WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:04.320
<v Speaker 1>This is section fifty of The Gilded Age. This LibriVox

2
00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:07.719
<v Speaker 1>according is in the public domain The Gilded Age, A

3
00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:10.439
<v Speaker 1>Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner,

4
00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:15.640
<v Speaker 1>Chapter fifty. It is impossible for the historian, with even

5
00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:19.480
<v Speaker 1>the best intentions, to control events, or compel the persons

6
00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:23.399
<v Speaker 1>of his narrative, to act wisely, or to be successful.

7
00:00:23.719 --> 00:00:26.399
<v Speaker 1>It is easy to see how things might have been

8
00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:29.879
<v Speaker 1>better managed. A very little change here and there would

9
00:00:29.879 --> 00:00:32.520
<v Speaker 1>have made a very different history of this one now

10
00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:36.600
<v Speaker 1>in hand. If Philip had adopted some regular profession, even

11
00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:40.280
<v Speaker 1>some trade, he might now be a prosperous editor, or

12
00:00:40.359 --> 00:00:44.439
<v Speaker 1>a conscientious plumber, or an honest lawyer, and have borrowed

13
00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:47.320
<v Speaker 1>money at the savings bank and built a cottage, and

14
00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:50.439
<v Speaker 1>be now furnishing it for the occupancy of ruth In himself.

15
00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:54.439
<v Speaker 1>Instead of this, with only a smattering of civil engineering,

16
00:00:54.679 --> 00:00:57.920
<v Speaker 1>he is at his mother's house, fretting and fuming over

17
00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:01.960
<v Speaker 1>his ill luck and the hardness and dishonesty of men,

18
00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:05.040
<v Speaker 1>and thinking of nothing but how to get the coal

19
00:01:05.239 --> 00:01:08.920
<v Speaker 1>out of the Ilium Hills. If Senator Dilworthy had not

20
00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:12.439
<v Speaker 1>made that visit to Hawkeye, the Hawkins family and Colonel

21
00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:16.439
<v Speaker 1>Sellers would not now be dancing attendance upon Congress and

22
00:01:16.599 --> 00:01:20.040
<v Speaker 1>endeavoring to attempt that immaculate body into one of those

23
00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:24.000
<v Speaker 1>appropriations for the benefit of its members which the members

24
00:01:24.439 --> 00:01:28.040
<v Speaker 1>find it so difficult to explain to their constituents. And

25
00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:30.920
<v Speaker 1>Laura would not be lying in the tombs, awaiting her

26
00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:33.799
<v Speaker 1>trial for murder and doing her best, by the help

27
00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:37.239
<v Speaker 1>of able counsel, to corrupt the pure fountain of criminal

28
00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:40.920
<v Speaker 1>procedure in New York. If Henry Brierly had been blown

29
00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:44.040
<v Speaker 1>up on the first Mississippi steamboat he set foot on,

30
00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:47.239
<v Speaker 1>as the chances were that he would be, he and

31
00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:51.319
<v Speaker 1>Colonel Sellers never would have gone into the Columbus navigation scheme,

32
00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:55.599
<v Speaker 1>and probably never into the East Tennessee Land scheme. And

33
00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:58.040
<v Speaker 1>he would not now be detained in New York from

34
00:01:58.200 --> 00:02:01.760
<v Speaker 1>very important business operations on the Pacific Coast for the

35
00:02:01.799 --> 00:02:05.120
<v Speaker 1>sole purpose of giving evidence to convict of murder the

36
00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:07.680
<v Speaker 1>only woman he ever loved half as much as he

37
00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:11.400
<v Speaker 1>loves himself. If mister Bolton had said the little word

38
00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:16.000
<v Speaker 1>no to mister Bigler, Alice Montague might now be spending

39
00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:19.759
<v Speaker 1>the winter in Philadelphia, and Philip also waiting to resume

40
00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:23.120
<v Speaker 1>his mining operations in the spring, and Ruth would not

41
00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:26.759
<v Speaker 1>be an assistant in a Philadelphia hospital, taxing her strength

42
00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:30.560
<v Speaker 1>with arduous routine duties day by day in order to

43
00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:33.400
<v Speaker 1>lighten a little of the burdens that weigh upon her

44
00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:38.159
<v Speaker 1>unfortunate family. It is altogether a bad business. An honest

45
00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:41.919
<v Speaker 1>historian who had progressed thus far and traced everything to

46
00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:45.479
<v Speaker 1>such a condition of disaster and suspension, might well be

47
00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:50.319
<v Speaker 1>justified in ending his narrative and writing after this deluge.

