Speaker 1: This is section fifty three 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 three. The session was drawing toward its close.
Speaker 1: Senator Dilworthy thought he would run out west and shake
Speaker 1: hands with his constituents and let them look at him.
Speaker 1: The legislature, whose duty it would be to re elect
Speaker 1: him to the United States Senate, was already in session.
Speaker 1: Mister Dilworthy considered his re election certain. But he was
Speaker 1: a careful, painstaking man, and if by visiting his state
Speaker 1: he could find the opportunity to persuade a few more
Speaker 1: legislators to vote for him, he held the journey to
Speaker 1: be well worth taking. The university bill was safe now
Speaker 1: he could leave it without fear it needed his presence
Speaker 1: and his watching no longer. But there was a person
Speaker 1: in his state legislature who did need watching, a person
Speaker 1: who Senator Dilworthy said was a narrow, grumbling, uncomfortable malcint
Speaker 1: a person who was stolidly opposed to reform and progress.
Speaker 1: And him, a person who he feared had been bought
Speaker 1: with money to combat him, and through him the commonwealths
Speaker 1: welfare and its politics purity. If this person, noble, said
Speaker 1: mister Dilworthy, in a little speech at a dinner party
Speaker 1: given him by some of his admirers, merely desire to
Speaker 1: sacrifice me, I would willingly offer up my political life
Speaker 1: on the altar of my dear state's weal. I would
Speaker 1: be glad and grateful to do it. But when he
Speaker 1: makes of me but a cloak to hide his deeper designs,
Speaker 1: when he proposes to strike through me at the heart
Speaker 1: of my beloved state, all the lion in me is roused.
Speaker 1: And I say here I stand solitary and alone, but unflinching,
Speaker 1: unquailing thrice, armed with my sacred trust. And whoso passes
Speaker 1: to do evil to this fair domain that looks to
Speaker 1: me for protection, must do so over my dead body.
Speaker 1: He further said that if this noble were a pure
Speaker 1: man and merely misguided, he could bear it, but that
Speaker 1: he should succeed in his wicked designs through a base
Speaker 1: use of money, would leave a blot upon his state,
Speaker 1: which would work untold evil to the morals of the people,
Speaker 1: and that he would not suffer the public morals must
Speaker 1: not be contaminated. He would seek this man Noble. He
Speaker 1: would argue, he would persuade, he would appeal to his honor.
Speaker 1: When he arrived on the ground, he found his friends unterrified.
Speaker 1: They were standing firmly by him and were full of courage.
Speaker 1: Noble was working hard, too, but matters were against him.
Speaker 1: He was not making much progress. Mister Dilworthy took an
Speaker 1: early opportunity to send for mister Noble. He had a
Speaker 1: midnight interview with him and urged him to forsake his
Speaker 1: evil ways. He begged him to come again and again,
Speaker 1: which he did. He finally sent the man away at
Speaker 1: three o'clock one morning, and when he was gone, mister
Speaker 1: Dilworthy said to himself, I feel a good deal relieve,
Speaker 1: now a great deal relieved. The Senator now turned his
Speaker 1: attention to matters touching the souls of his people. He
Speaker 1: appeared in church, He took a leading part in prayer meetings.
Speaker 1: He met and encouraged the temperance societies. He graced the
Speaker 1: sewing circles of the ladies with his presence, and even
Speaker 1: took a needle now and then and made a stitch
Speaker 1: or two upon a calico shirt for some poor bibleless
Speaker 1: pagan of the South Seas, and this act enchanted the ladies,
Speaker 1: who regarded the garments thus honored as in a manner sanctified.
Speaker 1: The senator wrought in Bible classes, and nothing could keep
Speaker 1: him away from the Sunday schools, neither sickness, nor storms,
Speaker 1: nor weariness. He even traveled a tedious thirty miles in
Speaker 1: a poor, little rickety stage coach to comply with the
Speaker 1: desire of the miserable hamlet of Cattleville that he would
Speaker 1: let its Sunday school look upon him all the time
Speaker 1: was assembled at the stage office. When he arrived, two
Speaker 1: bonfires were burning, and a battery of anvils was popping.
Speaker 1: Exultant broadsides for a United States Senator was a sort
Speaker 1: of God in the understanding of these people, who never
Speaker 1: had seen any creature mightier than a county judge. To them,
Speaker 1: a United States Senator was a vast, vague colossus, an
Speaker 1: awe inspiring unreality. Next day, everybody was at the village church,
Speaker 1: a full half hour before time for Sunday school to open.
Speaker 1: Ranchmen and farmers had come with their families from five
Speaker 1: miles round, all eager to get a glimpse of the
Speaker 1: great man, the man who had been to Washington, the
Speaker 1: man who had seen the President of the United States
Speaker 1: and had even talked with him, the man who had
Speaker 1: seen the actual Washington Monument, perhaps touched it with his hands.
