 CHAPTER 43 The very next day, sure enough the campaign opened. In due course, the speaker of the house reached that order of business which is termed, notices of bills, and then the honorable Mr. Buckstone rose in his place and gave notice of a bill to found and incorporate the knobs industrial university, and then sat down without saying anything. The busy gentleman in the reporters gallery jotted a line in their notebooks, ran to the telegraph desk in a room which communicated with their own writing parlor, and then hurried back to their places in the gallery. And by the time they had resumed their seats, the line which they had delivered to the operator had been read in telegraph offices and towns and cities hundreds of miles away. It was distinguished by frankness of language as well as by brevity. The child is born, Buckstone gives notice of the TV knobs university job. It is said the noses have been counted and enough votes have been bought to pass it. For some time the correspondents have been posting their several journals upon the alleged disreputable nature of the bill and furnishing daily reports of the Washington gossip concerning it. So the next morning nearly every newspaper of character in the land assailed a measure and hurled broadsides of evictive at Mr. Buckstone. The Washington papers were more respectful as usual and conciliatory. Also as usual they generally supported measures when it was possible, but when they could not they deprecated violent expressions of opinion in other journalistic quarters. They always deprecated when there was trouble ahead. However the Washington Daily Love Feast hailed the bill with warm approbation. This was Senator Ballum's paper or rather brother Ballum as he was popularly called for he had been a clergyman in his day and he himself and all that he did still admitted an order of sanctity now that he diverged into journalism and politics. He was a power in the congressional prayer meeting and all movements that looked to the spread of religion and temperance. His paper supported the new bill with gushing affection. It was a noble measure. It was a just measure. It was a generous measure. It was a pure measure and that surely should recommend it to these corrupt times and finally if the nature of the bill were not known to all the Love Feast would support it anyway and unhesitatingly for the fact that Senator Dillworthy was the originator of the measure was it guaranteed that it contemplated a worthy and righteous work. Senator Dillworthy was so anxious to know what the New York papers would say about the bill that he had arranged to have synopsis of their editorials telegraphed to him. He could not wait for the papers themselves to crawl along down to Washington by a mail train which has never run over a cow since the road was built for the reason that it has never been able to overtake one. It carries the usual cowcatcher in the front of the locomotive but this is mere ostentatious. It ought to be attached to the rear car where it could do some good but instead no provision is made there for the protection of the traveling public and hence it is not a matter of surprise that cows so frequently climb aboard that train and among the passengers. The Senator read his dispatches aloud at the breakfast table. Laura was troubled beyond measure at their tone and said that that sort of comment would defeat the bill but the Senator said oh not at all not at all my child it's just what we want persecution is the one thing needful now all the other forces are secure give us newspaper persecution enough and we are safe vigorous persecution will alone carry a bill sometimes dear and when you start with a strong vote in the first place persecution comes in with double effect scares off some of the weak supporters true but soon it turns strong ones into stubborn ones and then presently it changes the tide of public opinion that great public is weak minded the great public is sentimental the great public always turns around and weeps for an odious murderer and praises for him and carries flowers to his prison and besieges the governor with appeals to his clemency as soon as the papers begin to howl for that man's blood in a word the great putty hearted public loves to gush and there's no such darling opportunity to gush as a case of persecution of wards well uncle dear if your theory is right let us go into raptures where nobody can ask a hardier persecution than these editorials are furnishing I'm not sure of that my daughter I don't entirely like the tone of some of these remarks they like them they like venom here's one calls it a questionable measure but there's no strength in that this one is better it calls it highway robbery but now this one seems satisfied to call it an iniquitous scheme iniquitous does not exasperate anybody it is weak purile the ignorant will imagine it to be intended to for a compliment but this other one the one I read last has the true ring this vile dirty effort to rob the public treasury by the kites and vultures and now infest the filthy den called congress that is admirable admirable we must have more of that sort but it will come no fear of that they're not even warmed up yet a week from now you'll see uncle you and your brother Balam our bosom friends why don't you get his paper to persecute us too isn't worthwhile my daughter his support doesn't hurt a bill nobody reads his editorials but himself but I wish the new york papers would talk a little plainer it is annoying to have to wait a week for them to warm up I expect better things at their hands and time is precious now at the proper hour according to his previous notice mr. buckstone duly introduced his bill entitled an act to found and incorporate the knobs industrial university moved its proper reference and sat down the speaker of the house rattled off this observation for objectionable