48
00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:53.719
<v Speaker 1>His only consolation would be in the reflection that he

49
00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:57.759
<v Speaker 1>was not responsible for either characters or events. And the

50
00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:01.560
<v Speaker 1>most annoying thought is that a little mine, judiciously applied,

51
00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:05.360
<v Speaker 1>would relieve the burdens and anxieties of most of these people.

52
00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:08.520
<v Speaker 1>But affairs seemed to be so arranged that money is

53
00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:12.400
<v Speaker 1>most difficult to get when people need it most. A

54
00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:16.199
<v Speaker 1>little of what mister Bolton has weakly given to unworthy

55
00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:19.800
<v Speaker 1>people would now establish his family in a sort of comfort,

56
00:03:20.120 --> 00:03:22.919
<v Speaker 1>and relieve Ruth of the excessive toil for which she

57
00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:27.199
<v Speaker 1>inherited no adequate physical vigor. A little money would make

58
00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:30.479
<v Speaker 1>a prince of colonel Sellers, and a little more would

59
00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:34.919
<v Speaker 1>calm the anxiety of Washington Hawkins about Laura, For however

60
00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:38.159
<v Speaker 1>the trial ended, he could feel sure of extricating her

61
00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:40.960
<v Speaker 1>in the end. And if Philip had a little money,

62
00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:44.159
<v Speaker 1>he could unlock the stone door in the mountain. Whence

63
00:03:44.199 --> 00:03:48.039
<v Speaker 1>would issue a stream of shining riches. It needs a

64
00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:52.240
<v Speaker 1>golden wand to strike that rock. If the Knobs University

65
00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:55.159
<v Speaker 1>Bill could only go through, what a change would be

66
00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:57.599
<v Speaker 1>wrought in the condition of most of the persons in

67
00:03:57.639 --> 00:04:01.319
<v Speaker 1>this history. Even Philip himself would feel the good effects

68
00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:04.560
<v Speaker 1>of it, for Harry would have something, and Colonel Sellers

69
00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:07.759
<v Speaker 1>would have something and have not. Both these cautious people

70
00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:11.159
<v Speaker 1>expressed a determination to take an interest in the Ilium

71
00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:15.360
<v Speaker 1>mine when they catch their larks. Philip could not resist

72
00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:18.560
<v Speaker 1>the inclination to pay a visit to fall Kill. He

73
00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:20.879
<v Speaker 1>had not been at the Montague since the time he

74
00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:23.639
<v Speaker 1>saw Ruth there, and he wanted to consult the squire

75
00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:26.959
<v Speaker 1>about an occupation. He was determined now to waste no

76
00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:29.720
<v Speaker 1>more time in waiting on providence, but to go to

77
00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:33.240
<v Speaker 1>work at something. If it were nothing better than teaching

78
00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:37.000
<v Speaker 1>in the fall Kill Seminary or digging clams on him beach,

79
00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:40.680
<v Speaker 1>perhaps he could read law in Squire Montague's office, while

80
00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:43.480
<v Speaker 1>earning his bread as a teacher in the seminary. It

81
00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:46.560
<v Speaker 1>was not altogether Philip's fault, let us own that he

82
00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:49.560
<v Speaker 1>was in this position. There are many young men like

83
00:04:49.639 --> 00:04:54.639
<v Speaker 1>him in American society of his age, opportunities, education, and abilities,

84
00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:57.720
<v Speaker 1>who have really been educated for nothing, and have let

85
00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:01.120
<v Speaker 1>themselves drift in the hope that they will fine somehow

86
00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:04.800
<v Speaker 1>and by some sudden turn of luck, the golden road

87
00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:08.360
<v Speaker 1>to fortune. He was not idle or lazy. He had

88
00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:11.720
<v Speaker 1>energy and a disposition to carve his own way. But

89
00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:14.160
<v Speaker 1>he was born into a time when all young men

90
00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:17.800
<v Speaker 1>of his age caught the fever of speculation and expected

91
00:05:17.800 --> 00:05:19.800
<v Speaker 1>to get on in the world by the omission of

92
00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:22.959
<v Speaker 1>some of the regular processes which have been appointed from

93
00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:27.759
<v Speaker 1>of old and examples, were not wanting to encourage him.

