A KNIGHT OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, Edward Payson Roe [top young adult novels TXT] 📗
- Author: Edward Payson Roe
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Only By Trickling Blood Or Faintness Have Persons Become Aware Of Their
Injuries. But "A Wounded spirit, Who Can Bear?" And When Did Hope,
Self-Love, Or Pride, Ever Receive Home-Thrusts Unconsciously?
The Well-Meaning Letter, Written By The Kindly Editor, And Full Of
Wholesome Advice, Cut Like A Surgeon'S Knife In some Desperate Case When
It Is A Question Whether The Patient Can Endure The Heroic Treatment
Necessary. Haldane'S Stilted and Unnatural Tales Had Been Projected into
Being By Such Fiery And Violent Means That They Might Almost Be Termed
Volcanic In their Origin; But The Fused mass Which Was The Result,
Resembled scoria Or Cinders Rather Than Fine Metal Shaped into Artistic
Forms. Although His Manuscripts Could Have Been Sold In the World'S
Market Only By The Pound, He Had Believed, Or, At Least, Strongly Hoped
Otherwise, Like So Many Others, Who, With Beating Hearts, Have Sent The
Children Of Their Brains Out To Seek Their Fortunes With No Better
Results.
The Unbroken And Ominous Silence Of The Returned manuscript Is A Severe
Disappointment Even To Those Who From Safe And Happy Homes Have Sought
To Gain The Public Ear, And Whose Impelling Motive Toward Literature Is
Scarcely More Than An Impulse Of Vanity. But To Haldane The Letter,
Which In giving The Editorial Estimate Of One Of His Stories Revealed
The Fate Of All The Others, Brought Far More Than A Mere Disappointment.
It Brought Despair And The Recklessness And Demoralization Which
Inevitably Follow. The Public Regarded him As A Depraved, Commonplace
Vagabond, Eminent Only In his Capacity For Evil And Meanness, And He Now
Inclined strongly To The Same View Of Himself. True Self-Respect He Had
Never Possessed, And His Best Substitute, Pride, At Last Gave Way. He
Felt That He Was Defeated for Life, And The Best That Life Could Now
Offer Was A Brief Career Of Sensual Pleasure. Mrs. Arnot And Laura
Romeyn Were So Far Removed from Him As The Stars; It Was Torment To
Think Of Them, And He Would Blot Out Their Memory And The Memory Of All
That He Had Hoped for, With Wine And Excitement. It Seemed to Him That
The World Said To Him With United voice, "Go To The Devil," And Then
Made It Impossible For Him To Do Otherwise.
Since He Was Defeated--Since All His Proud Assurances To His Mother That
He Would, Alone And Unaided, Regain His Lost Good Name And Position In
Society, Had Proved but Empty Boasts--He Would No Longer Hide The Fact
From Her, Not In the Hope Of Being Received at Home As A Repentant
Prodigal (Even The Thought Of Such A Course Was Unendurable), But With
The Purpose Of Obtaining From Her The Means Of Entering Upon A Life Of
Vicious Pleasure.
The Young Man'S Father--Impelled both By His Strong Attachment For His
Wife, And Also By The Prudent Forethought With Which Men Seek To Protect
And Provide For Those They Love, Long After They Have Passed away From
Earthly Life--Had Left His Property Wholly In trust To His Wife,
Associating With Her One Or Two Other Chosen Counsellors. As Long As She
Lived and Remained unmarried she Controlled it, The Husband Trusting To
Her Affection For Her Children To Make Suitable Provision For Them. He
Had Seen With Prophetic Anxiety The Mother'S Fond Indulgence Of Their
Only Son, And The Practical Man Dreaded the Consequences. He Therefore
Communicated to Her Verbally, And Also Embodied in his Will, His Wish
That His Son Should Have No Control Over The Principal Of Such Portion
Of The Estate As Would Eventually Fall To Him Until He Had Established a
Character That Secured the Confidence Of All Good Men, And Satisfied the
Judgment Of The Cautious Co-Executors. The Provisions Of The Will Still
Further Required that, Should The Young Man Prove Erratic And Vicious,
His Income Should Be Limited in such Ways As Would, As Far As Possible,
Curb Excess.
Haldane Knew All This, And In the Days Of His Confidence In himself And
His Brilliant Future Had Often Smiled at These "Absurd Restrictions."
