 Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, 1st Chapter Collection, 6. Chapter 1. Mrs. Rachel Lind is surprised. Mrs. Rachel Lind lived just where the Avonlea Main Road dipped down into a little hollow fringed with alders and ladies' eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert Place. It was reputed to be an intricate headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade. But by the time it reached Lind's hollow, it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lind's door without due regard for decency and decorum. It probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place, she would never rest until she had ferret it out the wise and wherefores thereof. There are plenty of people in Avonlea and out of it who can attend closely to their neighbor's business by dint of neglecting their own, but Mrs. Rachel Lind was one of those capable creatures who can manage their own concerns and those of other folks into the bargain. She was a notable housewife, her work was always done and well done. She WANNED the sewing circle, helped run the Sunday school, and was the strongest prop of the church-aid society and foreign missions auxiliary. Yet with all this, Mrs. Rachel found abundant time to sit for hours at her kitchen window, knitting cotton-warp quilts. She had knitted sixteen of them as Avonlea housekeepers were want to tell in odd voices, with keeping a sharp eye on the main road that crossed the hollow and wound up the steep red hill beyond. Since Avonlea occupied a little triangular peninsula, jutting out into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with water on two sides of it, anybody who went out of it or into it had to pass over that hill-road, and so run the unseen gauntlet of Mrs. Rachel's all-seeing eye. She was sitting there one afternoon in early June. The sun was coming in at the window, warm and bright. The orchard on the slope below the house was in a bridal flush of pinky-white bloom hummed over by a myriad of bees. Thomas Linde, a meek little man whom Avonlea people called Rachel Linde's husband, was sewing his late turnip seed on the hill-field beyond the barn, and Matthew Cuthbert ought to have been sewing his on the big red brook-field, a way over by green gables. Mrs. Rachel knew that he ought because she had heard him tell Peter Morris in the evening before in William J. Blair's store over at Carmody that he meant to sew his turnip seed the next afternoon. Peter had asked him, of course, for Matthew Cuthbert had never been known to volunteer information about anything in his whole life, and yet here was Matthew Cuthbert at half-past three on the afternoon of a busy day, placidly driving over the hollow and up the hill. Moreover he wore a white collar and his best suit of clothes, which was plain proof that he was going out of Avonlea. And he had the buggy, and the sorrel mare, which betokened that he was going a considerable distance. Now where was Matthew Cuthbert going, and why was he going there? Had it been any other man in Avonlea, Mrs. Rachel, deftly putting this and that together might have given a pretty good guess as to both questions, but Matthew so rarely went from home that it must be something pressing and unusual which was taking him. He was the shyest man alive and hated to have to go among strangers, or to any place where he might have to talk. Matthew, dressed up in a white collar and driving in a buggy, was something that didn't happen often. Mrs. Rachel pondered as she might could make nothing of it, and her afternoon's enjoyment was spoiled. I'll just step over to Green Gables after tea and find out from Marilla where he's gone and why the worthy woman finally concluded. He doesn't generally go to town this time of year, and he never visits. If he'd run out of turnip seed he wouldn't dress up and take the buggy to go for more. He wasn't driving fast enough to be going for a doctor. Yet something must have happened since last night to start him off. I'm clean puzzled, that's what, and I won't know a minute's peace or conscience until I know what has taken Matthew Cuthbert out of Avonlea to-day. Accordingly, after tea Mrs. Rachel set out. She had not far to go. The big, rambling, orchard-embowered house where the Cuthberts lived was a scant quarter of a mile up the road from Lynn's Hollow. To be sure the long lane made it a good deal further. Matthew Cuthbert's father, as shy and silent as his son after him, had got as far away as he possibly could from his fellow men without actually retreating into the woods when he founded his homestead. Green Gables was built at the furthest edge of his cleared land, and there it was to this day, barely visible from the main road, along which all the other Avonlea houses were so sociably situated. Mrs. Rachel Lynn did not call living in such a place, living at all. It's just staying, that's what she said, as she stepped along the deep-rutted grassy lane bordered with wild rosebushes. It's no wonder Matthew and Merla are both a little odd, living away back here by themselves. Trees aren't much company, though dear knows if they were there'd be enough of them. I'd rather look at people. To be sure they seem contented enough, but then I suppose they're used to it. A body can get used to anything, even to being hanged, as the Irishman said. With this Mrs. Rachel stepped out of the lane into the backyard of Green Gables. Very green and neat and precise was that yard, set about on one side with great patriarchal willows, and the other with prim lumbardies. Not a stray stick nor stone was to be seen. Or Mrs. Rachel would have seen it if there had been. Privately? She was of the opinion that Marilla Cuthbert swept that yard over as often as she swept her house. One could have eaten a meal off the ground without overbrimming the proverbial peck of dirt. Mrs. Rachel wept smartly at the kitchen door, and stepped in when bidden to do so. The kitchen at Green Gables was a cheerful apartment. Or would have been cheerful if it had not been so painfully clean, as to give it something of the appearance of an unused parlor. Its windows looked east and west. Through the west one, looking out on the backyard, came a flood of mellow June sunlight. But the east one, once you got a glimpse of the bloom-white cherry trees in the left orchard, and nodding slender birches down in the hollow by the brook, was greened over by a tangle of vines. Here sat Marilla Cuthbert, when she sat at all, always slightly distrustful of sunshine, which seemed to her too dancing and irresponsible a thing for a world which was meant to be taken seriously. And here she sat now, knitting. And the table behind her was laid for supper. Mrs. Rachel, before she had fairly closed the door, had taken a mental note of everything that was on that table. There were three plates laid, so that Marilla must be expecting someone home with Matthew to tea. But the dishes were everyday dishes. And there was only crab-apple preserves, and one kind of cake, so that the expected company could not be any particular company. Yet what of Matthew's white collar and the sorrel mare? Mrs. Rachel was getting fairly dizzy with this unusual mystery about quiet, unmisterious green gables. Good evening, Rachel, Marilla said briskly. This is a real fine evening, isn't it? Won't you sit down? Or all your folks? Something that, for lack of any other name, might be called friendship existed and always had existed between Marilla Cuthbert and Mrs. Rachel, in spite of, or perhaps because of, their dissimilarity. Marilla was a tall, thin woman, with angles and without curves. Her dark hair showed some gray streaks, and was always twisted up in a hard little knot behind, with two wire hairpins stuck aggressively through it. She looked like a woman of narrow experience and rigid conscience, which she was. But there was a saving something about her mouth, which if it had been ever so slightly developed, might have been considered indicative of a sense of humor. Where all pretty well, said Mrs. Rachel, I was kind of afraid you weren't, though, when I saw Matthew starting off today. I thought maybe he was going to the doctors. Marilla's lips twitched, understandingly. She had expected Mrs. Rachel up. She had known that the sight of Matthew jaunting off so unaccountably would be too much for her neighbor's curiosity. Oh, no, I'm quite well. Although I had a bad headache yesterday, she said. Matthew went to Bright River, were getting a little boy, from an orphan asylum in Nova Scotia, and he's coming on the train tonight. If Marilla had said that Matthew had gone to Bright River to meet a kangaroo from Australia, Mrs. Rachel could not have been more astonished. She was actually stricken dumb. For five seconds. It was unsupposable that Marilla was making fun of her. But Mrs. Rachel was almost forced to suppose it. Are you an earnest Marilla, she demanded, when voice returned to her? Yes, of course, said Marilla, as if getting boys from orphan asylums in Nova Scotia were part of the usual springwork on any well-regulated Avonlea Farm instead of being an unheard of innovation. Mrs. Rachel felt that she had received a severe mental jolt. She thought, in exclamation points, A boy! Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert of all people adopting a boy! From an orphan asylum! Well, the world was certainly turning upside down. She would be surprised at nothing after this. Nothing! What, on earth, put such a notion into your head, she demanded disapprovingly. This had been done without her advice being asked and must per force be disapproved. Well, we've been thinking about it for some time. All winter, in fact, returned Marilla. Mrs. Alexander Spence was up here one day before Christmas, and she said she was going to get a little girl from the asylum over in Hopeton in the spring. Her cousin lives there, and Mrs. Spencer has visited here and knows all about it. So Matthew and I have talked it over, off and on, ever since. We thought we'd get a boy. Matthew was getting up in years, you know, he's sixty, and he isn't so spry as he once was. His heart troubles him a good deal, and you know how desperate hard it's got to be to get hired help. There's never anybody to be had but those stupid half-grown little French boys, and as soon as you do get one broken to your ways and taught something, he's up and off to the lobster canneries or the states. At first Matthew suggested getting a homeboy, but I said no flat to that. They may be all right. I'm not saying they're not, but no London Street Arabs for me, I said. Give me a native-born at least. There'll be a risk no matter who we get, but I'll feel easier in my mind and sleep sounder at night if we get a born Canadian. So in the end we decided to ask Mrs. Spencer to pick us out one when she went over to get her little girl. We heard last week she was going, so we sent her word by Richard Spencer's folks at Carmody to bring us a smart, likely boy. Of about ten or eleven. We decided that would be the best age, old enough to be of some use in doing chores