girl. School commissioners found it would be necessary to remove either their school or Mattie's, and as it was more con- venient to do the latter than the former, she was advised to apply for a situation under the Board. The hint was gratefully accepted and acted upon. Mattie attended the next examination of teachers, passed brilliantly, and without the aid of Mrs. Gilt's politicians was promptly elected. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 125 CHAPTER XXIV. DR. DONKUR. "About his shelves A beggarly account of empty boxes, Great earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds, Remains of packthread and old cakes of rosin, Were thinly scattered to make up a show." The hope of relief presented to Mr. Douglas proved an all-sufficient inducement, and secured his prompt con- sent to the proposed change of residence, and to the risk they must run of starving among strangers. The suffer- ing man, mentally and ph} T sically infirm, was childishly impatient to be off as soon as the idea of going had taken possession of his mind, and when once at his journey's end, "A doctor ! a doctor!" was his constant cry. A stranger in the city, and unacquainted with its celeb- rities, Mattie, of course, had to be guided in her selec- tion of a physician by the opinions of those by whom she was surrounded. She had fallen among a class of people remarkable for quick and generous impulses, but, unfor- tunately, destitute of philosophical investigation, — hence credulous, easily deceived and readily dazzled into ap- plause by the flash and glitter of adroit imposition. In this neighborhood, at this particular juncture, a certain Dr. Donkur enjoyed the pre-eminence of flashing and dash- ing celebrity. Cures as remarkable as those made by the apostles were attributed to him, though no one knew how such improbabilities had gained credit, the person could not be found who had witnessed practice by the doctor 11* 126 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, corroborative of the astounding reputation claimed for him by those whose pleasure it seemed to be to sound his praise. The fact was, certain individuals had no other business in life than to blow the trumpet of the doctor's fame, but only the knowing ones, who, at a distance, caught the echo of the sound, suspected the fact that this was his method of advertising. The puff-ball had thus cunningly been put in motion, and the further it rolled the larger it grew. Among the wonderful cures attributed to this — not doctor of divinity, but divinity of a doctor, was that of a poor sailor who, from undue exposure, hard usage, and constitutional causes, had lost the use of his limbs. He had been doctored and douched in the three principal cities of the Union, had been dismissed from the best hos- pitals as incurable ; it was reserved for Dr. Donkur only to restore vitality to limbs, long since paralyzed and dead. He heard of the case, and, panting for glory, waited upon the invalid, and proffered a gratuitous attendance, giving the hope of perfect restoration, if the sufferer would only place himself under his treatment unreservedly, and sub- mit to his entire control. The unfortunate man, only too happy to grasp at the shadow of a hope, eagerly consented, declaring that, if restored to health, all his after-life should be devoted to so noble a benefactor. The doctor assured him that his restoration would be no l'mger-em-loug pro- cess, but a single operation, speedy in its effects, would do the business at once, and equally astonish the patient and the world. The time for the operation was appointed, spectators invited, — not medical spectators, however, — the trumpeters notified to be on duty, and all things prepared for the event which \v:is to make Dr. Donkur the greatest of living phy- sieians. The poor cripple was brought in and laid upon OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 127 the floor with his face downwards. He was divested of his clothes by the doctor's assistants, and the doctor, with the solemnity of a magician, proceeded to build a fire upon the sick man's back. Chips and shavings of rosin pine were laid along his spine and set on fire, much as children for cruel sport put coals upon the back of a tor- toise, that they may have the fun of seeing the tortured animal stretch out and strain, as for a winning-post, its clumsy gait. With a howl of agony that curdled the blood in the veins of the spectators and sent them bolting from the room, the poor fellow sprang upon all fours, then floun- dered and beat about the floor in the manner of a chicken whose head has just been severed, or that of a corpse, the nerves of which have received a powerful shock from a galvanic battery. And thus the unfortunate man, who had so innocently placed himself in the hands of an un- principled empiric, writhed and squirmed, gasped and died. " They buried him darkly at dead of night," and, after a time, a report was circulated to the effect that the man had recovered and left the city. This, and similar feats, laid the foundation of the doctor's fame ! He was as eminent for the cure of consumption as of paralysis, and, though as deaf as a post, he was such an expert aus- cultator, that he could sound a patient's lungs across the street. His deafness, whether real or pretended, was a most convenient appendage, and afforded the doctor lots of amusement, as well as of real pleasure. It afforded him an excuse for sitting near his lady patients, for gazing deep into their eyes, for approaching his lips close to theirs, especially if they were young and pretty, — he was always unusually deaf then ! Of course, all this was unknown and unsuspected by the humble inhabitants of Mattie's neighborhood, in whose 128 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, opinion the doctor stood at the head of his profession. Mattie was only too happy to obtain for her father aid so magnifi- cent, and, with innoceut humanity, besought the medical Juggernaut to visit the abode of her afflicted parent. After a lapse of time, sufficient to give due importance to his coming, with a speed and a crash which threw up every window in the neighborhood and drew forth every head, the great doctor arrived. He essayed to examine the pa- tient, but an uninterested observer might have remarked that he looked one moment at the sick man and two at the sick man's daughter. "By jove !" he mentally exclaimed, "a perfect clover- blossom." He entered into conversation with her, and found, to his astonishment, a mind fresher, sweeter, more beautiful, more richly laden, than whole acres of clover- blossoms. "A jewel in an ash-heap 1 By Heaven, I'll wear it!" was his mental resolve. Innumerable were the prescriptions for pills, powders, lotions, and baths. Poor Mattie wondered where all the money was to come from to pay for these expensive things ; " but I'll save every cent," she said to herself, " I'll even do without food, only eat a little just to keep life in me, that I may have the money to buy the medicine that will make my father well. Oh, I am so glad we have got this great physician !" The great physician was as prompt and regu- lar in his attendance upon Mr. Douglas as if he had been a rich man. Mattie was charmed, so were the kind-hearted neighbors. Dr. Dunkur was more famous than ever. He was also deafer, and consequently when Mattie gave him information of the patient, ho heard with his lips closer to her lips, his eyes deeper down into hers. Mattie, he is trying to mesmerize you ; unsuspecting child, beware ! On one occasion, when conversing with the young nurse OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 129 about her much-loved charge, the doctor adroitly brought the subject round to phrenology. " Are you a believer in phrenology as a science ?" he asked. " I do not know enough of the subject to give an opinion," replied Mattie. 11 Fowler is in the city at present; go to him and get a chart of your head. I should like to know your strong and weak points," said the doctor, playfully running his fingers behind her ear. "I will think of it," replied the girl, startled at the snaky expression of his eye. He was so exceedingly deaf just then that his lips touched hers before he could hear a word. She sprang from her seat, and, running behind his chair, screamed into his ear at the top of her voice, " I'll think of it." After this interview, Mattie felt unhappy, though she knew not why ; but the presence of the doctor was hateful to her, and she avoided him on all occasions, making Nannie receive his directions about the patient. Mattie had a mind that no one could hoodwink long, and she now gave place to a suspicion, before entertained, that her father was not being benefited in the least by the doctor's medi- cine. One more interview, then, one more conversation on the subject, should decide the matter. On the occasion of his next visit she approached him. " Doctor, I am prepared to hear the worst. What is your opinion of my father ? Can you benefit him or not ?" " My dear girl, I have despaired of his case long since ; I cannot benefit him in the least." " Pray may I inquire why your visits are continued, then ?" said Mattie, with open-eyed astonishment. "My visits are to yourself, sweet girl. Are you so cruelly unappreciative as not to feel that my visits are to yourself?" 130 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, " In the name of Heaven ! for what purpose do you visit me ?" she interrogated with almost breathless emotion. " I want you for my wife." " For your wife ! Why, you have one, have you not?" u But I shall not have her long. Have I not been telling you over and over that she is paralyzed like your father and cannot recover ? I know she will not live long, and I want another engaged against the time when my legal obligation to this one shall cease." Mattie's sense of honor was of the nicest kind, and her feelings revolted at this proposition as much as if the fellow had proposed marriage in the Mormon style, while his wife yet lived. Obeying the impulse of the moment, and almost unconscious of what she did, she arose, opened the door, and, with profound dignity, bowed the suitor out. There was a scornful expression in the girl's eye, and a curl of the lip, as she stood at that open door, which admitted of no parley. So out he went, but he sent her a memento of himself, in the form of a bill for medical attendance, which it took years to pay ; and only that imprisonment for debt — that relic of barbarism — was banished from the statute- book of Maryland, the child and her father would have rotted in a prison to glut the vengeance of a villain foiled in his diabolical design. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 131 CHAPTER XXY. SCHOOLS. " Let authors write for glory and reward, Truth is well paid when she is sung and heard." The public school system in Maryland fainted. All who were interested saw that something must be done to infuse vitality into its benumbed and stagnant circulation. After much discussion, it was finally determined by those in power, although the burden of taxation would thereby be increased, to establish a higher grade of schools, — re- ward schools, — into which teachers, and pupils who dis- tinguished themselves, might be promoted, the former to teach and the latter to learn. The philanthropic rejoiced at the prospect for the poor, and so did the demagogue politician, who at once perceived the thing would make a famous hobby on which to ride before the public. The School Board held a special meeting on the subject, ap- pointed a committee to draft resolutions and make arrange- ments for carrying the brilliant idea into immediate effect. Said Committeeman A, "We must first give the con- templated schools a name ; it will be so much more con- venient to talk about them ; for how could we talk about beasts if Adam had not given them names?" Said Committeeman 13, "I propose to call them High Schools." " How can we give them such a title until we know whether or not they will deserve it?" said Committee- man C. 132 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, "We intend to make them deserve it," said Committee- man D. " What kind of High 1 High up in four-story houses, or high in price?" innocently asked Committeeman E. Now Committeeman D was one of the genus " politico- pedigo" before referred to, and he replied for great Bun- combe, " High, sir, in point of scientific and literary grade. We intend to make these schools unsurpassed in efficiency ; in fact, they shall rival all the aristocratic colleges in the country, and in them the poor laborer's son, and the des- titute widow's daughter, shall receive educations that will fit them for any position in this or any other country. In a few years from this the President of this glorious Union may walk down our streets and select for his minister to the Court of St. James, or any other court, the first man he meets, and he shall find him ready to stand up to the best of them, lords and dukes, kings and queens. And that same minister to the Court of St. James, or any other court, may select for his accomplished wife any girl that has been educated in this, that is to be, world-renowned city, and place her in the ducal throng to represent the fair daughters of this fair nation ; yes, sir, represent them " ' To tho distant lands of orient hue, Or the island that lies like a drop of dew On the inane of the dandy-lion.' " So universally do we intend to spread the blessings of