abilities said over the referred habituates of the house comprehend that this long lightning healed word signified if there was no objection the bill would take the customary course of a measure of its nature and be referred to the committee on benevolent appropriations and that it was accordingly so referred strangers merely suppose that the speaker was taking a gargle for some affection of the throat the reporters immediately telegraphed the introduction of the bill and they added the assertion that the bill will pass was premature it is said that many favors of it will desert when the storm breaks upon them from the public press the storm came and during 10 days it wax more and more violent day by day the great negro university swindle became the one absorbing topic of conversation throughout the nation individuals denounce it journals denounce it public meetings denounced it the pictorial papers caricatured its friends the whole nation seemed to be growing frantic over it meantime the washington corresponded to ascending such telegrams as these abroad in the land under date of saturday congressman jex and fluke are wavering it is believed they will desert the extricable bill monday jex and fluke have deserted thursday tubs and huffy left the sinking ship last night later on three desertions the university fees are getting scared though they will not own to it later the leaders are growing stubborn they swear they cannot carry it but it is now almost certain that they no longer have a majority after a day or two are reluctant and ambiguous telegrams public sentiment seems to be changing a trifle in favor of the bill but only a trifle and still later it is whispered that the honorable mr trollop has gone over to the pirates is probably a canard mr trollop has all long been the bravest and most efficient champion of virtue and the people against the bill and the rapport is without doubt a shameless invention next day with characteristic treachery the truckling and pusillanimous reptile crippled speech trollop has gone over to the enemy it is contended now that he has been a friend of the bill in secret since the day it was introduced and he has bankable reasons for being so but he himself declares that he has gone over because the malignant persecution of the bill by the newspapers caused him to study its provisions with more care than he had previously done and this close examination revealed the fact that the measure won in every way worthy of his support pretty thin it cannot be denied that this desertion had a damaging effects jackson fluke have returned to their iniquitous allegiance with six or eight other of lesser caliber and it is reported and believe that tubs and huffy are ready to go back it is feared that the university swindle is stronger today than it has been ever before later midnight it is said that the committee will report the bill back tomorrow both sides are marshaling their forces and the fight of this bill is evidently going to be the hottest of the session all washington is boiling end of chapter 43 recording by canis sergeant gagan auburn california chapter 44 of the gilded age this is a liber box recording all liber box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liberbox.org recording by kenneth sergeant gagan the gilded age by mark twain and charles dudley werner chapter 44 it's easy enough for another fellow to talk said harry despondingly after he had put philip in possession of his view of the case it's easy enough to say give her up if you don't care for her what am i going to do give her up it seemed to harry that this was a situation requiring some active measures he couldn't realize that he had fallen hopelessly in love without some rights accruing to him with the possession of the object of his passion quiet resignation under relinquishment of anything he wanted was not in his line and when it appeared to him that a surrender of laura would be the withdrawal of the one barrier that kept her from ruin it was unreasonable to expect that he could see how to give her up harry had the most buoyant confidence in his own projects always he saw everything connected with himself in a large way and in rosy lines this predominance of the imagination over judgment gave that appearance of exaggeration to his conversation and to his communications with agrar to himself which sometimes conveyed the impression that he was not speaking the truth his acquaintances had been known to say that they were invariably allowed a half for shrinkage in his statements and held the other half under advisement for confirmation philip in this case could not tell from harry's story exactly how much encouragement laura had given him nor what hopes he might justly have of winning her he had never seen him desponding before the brag appeared to be all taken out of him and his airy manner only asserted itself now and then in a comical imitation of its old self philip wanted time to look about him before he decided what to do he was not familiar with washington and it was difficult to adjust his feelings and perceptions to its peculiarities coming out of the sweet sanity of the bolton household this was by contrast the maddest vanity fair one could conceive it seemed to him a feverish unhealthy atmosphere in which lunacy would be easily developed he fancied that everybody attached to himself and exaggerated importance from the fact of being at the nation's capital the center of political influence the fountain of patronage preferment jobs and opportunities people were introduced to each other as from this or that state not from cities and towns and this gave a largeness to their representative feeling all the women talk politics as naturally and glibly as they talk fashion or literature elsewhere there was always some exciting topic at the capital or some huge slander was rising up like a mis-amatic