right off, and young enough to be trained up proper. We mean to give him a good home and schooling. We had a telegram from Mrs. Alexander Spencer today. The mailman brought it from the station, saying they were coming on the five-thirty train to-night. So Matthew went to Bright River to meet him. Mrs. Spencer will drop him off there. Of course she goes on to Whitesand Station herself. Mrs. Rachel prided herself on always speaking her mind. She proceeded to speak it now, having adjusted her mental attitude to this amazing piece of news. Well, Marilla, I'll just tell you plain that I think you're doing a mighty foolish thing, a risky thing, that's what. You don't know what you're getting. You're bringing a strange child into your house and home, and you don't know a single thing about him, nor what his disposition is like, nor what sort of parents he had, nor how he's likely to turn out. Why it was only last week I read in the paper how a man and his wife, up west of the island, took a boy out of an orphan asylum, and he set fire to the house at night, said it on purpose Marilla, and nearly burnt them to a crisp in their beds. And I know another case where an adopted boy used to suck the eggs. They couldn't break him of it. If you had asked my advice in the matter, which you didn't do, Marilla, I'd have said for mercy's sake not to think of such a thing, that's what. This Job's comforting seemed neither to offend nor to alarm Marilla. She knitted steadily on. I don't deny there's something in what you say, Rachel. I've had some qualms myself. But Matthew was terrible set on it. I could see that. So I gave in. It's so seldom, Matthew, sets his mind on anything, that when he does, I always feel it's my duty to give in. And as for the risk, there's risks in pretty near everything a body does in this world. There's risks in peoples having children of their own, if it comes to that. They don't always turn out well. And then Nova Scotia is right close to the island. It isn't as if we're getting him from England, or the States. He can't be much different from ourselves. Well, I hope it will turn out all right, said Mrs. Rachel in a tone that plainly indicated her painful doubts. Only don't say I didn't warn you if he burns green gables down, or puts strict nine in the well. I heard of a case over in New Brunswick, where an orphaned asylum child did that, and the whole family died in fearful agonies. Only it was a girl in that instance. Well, we're not getting a girl, said Morella, as if poisoning wells were a purely feminine accomplishment, and not to be dreaded in the case of a boy. I'd never dream of getting a girl to bring up. I wonder at Mrs. Alexander Spencer for doing it. But there she wouldn't shrink from adopting a whole orphan asylum if she took it into her head. Mrs. Rachel would have liked to stay until Matthew came home with his imported orphan. But reflecting that it would be a good two hours at least before his arrival, she concluded to go up the road to Robert Bell's and tell the news. It would certainly make a sensation, second to none, and Mrs. Rachel dearly loved to make a sensation. So she took herself away, somewhat to Morella's relief, for the latter felt her doubts and fears reviving under the influence of Mrs. Rachel's pessimism. Well, of all things that ever were or will be ejaculated Mrs. Rachel when she was safely out in the lane, it does really seem as if I must be dreaming. Well, I'm sorry for that poor young one and no mistake. Matthew and Morella don't know anything about children, and they'll expect him to be wiser and steadier than his own grandfather. If so, bees, he ever had a grandfather, which is doubtful. It seems uncanny to think of a child at Green Gables somehow. There's never been one there. Or Matthew and Morella were grown up when the new house was built. If they ever were children, which is hard to believe when one looks at them, I wouldn't be in that orphan's shoes for anything. My, but I pity him, that's what. So said Mrs. Rachel to the wild rosebushes out of the fullness of her heart. But if she could have seen the child who was waiting patiently at the bright river station at that very moment, her pity would have been still deeper and more profound. End of Chapter 1 of Anne of Green Gables, Recording by Grace Buchanan Anthem by Ayn Rand It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think, and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone. We have broken the laws. The laws say that men may not write unless the council of vocations bid them so. May we be forgiven. But this is not the only sin upon us. We have committed a greater crime and for this crime there is no name. What punishment awaits us if it be discovered we know not. For no such crime has come in the memory of men. And there are no laws to provide for it. It is dark here. The flame of the candle stands still in the air. Nothing moves in this tunnel save our hand on the paper. We are alone here under the earth. It is a fearful word alone. The laws say that none among men may be alone ever and at any time. For this is the great transgression and the root of all evil. But we have broken many laws and now there is nothing here save our one body and it is strange to see only two legs stretched on the ground and on the wall before us the shadow of our one head. The walls are cracked and water runs upon them in thin threads without sound, black and glistening as blood. We stole the candle from the larder of the home of the street sweepers. We shall be sentenced to ten years in the palace of corrective detention if it be discovered. But this matters not. It matters only that the light is precious and we should not waste it to write when we need it for that work which is our crime. Nothing matters save the work, our secret, our evil, our precious work. Will we must also write, for may the council have mercy upon us? We wish to speak for once to no ears but our own. Our name is Equality 72521 as it is written on the iron bracelet which all men wear on their left wrists with their names upon it. We are twenty-one years old. We are six feet tall and this is a burden for there are not many men who are six feet tall ever have the teachers and the leaders pointed to us and frowned and said, There is evil in your bones Equality 72521 for your body has grown beyond the bodies of your brothers. But we cannot change our bones nor our body. We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to thoughts which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes which men may not wish. We know that we are evil but there is no will in us and no power to resist it. This is our wonder and our secret fear that we know and do not resist. We strive to be like all our brother men for all men must be alike. Over the portals of the Palace of the World Council there are words cut in the marble which we repeat to ourselves whenever we are tempted. We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great we, one indivisible and forever. We repeat this to ourselves but it helps us not. These words were cut long ago. There is green mold in the grooves of the letters and yellow streaks on the marble which come from more years than men could count. And these words are the truth for they are written on the Palace of the World Council and the World Council is the body of all truth. Thus has it been ever since the great rebirth and farther back than that? No memory can reach. But we must never speak of the times before the great rebirth else we are sentenced to three years in the Palace of Corrective Detention. It is only the old ones who whisper about it in the evenings in the home of the useless. They whisper many strange things of the towers which rose to the sky in those unmentionable times and of the wagons which moved without horses and of the lights which burned without flame. But those times were evil and those times passed away when men saw the great truth which is this, that all men are one and that there is no will save the will of all men together. All men are good and wise. It is only we, Equality 72521, we alone who were born with a curse, for we are not like our brothers. And as we look back upon our life we see that it has ever been thus and that it has brought us step by step to our last supreme transgression, our crime of crimes hidden here under the ground. We remember the home of the infants where we lived till we were five years old, together with all the children of the city who had been born in the same year. The sleeping halls there were white and clean and bare of all things save one hundred beds. We were just like all our brothers then save for the one transgression. We fought with our brothers. There are few offenses blacker than to fight with our brothers at any age and for any cause whatsoever. The council of the home told us so. And of all the children of that year we were locked in the cellar most often. When we were five years old we were sent to the home of the students where there are ten wards for our ten years of learning. Men must learn till they reach their fifteenth year. Then they go to work. In the home of the students we arose when the big bell rang in the tower and we went to our beds when it rang again. Before we removed our garments we stood in the great sleeping hall and we raised our right arms and we said all together with the three teachers at the head, We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist through, by and for our brothers who are the state. Amen. Then we slept. The sleeping halls were white and clean and bare of all things save one hundred beds. We equality seven two five two one were not happy in those years in the home of the students. It was not that the learning was too hard for us. It was that the learning was too easy. This is a great sin to be born with a head which is too quick. It is not good to be different from our brothers but it is evil to be superior to them. The teachers told us so and they frowned when they looked upon us. So we fought against this curse. We tried to forget our lessons but we always remembered. We tried not to understand what the teachers taught but we always understood it before the teachers had spoken. We looked upon Union five three nine nine two who were a pale boy with only half a brain. And we tried to say and do as they did that we might be like them like Union five three nine nine two but somehow the teachers knew that we were not and we were last more often than all the other children. The teachers were just for they had been appointed by the councils and the councils are the voice of all justice for they are the voice of all men. And if sometimes in the secret darkness of our heart we regret that which befell us on our fifteenth birthday. We know that it was through our own guilt. We had broken a law for we had not paid heed to the words of our teachers. The teachers had said to us all, Dare not choose in your minds the work you would like to do when you leave the home of the students. You shall do that which the council of vocations shall prescribe