education, that the very hawkers and criers in our streets shall h.awk and cry in Latin and Greek; and the lone watchman, on his midnight beat, shall be able to relieve the dull tedium of his vigils by songs of Tasso in the original, and by astronomical observations involving ihe deepest mathematical calculations. That, sir, is what we mean to do for young, blushing, blooming, bouncing America." OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 133 Committeeman C, in former years, had been a laboring weaver, and it had been the great and only one ambition of his life to own a factory. The throw of the shuttle appeared to him the most graceful of movements; the whir and clatter of the machinery, the sweetest music; to be a boss and own a factory, the climax of greatness. lie now addressed the committee : " Gentlemen, we cannot with propriety call these schools by either of the titles proposed. If we should call them High, and it turned out that they were low, no doubt the ridicule would be infernal. We cannot call them colleges, because we do not intend them to be chartered ; and academy is too hackneyed. I propose, therefore, to call them Education Factories ! That will be so research-a (recherche), and besides suggestive of character," pro- phetically spoke Committeeman C. In days when Committeeman C threw the shuttle in the dim, damp cellar of his employer, such a suggestion from him would have been laughed to scorn ; but now he pos- sessed the god of America — money — no matter how ob- tained ; hence he was oracular with Buncombe politicians whose notes he held, and commissioners (poor creatures!), who adore nothing so much as the almighty dollar. Fac- tory, then, was the accepted cognomen, and three of the kind it was decided to erect; two Female, an Eastern and Western, and one Male Central. Our business, in this volume, is with the Female Factories, especially the Eastern, because Mattie got entangled in the machinery of that one. The Male Central we reserve for a sequel. We remarked that Committeeman C spoke propheti- cally, when he said the term Factory would be suggestive of character. Alas, yes ; the unconscious prognostic was proved to have been but too aptly such ; for like the hy- drophobic prints sent out by some factories and which 12 134 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, pale at the approach of water, so the educations obtained in these institutions, when called into requisition for the practical purposes of life, are found to be utterly valueless. Years of precious time, which can never be redeemed, are lost in learning by rote, without understanding a single principle, a few questions in algebra and geometry, in dis- cussing the difference between magnetism and electricity, telling why the dainty pith-ball bounds coquettishly away at the approach of the electric rod, or with amorous haste kisses its magnetic lips. How the pneumatic and voltaic pile are constructed, the difference between carbonic acid and carbonic oxide, between alkalies and alkaloids, be- tween oxidation and deoxidation, by children that cannot read with any degree of accuracy, that cannot write a page correctly, or analyze a sentence of their mother tongue, that know no more of the history of their own country than they do of the red snow regions, except, in- deed, the questions on which they have been drilled for exhibition, and which were all put in on the high-pressure principle. Then the public expense. Ah, the waste of public money which, if properly applied, would bring joy to the heart, honor to the head, and renown to the names of thousands ! We are not opposed to systems of public education ; nay, we look to them for the dissemination of that intelli- gence which is to perpetuate this republic and regenerate the nations. Intelligent and untrammeled thought is that great temple of equal rights and equal advantages into which men must enter and be baptized before they go forth to govern themselves and the world. The ability to think correctly must become universal; then will be ushered in that millennial reign, when the gospel of Christ shall cover the earth like one glorious burst of dazzling sun- OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 135 sliinc; when it shall repair the effects of Adam's fall; when it shall restore to the world that equilibrium of moral purity which it would have enjoyed by inheritance but for the " primal disobedience which brought death into the world and all our woes." This is a digression and we proceed with the story. Mr. Seeker was the Principal elect of the Eastern Fac- tory. Nathan H. Slytickle, first assistant ; he was of the Uriah Heep genus, meek and much a liar. And last and least, but, though small in stature, large in art, Miss Ursa Minor, second assistant. Mr. Seeker enjo} r ed the honors and emoluments of his position but for a short time, poor fellow, as he soon found it necessary to seek other quarters, so quickly and effect- ively was he tickled out of these. Like Bluebeard's wives, he laughed and died, only his death was official, theirs, as the story goes, physical. And how Mr. Slytickle tickled Mr. Seeker out of the principalship, and himself into it, I propose to tell, if, kind reader, you will follow the cocka- trice's egg through the process of hatching. 136 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, CHAPTER XXYI. MARY BROWN. "Famine is in thy cheeks, Need and oppression stareth in thine eyes, Upon thy back hangs ragged misery, The world is not thy friend, nor the world's laws." A small and dilapidated house, situated in one of the most obscure and poverty-scarred parts of the city, has for its occupant an invalid woman and her orphan daughter. This woman has seen better days, and although she has long been steeped in squalid poverty, and surrounded by coarse and vulgar scenes, her cultivated sensibilities are not destroyed, and her heart still clings to the remem- brance of that refinement which was once her sphere. She has endeavored to give her only child an education, wish- ing and expecting by that means to elevate her, superior to the rude circumstances by which she is surrounded; for this purpose she must avail herself of the city school, — she has no other means of obtaining the much-coveted good. Many a weary day and night has the mother plied for their support the ill-requited needle, buoyed up by the hope that when Mary shall have finished her education she will obtain a situation as teacher, and then she — poor, sick mother, worn out with anxiety and fatigue — may rest a little, and be comforted by t he affectionate care of her child, and sustained by the proceeds of her superior labor. At the period to which we refer in the history of this family, Mary is a pupil in the Eastern Female Education Factory ; her term of required attendance is about to ex- OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 137 pire, and Mrs. Brown counts the months, the weeks, nay, even the days and hours, that must elapse ere the epoch of deliverance arrives, and she be relieved, io some meas- ure, of the burden that is crushing her. She can labor no longer. If relief does not come in some form, she must sink beneath the accumulated weight of bodily infirmity and mental anxiety. Commissioner A has promised Mary a situation as teacher as soon as she has completed her education ! On this promise the broken-down woman has lived; it has kept the reluctant blood creeping through her heart; it has galvanized the relaxed nerves of her worn-out system. She clutches convulsively the needle, and, strained up by the hope that relief is at hand, accomplishes the daily amount of work that will afford them their daily supply of food, and nothing more. She has finished the work for the day, and is now lying prostrate upon her couch. Mary is seated by her side. Says the mother, " I am so glad, my dear, that your term at school has ended at last; you will get a situation immediately, and then I can take a little rest; perhaps when I have less labor and anxiety, my health will react, and I shall }^et be spared to watch over and guide you, and surround your path with my loving care." Said Mary, " Mother, I am very much afraid I shall not pass the examination for teacher. I know that in many of the requisite branches I am deficient, and I have tried hard to advance in those necessary, but I could get no assistance. Mr. Slytickle was always painting pen- handles or making gas, and when I approached him for help, I saw he did not like the interruption ; and Miss Ursa Minor was either reading a new book or writing a letter, and if I approached her for directions how to go on with my work, she was as huffish as Mr. Slytickle; and 12* 138 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, thus repelled on all sides, I was without alternative, and had to learn as best I could in silence. The branches taught by the Principal I understand, because he is faith- ful and kind to all the girls ; but those are not required in the examination of teachers, they are for diplomas. And now, mother, you must pardon me for not telling you this sooner ; I feared to do so : if a complaint had been made to the school authorities there would have been no more peace for me in that institution." Mrs. Brown raised herself on her elbow and gazed at her daughter with a look so ghastly that it froze the hot blood in the child's bounding veins. "Not pass! not pass! did you say? And is it for this I have spent long years of toil to keep you at school and give you an educa- tion, which I thought would elevate you above such de- pravity as surrounds us, and place it in your power to sustain my feeble old age ? Now, when I am broken in body and spirits ; now that the strength has passed from my heart like the odor from a flower that is crushed be- neath the feet of the careless, thronging crowd ; now you tell me your time and my trouble have all been thrown away, and you cannot pass the requisite examination I" The wretched woman fell back upon her pillow gasping with emotion. Poor Mary's tears bedewed her mother's pallid face; laying her burning cheek to the blanched and shrunken cheek of her almost dying parent, she moaned out, " I could not help it, mother ! do not blame me, mother I I was poor and friendless, and so I received no attention from the teachers." " God only knows what will become of us," gasped the mother ; " I have put the landlord off from time to time by telling him that you expected a situation, and then I would pay all arrears ; but now, when he finds that you OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 139 have nothing to expect in that quarter, Ave will be tossed out of the house, and where we are to fine a shelter I cannot tell." (Scene — The Examination-Boom.) "TTho is that girl yonder that is sobbing and moaning so piteously ?" asked Commissioner A, as he came into the room in which candidates were being examined. "It is Mary Brown," replied Mr. Slytickle. " She has failed in her examination, and she is bewailing and taking on as if it were a matter of life and death." That it was a matter of life and death, Mr. Slytickle neither knew nor cared. (Scene— The Street.) A few old pieces of furniture are exposed upon the side- walk for sale, the proceeds to pay the rent of a kennel scarcely fit for the shelter of dumb brutes. A covered cart, containing within its hearselike jaws a dying woman, is taking its course towards the city almshouse. The piercing shrieks of a young and almost heart-broken girl ring out upon the air, "Oh, my mother! my mother!" But the air is not startled, for the air in that locality is used to shrieks. 