Speaker 1: This is section fourteen of The Gilded Age. This LibriVox
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age, A
Speaker 1: Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and Seedy Warner,
Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen. The letter that Philip Sterling wrote to Ruth Bolton,
Speaker 1: on the evening of setting out to seek his fortune
Speaker 1: in the West, found that young lady in her own
Speaker 1: father's house in Philadelphia. It was one of the pleasantest
Speaker 1: of the many charming suburban houses in that hospitable city,
Speaker 1: which is territorially one of the largest cities in the world,
Speaker 1: and only prevented from becoming the convenient metropolis of the
Speaker 1: country by the intrusive strip of Camden and Amboy Sand
Speaker 1: which shuts it off from the Atlantic Ocean. It is
Speaker 1: a city of steady thrift, the arms of which might
Speaker 1: well be the deliberate but delicious terrapin that imparts such
Speaker 1: a royal flavor to its feasts. It was a spring morning,
Speaker 1: and perhaps it was the influence of it that made
Speaker 1: Ruth a little restless, satisfied neither with the outdoors nor
Speaker 1: the indoors. Her sisters had gone to the city to
Speaker 1: show some country visitors Independence Hall, Gerard College, and Fairmount,
Speaker 1: water works and park, four objects which Americans cannot die peacefully,
Speaker 1: even in Naples without having seen. But Ruth confessed that
Speaker 1: she was tired of them, and also of the mint.
Speaker 1: She was tired of other things. She tried this morning
Speaker 1: an air or two upon the piano, sang a simple
Speaker 1: song in a sweet but slightly metallic voice, and then,
Speaker 1: seating herself by the open window, read Philip's letter. Was
Speaker 1: she thinking about Philip as she gazed across the fresh lawn,
Speaker 1: over the tree tops, to the Chelton Hills, or of
Speaker 1: that world which his entrance into her tradition bound life
Speaker 1: had been one of the means of opening to her
Speaker 1: whatever she thought. She was not idly musing, as one
Speaker 1: might see by the expression of her face. After a time,
Speaker 1: she took up a book. It was a medical work,
Speaker 1: and to all appearance, about as interesting to a girl
Speaker 1: of eighteen as the statutes at large. But her face
Speaker 1: was soon a glow over its pages, and she was
Speaker 1: so absorbed in it that she did not notice the
Speaker 1: entrance of her mother at the open door. Ruth Well, mother,
Speaker 1: said the young student, looking up with a shade of impatience.
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk with THEE a little about thy plans. Mother,
Speaker 1: THEE knows I couldn't stand it at Westfield. The school
Speaker 1: stifled me. It's a place to turn young people into
Speaker 1: dried fruit, I know, said Margaret Bolton with a half
Speaker 1: anxious smile. The chafes against all the ways of friends.
Speaker 1: But what will THEE do? Why is THEE so discontented?
Speaker 1: If I must say it, Mother, I want to go
Speaker 1: away and get out of this dead level. With a
Speaker 1: look half of pain and half of pity. Her mother answered,
Speaker 1: I am sure THEE is little interfered with. THEE dresses
Speaker 1: as THEE will, and goes where THEE pleases, to any
Speaker 1: church THEE likes, and THEE has music. I had a
Speaker 1: visit yesterday from the Society's committee by way of discipline,
Speaker 1: because we have a piano in the house, which is
Speaker 1: against the rules. I hope THEE told the elders that
Speaker 1: Father and I are responsible for the piano, and that
Speaker 1: much as THEE love's music, THEE is never in the
Speaker 1: room when it is played. Fortunately, Father is already out
Speaker 1: of meeting, so they can't discipline him. I heard Father
Speaker 1: tell cousin Abner that he was whipped so often for
Speaker 1: whistling when he was a boy that he was determined
Speaker 1: to have what compensation he could get. Now thy ways greatly,
Speaker 1: try me, Ruth, and all thy relations. I desire thy
Speaker 1: happiness first of all. But THEE is starting out on
Speaker 1: a dangerous path. Is thy father willing THEE should go
Speaker 1: away to a school of the world's people? I have
Speaker 1: not asked him, Ruth replied, with a look that might
Speaker 1: imply that she was one of those determined little bodies
Speaker 1: who first made up her own mind and then compelled
Speaker 1: others to make up theirs in accordance with hers. And
Speaker 1: when THEE has got the education, THEE wants and lost
Speaker 1: all relish for the society of thy friends and the
Speaker 1: ways of thy ancestors. What then Ruth turned square round
Speaker 1: to her mother, and, with an impassive face and not
Speaker 1: the slightest change of tone, said mother, I am going
Speaker 1: to study medicine. Margaret Bolton almost lost for a moment
Speaker 1: her habitual placidity. THEE study medicine, a slight frailed girl,
Speaker 1: like THEE study medicine? Does THEE think THEE could stand
Speaker 1: at six months and the lectures and the dissecting rooms,
Speaker 1: has the thought of the dissecting rooms. Mother said Ruth calmly.
