Speaker 1: This is section fifty of The Gilded Age. This LibriVox
Speaker 1: according is in the public domain The Gilded Age, A
Speaker 1: Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner,
Speaker 1: Chapter fifty. It is impossible for the historian, with even
Speaker 1: the best intentions, to control events, or compel the persons
Speaker 1: of his narrative, to act wisely, or to be successful.
Speaker 1: It is easy to see how things might have been
Speaker 1: better managed. A very little change here and there would
Speaker 1: have made a very different history of this one now
Speaker 1: in hand. If Philip had adopted some regular profession, even
Speaker 1: some trade, he might now be a prosperous editor, or
Speaker 1: a conscientious plumber, or an honest lawyer, and have borrowed
Speaker 1: money at the savings bank and built a cottage, and
Speaker 1: be now furnishing it for the occupancy of ruth In himself.
Speaker 1: Instead of this, with only a smattering of civil engineering,
Speaker 1: he is at his mother's house, fretting and fuming over
Speaker 1: his ill luck and the hardness and dishonesty of men,
Speaker 1: and thinking of nothing but how to get the coal
Speaker 1: out of the Ilium Hills. If Senator Dilworthy had not
Speaker 1: made that visit to Hawkeye, the Hawkins family and Colonel
Speaker 1: Sellers would not now be dancing attendance upon Congress and
Speaker 1: endeavoring to attempt that immaculate body into one of those
Speaker 1: appropriations for the benefit of its members which the members
Speaker 1: find it so difficult to explain to their constituents. And
Speaker 1: Laura would not be lying in the tombs, awaiting her
Speaker 1: trial for murder and doing her best, by the help
Speaker 1: of able counsel, to corrupt the pure fountain of criminal
Speaker 1: procedure in New York. If Henry Brierly had been blown
Speaker 1: up on the first Mississippi steamboat he set foot on,
Speaker 1: as the chances were that he would be, he and
Speaker 1: Colonel Sellers never would have gone into the Columbus navigation scheme,
Speaker 1: and probably never into the East Tennessee Land scheme. And
Speaker 1: he would not now be detained in New York from
Speaker 1: very important business operations on the Pacific Coast for the
Speaker 1: sole purpose of giving evidence to convict of murder the
Speaker 1: only woman he ever loved half as much as he
Speaker 1: loves himself. If mister Bolton had said the little word
Speaker 1: no to mister Bigler, Alice Montague might now be spending
Speaker 1: the winter in Philadelphia, and Philip also waiting to resume
Speaker 1: his mining operations in the spring, and Ruth would not
Speaker 1: be an assistant in a Philadelphia hospital, taxing her strength
Speaker 1: with arduous routine duties day by day in order to
Speaker 1: lighten a little of the burdens that weigh upon her
Speaker 1: unfortunate family. It is altogether a bad business. An honest
Speaker 1: historian who had progressed thus far and traced everything to
Speaker 1: such a condition of disaster and suspension, might well be
Speaker 1: justified in ending his narrative and writing after this deluge.
Speaker 1: His only consolation would be in the reflection that he
Speaker 1: was not responsible for either characters or events. And the
Speaker 1: most annoying thought is that a little mine, judiciously applied,
Speaker 1: would relieve the burdens and anxieties of most of these people.
Speaker 1: But affairs seemed to be so arranged that money is
Speaker 1: most difficult to get when people need it most. A
Speaker 1: little of what mister Bolton has weakly given to unworthy
Speaker 1: people would now establish his family in a sort of comfort,
Speaker 1: and relieve Ruth of the excessive toil for which she
Speaker 1: inherited no adequate physical vigor. A little money would make
Speaker 1: a prince of colonel Sellers, and a little more would
Speaker 1: calm the anxiety of Washington Hawkins about Laura, For however
Speaker 1: the trial ended, he could feel sure of extricating her
Speaker 1: in the end. And if Philip had a little money,
Speaker 1: he could unlock the stone door in the mountain. Whence
Speaker 1: would issue a stream of shining riches. It needs a
Speaker 1: golden wand to strike that rock. If the Knobs University
Speaker 1: Bill could only go through, what a change would be
Speaker 1: wrought in the condition of most of the persons in
Speaker 1: this history. Even Philip himself would feel the good effects
Speaker 1: of it, for Harry would have something, and Colonel Sellers
Speaker 1: would have something and have not. Both these cautious people
Speaker 1: expressed a determination to take an interest in the Ilium
Speaker 1: mine when they catch their larks. Philip could not resist
Speaker 1: the inclination to pay a visit to fall Kill. He
Speaker 1: had not been at the Montague since the time he
Speaker 1: saw Ruth there, and he wanted to consult the squire
Speaker 1: about an occupation. He was determined now to waste no
Speaker 1: more time in waiting on providence, but to go to
Speaker 1: work at something. If it were nothing better than teaching
Speaker 1: in the fall Kill Seminary or digging clams on him beach,
Speaker 1: perhaps he could read law in Squire Montague's office, while
Speaker 1: earning his bread as a teacher in the seminary. It
Speaker 1: was not altogether Philip's fault, let us own that he
Speaker 1: was in this position. There are many young men like
Speaker 1: him in American society of his age, opportunities, education, and abilities,
Speaker 1: who have really been educated for nothing, and have let
Speaker 1: themselves drift in the hope that they will fine somehow
Speaker 1: and by some sudden turn of luck, the golden road
Speaker 1: to fortune. He was not idle or lazy. He had
Speaker 1: energy and a disposition to carve his own way. But
Speaker 1: he was born into a time when all young men
Speaker 1: of his age caught the fever of speculation and expected
Speaker 1: to get on in the world by the omission of
Speaker 1: some of the regular processes which have been appointed from
Speaker 1: of old and examples, were not wanting to encourage him.
