Speaker 1: This is section fifty two of The Gilded Age. This
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age,
Speaker 1: A Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner,
Speaker 1: Chapter fifty two. The weeks drifted by monotonously enough now
Speaker 1: the preliminaries continued to drag along in Congress, and life
Speaker 1: was a dull suspense to sellers in Washington, a weary
Speaker 1: waiting which might have broken their hearts, maybe, but for
Speaker 1: the relieving change which they got out of an occasional
Speaker 1: visit to New York to see Laura. Standing guard in
Speaker 1: Washington or anywhere else is not an exciting business in
Speaker 1: time of peace. But standing guard was all that the
Speaker 1: two friends had to do. All that was needed of
Speaker 1: them was that they should be on hand and ready
Speaker 1: for any emergency that might come up. There was no
Speaker 1: work to do, that was all finished. This was but
Speaker 1: the second session of the last winter's Congress, and its
Speaker 1: action on the bill could have but one result its passage.
Speaker 1: The House must do its work over again, of course,
Speaker 1: but the same membership was there to see that it
Speaker 1: did it. The Senate was secure. Senator Dilworthy was able
Speaker 1: to put all doubts to rest on that head. Indeed,
Speaker 1: it was no secret in Washington that a two thirds
Speaker 1: vote in the Senate was ready and waiting to be
Speaker 1: cast for the University bill, as soon as it should
Speaker 1: come before that body. Washington did not take part in
Speaker 1: the gaieties of the season, as he had done the
Speaker 1: previous winter. He had lost his interest in such things.
Speaker 1: He was oppressed with cares. Now, Senator Dilworthy said to
Speaker 1: Washington that a humble deportment under punishment was best, and
Speaker 1: that there was but one way in which the troubled
Speaker 1: heart might find perfect repose and peace. The suggestion found
Speaker 1: a response in Washington's breast, and the Senator saw the
Speaker 1: sign of it in his face. From that moment one
Speaker 1: could find the youth with the Senator even oftener than
Speaker 1: with Colonel Sellers. When the Statesman presided at Great Temperance meetings,
Speaker 1: he placed water Washington in the front rank of impressive
Speaker 1: dignitaries that gave tone to the occasion and pomp to
Speaker 1: the platform. His bald headed surroundings made the youth the
Speaker 1: more conspicuous. When the Statesman made remarks in these meetings,
Speaker 1: he not infrequently alluded with the effect to the encouraging
Speaker 1: spectacle of one of the wealthiest and most brilliant young
Speaker 1: favorites of society, forsaking the light vanities of that butterfly existence,
Speaker 1: to nobly and self sacrificingly devote his talents and his
Speaker 1: riches to the cause of saving his hapless fellow creatures
Speaker 1: from shame and misery here and eternal regret hereafter. At
Speaker 1: the prayer meetings, the Senator always brought Washington up the
Speaker 1: isle on his arm and seated him prominently in his prayers.
Speaker 1: He referred to him in the cant terms which the
Speaker 1: Senator employed, perhaps unconsciously, and mistook maybe for religion, and
Speaker 1: in other ways brought him into notice. He had him
Speaker 1: out at gatherings for the benefit of the Negro, gatherings
Speaker 1: for the benefit of the Indian, gatherings, for the benefit
Speaker 1: of the heathen in distant lands. He had him out
Speaker 1: of time, and again before Sunday schools, as an example
Speaker 1: for emulation. Upon all these occasions, the Senator made casual
Speaker 1: references to many benevolent enterprises which his ardent young friend
Speaker 1: was planning against the day when the passage of the
Speaker 1: University Bill should make his means available for the amelioration
Speaker 1: of the condition of the unfortunate among his fellow men
Speaker 1: of all nations and all climes. Thus, as the weeks
Speaker 1: rolled on, Washington grew up into an imposing lion once more,
Speaker 1: with a lion that roamed the peaceful fields of religion
Speaker 1: and temperance, and revisited the glittering domain of fashion no more.
Speaker 1: A great moral influence was thus brought to bear in
Speaker 1: favor of the bill. The weightiest of friends flocked to
Speaker 1: its standard, Its most energetic enemies that it was useless
Speaker 1: to fight longer. They had tacitly surrendered, while as yet
Speaker 1: the day of the battle was not come. End of
Speaker 1: chapter fifty two