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LIBRAR

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.

Accessions

CHKT O K

Chm No.

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RETURN

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HONVEUSE

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THE REAL AGITATOR IS THE CONSERVATIVE.

TUMULTS ARE CAUSED BY THE FIXED ROCKS THE CONSERVATIVES
IN THE STREAM OF PROGRESS.

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CHARLES L. WEBSTER AND COMPANY
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK MDCCCXCII

to*

COPYRIGHT, 1892,
CHAS. L. WEBSTER & CO.

(All rights reserved.)

JENKINS & McCovvAN, PRINTERS,
NEW YORK.

Jbretuorfr,

THE purest saint who ever lived has had
thoughts as evil, perhaps, as any that ever
entered the mind of the most abandoned;
but these thoughts, like vultures that fly
through the summer sky, leave no trace be
hind in the crystal mental atmosphere of the
saint.

We are responsible only for such thoughts
as we, by our own choice, detain and harbor
in our minds. Our responsibility begins
when we interrupt the flight of the vulture,
and tempt it to alight by the offer of food.
The evil becomes our own when the vulture
becomes domesticated.

Many birds-of-paradise, glittering as with
the splendor caught from the inmost heaven,
fly through the clouded minds of the most

Xll FOREWORD.

depraved; but if there is no home nor food
offered them, they also disappear and leave
no trace of what has passed through the
mind. The good comes only with the do
mestication of the birds-of-paradise.

Through the mental heavens of the author,
two birds, " Moonblight " and "Six Feet of
Romance," have flown, and he is responsi
ble for them only so far as he has sheltered
and fed them. They came from a land be
yond his ken, and would, like birds of pas
sage, have flow r n on, and left nothing to tell
of their existence had not their strange
notes attracted his attention and interest.
One twittered a light song, and the cry of
the other was the warning scream of a
mother bird. Although neither may possess
the brilliant plumage of the bird-of-paradise,
yet the author trusts and believes that neither
may be classed with the vulture.

Who can deny that the old-fashioned
superstition that certain men sell themselves
to the devil is a literal truth of to-day? His
Satanic Majesty uses them as overseers on his

FOREWORD. Xlll

earthly plantations; and for that proud office,
and the emoluments that go with it, these
men have bartered their souls.

If a word or sentence in this book should
cause a single slave-driver to transmute the
baser earthly coin into the fine gold of love
and the silver of truth, the author will
know he has not been deceived in the nature
of the birds that have visited him.

If you place a valuable picture with its
face against the wall, and leave it in dark
ness, the beautiful tints will fade, the white
turn yellow, the flesh-tints green, and the
whole become dim, indistinct, and ugly in
color; but if this same picture be placed in
God s clear sunshine, the colors will return
to all their original brightness, enriched and
deepened by their temporary exile in the
darkness.

There is a wall called Vested Rights,
which prevents nature s sun from shining on
our fellow-men; but, thank God! good work
men are busy at its foundation; it is already
undermined and must fall. Then, and then

XIV FOREWORD.

only, will the poor tramp, the beggar, and
the white slave begin to show the true color
of their manhood.

Cist of 3llu0tration0

PAGE

Frontispiece.

Initial Letter (Chapter I.) 17

" I Could not Light My Pipe " ...... 19

To Let 30

"So My Chain s Makin Me a Slave, See?" ... 34

Seeing Things as They Really Are 37

Initial Letter (Chapter II.) 42

The Witch . . . . 44

" I Wish I Could See Things as They Really Are " . . 47
"The Cursed Pigskin-Covered Book" . . . . 54

Initial Letter (Chapter III.) 59

" I Had Attended a Meeting of Mine Owners" . . .Co
" A Red-Mouthed Wolf with White Fangs" ... 66
" True Expression of the Inner Mr. White " . . . -67

Initial Letter (Chapter IV.) 72

A Type of the Modern So-Called Christian . . . -75
Prejudice .......... 81

" Now, Mister, What Does That Mean?" . . . .83

" Now, Mister, What Does That Mean?" .... 85

" What Does This Mean, Mister, Say?" . . . .87

One of the Customers ....... 90

A Forgotten Well 92

Initial Letter (Chapter V.) 95

"The Moon is All Right" 96

Prof. Follium ......... 97

Clint Butts, My Superintendent ...... 104

The Old Continental 117

" The Old White-Faced Moon Saw This " . . . .120

Initial Letter (Chapter VI.) 128

A Sketch From Nature 130

xv

XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PACE

Its Application ......... 131

" I Am a Firm Believer in Gnomes," etc. . . . 134, 135

Initial Letter (Chapter VII.) 146

Ah, the Hardship, Privation, and Suffering of a Strike ! . 147
The Law Locks up What a Loving God Has Created for His

Children ........ 148, 149

The People in the Cities Read of These Strikes, and Grum
ble at the Inconvenience It Causes Them" . . .151

Modern Civilization ........ 154

The Editor . . . . . . . , . .156

Two Distracted Mothers Were Sobbing, etc. . , 159

What Abe Lincoln Did Say 163

" Force Begets Force" 167

Initial Letter (Chapter VIII.) 174

The Old Paths 182

A Red-Faced Old Club-Man 184

New Paths 189

The Woman s War-Club . . ..... 193

The End 197

Initial Letter (Six Feet of Romance) 201

The Great Log Fire 203

An Old-Fashioned Foot-Stove ...... 204

" A Hand Reached Out of the Haze" .... 206

" There Were Two Feet Side by Side " 208

A Pair of Yellow-Topped Boots 210

I Have Always Regarded These Boots with a Feeling Akin

to Awe 2I2

Self-Conscious Boots 214

Two Hands Reached Down Simultaneously, as if to Take the

Stove 2l6

" Only to Immediately Appear " 218

Tail-Piece 221

MOONBLIGHT.

ISMAL, dismal, dismal !
Rain in torrents, rain in
drizzles, rain in mist !
Big rolling- clouds of smoke
and mist, low-hanging gray
clouds, fast-driving, ragged aerial
tramps of the sky !

Howls of angry winds, moans of
melancholy winds, sobs and sighs
of w r eary winds !

Such was the history of the day
after my arrival at the straggling,
dirty mining town in Pennsylvania
where my business had called me.
My steam yacht was at Port
Jefferson, Long Island, out of com
mission for the winter. I had parted
with my jolly comrades only two
days ago, but it seemed like ages.
The American House, where I
was domiciled, is a
^P^^> small frame building,

1 8 MOONBLIGHT.

the counterpart of hundreds of others of the
same name scattered all over Uncle Sam s
broad domain.

I had drummed upon the battered piano
in the second-floor parlor ; I had lounged in
the dreary apartment which served as bar
room and office ; I had examined the prints
of gorgeous and not over-modest females
posing in lithographic ink as advertisements
for sundry cigarette firms ; I had thrown my
self upon the gaudy bedquilt that covered
the couch where I had slept the night before,
but the cotton-seed oil in which my eggs
were fried, or the greenish-yellow saleratus
biscuit, or their combination, had given me
heart-burn and indigestion.

For the twentieth time I took my pipe from
its satin-lined case. Even this appeared to
share the general depression : the beautiful
amber mouthpiece seemed a trifle more
cloudy, the richly colored brown bowl, in
which I took so much pride, was covered
with a thin mist that dulled the warm tints.

I wiped off the pipe, filled it, and after
wasting breath and endangering my soul by
meaningless epithets applied to the country
matches that would not ignite, I broke a
whole section of them off the block. They

MOONBLIGHT.

stood up like a file of sol
diers, just as regular and
just as stupid. One brisk
rub across my trouser s
leg, a smudge, a smell of
brimstone, and then a
flame. I could not light
my pipe: it would not
draw.

I threw pipe and tobacco
on top of my sole-leather
trunk, and went to the win
dow. It was covered with
mist. With my hand I
wiped clear a spot large
enough to look through.

A dismal, straggling
street met my view a dis
couraged - looking
street, with a pre-
ponderance of
mud and saloons.
Trudging along
in a disheartened
sort of manner
came a file of
black-faced, black-
handed, dirty, wet

I COULD NOT LIGHT MY PIPE
WOULD NOT DRAW."

: IT

2O MOONBLIGHT.

men and boys, each with a clanking- dinner-
pail Somehow or other the clanking pails
reminded me of clanking chains, while the
coal-dust on their faces rendered it impossible
to tell whether the real color of the skins was
bjack or white. The next instant a picture
that I had seen somewhere of a gang of black
slaves rose before me. I turned from the
window in despair, and my eyes fell upon a
shelf of books.

The landlord had informed me, the night
before, when I registered, that there was no
room vacant, but that he would put me in a
room usually occupied by a regular boarder,
who was at present temporarily absent; and
this was the room.

In the corner stood a fowling-piece in its
leathern case ; alongside of it were several
fishing-rods in their drab cloth covers. These
and other articles of a like nature, hanging
in the corner, under and around the book
shelves, I now noticed for the first time, and
they gave me the only thrill of pleasure that
I had experienced since my arrival the night
before.

The presence of the rod and gun brought
on an independent camp-life feeling. I picked
up my pipe, and with a broomstraw removed

MOONBLIGHT. 2 1

the obstruction in the stem, and refilled it
with aromatic tobacco. I shook th*e ashes
from the prim, cylindrical stove, and put on
more coal ; then, selecting a glowing" coal
from the ashes, by skillful juggling, and by
dint of keeping it moving from one hand to
the other, as I had learned in camp to do, I
guided it successfully to my pipe s bowl, and
soon had a beautiful light with no taint of
sulphur matches. Then, throwing a wrap
over a rocking-chair, and lighting the coal-
oil lamp, I fixed myself comfortably before
the stove with a book.

Although my life since leaving Ohio had
been one of pleasure and idleness, I had a
strong inherited attachment for books, and I
never saw a strange volume without experi
encing an almost irresistible desire to know
what was contained between its covers.
Many social engagements have I broken by
becoming absorbed in some quaint volume
found in one of the numerous bookstands
that abound on Ann, Nassau, and Fulton
streets.

Evidently the regular boarder was a man
with tastes similar to mine ; for although the
books on his shelves were not numerous,
they were all quaint and such as I would

22 MOONBLIGHT.

select; but most of them were strangers
to me. If his room had been in the city,
where the money-value of such treasures
is known, he most probably would have
been compelled to keep them under lock and
key. Here, however, their safety lay in the
ignorance of the people, who probably would
never be tempted even to examine such an
antiquated, dilapidated-looking collection.

How r ever that might be, there the books
were in plain sight, now that the lamp was
lighted and my attention attracted to them,
and formed a sight to make a book-fancier s
heart beat and his fingers itch.

In selecting the volume I was to read, I
instinctively chose one of the most worn and
ancient in appearance. The fire brightened,
the sound of dripping rain and sobbing wind
was lost to my ear, the biscuit and cotton
seed oil at last gave up their struggle with a
healthy digestion, my pipe never tasted
sweeter, and the rude jests and brutal oaths
of the bar-room loungers below became but
a subdued murmur.

There came a sound louder than the moan
ing winds ; it grew in intensity, now louder
still, now deafening, but I heeded it not. It
was the supper-gong. Buried deep in the

MOONBLIGHT. 23

interesting work of spelling- out the black-
lettered words and admiring the brilliantly
illuminated initials of the parchment leaves
of the book, the indigestible supper had no
charms for me.

" Dreams and Moonblight " is the title
of the work. The book was evidently writ
ten after printing was invented and when
black-letter was falling into disuse ; yet the
monkish author, with the reverence for tradi
tion born of his life and the teachings of his
church, had painfully written the book by
hand, letter for letter, giving the same
amount of thought and skill to the artistic
handling of his pen as he did to the literary
composition. The golden illuminated ini
tials were exquisitely done and of the medi
aeval Celtic style of ornament.

I had indeed discovered a triumph of the
book-making art, nor did its contents lack
interest. It contained quaint old bits of
philosophy and a knowledge of nature that
must have placed the author far in advance
of the scholars of his time. His reasoning
was marked by a clear and concise method,
and, in spite of the antique manner of ex
pression, was not difficult to understand. At
least, so it appeared to me. As I turned

MOONBLIGHT.

over the stained yellow vellum leaves, a more
than usually curious, ornate, and intricate
initial met my eye ; it evidently denoted
an important chapter. I began to read,
and as I read the black-letter became more
familiar, the initials were unnoticed, my
interest as a collector was absorbed in my
interest as a bookworm.

After a long apology for daring to think
that everything in nature was not a succes
sion of miracles of the prestidigitator s sort,
but only law-abiding events, the old monk
began his essay as follows :

<l\<& 3 0et before tiou gooft
reader manji goob goWn
truths a0 3 tlftnk it gooft anfo
nece00arn anlr inn bounftcn
ftutne to aquatint JIM uritl).

^Iccoriitnge to ttye santuge
of Sainct Augustine : a0 tljerc 10,
ncntljn* 0l)all bt, ann tnnc anpunisljtb
ciuu 00 01) all tljerc not be ann gooi

gl) goolt rcabcr 3 write in plaimc
tcrincs, anb not 00 pla^nclg a0 trulji,

MOONBLIGHT.

concerning fyt laws of breams, meaning Ijoncstln to
all men anb nrisl) tljcm as mud) goob as mjnie oume
f)arte.

tllitl) stout aubacitg anb bolbe roorbs 3 gtoe mg
tljougl)ts.

till) en a Ijcaltlju l)olsome man l)as l)abbe great
djccre tuitl) mud) goobe meatc anb breab anb net
agannc mud) more meat anb breab anb fell to l)is
mammerings anb moudjcb apace, anb aganne, because
of l)ts grcate l)unger or l)oggtsl)ness, l)as taken more
cljcer, it be not unse for l)im to seek l)is couclje.

JFor u)Ijen I)c l)as pluckcb off I)is jerkin, untrusscb
l)tm anb remoneb I)is Ijoscn anb got Ijtm to bcbbc, Ijc
uitll oft times Ijane untoruarb anb unlb visions anb
bn tl)e mass 3 mist not but Ijc bo sobanln u^ake.

^Iganne tljere be ccrtnne persons ru!)o bg reason
of uieakncss or sickness t)at)e bloub tl)at goetl) but
softln ujttl) not passing Ijaste, ivljcn tl)cn sleep anb
tl)csc persons are likeunse troublcb will) melenconlc
fantasies anb penisl) ougln breams.