Speaker 1: I have thought it all over. I know I can
Speaker 1: go through the whole clinics dissecting room, and all does
Speaker 1: THEE think I lack nerve? What is there to fear
Speaker 1: in a person dead more than a person living? But
Speaker 1: thy health and strength, child, they can never stand the
Speaker 1: severe application. And besides, suppose THEE does learn medicine, I
Speaker 1: will practice it here here where THEE and thy family
Speaker 1: are known. If I can get patience, I hope at
Speaker 1: least Ruth, THEE will let us know when THEE opens
Speaker 1: an office, said her mother, with an approach to sarcasm
Speaker 1: that she rarely indulged in. As she rose and left
Speaker 1: the room, Ruth sat quite still for a time, with
Speaker 1: face intent and flushed. It was out now she had
Speaker 1: begun her open battle. The sightseers returned in high spirits
Speaker 1: from the city. Was there any building in Greece to
Speaker 1: compare with Girard College? Was there ever such a magnificent
Speaker 1: pile of stone devised for the shelter of poor orphans?
Speaker 1: Think of the stone shingles of the roof eight inches thick.
Speaker 1: Ruth asked the enthusiasts if they would like to live
Speaker 1: in soch a sounding mausoleum, with its great halls and
Speaker 1: echoing rooms, and no comfortable place in it for the
Speaker 1: accommodation of anybody. If they were orphans, would they like
Speaker 1: to be brought up in a Grecian temple? And then
Speaker 1: there was Broad Street, wasn't it the broadest and the
Speaker 1: longest street in the world. There certainly was no end
Speaker 1: to it, And even Ruth was Philadelphian enough to believe
Speaker 1: that a street ought not to have any end or
Speaker 1: architectural point upon which the weary eye could rest. But
Speaker 1: neither Saint Gerard nor Broad Street, neither wonders of the mint,
Speaker 1: nor the glories of the hall where the ghosts of
Speaker 1: our fathers sit. Always signing the declaration impressed the visitors
Speaker 1: so much as the splendors of the Chestnut Street windows
Speaker 1: and the bargains on Eighth Street. The truth is that
Speaker 1: the country cousins had come to town to attend the
Speaker 1: yearly meeting, and the amount of shopping that preceded that
Speaker 1: religious event was scarcely exceeded by the preparations for the opera.
Speaker 1: In more worldly circles, is thee going to the yearly
Speaker 1: meeting Ruth asked one of the girls, I have nothing
Speaker 1: to wear, replied that demure person. If THEE wants to
Speaker 1: see new bonnets orthodox to a shade and conform to
Speaker 1: the letter of the true form, THEE must go to
Speaker 1: the Arch Street meeting. Any departure from either color or
Speaker 1: shape would be instantly taken note of. It has occupied
Speaker 1: Mother a long time to find at the shop's the
Speaker 1: exact shade for her new bonnet. Oh, THEE must go
Speaker 1: by all means. But THEE won't see there a sweeter
Speaker 1: woman than Mother, And THEE won't go. Why should I.
Speaker 1: I've been again and again. If I go to meeting
Speaker 1: at all, I like best to sit in the quiet
Speaker 1: old house in Germantown, where the windows are all open,
Speaker 1: and I can see the trees and hear the stir
Speaker 1: of the leaves. It's such a crush at the yearly
Speaker 1: meeting at Arch Street, and then there's the row of
Speaker 1: sleek looking young men who line the curbstone and stare
Speaker 1: at us as we come out. No, I don't feel
Speaker 1: at home there. That evening, Ruth and her father sat
Speaker 1: late by the drawing room fire, as they were quite
Speaker 1: apt to do at night. It was always a time
Speaker 1: of confidences. THEE has another letter from young Sterling, said
Speaker 1: Eli Bolton. Yes, Philip has gone to the far west.