exaltation from the Potomac threatening to settle no one knew exactly where every other person was an aspirant for a place or if he had one for a better place or more pay almost every other one had some claim or interest or remedy to urge even the women were all advocates for the advancement of some person and they violently espoused or denounced this or that measure as it would affect some relative acquaintance or friend love travel even death waited on the chances of the dies daily thrown in the two houses and the committee rooms there if the measure went through love could afford to ripen into marriage and longing for foreign travel would have fruitation and it must have been only eternal hope springing in the breast that kept alive numerous old claimants who for years and years had deceived the doors of congress and had looked as if they needed not so much an appropriation of money at six feet of ground and those who stood so long waiting for success to bring them death were usually those who had a just claim representing states and talking of national and even international affairs as familiarly as neighbors at home talk of poor crops and the extravagance of their ministers was likely at first to impose upon fellow as to the importance of the people gathered here there was a little newspaper editor from Phil's native town the assistant on a pentatonian weekly who made his little annual joke about the first egg laid on our table and who was the menial of every tradesman in the village and under bonds to him with a frequent puss except the undertaker about whose employment he was recklessly facetious in washington he was an important man correspondent and clerk of two house committees a worker in politics and a confident critic of every woman and every man in washington he would be a console no doubt by and by at some foreign port of the language of which he was ignorant though if ignorance of language were a qualification might have been a counsel at home his easy familiarity with great men was so beautiful to see and when philip learned what a tremendous underground influence this little ignoramus had he no longer wondered at the queer appointments and the queer legislation philip was not long in discovering that people in washington did not differ much from other people they had the same meanness generalities and tastes a washington boarding house had the odor of boarding house the world over colonel cellars was as unchanged as anyone philip saw whom he had known elsewhere washington appeared to be the native element of this man his pretensions were equal to any he encountered there he saw nothing in the society that equaled that of hawkeye he sat down to no table that could not be unfavorably contrast with his own at home the most airy scheme inflated in the hot air of the capital only reached in magnitude some of his lesser fancies the bi-play of his constructive imagination a country is getting along very well he said to philip but our public men are too timid what we want is more money i've told about well so talk about basing the currency on gold you might as well base it on pork gold is only one product base it on everything you've got to do something for the west how am i to move my crops we must have improvements now grant's got the idea we want a canal from james river to the mississippi government know how to build it it was difficult to get the kernel off from these large themes once he was started but philip brought the conversation round to laura and her reputation in the city no he said i haven't noticed much we've been so busy about this university it will make laura rich with the rest of us and she has done nearly as much as if she were a man she has a great talent and will make a big match i see the foreign ministers and that's sort after her yes there is talk always will be about a pretty woman so much in public as she is tough stories come to me but i put them away ain't likely one of sigh hawkins jordan would do that or she is the same as a child of his i told her though to go slow and at the kernel as if that mysterious admonition from him would set everything right do you know anything about colonel selby asked philip no all about him fine fellow but he's got a wife and i told him as a friend he'd better shear off from laura i reckon he thought better of it and he did but philip was not long in learning the truth quartered as laura was by a certain class and still admitted into society that nevertheless buzzed with disreputable stories about her she had lost character with the best people her intimacy with selby was open gossip and there were winks and thrustings of the tongue in any group of men when she passed by it was clear enough that harry's delusions must be broken up and that no such feeble obstacle as his passion could interpose would turn laura from her fate philip was determined to see her and put himself in possession of the truth as he suspected it in order to show harry as folly laura after her last conversation with harry had a new sense of her position she had noticed before the signs of a change in manners toward her a little less respect perhaps from men and an avoidance by women she had attributed this latter partly to jealousy of her for no one is willing to acknowledge a fault in themselves when a more agreeable motive can be found with the estrangements of their acquaintances but now if society had turned on her she would defy it it was not in her nature to shrink she knew she had been wronged and she knew that she had no remedy what she heard of colonel selby's proposed departure alarmed her more than anything else and she calmly determined that if he was deceiving her the second time it should be the last let society finish the tragedy if it liked she was indifferent what came after at the first opportunity she charged selby with his intentions to abandon her he