A KNIGHT OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, Edward Payson Roe [top young adult novels TXT] 📗

Had Never Taught Him Self-Restraint; His Own Inclinations

Furnished the Laws Of His Action, And The Wish To Curb His Desires

Because They Were Wrong Scarcely Ever Crossed his Mind. To Avoid Trouble

With His Mother, Therefore, He Began Slyly And Secretly To Taste The

Forbidden Fruits Which Her Lavish Supplies Of Money Always Kept Within

His Reach. In this Manner That Most Hopeless And Vitiating Of Elements,

Deceitfulness, Entered into His Character. He Denied to His Mother, And

Sought To Conceal From Her, The Truth That While Still In his Teens He

Was Learning The Gambler'S Infatuation And Forming The Inebriate'S

Appetite. He Tried to Prevent Her From Knowing That Many Of His Most

Intimate Associates Were Such As He Would Not Introduce To Her Or To His

Sisters.

 

 

 

He Had Received, However, A Few Counter-Balancing advantages In his

Early Life. With All Her Weaknesses, His Mother Was A Lady, And Order,

Refinement, And Elegance Characterized his Home. Though Not A Gentleman

At Heart, On Approaching Manhood He Habitually Maintained the Outward

Bearing That Society Demands. The Report That He Was A Little Fast Was

More Than Neutralized by The Fact Of His Wealth. Indeed, Society

Concluded that It Had Much More Occasion To Smile Than To Frown Upon

Him, And His Increasing Fondness For Society And Its Approval In some

Degree Curbed his Tendencies To Dissipation.

 

 

 

It Might Also Prove To His Advantage That So Much Christian And Ethical

Truth Had Been Lodged in his Memory During Early Years. His Mother Had

Really Taken Pains To Acquaint Him With The Divine Man Who "Pleased not

Himself," Even While She Was Practically Teaching Him To Reverse This

Trait In his Own Character. Thus, While The Youth'S Heart Was Sadly

Erratic, His Head Was Tolerably Orthodox, And He Knew Theoreticaly The

Chief Principles Of Right Action. Though His Conscience Had Never Been

Truly Awakened, It Often Told Him That His Action Was Unmanly, To Say

The Least; And That Was As Far As Any Self-Censure Could Reach At This

Time. But It Might Prove A Fortunate Thing That Although Thorns And

Thistles Had Been Planted chiefly, Some Good Seed had Been Scattered

Also, And That He Had Received some Idea Of A Life The Reverse Of That

Which He Was Leading.

 

 

 

But Thus Far It Might Be Said With Almost Literal Truth, That Young

Haldane'S Acquaintance With Christian Ethics Had Had No More Practical

Effect Upon His Habitual Action And Thought Than His Knowledge Of

Algebra. When His Mother Permitted him To Snatch His Sisters' Playthings

And Keep Them, When She Took Him From The School Where He Had Received

Well-Merited punishment, When She Enslaved herself And Her Household To

Him Instead Of Teaching Considerate And Loyal Devotion To Her, She

Nullified all The Christian Instruction That She Or Any One Else Had

Given.

 

 

 

The Boy Had One Very Marked trait, Which Might Promise Well For The

Future, Or Otherwise, According To Circumstances, And That Was A Certain

Wilful Persistence, Which Often Degenerated into Downright Obstinacy.

Frequently, When His Mother Thought That She Had Coaxed or Wheedled him

Into Giving Up Something Of Which She Did Not Approve, He Would Quietly

Approach His Object In some Other Way, And Gain His Point, Or Sulk Till

He Did. When He Set His Heart Upon Anything He Was Not As "Unstable As

Water." While But An Indifferent And Superficial Student, Who Had

Habitually Escaped lessons And Skipped difficulties, He Occasionally

Became Nettled by A Perplexing Problem Or Task, And Would Work At It

With A Sort Of Vindictive, Unrelenting Earnestness, As If He Were

Subduing an Enemy. Having Put His Foot On The Obstacle, And Mastered the

Difficulty That Piqued him, He Would Cast The Book Aside, Indifferent To

The Study Or Science Of Which It Formed but A Small Fraction.

 

 

 

After All, Perhaps The Best That Could Be Said Of Him Was That He

Possessed fair Abilities, And Was Still Subject To The Good And Generous

Impulses Of Youth. His Traits And Tendencies Were, In the Main, All

Wrong; But He Had Not As Yet Become Confirmed and Hardened in them.