Speaker 1: He saw people all around him, poor yesterday, rich to day,
Speaker 1: who had come into sudden opulence by some means which
Speaker 1: they could not have classified among any of the regular
Speaker 1: occupations of life. A war would give such a fellow
Speaker 1: a career and very likely fame. He might have been
Speaker 1: a railroad man, or a politician, or a land speculator,
Speaker 1: or one of those mysterious people who travel free on
Speaker 1: all railroads and steamboats, and are continually crossing and recrossing
Speaker 1: the Atlantic, driven day and night about nobody knows what,
Speaker 1: and make a great deal of money by so doing. Probably,
Speaker 1: at last, he sometimes thought, with a whimsical smile, he
Speaker 1: should end by being an insurance agent, at asking people
Speaker 1: to insure their lives for his benefit. Possibly Philip did
Speaker 1: not think how much the attractions of falk Kill were
Speaker 1: increased by the presence of Alice there. He had known
Speaker 1: her so long she had somehow grown into his life
Speaker 1: by habit that he would expect the pleasure of her
Speaker 1: society without thinking much about it. Latterly, he never thought
Speaker 1: of her without thinking of Ruth, And if he gave
Speaker 1: the subject any attention, it was probably in an undefined
Speaker 1: consciousness that he had her sympathy in his love, and
Speaker 1: that she was always willing to hear him talk about it.
Speaker 1: If he ever wondered that Alice herself was not in
Speaker 1: love and never spoke of the possibility of her own marriage,
Speaker 1: it was a transiant thought, for love did not seem
Speaker 1: necessary exactly to one so calm and evenly balanced, and
Speaker 1: with so many resources in herself. Whatever her thoughts may
Speaker 1: have been, they were unknown to Philip, as they are
Speaker 1: to these historians. If she was seeming to be what
Speaker 1: she was not, and carrying a burden heavier than any
Speaker 1: one else carried because she had to bear it alone,
Speaker 1: she was only doing what thousands of women do with
Speaker 1: a self renunciation and heroism of which men impatient and
Speaker 1: complaining have no conception. Have not these big babies with
Speaker 1: beards filled all literature with their outcries, their griefs, and
Speaker 1: their lamentations. It is always the gentle sex which is
Speaker 1: hard and cruel, and fickle and implacable. Do you think
Speaker 1: you would be contented to live in fall Kill and
Speaker 1: attend the county court, asked Alice, when Philip had opened
Speaker 1: the budget of his new program. Perhaps not always, said Philip.
Speaker 1: I might go and practice in Boston, maybe, or go
Speaker 1: to Chicago, or you might get elected to Congress. Philip
Speaker 1: looked at Alice to see if she was in earnest
Speaker 1: and not chafing him. Her face was quite sober. Alice
Speaker 1: was one of those patriotic women in the rural districts
Speaker 1: who think men are still selected for Congress on account
Speaker 1: of qualifications. For the office, No, said Philip. The chances
Speaker 1: are that a man cannot get into Congress now without
Speaker 1: resorting to arts and means that should render him unfit
Speaker 1: to go there. Of course there are exceptions. But do
Speaker 1: you know that I could not go into politics if
Speaker 1: I were a lawyer without losing standing somewhat in my profession,
Speaker 1: and without raising at least a suspicion of my intentions
Speaker 1: and unselfishness. Why it is telegraphed all over the country
Speaker 1: and commented on as something wonderful if a congressman votes
Speaker 1: honestly and unselfishly and refuses to take advantage of his
Speaker 1: position to steal from the government, But insisted Alice, I
Speaker 1: should think it a noble ambition to go to Congress
Speaker 1: if it is so bad, and help reform it. I
Speaker 1: don't believe it as corrupt as the English Parliament used
Speaker 1: to be. If there is any truth in the novels,
Speaker 1: and I suppose that is reformed, I'm sure I don't
Speaker 1: know where the reform is to begin. I've seen a
Speaker 1: perfectly capable, honest man time and again run against an
Speaker 1: illiterate trickster and get beaten. I suppose if the people
Speaker 1: wanted decent members of Congress. They would elect them, perhaps,
Speaker 1: continued Philip with a smile. The women will have to vote. Well.