Speaker 1: When the Senator arrived, the church was crowded. The windows
Speaker 1: were full, the aisles were packed, so was the vestibule,
Speaker 1: and so indeed was the yard in front of the building.
Speaker 1: As he worked his way through to the pulpit on
Speaker 1: the arm of the minister, and followed by the envied
Speaker 1: officials of the village, every neck was stretched and every
Speaker 1: eye twisted around, intervening obstructions to get a glimpse. Elderly
Speaker 1: people directed each other's attention and said, there, that's him
Speaker 1: with a grand noble forehead. Boys nudged each other and said, hi, Johnny,
Speaker 1: here he is. There, that's him with a peeled head.
Speaker 1: The Senator took his seat in the pulpit, with a
Speaker 1: minister on one side of him and the superintendent of the
Speaker 1: Sunday School on the other. The town dignitary sat in
Speaker 1: an impressive row within the altar railings below. The Sunday
Speaker 1: school children occupied ten of the front benches, dressed in
Speaker 1: their best and most uncomfortable clothes, and with hair combed
Speaker 1: and faces too clean to feel natural. So awed were
Speaker 1: they by the presence of a living United States Senator
Speaker 1: that during three minutes not a spitball was thrown. After
Speaker 1: that they began to come to themselves by degrees, and
Speaker 1: presently the spell was wholly gone, and they were reciting
Speaker 1: verses and pulling hair. The usual Sunday school exercises were
Speaker 1: hurried through, and then the minister got up and boarded
Speaker 1: the house with a speech built on the customary Sunday
Speaker 1: school plan. Then the superintendent put in his oar. Then
Speaker 1: the town dignitaries had their say. They all made complimentary
Speaker 1: reference to their friend the Senator, and told what a
Speaker 1: great and illustrious man he was, and what he had
Speaker 1: done for his country and for religion and temperance, and
Speaker 1: exhorted the little boys to be good and diligent and
Speaker 1: try to become like him some day. The speakers won
Speaker 1: the deathless hatred of the house by these delays. But
Speaker 1: at last there was an end, and hope revived, inspiration
Speaker 1: was about to find utterance. Senator Dilworthy rose and beamed
Speaker 1: upon the assemblage for a full minute in silence. Then
Speaker 1: he smiled with an access of sweetness upon the children,
Speaker 1: and began, My little friends. For I hope that all
Speaker 1: these bright faced little people are my friends, and will
Speaker 1: let me be their friend, My little friends. I have
Speaker 1: traveled much. I have been in many cities and many states,
Speaker 1: everywhere in our great and noble country, And by the
Speaker 1: blessing of Providence, I have been permitted to see many
Speaker 1: gatherings like this. But I am proud. I am truly
Speaker 1: proud to say that I never have looked upon so
Speaker 1: much intelligence, so much grace, such sweetness of disposition, as
Speaker 1: I see in the charming young countenances I see before me.
Speaker 1: At this moment, I have been asking myself as I
Speaker 1: sat here, Where am I Am I in some far
Speaker 1: off monarchy looking upon little princes and princesses. No am
Speaker 1: I in some populous center of my own country, where
Speaker 1: the choicest children of the land have been selected and
Speaker 1: brought together as at affair for a prize. No am
Speaker 1: I in some strange foreign clime where the children are
Speaker 1: marvels that we know not of. No? Then, where am I? Yes,
Speaker 1: where am I I am in a simple remote, unpretending
Speaker 1: settlement of my own dear state. And these are the
Speaker 1: children of the noble and virtuous men who have made
Speaker 1: me what I am. My soul is lost in wonder
Speaker 1: at the thought, and I humbly thank him to whom
Speaker 1: we are but as worms of the dust, that he
Speaker 1: has been pleased to call me to serve such men.
Speaker 1: Earth has no higher, no grander position for me. Let
Speaker 1: kings and emperors keep their tinsel crowns. I want them not.
Speaker 1: My heart is here again, I thought, Is this a theater? No?