Jf for ensamplc 3 bream tl)at our most I)oln anb
reuereneb brother ^Uucfclb comes to me in gcrksomc
attnrc anb tl)is glnmmernnge fantasie untl) grcte
smorb letcs brnue uiitl) sobbcn force at me anli 3
moue not for lack of pomer to stepe but wake, mitl)
mud) breab anb in grcte frtgljt. 3 crn out roll oner
anb tl)e fear beparts l)encc anb nanisljes aumiie luitl)
tlje trisions it conjurcb up.

26 MOONBLIGHT.

The author then proceeds to explain that
persons suffering from " moonblight " are
all those who are unable to distinguish
their dreams from the realities of life. He
showed how, in the " ensample " given
above, if the author had not known after
wakening, that his dream was not real, he
would, at first sight of the harmless brother
" Awefeld," have fled in great terror, or, worse
still, have attacked the inoffensive subject of
his nightmare with the first deadly weapon
he could lay his hands on, and think he was
only fighting to save his own life.

I had read thus far, and was thinking
what a reasonable theory this was, when,
before my mind s eye rose that cursed pic
ture of a gang of black slaves with clanking
chains that I had seen in the dirty wet street
outside. It did not at first occur to me that
the sight of black slaves in a Pennsylvania
town was at all unusual, and I was only an
noyed that my thoughts should revert to
such unpleasant subjects ; but when I real
ized the improbability and absurdity of negro
slaves being in the streets of any town in the
United States, twenty-five years after Abra
ham Lincoln had signed a document freeing
them all, and when I thought of what the

MOONB LIGHT. 2 7

strange book said of the mooncalf that con
founded his dreams with realities, I was
alarmed.

" God ield the moonling ! " I exclaimed
as I flung the beautiful book upon the floor
and hastily leaped from my chair.

Like a mendicant at the doorway of the
mind, Fear ever stands begging for mental
food and shelter. If alms are constantly and
emphatically denied, the importunities of
the mendicant become fainter and fainter
until they are inaudible and we are uncon
scious of the pauper s presence. But food
makes Fear a lusty beggar, whose strength
and impudence are in direct proportion to
the amount of nourishment he receives; and
if but once he gains an entrance to the house
of the mind, like a burly tramp, he will wreck
the edifice and evict the tenants whose hos
pitality he has accepted.

It has not been my custom to extend any
hospitality to Fear, and I have never been
considered a coward ; yet the horrible
thought that my reason was leaving me I
had never before faced, and the bare idea
made my heart stand still ; cold chills ran in
waves down my spine, and the hair on the
nape of my neck rose like that on the back

2 8 MOO NB LIGH 7 .

of a frightened dog". I felt as though some
horrible thing, vague and shadowy, was hov
ering over me, shutting off both air and light.
My only thought was of escape escape
from myself ! With a stifled cry I fled down
the stairs to the smoky bar-room below.

The room was filled with rough men,
drinking, swearing, and telling rude, point
less stories. No one noticed my agitation,
nor in fact did my sudden appearance attract
attention, which was a relief to my worried
mind and made it easy for me to invite the
crowd to the bar. I invited all of them, and
they came up, but looked at me askance.
With assumed abandon I seated myself upon
the counter, and told all the stories I knew,
and sang the jolliest " shanty " (chanty)
songs, but the chorus was weak, and one by
one the company I had thrust myself upon
deserted, until at last the drowsy bar-keeper
was the only companion left to me. My
money and my powers of entertaining, that
I had so often used with success aboard my
yacht, did not prove attractive enough to
secure me a handful of men to make a night
of it with. However, I had in a measure re
gained my composure, and my native pluck
helped in my need, while the thought of

MOONBLIGHT. 2 9

what my old comrades would say, if they
saw me lose courage over a fit of indiges
tion, set me on my feet again. After helping
the bar-keeper close up, I returned to my
room. Before I could seat myself there was
a knock at my unclosed door, and, looking
around, I saw Sam, the bar-keeper, whom I
had just left.

" Come in," I said, not for politeness sake,
but with the hope that he would do so,
" Come in, Sam, and have a smoke ! "

Thanks," said Sam; "I thought I would
drop in a minute to tell you that it s no use
your trying to make friends with them fel
lers," jerking his thumb in a manner that in
dicated the bar-room, " for they s outer yer
and know that you re one of the mine own
ers."

" Sit down, Sam," said I, in a cordial man
ner cordial, because I liked Sam, and was in
hopes he would sit down.

Sam seated himself, but declined to smoke,
and as an apology said he never had learned
how to use tobacco.

"Now, Sam," said I, " what s the matter
with those men ? I am not an aristocrat, I
am only a man, just the same as they are,
maybe a little better educated and dressed in

30 MOONB LIGHT.

finer cloth, but they have the same opportu
nities that my father had to gather wealth,
for he worked as a day laborer, as a farm
hand, and as a flatboat-man on the Ohio and
Mississippi Rivers."

" Hold on, Mister ! " said Sam. " Not so
fast ! " The sleepy bar-keeper brightened up,

and his eyes snapped as he repeated, " Not
so fast, Mister ! You re way off, clean off
your base. Do you suppose that you would
have the same chance as your old man did if
you had no money ready made for you ? Not
by a long shot ! When your dad and mine
were young men, the land was not all owned

MOONBLIGHT. 3 1

by a few men ; there was plenty of room
West, and plenty of work."

" Bosh ! " said I. " There is plenty of work
yet ; and as for the West, there is plenty of
room there acres and acres of land. I tell
you such talk is all humbug ! "

Sam s face changed ; he smiled and winked
at me in a knowing manner, and started to
leave.

"Hold on,. Sam; don t go yet," said I,
dreading to be left alone more than I feared
his bar-room arguments.

Sam reseated himself, and turning the
conversation said, " Did you ever see me
drink ? "

" Come to think about it, no," I answered.

" Or smoke?"

" You have just declined."

" Do you think I am fond of tending
counter in a gin-mill ?"

" Can t say, Sam, as I ever thought of
it."

" Well, I m not ! " said he in a decided tone.
" I sometimes think I would rather be in
hell; and I can give you the straight tip that
I ain t far from it, either, when I stand be
hind the bar ! Why don t I leave ? Because
I m a slave"

* OF THB**

VIX7IBSIT?]

3 2 MOONBLIGHT.

Slave ! The word brought up that cursed
picture again.

" Nonsense ! " said I, trying to drive the
vision away.

" Ain t I ? " replied Sam, in a fierce and sul
len tone. " Look here ! You re a land-owner
and I am not. Now, somebody owns all
the land, and as I own none of it, and you
and I are all thet s present at this yere mass-
meeting, you might as well represent der
hull gang of landlords and I der hull gang
of landless slaves!

" Don t call them that, Sam. I don t like
to hear it."

" I won t; but I ll prove to you that they
are. Here," he said suddenly bringing to
view from the pocket of his sack-coat one of
those wonderful chains carved out of a sin
gle piece of wood and yet with separate
links, and a ball inside a cube at the end, that
we sometimes see exhibited as the work of
prisoners, executed to while away the tedious
hours of their captivity " Here," he said,
"is something I have made myself with a
jack-knife."

" It is very curiously and skillfully made,"
I said, examining it with interest.

"Is it mine?"

MOONBLIGHT.

33

" Yes," I assented, " I suppose it is if you
haven t given it away or sold it to any one."

" I ain t giving nothing away," said Sam.
" It ain t wuth to sell. All the same, I cut it
outn a solid cedar stick and just fur arge-
ment s sake, we ll low it s wuth money and
stands for my labor. Make believe, while
we re about it, thet this yere is all I got
see ? all I got; and thet s not so far from
true, as the first part of the make believe.
Now, bein as I m too poor, barrin this yere
chain, to buy land, and you own every inch
of it, you say to me, says you, You re on
my land, says you. Well, says I, I ain t
doin no harm standing here, am I ?
You re trespassin says you, trespassin on
my property,, see ? Well, what kin a fel
low do ? Dead or alive, I got to trespass.
No place for me as don t own no land as
ain t a trespass to stand or lie down on."
Well, says you, you let me have a link of
that there chain, and I ll let you stand there,
says you."

" But Sam," said I, " your hand has not
forgotten its cunning. Can t you make
another chain ? "

"No, siree ! " said Sam emphatically.
"Ain t no difference how many chains the

34

MOOiVBLIGHT.

under dog makes, land goin up all the time
in price, see ? And every chain-maker as

"so MY CHAIN S MAKIN ME A SLAVE, SEE?"

comes over here makes my chain wuth less
compared with what I got to pay for stand-

MOONBLIGHT. 35

ing-room. So my chain s makin me a
slave, see ? Soon you ll tell me thet my
time is up and thet I am in your way ; thet
there s another fellow expected here from
Europe, and he ll want to stand in my
place; and again I dicker for the right by giv
ing you more of my chain, till at last I ain t
got none left. Do you call me a freeman?
I tell you, I am a slave that must needs beg
for work, and take what work is thrown to
him. Yes, and I, a man who never uses
liquor, must sell it to these poor, underpaid,
overworked men around here, because I
have a wife and children, and dare not give
up this situation. Call you this freedom ? The
South was full of just such freedom before I
enlisted and fought through the war to free,
the black slaves, and never tumbled to the
fact that my own arms and legs were soon
to have shackles made for em. I am a bar
keeper in a one-horse, brown-sugar tavern,
and you a millionaire. Can you tell me
why?"

Sam rose, and held out his hand, and said,
" I did not mean to let drive like that: I only
wished to explain why those duffers down
stairs won t be friendly and open wid you.
It is because they are afraid of you. You

36 MOONBL1GHT.

might as well see things as they really are.
Good-night." And he disappeared in the
gloom of the hallway, leaving me alone
with my troublesome thoughts.

That there was a something between me
and the men, I felt to be true. I could not
talk to them without feeling that it was only
politeness that made them answer me, for it
was evident that I had not their confidence.
It was also evident that the dismal weather
had affected Sam as well as myself, for in
my occasional visits to this place, I had
heretofore found him one of the jolliest of
fellows, always with a witty remark ready
to slip off the end of his tongue or a comical
story to relate.

What did he mean by "seeing things as
they really are" ?

It has been my custom through life not to
think of disagreeable things a custom I
have cultivated to such an extent that I have
been able, under the most trying circum
stances, forcibly to turn my thoughts into
pleasant channels. When a friend used me
badly, I would not allow my thought to
dwell upon it. If the stocks I held went
down, I congratulated myself upon possess
ing other securities that were booming. If,

MOONBLIGHT.

37

as it once happened off Buzzard s Bay, my
foresail was carried away, I opened a bottle,
and drank to the health of the mainsail.

So now, following my usual custom, I
took my mental self in hand, and com-

SEEING THINGS AS THEY REALLY ARE.

"WHY, LORD BLESS YOU, SONNY, I VE NOTHING IN MY BAG
FOR YOU ! "

menced to plan a yachting cruise for next
year. I would have a most charming party,
of both sexes, aboard. Delightful I knew it
would be, for me at least, for among the
guests would be one whose presence never

38 MOONBLIGHT.

yet had failed to so affect all my surround
ings as to make all objects appear beautiful,
all sounds seem harmony, all conversation
poetry. And as I thought of this, Sam s part
ing remark, " You might as well see things
as they really are," came to my mind unbid
den, and so suddenly that I started, thinking
for the instant that I had just heard the sen
tence repeated.

Might it not be possible that, if we did see
things as they really are, all would be beau
tiful ? Nature is a divine handiwork, and
must be beautiful; and if we saw her in her
real light, and compared our impressions, the
result must be poetry, and then, possibly,
all sound, to our better-educated ears, would
make a symphony. The dog whose sense
of smell is so remarkably acute that he can
follow his master s footsteps over a path
trodden by numbers of people, hours after
his master has passed ; to whom each sepa
rate stone, stick, leaf, and bit of vegetation
has a separate smell, and who, if he could
talk, might say, "A hare passed here," " A
partridge sat there," " A child passed this
way followed by a lamb," " On this stump
sat a cat an hour since " an animal with such
a refined sense of smell as this will sneeze

MOONBLIGHT. 39

and show every sign of pain and disgust
when a perfumed handkerchief is put to its
nose, and yet will roll with delight on carrion,
for no other purpose than to scent its body
with an odor unbearable to its master s dull
er and comparatively crude sense of smell.
The dog undoubtedly has a more highly
developed sense of smell than we have, and
why is he not a better judge of odors ?

I laughed as I thought how pleasant some
sections of New York would be if I could
only smell things as they really are; and,
becoming mentally facetious, I imagined the
heaven a man with the dog s keen sense of
smell would find on this earth; the sight of
an artist, who can see beauty in a discolored
door, a battered brass kettle, or a yellow
pumpkin; and the ears of a poet, to whom
the harsh language with which the plowman
addressed his horses or oxen, the roar of a
wild beast, the silly talk of an awkward,
freckled country girl, appear, when filtered
through his cultured ear, as the most perfect
harmony; and, I might add, the happy men
tal composition of a Fourth of July orator,
who sees nothing but what is great and
grand in his country.

A Fourth of July orator, by the way I

4O MOONBLIGHT.

thought I have heard them when I was a
lad, but not lately. What jolly times we
used to have in the grove, listening to the
reading of the Declaration of Independence !
And all the country people would bring
their lunch with them, and munch it as they
listened to the annually repeated words :

WE hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men
are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain tmalienable rights; that among these are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Why do we not hear it read now as it was
when I was a child ? Are we conscious that
we are, by our lives, giving the lie to it ?
Bosh ! I exclaimed, as I again took a firm
hold of my rebellious mind, and tried for
cibly to steer it away from the rocks I saw
ahead. As I did so, I was conscious, for the
first time, that I did not wish to see things
as they really are, for fear the truth might
be unpleasant to me ; yet, while I was con
scious of this, I did not admit it to myself,
but, losing my grip for a time, I allowed
my annoyance to manifest itself in mental
railings against society, politics, church and
state in fact, against everything except
myself.