140 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, CHAPTER XXVII. A SECRET ENEMY. "You are a humbug, sir." "Dare you say so ?" "I dare." Old Play. Said Commissioner A to the meek Slytickle, " How is it, sir, that so many of the graduates from the Eastern Factory fail in their examination ? I am especially sorry for Miss Brown, as I had promised her mother, who is a worthy woman, a situation for Mary as soon as she graduated; but now, having failed in her examination, I can do nothing for her. These institutions are maintained at great expense to the city, and certainly the people have a right to expect more advantages from them than they have as yet received." Said Slytickle, " Why, you see, sir, the fact is our Principal is not a practical man, — he is a splendid theorist, but not a practical man, — consequently, while he is building castles in the air his houses on the ground get out of repair. I could tell you a great many things, but then you must summon me before the committee and demand my testimony, so that an official injunction may shield me from the consequences of giving what, indeed, I have no inclination to withhold, only I fear the consequence." "I shall convene the committee immediately ; hold your- self, sir, in readiness to appear." (Scene — Mr. Slytickle brfore the Committee.) Chairman. — " How is it, Mr. Slytickle, that such a want of success attends the Eastern Factory ? The failure of that OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. HI establishment to meet the demands of the public is lament- able, and it becomes our duty to investigate the matter." " Well, sir, the fault is with our Principal, who is a most worthy gentleman, but so utterly unpractical. Why, sir, I could give you information that would astonish you ; but, then, you must keep what I tell you a profound secret, because Mr. Seeker is a strong man and I am a weak man ; you know I don't mean anything, but, then, he could inflict upon me personal injury.'' Commissioner B, with a patronizing air. — "Go on, sir, with your testimony; we will shield you from the conse- sequence." " Well, then, gentlemen, I will give you the last case of Mr. Seeker's want of practicability. He announced to the school that on a certain day he would experiment upon the sustenance of life, with a view to proving the assertion that nothing could live without air, — that is, animal life could not be supported without the aid of that subtle fluid. Well, gentlemen, as certain as you sit there, he got the school assembled, and the kitten, brought for the pur- pose, under the receiver, and he pumped and pumped until his heart was nearly broken, trying, but all in vain, to produce a vacuum, — he is so unpractical, you see. Well, no vacuum could he produce, and no kitten could he kill ; he could not even scare the thing, for it knew its master's character, and perfectly understood that he would never accomplish anything he undertook. So there sat the saucy creature blinking and winking at the girls, and almost ready to laugh right out at its master's frantic efforts. But, gentlemen, although I tell you all this, yet I don't mean anything, only our worthy Principal pumped until the perspiration rolled from his brow, and all to no purpose j when, finally, raising the receiver, he permitted the kitten to escape, and then explained to the school that the animal 142 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, was scientifically dead ; and now they all understood bow impossible it was to live without breath." u Why, the man must be demented," said Commissioner B, with great indignation; "I am for dismissing him at once." Mr. Slytickle, evidently alarmed. — "Now, gentlemen, remember I am a weak man and Mr. Seeker is a strong man; he may do me some personal injury if this should come to his ears." "Be calm, sir," patronizingly from Commissioner B, "be calm, we will protect your interest; Mr. Seeker shall never know where the blow comes from." " You see, gentlemen, I am not a proud man like our Principal, I am a humble man," said Uriah Heep the second. Very patronizingly from Commissioner B. — "Yes, we understand, Mr. Slytickle ; and now you ma}^ retire for the present." {Scene — Mr. Seeker before the Committee.) Said the Chairman, " Mr. Seeker, the committee has convened and summoned you before it to investigate the cause of the numerous failures which take place in the examination of graduates from your school." " They do not fail in my branches, sir," said Mr. Seeker, bowing gentlemanly. "But do you not consider yourself responsible for the whole school ?" "Most certainly not, sir; you, I mean the committee, select my assistants, as they arc called, without my advice, and dismiss them in the same manner. They are responsi- ble to you and not to me." " But is it not a part of your duty to observe the teachers under you, and report to the committee if they do not attend to their business properly?" OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 143 " If by observing, sir, you mean playing the spy upon the teachers associated with me, I confess, sir, I do not con- sider it a part of my duty, neither can I accept it as such." " How does Slytickle attend to his business ?" put in another member of the convention. Mr. Seeker, with some hauteur. — " I am not on the witness-stand, sir." 11 He is too independent," whispered Com. C; "I don't like him." Said the Chairman, " We consider it necessary for the good of the school that the Principal shall make a secret report to this committee once a month at least, of the faith- fulness and efficiency of the teachers under him, or to the contrary, if such be the case." Mr. Seeker's Saxon blood rushed into his face, and he replied with dignity of manner, " Then you must employ another man for the purpose, gentlemen ; I cannot accept the work of espionage which you assign me." The Chair. — " Then, sir, we will dispense with your services at the expiration of the present quarter." Mr. Seeker. — " I shall not intrude upon you, sir, until the end of the quarter, but shall vacate immediately." And bowing gracefully, left the room. At the door, or rather outside, Mr. Seeker met his coad- jutor Slytickle, who had been peeping and listening. " Has anything happened ?" eagerly asked Slytickle. "Yes, something has happened, — 1 have resigned," re- plied Seeker. " But you don't mean anything by it, do you?" asked Slytickle. " I always mean what I say," replied the badgered man, and, casting upon the crouching dog before him a con- temptuous look, left the building. Slytickle rushed frantically into the committee-room. 144 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, "Oh, gentlemen, gentlemen, " he exclaimed, "I could watch the teachers and report to you ! I could watch 'em all day, and I could kill the kitten, and I am a humble man, — I don't put on airs. Oh, gentlemen ! you know what I would ask. Take pity on a man with an extrava- gant wife and a child besides." "Be composed," said the patronizing Commissioner B. " We think favorably of you, Mr. Slytickle, and it is more than likely that you will be rewarded for your fidelity by receiving the exalted position to which you aspire; and when you are Principal of the Eastern Female Education Factory we expect the machinery to be well oiled, the boiler kept full, and the blower in motion." CHAPTER XXVIII. PROMOTION. "It were indeed a misfortune for the community, if among the many blunders made by men who have charge of public interests, they did not sometimes get right by accident." The experiments in education were going on and failing in the Factories. Those pompous structures, whose pre- tending fronts, reared high and bold, signified to the be- holder that they were there for some great purpose. Stately they stood, in all their splendid nothingness, and in them hundreds from the city treasury every year were spent, in experimenting upon the chemical properties of Boap, and the effect of that salvo upon commissioners; in testing the components of gas thai would make a noise in the public ear and blind the public eye, not forgetting large experiments iii laughing-gas and talking-gas. To OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 145 furnish these sepulchers of intellect, thousands of the public money were spent, and that in the purchase of philosophical apparatus, of much of which the teachers neither knew the names nor the use, and tens of thousands upon the teachers themselves, whose chief recommenda- tion was their servility, and whose official life was one concatenated lie! — perfect in its linking. While all this solemn farce was being acted in one part of the city, poor Mattie was in another laboring honestly, faithfully, in her humble sphere far out upon the common, — common, indeed ! where the afflicted air, burdened with discordant sounds, and stench most foul, sighed and be- moaned its degraded state. Amid machine-shops and steam-boiler establishments, and shanties reeking with the smell of burning tan and smoking (ish ; with the jail on one hand and the peniten- tiary on the other, — a place as abominable for its sights as for its sounds. Thus, amid a population as coarse and vulgar as the scenes and circumstances by which they were surrounded, did Mattie come like the first struggling sunbeam on a polar sea after the horrors of an Arctic night. Laboring earnestly, regardless of the effect upon herself, she was only anxious to perform her part to the satisfaction of her conscience first, and her patrons next. Such was her extreme modesty that she was almost un- conscious of her own ability, and totally unexpectant of the results that followed. Rough, uncouth marble became smooth and polished beneath her artistic touch. Harsh natures yielded to her kind yet firm demands. Hearts and dispositions, hardened and corrupted by unkind usage and debasing association, became softened and purified under her gentle training. Savage and revengeful thoughts — thoughts of deadly hate and dastard rapine — fled from the breasts of those whom she instructed, like as the 13 146 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, demon-vulture fled from the heart of the king before the sweet sounds of David's harp. And thus she soon placed her school peerless in its grade, and herself, in public estimation, at the head of her profession. Great, too, were the disadvantages under which this most faithful of teachers labored, with respect not only to location, but to the class of children to be taught, — children kept at home half the time to work or mind the baby while mother went out to work; children made restive and in- subordinate under necessary restraint by the home influ- ence of family strife and unpunished rebellion ; children that are taught lying and begging as a trade; for such surroundings embraced the school, and none more horrid could be found. But despite all these retarding circum- stances, Mattie presented every year to the Factories, where, alas! they were permitted to forget what she, with so much sacrifice, had taught them, her quota of pupils, larger than that furnished by any other school, although every school in the city had the advantage of hers in point of position. This unlooked-for success attracted public attention and elicited public applause; and, finally, pupils began to pour in from all sections, braving the hor- rors of external circumstances, because, when once inside the walls, an intellectual feast was spread for their ac- ceptance not to be found elsewhere. Many families living too remote to permit the attendance of their children, moved as near the ugly neighborhood as was thought compatible with gentility, and thus the school building had to be enlarged to meet the increasing demand for room. It, seemed as though the winds of heaven caught up and carried far and wide the fame of the timid, unas- suming girl, whose only talisman of Buccess was that her heart was in her work. "Thou, Uod, seest me,'' her motto. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. H7 The Committee on the failing Factories having de- termined to place the creature Slytickle in the position of Principal of the Eastern, thought best to fill his place — that of first assistant — with a lady whose efficiency had been proved beyond a doubt, and the choice fell upon flattie. With many tears of her own, and from the pupils she was leaving, who clung to her and sobbed as if at the burial of a loved parent, Mattie bade farewell to the scene of her first efforts in the cause of public education, — where labor had been sweetened by success, and a rich and abundant harvest repaid the seed sown in tears and tilled by industry. The elevation of Miss Douglas over the head of Miss Ursa Minor deeply wounded the self-complacency of that chirping, crickety little woman, who buzzed and fluttered round all in a pester of self-laudation, as though, indeed, her labor and faithful performance of duty had entitled her to consideration. Little women are so pestiferously fussy ! Webster — he the great talker — said, "Nothing was more desirable than a little farm well tilled except a little wife well willed," and I suppose the scarcity of the article enhances the value. A little woman feels that nature has not dignified or distinguished her, and in her efforts to supply the deficiency and attract your attention, she be- comes most uncomfortably " de trop." Like a mouse, she will make a nest in your coat-sleeve before you know where you are, or, like a wren, build in your hat the mo- ment it is off your head ; and then, because she is a woman, you must bear the intrusion You may grind your teeth or your finger-nails, bite your lips or your tongue, but bear the intrusion you must. Byron's abhorrence was a dumpy woman, and such is mine. A tall woman will be dignified perforce of circumstances ; her figure demands it ; 148 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, and if she makes any pretension to refinement, she will cultivate manners suitable and graceful to her physical de- velopment. Then the reciprocal effects of mind and matter are so mysteriously blent that what affects the one will tell upon the other, and thus dignified sentiments will pro- duce dignified manners ; and though we do not exactly say that dignified manners will produce dignified sentiments, yet manners are, to some extent, indicative of character, and assist in developing that which is latent. In corroboration of an idea here advanced, Sir Walter Scott says, " If a man takes the attitude of rage he will, in some measure, feel angry." And it is well known that the elder Booth, than whom no one ever performed Richard the Third better, would so completely identify himself with the subject as, for the time being, actually to imagine himself the king. JViattie had now attained to her full stature, and was a tall and splendidly proportioned woman. The Douglas blood showed itself in her too. True, she was not classi- cally beautiful in feature, but the fire of genius lighted her eye and wreaths of sweetness encircled her mouth ; her port was noble, her form majestic; a lady in principle, in manners, in education, in appearance. No wonder was it, then, that the heart of the dwarfish, insignificant Ursa Minor ate itself out with envy and chagrin at the introduc- tion to the sphere she coveted of so splendid a rival. Ursa Minor's father, — I suppose Ursa