Elder Conklin by Frank Harris (rom com books to read TXT) š
- Author: Frank Harris
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Alone in her room, she justified to herself what she had done. She thought with pleasure of Professor Robertsā approaching defeat and punishment. āHe deserves it, and more! He knows why I left the University; drew myself away from him for ever. What does he care for my suffering? He canāt leave me in peace. I wasnāt good enough for him, and my father isnāt honest enough. Oh, that I were a man! Iād teach him that it was dangerous to insult the wretched.
āHow I was mistaken in him! He has no delicacy, no true manliness of character. Iām glad he has thrown down the challenge. Father may not be well-educated nor refined, but heās strong. Professor Roberts shall find out what it means to attack us. I hope heāll be turned out of the University; I hope he will. Let me think. I have a copy of that lecture of his; perhaps thereās something in it worse than I remembered. At any rate, the report will be proof.ā
She searched hurriedly, and soon found the newspaper account she wanted. Glancing down the column with feverish eagerness, she burst out: āHere it is; this will do. I knew there was something more.ā
āā¦ Thus the great ones contribute, each his part, towards the humanization of man. Christ and Buddha are our teachers, but so also, and in no lower degree, are Plato, Dante, Goethe, and Shakespeareā¦.
āBut strange to say, the Divina Commedia seems to us moderns more remote than the speculations of Plato. For the modern world is founded upon science, and may be said to begin with the experimental philosophy of Bacon. The thoughts of Plato, the āfair humanitiesā of Greek religion, are nearer to the scientific spirit than the untutored imaginings of Christ. The world to-day seeks its rule of life in exact knowledge of man and his surroundings; its teachers, high-priests in the temple of Truth, are the Darwins, the Bunsens, the Pasteurs. In the place of God we see Law, and the old concept of rewards and punishments has been restated as āthe survival of the fittest.ā If, on the other hand, you need emotions, and the inspiration of concrete teaching, you must go to Balzac, to Turgenief, and to Ibsenā¦.ā
āI think thatāll do,ā said the girl half-aloud as she marked the above passages, and then sent the paper by a servant to her fatherās office. āThe worst of it is, heāll find another place easily; but, at any rate, heāll have to leave this Stateā¦. How well I remember that lecture. I thought no one had ever talked like that before. But the people disliked it, and even those who stayed to the end said they wouldnāt have come had they known that a professor could speak against Christianity. How mad they made me then! I wouldnāt listen to them, and nowānow heās with May Hutchings, perhaps laughing at me with her. Or, if heās not so base as that, heās accusing my father of dishonesty, and I mean to defend him. But if, ah, ifāā and the girl rose to her feet suddenly, with paling face.
*
The house of Lawyer Hutchings was commodious and comfortable. It was only two storeys high, and its breadth made it appear squat; it was solidly built of rough, brown stone, and a large wooden verandah gave shade and a lounging-place in front. It stood in its own grounds on the outskirts of the town, not far from Mr. Gulmoreās, but it lacked the towers and greenhouse, the brick stables, and black iron gates, which made Mr. Gulmoreās residence an object of public admiration. It had, indeed, a careless, homelike air, as of a building that disdains show, standing sturdily upon a consciousness of utility and worth. The study of the master lay at the back. It was a room of medium size, with two French windows, which gave upon an orchard of peach and apple-trees where lush grass hid the fallen fruit. The furniture was plain and serviceable. A few prints on the wall and a wainscoting of books showed the ownerās tastes.
In this room one morning Lawyer Hutchings and Professor Roberts sat talking. The lawyer was sparely built and tall, of sympathetic appearance. The features of the face were refined and fairly regular, the blue eyes pleasing, the high forehead intelligent-looking. Yetā whether it was the querulous horizontal lines above the brows, or the frequent, graceful gestures of the handsāMr. Hutchings left on one an impression of weakness, and, somehow or other, his precise way of speaking suggested intellectual narrowness. It was understood, however, that he had passed through Harvard with honours, and had done well in the law-course. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that when he went West, he went with the idea that that was the shortest way to Washington. Yet he had had but a moderate degree of success; he was too thoroughly grounded in his work not to get a good practice, but he was not the first in his profession. He had been outdone by men who fought their cases, and his popularity was due to affable manners, and not to admiration of his power or talents. His obvious good nature had got with years a tinge of discontent; life had been to him a series of disappointments.