At last, jumping up from my seat, I paced

MOONBLIGHT. 4!

the floor, exclaiming, " What ails me any
how ? What ails Sam ? And what did he
mean by his parting shot, You might as
well see things as they really are ?" "I
wish I could ! " I exclaimed impatiently. " I
wish I could ! " I repeated thoughtfully. " I
wish I could only see things as they really
are, and not as a diseased imagination
makes them appear," I said at last earnestly;
and as I again seated myself, the words were
repeated mentally. The pattering rain out
side took up the strain, and repeated over
and over again, with the tireless monotony
of machinery I wish I could see things as
they really are, I wish I could see things as
they really are, I wish, etc.

CHAPTER II.

HE bedroom was just as
I had left it the vellum
book on the floor, and
the light burning. I pick
ed up the book, and
without daring- to
look at the gaudy
initials, replaced it
carefully upon the
bookshelf, and took
down another volume
bound in red pigskin.
On the back, in gold
paint, was the simple
word, " Magus " ; below
the bearded figure of a
man, with long finger and toe

nails,
head

The figure had on his
a high -topped, royal
crown, and held an arrow in
his right hand, the point of
which rested over the eye of a
dragon, between whose batlike wings this
strange personage sat, with his legs hanging

42

MOONBLIGHT. 43

on both sides. At the bottom was the
legend, " Bene Lightmans, London, 1601."

Ah ! Here I had something that I knew
could only amuse me a real old book of
magic, a book of old superstitions. Although
witchcraft is supposed to be a thing of the
past among enlightened people, yet who can
deny that much of the superstition upon
which it was built still lurks in the most en
lightened minds ? that is, if you count your
selves among the enlightened ones.

Whether this is imbibed with our mother s
milk, or grafted upon the tender mind of
childhood by superstitious old nurses, it mat
ters not: we have every day indisputable
evidence that it is there, and I suppose I have
my share; and, possibly, the leaven of super
stition in my mental composition helped to
lend a charm to this old pigskin-covered
book, with its bedeviled back and strangely
figured leaves.

Once again my interest as a bookworm
was aroused; once again I lighted my pipe,
and, comfortably fixed in my chair before
the stove, I resolved to make a night of it
not with the poor, degraded, hunted-looking
wretches that frequented the bar, but with
the fantastical whims and nonsense of our

44

MOONBLIGHT.

ancestors nonsense for which many a poor
old woman and many a good man paid
dearly in the old days, when fagots and
bonfires were used as expressions of faith in
the power of cabalistic signs. Thank God,
those days are over, and a man may now

read unmolested whatsoever pleases his
fancy !

The publisher of the book I now held in
my hands, solemnly and apparently in good
faith opens with a definition of witchcraft,
especially in women, and goes on to state,
in his own peculiar style, as follows :

MOONBLIGHT. 45

PUBLISHER S PREFACE. [TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL
LATIN.]

WE have infinite instances of witchcraft in history
which it were not fair to set aside merely because they
are not reconcilable to our personal philosophy; but, as
it happens, there is something in real philosophy to coun
tenance them.

All living things, we know, emit effluvia, both by the
breath and the pores of the skin. All bodies, therefore,
within the sphere of their perspiratory or expiratory efflu
via will be affected by them; and that, in this or another
manner, according to the quality of the effluvia; and in
this or that degree, according to the disposition of the
emittent and the recipient parts. In confirmation there
of, we need only call attention to infectious diseases con
veyed by effluvia.

Now, of all parts of an animal body, the eye, we know,
is the quickest. It moves with the greatest celerity and
in all variety of directions. Again, its coats and humours
are as permeable as any other part of the body (witness
the rays of light it so copiously receives). The eye, there
fore, no doubt, emits its effluvia like the other parts. The
fine humours of the eye must be continually exhaling.
The heat of the pervading rays will rarefy and attenuate
them; and that, with the subtile juice or spirit of the
neighboring optic nerve, supplied in great abundance by
the vicinity of the brain, must make a fund of volatile
matter to be dispensed, and, as it were, determined by
the eye. For, as Tacitus remarks on the savage figures
of the Germans, the eyes of men are first overcome in
battle.

Here, then, we have both the dart and the hand to
fling it the one furnished with all the force and vehe-

46 MOONBLIGHT.

mence, and the other with all the sharpness and activity,
one would require. No wonder if their effects be great.

Do but conceive the eye as a sling, capable of the
swiftest and intensest motions and vibrations; and, again,
as communicating with a source of such matter as the
nervous juice elaborated in the brain a matter so subtile
and penetrating that it is supposed to fly instantaneously
through the solid capillaments of the nerves; and so act
ive and forcible that it distends and convulses the mus
cles and distorts the limbs and alters the whole habitude
of the body, giving motion and action to a mass of inert,
inactive matter. A projectile of such a nature, flung by
such an engine as the eye, must have an effect wherever it
strikes.

This theory, we are of the opinion, fully accounts for
that branch of witchcraft called fascination. That man is
not secure from fascination is matter of easy observation.
Few people but have, again and again, felt the effects of an
angry, a fierce, a commanding, a disdainful, a lascivious,
an entreating eye, etc. These effects, no doubt, are
owing to the different ejaculations of the eye, and are a
degree of witchcraft.

Following this description, and serving as
a sort of tail-piece, is a colored illustration
of an eye, encircled by words in strange
characters. It is, or at least it appeared to me
then, an uncanny object. But this explana
tion of the power of witchcraft entertained
me, and struck me as being ingenious, and
I was amused and interested when the
publisher promised that the author would

MOONBLIGHT. 47

teach the reader how to do many wonderful
things, until, like the dwarf in " Valentine
and Orson," "he would learn so much of the
arte of nygromancy that, above all others, he
would be perfyte ;" but what particularly in
terested me was the promise that the art of
the transmutation of metals would also be
taught. I turned to the page indicated as
containing this secret (for which I have no
apology to offer, and can only say that if my
reader would
have preferred
the part which
told of the won-
derful bone from
the right side of " WISH r COUL SEE THINGS AS

& THEY REALLY ARE."

Pliny s red toad,

which, if removed and placed in water,
would cause the water to boil, and, if admin
istered in food to a lady, would cause a
degree of love for the donor equal in
intensity to boiling water, the reader is
welcome to his choice). What I wanted
to know was how to turn the baser metals
into gold. With that secret I would form
a syndicate of one person that would
make the Standard Oil, sugar trust, and rail
roads turn green with envy; and I could

48 MOONBLIGHT.

then hunt for the red toad of Pliny if I wish
ed. However, having already gained the
affections of, to my mind, the most beautiful
and loveliest girl in Pennsylvania, Pliny and
his red toad possessed no great attractions
for me.

Now, all this time, while my thoughts, re
acting from their former gloomy turn, were
wandering among the mysteries of the book
of magic in a jolly, reckless, yet, although
unconsciously, a half-serious manner, I was
involuntarily repeating to myself, " I wish I
could see things as they really are," so that it
seemed as if I had a dual mind, one of which
was occupied with the sentence just quoted,
and the other with the old book before me.

Again I was doomed to disappointment,
for, as I read, in place of the nonsense I ex
pected, this was what met my eye :

Beware of flattery, self-love, and covetousness, so wilt
thou thrive; and be diligent in thy occupation, so shall
thy body be fed. Idleness is offensive to the Deity. In
dustry shall sweeten thy brown bread, and the fruits of it
shall warm thy heart with gratitude to Him that blesses
thee with enough. Seek for no more, for it will damn thee.
It has been said by Him who never spoke in vain, that man
shall get bread by the sweat of his brow.

I hurriedly turned over the leaves, for I

MOONBLIGHT.

49

was not looking for moral lessons, especially
in the devil s book. At last I found the di
rections I was in search of.

" I wish I could see things as they really
are," said one member of my dual mind.
" And I believe I am beginning to," replied
the other. " Can it not be possible that be
neath all this apparent nonsense some great
truths are hidden ? What are all these cir
cles and signs ? Where did they come from ?
Directly handed down from the Magi of the
East symbols of a masonry that antedates
masonry, and is, perhaps, the father of ma
sonry."

I once again turned to my book, and read :

When thy spiritual eye is opened, thou shalt begin to
see to what end thou wert created, thou shalt want no nec
essary thing, either for thy comfort or support. Only
keep the rules: Love thy neighbor as thyself ; arrogate
nothing to thine own power, for he who desires spiritual
knowledge cannot obtain it by any means but by first puri
fying his own heart.

These are strange words for a humbug, a
common necromancer, a fake ! Might it not
be possible that, in the dark ages of persecu
tion and violence, when wise men were wont
to hold their tongues between their teeth, to
escape the alternative of having them drag-

50 MOONBLIGHT.

ged from their mouths, they had recourse to
cipher, understood only by the initiated ? We
all know that some people claim that by a
system or science of correspondences they
can explain most beautifully many mysteri
ous chapters of Holy Writ. I began to won
der whether the old alchemists, who claimed
to be able to manufacture gold, might not
have told the truth, not in the sense I had
always supposed they meant, but in a higher
and better sense.

" I wish I could see things as they really
are," continued to repeat the pattering rain ;
and again before my mind rose the image
of the chain-gang of slaves ; but this time I
felt no alarm, and gradually I saw that it
was the string of miners, with begrimed
faces, that I had confused with the picture of
negroes ; at the same time I was aware of
the fact that the clanking dinner-pails might
indeed represent the chains of the negroes.
Was not I a part owner of that slave-gang
of American citizens ? The thought went
through me like an electric shock.

Again I turned to the strange volume, and
read :

When thou shalt have so far purified thy heart, as we

MOONBLIGHT. 5 1

have spoken is indispensably necessary for the receiving
every good thing, thou shalt then see with other eyes than
thou dost at present. Thy spiritual eye will be opened, and
thou shalt read man as plain as thou wilt our books. . . .
All philosophers agree that, the first matter being found,
we may proceed without much difficulty, for the Prima
Materia, I say, is to be found in ourselves; we all possess
the Prima Materia, from the beggar to the king. . . .
I pray thee, my friend, look into thyself, and endeavor to
find out in what part of thy composition is this Prima
Materia of the lapis philosophorum, or of what part of thy
substance can the first matter be drawn out.

"In myself, then, is this Prima Materia"
said I, closing the book, " and in myself must
I look for it if I wish to see things as they
really are, and read men as books. The crude
metal the lead, the mercury, the iron is
the slave-gangs, with their begrimed faces,
and of them I can make so much pure gold."

I opened the volume again, and my gaze
was riveted upon the strange, colored draw
ing of the eye; and as I stared at it, won
dering at the peculiar fascination it seemed
now to exert over me, my dual mind kept
up its refrain of, " I wish I could see things
as they really are."

Suddenly a peculiar and indescribable sen
sation took possession of my nerves. My
chest seemed broader and deeper, my arms

5 2 MOONB LIGHT.

stronger, my frame larger ; but I dreaded to
look toward the mirror, and in avoiding it I
noticed that bands of light, like electric light
in color, were streaming past the edges of the
window-blind into my room, making the
lamplight look a bright orange by contrast.
I pulled up the blind. It was dawn. The
clouds were rolling up the mountain like
great rolls of raw cotton, and the light-blue
sky shone, clear and beautiful, in the spaces
between the fleeing vapor. " A nor west
wind, cool and clear."

As the curtains of mist were lifted, I could
see for miles through the transparent air; and
as the sunlight burst forth, each drop of rain
that lingered on twig or branch became a
miniature sun that reflected back the glitter
of its great king in the sky. A belated robin,
that seemed somewhat confused in regard to
his calendar, commenced a wild, hilarious
Ghee-wink, chee-wee," evidently under the
impression that his winter migration was
over, and spring had come again.

Again a file of miners passed, trudging
through the mud. The merry song of the
bird had no effect upon them, and I saw them
as they really were a band of degraded,
disheartened slaves. I read them as I might

MOONBLIGHT.

53

a book, and in this human book I read my
own disgrace. I, an American, whose father
fought to free the black slaves of the South,
whose grandfather fought in the war of 1812
to free the sea of slave sailors, whose great
grandfather fought for that grand document
which declared that all men were born free
and equal I, the American, in the " land of
the free and the home of the brave," was
part owner of a band of miserable white
slaves, and was here, in this town, in this
little hotel, the American House for what
purpose ? Principally to consult with the
other slave-drivers about restricting the out
put of coal, that I and they might raise its
price by causing untold suffering to these
already miserable miners, and add to the ex
pense of living for the poor, taxed, and rack-
rented people of the city that we might
have more money to spend on yachts !

I almost wished that the cursed pigskin-
covered book, with its companion in vellum,
had been destroyed before I could have read
them, moonling that I was. Moonblight ?
It was only temporary. I now kneiv that I
was sane, but untold wealth could not tempt
me to look into the glass.

It was a custom of mine to shave myself

54

MOON R LIGHT.

THE CURSED PIGSKIN-COVERED HOOK.

each morning, and I
wore neither beard
nor mustache. My
razor was acknow
ledged by all my
boon companions on
board the yacht to be
the best, and there had
always been much wise
talk about this and that
soap, razor, and strop,
as we tested the keen
edges of our favorite
blades each morning
after our plunge in
the Sound or in the
harbor. But of what
use was a beautiful
razor, with
no glass to
shave by ?
I made one
attempt to
do without
a glass, but
the blood
flowed so
copiously

MOONBL TGHT. 5

that it was some time before I could make
a piece of court-plaster adhere to my chin.
I then carefully wiped the razor dry, re
placed it in its case, and proceeded with
my toilet. I put on clean linen, but when
it came to tying my four-in-hand scarf, I
was in a fix. I had never tried it before
without a glass ; but after a while I made a
knot that felt all right, and stuck my scarf-
pin in. The remainder was plain sailing.
My shoes were muddy from the day before,
and I started down stairs to get a little
hump-backed hanger-on of the hotel to black
them for me. This hump-backed man, or
boy, was a favorite of mine ; he was always
so polite and withal so witty and bright that
I generally paid him with a silver quarter in
place of the customary five-cent nickel, five
cents for the shine and twenty because he
amused me. I found " Humpy, as he was
called, sweeping out the office or bar-room ;
his back was toward me. When he heard
my voice, he turned with a pleasant good-
morning.