Major, — Reverend John, rallied quite a little panic to the rescue, poked up quite a smart whirlwind, but did not ascend in it ; only proved by it that his daughter was the foremost scholar in the Rev. Mr. Jarpot's school, and therefore was entitled to the most exalted promotion. Don't infer, dear friend, that we have any antipathy to the clerical profession because we so frequently drag be- fore you the prefix Rev. We assure you that such is not OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 14 9 the ease; wo arc writing from life; our characters are be- fore us, living, breathing beings. Did we call them by the names they usually bear, you would at once identify the group, and we hope you will, notwithstanding the noms de plume they wear. And, my reverend reader, if I should ever have so distinguished an honor, do not ap- prehend that you are the party slurred at, unless, indeed, you are the veritable Bear. Well, Ursa Major proved that Ursa Minor was the fore- most scholar in the Rev. Mr. Jarpot's school, and that she could recite whole volumes of history, and could write compositions wonderful in length, and breadth, and wind, and words, and was such an astonishing elocutionist that when she read, the dogs howled in unison, mistaking the tones of the reader's voice for the cry of one of their kindred in distress. But without a single effort on Mattie's part, she was triumphantly placed in the position so earnestly coveted by the erudite Miss Ursa Minor, and so vigorously strained after by her reverend father, whose anxiety was occasioned by the fact that a few additional dollars were the crowning glory of the post; and this man of heaven- ward tendencies " wore the world as so loose a garment that he could envelop in its ample folds the five zones and yet find room for the poles." The corps of operatives being complete in number, the Education Factory again sped on, with its flimsy warp and woof, with its sizing that would not stick, with its gloss that would wear off, with its flaunting colors that would fade out, — all being put in on the high-pressure principle. The Western Factory also underwent a change, and again clipper-clappered, under the direction of Mr. Robert Fizzle, A.M., and his baud of female coadjutors, foremost among whom was the renowned Becky Sharp, whose acquaint- 13* 150 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, ance it is necessary to make in order to understand the story, and for an introduction to this representative lady we are indebted to William Makepeace Thackeray, Esq. CHAPTER XXIX. MR. SLYTICKLE WANTS A PRESENT. " Doubtless the pleasure is as great Of being cheated as to cheat. As lookers-on feel most delight That least perceive the juggler's sleight ; And still the less they understand, The more admire his sleight of hand." I The entrance of Mattie into the Eastern Education Factory was hailed with delight, not only by her pupils, many of whom were there, but also by the public. It was expected that great and important results, beneficial to the cause of education, would grow out of the change. Such did grow luxuriantly, and, if not important to the cause of education, so to Mattie, at least. This one step changed her whole subsequent life, and gave to it a com- plexion that it otherwise never could have had. "By threads innumerable our destiny is woven." We must see at a glance that two such natures as Mat- tie's and Slytickle's could no more exist together harmo- niously than could frost and fire, — she, all honor ; he, all villainy ; she, all honest work; he, all humbuggery ; she, all nature ; he, all art. Said Slytickle, "Miss Douglas, not long since my class made me a present of a watch, and now I want a chain, OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 151 or, at leapt, my wife does, for she wears the watch. Well, I don't like to ask the chain of my class so soon after having received the watch ; but, as your class has not given me anything, it might give me the chain ; but, though I give you this hint, yet I don't mean anything. Isow, you are a great favorite with your class, and you ladies know how to manage those things very neatly ; but, remember, I don't mean anything!" Mattie, poor girl, was innocent and unsophisticated; she looked at things from a newer point of view than that from which the majority of the world view them, and the re- quest of her Principal bewildered her. Her earnest, deep- set eyes dilated with wonder. If he had asked her to pick the girls' pockets, she could scarcely have been more as- tonished. She replied, in her honest, straightforward way, " Why, sir, I would not have a present that had to be asked for ; and, besides, our pupils are all poor children, many of them orphans, whose widowed mothers can scarcely clothe and feed them while trying to give them a little education. I w T ould rather present you with the requisite amount out of my own pocket than to ask these poor children for it." " But, Miss Douglas, I will let you into a secret, but mind, I don't mean anything by it ; yet, the present is not my only motive (although I shall have no peace from my wife until I get her the chain) ; and the secret is : I want the present to affect public opinion. It makes a teacher look well before the world to receive presents, and I want to make Fizzle, of the Western Factory, fizzle with jealousy of my popularity; then, besides, Seeker will see an ac- count of the affair in the papers, and he will feel that he is not regretted ; and you cannot think what a triumph that would be for me ! 1 did so hate that man ! He kept me at such a distance ; he treated me like I was a snake ; 152 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, and I did run him out of the grass, and so I will all who go counter to my wishes. I am head of this institution, and I shall assert my claim to obedience, prompt and im- plicit." This with a scowling look, and brows ever so much knit into clouds. "I have really no tact in such matters, and I, for various reasons, would rather that you assign the business to another," said Mattie. "And I, for various reasons, assign it to you," replied Mr. Sly tickle, with great earnestness. " I regret that you do," she replied, "because I cannot undertake it." "Well, I will let you into a secret, but mind, I don't mean anything: only you get part of the money, and I will give an excursion and raise the rest." "An excursion ?" "Yes, an excursion. Sell tickets at twenty-five cents, gather in Tom, Dick, and Harry ; — what do I care, so that I get the chain to stop my wife's tongue with ? I wish all the women's tongues could be chained ; but mind, I don't mean anything. So now, Miss Douglas, you just help me in this matter, and one of these days I will get up a present for you." " I do not want a present," she replied, rather haughtily. " I would not accept one that had to be obtained by manage- ment. To make a present from my class acceptable to me, it would have to be spontaneous; simply the tangible ex- ponent of feelings which I would appreciate, but not the present for its own sake." "Your ideas are, no doubt, very beautiful and very re- freshing, Miss Douglas," said Sly tickle, sarcastically, "but a little behind the age. You are rather fresh from the country, I believe; when you have seen more of the world you will modify your romantic sentiments, and be- OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 153 come like the rest of us poor earth-born mortals, who can- not afford to live in the clouds. But, to cut the matter short, I must and will have the present." " I think he means that," Mattie soliloquized, smiling in spite of her vexation. CHAPTER XXX. TIIE PLEASURE EXCURSION. " Pleasures are few, and fewer we enjoy ; Pleasure, like quicksilver, is bright and coy: We strive, we grasp it with our utmost skill. If seized at last, compute your nightly gains, What is it but rank poison in your veins ?" The steamer Osiris is freighted with its precious burden of human life, and gallantly, proudly, as if conscious of the valuable charge, bears away down the river and bay, and, snorting self-complacently, disembarks the cargo of youth and beauty at the sequestered nook selected for the picnic. The pleasure-party has been anticipated by those in- terested, and tables are spread about the grounds, covered with various things, both sweet and bitter. With creams and rare confections, with cards and cakes, with ice-water to cool the body, and fire-water to burn and blister the soul. The billiard-tables are decorated, and the dominoes rattle their siren song. Gangs of professional gamblers are on the spot, come to look at the pretty girls, and re- lieve their brothers, lovers, and friends of any loose change they may have about them. A level green is selected for the dance, swings are hung, jumping-ropes uncoiled, grace- hoops produced; and now the amusements of the occasion 154 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, are in full blast, Music from on board the boat is removed to the shore, and soon the dancers' feet keep time to the rise and fall of its voluptuous measure. We will walk round and view the various methods of enjoyment — of pleasure. We are an isolated spectator, we have no fair one in charge, though we have charge of a fair one, but she is at home ; we would not bring her here, we would not permit the air, contaminated by these vulgar scenes, to kiss her pure cheek. Faugh ! what a horrid smell of rum and whisky, of brandy-punch and abominable gin-cocktails ! The air has grown sullen because of its overburden, and refuses to remove the stench. And those fearful oaths ! How dreadful ! We involuntarily clasp our hands upon our ears to shut out the fiendish imprecations. Our eyes, too, weary with the sight of cards, and dice, and dominoes, and all the various machinery of the Evil One, used to catch and keep unguarded youth. Here bo}^s and men at play shout out deep roaring oaths or mutter rumbling curses; the vulgar jests rebound from lip to lip, the broad insinua- tion that lights on all like summer gnats, but leaves a deeper sting-spot, floats free as air. We turn with loath- ing from the place and seek relief for our oppressed feelings in a change of scene, so we roam to other parts of the field of pleasure ! Here is a swing, but our head grows dizzy as we look to what a giddy height the strong arm of that athletic youth hurls the seat in which is placed thai fragile girl, while he curiously peeps beneath her ballooning skirts to cateli a Bight of her garters. If her head should swim, or her blood tingle with indignation as ours dors, she may fall from the elevation which affords her a bird's-eye view of the Surrounding landscape, and if she fall, she must be dashed to pieces. We turn away lest we witness some such catastrophe. ♦ OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 155 Yonder stroll a pair — lovers it would seem, — one is Miss Asp, the pet pupil of Mr. Sly tickle, — they plunge deeper into the forest, seeking- in its cool shade the pleasure of uninterrupted converse, receiving- honey in the ear that may turn to vinegar in the heart. We dare not join these, so we join the spectators of the dance. " I say you are a liar ! She is a Pointer, and the prettiest girl on the ground," cries Sam Smith. 11 1 say you are another ; she is not a Pointer, but an Old Towner, and she is not half so pretty as Bet Brunette," cries Tom Trump; "and if you want to fight about it, I am your man, and ready for all of your cowardly Screw- bolt crew. "NV — h — 000! wh — 000!" Thus summoned, the members of the club, of which this horrid whoop was the war-cry, came crowding round, and rudely pushing all other spectators aside, took possession of the battle-ground. A desperate-looking character ad- vanced to the Screwbolt, and whispered in his ear, " There are more of us than of them on the ground ; chal- lenge him, and we'll give every infernal imp of 'em brim- stone." Thus abetted and encouraged, the Screwbolt hurled him- self at the Cold-Chisel, — " Come ou, you mean, cowardly, bullying, gouging villains! I'm your man, I'll thrash every murdering brute among you; come on, I say!" The Screwbolt now makes a little run, and utters the fiendish yell which is the war-cry of his club. The Cold- Chisel gives the signal to his club in tones equally appall- ing, and he and Sam clinch. "Fair play on all sides!" scream members of the rival chilis. The Cold-Chisel seems likely to cut his way through the Screwbolt, when another Screwbolt comes to his relief, and now the fight becomes general. Pistols crack, 156 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, girls scream, } T ells and curses break from members of the rival clubs, each cheering-, inciting the other to des- perate and bloody fray. We turn from the revolting sight, heartsick with contemplating the degradation of our race; and as Tom Trump's insensible body is borne along to the boat, we instinctively follow, and, taking our station by the side of the wounded man, probe for the ball, and render him all the assistance in our power. " Your brute of a beast has killed my sweetheart I" cries Bell Blond. "And your beast of a brute has shivered the timbers of my best lover, and by the infernal furies, I'll pay you for it I" replies Bet Brunette. The rival beauties now pitch into each other like two colliding locomotives ; torn bonnets, flying hair, naked bosoms, cries and tears distinguish this onset, until persons interfere, and, separating the belligerents, compel