for you. For the council of vocations knows in its great wisdom where you are needed by your brother men better than you can know it in your unworthy little minds. And if you are not needed by your brother man there is no reason for you to burden the earth with your bodies. We knew this well in the years of our childhood but our curse broke our will. We were guilty and we confess it here. We were guilty of the great transgression of preference. We preferred some work and some lessons to the others. We did not listen well to the history of all the councils elected since the great rebirth. But we loved the science of things we wished to know. We wished to know about all the things which make the earth around us. We asked so many questions that the teachers forbade it. We think that there are mysteries in the sky and under the water and in the plants which grow. But the council of scholars has said that there are no mysteries. And the council of scholars knows all things. And we learned much from our teachers. We learned that the earth is flat and that the sun revolves around it which causes the day and the night. We learned the names of all the winds which blow over the seas and push the sails of our great ships. We learned how to bleed men to cure them of all ailments. We loved the science of things and in the darkness in the secret hour when we awoke in the night and there were no brothers around us. But only their shapes in the beds and their snores. We closed our eyes and we held our lips shut. And we stopped our breath that no shutter might let our brothers see or hear or guess. And we thought that we wished to be sent to the home of the scholars when our time would come. All the great modern inventions come from the home of the scholars such as the newest one which was found only a hundred years ago of how to make candles from wax and string. Also how to make glass which is put in our windows to protect us from the rain. To find these things the scholars must study the earth and learn from the rivers, from the sands, from the winds and the rocks. And if we went to the home of the scholars we could learn from these also. We could ask questions of these for they do not forbid questions. And questions give us no rest. We know not why our curse makes us seek. We know not what, ever and ever, but we cannot resist it. It whispers to us that there are great things on this earth of ours and that we can know them if we try and that we must know them. We ask why must we know but it has no answer to give us. We must know that we may know. So we wished to be sent to the home of the scholars. We wished it so much that our hands trembled under the blankets in the night and we bit our arm to stop that other pain which we could not endure. It was evil and we dared not face our brothers in the morning. For men may wish nothing for themselves. And we were punished when the council of vocations came to give us our life mandates which tell those who reach their fifteenth year what their work is to be for the rest of their days. The council of vocations came on the first day of spring and they sat in the great hall. And we who were fifteenth and all the teachers came into the great hall. And the council of vocations sat on a high dais and they had but two words to speak to each of the students. They called the students names and when the students stepped before them one after another the council said carpenter or doctor or cook or leader then each student raised their right arm and said the will of our brothers be done. Now if the council has said carpenter or cook the students so assigned go to work and they do not study any further but if the council has said leader then those students go into the home of the leaders which is the greatest house in the city for it has three stories and there they study for many years so that they may become candidates and be elected to the city council and the state council and the world council by a free and general vote of all men. But we wished not to be a leader even though it is a great honor we wished to be a scholar. So we awaited our turn in the great hall and then we heard the council of vocations call our name equality seven two five two one we walked to the dais and our legs did not tremble and we looked up at the council there were five members of the council three of the male gender and two of the female their hair was white and their faces were cracked as the clay of a dry riverbed they were old they seemed older than the marble of the temple of the world council they sat before us and they did not move and we saw no breath to stir the folds of their white togas but we knew that they were alive for a finger of the hand of the oldest rose pointed to us and fell down again this was the only thing which moved for the lips of the oldest did not move as they said street sweeper we felt the cords of our neck grow tight as our head rose higher to look upon the faces of the council and we were happy we knew we had been guilty but now we had a way to atone for it we would accept our life mandate and we would work for our brothers gladly and willingly and we would erase our sin against them which they did not know but we knew so we were happy and proud of ourselves and of our victory over ourselves we raised our right arm and we spoke and our voice was the clearest the steadiest voice in the hall that day and we said the will of our brothers be done and we looked straight into the eyes of the council but their eyes were as cold blue glass buttons so we went into the home of the street sweepers it is a gray house on a narrow street there is a sundial in its courtyard by which the council of the home can tell the hours of the day and when to ring the bell when the bell rings we all arise from our beds the sky is green and cold in our windows to the east the shadow on the sundial marks off a half hour while we dress and eat our breakfast in the dining hall where there are five long tables with twenty clay plates and twenty clay cups on each table then we go to work in the streets of the city with our brooms and our rakes in five hours when the sun is high we return to the home and we eat our midday meal for which one half hour is allowed then we go to work again in five hours the shadows are blue on the pavements and the sky is blue with a deep brightness which is not bright we come back to have our dinner which lasts one hour then the bell rings and we walk in a straight column to one of the city halls for the social meeting other columns of men arrive from the homes of the different trades the candles are lit and the councils of the different homes stand in a pulpit and they speak to us of our duties and of our brother men then visiting leaders mount the pulpit and they read to us the speeches which were made in the city council that day for the city council represents all men and all men must know then we sing hymns the hymn of brotherhood and the hymn of equality and the hymn of the collective spirit the sky is a soggy purple when we return to the home then the bell rings and we walk in a straight column to the city theater for three hours of social recreation there a play is shown upon the stage with two great choruses from the home of the actors which speak and answer all together in two great voices the plays are all about toil and how good it is then we walk back to the home in a straight column the sky is like a black sieve pierced by silver drops that tremble ready to burst through the moths beat against the street lanterns we go to our beds and we sleep till the bell rings again the sleeping halls are white and clean and bear of all things save 100 beds thus we have lived each day of four years until two springs ago when our crime happened thus must all men live until they are forty at forty they are worn out at forty they are sent to the home of the useless where the old ones live the old ones do not work for the state takes care of them they sit in the sun in summer and they sit by the fire in winter they do not speak often for they are weary the old ones known that they are soon to die when a miracle happens and some live to be 45 they are the ancient ones and the children stare at them when passing by the home of the useless such is to be our life as that of all our brothers and of the brothers who came before us such would have been our life had we not committed our crime changed all things for us and it was our curse which drove us to our crime we had been a good street sweeper and like all our brother street sweepers save for our cursed wish to know we looked too long at the stars at night and at the trees and the earth and when we cleaned the yard of the home of the scholars we gathered the glass vials the pieces of metal the dried bones which they had discarded we wished to keep these things and to study them but we had no place to hide them so we carried them to the city cesspool and then we made the discovery it was on a day of the spring before last we street sweepers work in brigades of three and we were with union five three nine nine two they of the half brain and with international four eight eight one eight now union five three nine nine two are a sickly lad and sometimes they are stricken with convulsions when their mouth froths and their eyes turn white but international four eight eight one eight are different they are a tall strong youth and their eyes are like fireflies for there is laughter in their eyes we cannot look upon international four eight eight one eight and not smile an answer for this they were not liked in the home of the students as it is not proper to smile without reason and also they were not like because they took pieces of coal and they drew pictures upon the walls and they were pictures which made men laugh but it is only our brothers in the home of the artists who are permitted to draw pictures so international four eight eight one eight we're sent to the home of the street sweepers like ourselves international four eight eight one eight and we are friends this is an evil thing to say for it is a transgression the great transgression of preference to love any among men better than the others since we must love all men and all men are our friends so international four eight eight one eight and we have never spoken of it but we know we know when we look into each other's eyes and when we look thus without words we both know other things also strange things for which there are no words and these things frighten us so on that day of the spring before last union five three nine nine two were stricken with convulsions on the edge of the city near the city theater we left them to lie in the shade of the theater tent and we went with international four eight eight one eight to finish our work we came together to the great ravine behind the theater it is empty saved for the trees and weeds beyond the ravine there is a plane and beyond the plane there lies the uncharted forest about which men must not think we were gathering the papers and the rags which the wind had blown from the