Great Goodness ! Was that the man to
whom I had been tossing money, as one
would to an amusing negro in slavery times ?
Could it be possible that I

56 MOONBLIGHT.

to treat him as an inferior being a dog, who,
when he sits up on his hind legs and begs,
is to be rewarded with a lump of sugar ?
I blushed, stammered, but, for the life of me,
could not frame the words. I was ashamed
to ask him to black my boots. Why ? Be
cause I read him as a book I saw him as he
really was. There was no hump on the real
man s back, there was nothing comic in the
real man s expression ; but there was a
grandeur I had never seen before, a nobility
I had often pictured, but seldom seen. It
seemed almost as if his face shone ; and
when he smiled, and asked me if I wanted a
shine this morning, it appeared as if some
one else was speaking. I could not make
the words fit the person I saw. I was about
to decline, when, as if anticipating me, he
said, " I m glad that you re here, boss, cause
I need that quarter dis morning, you bet!"
Mechanically I seated myself ; but when he
bent his little humped back, and brought
his face over my shoe, I could not sit there.
So, quickly handing him his fee, I said,
" What s your name ? " " Humpy," he re
plied. " No ; your real name ? " " Nathaniel
James." "Well, Nate," said I, "if you will
kindly excuse me, I won t take a shine this

MOONBLIGHT. 5 7

morning. I don t like to sit still. I didn t
sleep well last night, and am nervous."

He looked up at me with eyes that, I was
conscious, read me through. He also saw-
men with his spiritual eyes, and I felt more
embarrassed than before, when I knew this
to be true.

Never before do I -remember feeling
ashamed to meet a fellow-man s eye. I had
always prided myself on being perfectly
square in my dealings with all men, and,
having nothing to be ashamed of, I felt no
dread of any one ; but now the case was
changed. Here was a man whose character,
aims, and life were so far above mine that I
dare not expose myself to his glance ; so,
hastily turning my back, I started for the
barber-shop; but with the door-knob in my
hand I stopped short. There were mirrors
in front of each chair, so that the customers
might survey themselves during all stages
of the treatment by the tonsorial artists in
charge. If there was one person on earth
that I did not want to see as he really was,
that person was myself. So I went to the
breakfast-room with my shoes unblacked
and my face unshaven acts of which I
had not been guilty within ten years at

5 8 MO ONB L IGHT.

least. However, there was fortunately no
one at my end of the table; and I took
up the small, damp piece of cloth which
served as a napkin, and, taking care to
look at no one, I ate my breakfast as it
was served.

CHAPTER III.

HE people of the town had all
noticed a change in me, and
from the significant looks,
L nods, and winks, I readily
^ understood that they one and
all considered that I was slight
ly demented, or, as Sam ex
pressed it, "They think ye r a
little off." But I knew better.
My mind had never been
healthier, clearer, and
brighter, nor my perceptions
keener ; and, while I was
conscious of the fact that
the new powers I pos
sessed were very imper
fect, yet the change
was wonderful
to me.

My physical
health also was
most robust. Each morning, when I rose,
it was with no touch of languor, but with

59

6O MOONBLIGHT.

an exhilarated feeling, as if I had just
had a shower and a rub down after a
brisk row in a single shell. I drank no
spirituous liquor, because, being in a natural
state of mind and body, I needed no drug
to produce an artificial sensation of health
and spirits ; in fact, any preparation of
alcohol appeared to me as abhorrent as
castor-oil, quinine, or any other concoction

"I HAD ATTENDED A MEETING OF MINE OWNERS."

made by physicians for weak and sick
humanity.

I had attended a meeting of mine owners.
I saw before me a crowd of men, most of
whom I knew ; that is, I had always sup
posed that I knew them a well-dressed,
polite party of men. But I could see below
the surface. Each one seemed to think that
his neighbor was glass, and he himself
opaque, while to me all were so transparent
that it appeared as if I were in an assem
blage of children.

MOONBLIGHT. 6 1

Mr. Keene, whom we always looked up to
as a regular Napoleon in business, I was dis
appointed in. It appeared manifest that his
whole success came from keeping his coun
tenance placid, with a knowing look in his
eye, while his mind was barren absolutely,
without a plan or an original thought; yet he
was a smart man for all that, and his smart
ness consisted in simply waiting until some
one else suggested a bright idea, and then,
with the knowing look and placid face,
immediately appropriating the idea. Rising
to his feet, he would state, in a very patron
izing manner, that the only practical sug
gestion so far had come from Mr. Brown,
and it coincided with his preconceived plans
exactly. Thereupon he would paraphrase
Mr. Brown s suggestion in such a manner
that Mr. Brown would feel highly compli
mented, while Mr. Keene would wear the
laurels that properly belonged to Mr. Brown.
I saw this repeated over and over again, yet
no one else seemed to be aware of it.

No one paid any attention to me except
by a good-natured smile or nod. They
evidently thought, with the villagers, that 1
was a " little off." My beard by this time
was stubby and my mustache of about the

62 MOON BLIGHT.

consistency of a worn-out tooth-brush. My
hair needed trimming, but my linen was
neat, and I had learned to black my own
shoes, and paid " Humpy " his quarter a day
for some less menial service.

At this meeting I listened until they had
about decided upon a plan of action which I
saw at once was bound to work great hard
ship among the miners and the poor con
sumers in the city. Then I rose and pointed
out these facts to them.

" Business is business," said Mr. Keene.
" Our business is to look out for our inter
ests; that of others to look out for theirs.
I think that settles it."

Now it so happened that the arrangement
about to be agreed upon would benefit Mr.
Keene more than any present, and would
even be a great disadvantage to two others
present This I saw in Mr. Keene s mind;
although he was not bright enough to sug
gest the proposed plan, he could see how
advantageous it \vould be to him; for as he
saw it, I read his thoughts and saw it too.
So, when they tried to shut me off with
cries of "Question! Question!" I simply
stood there until there was a lull, and then
said:

MOONBLIGHT. 63

" Mr. Chairman, I believe I have the
floor ? "

" You have, sir, unless you wish to resign
it to facilitate business."

"I will do so in a few moments," I replied.

A tired look crept over each face, as the
members of the conference settled back in
their chairs, not to listen, but to endure.

" Gentlemen," I said, " you really must not
go into this thing blindly. Next to Mr.
Keene himself, I would be the one most ben
efited financially by this arrangement ; but
there is Mr. Brown, who suggested the idea,
and Mr. White, who approved of it: they
will be absolute losers if they keep to their
agreement."

Mr. Brown and Mr. White looked interest
ed. Mr. Keene jumped to his feet, and
wanted to know if I had not just stated that
Mr. Brown himself suggested the idea. Not
noticing the interruption, I proceeded to put
into words all that I saw in Mr. Keene s
mind, and a hubbub followed. Cries of
"Question!" "Order!" "Move we ad
journ!" "Previous question!" were heard
on all sides. Mr. White, a greedy, vindic
tive, and heartless fellow, with the polish of
a courtier and the mind of a savage, owing

64 MOONBLIGHT.

Mr. Keene a grudge for some past transac
tion, was loud in his denunciation of this
gentleman, who, he claimed, was using the
conference to further his own individual in
terest ; and, to my astonishment, this savage
pointed out how Mr. Keene was willing to
commit any injustice to the poor, toiling
miners, even to drive them past the verge of
starvation, if by that means he could make
a dollar or two ; and the pathetic picture he
drew of the effect upon the poor laborer
brought tears to the eyes of many present.
But the chairman hammered with his gavel,
and ruled Mr. White out of order.

Now, amid all this, I saw that these men,
who were coolly planning to rob the people
of so much money, were not naturally bad
men. Most of them were what are con
sidered charitable people.

After I sat down, I received no more
smiles and good-natured nods. Mr. Keene
looked at me with that placid face and know
ing look, as if he would say, " You re a sharp
one. I see through your move !" But I knew
that he did not, because my move was too
simple; there was nothing behind what I had
said, and 1 could not help smiling to see
Keene s troubled mind taking one view and

MOONBLIGHT. 65

then another, trying tp see in what way I
was to be benefited financially by opposing
his motion.

The thought that I was acting in a disin
terested manner never entered a mind pres
ent. As I turned from face to face, I could
see that all except Mr. Brown and Mr. White
were puzzling themselves just as Mr. Keene
was. Mr. Brown and Mr. White were con
cocting schemes to put Keene in a hole, as
they would have termed it, and they looked
upon me as their ally, never taking time to
question my motives, satisfied with the fact
that, for some reason of my own, I would
help them. But no one of them all thought
that I was not perfectly sound mentally,
although 1 could see that Mr. Keene and
some others intended to treat me as an irre
sponsible party the next time I was in their
way.

I have related how the assembly appeared
to me as an assembly. As individuals the
phenomenon was strange indeed; when some
casual or accidental remark appealed to the
true man in any one of them, I could see him
(the true man, I mean), always handsome,
always strong, always bright; but as the
lower impulses were in turn made promi-

66 MOONB LIGHT.

nent, while the clothes, the hair, or the feat
ures were not altered, an expression would
steal over his face that was sometimes
ludicrous (or at least so it appeared to me
before I fully appreciated its meaning),
sometimes disgusting and revolting, and
sometimes terrible, but never pleasant.

Mr. Keene, for instance, would so resem
ble a fox at times, that I could scarcely be
lieve him human; and yet there were the

"A RED-MOUTHED WOLF WITH WHITE FANGS."

same nose, eyes, mouth and brow that I had
always known, and thought strikingly hand
some, and even while I was studying him to
detect just what it was that made him look
like a fox, I realized that there was no
fox there, but a red-mouthed wolf, with
white fangs showing, ready to rend and de
vour any of the pack that was unfortunate
enough to be crippled or killed; and, even
in the midst of this appearance, I could
plainly see the well-known features that I

MOONBLICHT.

had so long admired for their manly beauty.

Once or twice only did I see a trace of the

real man in him, and
that was so transient
that I could scarce
make up my mind it.
really existed.

Mr. White, in spite
of his fashionable
and expensive dress,
his closely shaven
face, his immaculate
linen, and his trained
smile, did not de
ceive me ; for, while
I could see these
with my natural
eyes, and know that
they existed, I could
also see the true ex
pression of the inner
Mr. White, and it
was that of a rat-
~ tlesnake. The
COULD ALSO SEE THE TRUE EXPRESSION rapid manner in

OF THE INNER MR. WHITE.

dressed the chairman before launching- into
his remarks constantly reminded me of

68 MOONBLIGHT.

the vicious, dry, singing noise made by a
rattlesnake before striking ; but when he
drew the pathetic picture of the poor starved
slaves of the coal-pit, the snake expression
had left him, and something in his appear
ance brought to my mind one of those
spiders hidden in a rose, whose swollen
body and thin legs, partaking of the color
of the flower, look so like the harmless plant
that they are unnoticed by the busy bumble
bee until, just as the latter thinks he has se
cured the treasures of the rose, he feels the
poisonous fangs of the enemy in his head,
and, benumbed by the poison, dies with
hardly a struggle.

Ofttimes these transformations seemed
only thoughts flitting through my mind; then
again they appeared so real that it was with
difficulty that I retained sufficient control of
my feelings to prevent showing my abhor
rence or terror by exclamations or precipi
tate retreat. Such action on my part would,
I knew, confirm the suspicions of my mental
derangement and put an end to any chance
I might have of being useful to my fellow-
men in helping them to avoid the pitfalls I
now began to see plainly.

During the meeting, and always while the

MOONBLIGHT. 69

financial interests were under discussion, the
real man seldom showed himself in any of
the assembly ; but he more frequently shone
through and ennobled the countenance
during the conversation upon subjects that
did not touch the pocket.

Once, when a question of agreeing upon
the form of a lease that would evade the
eviction laws for the protection of the miners
was broached, I became so disgusted that it
was with the greatest effort I could restrain
some exclamation for, before me I saw, not
an assemblage of gentlemen, but a lot of
parasitic insects, covering the body of the
miner, and sucking his blood. It was only
an instant that the impression lasted, yet it
was extremely vivid while it remained, and
the strangest part of it was that, at the time,
I saw no reason for such an appearance, but
I knew that there must be one.

I was so much interested in what I saw
that each day appeared all too short. Ten
days had passed. The meeting of mine own
ers, thanks to my remarks, broke up without
coming to any decision. My business was
all finished, yet still I lingered in the gloomy,
straggling town.

Not many miles away lived the lady of

7O MOONBLIGHT.

my choice, the girl whose gentle heart,
refined and educated mind, shone through
a face as charming as any to be found.
She was waiting for me anxiously, and
each day I received a letter from her in
which she expressed great concern for my
health. There was nothing to detain me,
and I had been counting for months upon
this opportunity of visiting her at her home ;
still I postponed my visit.

This may seem strange, but, since I am
making a clean breast of my experiences, I
may as well own up to the fact that I
dreaded her as much as I did my mir
ror. Not that I could see myself reflected
in her sweet eyes in any but a compliment
ary manner, but ashamed as I am now, and
was then, of the fear I was afraid to see
even her as she really was.

I was rich ; she had but little. I was es
teemed a " good catch "; she was admired for
her acknowledged beauty ; and many a fel
low, in my hearing, had deplored the fact
that she had not a fortune. That was before
I met her ; since then, they only congratu
lated me on my luck in securing such a prize.

I could recall several instances where
friends of mine had become engaged to

MOONBLIGHT. 7 1

ladies who, to them, possessed all the vir
tues and beauties of the sex combined,
but to me, were foolish, simpering girls,
or cold, selfish, affected creatures. I won
dered what my friends could see in them
that was attractive, much less, lovable; and
yet I knew that they loved these girls with
a true devotion, and were men of good taste.
If these fellows were blinded by Cupid, why
not I ? If I was blinded, it was such a heav
enly blindness that I dreaded the restora
tion of my eyesight, and feared as much to
see my darling as she appeared to others,
and might really be, as I did to see my own
cowardly face in the glass.

And so, day by day I postponed my visit,
and spent the time inspecting my mines.

CHAPTER IV.

ROF. FOLLIUM is an old
friend of mine, a natural
ist and a geologist, and a
man whose general know
ledge is extensive. I
had had many a de
lightful talk with him
upon books and nature, and never
left him without a pleasant im
pression and a feeling that I had
gained some knowledge by his dis
course. Naturally, in my present state,
he came to my mind, and I wondered
that I had not thought of him before,
knowing that he was in town, collecting
specimens from the mines to add to his
already large collection, and to illustrate his
lectures.