them on board the boat to refit their dress and cool their tempers. Ten or a dozen men are wounded in the melee, and some of them so badly that it is thought necessary to re-embark the party and make for the city with all the speed of steam. Many a sorrowful heart this pleasure-party will occasion. On the way back to the city, to enliven the company and drive away the blues, the music is again struck up, and again the dancers' heels resound upon the deck. The rival beauties right up a little their dress, plaster their scratches, and enter the list as competitors for invitations, and actually dance over the heads of the youths who are dying — who have died in defense of their worthless charms. Worthless we say, for what is phy- sical beauty alone? It is the least attraction a woman can possess, and only attracts the sensual, who select the casket for its gilded exterior, regardless of the circumstance whether or not a jewel lies within. OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 157 Thus, amid drinking, swearing, gambling, fighting, amid floods of rum and forests of oaths, the young ladies of the Eastern Female Education Factory were receiving their first impressions of life and morality. Young minds, soft and pliant as ginger dough, ay, and as sweet, too, if properly handled, are thus being shaped for use by the devil's cake-cutter. And thus, as Committeeman A said, " they are being prepared to represent the fair daughters of this fair land to far-distant nations of Orient hue, or the island that lies like a drop of dew on the mane of the dandy-lion." Mattie was not invited to the picnic, because she was "insubordinate" to superiors in not extracting money from the pockets of beggars, — money with which to pur- chase gold chains and popularity for Mr. I-tickle-you-you- tickle-me-and-we'11-tickle-them-all-so-sly. We mentioned as being at the excursion a beautiful Miss Asp, the pet pupil of this most excellent of principals ! She disappeared from society a short time after that day of pleasure ; but did not make her dreadful exit until having been used as an engine of torture to Mattie. She had blackened her poor soul with lies, and stained it so deeply that even Jordan could not wash it clean. " Where is she F" ask the wild shrieks of a heart-broken mother. " Where ?" asks the deep curse as it rolls from the lips of her exasperated father. Ask the same question ye who may speak in thunder- tones at the ballot-box, and ask of those who have charge of our halls of learning. Yes, ask of those who, like the corpse-worm rioting in corruption, riot in the public heart and grow fat ! 14 158 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, CHAPTER XXXI. THE STAR-CHAMBER COMMITTEE, " To hold a place In council, which was once esteemed an honor And a reward for virtue, hath quite lost Lustre and reputation, and is made A mercenary purchase." Change is written on all things here below, but on nothing more legibly than on polities and politicians. I suppose the doctrine of rotation in power is the correct one; but whenever I hear it advanced, somehow it always brings to my mind the fable of the fox and the flies. How- ever, it is not our intention at this time to discuss, but only to relate ; and now it was that one of those political whirlwinds, which occasionally sweep over the country, rushed through and swept the ins out and the outs in, and produced a change in all the various ramifications of city government, including the Education Factories. Mattie was now shorn of her friends in the School Board and left to the tender mercies of her enemies, for little as she deserved enemies, such she had, — who has not ? Slytickle was her enemy because he could not use her, and Miss Ursa Minor was her enemy because she, Mattie, had superseded that self-complacent lady in a coveted position. Thus Mattie was like a tree standing alone in the midst of a field, unsheltered, unsupported, wit 1) the lightning of Slytickle playing around its trunk, ready to strike without a moment's warning, and the Ursa Minor — a beast that murders while it hugs — gnawing at OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 159 the root. Alas for poor Mattie ! The assassin who lurks and waits for his opportunity to strike will find it. The new committee now placed in charge of the Factories we designate as " Star- Chamber," — and when its secret doings are exposed, all must admit the term is not so 11 malapropos" as at first sight they might suppose. That nefarious tribunal — worthy of the monarch in whose reign it flourished — is not yet quite extinct, and there are more star-chamber courts in the world than those happily re- moved from their influence imagine. The names of the parties composing this committee were as follows : Chairman, Mr. Thomas Abbettor, first in trick, first in trade, and first in the hearts of his ilk ; Mr. George Woodmouse, that poor creature who crept in and out the mayor's office ; Doctor Huntemup! We do not know where he received his diploma, but certain it is he never ventured further in his profession than a blue- pill or a bowl of salts ; and as to his veracity, if he had asserted that the sun rose in the east and set in the west that fact would have been instantly doubted. Yet this man was prominent in home missions, causeway schools, and benevolent societies; one fact, however, is significant, he never was made treasurer ! And last, though not least, was that wonderful bald-headed Box, who dealt alike in mattresses and musical instruments. We ask pardon for this allusion to the man's baldness, and would not have made it only for the manner in which it was obtained. He was an old campaigner in school battles, and had thought all the hair off his head in scheming to excoriate refractory teachers who had the audacity to decline truckling to him on all occasions. This nondescript animal had, however, some of the attributes of human nature, for, like Lord Steyne, he had a great weakness for Becky Sharp ! And now it becomes our painful duty to introduce 160 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, another, — "what shall we call it?" But the pain is not caused by the fact that we have no name sufficiently char- acteristic by which to salute our new acquaintance, but from that other rankling barb, the stern necessity of telling that he belongs to the class who are called ministers of the gospel ! Not in disrespect to his cloth, but for his sweet sake alone we would gladly leave him out of sight, only that our story would be incoherent without his presence. The official relation of this person to the School Board, as treasurer of the funds, gave him a pretext for pragmati cal interference in school affairs, and his itching proclivi- ties incited him to escalade movements for power as well as pay. His Napoleonic ambition scorned to serve, and as he could brook no service, he must either rule or rot! We cannot help it, friends ; we did not make him a reverend or a conspirator ; but since he is both, look at him a little, and then we will tell you about somebody else. The his- tory of all great men is refreshing, and perhaps Parton, of the New York Ledger, whose sketches of such we have much enjoyed, may take up that of these, and, soaring 1 where we sink, tell how those worthies died ; we can but tell how they lived* OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 161 CHAPTER XXXII. REV. JOHN M'GILHOOTER. "Bartering his venal wit for sums of gold, He east himself into the saintlike mould: Groaned, sighed, and prayed while godliness was gain, The loudest bagpipe of the squeaking train." A cabinetmaker's shop was situated in a certain alley that faced the rear of a church and parsonage. The worthy pastor of the flock worshiping in this church made frequent visits to the shop and held long conversations with the workmen. Often he talked on ordinary subjects, but more frequently on those of serious import. 11 Peradventure," said the old soldier of the cross, " ' a shaft from a bow drawn at a venture' may strike between the joints of the harness." The work done at the shop was itself suggestive of serious thought, and such opportunities were always im- proved by this visitor to lead the minds of those present to the consideration of important truths. Laying his hand upon a coffin in course of construction, he would contrast the simplicity of this last receptacle of earth's ambitious sons with the ostentatious dwellings they love to inhabit, and which, in towering pride, rear their bold fronts in the face of heaven, rank with the blood of souls. " Look," said the aged minister of Christ, " at this narrow house of four corners, a lining and a pillow; in this man- sion no gorgeous suites of apartments are prepared for the sumptuous entertainment of the owner's guests. The 14* 162 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, social worm is his only companion, and he is so humbled as not to recoil from the loathsome embrace, but permits the reptile to wanton in those charms of face and person to which he himself had bowed in adoration and owned no greater God. In building this house, you make no pro- vision for luxurious baths to purify and cleanse the pam- pered flesh ; ah, no I the inhabitant festers in his own corruption, and asks neither stergent nor perfume. No well-filled larder for honorable guests is here prepared ; the host is himself the larder for an uninvited company that cling to his lips, take quite away his hand, and riot in the inmost recesses of his heart. They are not needed here, windows of variegated glass, to cast a dazzling and deceptive hue on the inhabitants within ; even the beauti- ful windows of the soul, those reflectors of immortal thought, into whose depths we all so much love to gaze, are closed in darkness, and, drooping their curtains, securely veil the secrets of their master's fate. And, ah ! my friends, what is his fate ? — that's the great consideration. Is he like Lazarus, sheltered from all the ills that checkered an eventful life in Abraham's bosom, or when removed to this narrow house that you prepare, must his horror-stricken spirit cry, ' Farewell, happy fields of life, — hail horrors, hail infernal world ! — and thou, profoundest hell, receive thy new possessor' ?" Thus did this earnest laborer in his Master's cause sow the seeds of suggestive thought and serious reflection by the highways and byways of life, if happily he might harvest for the bundle of his Lord. Among the workmen employed in this shop w r as John McGilhooter, or as his brother chips contemptuously called him, Jack and Gill. lie was not liked by his fellow-work- men on account of the fractious and envious disposition he evinced ; constantly complaining, and hearteating every- OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 163 body's success, lie seemed to view all things in life through a prism of green and yellow jealousy. When sent to con- vey a coffin, per order, if to a poor man's house the homely structure of pine belonged, that could not excite his jaun- diced envy; but the cents upon the dead man's eyes stirred up his bitterest bile, and he would exclaim to his fellow- workmen, " Why this useless display of money? If the fellow won't keep his eyes shut without being bribed to it, why, let him lay and stare." If to the residence of wealth his business procured him admission, he glared with an evil eye upon every external evidence of opulence and refinement. The long piece of crape floating at the door would excite his wrath, and call forth a querulous whine. " I do not see," he would exclaim, " why people who have more money than they have use for, do not put it into a common fund for those who have none. The cost of this coffin alone, that is to go into the ground and nobody see it, with its silver plate and handles, its screws and velvet outside and satin in, — just the cost of this coffin alone would set a poor man up in business ; but selfish and self-suffi- cient wealth never thinks of pinching poverty. I hope to Heaven the rich will find the camel's eye an infernally tight place, and Jordan a devilish road to travel !" Like the thievish Judas, who exclaimed, "Why was all this waste of precious ointment? why was its value not given to the poor?" was John McGilhooter; not that he cared for the poor, but because of his envious and avaricious heart. When a man has joyful or boastful news to communi- cate he goes to his club with it, no matter where that club may meet, perhaps at the corner of the street, under the "gas-light," or in apartments that cost thousands of dollars to furnish, and into which it will cost hundreds to gain admission, — no matter where the club meets but 164 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, there he takes his pleasant face. On the contrary, let sor- row overtake him ; let discontent gnaw at his heart ; let him have spleen to disgorge ; ah, yes! then he goes to his wife ! She, poor creature, must bear his burden of life and her own. " Well !" exclaimed John McGilhooter, throwing him- self into a chair, " wife, I don't know what the Almighty ever made this world for, anyhow; for my part, I am tired of life ; I hate this world and everybody in it." " Poor compliment to me," said the meek little wife, a sickly smile fainting on her lips. He continued: "I have come to the determination to make an effort to retrieve my fortune ; I am tired of a life of labor, and I mean to live by my wits." " So that we live better than we do now I shall be glad," said the wife, who did not dare to contradict him, though her heart trembled for fear that he contemplated the desertion of herself and children. " What do you in- tend doing ?" she asked, timidly. "I intend to enter one of the learned professions, where fellows make money easily, and are respected and flattered, and have poor devils take off their hats to them, and stand on one side to let them pass." John's wife looked dreadfully alarmed. " He is going deranged ; I thought it would come to this," was her pain- ful reverie. He continued : " I intend to be a clergyman, because it requires less ability and less education to be a clergyman than it does to enter either of the so-called learned pro- fessions ; and, besides, a clergyman has more influence in society than most other men : he has the ears of the women, and very often their hearts, too; of course, then, he is a great man with plenty of money." " He is getting too grand for me and the children," OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 165 thought the poor little wife, the meek little wife, the alarmed little wife, with moistened eyes; "ami we shall be east oil' like an old snakeskin when he comes out in his grand profession." She timidly inquired: "But, John, how do you expect to accomplish all this ? — you have neither friends nor money." 