WEBVTT

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<v Speaker 1>This is section twenty one of The Gilded Age. This

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<v Speaker 1>LibriVox according is in the public domain. The Gilded Age,

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<v Speaker 1>A Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner,

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<v Speaker 1>Chapter twenty one. Oh lift your natures up, embrace our aims,

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<v Speaker 1>work out your freedom. Girls, Knowledge is now no more

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<v Speaker 1>a fountain sealed. Drink deep until the habits of the slave,

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<v Speaker 1>the sins of emptiness, gossip and spite, and slander die

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<v Speaker 1>the princess. Whether medicine is a science or only an

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<v Speaker 1>empirical method of getting a living out of the ignorance

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<v Speaker 1>of the human race. Ruth found before her first term

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<v Speaker 1>was over at the medical school that there were other

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<v Speaker 1>things she needed to know quite as much as that

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<v Speaker 1>which is taught in medical books, and that she could

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<v Speaker 1>never satisfy her aspirations without more general culture. Gazieur doctor

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<v Speaker 1>know anything. I don't mean about medicine, but about things

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<v Speaker 1>in general? Is he a man of information and good sense?

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<v Speaker 1>Once asked an old practitioner. If he doesn't know anything

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<v Speaker 1>but medicine, the chances he doesn't know that The close

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<v Speaker 1>application to her special study was beginning to tell upon

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<v Speaker 1>Ruth's delicate health. Also, and the summer brought with it

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<v Speaker 1>only weariness and the indisposition for any mental effort. In

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<v Speaker 1>this condition of mind and body, the quiet of her

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<v Speaker 1>home and the unexciting companionship of those about her were

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<v Speaker 1>more than ever tiresome. She followed with more interest Philip's

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<v Speaker 1>sparkling account of his life in the West, and longed

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<v Speaker 1>for his experiences and to know some of those people

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<v Speaker 1>of a world so different from here who alternately amused

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<v Speaker 1>and displeased him. He at least was learning the world,

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<v Speaker 1>the good and the bad of it, as must happen

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<v Speaker 1>to everyone who accomplishes anything in it. But what Ruth

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<v Speaker 1>wrote could a woman do? Tied up by custom and

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<v Speaker 1>cast into particular circumstances out of which it was almost

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<v Speaker 1>impossible to extricate herself. Philip thought that he would go

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<v Speaker 1>some day and extricate Ruth, but he did not write that,

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<v Speaker 1>for he had the instinct to know that this was

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<v Speaker 1>not the extrication she dreamed of, and that she must

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<v Speaker 1>find out by her own experience what her heart really wanted.

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<v Speaker 1>Philip was not a philosopher, to be sure, but he

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<v Speaker 1>had the old fashioned notion that whatever a woman's theories

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<v Speaker 1>of life might be, she would come round to matrimony,

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<v Speaker 1>only give her time. He could indeed recall to mind

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<v Speaker 1>one woman, And he never knew a nobler whose whole

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<v Speaker 1>soul was devoted, and who believed that her life was

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<v Speaker 1>consecrated to a certain benevolent project in singleness of life,

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<v Speaker 1>who yielded to the touch of matrimony as an icicle

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<v Speaker 1>yields to a sunbeam. Neither at home nor elsewhere did

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<v Speaker 1>Ruth utter any complaint or admit any weariness or doubt

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<v Speaker 1>of her ability to pursue the path she had marked

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<v Speaker 1>out for herself. But her mother saw clearly enough her

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<v Speaker 1>struggle with infirmity, and was not deceived by either her

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<v Speaker 1>gaiety or by the cheerful composure which she carried into

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<v Speaker 1>all the ordinary duties that fell to her. She saw

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<v Speaker 1>plainly enough that Ruth needed an entire change of scene

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<v Speaker 1>and of occupation, and perhaps she believed that such a change,

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<v Speaker 1>with the knowledge of the world it would bring, would

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<v Speaker 1>divert Ruth from a course for which she felt she

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<v Speaker 1>was physically entirely unfitted. It therefore suited the wishes of

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<v Speaker 1>all concerned. When autumn came that Ruth should go away

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<v Speaker 1>to school, she selected a large New England seminary, of

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<v Speaker 1>which she had often heard Philip speak, which was attended

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<v Speaker 1>by both sexes and offered almost collegiate advantages of education.

