Elder Conklin by Frank Harris (rom com books to read TXT) š
- Author: Frank Harris
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āI think itāll become comprehensible to you before this electionās over. Iāve done my best for years to alter it, and so far Iāve not been very successful. You donāt seem to understand that where parties are almost equal in strength, a man whoāll spend money is sure to win. It has paid Gulmore to organize the Republican party in this city; he has made it pay him and all those who hold office by and through him. āTo the victors, the spoils.ā Those who have done the spoiling are able to pay more than the spoiledāthatās all.ā
āYes, but in this case the spoilers are a handful, while the spoiled are the vast majority. Why should it be impossible to convince the majority that theyāre being robbed?ā
āBecause ideas canāt get into the heads of negroes, nor yet into the heads of illiterate Irishmen. Youāll find, too, that five Americans out of every ten take no interest in ordinary politics, and the five who do are of the lowest classāa Boss is their natural master. Our party politics, my friend, resembles a game of faroāthe card that happens to be in the box against the same card outsideāand the banker holding the box usually manages to win. Let me once get power and Gulmoreāll find his labour unremunerative. If it hadnāt been for him Iād have been in Congress long ago. But now Iāll have to leave you. Talk it over with May andāyou see that Gulmore challenges you to prove the corruption or else withdraw the imputation? What do you mean to do?ā
āIāll prove it, of course. Long before I spoke I had gone into that paving contract; it was clearly a fraud.ā
āWell, Iād think, if I were you, before I acted, though youāre a great help to me; your last speech was very powerful.ā
āUnfortunately Iām no speaker, but Iāll do as well as I can, and you may rely on me to go on to the end. The rich at least must be forced to refrain from robbing the poorā¦. That malicious sneer at my father hurts me. It can only mean that he owed money in Kentucky. He was always careless in money matters, too careless, but heās very generous at heart. I owe him everything. Iāll find out about it at once, and if it is as I fear, the debt shall be paid. Thatāll be one good result of Mr. Gulmoreās malice. As for me, let him do his worst. At any rate Iām forewarned.ā
āA poor satisfaction in caseābut hereās May, and I must go. Iāve stayed too long already. You should look through our ticket; itās strong, the men are all good, I thinkāanyway, theyāre the best we can get. Teach him to be careful, May; heās too bold.ā
āI will, father,ā replied a clear, girlish voice; āitās mother who spoils him,ā and then, as the door shut, she moved to her lover, and holding out both her hands, with a little air of dignity, added, āHe tries to spoil me. But, dear, whatās the matter? You seem annoyed.ā
āItās nothing. An article in that paper strikes at my father, and hurts me; but it can be made right, and to look at you is a cure for pain.ā
āLet me read itāno, please! I want to help you, and how can I do that if I donāt know what pains you?ā The girl took the āHeraldā and sat down to read it.
May Hutchings was more than good-looking, were it only by reason of a complexion such as is seldom given even to blondes. The inside of a sea-shell has the same lustre and delicacy, but it does not pale and flush as did Mayās cheeks in quick response to her emotions. Waves of maize-coloured hair with a sheen of its own went with the fairness of the skin, and the pretty features were redeemed from a suspicion of insipidity by large violet eyes. She was of good height and lissom, with small feet and hands, but the outlines of her figure were Southern in grace and fulness.
After reading the article, she put down the paper without saying a word.