11 1 see where I can get a friend ; I intend to apply for advice to the Rev. Mr. Goodman ; he often visits our shop and gives us good talk about heaven and all that; he will be only too happy to think he has made a convert; and I mean to tell him I am under concern for my soul, though, to tell the truth, my body gives me more concern than my soul, for I don't know that I have one ; but I have a plan, at any rate, and I mean to come on the old fellow care- fully, and after awhile I'll tell him I feel a call to preach the gospel, though my call is to fill my pocket," — slapping his pocket, — " but the old fellow r will be so happy to think he has accomplished so much, and 'gathered one straw,' as he says, ' for the bundle of his Lord ;' and I shall be so happy to think I sha'n't have to work any more, and we'll both be so happy that we'll shake hands over it, and shed tears over it, and the old fellow will pray over it, and I shall laugh over it, — ha! ha! ha!" And John ran off laughing, the first time his wife had heard him laugh for years. " Did you hear the news ?" said one of the workmen at the cabinetmaker's shop, running in rosy with fun and glee. "No! what?" they all exclaimed. " Why, our Gill has become a Pint, — Jack is studying divinity! I always said that fellow was too lazy to work." " We'll all go and hear him preach," spoke the work- men in a breath. 166 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, " You will hear him read what some one else has written ; and now there is another added to the list of clerical loafers, — the Rev. John McGilhooter," said the first speaker. Our new reverend received a call, after having passed through the mill ; but somehow he did not suit the con- gregation that called him, and he was so entirely neglected that he came nearer to starvation than when he made coffins for a living. After various gyrations, we find him Treasurer to the Board of School Commissioners, and at the time of our introduction, straining with might and main after the General Superintendence of the School Sys- tem in Maryland to be a king over beggars! the highest ambition of this plenipotentiary of Heaven. CHAPTER XXXIII. MR. THOMAS ABBETTOR. " Which is the villain ? Let me see his eyes, That when I note another man like him I may avoid him." A man, for want of industry and a trade, reduced to the last extremity of poverty, and finding it impossible to sup- port existence longer without some change in his worldly condition, hit upon the following expedient: he caused his wife to go forth to the world and proclaim the death of her husband, to represent her condition as destitute in the ex- treme, and to solicit aid in any and every shape. The plan succeeded; the woman was furnished with a coffin, with a suit of clothes in which to dress the corpse, and with OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 167 money sufficient to defray the expenses of the funeral. "She could not bear," she said, "that stranger hands should touch the much-loved clay," so by herself she dressed the body in its burial-clothes, and laid it in the coffin. All day long the kindly neighbors dropped in for a few moments to view the corpse, to speak a word of comfort to the sorrowing widow, and to leave a mite of means. "When the lonely hours of darkness arrived, those in which ghosts walk the earth, the dead man decamped, and took his coffin with him. With this last he cooked his break- fast, and with the money thus obtained he purchased rum, and, renting a shanty in a dissolute part of the city, opened a penny grog-shop. A chalked board put forth in front of the house conveyed the information that " rags and old iron" were bought there. When the gains increased sufficiently to warrant an ex- tension of business, the rag merchant bought old clothes, broken pots, patched blankets, and eventually he bought anything that anybody had to sell, from a rusty nail to a man's soul. He found the business a profitable one ; in his hands the old rags turned to gold ; and how beautifully he turned the penny, the following incident will illustrate : Owners of property in Mr. Abbettor's neighborhood, loathing to come in contact with such squalid scenes, gave to that gentleman, who applied for the job, the collector- ship of rents. This kind of work was well suited to his business capacity; noue knew better than Mr. Abbettor how to squeeze moisture from a dry pocket. In one of the little huts of which he had charge there lived an aged woman, who had been many years a widow, lonely and childless, poor and friendless. The deceased husband of this woman had been a sailor, and worked on board a steamer ; he was a bright fellow, remarkable for his agility, 168 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, and a splendid swimmer. On one occasion, among the passengers on board this steamer, was a gentleman, who had with him his little daughter, a child some six ) T ears old, accompanied by its nurse. The father, of course, par- tially resigned the almost infant to the care of its attend- ant, who proved unworthy of the trust, for, unobserved, the child climbed the side of the boat, lost its balance, and in a moment more would have been food for fishes had not our sailor heard the plunge, and, plunging after, bore back the young scion to the arms of its panic-stricken nurse and pale-as-death father. On the spot the father gave tangible evidence of his deep feeling: he presented the noble sailor with a purse well filled, and that not being sufficient to empty his overflowing heart, he added his elegant, silver- mounted, rosewood dressing-case, and this dressing-case is now our subject. It was unique in form, and superbly fur- nished with everything pertaining to a gentleman's toilet. Sets of the best razors, brushes of every description, shav- ing-boxes of beautiful workmanship, silver-topped bottles of rare perfume, silver toothpicks, penknives, paper-knives, then, by a secret spring, there opened a secretary filled with every kind of material necessary for writing, — except the brains, of course. This elegant and useful article, that had cost hundreds of dollars, in the first flush of parental grat- itude was laid at the poor sailor's feet. Said the father, "J have nothing too good for him who rescued my little motherless Alice from a watery grave." The honest recipient is long since dead, the money long since spent, but the box — oh, that mute yet eloquent evidence of her husband's chivalry ! — the lone widow has kept as Bacredly as her heart's blood, and would as soon part with the one as the other. Carefully rolled in layers of cotton, and wrapped in folds of flannel, for fear the en- vious air would rob it of its luster, thai box was laid away OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 1G9 like a loved infant is laid to sleep. Occasionally it was shown to visitors, and the incident of the presentation told for the thousandth time, when, with a smile and a tear, the widow would exclaim, "Now, was not my husband a noble, manly fellow ?" The box was then rewrapped and kissed, and laid away. In periods of deep anxiety, — and those were many, — when despair, with his grim frown, would stare the lone woman almost into madness, when sleepless nights were added to starving days, she would get the box, lay it by her side, cover it with the bedclothes, and, with her arm thrown over it, at last soothed by the magic of its touch, sweetly sleep and dream of other days. The memorial of his valor brought back such memories of the loved and lost. When it was by her side, the widow seemed to feel his presence still, and thought, per- haps, he yet lingered near to bless. The winter had been an unusually severe one. The old woman had been sick and unable to work; everything she possessed had been sold to purchase life, — everything except the precious box. Mr. Abbettor, as we said, col- lected the rent of the wretched kennel occupied by the more wretched woman, and every clay found him at the door, eager to glean a part of whatever the hand of charity might supply to the invalid. If a kind one brought a pound of sugar or a paper of tea, Mr. Abbettor must have part to help pay the rent. He sold tea and sugar by the cent's worth, and these small arrivals suited the business of his establishment quite as well as any. One day, being on the lookout, he saw a lady with a basket on her arm enter the lodging of the Biek woman. lie knew that scraps would be there now, and he determined to have his share. The poor old creat- ure had learned to dread the turkey-buzzard that came to tear away the cold bones dispensed by the hand of charity, 15 HO DOINGS IN MARYLAND, and lately she had been in the habit of hiding from his rapacity what she could not immediately use. He sus- pected the fact, and determined to be even with the " old screw," as he called her, by entering the place before the visitor had departed. Ou this fatal occasion he put his resolve into practice. The ministering angel who had come with good cheer this time had been more than usually bountiful, and the heart of the poor sick woman overflowed with gratitude. She felt, as noble natures always do, a desire to make a return for kindness, and this had been an unusual display. But what had the des- titute woman to give ? Only a sight of the precious box. This, then, was produced, and the eloquent declaimer of her husband's fame was in full flood of glorious recital when — oh, horrors! whose shadow darkens the door? — Abbet- tor's! The sight of the box transfixed him to the spot, and from that moment its fate was sealed. Nothing now would pay the rent but that box; the rent must be paid, and that box must pay it. Day and night he haunted the hut, and his constant howl was box, box, box! " I have nothing upon God's earth left me now but that box," cried the poor woman, wringing her hands. "Oh, in his holy name, let me keep it till I die ! I shall not live long, and I did intend having that box put into my coffin and buried with me; but if you will let me keep it until I die, I promise it to you. I will give you a writing to prove it is yours at my death. But let, oh, let me keep it until then!" The monster's clutch was on it, and as well might she have asked a hungry tiger to release his tongue from lapping blood as to ask this brute in human form for pity. She had not thought to place the precious relic in the keeping of some one else for safety (and here was her mistake), because she could not sometimes sleep unless it was by her side; so .Mr. Abbettor, by violence, OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. \*[\ gained possession of the prize, and bore it away amid shrieks and wails of anguish that would have pierced any heart save that which had lain in a coffin. The next charitable visitor found the old woman dead. The loss of the box had broken her heart, had severed the last tie that bound her to existence. The poor, weather- beaten bark could bear no more ; it went down with this last surge of the billow, and the one lonely, frightened, fluttering spirit on board took wing to join its messmate on the far-off shore where Mr. Abbettor will come to trouble it no more. Upon obtaining possession of the elegant appendage of luxury, Mr. Abbettor sent it up-town to a fashionable variety store for exhibition and sale. A lady from a dis- tance was making purchases in the store, and catching sight of the case, exclaimed, " Oh, that dressing-case is the perfect image of one owned by my father, and which he presented to a sailor who saved my life. I shall pur- chase it for a present to my husband. What do you ask for it ?" she inquired of the shopman. " Two hundred dollars," was the reply. " La, how cheap I" exclaimed the lady, as she counted out the money and gave directions for the delivery of the case. And thus and so, beautifully did Mr. Abbettor turn the pennies; and with funds thus acquired he opened a policy office, and after awhile, by means of the "fool's fence," he was enabled to join a company of property speculators. He had ere this emerged from his den of rum and rags ; and now he purchased a fashionable residence in a fash- ionable part of the city, knocked at the door of