theater when we saw an iron bar among the weeds it was old and rusted by many rains we pulled with all our strength but we could not move it so we called international four eight eight one eight and together we scraped the earth around the bar of a sudden the earth fell in before us and we saw an old iron grill over a black hole international four eight eight one eight stepped back but we pulled at the grill and it gave way and then we saw iron rings as steps leading down a shaft into a darkness without bottom we shall go down we said to international four eight eight one eight it is forbidden they answered we said the council does not know of this hole so it cannot be forbidden and they answered since the council does not know of this hole there can be no law permitting to enter it and everything which is not permitted by law is forbidden but we said we shall go nonetheless they were frightened but they stood by and watched us go we hung on the iron rings with our hands and our feet we could see nothing below us and above us the hole open upon the sky grew smaller and smaller till it came to be the size of a button but still we went down then our foot touched the ground we rubbed our eyes for we could not see then our eyes became used to the darkness but we could not believe what we saw no man known to us could have built this place nor the men known to our brothers who live before us and yet it was built by men it was a great tunnel its walls were hard and smooth to the touch it felt like stone but it was not stone on the ground there were long thin tracks of iron but it was not iron it felt smooth and cold as glass we knelt and we crawled forward our hand groping along the iron line to see where it would lead but there was an unbroken night ahead only the iron tracks glowed through it straight and white calling us to follow but we could not follow for we were losing the puddle of light behind us so we turned and we crawled back our hand on the iron line and our heart beat in our fingertips without reason and then we knew we knew suddenly that this place was left from the unmentionable times so it was true and those times had been and all the wonders of those times hundreds upon hundreds of years ago men knew secrets which we have lost and we thought this is a foul place they are damned to touch the things of the unmentionable times but our hand which followed the track as we crawled clung to the iron as if it would not leave it as if the skin of our hand were thirsty and begging of the metal some secret fluid beating in its coldness we returned to the earth international four eight eight one eight looked upon us and stepped back equality seven two five two one they said your face is white but we could not speak and we stood looking upon them they backed away as if they dared not touch us then they smiled but it was not a gay smile it was lost and pleading but still we could not speak then they said we shall report our find to the city council and both of us will be rewarded and then we spoke our voice was hard and there was no mercy in our voice we said we shall not report our find to the city council we shall not report it to any men they raised their hands to their ears for never had they heard such words as these international four eight eight one eight we asked will you report us to the council and see us last to death before your eyes they stood straight all of a sudden and they answered rather we would die then we said keep silent this place is ours this place belongs to us equality seven two five two one and to no other men on earth and if ever we surrender it we shall surrender our life with it also then we saw that the eyes of international four eight eight one eight were full to the lids with tears they dared not drop they whispered and their voice trembled so that their words lost all shape the will of the council is above all things for it is the will of our brothers which is holy but if you wish it so we shall obey you rather shall we be evil with you then good with our brothers may the council have mercy upon both our hearts then we walked away together and back to the home of the street sweepers and we walked in silence thus did it come to pass that each night when the stars are high and the street sweepers sit in the city theater we equality seven two five two one steal out and run through the darkness to our place it is easy to leave the theater when the candles are blown out and the actors come on to the stage no eyes can see us as we crawl under our seat and under the cloth of the tent later it is easy to steal through the shadows and fall in line next to international four eight eight one eight as the column leaves the theater it is dark in the streets and there are no men about for no men may walk through the city when they have no mission to walk there each night we run to the ravine and we remove the stones which we have piled upon the iron grill to hide it from the men each night for three hours we are under the earth alone we have stolen candles from the home of the street sweepers we have stolen flints and knives and paper and we have brought them to this place we have stolen glass vials and powders and acids from the home of the scholars now we sit in the tunnel for three hours each night and we study we melt strange metals and we mix acids and we cut open the bodies of the animals which we find in the city cesspool we have built an oven of the bricks we gathered in the streets we burn the wood we find in the ravine the fire flickers in the oven and blue shadows dance upon the walls and there is no sound of men to disturb us we have stolen manuscripts this is a great offense manuscripts are precious for our brothers in the home of the clerks spend one year to copy one single script in their clear handwriting manuscripts are rare and they are kept in the home of the scholars so we sit under the earth and we read the stolen scripts two years have passed since we found this place and in these two years we have learned more than we had learned in the 10 years of the home of the students we have learned things which are not in the scripts we have solved secrets of which the scholars have no knowledge we have come to see how great is the unexplored and many lifetimes will not bring us to the end of our quest but we wish no end to our quest we wish nothing saved to be alone and to learn and to feel as if with each day our sight were growing sharper than the hawks and clearer than rock crystal strange are the ways of evil we are false in the faces of our brothers we are defying the will of our councils we alone of the thousands who walk this earth we alone in this hour are doing a work which has no purpose save that we wish to do it the evil of our crime is not for the human mind to probe the nature of our punishment if it be discovered is not for the human heart to ponder never not in the memory of the ancient ones ancients never have men done that which we are doing and yet there is no shame in us and no regret we say to ourselves that we are a wretch and a traitor but we feel no burden upon our spirit and no fear in our heart and it seems to us that our spirit is clear as a lake troubled by no eyes save those of the sun and in our heart strange are the ways of evil in our heart there is the first piece we have known in 20 years end of chapter one of anthem recording by grace Buchanan the age of big business by Burton J. Hendrick first chapter collection six this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Betty B the age of big business chapter one industrial america at the end of the civil war a comprehensive survey of the united states at the end of the civil war would reveal a state of society which bears little resemblance to that of today almost all those commonplace fundamentals of existence the things that contribute to our bodily comfort while they vex us with economic and political problems had not yet made their appearance the america of civil war days was a country without transcontinental railroads without telephones without european cables or wireless stations or automobiles or electric lights or skyscrapers or million-dollar hotels or trolley cars or a thousand other contrivances that today supply the conveniences and comforts of what we call our american civilization the cities of that period with their unsuered and unpaved streets their dingy flickering gas lights their ambling horse cars and their hideous slums seemed appropriate settings for the unformed social life and the rough and ready political methods of american democracy the railroads with their fragile iron rails their little wheezy locomotives their wooden bridges their unheated coaches and their kerosene lamps fairly typified the prevailing frontier business and economic organization but only by talking with the business leaders of that time could we have understood the changes that have taken place in 50 years for the most part we speak a business language which our fathers and grandfathers would not have comprehended the word trust had not become a part of their vocabulary restraint of trade was a phrase which only the antiquarian lawyer could have interpreted interlocking directorates holding companies subsidiaries underwriting syndicates and community of interest all this jargon of modern business would have signified nothing to our immediate ancestors our nation of 1865 was a nation of farmers city artisans and industrious independent businessmen and small-scale manufacturers millionaires though they were not unknown did not swarm all over the land luxury though it had made great progress in the latter years of the war had not become the american standard of well-being the industrial story of the united states in the last 50 years is the story of the most amazing economic transformation that the world has ever known a change which is fitly typified in the evolution of the independent oil driller of western pennsylvania into the standard oil company and of the ancient open-air forge on the banks of the alagany into the united states steel corporation the slow unceasing ages had been accumulating a priceless inheritance for the american people nearly all of their natural resources in 1865 were still lying fallow and even undiscovered in many instances americans had begun it is true to exploit their more obvious external wealth their forests and their land the first had made them one of the world's two greatest shipbuilding nations while the second had furnished a large part of the resources that had enabled the federal government to fight what was up to that time the greatest war in history but the extensive prairie plains whose settlement was to follow the railroad extensions of the 60s and the 70s kansas nebraska iowa oklahoma minnesota the dakotas had been only slightly penetrated this region with a rainfall not too abundant and not too scanty with a cultivable soil extending from eight inches to 20 feet under the ground with hardly a rock in its whole extent with scarcely a tree except where it bordered on the streams has been