I started off immediately in search of the
professor, and found him, hammer in hand,
just starting upon an expedition.
" Good morning, Professor," I said.

" Good morning," he replied. " I ve been

72

MOONBLIGHT. 73

expecting to see you. Heard you were in
town. Heard you raised a rumpus at the
meeting, the other day. I congratulate you,
my boy ! I knew there was good stuff in
you ! " And the professor smiled over the
rims of his glasses as he extended his hand
cordially and grasped mine.

" Professor, I come for advice. I am in
trouble. I see wrong all around me, and ap
pear helpless to prevent it. What is the cause
of all this?"

The professor looked sober a moment, and
shook his head as he replied, " It is man.
God never creates a wrong."

" Do you mean," I said, " that it is our
constant evasion or breaking of the law that
is at fault ? "

"Law? "said the professor. " Law, my
boy, is never at fault. In the nature of
things, it is impossible." Again he shook
his head, paused a moment, and repeated,
" Law ? Law is perfect."

I smiled, and was about to make some
facetious remark, when the professor rever
ently removed his hat, gazed around at the
mountains and landscape for a moment, then
solemnly repeated, as if to himself, "Law?
I acknowledge but one law, and that is the

74 MOONBLIGHT.

law that I see ruling the universe, every
where present and everywhere active, and
never broken. If I attempt to break that
part of it called gravitation, and step from
the roof of a tall house, my mangled remains
will testify that the law is unbroken." Then
turning and addressing his remarks to me
he continued: "Talk about martyrs to relig
ion, to principle, to honesty ! Personally, I
never saw one ; but martyrs to crime, to
filth, to greed, I see everywhere. Go to our
prisons, go to our hospitals, our insane-asy
lums. All are filled with martyrs to crime,
suffering the torments of hell for the sake
and only for the sake of trying to break
the plain laws of nature.

" When a botanist wishes an Alpine plant,
he climbs the mountain; and there, mid the
glaciers, or in the track of the avalanche, he
finds the object of his search, because the
atmosphere and the surroundings produce
the conditions necessary for the existence of
the plant. When he wishes an aquatic plant,
he seeks the valley, and in the lakes, rivers
or marshes finds the object of his search, be
cause the atmosphere and the surroundings
produce it. When a naturalist wishes to
procure a certain kind of animal, he seeks that

MOONBLIGHT.

75

spot where the atmosphere and the surround
ing s produce just the conditions necessary
for that animal, and there he finds the ob
ject of his search. A sportsman would never
go to the plains and the valleys in search of
big-horn or chamois, but amidst the cloud-
capped mountains; because there the atmos-

IF MIGHT IS RIGHT, THIS IS A TYPE OF THE MODERN
SO-CALLED CHRISTIAN.

phere and the surroundings produce the
conditions necessary for these animals exist
ence. A detective would never go to the
homes of the workingmen in search of a
defaulting bank president; but to Wall
Street, the faro-table, the race-course, or some
place where people acquire money without

76 MOONBLIGHT.

work, because there the atmosphere and the
surroundings produce and suit defaulters.

" Show me a government founded and
conducted on the principles of justice and
equal rights to all men, and I will show you
the highest type of manhood, intelligence,
industry and prosperity, because the atmos
phere and surroundings produce it. Show
me a tyrannical and unjust government, and
I will show you vice, squalor, poverty and
crime, because the atmosphere and surround
ings produce them. Now if, in our own
country, we see waiters cringing and bow
ing for a tip; railroad employees and bag
gage-men putting their manhood in their
pockets for the sake of the quarter that goes
with it ; miners living like starved vermin
in the blackened and begrimed shanties of
Pennsylvania ; gentlemen, so-called, living
lives of debauchery ; people starving in the
streets of the cities ; tramps, anarchists and
Pinkerton bullies it is because the atmos
phere and the surroundings produce them.
My dear fellow," said the genial professor,
again resuming his pleasant smile, " we are
ourselves to blame for all the misery we see
around us. I confess that my studies have
not been directed in this line, but I know,

MOONB LIGHT. * 77

from my knowledge of Nature, that she
makes no mistakes. There is an ample feast
provided by her for man, and this country
has riches untold and incalculable, which
need only labor to bring them forth ; and
yet, owing to the greed of a few of us, and
the thoughtlessness of many, we keep those
treasures locked up, while our fellow-men
die by the wayside for want of the necessa
ries of life. I see that you know this much
yourself. Then do as I do with all my prob
lems commence at the beginning. Com
mence with a babe. A baby is born. It has
eyes: that means that it was intended to
see. It has ears: that means that it was in
tended to hear. It has a mouth to receive
nourishment: that means that nourishment is
provided for it. It has neither wings nor fins,
but feet: that means that it must walk, and
is a land animal, and must have land to walk
on. All these things will teach you that it
has an inherent right to light, air, water and
food ; to procure the latter it has hands to
transform the products of the earth into a
suitable form by labor. I have already said
that Nature has provided untold wealth for
the babe, yet we will not allow it to use its
hands, unless it does so for us. Now, then,

78 MOONBLIGHT.

it seems to me that we meaning you and
me, and the rest of humanity are the ones
to blame if this or any babe dies from want
and starvation ; and the cause lies in us, not
in the law."

" Yes," I replied; " the prima materia is in
ourselves, and there we must look for it if
we expect to turn the cruder metals into
pure gold."

" Oh ho ! " exclaimed the little man, as he
took off his spectacles to look at me the bet
ter. " So, so ! You ve been trying to find the
solution in the black-book, eh ?"

" Well, a well-balanced mind can find food
in almost any book; and I must say it always
appeared to me that there must be some hid
den treasures locked up in those old books
of so-called magic."

" It is not many years ago that all chemists
and physicians were considered magicians.
But don t let yourself be led astray by wild
fancies. Apply this test to everything can
it be demonstrated ? If so, adopt it without
fear, for it is the truth, and truth is divine.
If an Indian or Chinaman makes a statement,
do not disparage it. If it can be demon
strated, it is true; if not, it is false. If I
and other college professors make a state-

MOONBLIGHT.

79

ment, tell us to demonstrate it. If it can be
demonstrated, it is true ; if not, it is false.
Believe nothing that is incapable of demon
stration, except the fact that you exist, and
are a living soul. Apply this test, and sooner
or later, you will find out the cause of the
terrible wrong, the dire want, the squalor,
the crime, the abrutement of our brothers,
keeping their place alongside of a hotbed
growth of civilization of the most brilliant
type. And now, lad, I must be off. This is
more of a lecture on political economy than
I ever remember delivering before. Only one
word more. If you are going into this thing
in earnest (and I believe you are), when
you find the cause let me know; and if you
can demonstrate it, as I require my pupils to
do, with a piece of chalk on the blackboard,
you may count me as a convert. Good-bye ! "
And gathering up his bag and hammer the
man of science departed.

After bidding good-bye to the professor, I
went directly to the hotel-bar to look for
Sam, and found him practising at twirling a
spoon in a glass of water, though the expert
manner in which he did it seemed to require
no practice to render it perfect.

" Good morning, Sam," was my greeting.

8O MOONBLIGHT.

" Good morning-, sir," he replied, without
taking his eyes from the glass, or ceasing to
make the little spoon spin around in a most
marvelous manner.

" What are you up to, Sam ? " I asked.

" Oh, nothing, sir; just practising making
a cocktail."

There were no customers in, only two or
three gray-haired old men sitting in the heavy
wooden-armed chairs peculiar to country
bar-rooms; and these old fellows were dream
ing the day away, or reading, with their
eyes only, the daily papers. Their old
eyes were none too good, for the frosty-
headed men held the papers close against
their noses as they read; but they were
all too absorbed in vacancy to heed me,
so I plunged right in to what was upper
most in my mind.

" Sam," I said, " are you an anarchist ? "

"No, sir," he replied gravely.

" Are you a socialist ? "

" No, sir," he again answered, " unless Abe
Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson were socialists;
and from what I have read in socialistic
speeches I don t think they were."

" What are you, Sam ?"

"I, sir?" Sam dropped the spoon, and

MOONBLIGHT.

Si

straightened himself up to his full height.
"I, sir," he repeated, "I am an American!"

" Well, I know that much from what you
have already told me."

"You don t catch on," said Sam, with a
face that ill accorded with his slangy speech.
" I am an American in principle. I believe

PREJUDICE.

in chucking the tea overboard, widout tak
ing the trouble to work the Injun racket
either. I believe in the inspired" Sam
said "inspired " in a hesitating manner, as if
he was not quite sure that it was proper form
to use so high-sounding a word, but gaining
courage from my looks, he continued " I

82 MOONBLIGHT.

believe in the inspired document called the
Declaration of Independence. I believe, with
Abe Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson, that
there should be no involuntary servitude ex
cept for crime"

" So do I, Sam, so do I. But what of that ? "
" What of thet ? " said the bar-keeper fierce
ly, his black eyebrows knitting, as he twirled
his heavy moustache until it stood out in two
spikes at each side of his face, " what of thet ?
Why, thet is as rank treason to-day as old
Paddy Henry s talk before der Revolution;
and if things goon as they are for a mighty
short time longer, der duffer who says thet
will be called an anarchist and an agitator.
If I could run a talking-mill, like some fel
lers I know, and could fire off dictionary lingo
off-hand, I d stump der United States on my
own hook, and give it to em straight wher
ever I could catch a crowd to talk to. Oh,
these crawling and sneaking men that steal
our votes wid der money they rob us of !
These ornery curs thet rob us of our wages,
and then dole it out to us in charity ! These
hypocritical hirelings that desecrate the Sab
bath every Sunday by preaching bosh be
cause they r too cowardly to tell w r hat the
Bible means ! I ain t much of a Christian,

MOONBLIGHT.

but t other day I thought I d see if der
Bible had any such bosh in it. I tell yer,
Mister, I was ready to throw up my hat when
I read it, and how these sniveling old sneaks

"NOW, MISTER, WHAT DOES THET MEAN?"

can read thet book and live is past me! Why,
they seem ter think the Great Creator ain t
got no sense at all, and can be fooled as easy
as a voter; and der tricks they try ter fool him
wid are so thin that a lad can see t rough

84 MOONBLIGHT.

em building big- churches wid der money
stole from us, and then a-plastering them all
over wid their own monograms, giving con
science-money back to us in der shape of hos
pitals, asylums, and libraries, and then a-plas
tering their ornery names all over them !
And the fust thing I struck in thet grand
book was Take heed that ye do. not your
alms before men to be seen of them Now,
mister, what does thet mean ? In another
place, it told us not to blow a trumpet before
giving alms. What does thet mean ? I ain t
superstitious and don t go much on luck ; but
I just lowed that book to open fer itself, and
then would read the fust thing that caught
my eye ; and whew ! how St. Jeems goes for
the rich. Woe to ye ! he says oh, he was
onter em Go to now, ye rich men, and
weep and howl, for your miseries shall come
upon you ! Then he gives them dead away
in another verse about the wages they kept
back by fraud. Well, sir, I could hardly be
lieve thet was written so long ago, it hit em
so hard right now."

" Sam, Sam!" I exclaimed, "I am afraid you
did not read the book in the right spirit.
There is nothing, as I remember it, vindictive
in the New Testament."

MOONBLIGHT. 85

"Thet s so," said Sam solemnly, " thet s so.
What it says there, ain t for the sake of cuss
ing them, but as a warning, and thet s the
way I took it ; but I did feel a bit vindic
tive just now, when I thought of my old
landlord a-howlin . But he, poor cuss, can t
help himself any more than I can. You see,

"NOW, MISTER, WHAT DOES THET MEAN?"

Mister, if he lets me have der rent any cheaper
than market price he is giving me der diff.
in charity. The truth is, there s no such
thing as cheap rent. Where it looks cheap,
it s cause it won t bring any more, thet s all ;
and I spect, if I were a landlord, I d hev to
do the same. Now, ain t it a blamed mean

86 MOONBLIGHT.

sort of law thet makes a fellow a robber or a
robbed man, say ?"

"Now, look here, Sam. While I can t help
but acknowledge there is something funda
mentally wrong, I am hardly prepared to
own that I am a robber ; but I will own up to
even that, if you can demonstrate it to me.
Mind now ! demonstrate it like a problem
on the blackboard, and prove the demon
stration."

"Thet s easy, mister, mighty durned easy.
What s thet you ve got your hand on ? "

" My watch-chain," I replied, a little puz
zled.

" Where did yer get it?"

All bar-keepers are inclined to be im
pudent, or, as they themselves would term
it, " fresh," if you allow them liberties ; but
I knew that Sam had some object in view,
so I answered, "At the jeweler s."

"Where did he get it?"

" At the manufacturer s."

" Where did the factory get the gold ?"

" Well, I suppose you want to know where
the gold comes from, eh ?"

" Just so. From the mines, from the
earth," said Sam.

" You are right."

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, MISTER, SAY ?

88 MOONBLIGHT.

" Where did yer hat come from ? Where
did yer clothes come from ? "

" Hold on, Sam. My clothes came from
sheep."

" Thet s so ; but where did the stuff thet
made the wool grow come from ? "

"The grass? Oh, that grew in the pas
ture, I suppose."

" Yes; it also came from the earth. Where
did yer shoes come from? Earth," he said,
answering his own query. " Where did yer
stockings come from ? Earth," he repeated.
" Where does yer food come from? Earth.
Now, yer see, the fellow thet owns der earth
owns the base of supplies, as we used ter say
in der army ; and if we could catch on ter
der enemy s base of supplies, and hold it,
der enemy was ours widout any more fight
ing, cause, soon as they used up what they
had, they would starve, unless they came ter
us as prisoners of war. Now, then, mister, a
few men a mighty few, too own the
United States and the earth, * the base of

* FROM THOMAS G. SHEARMAN, THE WELL-KNOWN NEW YORK
STATISTICIAN. " The average annual income of the richest hun
dred Englishmen is about $450,000; but the average annual income
of the richest hundred Americans cannot be less than $1,200,000,
and probably exceeds $1,500,000. The richest of the Rothschilds,
and the world-renowned banker, Baron Overstone, each left about

MOONBLIGHT. 89

supplies fer the hull of us. That s the rea
son we are prisoners of war ! That s the rea
son we are slaves ! Thet s the reason I tend
bar ! Thet s the reason them fellers live all
their lives under ground, piling up money
fer you fellers, see?"