blushingly denied it he had no thoughts of going to europe he had only been amusing himself with cellar schemes he swore that as soon as she succeeded with her bill he would fly with her to any part of the world she did not quite believe him or she saw that he feared her and she began to suspect that his was the protestations of a coward to gain time but she showed him no doubts she only watched his movement day by day and always held herself ready to act promptly when philip came into the presence of this attractive woman he could not realize that she was a subject of all the scandal he had heard she received him with quite the old hawkeye openness and cordiality and felt it talking at once of their little acquaintances there and it seemed impossible that he could ever say to her what he had come determined to say such a man as philip has only one standard by which to judge women laura recognized that fact no doubt the better part of her woman's nature saw it such a man might years ago not now have changed her nature and made the issue of her life so different even after her cruel abandonment she had a dim feeling of this and she would like now to stand well with him the spark of truth and honor that was left in her was elicited by his presence it was this influence that governed her conduct in this interview i have come said philip in his direct manner from my friend mr briarly who are not ignorant of his feelings toward you perhaps not said laura but perhaps you do not know you who have so much admiration how sincere and over mastering his love is for you philip would not have spoken so plainly if he had in mind anything except to draw from laura something that would end harry's passion and his sincere love so rare mr sterling asked laura moving her foot a little and speaking with a shade of sarcasm perhaps not in washington reply philip tempted into a similar tone excuse my bluntness he continued what would the knowledge of his love would his devotion make any difference to you in your washington life in respect to what asked laura quickly well to others i won't equivocate to colonel selby laura's face flushed with anger or shame and she looks steadily at philip and began by what right sir by the right of friendship interrupted philip sterling it may matter little to you it's everything to him he has a quixotic notion that you would turn back from what is before you for his sake it can't be ignorant of what all the city is talking of philip said this determinedly and with some bitterness it was a full minute before laura spoke both had risen philip as if to go and laura in suppressed excitement when she spoke her voice was very unsteady and and she looked down yes i know i perfectly understand what you mean mr briley is nothing simply nothing he's a moth since that's all a trifler with women though he thought he was a wasp i have no pity for him not the least you may tell him not to make a fool of himself and to keep away i say this on your account not his you sir are not like him enough for me that you wanted so mr sterling she continued looking up and there were tears in her eyes that contradicted the hardness of her language you might not pity him if you knew my history perhaps you would not wonder at some things you've heard no it's useless to ask me why it must be so i can't make a life over society won't let you if you would and mine must be lived as it is there sir i'm not offended but it is useless for me to say anything more philip went away with his heart enlightened about harry but profoundly saddened by the glimpse of what this woman might have been he told harry all that was necessary of the conversation she was bent on going her own way he had not the ghost of a chat he was a fool she had said by thinking he had and harry accepted it meekly and made up his mind that philip didn't know much about women end of chapter 44 recording by kenneth sergeant gagan auburn california chapter 45 of the gilded age this is a library box recording all library box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit library box dot org recording by tom lennon the gilded age by mark twain and charles dudley warner chapter 45 the galleries of the house were packed on the momentous day not because the reporting of an important bill backed by a committee was a thing to be excited about if the bill were going to take the ordinary course afterward it would be like getting excited over the impaneling of a coroner's jury in a murder case and instead of saving up one's motions for the grander occasion of the hanging of the accused two years later after all the tedious forms law had been gone through with but suppose you understood that this coroner's jury is going to turn out to be a vigilance committee in disguise who will hear testimony for an hour and then hang the murderer on the spot that puts a different aspect upon the matter now it was whispered that the legitimate forms of procedure usual in the house and which keep a bill hanging around for days and even weeks before it's finally passed on we're going to be overruled in this case and short work made of the measure and so what was beginning as a mere inquest might turn out to be something very different in the course of the day's business the order of reports of committees was finally reached and when the weary crowds heard that glad announcement issue from the speaker's lips they ceased to fret at the dragon delay and plucked up spirit the chairman of the committee on benevolent appropriations rose and made his report and just then a blue uniform brass mounted little page put a note in his hand it was from senator dillworthy who had appeared on the floor of the house for a moment and flitted away again everybody expects a grand assault and force no doubt you believe as i certainly do that it is the thing to do we are strong and everything is hot for the contest