The Idea That There Would Ever Be Any Reason For Their Enforcement Was
Preposterous, And The Thought Of His Fond, Weak Mother Refusing anything
That He Demanded, Was Still Further Out Of The Range Of Possibility.
The Wretched youth Now Sank Into A Far Lower Depth Than He Had Ever Yet
Reached. He Deliberately Resolved to Take Advantage Of That Mother'S
Weakness, And For The Basest Ends. While Under The Influence Of Hope And
Pride, He Had Resolved to Receive No Assistance Even From Her, So That
He Might Wholly Claim The Credit Of Regaining all That He Had Lost; But
Now, In the Recklessness Of Despair, He Proposed not Only To Ask For All
The Money He Could Obtain, But, If Necessary, Extort It By Any Means In
His Power.
He And The Forlorn Place Of His Bitter Revery Grew More And More Into
Harmony. The Small, Half-Finished apartment Of The Ruinous New House
Became More Truly The Counterpart Of His Life, It Was Bare; It Was
Unsightly From The Debris Of Its Own Discolored and Crumbling Walls. The
Possibility Of Sweet Home Scenes Had Passed from It, And It Had Become A
Place In which An Orgy Might Be Hidden, Or Some Revolting Crime
Committed. To Precisely This Use Haldane Put His Temporary Refuge Before
Leaving It; For Excesses And Evil Deeds That The Mind Has Deliberately
Resolved upon Are Virtually Accomplished facts As Far As The Wrong-Doer
Is Concerned. Before Leaving His Dingy Hiding-Place Haldane Had In the
Depths Of His Soul Been Guilty Of Drunkenness And All Kinds Of Excess.
He Also Purposed unutterable Baseness Toward The Widowed mother Whom, By
Every Principle Of True Manhood, He Was Bound To Cherish And Shield; And
He Had In volition More Certainly Committed the Act Of Self-Destruction
Than Does The Poor Wretch Who, Under Some Mad, Half-Insane Impulse,
Makes Permanent By Suicide The Evils A Little Fortitude And Patient
Effort Might Have Remedied. There Is No Self-Murder So Hopeless And
Wicked as That Of Deliberate Sin Against One'S Own Body And Soul.
No Man Becomes A Saint Or Villain In an Hour Or By A Single Step; But
There Are Times When Evil Tendencies Combine With Adverse Influences And
Circumstances To Produce Sudden And Seemingly Fatal Havoc In character.
As The World Goes, Haldane Was A Well-Meaning Youth, Although Cursed
With Evil Habits And Tendencies, When He Entered the Isolated,
Half-Finished house. He Was Bad And Devilish When He Came Out Upon The
Street Again, And Walked recklessly Toward The City, Caring Not Who Saw
Or Recognized him. In the Depths Of His Heart He Had Become An Enemy To
Society, And, So Far From Hoping To Gain Its Respect And Good-Will, He
Defied and Intended to Outrage It To The End Of Life.
A Man In such A Mood Gravitates With Almost Certainty Toward The
Liquor-Saloon, And Haldane Naturally Commenced drinking at The Various
Dens Whose Doors Stood Alluringly Open. His Slender Purse Did Not Give
Him The Choice Of High-Priced wines, And To Secure The Mad Excitement
And Oblivion He Craved, Only Fiery Compounds Were Ordered--Such As Might
Have Been Distilled in the Infernal Regions To Accomplish Infernal
Results; And They Soon Began To Possess Him Like A Legion Of Evil
Spirits.
If Shakespeare Characterized the "Invisible Spirit Of Wine" As A "Devil"
In The Unsophisticated days Of Old, When Wine Was Wine, And Not A
Hell-Broth Concocted of Poisonous Drugs, What Unspeakable Fiends Must
Lurk In the Grimy Bottles Whose Contents, Analyzed and Explained, Would
Appall Some, At Least, Of The Stolid And Stony-Hearted venders!
Haldane Soon Felt Himself Capable Of Any Wickedness, Any Crime. He
Became A Human Volcano, That Might At Any Moment Pass Into A Violent And
Murderous Action, Regardless Of Consequences--Indeed, As Utterly
Incapable Of Foreseeing and Realizing Them As The Mountain That Belches
Destruction On Vineyard And Village.