Well, I did begin to have a glimmering of
light ; but I was not ready to give in yet ; so
I said :

$17,000,000. Earl Dudley, the owner of the richest iron mines,
left $20,000,000. The Duke of Buccleuch (and the Duke of
Buccleuch carries half of Scotland in his pocket) left about
$30,000,000. The Marquis of Bute was worth, in 1872, about
$28,000,000 in land; and he may now be worth $40,000,000 in all.
The Duke of Norfolk may be worth $40,000,000, and the Duke of
Westminster perhaps $50,000,000." In the United States he gives
a list of 70 names representing an aggregate wealth of $2,700,000,-
ooo, an average of more than $37,500,000 each. Although Mr.
Shearman, in making this estimate, did not look for less than
twenty-millionaires, he discovered incidentally fifty others worth
more than $10,000,000 each; and he says that a list of ten persons
can be made whose wealth averages $100,000,000; and another
list of one hundred persons, whose wealth averages $25,000,000.
No such list can be made up in any other country. " The richest
dukes of England," he says, " fall below the average wealth of a
dozen American citizens; while the greatest bankers, merchants,
and railway magnates of England cannot compare in wealth with
many Americans."

Mr. Shearman s conclusion is that 25,000 persons own one-
half the wealth of the United States; and that the whole wealth
of the country is practically owned by 250,000 persons, or one in
sixty of the adult male population; and he predicts, from the
rapid recent concentration of wealth, that, under present condi
tions, 50,000 persons will practically own all the wealth of the
country in thirty years or less than one in 500 of the adult male
population.

9 o

MOONBLIGHT.

11 Sam, why not buy some property, and

be a landlord yourself ? "

" What s der matter wid yer giving it to

me ? " said Sam, with a grin. " No," he add-

ed, "you can
keep yer land.
Yer ain t a bad
one. Der boys
all know about
der laying out
yer give them
fellows at der
meeting, and if
you was to try
to be sociable
wid em now,
they wouldn t be
so cold like."

" I don t drink
now, and would
not ask them to,"
I answered.
"Smoke?" ask

ONE OF THE CUSTOMERS.

ed Sam.

" No, nor smoke either. I never thought
of it before; but the fact is, Sam, I have
not smoked since the night you called
on me, have had no desire to, and have

MOONBLIGHT. g [

been so busy that I have not thought
of it."

Sam evidently thought it not worth while
to answer my last question, and I did not
repeat it ; but said, as I saw some men
crossing the street, evidently making for the
bar :

" Sam, how are we to remedy all this ?
Have you ever thought it out ? "

" No," said Sam. " Thet is, another feller
thought it out for me, and I read it onct in a
paper that was a-pitching inter him, little
thinking that by printing what he said fer
der purpose of knocking der stuffing out of
it, it was really preaching fer der feller,
cause it caught me right off. l What a
durned fool I am ! I said ter my woman.
Well, my woman didn t say nothing ; maybe
she agreed wid my remark. So I said it over
again. Yer needn t be telling der children
if yer be, she said. * Well, said I, here is
a feller thet shows me something thet I ve
been trying ter find out fer ten year, and it s
simple as falling off a log : If any one wants
to use the earth, let him pay the rest for the
privilege at market rate. No more fining a
feller, like a drunkard or a criminal, fer
building a house or painting his barn or be-

MOONBLIGffT.

ing industrious. Jest charge him fer der
rent of der land he uses, and thet s all. No
more blue-coated pirates ploughing around
der coast, wid der new-fangled piratical flag
der American flag wid der stripes running
der wrong way ! No more locking up all der

coal, all der oil,
all der gold, all
der iron, all der
timber, thet
God Almighty
gave ter us all ;
but let any fel
ler thet wants
ter pay der rest
for der privilege,
use jest as much
as he wants ! I
warn t such a
fool as it seem-

" A FORGOTTEN WELL." ed at fuSt, but

thet fellow had

a big head ! You bet your high old muckey
muck he s a daisy ! He is in it wid both feet,
he is. Can t fool him. No siree, bob horse fly!
Say, mister, he s der man can explain these
things jest as plain as der nose on yer face.
Own the land ? How in thunder can a man

MOONBLIGHT. 93

own land ? It was there before he was born,
it will be there thousands of years after he
has gone, see ? Own nothing" ! I own that
thing I showed yer t other night, cause I
made it out of der product of der earth; and
to prove my ownership, I can destroy it, and
no feller can say a word or stop me, see ?
Like to see yer destroy yer town lot. Guess
before yer got ter China, you d throw up der
job ; and even if yer did go through ter
China, der space would be there all der same,
and yer could sell that space. Air, thet s all;
but it could be bridged over and used, and
would bring big money just on account of
its being in a town where space is wanted,
and lots of people would want to use it. Sell
air? Yes; but yer don t own it; yer can t
dig thet away, see? Gosh! wouldn t some-
feller like ter cage up der air, and put a gas-
meter on our lungs, and charge us so much a
cubic-foot fer air; and if we kicked about der
price, they would say, Yer needn t be so
extravagant. Be economical wid der air :
it s ours, and we must be paid for it, see ?
Why, they s got a meter in my uncle s cellar
in the city that gives away every drop of
water he uses. Can t take a drink widout
being charged, and if he takes a bath he s

94 MOONBLIGHT.

got to be rich. His wife takes in washing,
and thet water costs her twenty-two dollars
every six months. I say, Free Land, Free
Water, and Free Labor, them s my senti
ments ! "

The customers had crossed the street, en
tered the bar, and were standing waiting to
be served, unnoticed by Sam. At the close
of his remarks they applauded him and called
for their accustomed stimulant; and I left
them as they were pouring the fiery stuff
down their poor throats.

^y

CHAPTER V.

HE professor came
round to the hotel that
night highly elated
with the success of his
day s search for fossils
and minerals. All was
fish that came to his
net animal, mineral,
plant, or fossil none
were strangers to him, and all were of inter
est ; and, better still, he possessed the rare
faculty of making them interesting to others.
He could sit down by the roadside and talk
for an hour over some bit of stone, leaf or
plant; and without using one technical term,
in every-day language, could tell me more
than I can learn in a week s reading; and,
what is more to the purpose, I could not only
understand him, but remember what he told
me. He had the profoundest contempt for
collectors of birds eggs and birds skins, as a
rule, because, as he expressed it, their collec
tions were made like a school-boy s collec-

95

96 MO ONBLIGH 7 .

tion of stamps, the owner having all the
names pat. and each specimen labeled and
numbered, but there it ended. The collec
tion was of no use to the owner or any one
else, except for the money value it might
possess.

" Now," said the professor, " not to use is
to lose. Remember that, my boy, and if you

"THE MOON IS ALL RIGHT."

get a good idea from any of your old books,
write it down, repeat it to the first man that
you can make listen to you ; nab a small
boy, your sister, mother, brother, servant,
car-driver or policeman, and give him or her
your idea. They may not appreciate it, may
not be interested in it, may not understand

MOONBLIGHT.

97

By repeating it to them,
By writing it down and

it. What of that ?
you are using it.
sending it to the
publisher or a
friend, you are
using it ; by us
ing it you are
making it your
own, and no one
can take it from
you. You have
added to your
stock, you have
added to your
education, you
have added to
your ability for
use in this
world ; and the
man who pre-/p
sumes to live
on this grand
planet, and does
not endeavor to
be of use, prac-
tically denies
the existence of a God, practically denies
that he owes anything to mankind in fact,

PROF. FOLLIUM.

98 MOONBLIGHT.

by so living 1 , insolently and boldly affirms
that he is above God and man.

" Now, these collectors are not so bad as
that ; they are of some use ; their collections,
sooner or later, are sold, and go to enrich
some museum ; but they have not repaid the
collector for his work because he was satis
fied with the selfish pleasure of possessing a
better or more complete collection than some
other felltfw, and with knowing the names
and being able to repeat them like a parrot.
If you collect books, read them; and when
you leave this world, see to it that your col
lection goes to some library, where the books
belong, and not to heirs, whose only interest
is in the money your bequest will bring at an
auction. Never buy a book because it is
rare. You are not a dealer ; buy only such
books as are of use to you in your particular
line of thought or are necessary to perfect
your collection, for its ultimate place on the
shelves of some public institution, where
others interested in the same line of study
may find them.

" Hello ! Where did you get this ? " said
the professor, as his eyes lighted upon the
bookshelf, and he made a dive for an old
book on botany. " Well, here is a prize,"

MOONBLTGHT. 99

said he, as he opened the book. "I have
tried all the book-stalls in London in search
of this volume and have never met with it
before"; and after rubbing his glasses with
his silk handkerchief, the professor replaced
them on his nose, and without waiting for a
reply, commenced to pore over the volume,
and was soon lost to all surroundings.

This was not exactly what I expected. I
wanted to talk. I wanted him to combat the
ideas I had just received from Sam ; but it
must have been an hour before the little man
looked up, and the expression of humility
and chagrin that spread over his face was
comical, as he stammered out an apology for
forgetting my presence and where he was.
He closed the book, looked it over, the brass-
clasp binding and all, carefully replaced it
on the shelf, and said:

" Well, what do you intend to do ? Go
into tenement-house reform ? Start a Coo
per s Institute ? Build a hospital, or run for
Congress ? There is a great field in the ten
ement-house sanitary plumbing, more light,
parks, water on each floor, house rules, and
all that sort of thing, you know."

" Yes," I replied, " I ve thought of that, but
what then ? My tenement-house would be

I OO MOONBLIGHT.

a flat, and would be occupied by the middle
classes, so-called, because the rents would be
too high for the people for whom it was
built."

" True enough,", replied he, " but why
charge such high rent ? "

" Because I would be compelled to. There
is a market value for such flats, and the price
is fixed. Should I lower it, I would in real
ity be giving in alms the difference between
my charge and the market value, and those
who accept alms cannot do so without injury
to their manhood and independence. I
would either fill my house with what are
popularly known as dead-beats, or I would
make paupers of men, who before, though
poor, were self-sustaining."

" My dear fellow," laughed the professor,
" you have made wonderful progress in a
very short time ! "

"For which, in a great measure, I am in
debted to a bar-keeper," I replied, at the same
time remembering Sam s cutting remarks
about the conscience-money and the hospi
tals and public institutions. I related these
remarks to the professor, and he was might
ily pleased, and laughed until the tears
dimmed his glasses.

MOONBLIGHT. I O I

" Well, run your mines on the co-operative
plan, then," he said, as soon as he regained
his composure.

"No, I cannot do that either; because by
so doing I would only be enriching- a com
paratively few miners and doing nothing to
change the system. The immediate effect
would be to make a position in my mines
worth so much premium, and the needy
would all sell out to get ready money for
present necessities ; while the ultimate end
would be that the benefit would fall upon
those among the miners (or those who
might have become miners) who were already
comparatively well off. Possibly I would
have an efficient set of workmen, but it
would be practically only enlarging a com
pany by taking in so many more stockhold
ers, and the principle would remain the
same. The poor degraded slaves I see about
me would still be poor degraded slaves.
Neither could I sell my mines or give them
away, because that would be merely shirk
ing a responsibility an attempt to shove it
upon some one else s shoulders. I have
thought of all that."

" I see you have, my boy, and thought of
it more deeply than I ever did, I must ac-

I O2 MOONBLIGHT.

knowledge. Now, I can plainly see that a
fellow of your pluck will not try to shirk
either a fight or a responsibility, and you
have both ahead of you, for all other mine
owners will bitterly oppose any suggestions
from you, and fiercely resent any reforms
you may choose to introduce in your own
mines. Not only that, but they will have the
public on their side the great, unthinking
booby called the public, that is plundered,
robbed, insulted, and imposed upon in a man
ner that any individual fragment of it in the
form of a man would resent instantly if the
insult or imposition were put upon him per
sonally as separated from the rest. Why, it
is amusing to see the public in New York
driven about like cattle by creatures living
upon its own permission. I mean the corpo
rations whose charters are granted by the
public, whose money comes from the public,
whose valuable franchises are rendered val
uable by the public, but who, one and all, by
their every act, word, and speech, claim to
own the public whose servants they ought
and were originally intended to be. They
make rules of their own, in defiance of the
comforts or rights of the public, and enforce
them as laws, and the great, stupid public

MOONBLIGHT. 1 03

accepts them as such. I tell you, a man
cannot travel from the Battery to Harlem
without having every particle of manhood
in him trampled upon. There, I ve said
what has been on my mind for a long
time, and in repeating it, according to my
own precepts, have made it my own, I
suppose," said the professor.

Well, it was my turn to laugh then. I
could see, without the aid of my spiritual
eyes, that the professor had been badly used
in the great city ; but I seldom saw anything
else than the real man in my learned friend;
and, as was the case with Sam, I never
found it necessary to use my newly acquired
powers to read him as I would a book, be
cause both men were strictly honest and
made no attempt to conceal their real selves,
which were so plainly discernible in their
speech and looks.

There was a knock at my door, and
" Humpy," or Nate as I now called him, an
swered my summons to come in.

"Your superintendent is down stairs, sir,
and wishes to see you immediately."

" Send him up, Nate," said I. " No, pro
fessor, don t leave; nothing private some
thing in regard to mines," I continued as I

104

MOONBLIGHT.

saw my friend knocking the ashes from his
pipe, preparatory to leaving.

" Come right in,
Clint," I called, as I
heard my mine super-
intendent s heavy
tread outside. "Come
in. Mr. Butts, Pro
fessor Follium."

The two men shook
hands, and, as they
stood there, the con
trast was striking; the
round, intelligent
head of the professor
bearing the marks of
refinement, culture
and good nature in
every curved line
from the top of his
round bald head to
the bottom of his
round bald chin,
in direct contrast
to my superintend
ent s not less intel
ligent but less refined appearance.

Clint Butts was a large, square man, with

CLINT BUTTS, MY SUPERINTENDENT.