pronounced by competent scientists the finest farming country to which man has ever set the plow our mineral wealth was likewise lying everywhere ready to the uses of the new generation the united states now supplies the world with half its copper but in 1865 it was importing a considerable part of its own supply it was not till 1859 that the first oil gusher of western pennsylvania opened up an entirely new source of wealth though we had the largest coal deposits known to geologists we were bringing large supplies of this indispensable necessity from Nova Scotia it has been said that coal and iron are the two mineral products that have chiefly affected modern civilization certainly the nations that have made the greatest progress industrially and commercially england germany america are the three that possess these minerals in largest amount from 60 to 70 percent of all the known coal deposits in the world were located in our national domain nature had given no other nation anything even remotely comparable to the 480 square miles of anthracite in western pennsylvania and west virginia enormous fields of bituminous lay in those appellation ranges extending from pennsylvania to alabama in michigan in the rocky mountains and in the pacific regions in speaking of our iron it is necessary to use terms that are even more extravagant from colonial times americans had worked the iron ore plentifully scattered along the atlantic coast but the greatest field of all that in minnesota had not been scratched from the settlement of the country up to 1869 it in mind only 50 million tons of iron ore while up to 1910 we had produced 685 million tons the streams and waterfalls that in the next 60 years were to furnish the power that would light our cities propel our street cars drive our transcontinental trains across the mountains and perform numerous domestic services were running their useless courses to the sea industrial america is a product of the decades succeeding the civil war even in 1865 we were a large manufacturing nation the leading characteristic of our industries as compared with present conditions was that they were individualized nearly all had outgrown the household stage the factory system had gained a foothold in nearly every line even the corporation had made its appearance yet small-scale production prevailed in practically every field in the decade preceding the war vans were still making regular trips through new england and the middle states leaving at farmhouses bundles of straw plat which the members of the household fashioned into hats the farmers wives and daughters still supplemented the family income by working on goods for city dealers in ready-made clothing we can still see in massachusetts rural towns the little shoe shops in which the predecessors of the existing factory workers sold and healed the shoes which shot our armies in the early days of the civil war every city in town had its own slaughterhouse new york had more than 200 what is now fifth avenue was frequently encumbered by large droves of cattle and great stockyards occupied territory which is now used for beautiful clubs railroad stations hotels and the highest class of retail establishments in this period before the civil war comparatively small single owners or frequently co-partnerships controlled practically every industrial field individual proprietors not uncommonly powerful families which were almost futile in character owned the great cotton and woollen mills of new england separate proprietors likewise controlled the iron and steel factories of new york state and pennsylvania indeed it was not until the war that corporations entered the iron industry now regarded as the field above all others adapted to this kind of organization the manufacture of sewing machines firearms and agricultural implements started on a great scale in the civil war still the prevailing unit was the private owner or the partnership in many manufacturing lines the joint stock company had become the prevailing organization but even in these fields the element that so characterizes our own age that of combination was exerting practically no influence competition was the order of the day the industrial warfare of the 60s was a free-for-all a mere reference to the status of manufacturers in which the trust is now the all-prevailing fact will make the contrast clear in 1865 thousands of independent companies were drilling oil in pennsylvania and there were more than 200 which were refining the product nearly 450 operators were mining coal not even dimly foreseeing the day when their business would become a great railroad monopoly the 200 companies that were making mowers and reapers 75 of them located in new york state had formed no mental picture of the future international harvester company one of our first large industrial combinations was that which in the early 70s absorbed the manufacturers of salt yet the close of the civil war found 50 competing companies making salt in the sagana valley of michigan in the same state about 50 distinct ownerships controlled the copper mines while in nevada the comstock load had more than 100 proprietors the modern trust movement has now absorbed even our lumber and mineral lands but in 1865 these rich resources were parceled out among a multiplicity of owners no business has offered greater opportunities to the modern promoter of combinations than our street railways in 1865 most of our large cities had their leisurely horse car systems yet practically every avenue had its independent line new york had 30 separate companies engaged in the business of local transportation indeed the civil war period developed only one corporation that could be described as a trust in the modern sense this was the western union telegraph company incredible as it may seem more than 50 companies 10 years before the civil war were engaged in the business of transmitting telegraphic messages these companies had built their telegraph lines precisely as the railroads had laid their tracks that is independent lines were constructed connecting two given points it was inevitable of course that all these scattered lines should come under a single control for the public convenience could not be served otherwise this combination was affected a few years before the war when the western union telegraph company after a long and fierce contest succeeded in absorbing all its competitors similar forces were bringing together certain continuous lines of railways but the creation of huge trunk systems had not yet taken place how far our industrial era is removed from that of 50 years ago is apparent when we recall that the proposed capitalization of 15 million dollars caused by the merging of the boston and Worcester and the western railroads was widely denounced as monstrous and as a corrupting force that would destroy our republican institutions naturally the small scale ownership was reflected in the distribution of wealth the swollen fortunes of that period rested upon the same foundation that had given stability for centuries to the aristocracies of europe social preeminence in large cities rested almost entirely upon the ownership of land the asters the golets the rinelanders the beakmans the bravorts and practically all the mighty families that ruled the old knickerbocker aristocracy in new york were huge landed proprietors their fortunes thus had precisely the same foundation as that of the prussian junkers today but their accumulations compared only faintly with the fortunes that are commonplace now how many millionaires there were 50 years ago we do not precisely know the only definite information we have is a pamphlet published in 1855 by moses yale beach proprietor of the new york sun on the wealthy men of new york this records the names of 19 citizens who in the estimation of well qualified judges possessed more than a million dollars each the richest man in the list was william b astor whose estate is estimated at six million dollars the next richest man was steven whitney also a large landowner whose fortune is listed at five million dollars then comes james linux again a landed proprietor with three million dollars the man who was to accumulate the first monstrous american fortune cornelius vanderbilt is accredited with a paltry one million five hundred thousand dollars mr beach's little pamphlet sheds the utmost light upon the economic era preceding the civil war it really pictures an industrial organization that belongs as much to ancient history as the empire of the caesars his study lists about one thousand of new york's wealthy citizens yet the fact that a man qualified for entrance into this valhalla who had one hundred thousand dollars to his credit and that nine-tenths of those so chosen possessed only that amount shows the progress concentrated riches have made in 60 years how many new yorkers of today would look upon a man with a hundred thousand dollars as wealthy the sources of these fortunes also show the economic changes our country has undergone today when we think of our much exploited millionaires the phrase captains of industry is the accepted description in mr beach's time the popular designation was merchant prince his catalog contains no oil magnets or steel kings or railroad manipulators nearly all the industrial giants of antebellum times as distinguished from the socially prominent whose wealth was inherited had heaped together their accumulations in humdrum trade perhaps peter cooper who had made a million dollars in the manufacture of eising glass and glue and george law whose gains equally large represented fortunate speculations in street railroads faintly suggest the approaching era yet the fortunes which are really typical are those of william aspenwall who made four million dollars in the shipping business of at steward whose two million dollars represented his earnings as a retail and wholesale dry goods merchant and a peter harmony whose one million dollars has been derived from happy trade ventures in cuba and spain many of the reservoirs of this antebellum wealth sound strangely in our modern years john hagerty had made one million dollars as an auctioneer william l cogswell had made half as much as a wine importer jaffet bishop had rounded out an honest six hundred thousand dollars from the profits of a hardware store while finneas t barnham ranks high in the list by virtue of eight hundred thousand dollars accumulated in a business which it is hardly necessary to specify indeed his name and that of the great landlords are almost the only ones in this list that have descended to posterity yet they were the rockefellers the carnagies the haremans the fricks and the henry fordts of their day before the civil war had ended however the transformation of the united states from a nation of farmers and small scale manufacturers to a highly organized industrial state had begun probably the most important single influence was the war itself those four years of bitter conflict illustrate perhaps more graphically than any similar event in