Speaker 1: How far he doesn't say, but it's on the frontier,
Speaker 1: and on the map everything beyond it is marked indians
Speaker 1: and desert and looks as desolate as a Wednesday meeting. Hum.
Speaker 1: It was time for him to do something? Is he
Speaker 1: going to start a daily newspaper among the kickapoos? Father?
Speaker 1: He's unjust to Philip. He's going into business. What sort
Speaker 1: of business can a young man go into without capital?
Speaker 1: He doesn't say exactly what it is, said Ruth, a
Speaker 1: little dubiously, but it's something about land and railroads. And
Speaker 1: THEE knows, father, that fortunes are made, nobody knows exactly
Speaker 1: how in a new country, and I should think so,
Speaker 1: you innocent puss, and in an old one too. But
Speaker 1: Philip is honest, and he has talent enough if he
Speaker 1: will stop scribbling to make his way. But THEE may
Speaker 1: as well take care of THEE self, Ruth, and not
Speaker 1: go dawdling along with a young man in his adventures
Speaker 1: until thy own mind is a little more settled. What
Speaker 1: THEE wants? This excellent advice did not seem to impress
Speaker 1: Ruth greatly, for she was looking away with that abstraction
Speaker 1: of vision which often came into her gray eyes. And
Speaker 1: at length she exclaimed, with a sort of impatience, I
Speaker 1: wish I could go west or south or somewhere. What
Speaker 1: a box women are put into, measured for it, and
Speaker 1: put in young if we go anywhere, it's in a box,
Speaker 1: veiled and pinioned and shut in by disabilities. Father, I
Speaker 1: would like to break things and get loose. What a
Speaker 1: sweet voice, little innocent it was, to be sure THEE
Speaker 1: will no doubt break things enough when thy time comes. Child?
Speaker 1: Women always have. But what does THEE want now that
Speaker 1: the he hasn't? I want to be something, to make
Speaker 1: myself something, to do something. Why should I rust and
Speaker 1: be stupid and sit in inaction because I'm a girl.
Speaker 1: What would happen to me if THEE should lose thy
Speaker 1: property and die? What one useful thing could I do
Speaker 1: for a living for the support of mother and the children?
Speaker 1: And if I had a fortune, would THEE want me
Speaker 1: to lead a useless life? Has thy mother led a
Speaker 1: useless life? Somewhat? That depends upon whether her children amount
Speaker 1: to anything? Retorted the sharp little disputant, what's the good
Speaker 1: father of a series of human beings who don't advance
Speaker 1: any friend, Eli, who had long ago laid aside the
Speaker 1: Quaker dress and was out of meeting, and who, in fact,
Speaker 1: after a youth of doubt, could not yet define his
Speaker 1: belief nevertheless looked with some wonder at this fierce young
Speaker 1: eagle of his hatched in a friend's dovecote. But he
Speaker 1: only said, has THEE consulted thy mother about a career?
Speaker 1: I suppose it is a career THEE wants. Ruth did
Speaker 1: not reply directly. She complained that her mother didn't understand her,
Speaker 1: but that wise and placid woman understood the sweet rebel
Speaker 1: a great deal better than Ruth understood herself. She also
Speaker 1: had a history, possibly, and had some time beaten her
Speaker 1: young wings against the cage of custom, and indulged in
Speaker 1: dreams of a new social order, and had passed through
Speaker 1: that fiery period when it seems possible for one mind,
Speaker 1: which has not yet tried its limits, to break up
Speaker 1: and re arrange the world. Ruth replied to Philip's letter
Speaker 1: in due time, and in the most cordial and unsentimental manner.
Speaker 1: Philip liked the letter as he did everything she did,
Speaker 1: but he had a dim notion that there was more
Speaker 1: about herself in the letter than about him. He took
Speaker 1: it with him from the Southern Hotel when he went
Speaker 1: to walk, and read it over and again in an
Speaker 1: unfrequented street as he stumbled along the rather commonplace. An
Speaker 1: unformed handwriter seemed to him peculiar and characteristic, different from
Speaker 1: that of any other woman. Ruth was glad to hear
Speaker 1: that Philip had made a push into the world, and
Speaker 1: she was sure that his talent and courage would make
Speaker 1: a way for him. She would pray for his success
Speaker 1: at any rate, and especially that the Indians in Saint
Speaker 1: Louis would not take his scalp. Philip looked rather dubious
Speaker 1: at this sentence, and wished that he had written nothing
Speaker 1: about Indians. End of Chapter fourteen.