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<v Speaker 1>Thither she went in September and began, for the second

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<v Speaker 1>time in the year, a life new to her. The

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<v Speaker 1>seminary was the chief feature of fall Kill, a village

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<v Speaker 1>of two to three thousand inhabitants. It was a prosperous school,

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<v Speaker 1>with three hundred students, a large corps of teachers, men

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<v Speaker 1>and women, and with a venerable rusty row of academic

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<v Speaker 1>buildings on the shared square of the town. The students

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<v Speaker 1>lodged and boarded in private families in the place, and

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<v Speaker 1>so it came about that while the school did a

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<v Speaker 1>great deal to support the town, the town gave the

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<v Speaker 1>students society and the sweet influences of home life. It

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<v Speaker 1>is at least respectful to say that the influences of

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<v Speaker 1>home life are sweet. Ruth's home, by the intervention of Philip,

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<v Speaker 1>was in a family one of the rare exceptions in

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<v Speaker 1>life or in fiction, that had never known better days.

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<v Speaker 1>The Montague's, it is perhaps well to say, had intended

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<v Speaker 1>to come over in the Mayflower, but were detail. Pained

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<v Speaker 1>at delph Haven by the illness of a child, they

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<v Speaker 1>came over to Massachusetts Bay in another vessel, and thus

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<v Speaker 1>escaped the onus of that brevet nobility under which the

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<v Speaker 1>successors of the Mayflower Pilgrims have descended. Having no factitious

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<v Speaker 1>weight of dignity to carry, the Montague steadily improved their

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<v Speaker 1>condition from the day they landed, and they were never

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<v Speaker 1>more vigorous or prosperous than at the date of this narrative.

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<v Speaker 1>With character compacted by the rigid Puritan discipline of more

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<v Speaker 1>than two centuries, they had retained its strength and purity

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<v Speaker 1>and thrown off its narrowness, and were now blossoming under

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<v Speaker 1>the generous modern influences. Squire Oliver Montague, a lawyer who

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<v Speaker 1>had retired from the practice of his profession except in

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<v Speaker 1>rare cases, dwelt in a square, old fashioned New England

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<v Speaker 1>mansion a quarter of a mile from the Green. It

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<v Speaker 1>was called a mansion because it stood alone, with ample

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<v Speaker 1>fields about it, and had an avenue of trees leading

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<v Speaker 1>to it from the road, and on the west commanded

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<v Speaker 1>a view of a pretty little lake with gentle slopes

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<v Speaker 1>and nodding groves. But it was just a plain, roomy house,

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<v Speaker 1>capable of extending to many guests an unpretending hospitality. The

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<v Speaker 1>family consisted of the squire and his wife, a son

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<v Speaker 1>and a daughter married and not at home, a son

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<v Speaker 1>in college at Cambridge, another son at the seminary, and

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<v Speaker 1>a daughter, Alice, who was a year or more older

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<v Speaker 1>than Ruth. Having only riches enough to be able to

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<v Speaker 1>gratify reasonable desires, and yet make their gratifications always a

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<v Speaker 1>novelty and a pleasure, the family occupied that just mean

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<v Speaker 1>in life, which is so rarely attained, and still more

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<v Speaker 1>rarely enjoyed without discontent. If Ruth did not find so

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<v Speaker 1>much luxury in the house as in her own home,

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<v Speaker 1>there were evidences of culture, of intellectual activity, and of

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<v Speaker 1>a zest in the affairs of all the world, which

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<v Speaker 1>greatly impressed her. Every room had its bookcases or bookshelves,

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<v Speaker 1>and was more or less a library. Upon every table

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<v Speaker 1>was liable to be a litter of new books, fresh periodicals,

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<v Speaker 1>and daily newspapers. There were plants in the sunny windows,

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<v Speaker 1>and some choice engravings on the walls with bits of

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<v Speaker 1>color in oil or water colors. The piano was sure

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<v Speaker 1>to be open and strewn with music, and there were

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<v Speaker 1>photographs and little souvenirs here and there of foreign travel.