history the power which military operations may exercise in stimulating all the productive forces of a people in thickly settled nations with few dormant resources and with practically no areas of unoccupied land a long war usually produces industrial disorganization and financial exhaustion the napoleonic wars had this effect in europe in particular they caused a period of social and industrial distress in england the few years immediately following waterloo marked a period when starving mobs rioted in the streets of london setting fire to the houses of the aristocracy and stoning the prince regent whenever he dared to show his head in public when cotton spindle ceased to turn when collieries closed down when jails and workhouses were overflowing with a wretched proletariat and when gaunt and homeless women and children crowded the country highways no such disorders followed the civil war in this country at least in the north and west spiritually the struggle accomplished much in awakening the nation to a consciousness of its great opportunities the fact that we could spend more than a million dollars a day expenditures that hardly seem startling in amount now but which were almost unprecedented then and that soon after hostilities ceased we rapidly paid off our large debt directed the attention of foreign capitalists to our resources and gave them the utmost confidence in this new investment field immigration too started after the war at a rate hitherto without parallel in our annals the germans who had come in the years preceding the civil war had been largely political refugees and democratic idealists but now in much larger numbers began the influx of north and south germans whose dominating motive was economic these germans began to find their way to the farms of the mississippi valley the irish began once more to crowd our cities the slavs gravitated towards the minds of pennsylvania the scandinavians settled whole counties of certain northwestern states while the jews began that conquest of the tailoring industries that was ultimately to make them the clothiers of a hundred million people for this industrial development america supplied the land the resources and the business leaders while europe furnished the liquid capital and the laborers even more directly did the war stimulate our industrial development perhaps the greatest effect was the way in which it changed our transportation system the mere necessity of constantly transporting hundreds of thousands of troops and war supplies demanded reconstruction and re-equipment on an extensive scale the american civil war was the first great conflict in which railroads played a conspicuous military part and their development during those four years naturally left them in a strong position to meet the new necessities of peace one of the first effects of the war was to close the mississippi river consequently the products of the western farms had to go east by railroad and this fact led to that preeminence of the great trunk lines which they retained to this day almost overnight chicago became the great western shipping center and though the river boats lingered for a time on the ohio and the mississippi they grew fewer year by year prosperity greater than the country had ever known prevailed everywhere in the north throughout the last two years of the war so too feeding and supplying an army of millions of men laid the foundation of many of our greatest industries the northern soldiers in the early days of the war were clothed in garments so variegated that they sometimes had trouble in telling friend from foe and not infrequently they shot at one another so inadequately were our woolen mills prepared to supply their uniforms but larger government contracts enabled the proprietors to reconstruct their mills install modern machines and build up an organization and a prosperous business that still endures making boots and shoes for northern soldiers laid the foundation of america's great shoe industry machinery had already been applied to shoe manufacture but only to a limited extent under the pressure of war conditions however american inventive skill found ways of performing mechanically almost all the operations that had formerly been done by hand the mckay sewing machine one of the greatest of our inventions which was perfected in the second year of the war did as much perhaps as any single device to keep our soldiers well shod and comfortable the necessity of feeding these same armies created our great packing plants though micarmic had invented his reaper several years before the war the new agricultural machinery had made no great headway without this machinery however our western farmers could never have harvested the gigantic crops which not only fed our soldiers but laid the basis of our economic prosperity thus the war directly established one of the greatest and certainly one of the most romantic of our industries that of agricultural machinery above all however the victory in Appomattox threw upon the country more than a million unemployed men our european critics predicted that their return to civil life would produce dire social and political consequences but these critics were thinking in terms of their own countries they failed to consider that the united states had an immense unoccupied domain which was waiting for development the men who fought the civil war had demonstrated precisely the adventurous hardy instincts which were most needed in this great enterprise even before the war ended a great immigration started towards the mines and farms of the trans-mississippi country there was probably no important town or district west of the alganes that did not absorb a considerable number in most instances too our ex-soldiers became leaders in these new communities perhaps this movement had its most typical and picturesque illustration in the extent to which the northern soldiers opened up the oil producing regions of western pennsylvania the nango county where this great development started boasted that it had more ex-soldiers than any similar section of the united states the civil war period also forced into prominence a few men whose methods and whose achievements indicated even though roughly and indistinctly a new type of industrial leadership every period has its outstanding figure and when the civil war was approaching its end one personality had emerged from the humdrum characters of the time one man who in energy imagination and genius displayed the forces that were to create a new american world although this man employed his great talents in a field that of railroad transportation which lies outside the scope of the present volume yet in this comprehensive view i may take cornelius vanderbilt as the symbol that links the old industrial era with the new he is worthy of more detailed study than he has ever received for in personality and accomplishments vanderbilt is the most romantic figure in the history of american finance we must remember that vanderbilt was born in 1794 and that at the time we are considering he was 71 years old in the matter of years therefore his career apparently belongs to the antebellum days yet the most remarkable fact about this remarkable man is that his real life work did not begin until he had passed his 70th birthday in 1865 vanderbilt's fortune consisting chiefly of a fleet of steamboats amounted to about 10 million dollars he died 12 years later in 1877 leaving 104 million dollars the first of those colossal american fortunes that were destined to astound the world the mere fact that this fortune was the accumulated profit of only 10 years shows perhaps more eloquently than any other circumstance that the united states had entered a new economic age that new factor in the life of america and the world the railroad explains his achievement vanderbilt was one of the most astonishing characters in our history his physical exterior made him perhaps the most imposing figure in new york in his old age at 73 vanderbilt married his second wife a beautiful southern widow who had just turned her 30th year and the appearance of the two sitting side by side in one of the commodore's smartest turnouts driving recklessly behind a pair of the fastest trodders of the day was a common sight in central park nor did vanderbilt look incongruous in this brilliant setting his tall and powerful frame was still erect and his large defiant head ruddy cheeks sparkling deep-set black eyes and snowy white hair and whiskers made him look every inch the commodore these public appearances lent a pleasanter and more sentimental aspect to vanderbilt's life than his intimates always perceived for his manners were harsh and uncouth he was totally without education and could write hardly half a dozen lines without outraging the spelling book though he loved his race horses had a fondness for music and could sit through long winter evenings while his young wife sang old southern ballads vanderbilt's ungovernable temper had placed him on bad terms with nearly all his children he had had 13 of whom 11 survived him who contested his will and exposed all his eccentricities to public view on the ground that the man who created the new york central system was actually insane vanderbilt's methods and his temperament presented such a contrast to the commonplace minds which had previously dominated american business that this explanation of his career is perhaps not surprising he saw things in their largest aspects and in his big transactions he seemed to act almost on impulse and intuition he could never explain the mental processes by which he arrived at important decisions though these decisions themselves were invariably sound he seems to have had as he himself frequently said almost a seer-like faculty he saw visions and he believed in dreams and in signs the greatest practical genius of his time was a frequent attendant at spiritualistic seances he cultivated personally the society of mediums and in sickness he usually resorted to mental healers mesmerists and clairvoyance before making investments or embarking in his great railroad ventures vanderbilt visited spiritualists we have one circumstantial account of his summoning the wraith of jim fisk to advise him in stock operations his excessive vanity led him to print his picture on all the lakeshore bonds he proposed to new york city the construction and central park of a large monument that would commemorate side by side the names of vanderbilt and washington and he actually erected a large statue to himself in his new hudson river station in st john's park his attitude towards the public was shown in his remark when one of his associates told him that each and every one of certain transactions which he had just forced through is absolutely forbidden by the statutes of the state of new york my god john said the commodore you don't suppose you can run a railroad in accordance with the statutes of the state of new york do you law he once roared on similar occasion what do i care about law ain't i got the power these things of