Contact With The World, Which Sooner Or Later Tells A Man The Truth

About Himself, However Unwelcome, Might Dissipate The Illusion, Gained

From His Mother'S Idolatry, That In some Indefinite Way He Was

Remarkable In himself, And That He Was Destined to Great Things From A

Vague And Innate Superiority, Which It Had Never Occurred to Him To

Analyze.

 

 

 

But As The Young Man Approached his Majority His Growing Habits Of

Dissipation Became So Pronounced that Even His Willingly Blind Mother

Was Compelled to Recognize Them. Rumor Of His Fast And Foolish Behavior

Took Such Definite Shape As To Penetrate The Widow'S Aristocratic

Retirement, And To Pass The Barriers Created by The Reserve Which She

Ever Maintained in regard To Personal And Family Matters. More Than Once

Her Son Came Home In a Condition So Nearly Resembling Intoxication That

She Was Compelled to Recognize The Cause, And She Was Greatly Shocked

And Alarmed. Again And Again She Said To Herself:

 

 

 

"I Cannot Understand How A Boy Brought Up In the Careful Christian

Manner That He Has Been Can Show Such Unnatural Depravity. It Is A Dark,

Mysterious Providence, To Which I Feel I Cannot Submit."

 

 

 

Though Young Haldane Was Aware Of His Mother'S Intolerance Of

Disreputable Vices And Follies, He Was Not Prepared for Her Strong And

Even Bitter Condemnation Of His Action. Having Never Been Taught To

Endure From Her Nor From Any One The Language Of Rebuke, He Retorted as

A Son Never Should Do In any Circumstances, And Stormy Scenes Followed.

 

 

 

Thus The Mother Was At Last Rudely Awakened to The Fact That Her Son Was

Not A Model Youth, And That Something Must Be Done Speedily, Or Else He

Might Go To Destruction, And In the Meantime Disgrace Both Himself And

Her--An Event Almost Equally To Be Dreaded.

 

 

 

In Her Distress And Perplexity She Summoned her Pastor, And Took Counsel

With Him. At Her Request The Venerable Man Readily Agreed to "Talk To"

The Wayward Subject, And Thought That His Folly And Its Consequences

Could Be Placed before The Young Man In such A Strong And Logical

Statement That It Would Convince Him At Once That He Must "Repent And

Walk In the Ways Of Righteousness." If Haldane'S Errors Had Been Those

Of Doctrine, Dr. Marks Would Have Been An Admirable Guide; But The

Trouble Was That, While The Good Doctor Was Familiar With All The

Readings Of Obscure Greek And Hebrew Texts, And All The Shades Of

Opinions Resulting, He Was Unacquainted with Even The Alphabet Of Human

Nature. In approaching "A Sinner," He Had One Formal And Unvarying

Method, And He Chose His Course Not From The Bearing Of The Subject

Himself, But From Certain General Theological Truths Which He Believed

Applied to The "Unrenewed heart Of Man As A Fallen Race." He Rather

Prided himself Upon Calling a Sinner A Sinner, And All Things Else By

Their Right Names; And Thus It Is Evident That He Often Had But Little

Of The Pauline Guile, Which Enabled the Great Apostle To Entangle The

Wayward Feet Of Jew, Greek And Roman, Bond And Free, In heavenly Snares.

 

 

 

The Youth Whom He Was To Convince And Convert By A Single Broadside Of

Truth, As It Were, Moved in such An Eccentric Orbit, That The Doctor

Could Never Bring His Heavy Artillery To Bear Upon Him. Neither Coaxing

Nor Scolding On The Part Of The Mother Could Bring about The Formal

Interview. At Last, However, It Was Secured by An Accident, And His

Mother Felt Thereafter, With A Certain Sense Of Consolation, That "All

Had Been Done That Could Be Done."

 

 

 

Entering The Parlor Unexpectedly One Afternoon, Haldane Stumbled

Directly Upon Dr. Marks, Who Opened fire At Once, By Saying:

 

 

 

"My Young Friend, This Is Quite Providential, As I Have Long Been

Wishing For An Interview. Please Be Seated, For I Have Certain Things To

Say Which Relate To Your Spiritual And Temporal Well-Being, Although The

Latter Is A Very Secondary Matter."

 

 

 

Haldane Was Too Well Bred to Break Rudely And Abruptly Away, And Yet It

Must Be Admitted that He Complied with Very Much The Feeling and Grace

With Which He Would Take A Dentist'S Chair.