MOONBLIGHT. 1 05

a broad, square forehead, a heavy, square
jaw; his brows were two broad, straight, dark
lines separated by twin vertical wrinkles;
his gray eyes were deep-set, with long
black lashes, his nose was very regular and
straight, and his dark, closely cropped mus
tache ran in almost a horizontal line beneath
it. As if he was conscious of nature s at
tempt in the rectangular plan and had a de
sire to help her out, Clint wore a square-cut,
double-breasted sack coat and heavy-soled,
square-toed shoes. Immense reserve force
both of mind and body, was the impression
Clint Butts made upon any one whom he
met. An iron will and great physical endur
ance were expressed in every line of his face
and figure. Honesty with him was a matter
of course ; he could not round off his sharp
corners with any sort of deception, and this
trait made him both dreaded and respected
by miner and mine owner. If Clint was
asked for an opinion, he gave it without fear
or favor; if ordered by his employer to do
anything, he did it without words, so when
he turned to me after greeting the professor
I knew I would soon be master of the
facts, whatever they were, that caused his
visit.

I O6 MO OAT BLIGHT.

"Sit down, Clint, and tell me what s
up. Anything- wrong at the mines ? " I in
quired.

" There is going to be a strike for an ad
vance in wages."

"Humph! What do the men get now?" I
asked. " You know," I explained, feeling
ashamed of my ignorance, " I never did
understand the wage system; fact is, I
never bothered myself about these mat
ters of detail until the conference was
called, and I am not yet up on all the
points ; but I have an impression that the
men make about two dollars a day, when
they work."

"That seems to be the general impression
of the public; but I am sorry to say that the
men seldom, if ever, make such a sum. The
wage system in the anthracite-coal region is
a complicated affair, and each complication
deprives the miner of more or less money.
With the sliding scale/ as it is sometimes
called, or basis system/ as we call it,
the wages of the miner fluctuate with the
price of coal. We call it the basis sys
tem because the market price of coal is
the basis upon which the miner s wages
are paid."

MOONBLIGHT. 107

" Mr. Butts, this is very interesting," said
the professor, beaming through his glasses ;
" and it strikes me as not an unwise arrange
ment, if I understand aright. When there
is a rise in coal, there is a corresponding
rise in the wages of the miners ; and if
there should be a sudden drop in the mar
ket price of coal, the corresponding drop
in the wages paid the men would in a
measure prevent the owners from a great
loss which, being unlocked for, might be
disastrous."

"True," replied Clint; "but so many
abuses have been forced in the system
that the basis system has become one of
the most oppressive tools in the hands of
owners."

" How is that, Clint ? What are the abuses ?
Come, let us have the whole story," said
I, as I handed Clint a pipe and a pouch
of tobacco. The pipe he declined but ac
cepted the proffered tobacco, and filled his
own odd-looking French clay pipe. In
lighting the tobacco he made that loud
smacking noise with his lips, peculiar to
Irishmen.

"The professor here knows something of
the manner in which coal is prepared for the

108 MOONBLIGHT.

market," continued Clint, " for I saw him ex
amining our breakers. He saw how the
coal was crushed between two big- revolving
cylinders, toothed with steel, and afterward
saw how the coal was run through screens,
where it was assorted into the several sizes
from * broken pieces, which are as large as
an ordinary tea-cup, to what is called buck
wheat, which is, in plain language, dirt. Then
we have lump coal, which comes a little
larger than broken. Now you see, gentle
men," continued Clint, and he held the pipe
between his fingers and blew a cloud of
smoke before the sentence, " when the basis
sytem was first established there were but
six grades of coal sold in the market, name
ly, lump, steamboat, broken, egg, stove
and chestnut. These were all high-priced
grades"

" What s that got to do with the abuses ? "
I said a little impatiently ; for these details
were still rather dry to me in spite of my
efforts to understand them all.

Just this," replied Clint: "Lately two
lower grades of coal have been added to
the list and one higher grade, steamboat,
dropped. Now, according to the basis, min
ers in this anthracite-coal district receive

MOONBLIGHT. IOQ

cents for cutting and loading a ton of
coal when the market price is $5. Out of
this 42^ cents they must pay help, and pay
a profit to the mine owner at the company s
store, on the powder, oil, fuse and all the
other incidental expenses of a miner s work,
besides the dockage "

" What is the dockage ?" I inquired.

"Deductions made by -the docking boss
for slate, light loading, or any other cause
that may suggest itself to him ; and, as his
living depends upon what he knocks off the
miners earnings, you may be sure he will
not fail to find a cause for dockage and this
notwithstanding the fact that the men mine
thirteen extra cubic feet to the ton to cover
these very deficiencies.

" Coal has not been quoted as high as $5
since 1875. This would make the consumers
who pay $6 and $6.25 per ton open their
eyes, but it is true, and this is the way it is
arranged. As I said before, at the start of
the basis system there were but six grades
of coal, all high-priced ones. Now there are
seven, and two of them are low-priced
grades. If you will just run over this
table," said Clint, " you will see what I

mean."

I I O MOONBLIGHT.

THE TABLE.

1 Lump Coal $6.00 Lump $6.00

2 Steamboat 5.00 Broken 5.00

3 Broken 5-o Egg 5.50

4 Egg 5.50 Stove 5.00

5 Stove 5.00 Chestnut 3.50

6 Chestnut 3-5 Pea, new grade 2.00

Buckwheat, newgrade 1.25

6 | 30.00

7 I 28.25

Average 5.00

*Average 4.03*

* EXTRACT FROM LETTER TO NEW YORK PAPER BY T. V. POWDERLY.

When it is published that an anthracite-coal miner receives so
much money for one day s work, it causes men, in New York as
well as in Wisconsin, to believe that he ought not to grumble at
short time now and then. But his expenses are never set forth,
in fact I have never seen a reference to them in print; everything
goes to show that he draws from $5 to $8 a day. Let us say that
a full month consists of twenty-five days. The miner gets out
seven cars a day, and at the end of the month his account will
stand this way:

25 full days 175 cars $153.12

Out of which he pays:

Laborer at the rate of $2. 10 a day $52. 50

Powder at $3 a keg 36.00

Dockage for month 9.62

Smithing for month .65

Oil for lamp 2.00

Cotton for lampwick .20

Squibs to ignite powder .30

Waterproof paper 25

Soap for mining purposes .05

Wear and tear on tools for month .75

Total expenses for month ... $102.32

Which deduct from $153.12

Leaves him as result of month s toil $50.80

From the foregoing statement it will be seen that with a full

MOONBL1GHT. I I I

" " Thus you see how the wages are reduced
by forcing the miners to accept two new
grades of coal ; and, mind you, gentlemen,
these last two grades are made from the dirt
and waste that the miner has already been
docked for. He is a fortunate miner who can
clear a dollar a day; and even he must spend
that dollar at the company s store and in rent
to the company for the house he lives in, and
thus it all goes back to the mine owner."

month s work the miner will have over and above his expenses
but $50.80. The Hampton is an ordinary mine and is operated by
the D., L. and W. Company. The best mine, so miners tell me,
owned by that Company, is the Central. Both Hampton and
Central shafts are in the limits of Scranton, on what is called the
Hyde Park side of the city. In the Central the miner is paid at
the rate of $1.07^ per car, gets out six cars for a day s work when
mining bottom coal and eight cars when mining top coal. Top
coal is easiest to mine.

ANOTHER BALANCE SHEET.

Computing the earnings of the miner at bottom coal prices it
will leave him but from $8 to $10 more in the month than is paid in
the other mine. Giving the miner his full month s wages at top coal
prices, or at the rate of eight cars a day, and he will receive $8.60
per day and a total of $215 for the month. Out of this he pays:

For laborer $60.00

Powder 20.00

Dockage 9.00

Oil for lamp 2.00

Other expenses same as in other mine 2.25

Total $93.25

Leaving a balance for the miner of $121.75

If a miner were allowed to work top-coal during the month, that

I I 2 MOONB LIGHT.

" Pitch right in, Clint ; don t mind me. I
am getting used to the position of slave-
driver and robber, and don t mind it, I assure
you ; but I want facts now. Tell us what
some one miner you know makes a day," I
interrupted.

" There is Nathaniel James," answered
Clint. " For the last two weeks work he
received $8.50, or $4.25 per week. This

is the best that could be done in the anthracite mines. The miner
works bottom coal for a distance and then takes down the top-coal,
so it will be seen that he must take the chance when it comes to
him, and that chance is given to but a very few. I have not heard
of a case in which such a month s work was performed, and for
years no miner has made full time. The best average earnings
of this region for the past year will not exceed $30 per month. I
have placed the expenses for powder, dockage, wear and tear and
supplies at the lowest figure.

A COMMON OCCURRENCE.

Up to to-day, Feb. 27th, the Sloan shaft has worked but two
days. The miner, after paying his laborer and other expenses, will
take home to his family not more than $6 for this month, unless the
last day of the month is worked. The best time made in any of
the mines around here this month will not exceed six days,
and the miner will not make over $14 for the month. For the
last year and a half times have been poor, some months almost
as bad as this and others but a trifle better.

WHAT A PICTURE OF POVERTY !

Imagine what the fare must be of a family that is depending
on $6 a month. Economists, those who advise workingmen to
practise economy, should do as I did last Wednesday evening
eat supper with a miner who had nothing on the table for his fam
ily of seven but cornmeal mush and water.

MOONBLIGHT. \ \ 3

man is a steady, industrious man and one of
the most practical miners of the middle coal
fields. Nate never tastes a drop of liquor
and never loses a day s work except for sick
ness, or some such urgent cause. He is the
father of the little humpback boot-black at
the hotel, and * Humpy owes his name and
hump to an accident in the mines when he
was almost an infant. Nate told me the
other day that his earnings, not counting
Humpy s, amounted to just 15 cents a day,
divided per capita among his family. Now
here is a report," continued Clint, taking a
pamphlet from his pocket, " showing the cost
of maintaining paupers at the present time to
be 28 cents per day for each pauper ; that is,
your best miners families are living on just
a little over half what it costs the county
to keep a pauper ! "

" Lord ! " said the professor, " I knew things
were bad, yes, extremely bad ; but goodness
me ! I had no idea they were so horribly bad
as your figures make them out to be, Mr.
Butts. It seems to me," said the man of sci
ence, " that a knowledge of mathematics
would make paupers of all the miners, or
else cause them to kill their babies as fast as
they were born."

I 1 4 MOONB LIGHT.

"It makes tramps of some," continued
Clint. "If you at any time want to know
what wages the miners are receiving, watch
the newspapers closely, and you will see re
ported the fact that a few men meet monthly
in New York City and arbitrarily set the fig
ures at which coal is to be sold. Now make
a table of these figures like the one I have
just shown you, strike your average, and use
this proportion: As the original $5.00 a ton
is to the 42^ cents, so is the average you
have struck to the wages of the miners at
the time the quotations were made. Simple
Rule of Three, you see. For instance, if coal
sells now at $4.00, the miner will receive a
little over 34 cents for mining a ton. Re
member that a good miner and his help can
cut about ten tons a day ; help costs $2.10
per day, and that one keg of powder costs
$2.75, and will cut from twenty-five to thirty
tons of coal, and dockage will average six
per cent, of all coal sent out ; and don t
forget that all miners supplies come from
the company s store and at extortionate
prices."

"That will do for to-night, Clint. I have
as much on my conscience as it will bear at
present. Why have you never told me this

MOONBLIGHT. I I 5

before ? " I asked ; but I saw the answer be
fore Clint gave it, and hastened to forestall
him with " That s all right; I understand."
Then I asked : " What advance will my men
ask for, and when ? "

"They will ask, as my informant tells me,
for the abolition of the two cheap or dirt
coals from the list, and a restoration of steam
boat, and will not make the demand until
next week."

"How do you get your information,
Clint?"

" From a Pinkerton who belongs to
their society, and reports to me once a
week."

" Have the men announced it publicly as
yet, or has it leaked out, that there will be a
strike ? "

" No, sir."

"Then cause a notice to be posted imme
diately, commending the men for their faith
fulness I have been watching them at work
and at home, and I must confess that I was
more than surprised at the general industry
and economy of these poor fellows and
end it with a proclamation to the effect that
on and after date an increase of ten per cent,
will be given. We will retain the system

I 1 6 MOONBLIGHT.

because I think that by gradually eliminat
ing the evils, it may be made a good thing.
By the way, Clint, if these fellows had free
use of the land around here, could they
make $2.00 a day ? "

The answer came promptly, " Yes, sir ;
with half the work they do now, and every
day in the week."

" That will do, Clint. See that the notice
is posted."

Clint rose, and looked at me in a curious
sort of way, but said nothing.

" Did you hear?" I continued. " Give the
poor fellows an advance of ten per cent.
no, make it fifteen and some compliment on
their industry thrown in, and do it before
they make a formal demand forestall
them do you see ? "

"I understand, sir," answered the superin
tendent. "You know what that means?"

" Why, it means more money for the poor
wretches."

" Yes, sir," answered the practical man of
facts, "it means that and more. It means
that you will precipitate a strike through the
whole coal region ; it means that all the
other corporations and private owners will
be down on you and combine against

-- *

AS THE MOON WATCHED THE OLD CONTINENTAL FREEZING AT

VALLEY FORGE.

117

I 1 8 MOONBLIGHT.

you ; that your coal will be boycotted by
the railroads. It means a fight ! " *

" Well, Clint, are n t you game for a
fight?"

Clint s broad mouth widened still further
into a broader smile, as he answered, " You
are the boss, sir. If you know what the step
you are taking means, and will see me
through, I rather guess I m game enough to
carry out my part of the job. I d rather face
the corporations than the Mollies, and I ve
faced them in some pretty ticklish situations.
Good night, sir." And Clint bowed himself
out.

* EXTRACT FROM A LETTER TO THE " STANDARD.

Away back in the 70 s Mr. Coxe was a land owner, having
all his collieries except Drifton (his home) leased to outside par
ties, who operated them. In the spring of 1877 the coal trade
reached its lowest ebb, the mine workers worked six or eight days
per month, and Mr. Coxe realized the necessity of seeking wider
markets for anthracite coal. He surveyed the field and called his
men together, making the proposition that if they agreed to work
at a specified rate of wages for said year he would warrant them
steady work for that period. The men accepted, and Mr. Coxe
commenced operations by building boats and shipping coal by the
lakes into the western market. He was a pioneer in the busi
ness, and expended an enormous sum to make the enterprise a
success.