fashion- able society, and gained admission. Yes, gained admission into society that would have considered his degraded his- tory as improbable as a fairy tale, or as fit entertainment only for an Arabian's night, so rapidly did Mr. Abbettor 172 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, make his tortuous way — not from the palace to the coffin, as is the usual course of nature, but from the coffin to the palace! When we next hear of the precious scamp.it will not be a dying old woman, but Mattie Douglas, whom the coffin-presser and palace possessor will have on the tenter-hooks of torture and imposition. CHAPTER XXXIY. LETTERS. " Full oft have letters caused the writers To curse the day they were inditers." There is no more infallible method by which to test the relative position of parties than by reading their letters. A letter may try to deceive, but, like the human eye, it speaks a language unknown to itself, and only deceives those who deceive themselves, by disregarding the decisions of their better judgment, and listening to the siren Hope. Read the letters of persons socially or officially connected, and you will readily discover who is the master and who the servant. Read the letters of pretending lovers, and you can soon distinguish the loving party from the indif- ferent one, no matter how much affectation of sentiment may be thrown in. Read the letters of professors of religion when on that subject, and the sincerity of the one or hypoc- risy of the other can be as easily distinguished as a blush from a frown. Such volumes do letters speak that experts of the present day say they can tell from a letter the age, sex, social habits, — in short, can delineate both soul and body of the writer. Beware of letters ! OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 173 Mr. Abbettor (Chairman of the Educational Committee) to Mr. Slytickle, Principal of the Eastern Education Fac- tory : " Sir, — In a few days, my friend, Mr. Jonathan Toad- eater, will be before the public as a candidate for the office of Superintendent of the Frog Ponds in and around the city. I wish you to give him all the assistance in your power, both directly and indirectly, and to that effect you will write articles for publication in the Daily Humbug, and such articles I wish forwarded to me for inspection previous to publication. 11 Yours, etc., "T. M. Abbettor." Mr. Slytickle to Mr. Abbettor : " My very dear Sir, — Your note of is received, and I comply most cheerfully with your commands in this as in everything else. Your wish is my law in all things, and I am happy to have the honor to be your most obedi- ent humble servant, " X. H. Slytickle." Mr. Abbettor to Mr. Slytickle : " Sir, — I return your article written for the Daily Hum- bug ; it is too short, by far, and not sufficiently eulogistic of Mr. Toadeater ; besides, it does not dwell with suffi- cient warmth upon the utility of the office which we are endeavoring to induce the people to establish. We wish you to put forth such a paper as shall alarm the public mind with terrible apprehensions of yellow fever, cholera, and typhoid, typhus, and high bilious, with all the horrid 15* If 4 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, diseases to which a city is subject. Give it out that the frog ponds are an awful nuisance, and, as they are every- body's business, per consequence they are nobody's busi- ness; hence the necessity that exists for an officer whose duty shall be their inspection, and the preservation of the city from malarious influence. I am most anxious that Mr. Toadeater should obtain a public position, because I count on his assistance in any manner I shall direct in my plans for the future. I have an eye to the mayoralty of the city, and of course shall want wire-pullers, pipe-layers, and all the machinery of a political campaign. When I obtain that important position I shall not forget those who assisted me up the ladder. Now think of that ! Write a long article and a strong article, and you may write in school hours if you can get one of the other teachers to take charge of your class without giving her an inkling of what you are about. " Yours, etc., " T. M. Abbettor." Mr. Sly tickle to Mr. Abbettor: " Very dear Sir, — I hope the accompanying article will please you this time. I have made it much longer than at the first, and clothed the ideas in language as strong as I can command. I wrote in school hours, as you kindly permitted. Miss Douglas took charge of my class in addi- tion to her own. She is a most capable teacher, but in my humble opinion a little too high-toned in sentiment and in- dependent in action for a subordinate. She speaks of a higher law than the caprice of committees, and says the teacher's conscience should be a law to himself. I don't like such sentiments: 1 am for doing what I am told and asking no questions; but to judge from the involuntary OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 175 expression of her eye, and the unguarded curl of her lip, I should think Miss Douglas has no respect for me at all. I am afraid she will prejudice the Board and the community against me. I appeal to you, honored sir, for protection. Now, Miss Ursa Minor, it must be admitted, is not so faithful in the discharge of her duty, but then she is very humble to superiors, and that, in my eyes, hides a multitude of sins. "Your most obedient humble servant, " N. II. Slytickle." CHAPTER XXX Y. AN EXAMINATION. "How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false As stairs of sand, wear upon their chins The beards of Hercules and flowing Mars, Who, inward searched, have livers white as milk!" That dreaded ordeal, an examination, is again at hand. Mr. Slytickle, in great perturbation, has summoned his coadjutors- to a cabinet council. He addresses the assem- bly: " You are aware that I have had a great deal of writing to do lately, but I must not tell you what it was about, because it is a secret of Mr. Abbettor's. Well, the point at issue, and a sharp point it is, is simply this, the exam- ination is at hand and my classes are unprepared. I could not write and teach both at the same time, and I could not bother you ladies with my classes more than once or twice, and the probable consequence will be their failure. 176 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, Now, then, the trouble is just here: how am I to account to the Board for this failure ? I dare not say that I spend my time in writing for members of the committee! My object in calling } t ou together, though I don't mean any- thing, is to ask what you would suggest under the cir- cumstances, for something must be done." Deep silence on the part of coadjutors. " Well, I see you have nothing to suggest, but /have. In the first place, however, I wish to introduce to you our distinguished committee, and you don't know them to be a set of unprincipled rascals — I do ; but of course I don't mean anything. Now, the only way to fight the devil is to meet him on his own ground. They trick and truckle, we must do the same ; that is, if I mean any- thing, I mean the committee. Now, when you have Satan to deal with, soap him, and while the suds are in his eyes do with him what you please. I could not live an hour without suds ! — that is, I mean live professionally. And I will tell you why. If the school succeeds, the com- mittee takes the credit ; if it fails, then mine be the curse. What heart, then, have teachers to work ? I answer, none I Therefore my maxim is, trick and truckle." Miss Ursa Minor smiled most approvingly, but poor, un- sophisticated Mattie opened her intensely luminous eyes with a stare that was frightful. 11 1 see, Miss Douglas," said Slytickle, "that you are very much astonished. Be so good as to give your opinion on the subject." 11 1 have given it on former occasions," she replied, "and it remains unchanged. The teacher's conscience must be his reward when he has no other. And. indeed, he should be able at all times to draw consolation from that source " Slytickle impatiently interrupted, " Miss Douglas, you OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. lft have boon raised and lived in such seclusion that yon are quite behind the aye. You must therefore excuse me for not adopting your obsolete ideas; besides, in this emer- gency something must be clone at once, and, as I said, fight the rascals with their own weapons, and therefore I propose that we supply our classes with their text-books, and when they hav# a difficult question turn our backs and let them help themselves." Mat tie was no diplomatist, and she spoke with warmth : 11 Two wrongs can never make a right. If the committee be as you say, unprincipled, that is no reason why we should be so too. For my part, I would shudder to teach to those young and pliant minds, placed under our charge for a better purpose, such a lesson of practical duplicity. Our pupils would be aw T are, of course, that we were con- niving with them to cheat the committee ; and what respect could they entertain for teachers who would thus voluntarily debase themselves to obtain a petty advantage ? Far better for teachers and pupils both to fail honestly than to succeed ignobly; for vain indeed must be our pre- cepts of morality when our example opposes with its liv- ing force the maxims of honor and integrity which, with well-becoming grace, we daily teach." Said Slytickle, with a sneer and sarcasm which he did not try to conceal, " You preach beautifully, Miss Doug- las, and if you are ever so situated as to be able to practice your own sermons you will be more fortunate than I have been in this world. Your sentiments might be carried out on Pitcairn Island, but never in young America! As I said before, we must meet the devil with his own argu- ment, and to trick and truckle is the only way to get along with school committees." " I have never either tricked or truckled," said Mattie, " and yet I am well satisfied with my success. And I am 178 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, willing to rest my claims to professional respectability upon an examination of my classes at any time." " But then you Lave not been kept writing for these dogs of committeemen as I bave, and consequently, as a matter of course, your classes are in a better condition than mine /" This last was said by Mr. Slytickle with the most impatient gesture, and witb»a flush of the brow and a gleam of his snaky eye that told the whole story. He feared a comparison of his classes with those of Mat- tie's, and hence the effort to draw her into complicity, and thus secure more than one ulterior object. A profound silence followed this outburst. Mattie was about to retire, when Slytickle called her back. " Miss Douglas, I wish to say a word to you in private." Mattie returned and entered the recess of a window. Slytickle advanced close, and commenced a conversation intended to be very confidential. Mattie perceived that his breath was heavily laden with the odor of spice and spirit. He spoke: II Now, Miss Douglas, I know you are an honorable person, and will not betray me, therefore I confide to you my private opinion of these humbug commissioners whom we have to conciliate. They are a set of contemptible beggars on horseback, and they ride rough-shod over peo- ple better than themselves, and they gloat on misery which their official position enables them to inflict upon poor teachers." II I think you are unnecessarily severe upon the com- missioners," said Mattie. "I have always found them to be my friends." "They will not be your friends or mine one moment longer than suits their purpose or whim ; and if they once take a prejudice against you, the highest ability, or the faithfulness of years, will not weigh one feather in the OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 179 balance of their resentment. Look at the treatment the former Principal of tins school received, and such may be mine or yours at any moment; so guard against a reverse, and fight the villains with their own weapons ; but mind, I don't mean anything." II What weapons ?" asked Mattie. " Do you see anything practiced by our rulers but fraud and trickery? but mind, I don't mean anything," he re- plied. II I can never practice fraud or trickery, and if those are the weapons you mean, I must decline the battle," she replied, with dignity. " But I think you unneces- sarily alarmed ; the case is not so desperate as you appre- hend." "Lord, girl, what a novice you are!" he exclaimed abruptly, insolently, while a look like a gleam from perdi- tion passed over his Cassius-cut face, shot through his catlike eyes, drew down his beaked nose, and bolted through Mattie's fluttering heart like a ball of ice. She retired to her home feeling uncomfortable, and yet knew not why; but a secret intuition oppressed her with the belief that Slytickle was manoeuvring for the accom- plishment of some object other than the one expressed. But what could it be ? "I have none to counsel me in this matter," she said to herself, " and am too unacquainted with the diplomacy of the world to adopt any. I can but pursue the one undeviating path of honor and rectitude, and take the consequence." Then meekly folding her hands upon her breast, she raised her eyes to heaven and ejaculated, " God, give me bread for my father, — that is all I ask." Miss Ursa Minor had drawn near while Slytickle and Mattie were conversing, cautiously approaching, aud hold- ing her hand behind her ear to catch every word, if pos- 180 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, sible. At the termination, she flew to her father, " Thank Heaven," she exclaimed, "there is a chance for me yet !