Speaker 1: I should be willing to if it were a necessity,
Speaker 1: just as I would go to war and do what
Speaker 1: I could if the country couldn't be saved otherwise, said Alice,
Speaker 1: with a spirit that surprised Philip, well as he thought
Speaker 1: he knew her. If I were a young gentleman in
Speaker 1: these times, Philip laughed, outright, it's just what Ruth used
Speaker 1: to say if she were a man. I wonder if
Speaker 1: all the young ladies are contemplating a change of sex. No,
Speaker 1: only a change sex, retorted Alice. We contemplate, for the
Speaker 1: most part, young men who don't care for anything they
Speaker 1: ought to care for. Well, said Philip, looking humble. I
Speaker 1: care for some things you and Ruth, for instance. Perhaps
Speaker 1: I ought not to. Perhaps I ought to care for
Speaker 1: Congress and that sort of thing. Don't be a goose, Philip.
Speaker 1: I heard from Ruth yesterday. Can I see her letter? No, indeed,
Speaker 1: But I am afraid her hard work is telling on her,
Speaker 1: together with her anxiety about her father. Do you think,
Speaker 1: Alice asked Philip, with one of those selfish thoughts that
Speaker 1: are not seldom mixed with real love. That Ruth prefers
Speaker 1: her profession to marriage, Philip exclaimed Alice, rising to quit
Speaker 1: the room and speaking hurriedly, as if the words were
Speaker 1: forced from her. You are as blind as a bat.
Speaker 1: Ruth would cut off her right hand for you this minute.
Speaker 1: Philip never noticed that Alice's face was flushed and that
Speaker 1: her voice was unsteady. He only thought of the delicious
Speaker 1: words he had heard. And the poor girl, loyal to Ruth,
Speaker 1: loyal to Philip, went straight to her room, locked door,
Speaker 1: threw herself on the bed, and sobbed as if her
Speaker 1: heart would break. And then she prayed that her father
Speaker 1: in heaven would give her strength. And after a time
Speaker 1: she was calm again, and went to her bureau drawer
Speaker 1: and took from a hiding place a little piece of paper,
Speaker 1: yellow with age. Upon it was pinned a four leaved clover,
Speaker 1: dry and yellow. Also. She looked long at this foolish memento.
Speaker 1: Under the clover leaf was written in a schoolgirl's hand.
Speaker 1: Philip June eighteen sixty Blank Squire Montague thought very well
Speaker 1: of Philip's proposal. It would have been better if he
Speaker 1: had begun the study of law as soon as he
Speaker 1: left college, But it was not too late now, and
Speaker 1: besides he had gathered some knowledge of the world. But
Speaker 1: asked the squire, do you mean to abandon your land
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania? This track of land seemed an immense possible
Speaker 1: fortune to this new England lawyer farmer. Hasn't it good timber?
Speaker 1: And doesn't the railroad almost touch it? I can't do
Speaker 1: anything with it now, Perhaps I can sometime. What is
Speaker 1: your reason for supposing that there is coal there? The
Speaker 1: opinion of the best geologist I could consult my own
Speaker 1: observation of the country and the little veins of it
Speaker 1: we found. I feel certain it is there. I shall
Speaker 1: find it some day, I know it, if I can
Speaker 1: only keep the land till I make money enough to
Speaker 1: try again. Philip took from his pocket a map of
Speaker 1: the anthracite coal region and pointed out the position of
Speaker 1: the Ilium Mountain which he had begun to tunnel. Doesn't
Speaker 1: it look like it? Well, it certainly does, said the squire,
Speaker 1: very much interested. It is not unusual for a quiet
Speaker 1: country gentleman to be more taken with such a venture
Speaker 1: than a speculator who has had more experience in its uncertainty.
Speaker 1: It was astonishing how many New England clergymen, in the
Speaker 1: time of the petroleum excitement took chances in oil. The
Speaker 1: Wall Street brokers are said to do a good deal
Speaker 1: of small business for country clergymen, who are moved, no doubt,
Speaker 1: with the laudable desire of purifying the New York stock board.