āWhy, May, you seem to take it as seriously as your father does. Itās nothing so very terrible, is it?ā
āWhat did father say?ā
āThat it was inspired by Gulmore, and that he was a dangerous man; but I donāt see much in it. If my father owed money in Kentucky it shall be repaid, and there the matter ends.ā
āāTisnāt that Iām troubling about; itās that lecture of yours. Oh, it was wonderful! but I sat trembling all the time. You donāt know the people. If they had understood it better, theyād have made a big fuss about it. Iām frightened now.ā
āBut what fuss can they make? Iāve surely a right to my own opinions, and I didnāt criticise any creed offensively.ā
āThatās itāthatās what saved you. Oh, I wish youād see it as I do! You spoke so enthusiastically about Jesus, that you confused them. A lot of them thought, and think still, that youāre a Christian. But if itās brought up again and made clear to themāWonāt you understand? If itās made quite clear that Jesus to you was only a man, and not superior even to all other men, and that you believe Christianity has served its purpose, and is now doing harm rather than good in the world, why, theyād not want to have you in the University. Donāt you know that?ā
āPerhaps youāre right,ā returned the Professor thoughtfully. āYou see I wasnāt brought up in any creed, and Iāve lived in so completely different an atmosphere for years past, that itās hard to understand such intolerant bigotry. I remember enough, though, to see that you are right. But, after all, what does it matter? I canāt play hypocrite because theyāre blind fanatics.ā
āNo, but you neednāt have gone quite so farābeen quite so frank; and even now you might easilyāā She stopped, catching a look of surprise in her loverās face, and sought confusedly to blot out the effect of her last words. āI meanābut of course you know best. I want you to keep your place; you love the work, and no one could do it so well as you. No one, andāā
āIt doesnāt matter, May. Iām sure you were thinking of what would be best for both of us, but Iāve nothing to alter or extenuate. They must do as they think fit, these Christians, if they have the power. After all, it can make no difference to us; I can always get work enough to keep us, even if it isnāt such congenial work. But do you think Gulmoreās at the bottom of it? Has he so much influence?ā
āYes, I think so,ā and the girl nodded her head, but she did not give the reasons for her opinion. She knew that Ida Gulmore had been in love with him, so she shrank instinctively from mentioning her name, partly because it might make him pity her, and partly because the love of another woman for him seemed to diminish her pride of exclusive possession. She therefore kept silence while seeking for a way to warn her lover without revealing the truth, which might set him thinking of Ida Gulmore and her fascinating because unrequited passion. At length she said:
āMr. Gulmore has injured father. He knows him: youād better take his opinion.ā
āYour father advises me to have nothing more to do with the election.ā He didnāt say it to try her; he trusted her completely. The girlās answer was emphatic:
āOh, thatās what you should do; Iām frightened for you. Why need you make enemies? The election isnāt worth that, indeed it isnāt. If father wants to run for Mayor, let him; he knows what heās about. But you, you should do great things, write a great book; and make every one as proud of you as I am.ā Her face flushed with enthusiasm. She felt relieved, too; somehow she had got into the spirit of her part once more. But her lover took the hot face and eager speech as signs of affection, and he drew her to him while his face lit up with joy.
āYou darling, darling! You overrate me, dear, but that does me good: makes me work harder. What a pity it is, May, that one canāt add a cubit to his stature. Iād be a giant thenā¦. But never fear; itāll be all right. You wouldnāt wish me, Iām sure, to run away from a conflict I have provoked; but now I must see my father about those debts, and then weāll have a drive, or perhaps youād go with me to him. You could wait in the buggy for me. You know I have to speak again this evening.ā
The girl consented at once, but she was not satisfied with the decision her lover had come to. āItās too plain,ā she thought in her clear, common-sense way, āthat heās getting into a āfussā when he might just as well, or better, keep out of it.ā
May was eminently practical, and not at all as emotional as one might have inferred from the sensitive, quick-changing colour that at one moment flushed her cheeks and at another ebbed, leaving her pallid, as with passion. Not that she was hardhearted or selfish. Far from it. But her surroundings had moulded her as they do women. Her mother had been one of the belles of Baltimore, a Southerner, too, by temperament. May had a brother and a sister older than herself (both were now married), and a younger brother who had taken care that she should not be spoiled for want of direct personal criticism. It was this younger brother, Joe, who first called her āTowhead,ā and even now he often made disparaging remarks about āgirls who didnāt weigh 130āāin Joeās eyes, a Venus of Rubens would have seemed perfect. May was not vain of her looks; indeed, she had only come to take pleasure in them of recent years. As a young girl, comparing herself with her mother, she feared that she would always be āquite homely.ā Her glass and the attentions of men had gradually shown her the pleasant truth. She did not, however, even now, overrate her beauty greatly. But her character had been modified to advantage in those schoolgirl days, when, with bitter tears, she admitted to herself that she was not pretty. Her teacherās praise of her quickness and memory had taught her to set her pride on learning. And indeed she had been an intelligent child, gifted with a sponge-like faculty of assimilating all kinds of knowledgeāthe result, perhaps, of generations of educated forbears. The admiration paid to her looks did not cause her to relax her intellectual efforts. But when at the University she found herself outgrowing the ordinary standards of opinion, conceit at first took possession of her. It seemed to her manifest that she had always underrated herself. She was astonished by her own excessive modesty, and keenly interested in it. She had thought herself ugly and she was beautiful, and now it was evident that she was a genius as well. With soul mightily uplifted by dreams of all she would do and the high part she would play in life, always nobly serious, yet with condescension of exquisite charming kindliness, taking herself gravely for a perfect product of the race and time, she proceeded to write the book which should discover to mankind all her qualitiesāthe delicacy, nobility, and sweetness of an ideal nature.
During this period she even tried to treat Joe with sweet courtesy, but Joe told her not to make herself āmore of a doggoned foolā than she was. And soon the dream began to lose its brightness.
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