94
00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:32.120
<v Speaker 1>He saw people all around him, poor yesterday, rich to day,

95
00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:35.759
<v Speaker 1>who had come into sudden opulence by some means which

96
00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:38.439
<v Speaker 1>they could not have classified among any of the regular

97
00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:41.800
<v Speaker 1>occupations of life. A war would give such a fellow

98
00:05:41.800 --> 00:05:44.920
<v Speaker 1>a career and very likely fame. He might have been

99
00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:48.639
<v Speaker 1>a railroad man, or a politician, or a land speculator,

100
00:05:49.079 --> 00:05:51.920
<v Speaker 1>or one of those mysterious people who travel free on

101
00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:56.319
<v Speaker 1>all railroads and steamboats, and are continually crossing and recrossing

102
00:05:56.360 --> 00:05:59.839
<v Speaker 1>the Atlantic, driven day and night about nobody knows what,

103
00:06:00.759 --> 00:06:04.439
<v Speaker 1>and make a great deal of money by so doing. Probably,

104
00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:08.920
<v Speaker 1>at last, he sometimes thought, with a whimsical smile, he

105
00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:12.399
<v Speaker 1>should end by being an insurance agent, at asking people

106
00:06:12.439 --> 00:06:17.000
<v Speaker 1>to insure their lives for his benefit. Possibly Philip did

107
00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:19.600
<v Speaker 1>not think how much the attractions of falk Kill were

108
00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:22.920
<v Speaker 1>increased by the presence of Alice there. He had known

109
00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:26.439
<v Speaker 1>her so long she had somehow grown into his life

110
00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:29.240
<v Speaker 1>by habit that he would expect the pleasure of her

111
00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:33.519
<v Speaker 1>society without thinking much about it. Latterly, he never thought

112
00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:36.279
<v Speaker 1>of her without thinking of Ruth, And if he gave

113
00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:39.600
<v Speaker 1>the subject any attention, it was probably in an undefined

114
00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:43.519
<v Speaker 1>consciousness that he had her sympathy in his love, and

115
00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:46.720
<v Speaker 1>that she was always willing to hear him talk about it.

116
00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:49.839
<v Speaker 1>If he ever wondered that Alice herself was not in

117
00:06:49.959 --> 00:06:53.040
<v Speaker 1>love and never spoke of the possibility of her own marriage,

118
00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:55.879
<v Speaker 1>it was a transiant thought, for love did not seem

119
00:06:55.959 --> 00:07:00.199
<v Speaker 1>necessary exactly to one so calm and evenly balanced, and

120
00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:04.120
<v Speaker 1>with so many resources in herself. Whatever her thoughts may

121
00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:07.120
<v Speaker 1>have been, they were unknown to Philip, as they are

122
00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:10.560
<v Speaker 1>to these historians. If she was seeming to be what

123
00:07:10.759 --> 00:07:13.519
<v Speaker 1>she was not, and carrying a burden heavier than any

124
00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:17.040
<v Speaker 1>one else carried because she had to bear it alone,

125
00:07:17.079 --> 00:07:19.639
<v Speaker 1>she was only doing what thousands of women do with

126
00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:24.040
<v Speaker 1>a self renunciation and heroism of which men impatient and

127
00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:28.639
<v Speaker 1>complaining have no conception. Have not these big babies with

128
00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:33.000
<v Speaker 1>beards filled all literature with their outcries, their griefs, and

129
00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:36.720
<v Speaker 1>their lamentations. It is always the gentle sex which is

130
00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:40.720
<v Speaker 1>hard and cruel, and fickle and implacable. Do you think

131
00:07:41.160 --> 00:07:43.279
<v Speaker 1>you would be contented to live in fall Kill and

132
00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:46.800
<v Speaker 1>attend the county court, asked Alice, when Philip had opened

133
00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:51.319
<v Speaker 1>the budget of his new program. Perhaps not always, said Philip.