*' " What do you mean?" inquired the meek man of the white cravat. " I mean that Miss Douglas has incurred the displeasure of Mr. Slytickle, and sooner or later she will feel the con- sequence. For as he cringes to those placed over him in position, so he expects those under him to be equally duc- tile." The Gordian knot, which could not be untied, was hap- pily cut, and Mr. Slytickle relieved for the time from his perplexity. Making a virtue of necessity, he informed Mr. Abbettor of the unprepared condition of his classes, and as that gentleman was not done with his wire-puller, he permitted the use of books at the examination, thus covering the failure of his instrument and keeping it safely for future use. Mattie was astonished at the changed bearing of her Principal. From a dogged and sullen de- spondency, he suddenly emerged into a gay and super- cilious jocularity. He stalked about the school, or sat astride the pupils' desks, with the air of a monarch. He countermanded every order given by the other teachers, and informed everything around, even the stove-pipe, against which he tattooed, that he was master there, as some would find to their cost (looking askance at Mattie), and others to their no small gratification (with a bow and a smile to Miss Ursa Minor), OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 181 CHAPTER XXXYI. MORE LETTERS. " Live loathed and long, You smiling, smooth, detested parasite; Courteous destroyers, affable wolves, meek bears, You fools of fortune, trencher friends, time flies, Cap-and-knee slaves, vapors, and minute-jacks, Of man and beast the infinite malady, Crusts you quite o'er." Mr. Abbettor to Mr. Slytickle : " Sir, — The result of your examination is highly satisfac- tory to the Board, which has complimented both you and myself upon the flourishing condition of our school ; and now, in return for this piece of kindness on my part, I want you to assist me in another matter. 11 Our friend Toadeater is off our hands, and now we will try our strength on the Rev. John McGilhooter. After we have helped him up the ladder, we shall expect him to help us ; be assured, we do not intend to work for nothing! Now keep this fact in view, because a man always works with more heart when he knows that he is working to benefit himself. Mr. McGilhooter cannot live by preaching, his heart is not in that work; but I think we can furnish him with something that will suit his ec- centric ability. Genius, you know, is always eccentric ; and the great genius of Mr. McGilhooter lies in his being able to direct what he could not do himself. In this re- spect he is powerful ; and this is just the ability requisite for a superintendent of the schools, so you see we have 16 182 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, found the man ; and now, if we can get the public to en- tertain the same opinion, all will be well. This same public, however, is a queer animal to deal with sometimes, and requires a good deal of training, coaxing, and manipu- lation ; and now, having arrived at the point, I want you to understand it square. We must begin with the teachers, and we want them to collect money among themselves, and present Mr. McGilhooter with a set of silver. The presentation must be made public, and this will be step number one. Get this far in the job and then I shall give you further instructions. u Yours, etc., "T. M. Abbettor." Mr. Slytickle to Mr. Abbettor : Honored Sir, — I have complied with your request : drawn up the subscription petition, and obtained the sig- natures of all the teachers whom I have seen, except that of Miss Douglas. She says she has not the funds to spare ; but that, you know, cannot be true. I do not be- lieve she has one particle of respect for either you or my- self, or McGilhooter either, although he is a minister of the gospel. This girl's eye says what her lips cautiously re- fuse ; but she cannot deceive me, I read her like a book ; and, to tell you the truth, dear friend, I hate her! I can- not like those who do not like you, and I am sure this girl does not; but you know I don't mean anything. " I am thankful to you for your favorable representation to the Board, and shall be most happy to evince my gratitude in any manner most acceptable to you and your friends. "Your most obedient and humble servant, "N. H. Slytickle." OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 183 Slytickle to ^liss Douglas: " Dear Miss Douglas, — I regret your absence from school for the past few clays. The committee has been here, and, of course, that old granny Abbettor ; he is a perfect old nose-poke, and, without meaning anything, I took him into your room. He opened your desk and found some scraps of paper, upon which he said you were a sloven, and not fit to train children into habits of neatness. Should anything unpleasant arise from this incident, pray don't blame me. I hope your health is improved. Like the great Pope, I write on the back of a letter. " Your devoted friend, "N. H. S." Mr. Abbettor to Mr. Slytickle : " Sir, — I'll give that Douglas girl thunder one of these days ; but business first and pleasure afterwards, is my motto ; so now for the next step in our plan of operations. You must be present next Sunday at the West End Chapel to hear a sermon that McGil hooter will preach there and then. I am helping to write the sermon, so you may be sure it will be a tip-top affair ! and this we want you to say as soon as you have heard it, and to request the ves- try to have it published in pamphlet form. Now, this result must be accomplished, so no trifling in the matter 1 Ferhaps I may explain the motive to you at another time ; but for the present, ask no questions. In addition to the above, we want you to get up a petition requesting McGil- hooter not to retire from the service of the Board ; and this petition must be sent to all the schools for the signatures of the teachers, commencing, of course, at the Factories for the sake of example. And here I may as well tell 184 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, you that the object of this petition is to influence the bishop of the diocese to which our reverend belongs. This superintendent of sacred livers says Mac. is becom- ing morally bilious, he is gathering the carbon of the world too rapidly for his spiritual health ; or, in clergy words, he is grasping too vigorously after the filth}- lucre contained in the flesh-pots of Egypt, and he must return to his ministerial duties and be content with heavenly manna, — a poor exchange, I should say. I would rather have the contents of the pots. However, to quiet B. for the present, we wish to get up a petition from the teach- ers of all our schools, requesting Mac. to remain where he is. In the mean time, who can tell what may turn up ? — Mac. may astonish both B. and the world. The set of silver was beautiful, and the presentation very fine, — that part is at least secure ; and never fear for the future : our day will come, we do not work for nothing! Keep that fact in view, and don't weary in well-doing. When I am mayor of the city, you may claim any office of honor and profit that is at my disposal. "Yours, etc., T. M. Abbettoii." Slytickle to Abbettor : "Honored Sir, — Miss Douglas declines signing the petition which requests Mr. McGilhooter to remain in the employ of the Board. She says if he is called to the min- istry, he should not abandon the holy work and serve tables; also that the bishop is right in urging his return to ministerial duties. I am beginning to entertain a hor- rible suspicion about Miss Don-las ; 1 really think she is one of the strong-minded women! The Lord protect me from a strong-minded woman! You know it is said a OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 185 woman's love is dangerous, but her hate is fatal ; and though I do not think there is much danger of this one loving me, yet I dread her hate ; so I must entreat you to shield me from the consequence of this candid communica- tion. I shall, of course, be at church on next Sabbath, as you direct, and shall eulogize Mr. McGilhooter's sermon, whatever it may be, and urge the publication of the same upon the vestry. I congratulate his reverence upon hav- ing such valuable aid as you can afford him in the construc- tion of his sermon ! It cannot fail to be a superior literary effort ! If there is anything else, sir, that you wish me to do, be so kind as to inform me. I have no greater happi- ness in life than to obey your commands. I have the honor to be, sir, "Your most obedient, humble servant, "N. H. Slytickle." "The poor, weak-minded fool!" exclaimed Abbettor, after glancing at the above, " but with such tools we must work our way. Heigh-ho !" 16 : 186 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, CHAPTER XX XT II. SECRET CONCLAVE — STAR-CHAMBER COMMITTEE. " Thy currish spirit Governed a wolf who hang'd for human slaughter; Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet, And whilst thou lay'st .... Infused itself in thee; for thy desires Are wolfish, bloody, starved, and ravenous." Mr. Abbettor directed Mr. Sly tickle to say no more to Miss Douglas on the subject of signing" papers. lie was coming to the school soon, he said, and he would make her sign, or he would sign her dismissal. He did not reflect, perhaps he did not know, that in the deep- est channel of that girl's veins there flowed a current dripped from a race who, with their blood, had registered their names upon the pages of history rather than sub- scribe to that which their principles disavowed. " Follow to his burrow beneath the earth the stern dissenter ; see him worn with disease, clung with famine, and when you sing of faith and fortitude, forget not the meek, the bold, the patient, the gallant patriot of Scotland." As soon as Mr. Abbettor had got McGilhooter's sermon written and preached, and had had time to take a long breath, he made his promised visit to the school. Ap- proaching Mattie, he remarked, with a good deal of stern- ness in his manner, — " Miss Douglas, it is my wish that you sign this paper. We shall excuse your money, of which you seem to be very careful," — this with a sneer. " The testimonial to a OR MATILDA DOUGLAS. 187 most worthy gentleman was obtained without your aid, and as your signature to this paper will cost you nothing," — with another sneer, — "I request that you will attach it." Said Mattie, politely, but with a firmness unpardonable in a woman, " Mr. Abbettor, I have already declined to sign that paper, for reasons which, to my mind, are per- fectly satisfactory and sufficient. If you please, then, I would rather not be importuned any more on the subject. Indeed, my signature is of so little importance that I am surprised at the request being so often repeated." 11 Your position gives importance to your acts," he re- plied, sharply, "and we wish the example of teachers in the higher grade of schools to influence those of the lower. Besides, as a principle of obedience between officials and subordinates," — very haughtily, — " we insist upon our views being carried out." " So far as school duties are concerned, sir, I admit that you are perfectly right in exacting obedience ; but this is a matter foreign to the management of classes, or, indeed, to any of the known responsibilities of teachers, conse- quently a subject on which private opinion may be in- dulged." 11 1, for one, don't indulge opinions in a woman !" he ex- claimed, in a voice hissing hot, " and you astonish me so much that I conclude we never know a woman until we find her out." Rolling his " baueful eyes" around in quest of something with which to find fault, he seethed out be- tween his lips quivering with rage, "How is this? — your class leave the room badly, they go one before the other I" "They cannot go abreast, sir," said Mattie, "the door will not admit them." "But one elbowed her neighbor aside and passed on 188 DOINGS IN MARYLAND, before," said the petticoat tyrant, evidently delighted at finding a subject for complaint be it ever so small. 11 That elbowiug a neighbor aside and passing on before seems to be the way of the world," said Mattie, smiling; " but if you will designate the offender in this instance, I will reprimand her for her breach of etiquette." Mr. Abbettor did not deign a reply, but hastening to Slytickle, exclaimed, " I've got her now, and you'll hear thunder soon!" In violent bustle he entered the Com- missioners' office and directed the clerk to issue orders for the immediate attendance of the committee in extra ses- sion. Business of the utmost importance, he^ said, de- manded the attention of every member. Each came run- ning. Box started without his hat, but felt the cold upon his bald head so severely that he put back for repairs. Dr. Huntemup was sitting in his office writing letters. Two of those were of such peculiar import that we cannot refrain from mentioning them. One, in which he gave himself a feigned name, was to a lady, and in it he threatened "to put in circulation a bad report about her if she did not send him five dollars." The other was also to a lady, and in it he informed her that he was in attend- ance upon her rival, and if she would send him the dose, and a certain sum of money, she would find him her Adgandestrius of the Catti ! To this letter, also, the Jt<