One glance at Professor Roberts showed him to be a different sort of a man, though perhaps harder to read. Square shoulders and attenuated figureāa mixture of energy and nervous force without muscular strength; a tyrannous forehead overshadowing lambent hazel eyes; a cordial frankness of manner with a thinkerās tricks of gesture, his nervous fingers emphasizing his words.
Their talk was of an article assailing the Professor that had appeared that morning in āThe Republican Herald.ā
āI donāt like it,ā Mr. Hutchings was saying. āItās inspired by Gulmore, and he always means what he saysāand something more.ā
āExcept the suggestion that my father had certain good, or rather bad, reasons for leaving Kentucky, it seems to me merely spiteful. Itās very vilely written.ā
āHe only begins with your father. Then he wonders what the real motives are which induce you to change your political creed. But the affectation of fairness is the danger signal. One canāt imagine Gulmore hesitating to assert what he has heard, that you have no religious principles. Coming from him, that means a declaration of war; heāll attack you without scrupleāpersistently. Itās well known that he cares nothing for religionāeven his wifeās a Unitarian. What heās aiming at, I donāt know, but heās sure to do you harm. He has done me harm, and yet he never gave me such a warning. He only went for me when I ran for office. As soon as the elections were over, he left me in peace. Heās eminently practical, and rather good-natured. Thereās no small vicious malice or hate in him; but heās overbearing and loves a fight. Is it worth your while to make an enemy of him? Weāre sure to be beaten.ā
āOf course it isnāt worth my while in that sense, but itās my duty, I think, as you think it yours. Remark, too, that Iāve never attacked Mr. Gulmoreānever even mentioned him. Iāve criticised the system, and avoided personalities.ā
āHe wonāt take it in that way. He is the system; when you criticise it, you criticise him. Every one will so understand it. He makes all the appointments, from mayor down to the boy who sweeps out an office; every contract is given to him or his appointees; thatās how he has made his fortune. Why, he beat me the second time I ran for District Court Judge, by getting an Irishman, the Chairman of my Committee, to desert me at the last moment. He afterwards got Patrick Byrne elected a Justice of the Peace, a man who knows no law and can scarcely sign his own name.ā
āHow disgraceful! And you would have me sit down quietly under the despotism of Mr. Gulmore? And such a despotism! It cost the city half a million dollars to pave the streets, and I can prove that the work could have been done as well for half the sum. Our democratic system of government is the worst in the world, if a tenth part of what I hear is true; and before I admit that, Iāll see whether its abuses are corrigible. But why do you say weāre sure to be beaten? I thought you saidāā
āYes,ā Mr. Hutchings interrupted, āI said that this railway extension gives us a chance. All the workmen are Irishmen, Democrats to a man, whoāll vote and vote straight, and that has been our weak point. You canāt get one-half the better classes to go to the polls. The negroes all vote, too, and vote Republicanāthat has been Gulmoreās strength. Now Iāve got the Irishmen against his negroes I may win. But what I feel is that even if I do get to be Mayor, youāll suffer for it more than I shall gain by your help. Do you see? And, now that Iām employed by the Union Pacific I donāt care much for city politics. Iād almost prefer to give up the candidature. Mayāll suffer, too. I think you ought to consider the matter before going any further.ā
āThis is not the time for consideration. Like you I am trying to put an end to a corrupt tyranny. I work and shall vote against a venal and degrading system. May and I will bear what we must. She wouldnāt have me run away from such adversaries. Fancy being governed by the most ignorant, led on by the most dishonest! Itās incomprehensible to me
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