134
00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.480
<v Speaker 1>I might go and practice in Boston, maybe, or go

135
00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:59.360
<v Speaker 1>to Chicago, or you might get elected to Congress. Philip

136
00:07:59.399 --> 00:08:01.639
<v Speaker 1>looked at Alice to see if she was in earnest

137
00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:05.560
<v Speaker 1>and not chafing him. Her face was quite sober. Alice

138
00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:08.160
<v Speaker 1>was one of those patriotic women in the rural districts

139
00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:10.720
<v Speaker 1>who think men are still selected for Congress on account

140
00:08:10.759 --> 00:08:15.639
<v Speaker 1>of qualifications. For the office, No, said Philip. The chances

141
00:08:15.639 --> 00:08:18.199
<v Speaker 1>are that a man cannot get into Congress now without

142
00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:21.959
<v Speaker 1>resorting to arts and means that should render him unfit

143
00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:25.279
<v Speaker 1>to go there. Of course there are exceptions. But do

144
00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:27.879
<v Speaker 1>you know that I could not go into politics if

145
00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:31.480
<v Speaker 1>I were a lawyer without losing standing somewhat in my profession,

146
00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:34.759
<v Speaker 1>and without raising at least a suspicion of my intentions

147
00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:39.279
<v Speaker 1>and unselfishness. Why it is telegraphed all over the country

148
00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:42.559
<v Speaker 1>and commented on as something wonderful if a congressman votes

149
00:08:42.600 --> 00:08:46.519
<v Speaker 1>honestly and unselfishly and refuses to take advantage of his

150
00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:51.480
<v Speaker 1>position to steal from the government, But insisted Alice, I

151
00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:54.200
<v Speaker 1>should think it a noble ambition to go to Congress

152
00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:57.480
<v Speaker 1>if it is so bad, and help reform it. I

153
00:08:57.480 --> 00:09:00.279
<v Speaker 1>don't believe it as corrupt as the English Parliament used

154
00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:02.519
<v Speaker 1>to be. If there is any truth in the novels,

155
00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:06.080
<v Speaker 1>and I suppose that is reformed, I'm sure I don't

156
00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:09.159
<v Speaker 1>know where the reform is to begin. I've seen a

157
00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:13.000
<v Speaker 1>perfectly capable, honest man time and again run against an

158
00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:16.960
<v Speaker 1>illiterate trickster and get beaten. I suppose if the people

159
00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:20.480
<v Speaker 1>wanted decent members of Congress. They would elect them, perhaps,

160
00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:24.960
<v Speaker 1>continued Philip with a smile. The women will have to vote. Well.

161
00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:27.919
<v Speaker 1>I should be willing to if it were a necessity,

162
00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:30.039
<v Speaker 1>just as I would go to war and do what

163
00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:33.600
<v Speaker 1>I could if the country couldn't be saved otherwise, said Alice,

164
00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:36.559
<v Speaker 1>with a spirit that surprised Philip, well as he thought

165
00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:39.039
<v Speaker 1>he knew her. If I were a young gentleman in

166
00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:43.320
<v Speaker 1>these times, Philip laughed, outright, it's just what Ruth used

167
00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:46.679
<v Speaker 1>to say if she were a man. I wonder if

168
00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:49.919
<v Speaker 1>all the young ladies are contemplating a change of sex. No,

169
00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:54.440
<v Speaker 1>only a change sex, retorted Alice. We contemplate, for the

170
00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:57.320
<v Speaker 1>most part, young men who don't care for anything they

171
00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:01.960
<v Speaker 1>ought to care for. Well, said Philip, looking humble. I

172
00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:05.559
<v Speaker 1>care for some things you and Ruth, for instance. Perhaps

173
00:10:05.639 --> 00:10:08.200
<v Speaker 1>I ought not to. Perhaps I ought to care for

174
00:10:08.279 --> 00:10:11.759
<v Speaker 1>Congress and that sort of thing. Don't be a goose, Philip.