trollop's espousal of our cause has immensely helped us and we grow in power constantly ten of the opposition were called away from town about noon but so it is said only for one day six others are sick but expect to be about again tomorrow or next day a friend tells me a bold onslaught is worth trying go for a suspension of the rules you will find we can swing a two-thirds vote i am perfectly satisfied of it the lord's truth will prevail dillworthy mr. buxton had reported the bills from his committee one by one leaving the bill to the last when the house had voted upon the acceptance or rejection of the report upon all but it and the question now being upon its disposal mr. buxton begged that the house would give its attention to a few remarks which he desired to make his committee had instructed him to report the bill favorably he wished to explain the nature of the measure and thus justify the committee's action the hostility roused by the press would then disappear and the bill would shine forth in its true and noble character he said that his provisions were simple it incorporated the knobs industrial university locating it in east tennessee declaring it open to all persons without distinction of sex color or religion and committing its management to a board of perpetual trustees with power to fill vacancies in their own number it provided for the erection of certain buildings for the university dormitories lecture halls museums libraries laboratories workshops furnaces and mills it provided also for the purchase of 65 000 acres of land fully described for the purposes of the university in the knobs of east tennessee and appropriated blank dollars for the purchase of the land which should be the property of the national trustees in trust for the abusers named every effort had been made to secure the refusal of the whole amount of the property of the hawkins airs in the knobs some 75 000 acres mr. buxton said but mr. washington hawkins one of the airs objected he was indeed very reluctant to sell any part of the land at any price and indeed this reluctance was justifiable when one considers how constantly and how greatly the property is rising in value what the south needed continued mr. buxton was skill labor without that it would be unable to develop its minds build its roads work to advantage and without great waste its fruitful land establish manufacturers or enter upon a prosperous industrial career its laborers were almost altogether unskilled changed them into intelligent trained workmen and you increased at once the capital the resources of the entire south which would enter upon a prosperity hitherto for unknown in five years the increase in local wealth would not only reimburse the government for the outlay of this appropriation but poor untold wealth into the treasury this was a material view and the least important in the honorable gentleman's opinion here he referred to some notes furnished him by senator dillworthy and then continued god had given us the care of these colored millions what account should we render to him of our stewardship we had made them free should we leave them ignorant we had cast them upon their own resources should we leave them without tools we could not tell what the intentions of providence are in regard to these peculiar people but our duty was plain the knobs industrial university would be a vast school of modern science and practice worthy of a great nation it would combine the advantages of zurek freeberg kirzo when sheffield scientific providence had apparently reserved and set apart the knobs of east tennessee for this purpose what else were they for was it not wonderful that for more than 30 years over a generation the choices portion of them had remained in one family untouched as if separated for some great use it might be asked why the government should buy this land when it had millions of acres more than the railroad companies desired which it might devote to this purpose he answered that the government had no such track of land as this it had nothing comparable to it for the purposes of the university this was to be a school of mining of engineering of working of metals of chemistry zoology botany manufacturers agriculture in short all the complicated industries that make a state great there was no place for the location of such a school like the knobs of east tennessee the hills abounded in metals of all sorts iron and all its combinations copper bismuth golden silver and small quantities platinum he believed tin aluminum it was covered with forests and strange plants in the woods were found the coon the possum the fox the deer and many other animals who roamed in the domain of natural history coal existed in enormous quantity and no doubt oil it was a place for the practice of agricultural experiments that any student who had been successful there would have an easy task in any other portion of the country no place offered equal facilities for experiments in mining metallurgy engineering he expected to live to see the day when the youth of the south would resort to its mines its workshops its laboratories its furnaces and factories for practical instruction in all the great industrial pursuits a noisy and rather ill natured debate followed on now and lasted hour after hour the friends of the bill were instructed by the leaders to make no effort to check it it was deemed better strategy to tire out the opposition it was decided to vote down every proposition to adjourn and so continue the sitting into the night opponents might desert then one by one and weaken their party for they had no personal stake in the bill sunset came and still the fight went on the gas was lit the crowd and the galleries began to thin but the contest continued the crowd returned by and by with hunger and thirst appeased and aggravated the hungry and thirsty house by looking