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<v Speaker 1>An absence of any wat pots in the corners with

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<v Speaker 1>rows of cheerful shells, and Hindu gods and Chinese idols,

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<v Speaker 1>and nests of useless boxes of lacquered wood might be

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<v Speaker 1>taken as denoting a languidness in the family concerning foreign missions,

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<v Speaker 1>But perhaps unjustly. At any rate, the life of the

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<v Speaker 1>world flowed freely into this hospitable house, and there was

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<v Speaker 1>always so much talk there of the news of the day,

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<v Speaker 1>of the new books, and of all authors, of Boston

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<v Speaker 1>radicalism and New York civilization, and the virtue of Congress,

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<v Speaker 1>that small gossip stood a very poor chance. All this

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<v Speaker 1>was in many ways so new to Ruth that she

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<v Speaker 1>seemed to have passed into another world in which she

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<v Speaker 1>experienced a freedom and a mental exhilaration unknown to her before.

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<v Speaker 1>Under this influence, she entered upon her studies with keen enjoyment,

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<v Speaker 1>finding for a time all the relaxation she needed in

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<v Speaker 1>the charming social life at the Montague House. It is strange,

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<v Speaker 1>she wrote to Philip in one of her occasional letters,

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<v Speaker 1>that you never told me more about this delightful family,

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<v Speaker 1>and scarcely mentioned Alice, who is the life of it,

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<v Speaker 1>just the noblest girl, unselfish, knows how to do so

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<v Speaker 1>many things, with lots of talent, with a dry humor

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<v Speaker 1>and an odd way of looking at things, and yet

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<v Speaker 1>quiet and even serious. Often one of your capable New

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<v Speaker 1>England girls. We shall be great friends. It had never

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<v Speaker 1>occurred to Philip that there was anything extra ordinary about

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<v Speaker 1>the family that needed mention. He knew dozens of girls

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<v Speaker 1>like Alice, he thought to himself, but only one like Ruth.

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<v Speaker 1>Good friends the two girls were from the beginning. Ruth

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<v Speaker 1>was a study to Alice, the product of a culture

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<v Speaker 1>entirely foreign to her experience, so much a child in

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<v Speaker 1>some things, so much a woman in others, and Ruth,

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<v Speaker 1>in turn, it must be confessed probing. Alice, sometimes, with

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<v Speaker 1>her serious gray eyes, wondered what her object in life was,

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<v Speaker 1>and whether she had any purpose beyond living as she

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<v Speaker 1>now saw her For she could scarcely conceive of a

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<v Speaker 1>life that should not be devoted to the accomplishment of

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<v Speaker 1>some definite work, and she had no doubt that in

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<v Speaker 1>her own case everything else would yield to the professional

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<v Speaker 1>career she had marked out, So you know, Philip Sterling,

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<v Speaker 1>said Ruth one day, as the girls sat at their sewing.

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<v Speaker 1>Ruth never embroidered and never sewed when she could avoid it.

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<v Speaker 1>Bless her. Oh, yes, we are old friends. Philip used

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<v Speaker 1>to come to Falkill often while he was in college.

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<v Speaker 1>He was often rusticated here for a term, rusticated suspended

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<v Speaker 1>for some college scrape. He was a great favorite here.

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<v Speaker 1>Father and he were famous friends. Father said that Philip

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<v Speaker 1>had no end of nonsense in him and was always

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<v Speaker 1>blundering into something, but he was a royal good fellow

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<v Speaker 1>and would come out all right. Did you think he

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<v Speaker 1>was fickle? Why? I never thought whether he was or not,

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<v Speaker 1>replied Alice, looking up. I suppose he was always in

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<v Speaker 1>love with some girl or another, as college boys are.

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<v Speaker 1>He used to make me his confidant now and then,

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<v Speaker 1>and be terribly in the dumps. Why did he come

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<v Speaker 1>to you, pursued Ruth. You were younger than he. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>sure I don't know. He was at our house a

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<v Speaker 1>good deal. Once, at a picnic by the lake, at

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<v Speaker 1>the risk of his own life, he saved sister Milly

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<v Speaker 1>from drowning, and we all liked to have him here.