175
00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:16.399
<v Speaker 1>I heard from Ruth yesterday. Can I see her letter? No, indeed,

176
00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:19.600
<v Speaker 1>But I am afraid her hard work is telling on her,

177
00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:23.559
<v Speaker 1>together with her anxiety about her father. Do you think,

178
00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:27.039
<v Speaker 1>Alice asked Philip, with one of those selfish thoughts that

179
00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:31.320
<v Speaker 1>are not seldom mixed with real love. That Ruth prefers

180
00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:37.200
<v Speaker 1>her profession to marriage, Philip exclaimed Alice, rising to quit

181
00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:39.720
<v Speaker 1>the room and speaking hurriedly, as if the words were

182
00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:42.039
<v Speaker 1>forced from her. You are as blind as a bat.

183
00:10:42.600 --> 00:10:45.240
<v Speaker 1>Ruth would cut off her right hand for you this minute.

184
00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:50.080
<v Speaker 1>Philip never noticed that Alice's face was flushed and that

185
00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:53.360
<v Speaker 1>her voice was unsteady. He only thought of the delicious

186
00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:56.919
<v Speaker 1>words he had heard. And the poor girl, loyal to Ruth,

187
00:10:57.159 --> 00:11:00.360
<v Speaker 1>loyal to Philip, went straight to her room, locked door,

188
00:11:00.679 --> 00:11:02.879
<v Speaker 1>threw herself on the bed, and sobbed as if her

189
00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:05.399
<v Speaker 1>heart would break. And then she prayed that her father

190
00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:08.120
<v Speaker 1>in heaven would give her strength. And after a time

191
00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:10.879
<v Speaker 1>she was calm again, and went to her bureau drawer

192
00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:13.600
<v Speaker 1>and took from a hiding place a little piece of paper,

193
00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:17.799
<v Speaker 1>yellow with age. Upon it was pinned a four leaved clover,

194
00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:23.320
<v Speaker 1>dry and yellow. Also. She looked long at this foolish memento.

195
00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:26.759
<v Speaker 1>Under the clover leaf was written in a schoolgirl's hand.

196
00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:33.759
<v Speaker 1>Philip June eighteen sixty Blank Squire Montague thought very well

197
00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:36.480
<v Speaker 1>of Philip's proposal. It would have been better if he

198
00:11:36.519 --> 00:11:38.399
<v Speaker 1>had begun the study of law as soon as he

199
00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:41.240
<v Speaker 1>left college, But it was not too late now, and

200
00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:44.120
<v Speaker 1>besides he had gathered some knowledge of the world. But

201
00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:47.399
<v Speaker 1>asked the squire, do you mean to abandon your land

202
00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:51.600
<v Speaker 1>in Pennsylvania? This track of land seemed an immense possible

203
00:11:51.639 --> 00:11:55.320
<v Speaker 1>fortune to this new England lawyer farmer. Hasn't it good timber?

204
00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:58.679
<v Speaker 1>And doesn't the railroad almost touch it? I can't do

205
00:11:58.840 --> 00:12:02.360
<v Speaker 1>anything with it now, Perhaps I can sometime. What is

206
00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:05.720
<v Speaker 1>your reason for supposing that there is coal there? The

207
00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:08.799
<v Speaker 1>opinion of the best geologist I could consult my own

208
00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:11.720
<v Speaker 1>observation of the country and the little veins of it

209
00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:14.840
<v Speaker 1>we found. I feel certain it is there. I shall

210
00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:17.480
<v Speaker 1>find it some day, I know it, if I can

211
00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:19.840
<v Speaker 1>only keep the land till I make money enough to

212
00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:23.480
<v Speaker 1>try again. Philip took from his pocket a map of

213
00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:26.759
<v Speaker 1>the anthracite coal region and pointed out the position of

214
00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:30.000
<v Speaker 1>the Ilium Mountain which he had begun to tunnel. Doesn't

215
00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:33.240
<v Speaker 1>it look like it? Well, it certainly does, said the squire,

216
00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:36.440
<v Speaker 1>very much interested. It is not unusual for a quiet

217
00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:39.120
<v Speaker 1>country gentleman to be more taken with such a venture

218
00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:43.200
<v Speaker 1>than a speculator who has had more experience in its uncertainty.