contented and uncomfortable but still the wrangle lost nothing in its bitterness recesses were moved plaintively by the opposition and invariably voted down by the university army at midnight the house presented a spectacle calculated to interest a stranger the great galleries were still throng though only with men now the bright colors that have made them look like hanging gardens were gone with the ladies the reporters gallery was merely occupied by one or two watchful sentinels of the quill driving guild the main body cared nothing for a debate that had dwindled to a mere vaporizing of dull speakers and now and then a brief quarrel over a point of order but there was an unusually large attendance of journalists in the reporters waiting room chatting smoking and keeping on the kv for the general interruption of the congressional volcano that must come when the time was right for it senator dillsworthy and philip were in the diplomatic gallery washington sat in a public gallery and colonel cellars was not far away the colonel had been flying about the carters and buttonhole and congressmen all the evening and believed that he had accomplished a world of valuable service but fatigue was telling upon him now and he was quiet and speechless for once below a few senators lounged upon the sofas set apart for visitors and talked with idle congressmen a dreary member was speaking the presiding officer was nodding and here and there little knots of members stood in the aisles whispering together all about the house others sat in the various attitudes that expressed weariness some tilted back had one or more legs disposed upon their desks some sharpened pencils indolently some scribbled aimlessly some yawned and stretched a great many lay upon the breasts upon the desks sound asleep and gently snoring the flooding gaslight from the fancifully wrought roof poured down upon the tranquil scene hardly a sound disturbed the stillness saved the monotonous eloquence of the gentlemen who occupied the floor now and then a warrior from the opposition broke down under the pressure gave it up went home mr. buxton began to think it might be safe now to proceed to business he consulted with trollop and one or two others senator dillworthy descended to the floor of the house and they went to meet him after a brief comparison of notes the congressman sought their seats and sent pages about the house with messages to friends these latter instantly roused up yawned and began to look alert the moment the floor was unoccupied mr. buxton rose with an injured look and said it was evident that the opponents of the bill were merely talking against time hoping in this unbecoming way to tire out the friends of the measure and so defeat it such conduct might be respectable enough in a village debating society but it was trivial among statesmen it was out of place in so august and assemblage as the house of representatives of the united states the friends of the bill had been not only willing that its opponents should express their opinions but had strongly desired it they courted the fullest and freest discussion but it seemed to him that this fairness was but illy appreciated since gentlemen were capable of taking advantage of it for selfish and unworthy ends this trifling had gone far enough he called for the question the instant mr. buxton sat down the storm burst forth a dozen gentlemen sprang to their feet mr. speaker mr. speaker mr. speaker order order order question question the sharp blows of the speaker's gavel rose above the den the previous question the hated gag was moved and carried all debate came to a sudden end of course triumph number one then the vote was taken on the adoption of the report and it carried by a surprising majority mr. buxton got the floor again and moved that the rules be suspended in the bill read a first time second the motion it's moved and a clamoring of voices we moved to adjourn second the motion adjourn adjourn order order it is moved and seconded that the house do now adjourn all those in favor division division eyes and knees eyes and nays it was decided to vote upon the adjournment by eyes and nays this was in earnest the excitement was furious the galleries were in commotion in an instant the reporters swarmed to their places idling members of the house flocked to their seats nervous gentlemen sprang to their feet pages flew hither and thither life and animation were visible everywhere all the long ranks of faces in the building were kindled this thing decides it thought mr. buxton but let the fight proceed the voting began and every sound ceased but the calling of the names in the eye no no eye of the responses there was not a movement in the house the people seemed to hold their breath the voting ceased and then there was an interval of dead silence while the clerk made up his count there was a two-thirds vote on the university side and two over the rules are suspended the motion is carried first reading of the bill by one impulse the galleries broke forth in a stormy applause and even some of the members of the house were not wholly able to restrain their feelings the speaker's gavel came to the rescue and his clear voice followed order gentlemen the house will come to order if spectators offend again the sergeant at arms will clear the galleries then he cast his eyes off and gazed at some object tentatively for a moment all eyes followed the direction of the speakers and then there was a general titter and the speaker said let the sergeant at arms informed the gentleman that his conduct is an infringement on the dignity of the house and one which is not warranted by the state of the weather poor cellars was the culprit he sat in the front seat of the gallery with his arms and his tired body overflowing the balustrade sound asleep dead to all excitements all disturbances the fluctuations of the washington