In the meantime the Lehigh Valley railroad company had its
secret agents at work buying up and grabbing all available coal
lands. In a short time the Lehigh Valley company, in direct vio
lation of the state constitution, commenced operations as miners

MOONBLIGHT. I 1 9

" You are in for it now," said the professor.
" But from the looks of your superintendent,
I think you have a good man to back you ;
and if you will make a place at your office
for your friend the bar-keeper, you three will
form a strong combination of talent. Of all
men, a bar-keeper has the greatest opportuni
ties of knowing other men s weak points,
and this barkeeper appears to have intelli
gence enough to make use of his knowledge.
Good night and good luck to you ! I leave
in the morning on the early train. I am
sorry, for I should dearly like to see you
through this. Good-bye."

and shippers of coal, and of course coveted Mr. Coxe s western
market. For a while competition was keen, but Mr. Coxe, being
an energetic business man, and having a fair field, was amply able
to hold his own. He was compelled to ship his coal over the Le-
high Valley road, and the company determined to exterminate
him by discriminations in tolls. Mr. Coxe, after appealing in
vain to other individual operators for aid and co-operation, went
it alone and brought the Valley company before the inter-state
commerce commissioners, with the result that that august body
has failed to render a decision, although the case has been in their
hands for three years.

In the meantime Mr. Coxe s leases have expired, all his mines
being controlled and operated by himself. He is aland user and
as hopelessly in the grasp of the railroads as his poor miners are
in his. But he does not stop here. He is building a railroad of
his own to connect with four trunk-lines, apparently ignoring the
fact that these four roads may pool their issues and leave him
more helpless and dependent than before.

I2O

MOONBLIGHT.

Once again I was left alone in the room
with the fishing-rods, guns, and weird books
of that mysterious regular boarder ; but the

"THE OLD, WHITE-FACED MOON SAW THIS."

fire burned brightly and from the outside the
moon peeped into the window, with a face as

MOONB LIGHT. 121

broad and determined-looking as my super
intendent s. No wonder, poor thing ! If it
has any heart at all, it must be worn out or
hardened to flint by the sights it sees as it
sails through the clouds that surround our
poor, wicked, blind, and ignorant little earth.

I wondered if, at the birth of this nation, as
the moon watched "the old Continentals in
their ragged regimentals," starving and freez
ing at Valley Forge, it had any hopes of see
ing the spirit of freedom that these heroes
were suffering for, triumph ; or if its lunar
experience in watching other like struggles,
which were crushed in the end by the very
wealth the temporary freedom created,
taught it to foresee a like end to the old
Continentals hopes.

Freedom is health : slavery is disease.
And even while our ancestors were suffer
ing from the surgical operation that cut out
the cancer of monarchy, they left, as an in
heritance for their children, a pustule called
negro slavery. The old, white-faced moon
saw this saw the disease grow until it prov
ed almost fatal ; and the silver light from
the* sky shone over many a bloody field
where Labor laid on the altar of Freedom
thousands of her sons.

122 MOONBLIGHT.

Yes, and as we were resting after that
almost fatal operation of the surgeon s pain
ful knife, the old moon saw, and still sees,
another neoplasm forming on Uncle Sam s
body. All of these diseases come from
the roots of the old monarchical cancer left
in the nation s system.

James Henry Hammond voiced the sen
timents of the old Slave States when he
said :

" In all social systems there must be a
class to do the mean duties, to perform the
drudgery of life ; that is, a class requiring
but a low order of intellect and but little
skill. Its requisites are vigor, docility, fidel
ity. Such a class you must have, or you
would not have that other class which leads
progress, refinement, and civilization. It
constitutes the very mudsills of society and
of political government ; and you might as
well attempt to build a house in the air as to
build either the one or the other except on
the mudsills. Fortunately for the South, she
found a race adapted to that purpose to her
hand a race inferior to herself, but emi
nently qualified in temper, in vigor, in docil
ity, in capacity to stand the climate, to an
swer all her purposes."

MOONBLIGHT. 12$

And this old believer in chattel slavery
was right, when, continuing , he said :

" We use them for the purpose and call
them slaves. We are old-fashioned at the
South yet ; it is a word discarded now by
ears polite ; but I will not characterize that
class at the North with that term ; but you
have it ; it is there ; it is everywhere ! "

Mudsills ! Ah, the poor mudsills upon
which all our wealth and power rest !
What if these mudsills, after a drenching
rain, should become slippery ? What if they
should slide ? What becomes of the tem
ples, churches, and cities, whose massive
walls rest so heavily on the earth as to cause
a landslide ? The broad-faced moon knows.
She has seen them dashed to pieces, in one
confused mass ; she has seen old Mother
Nature heal up the wound and hide the scar
with wild flowers, trees and vines ; and the
earth still rolled on !

" O thou ghostly phantom of the sky that
hast watched our puny, selfish race for so
many centuries, tell me," I cried, " are we
to be another Rome ? Is our glorious re
public to be sacrificed because the rich are
insatiable and the poor are slaves?"

" Not by a long shot !" answered a voice

I2 4

MOONBLIGHT.

in anything but a lunar tone. " We re all
right," continued the voice, which I at once
recognized to be Sam s. " Don t you see der
moon s all right, too? Thet s what she
means by squinting thet left eye. She says,
says she, Yer don t build no fence around
me. Yer can t stick yer trespass signs up
on me. I m a free-trader, a free-thinker, a
free-lander. I goes booming right along
bout my business, and a millionaire ain t no
more to me than nothing ; I don t know em ;
they hain t in it, and hain t got a jewel in
their hoard that can shine like me. I m all
right. I m in the push, I am ! I m the poor
man s gas-company, and never send a man
round to pertend to read the meter, and
charge him so much a cubic-foot for moon
light. No, sir-ree bob horse fly ; what I ve
got, I give, and ask no questions. I m a
white man, I am. I m a true democrat that s
just as happy a letting my Might shine on
a lot of innocent niggers in darkest Africa
as I am shining on a lot of poor dudes stag
gering home from der club. I don t blame
der dudes : they can t help being born rich,
and I don t consider it any more disgrace than
being born in der top of a tenement house
or in a Spring Valley coal miner s hut after

MOONBLIGHT, 125

der mortgage was foreclosed by der wealthy
men who ran that bunco game.

" Hold on, Sam!" I shouted, laughing,
" hold on ! The moon doesn t use any such
slangy speech as that."

" No," answered Sam, with a grin, " no
more n she does poetry. To a feller who
only talks slang, the moon expresses herself
in slang. To the poetry chap, the moon is
poetical ; to me, the moon is democratical."

Sam was about to pass on his way through
the hall, when I called to him, and told him
of the conversation between the superintend
ent and myself, and of the fight in prospect.
At the word " fight," Sam set down his bad-
smelling lamp that he had been holding in
one hand, and protecting from the draught
with the other.

A smile like that which had broadened the
mouth of my superintendent caused Sam s
kinky moustache to curl at the ends, and he
slid into a chair near the door, and waited
for further details. I told him what the
professor had said, and that, as Mr. Keene
would say, " it coincided with my precon
ceived ideas exactly."

.Sam s face looked solemn in an instant,
and he was about to decline my proffer of a

126 MOONBLIGHT.

position. I saw it was because he thought it
was made for him out of a sort of charitable
feeling". I hastened to explain how useful he
would be to me, and then I met another un
looked-for opposition in regard to the amount
he was to receive for his services.

" No, sir," he said, " tain t no use talking.
I ain t wuth any such sum as thet ; and while
I would, if I could, demand as my right
every durned cent I am wuth, to take a cent
more is to acknowledge myself to myself as
a pauper or a parasite living off some one
else."

At last I let the matter of salary drop; and
he consented to accept the situation, emolu
ments to be agreed upon after trial, provided
I would allow him to do the square thing by
the hotel man and get another fellow to fill
his place as clerk and bar-keeper, etc.; and I
bade him good-night.

Not long after engaging Sam as a private
secretary and general assistant I received
notice that the regular boarder was expected
to return and claim possession of his room ;
and having succeeded in finding a man from
a neighboring town to take Sam s place at
the bar, and a small Italian to assume Nate s
duties of sweep, bootblack, and bell-boy, our

MOONBLIGH7\ I 2 7

little colony decided to move from the strag
gling, dirty mining town to a no less dirty
and hopeless-looking spot in the vicinity of
my own mines, which were situated some
eight or ten miles distant.

When we arrived, we were received by
Mr. Butts at the depot, and escorted to our
quarters. Clint had erected for me a snug
little shanty, with an office in front and a
bedroom in the rear. The village, if the
group of shanties adjoining my mines could
be dignified by such a name, I christened
" Moonblight."

CHAPTER VI.

OT many months after we
had settled in our new
quarters, while I was busy
working- over plans and
studying- out some
new schemes, the door
flew open and in came
a muffled figure. Above
the fur collar of the over
coat gleamed a pair of
gold-rimmed glasses, and a
moment later I was grasping
the hand of Professor Follium.

"Well, now, this is snug!" exclaimed the
little man, as he looked around at the
scattered paper, architects plans, surveyors
implements, top-boots, axes, picks, patent
lamps, models, and all the medley of mate
rial that a few months had collected around
rue. "But where on earth did you find such
a name for your city ?" inquired the profess
or, as his eye caught a new, colored plan of

128

MOONBLIGHT. 1 29

the village, laid out and mapped under the
directions of Clinton Butts, C. E.

" Oh, it s a long story, Professor," I replied;
"but I feel like talking, for I have done very
little of it lately. I have not had time to
talk much since I saw you last. I will tell
you all about it; but first tell me where you
came from, and what brought you away out
here this time of the year ? "

" Never mind about me. My doings are
uninteresting. Been on a lecturing tour ;
was in the neighborhood, and my curiosity
to know how you were getting on, added to
my desire to see you, made me time my en
gagements so that I might have a few days
off when I reached this neighborhood; and,
now I am here, I am anxious to know what
possessed you to choose such a queer name
for your proposed city for I see by Mr.
Butts s map here that you intend to make a
city of it. Please tell me what that word
means, where you got it, and how you came
to choose it. I am as curious as a child."
And throwing himself back on the wolf-skin
that covered an easy-chair near the open fire,
the professor assumed a comfortable attitude
of attention. There was a twinkle in his eye,
as he glanced at my long, curly hair and

1 3 o

MOONBLIGHT.

blond beard, but he made no remarks upon
them.

I began and told him my whole experience
during the night spent with those strange
books of the "regular boarder" at the
American House. During the recital the
pleasant face of my friend assumed as grave
a look as it was
possible for mus
cles accustomed
to be stimulated
only by dry good
humor, mirth and
good-fellowship
to assume: when
I finished he re
mained silent for
a long time, and
then muttered :

" Remarkable !
remarkable ! Why, you are a regular St.
Paul ! " he exclaimed at last, as his face
regained its accustomed good-natured ex
pression. " But do you know," he continued,
"I believe that both you and St. Paul were
unconsciously preparing yourselves for the
change that was to come, long before the
light blinded you. Had your mind not been

A SKETCH FROM NATURE.

MOONBLIGHT.

prepared you would not have understood

the message
when it came ;
the old book of
magic would
have been sim
ply an old book
of magic noth
ing more. The
deeper meaning
was in you, or
the book could
not have reach
ed you. With
most of us this
change is so
gradual that we are
unconscious of it. If
our spiritual eyes are
opened, it is by such
slow degrees that we
do not know it, and
attribute our insight
into hidden things
to an accomplish
ment acquired by
constant practice in
looking for the real meaning of what we see.

ITS APPLICATION.

MOONBLIGHT.

So you found Mr. Keene to be a fox and a
wolf? Ha, ha!" laughed the little fellow.
"And that spider illustration why ! that s
an inspiration. I have a collection of those
spiders at the college, and I ll never look at
them again without thinking of your mine
owners meeting. Oh, they are financiers,
those spiders ! They live, literally, in a bed
of roses and grow fat on the blood of the
industrious bees. Good ! Grand ! I ll use
that illustration in my next lecture, if I am
mobbed for it; and if I can find that regular
boarder, I ll pawn my clothes to buy his
witch-book. But first I will try to purify
my mind. " And again the grave look
chased the dimples from the rosy cheek of
the man of science. " Yes, sir; I ll become
an alchemist too, and try to see how much
gold I can make out of my audiences. No
pun, no pun; I did not mean it that way.
You cannot get much money out of people
when you want to teach them anything:
they will pay to be amused, but as a rule,
they hate to be instructed. It makes them
think, and if they think, why, then, my dear
boy, they might see things as they really
are, eh ? "

" Professor," I ^exclaimed, "you do not

MOONBLIGHT. 133

know how pleasant it is to hear you talk like
this ! I was certain that you would not
laugh at me at least, I thought I was; but
the relief I feel at hearing you indorse my
opinions and approve my actions shows me
that there must have been a lurking fear or
doubt that you would, like the villagers in the
other town, think that I was flighty; and
while, generally, such things do not bother
me, I would have felt it grievously if you too
had harbored any such thought. I may yet
have need of your testimony as an expert; for
Mr. Keene has twice tried to cause my arrest
and incarceration as a lunatic. I have been
shadowed by detectives my steps dogged
by agents of the combination of Keene,
White, and Brown. Even my long hair and
beard were urged by my enemies as signs
of insanity. In vain have Keene, White, and
Brown searched for my heirs, hoping that
they would cause me to be locked up as
incompetent to take care of my estate. I
knew, if they found them, they would do
more than I can do, for I am the last of our
line in this country, and the other branches
are all across the water, bearing a different
name. The name I am known by is one as
sumed by an old ancestor when he escaped

134

MOONBLIGHT.

to this country from the political persecution
in England to which his outspoken ideas on
government subjected him; hence I feel com
paratively easy on that score."

" They think, or pretend to think, you a
lunatic ? Ah, the rogues ! It would be well
for them, and for the poor wretches upon

" I AM A FIRM BELIEVER IN GNOMES, BROWNIES, AND FAIRIES
AS REAL LIVE BEINGS."

whose labor they live, if your lunacy were
contagious. I sh