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<v Speaker 1>Perhaps he thought, as he had saved one sister, the

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<v Speaker 1>other ought to help him when he was in trouble.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know. The fact was that Alice was a

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<v Speaker 1>person who invited confidences because she never betrayed them, and

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<v Speaker 1>gave abundant sympathy in return. There are persons whom we

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<v Speaker 1>all know, to whom human confidences, troubles, and heartaches flow

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<v Speaker 1>as naturally as streams to a placid lake. This is

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<v Speaker 1>not a history of Falkhill, nor of the Montague family, worthy,

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<v Speaker 1>as both are of that honour, and this narrative cannot

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<v Speaker 1>be diverted into long loitering with them. If the reader

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<v Speaker 1>visits the village today, he will doubtless be pointed out

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<v Speaker 1>the Montague dwelling where Ruth lived, the cross lots path

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<v Speaker 1>she traversed to the seminary, and the Venerable Chapel with

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<v Speaker 1>its cracked bell. In the little society of the place,

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<v Speaker 1>the Quaker girl was a favorite, and no considerable social

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<v Speaker 1>gathering or pleasure party was thought complete without her. There

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<v Speaker 1>was something in this seemingly transparent and yet deep character

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<v Speaker 1>in her child out like gaiety and enjoyment of the

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<v Speaker 1>society about her, and in her not seldom absorption in

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<v Speaker 1>herself that would have made her long remembered there if

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<v Speaker 1>no events had subsequently occurred to recall her to mind.

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<v Speaker 1>To the surprise of Alice, Ruth took to the small

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<v Speaker 1>gaieties of the village with a zest of enjoyment that

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<v Speaker 1>seemed foreign to one who had devoted her life to

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<v Speaker 1>a serious profession from the highest motives. Alice liked society

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<v Speaker 1>well enough, she thought, but there was nothing exciting in

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<v Speaker 1>that of falk Hill, nor anything novel in the attentions

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<v Speaker 1>of the well bred young gentleman one met in it.

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<v Speaker 1>It must have worn a different aspect to Ruth, for

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<v Speaker 1>she entered into its pleasures at first with curiosity, and

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<v Speaker 1>then with interest, and finally with a kind of staid

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<v Speaker 1>abandon that no one would have deemed possible. For her

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<v Speaker 1>parties picnics, rowing matches, moonlight strolls, nutting expeditions in the

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<v Speaker 1>October woods. Alice declared that it was a whirl of dissipation.

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<v Speaker 1>The fondness of Ruth, which was scarcely disguised for the

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<v Speaker 1>company of agreeable young fellows who talked nothings, gave Alice

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<v Speaker 1>opportunity for no end of bantering do you look upon

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<v Speaker 1>them as subjects? Dear? She would ask, And Ruth laughed

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<v Speaker 1>her merriest laugh, and then looked sober again. Perhaps she

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<v Speaker 1>was thinking, after all, whether she knew herself. If you

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<v Speaker 1>should rear a duck in the heart of the Sahara,

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<v Speaker 1>no doubt it would swim if you brought it to

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<v Speaker 1>the nile. Surely no one would have predicted when Ruth

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<v Speaker 1>left Philadelphia that she would become absorbed to this extent

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<v Speaker 1>and so happy in a life so unlike that she

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<v Speaker 1>thought she desired. But no one can tell how a

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<v Speaker 1>woman will act under any circumstances. The reason novelists nearly

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<v Speaker 1>always fail in depicting women when they make them act,

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<v Speaker 1>is that they let them do what they have observed

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<v Speaker 1>some woman has done at some time or another, and

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<v Speaker 1>that is where they make a mistake, For a woman

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<v Speaker 1>will never do again what has been done before. It

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<v Speaker 1>is this uncertainty that causes women considered as materials for

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<v Speaker 1>fiction to be so interesting to themselves and to others.

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<v Speaker 1>As the fall went on and the winter, Ruth did

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<v Speaker 1>not distinguish herself greatly at the Fall Kill Seminary as

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<v Speaker 1>a student, a fact that apparently gave her no anxiety,

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<v Speaker 1>and did not diminish her enjoyment of a new sort

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<v Speaker 1>of power which had awakened within her end of chapter

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<v Speaker 1>twenty one,