weather had influenced his dreams perhaps for during the recent tempest of applause he had hoisted his gingham umbrella and calmly gone on with his slumbers washington hawkins had seen the act but was not near enough at hand to save his friend and no one who is near enough desire to spoil the effect but a neighbor stirred up the colonel now that the house had its eyes upon him and the great speculator furled his tent like the arab and he said bless my soul i'm so absentminded when i get to thinking i never wear an umbrella in the house did anybody notice it what sleep indeed did you wake me sir thank you thank you very much indeed it might have fallen out of my hands and been injured admirable article sir presented from a friend in hong kong one doesn't come across silk like that in this country it's the real young heights and i'm told by this time the incident was forgotten before the house was at war again victory was almost in sight now and the friends of the bill threw themselves into their work with enthusiasm they soon moved and carried a second reading and after a strong sharp fight carried a motion to go into committee on the whole the speaker left his place of course and a chairman was appointed now the contest raged hotter than ever for the authority that compels order when the house sits as a house is greatly diminished when it sits as a committee the main fight came upon the filling of the blanks with the sum to be appropriated for the purchase of the land of course mr chairman i move you sir that the words three millions of be inserted mr chairman i move that the words two and a half dollars be inserted mr chairman i move the insertion of the words five and twenty cents as representing the true value of this barren and isolated tract of desolation the question according to rule was taken upon the smallest sum first it was lost then upon the next smallest sum also lost then upon the three millions after a vigorous battle that lasted a considerable time this motion was carried then clause by clause the bill was read discussed and amended and trifling particulars and now the committee rose and reported moment the house had resumed its functions and received the report mr buxton moved and carried the third reading of the bill the same bitter war over the sum to be paid was fought over again and now that the eyes and nays could be called and placed on the record every man was compelled to vote by name on the three millions and indeed on every paragraph of the bill from the enacting clause straight through but as before the friends of the measure stood firm and voted in a solid body every time and so did his enemies the supreme moment was come now but so sure was the result that not even a voice was raised to interpose an adjournment the enemy were totally demoralized the bill was put upon its final passage almost without dissent and the calling of the eyes and nays began when it was ended the triumph was complete the two-thirds vote held good and a veto was impossible as far as the house was concerned mr buxton resolved that now that the nail was driven home he could clinch it on the other side and make it stay forever he moved a reconsideration of the vote by which the bill had passed the motion was lost of course in the great industrial university act was an accomplished fact as far as it was in the power of the house of representatives to make it so there was no need to move an adjournment the instant the last motion was decided the enemies of the university rose and flocked out of the hall talking angrily and its friends flocked after them jubilant and congratulatory the galleries disgorge their burden and presently the house was silent and deserted when colonel cellars in washington stepped out of the building they were surprised to find that the daylight was old and the sun well up said to colonel give me a hand my boy you're all right at last you're a millionaire at least you're going to be this thing is dead sure don't you bother about the senate leave me and ill worthy to take care of that run along home now tell laura lord it's magnificent news perfectly magnificent run now i'll telegraph my wife she must come here and help me build a house everything's all right now washington was so dazed by his good fortune and so bewildered by the gaudy pageant of dreams that was already trailing as long ranks through his brain that he wondered he knew not where and so loitered by the way that when at last he reached home he worked to a sudden annoyance in the fact that his news must be old to laura now for course senator dillworthy must have already been home and told her an hour before he knocked at the door but there was no answer that is like the duchess he said always cool a body can't excite her can't keep her excited anyway now she's gone off to sleep again is comfortable as if she were used to picking up a million dollars every day or two then he went to bed but he could not sleep so we got up and wrote a long raptious letter to louise and another to his mother and he closed both to much the same effect laura will be queen of america now and she will be applauded and honored and petted by the whole nation her name will be in everyone's mouth more than ever how they will court her and quote her bright speeches and mine too i suppose though they do that more already than they really seem to deserve oh the world is so bright now and so cheery the clouds are all gone our long struggle is ended our troubles are all over nothing can ever make us unhappy anymore you dear faithful ones will have the reward of your patient waiting now how father's wisdom is proven at last and how i repent me that there have been times when i lost faith and said the blessing he stored up for us a tedious generation ago was but a long drawn curse abide upon us all but everything is well now we are done with poverty sad toil