 

 

 

"My Young Friend, If You Ever Wish To Be A Saint You Must First Have A

Profound Conviction That You Are A Sinner. I Hope That You Realize That

You Are A Sinner."

 

 

 

"I Am Quite Content To Be A Gentleman," Was The Brusque Reply.

 

 

 

"But As Long As You Remain An Impenitent Sinner You Can Never Be Even A

True Gentleman," Responded the Clergyman Somewhat Warmly.

 

 

 

Haldane Had Caught A Shocked and Warning Look From His Mother, And So

Did Not Reply. He Saw That He Was "In For It," As He Would Express

Himself, And Surmised that The Less He Said The Sooner The Ordeal Would

Be Over. He Therefore Took Refuge In a Silence That Was Both Sullen And

Resentful. He Was Too Young And Uncurbed to Maintain A Cold And

Impassive Face, And His Dark Eyes Occasionally Shot Vindictive Gleams At

Both His Mother And Her Ally, Who Had So Unexpectedly Caged him Against

His Will. Fortunately The Doctor Was Content, After He Had Got Under

Way, To Talk At, Instead Of To, His Listener, And Thus Was Saved the

Mortification Of Asking Questions Of One Who Would Not Have Answered.

 

 

 

After The Last Sonorous Period Had Been Rounded, The Youth Arose, Bowed

Stiffly, And Withdrew, But With A Heart Overflowing With A Malicious

Desire To Retaliate. At The Angle Of The House Stood The Clergyman'S

Steady-Going Mare, And His Low, Old-Fashioned buggy. It Was But The Work

Of A Moment To Slip Part Of The Shuck Of A Horse-Chestnut, With Its

Sharp Spines, Under The Collar, So That When The Traces Drew Upon It The

Spines Would Be Driven Into The Poor Beast'S Neck. Then, Going Down To

The Main Street Of The Town, Through Which He Knew The Doctor Must Pass

On His Way Home, He Took His Post Of Observation.

 

Chapter II (Both Apologize)

Haldane'S Hopes Were Realized beyond His Anticipations, For The Doctor'S

Old Mare--At First Surprised and Restless From The Wounds Made By The

Sharp Spines--Speedily Became Indignant And Fractious, And At Last, Half

Frantic With Pain, Started on A Gallop Down The Street, Setting all The

Town Agog With Excitement And Alarm.

 

 

 

With Grim Satisfaction Haldane Saw The Doctor'S Immaculate Silk Hat Fly

Into The Mud, His Wig, Blown Comically Awry, Fall Over His Eyes, And His

Spectacles Joggle Down Until They Sat Astride The Tip Of A Rather

Prominent Nose.

 

 

 

Having Had His Revenge He At Once Relented, And Rushing Out In advance

Of Some Others Who Were Coming To The Rescue, He Caught The Poor Beast,

And Stopped her So Suddenly That The Doctor Was Nearly Precipitated over

The Dashboard. Then, Pretending To Examine The Harness To See That

Nothing Was Broken, He Quietly Removed the Cause Of Irritation, And The

Naturally Sedate Beast At Once Became Far More Composed than Her Master,

For, As A Bystander Remarked, The Venerable Doctor Was "Dreadfully Shuck

Up." It Was Quite In keeping With Haldane'S Disingenuous Nature To

Accept The Old Gentleman'S Profuse Thanks For The Rescue. The Impulse To

Carry His Mischief Still Further Was At Once Acted upon, And He Offered

To See The Doctor Safely Home.

 

 

 

His Services Were Eagerly Accepted, For The Poor Man Was Much Too

Unnerved to Take The Reins Again, Though, Had He Known It, The Mare

Would Now Have Gone To The Parsonage Quietly, And Of Her Own Accord.

 

 

 

The Doctor Was Gradually Righted up And Composed. His Wig, Which Had

Covered his Left Eye, Was Arranged decorously In its Proper Place, And

The Gold-Rimmed spectacles Pressed back So That The Good Man Could Beam

Mildly And Gratefully Upon His Supposed preserver. The Clerical Hat,

However, Had Lost Its Character Beyond Recovery, And Though Its Owner

Was Obliged to Wear It Home, It Must Be Confessed that It Did Not At All

Comport With The Doctor'S Dignity And Calling.

 

 

 

Young Haldane Took The Reins With A Great Show Of Solicitude And

Vigilance, Appearing To Dread Another Display