Speaker 1: I don't see that there is much risk, said the
Speaker 1: squire at length. The timber is worth more than the mortgage.
Speaker 1: And if that coal seemed as run there, it's a
Speaker 1: magnificent fortune. Would you like to try it again in
Speaker 1: the spring? Fill like to try it? If he could
Speaker 1: have a little help, He would work himself with pick
Speaker 1: and barrow and live on a crust. Only give him
Speaker 1: one more chance. And this is how it came about
Speaker 1: that the cautious old Squire Montague was drawn into this
Speaker 1: young fellow's speculation, and began to have his serene old
Speaker 1: age disturbed by anxieties and by the hope of a
Speaker 1: great stroke of luck. To be sure, I only care
Speaker 1: about it for the boy, he said. The Squire was
Speaker 1: like everybody else, sooner or later he must take a chance.
Speaker 1: It is probably on account of the lack of enterprise
Speaker 1: in women that they are not so fond of stock
Speaker 1: speculations and mine ventures as men. It is only when
Speaker 1: women become demoralized that she takes to any sort of gambling.
Speaker 1: Neither Alice nor Ruth were much elated with the prospect
Speaker 1: of Philip's renewal of his mining enterprise, but Philip was exultant.
Speaker 1: He wrote to Ruth as if his fortune were already made,
Speaker 1: and as if the clouds that lowered over the house
Speaker 1: of Bolton were already in the deep bosom of a
Speaker 1: coal mine buried towards spring, he went to Philadelphia with
Speaker 1: his plans all matured for a new campaign. His enthusiasm
Speaker 1: was irresistible. Philip has come. Philip has come, cried the children,
Speaker 1: as if some great good had again come into the household,
Speaker 1: and the refrain even sang itself over in Ruth's heart.
Speaker 1: As she went the weary hospital rounds. Mister Bolton felt
Speaker 1: more courage than he had had in months at the
Speaker 1: sight of his manly face and the sound of his
Speaker 1: cheery voice. Ruth's course was vindicated now, and it certainly
Speaker 1: did not become Philip, who had nothing to offer but
Speaker 1: a future chance against the visible result of her determination
Speaker 1: and industry to open an argument with her. Ruth was
Speaker 1: never more certain that she was right and that she
Speaker 1: was sufficient unto herself. She maybe did not much heed
Speaker 1: the still small voice that sang in her maiden heart
Speaker 1: as she went about her work, and which lightened it
Speaker 1: and made it easy. Philip has come. I am glad
Speaker 1: for father's sake. She said to Philip that THEE has come.
Speaker 1: I can see that he depends greatly upon what THEE
Speaker 1: can do. He thinks women won't hold out long, added Ruth,
Speaker 1: with a smile that Philip never exactly understood. And aren't
Speaker 1: you tired sometimes of the struggle? Tired? Yes, everybody is tired,
Speaker 1: I suppose, but it is a glorious profession. And would
Speaker 1: you want me to be dependent Philip? Well, yes, a little,
Speaker 1: said Philip, feeling his way towards what he wanted to
Speaker 1: say on what, for instance, just now, asked Ruth A
Speaker 1: little maliciously. Philip thought why on? He couldn't quite say it,
Speaker 1: for it occurred to him that he was a poor
Speaker 1: stick for anybody to lean on in the present state
Speaker 1: of his fortune, and that the woman before him was
Speaker 1: at least as independent as he was. I don't mean
Speaker 1: depend he began again. But I love you, that's all
Speaker 1: am I nothing to you. And Philip looked a little defiant,
Speaker 1: and as if he had said something that ought to
Speaker 1: brush away all the sophistries of obligation on either side
Speaker 1: between man and woman. Perhaps Ruth saw this, Perhaps she
Speaker 1: saw that her own theories of a certain equality of power,
Speaker 1: which ought to precede a union of two hearts, might
Speaker 1: be pushed too far. Perhaps she had felt sometimes her
Speaker 1: own weakness and the need, after all, of so dear
Speaker 1: a sympathy and so tender an interest confessed as that
Speaker 1: which Philip could give whatever moved her. The riddle is
Speaker 1: as old as creation. She simply looked up to Philip
Speaker 1: and said, in a low voice everything, And Philip clasping
Speaker 1: both her hands in his, and looking down into her eyes,
Speaker 1: which drank in all his tenderness with the thirst of
Speaker 1: a true woman's nature. Oh Philip, come out here, shouted
Speaker 1: young Eli, throwing the door wide open, and Ruth escaped
Speaker 1: away to her room, her heart singing again. And now
Speaker 1: as if it would burst for joy, Philip has come.
Speaker 1: That night, Philip received a dispatch from Harry the trial
Speaker 1: begins to day end of chapter fifty