We Regard Ourselves As A Civilized and Christian People, And Yet We
Tolerate On Every Corner Places Where Men Are Transformed into Incarnate
Devils, And Sent Forth To Run Amuck In our Streets, And Outrage The
Helpless Women And Children In their Own Homes. The Naked inhabitants Of
Dahomey Could Do No Worse In this Direction.
But Haldane Was Not Destined to End His Orgy In the Lurid Glare Of A
Tragedy, For, As The Sun Declined, The Miserable Day Was Brought To A
Wretched and Fitting Close. Unconsciously He Had Strayed to The Saloon
On Whose Low Steps Messrs. Van Wink And Ketchem Had Left Him On The
Memorable Night From Which He Dated his Downfall. Of Course He Did Not
Recognize The Place, But There Was One Within That Associated him
Inseparably With It, And Also With Misfortunes Of His Own. As Haldane
Leaned unsteadily Against The Bar A Seedy-Looking Man Glared at Him A
Moment, And Then Stepped to His Side, Saying:
"I'Ll Take A Few Dhrinks Wid Ye. Faix! After All The Trouble Ye'Ve Been
To Me Ye Oughter Kape Me In dhrink The Year."
Turning To The Speaker, The Young Man Recognized pat M'Cabe, Whom He
Also Associated with His Evil Fortunes, And Toward Whom He Now Felt A
Strong Vindictiveness, The Sudden And Unreasoning anger Of Intoxication.
In Reply, Therefore, He Threw The Contents Of His Glass Into Pat'S Face,
Saying With A Curse:
"That Is The Way I Drink With Such As You."
Instantly There Was A Bar-Room Brawl Of The Ordinary Brutal Type, From
Whose Details We Gladly Escape. Attracted by The Uproar, A Policeman Was
Soon On Hand, And Both The Combatants Were Arrested and Marched off To
The Nearest Police Station. Bruised, Bleeding, Disheveled, And With Rent
Garments, Haldane Again Passed through The Streets As A Criminal, With
The Rabble Hooting after Him. But Now There Was No Intolerable Sense Of
Shame As At First. He Had Become A Criminal At Heart; He Had
Deliberately And Consciously Degraded himself, And His Whole Aspect Had
Come To Be In keeping With His Character.
It May Be Objected that The Transformation Had Been Too Rapid. It Had
Not Been Rapid. His Mother Commenced preparing Him For This In the
Nursery By Her Weak Indulgence. She Had Sown The Seeds Of Which His
Present Actions Were The Legitimate Outgrowth. The Weeds Of His Evil
Nature Had Been Unchecked when Little, And Now They Were Growing So Rank
As To Overshadow All.
Multitudes Go To Ruin Who Must Trace Their Wrong Bias Back To Cultivated
And Even Christian Homes.
Chapter XXVII (God Sent His Angel)The Mad Excitement Of Anger And Drunkenness Was Speedily Followed by
Stupor, And The Night During Which Haldane Was Locked up In the
Station-House Was A Blank. The Next Morning He Was Decidedly Ill As The
Result Of His Debauch; For The After-Effects Of The Vile Liquor He Had
Drank Was Such As To Make Any Creature Save Rational Man Shun It In the
Future With Utter Loathing.
But The Officers Of The Law Had Not The Slightest Consideration For His
Aching Head And Jarring Nerves. He Was Hustled off To The Police Court
With Others, And He Now Seemed in harmony With The Place And Company.
Pat M'Cabe Was A Veteran In these Matters, And Had His Witnesses Ready,
Who Swore To The Truth, And Anything Else Calculated to Assist Pat,
Their Crony, Out Of His Scrape. Unfortunately For Haldane, The Truth Was
Against Him, And He Remained sullen And Silent, Making No Defence. The
Natural Result, Therefore, Of The Brief Hearing, Was His Committal To
The Common Jail For Ten Days, And The Liberation Of Pat, With A Severe
Reprimand.
Thus, After The Lapse Of A Few Brief Weeks, Haldane Found Himself In the
Same Cell Whence He Had Gone Out Promising and Expecting To Accomplish
So Much. He Could Not Help Recalling His Proud Words To His Mother And
Mrs. Arnot As He Looked around The Bare Walls, And He Was Sufficiently
Himself Again To Realize Partially How Complete And Disgraceful Had Been
His Defeat. But Such Was His Mood That It Could Find No Better
Expression Than A Malediction Upon Himself And The World In general.
Then, Throwing Himself Upon His Rude
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