course were the excrescences of an extremely vital overflowing imaginative energetic human being they are traits that are not infrequently accompanying genius and the work which vanderbilt did remains an essential part of our economic organization today before his time a trip to chicago meant that the passenger changed trains 17 times and that all freight had to be unloaded at a similar number of places carted across towns and reloaded into other trains the magnificent railroad highway that extends up the banks of the hudson through the mohawk valley and alongside the borders of lake eerie a water line route nearly the entire distance was all but useless it is true that not all the consolidation of these lines was vanderbilt's work in 1853 certain millionaires and politicians had linked together the several separate lines extending from albany to buffalo but they had managed the new roads so wretchedly that the largest stockholders in 1867 begged vanderbilt to take over the control by 1873 the commodore had acquired the hudson river extending from new york to albany the new york central extending from albany to buffalo and the lake shore which ran from buffalo to chicago in a few years these roads had been consolidated into a smoothly operating system if in transforming these discordant rail roads into one vanderbilt bribed legislatures and corrupted courts if he engaged in the largest stock watering operations on record up to that time and took advantage of inside information to make huge winnings on the stock exchange he also ripped up the old iron rails and relayed them with steel put down four tracks where formerly there had been two replaced wooden bridges with steel discarded the old locomotives for new and more powerful ones built splendid new terminals introduced economies in 100 directions cut down the hours required in a new york chicago trip from 50 to 24 made his highway an expeditious line for transporting freight and transformed railroads that had formerly been the play things of wall street and that frequently could not meet their pay rolls into exceedingly profitable high dividend paying properties in this operation vanderbilt typified the era that was dawning an era of ruthlessness of personal selfishness of corruption of disregard of private rights of contempt for law and legislatures and yet a vast and beneficial achievement the men of this time may have traveled rough shod to their goal but after all they opened up in an amazingly short time a mighty continent to the uses of mankind the triumph of the new york central and hudson river railroad under vanderbilt a triumph which dazzled european investors as well as our own and which represented an entirely different business organization from anything the nation had hitherto seen appropriately ushered in the new business era whose outlines will be sketched in the succeeding pages end of chapter one of the age of big business industrial america at the end of the civil war homo by ansom of canta berry 1033 to 1100 and nine first chapter collection six this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox dot org cardius homo chapter one the question on which the whole work depends often both by word of mouth and by letter have i been eagerly asked to write down the explanatory arguments with which i am accustomed to answer those who ask about various points of our faith for they say that they enjoy them and think them conclusive they inquire not that they may through reason be led to faith but that they may be edified by the insight of those who do believe and that they may as far as they can be always ready to give an effectual answer to anyone who asks for a reason of the faith that is in us the unbelieving often question deriding christian simplicity as infatuated and the faithful wonder in their own hearts for what reason and by what necessity god was made man and by his death as we believe and confess gave life to the world since he might have done this by another person whether angelic or human or by his soul will on this point not to learn it only but also many unlearned persons inquire much and ask the reason of it therefore since many desire this subject to be treated and since the elucidation though very difficult to carry out is intelligible to all when completed and attractive on account of its usefulness and the beauty of the reasoning i will try although what should be enough has been said by the holy fathers on the subject to show forth to those who are seeking that which god may design to disclose to me and since question and answer is an easy way of explaining things i shall make one of my petitioners my interlocutor bozo shall ask and answer as follows end of chapter one of curdeus homo eight cousins or the aunt hill by louisa may alcott first chapter collection six this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org eight cousins or the aunt hill chapter one two girls rose sat all alone in the big best parlor with her little hacker chip laid ready to catch the first tear for she was thinking of her troubles and a shower was expected she had retired to this room as a good place in which to be miserable for it was dark and still full of ancient furniture somber curtains and hung all round with portraits solemn old gentlemen in wicks severe nose ladies in top heavy caps and staring children in little bob-tailed coats or short waisted frocks it was an excellent place for woe and the fitful spring rain that pattered on the window pane seemed to sob cry away i'm with you rose really did have some cause to be sad for she had no mother and had lately lost her father also which left her no home but this with a great aunt she had been with them only week and though the dear old ladies had tried their best to make her happy they had not succeeded very well for she was unlike any child they had ever seen and they felt very much as if they had the care of a low-spirited butterfly they had given her the freedom of the house and for a day or two she had amused herself roaming all over it for it was a capital old mansion and was full of all manner of odd knocks charming rooms and mysterious passages windows broke out in unexpected places little balconies overhung the garden most romantically and there was a long upper half full of curiosities from all parts of the world for the campbells had been sea captains for generations aunt plenty had even allowed rose to rummage in her great china closet a spicy retreat rich in all the goodies that children love but rose seemed to care little for these tooth symptoms temptations and when that hope failed aunt plenty gave up in despair gentle aunt peace had tried all sorts of pretty needlework and planned doll's wardrobe that would have won the heart of even an older child but rose took little interest in pink satin hats and tiny holes though she sewed beautifully till her aunt caught her wiping tears away with the train of a wedding dress and that discovery put an end to the sewing society then both old ladies put their heads together and picked out the model child of the neighborhood to come and play with their niece but annabelle blush was the worst failure of all for rose could not bear the sight of her and said she was so like a wax doll that she longed to give her a pinch and see if she would squeak supreme little annabelle was sent home and the exhausted aunties left rose to her own devices for a day or two bad weather and a gold kept her indoors and she spent most of her time in the library where her father's books were stored here she read a great deal cried a little and dreamed many of the innocent bright dreams in which imaginative children and such comfort and light this suited her better than anything else but it was not good for her and she grew pale heavy-eyed and listless although aunt plenty gave her iron enough to make a cooking stove and aunt peace spettled her like a poodle seeing this the poor aunties wrapped the preys for a new amusement and determined to venture a bold stroke though not very hopeful of its success they said nothing to rose about their plan for this Saturday afternoon but let her alone till the time came for the grand surprise little dreaming that the odd child would find pleasure for herself in a most unsuspected quarter before she had time to squeeze out a single tear a sound broke the stillness making her pick up her years it was only the soft twitter of a bird but it seemed to be a peculiarly gifted bird while she listened the soft twitter changed to a lively whistle then a thrill a cool chirp and ended in a musical mixture of all the notes as if the bird had burst out laughing rose laughed also and for getting her walls jumped up staying eagerly it is a mockingbird where is it running down the long hall she peeped out at both doors but so nothing feather except a draggled tailed chicken under a birdock leaf she listened again and the sound seemed to be in the house away she went much excited by the chase and following the changeful song it led her to the china closet door in there how funny she said but when she entered not a bird appeared except the everlastingly kissing solos on the canton china that lined the shelves all of a sudden rose's face brightened and softly opening the slide she peered into the kitchen but the music had stopped and all she saw was a girl in a brew apron scrubbing the hall rose stared at her for about a minute and then asked abruptly did you hear that mockingbird i should call it a febe bird answered the girl looking up with a twinkle in her black eyes where did it go it is here still where in my throat do you want to hear it oh yes i'll come in and rose crept through the slide did the white shelf on the other side being too hurried and puzzled to go round by the door the girl wiped her hands crossed her feet on the little island of carpet where she was stranded in a sea of soap salts and then sure enough out of her slender throat came the swallow's twitter the robin's whistle the blue jay scoll the thrusher song the wood dove school and many another familiar note all ending as before with the musical ecstasy of a bobbling singing and swimming among the meadowgrass on a bright june day rose was so astonished that she nearly fell off her perch and when the little concert was over clapped her hands delightfully oh it was lovely who taught you the birds answered the girl with a smile and she felt the work again it is very wonderful i can sing but not half so fine as that what is your name please feed more i've heard of feed birds but i don't really the real ones could do that laughed rose adding as she watched with interest the scattering of dabs of soft soap on the bricks may i stay and see you work it is very lonely in the parlor yes indeed if you want to answer feebe ringing out her clock in a capable sort of way that impressed rose very much it must be fun to swash the water round and take out the soap i'd love to do it only and won't like it i suppose said rose quite taken with the new employment you soon get tired so you better keep tidy and look