219
00:12:43.799 --> 00:12:47.000
<v Speaker 1>It was astonishing how many New England clergymen, in the

220
00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:50.679
<v Speaker 1>time of the petroleum excitement took chances in oil. The

221
00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:53.200
<v Speaker 1>Wall Street brokers are said to do a good deal

222
00:12:53.240 --> 00:12:56.960
<v Speaker 1>of small business for country clergymen, who are moved, no doubt,

223
00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:01.200
<v Speaker 1>with the laudable desire of purifying the New York stock board.

224
00:13:02.279 --> 00:13:05.279
<v Speaker 1>I don't see that there is much risk, said the

225
00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:08.879
<v Speaker 1>squire at length. The timber is worth more than the mortgage.

226
00:13:09.159 --> 00:13:11.960
<v Speaker 1>And if that coal seemed as run there, it's a

227
00:13:12.039 --> 00:13:15.240
<v Speaker 1>magnificent fortune. Would you like to try it again in

228
00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:18.840
<v Speaker 1>the spring? Fill like to try it? If he could

229
00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:21.320
<v Speaker 1>have a little help, He would work himself with pick

230
00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:24.159
<v Speaker 1>and barrow and live on a crust. Only give him

231
00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:26.919
<v Speaker 1>one more chance. And this is how it came about

232
00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:30.120
<v Speaker 1>that the cautious old Squire Montague was drawn into this

233
00:13:30.279 --> 00:13:34.159
<v Speaker 1>young fellow's speculation, and began to have his serene old

234
00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:38.279
<v Speaker 1>age disturbed by anxieties and by the hope of a

235
00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:42.000
<v Speaker 1>great stroke of luck. To be sure, I only care

236
00:13:42.039 --> 00:13:44.960
<v Speaker 1>about it for the boy, he said. The Squire was

237
00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:48.679
<v Speaker 1>like everybody else, sooner or later he must take a chance.

238
00:13:49.559 --> 00:13:52.159
<v Speaker 1>It is probably on account of the lack of enterprise

239
00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:55.200
<v Speaker 1>in women that they are not so fond of stock

240
00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:59.200
<v Speaker 1>speculations and mine ventures as men. It is only when

241
00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:03.080
<v Speaker 1>women become demoralized that she takes to any sort of gambling.

242
00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:06.960
<v Speaker 1>Neither Alice nor Ruth were much elated with the prospect

243
00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:11.559
<v Speaker 1>of Philip's renewal of his mining enterprise, but Philip was exultant.

244
00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:15.080
<v Speaker 1>He wrote to Ruth as if his fortune were already made,

245
00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:17.720
<v Speaker 1>and as if the clouds that lowered over the house

246
00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:20.240
<v Speaker 1>of Bolton were already in the deep bosom of a

247
00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:24.000
<v Speaker 1>coal mine buried towards spring, he went to Philadelphia with

248
00:14:24.039 --> 00:14:28.159
<v Speaker 1>his plans all matured for a new campaign. His enthusiasm

249
00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:32.240
<v Speaker 1>was irresistible. Philip has come. Philip has come, cried the children,

250
00:14:32.360 --> 00:14:35.519
<v Speaker 1>as if some great good had again come into the household,

251
00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:38.759
<v Speaker 1>and the refrain even sang itself over in Ruth's heart.