Speaker 1: Is it a concert or a gilded opera? No? Is
Speaker 1: it some other vain, brilliant, beautiful temple of soul staining
Speaker 1: amusement and hilarity. No, then what is it? What did
Speaker 1: my consciousness reply? I ask you, my little friends. What
Speaker 1: did my consciousness reply? It replied, it is the temple
Speaker 1: of the Lord Ah. Think of that. Now I could
Speaker 1: hardly keep the tears back. I was so grateful. Oh,
Speaker 1: how beautiful it is to see these ranks of sunny
Speaker 1: little faces assembled here to learn the way of life,
Speaker 1: to learn to be good, to learn to be useful,
Speaker 1: to learn to be pious, to learn to be great
Speaker 1: and glorious. Men and women, to learn to be props
Speaker 1: and pillars of the state, and shining lights in the
Speaker 1: councils and the households of the nation, to be bearers
Speaker 1: of the banner and soldiers of the cross in the
Speaker 1: rude campaigns of life, and raptured souls in the happy
Speaker 1: fields of paradise. Hereafter, children, honor your parents, and be
Speaker 1: grateful to them for providing for you the precious privileges
Speaker 1: of a Sunday school. Now, my dear little friends, sit
Speaker 1: up straight and pretty. There, that's it, and give me
Speaker 1: your attention. And let me tell you about a poor
Speaker 1: little Sunday school scholar. I once knew he lived in
Speaker 1: the far West, and his parents were poor. They could
Speaker 1: not give him a costly education. But they were good
Speaker 1: and wise, and they sent him to the Sunday school.
Speaker 1: He loved the Sunday school. I hope you love your
Speaker 1: Sunday school. Ah, I see by your faces that you do.
Speaker 1: That is right. Well. This poor little boy was always
Speaker 1: in his place when the bell rang, and he always
Speaker 1: knew his lesson, for his teachers wanted him to learn,
Speaker 1: and he loved his teachers. Dearly. Always love your teachers,
Speaker 1: my children, for they love you more than you can know. Now,
Speaker 1: he would not let bad boys persuade him to go
Speaker 1: to play on Sunday. There was one little bad boy
Speaker 1: who was always trying to persuade him, but he never could.
Speaker 1: So this poor little boy grew up to be a
Speaker 1: man and had to go out in the world, far
Speaker 1: from home and friends to earn his living. Temptations lay
Speaker 1: all about him, and sometimes he was about to yield,
Speaker 1: but he would think of some precious lesson he learned
Speaker 1: in his Sunday school a long time ago, and that
Speaker 1: would save him. By and by he was elected to
Speaker 1: the legislature. Then he did everything he could for Sunday schools.
Speaker 1: He got laws passed for them, he got Sunday schools
Speaker 1: established wherever he could, and by and by the people
Speaker 1: made him governor, and he said it was all owing
Speaker 1: to the Sunday school. After a while, the people elected
Speaker 1: him a representative to the Congress of the United States,
Speaker 1: and he grew very famous. Now temptations assailed him on
Speaker 1: every hand. People tried to get him to drink wine,
Speaker 1: to dance, to go to theaters. They even tried to
Speaker 1: buy his vote. But no, the memory of his Sunday
Speaker 1: school saved him from all harm. He remembered the fate
Speaker 1: of the bad little boy who used to try to
Speaker 1: get him to play on Sunday, and who grew up
Speaker 1: and became a drunkard and was hanged. He remembered that
Speaker 1: and was glad he never yielded and played on Sunday. Well,
Speaker 1: at last, what do you think happened? Why the people
Speaker 1: gave him a towering, illustrous position, a grand imposing position.
Speaker 1: And what do you think it was? What should you say?
Speaker 1: It was? Children? It was Senator of the United States,
Speaker 1: That poor little boy that loved his Sunday school became
Speaker 1: that man. That man stands before you, all that he is.
Speaker 1: He owes to the Sunday school. My precious children, love
Speaker 1: your parents, love your teachers, love your Sunday school. Be pious,
Speaker 1: be obedient, be honest, be diligent, and then you will
Speaker 1: succeed in life and be honored of all men. Above
Speaker 1: all things, my children, be honest, above all things, be
Speaker 1: pure minded as the snow. Let us join in prayer.
Speaker 1: When Senator Dilworthy departed from Cattleville, he left three dozen
Speaker 1: boys behind him, arranging a campaign of life whose objective
Speaker 1: point was the United States Senate. When he arrived at
Speaker 1: the state capitol at midnight, mister Noble came and held
Speaker 1: a three hours conference with him, and then as he
Speaker 1: was about leaving, said, I've worked hard, and I've got
Speaker 1: them at last. Six of them haven't got quite backbone
Speaker 1: enough to slew around and come right out for you
Speaker 1: on the first ballot tomorrow. But they are going to
Speaker 1: vote against you on the first for the sake of appearances,
Speaker 1: and then come out for you all in a body
Speaker 1: in the second. I've fixed all that. By supper time
Speaker 1: tomorrow you'll be re elected, and you can go to
Speaker 1: bed and sleep easy on that. After mister Noble was gone,
Speaker 1: the Senator said, well, to bring about a complexion of
Speaker 1: things like this was worth coming west for. End of
Speaker 1: chapter fifty three.