on i suppose you help your mother for good deal i haven't got any folks why where do you live then i'm gonna live here i hope debbie wants someone to help around and i've come to try for a week i hope you would stay for this very dull said rose who had taken a sudden fancy to this girl who sung like a bird and walked like a woman hope i shall for i'm 15 now and old enough to learn my own living you have come to stay a spell haven't you asked feebe looking up at her guest and wondering how life could be done to a girl who wore a silk frock a taintly frilled apron a pretty locket and had her hair tied up with a velvet snow yes i shall stay until my uncle comes he is my garden now and i don't know what he will do with me have you a garden my fakes now i was left in the poor house steps a little mighty baby and miss rogers took a liking to me so i've been nervous since but she is dead now and i take care of myself how interesting it is like arobella montgomery in the gypsy's child did you have a read that sweet story astros was fond of deals of fountains and had dreaded many i don't have the book story and all the spare time i get i run off into the woods that rest me better than stories answered feebe and she finished one job and began on another rose watched her as she got out a great fan of beans to look over and wondered how it would seem to have life all work and no play presently feebe seemed to think it was her turn to ask questions and said wistfully you have lots of schooling i suppose oh jeremy yes i've been in body school nearly a year and i'm almost dead with lessons the more i got the more miss power gave me and it was so miserable and most cried my eyes out papa never gave me hard things to do and he always taught me so pleasantly i love to study well we were so happy and fond of one another but now he is gone and i'm left all alone the cheer that would not come when rosa waiting for it came now of its own accord two of them in fact and rolled down her cheeks telling the tale of love and sorrow better than any words could do it for a minute there was no sound in the kitchen but the little daughters sobbing and the sympathetic batter of the rain feebe stopped rattling her beans from one time to another and her eyes were full of pity as they rested on the curly head bent down on rosa's knee for she saw that the heart under the pretty locket ate with its loss and the dainty apron was used to try sadder tears than any she had ever felt somehow she felt more contented with her brown calico gown and blue checked pin of her envy changed her compassion and if she had dead she would have gone and hugged her afflicted guests fearing that might not be considered proper she said in her cheery voice i'm sure you ain't alone with all such folks belonging to you and also rich and clever you be petted to pieces debbie says because you are the only girl in the family she's last words made rosa smile in spite of her tears and she looked out from behind her apron with an april face staying in a dune of comic distress that's one of my troubles i've got six aunts and they all want me and i don't know any of them very well papa named this place anthill and now i see why feeble off with her as she said encouragingly everyone calls it so and it's a real good name for all the mrs campbell to the handy buy and keep coming up to see the old ladies i could stand the aunts but there are dozens of cousins triple boys all of them and i did test boys some of them came to see me last wednesday but i was lying down and when auntie came to call me i went under the quilt and pretended to be asleep i shall have to see him sometime but i do dread it so and rose gave a shadow for having lived alone with her invalid father she knew nothing of boys and considered them a species of wild animal oh i guess you like them i've seen them flying around when they come over from the point sometimes in their boats and sometimes in horseback if you like boats and horses you will enjoy yourself for free but i don't i'm afraid of horses and boats make me ill and i hate boys and poor rose rump her hands at the awful process before her one of these horrors alone she could have born but all together would too much for her and she began thinking of a speedy return to the detested school feeby laughed at her wall till the beans danced in the pan but tried to comfort her with suggesting a means of relief perhaps your uncle will take you away where there ain't any boys debbie says he's a real calm man and always brings heaps of nice things when he comes yes but you see that is another trouble for i don't know uncle alec at all he hardly ever came to see us though he said me pretty things very often now i belong to him and she'll have to mind him till i am a teen i may not like him a bit and i fret about it all the time well i won't borrow trouble but have a real good time i'm sure i should think i was in clover if i had folks and money and nothing to do but enjoy myself began fee we got no further for a sudden rush and rumble outside made them both jump it's thunder cried fee it's a circus cried rose who from her elevated purge had got glimpses of a gay cart of sunsort and several ponies with flying manes and dales the sound died away and the girls were about to continue their confidences when old debbie appeared looking rather close and sleepy after her nap you are watching in the parlor miss rose has anybody come little girls should ask questions but two is they are big was all debbie would answer i do hope it is an admirer she always gives me out of my wits asking for my coffers and groaning over me as if i was gonna die said rose preparing to retire the way she came for the slide be cut for the admission of bouncing christmas turkeys and puddings was plenty large enough for a slender girl because he wasn't was on mara when you see who has come don't never let me catch you coming into my kitchen that way again or i'll shut you up in the big parlor growl debbie who thought it was a duty to snap children on all occasions enter chapter one of eight cousins or the anthill elements of political economy by james mill 1773 to 1836 first chapter collection six this is a Libra Vox recording all Libra Vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Libra Vox dot org elements of political economy chapter one production the distinction between what is done by labor and what is done by nature is very often obscured a few words therefore are necessary to fix the meaning of terms labor produces its desired effect only by conspiring with the laws of nature there is no commodity or thing produced for consumption which labor affects in any other way than by cooperating with the laws of nature it is found that the agency of man can be traced to very simple elements he can in fact do nothing more than produce motion he can move things towards one another and he can separate them from one another the properties of matter perform all the rest he moves ignited iron to a portion of gunpowder and an explosion takes place he moves the seed to the ground and vegetation commences he separates the plant from the ground and vegetation ceases why or how these effects take place he is ignorant he has only ascertained by experience that if he performs such and such motions such and such effects will follow in strictness of speech it is matter itself which produces the effects all that men can do is to place the objects of nature in a certain position the tailor when he makes a coat the farmer when he produces corn do the same things exactly each makes motions and the properties of matter do the rest it would be absurd to ask to which of any two effects the properties of matter contribute the most seen they contribute everything after certain portions of matter are placed in a certain position most of the objects which man desires are the effect not of one operation but of a series of operations requiring the lapse of a certain time the quantity of food and of such other things as during that time are used by the men who labor is necessary for the existence of the labor not only labor therefore but the articles necessary for the maintenance of labor are requisite to production it often happens that labor is employed upon certain materials which are more or less costly to produce the woolen manufacturer must have his wool the carpenter must have his wood the blacksmith his iron and other producers the raw material each of his particular commodity labor may be also very much in many cases promoted by the use of certain machines the man who scratched upon the earth with his nails or with a stick was very much aided when he obtained the use of a spade the man who dug with a spade was very much aided when he obtained the use of a plow the use of instruments has been carried much farther in manufacturing than agricultural operations from the spindle and disc staff the distance is immense to the vast and operos machinery which fills a modern factory the food and other articles consumed by the laborers the raw material on which they operate and the instruments of all sorts which are employed in eating their labors are denominated capital the requisites to production then are two labor and capital it most frequently happens that the persons who are willing to bestow their labor are poor and not possessed of so much as even food sufficient to maintain them during the series of operations which are required to complete the commodity on which they are employed still more seldom are they possessed with any of the more costly machinery which contributes on a great scale to produce the commodities which men desire to consume a distribution accordingly takes place of the persons who contribute to production into two classes the one the class of laborers the other the class of capitalists the one the class who bestow the labor the other the class who furnished the food the raw material and the instruments of all sorts animate or inanimate simple or complex which are employed in producing the effect in the employment of labor and machinery it is often found that the effects can be increased by skillful distribution by separating all those operations which have any tendency to impede one another by bringing together all those operations which can be made in any way to aid one another as men in general cannot perform many different operations with the same quickness and dexterity with which they can by practice learn to perform a few it is always an advantage to limit as much as possible the number of operations imposed upon each for dividing labor and distributing the powers of men and machinery to the greatest advantage it is in most cases necessary to operate upon a large scale in other words to produce the commodities in great masses it is this advantage which gives existence to the great manufacturers a few of which placed in the most convenient situations sometimes supply not one country but many countries with as much as a desire of the commodity produced end of chapter one of elements of political economy by james mill 1773 to 1836