252
00:14:38.840 --> 00:14:42.759
<v Speaker 1>As she went the weary hospital rounds. Mister Bolton felt

253
00:14:42.840 --> 00:14:45.200
<v Speaker 1>more courage than he had had in months at the

254
00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:47.639
<v Speaker 1>sight of his manly face and the sound of his

255
00:14:47.799 --> 00:14:52.440
<v Speaker 1>cheery voice. Ruth's course was vindicated now, and it certainly

256
00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:54.879
<v Speaker 1>did not become Philip, who had nothing to offer but

257
00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:58.600
<v Speaker 1>a future chance against the visible result of her determination

258
00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:02.360
<v Speaker 1>and industry to open an argument with her. Ruth was

259
00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:06.000
<v Speaker 1>never more certain that she was right and that she

260
00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:10.639
<v Speaker 1>was sufficient unto herself. She maybe did not much heed

261
00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:13.600
<v Speaker 1>the still small voice that sang in her maiden heart

262
00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:16.559
<v Speaker 1>as she went about her work, and which lightened it

263
00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:21.000
<v Speaker 1>and made it easy. Philip has come. I am glad

264
00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:24.200
<v Speaker 1>for father's sake. She said to Philip that THEE has come.

265
00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:27.159
<v Speaker 1>I can see that he depends greatly upon what THEE

266
00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:31.600
<v Speaker 1>can do. He thinks women won't hold out long, added Ruth,

267
00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:36.240
<v Speaker 1>with a smile that Philip never exactly understood. And aren't

268
00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:40.679
<v Speaker 1>you tired sometimes of the struggle? Tired? Yes, everybody is tired,

269
00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:44.039
<v Speaker 1>I suppose, but it is a glorious profession. And would

270
00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:48.519
<v Speaker 1>you want me to be dependent Philip? Well, yes, a little,

271
00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:51.320
<v Speaker 1>said Philip, feeling his way towards what he wanted to

272
00:15:51.320 --> 00:15:55.039
<v Speaker 1>say on what, for instance, just now, asked Ruth A

273
00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:59.919
<v Speaker 1>little maliciously. Philip thought why on? He couldn't quite say it,

274
00:16:00.120 --> 00:16:02.080
<v Speaker 1>for it occurred to him that he was a poor

275
00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:04.720
<v Speaker 1>stick for anybody to lean on in the present state

276
00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:07.559
<v Speaker 1>of his fortune, and that the woman before him was

277
00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:11.720
<v Speaker 1>at least as independent as he was. I don't mean

278
00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:16.039
<v Speaker 1>depend he began again. But I love you, that's all

279
00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:20.240
<v Speaker 1>am I nothing to you. And Philip looked a little defiant,

280
00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:22.720
<v Speaker 1>and as if he had said something that ought to

281
00:16:22.759 --> 00:16:25.799
<v Speaker 1>brush away all the sophistries of obligation on either side

282
00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:29.840
<v Speaker 1>between man and woman. Perhaps Ruth saw this, Perhaps she

283
00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:32.919
<v Speaker 1>saw that her own theories of a certain equality of power,

284
00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:36.000
<v Speaker 1>which ought to precede a union of two hearts, might

285
00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:39.960
<v Speaker 1>be pushed too far. Perhaps she had felt sometimes her

286
00:16:39.960 --> 00:16:42.840
<v Speaker 1>own weakness and the need, after all, of so dear

287
00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:46.039
<v Speaker 1>a sympathy and so tender an interest confessed as that

288
00:16:46.200 --> 00:16:50.159
<v Speaker 1>which Philip could give whatever moved her. The riddle is

289
00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:53.519
<v Speaker 1>as old as creation. She simply looked up to Philip

290
00:16:53.559 --> 00:16:59.240
<v Speaker 1>and said, in a low voice everything, And Philip clasping

291
00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:02.360
<v Speaker 1>both her hands in his, and looking down into her eyes,

292
00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:05.400
<v Speaker 1>which drank in all his tenderness with the thirst of

293
00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:09.440
<v Speaker 1>a true woman's nature. Oh Philip, come out here, shouted

294
00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:12.640
<v Speaker 1>young Eli, throwing the door wide open, and Ruth escaped

295
00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:15.799
<v Speaker 1>away to her room, her heart singing again. And now

296
00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:19.359
<v Speaker 1>as if it would burst for joy, Philip has come.

297
00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:24.240
<v Speaker 1>That night, Philip received a dispatch from Harry the trial

298
00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:27.920
<v Speaker 1>begins to day end of chapter fifty