weariness and heartbreak all the world is filled with sunshine end of chapter 45 recording by tom lennon chapter 46 of the gilded age this is a library box recording all library box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit library box dot org recording by tom lennon the gilded age by mark twain and charles dudley warner chapter 46 philip left the capital and walked up pennsylvania avenue and company with senator dillworthy it was a bright spring morning the air was soft and inspiring in the deepening wayside green the pink flush of the blossoming peach trees the soft suffusion on the heights of arlington and the breath of the warm south wind was apparent the annual miracle of the resurrection of the earth the senator took off his hat and seemed to open his soul to the sweet influences of the morning after the heat and noise of the chamber under its dull gas illuminated glass canopy and the all night struggle of passion and feverish excitement there the open tranquil world seemed like heaven the senator was not in an exultant mood but rather in a condition of holy joy befitting a christian statesman whose benevolent plans providence has made its own and stamped with approval the great battle had been fought but the measure had still to encounter the scrutiny of the senate and providence sometimes acts differently in the two houses still the senator was tranquil for he knew that there isn't a spree decor in the senate which does not exist in the house the effect of which is to make the members complacent towards the projects of each other and to extend a mutual aid which in a more vulgar body would be called log rolling it is under providence a good night's work mr sterling the government has founded an institution which will remove half the difficulty from the southern problem and it is a good thing for the hawkins airs a very good thing laura will be almost a millionaire do you think mr deal worthy that the hawkins's will get much of the money asked philip innocently remembering the fate of the columbus river appropriation the senator looked at his companion scrutinizingly for a moment to see if he meant anything personal and then replied undoubtedly undoubtedly i have had their interest greatly at heart there will of course be a few expanses but the widow and orphans will realize all that mr hawkins dreamed of for them the birds were singing as they crossed the presidential square now bright with its green turf and tender foliage after the two had gained the steps of the senator's house they stood a moment looking upon the heavenly prospect it's like the peace of god said the senator devoutly entering the house the senator called the servant and said tell miss laura that we're waiting for her i ought to have sent a messenger on horseback half an hour ago he added to philip she will be transported with our victory you must stop the breakfast and see the excitement the servant soon came back with a wondering look and reported miss law ain't dasa i reckon she ain't been down all night the senator and philip both started up in laura's room there were marks of a confused and hasty departure drawers half open little articles strewn on the floor the bed had not been disturbed upon inquiry it appeared that laura had not been at dinner excusing herself to mrs delworthy on the plea of a violent headache that she made a request to the servants that she might not be disturbed the senator was astounded philip thought at once of carnal selby could laura have run away with him the senator thought not in fact it could not be general leffen well the member from new orleans had casually told him at the house last night that selby and his family went to new york yesterday morning and were to sail for europe today philip had another idea which he did not mention he seized his hat and saying that he would go and see what he could learn ran to the lodgings of harry whom he had not seen since yesterday afternoon when he had left him to go to the house harry was not in he had gone out with a handbag before six o'clock yesterday saying that he had to go to new york but should return next day in harry's room on the table philip found this note dear mr. brierly can you meet me at the six o'clock train and be my escort to new york i have to go about this university bill the vote of an absent member we must have here senator delworthy cannot go yours lh con found it said philip the noodle has fallen into her trap and she promised she would let him alone he only stopped to send a note to senator delworthy telling him what he had found and that he should go at once to new york and then hastened to the railway station he had to wait an hour for a train and when it did start it seemed to go at a snail's pace philip was devoured with anxiety where could they have gone what was lor's object and taken harry had the flight anything to do with selby would harry be such a fool as to be dragged into some public scandal it seemed as if the train would never reach baltimore then there was a long delay at have a de grace hotbox had to be cooled at wellington would it never get on only in passing around the city of philadelphia did the train not seem to go slow philip stood upon the platform and watched for the bolton's house fancy he could distinguish its roof among the trees and wondered how roof would feel if she knew he was so near her then came jersey everlast in jersey stupid irritating jersey where the passengers are always asking which line they are on and where they are to come out and whether they have yet reached elizabeth launched into jersey one has a vague notion that he is on many lines and no one in particular and that he is liable at any moment to come to elizabeth he has no notion what elizabeth is and always resolves that the next time he goes that way he will look out the window and see what it is like but he never does or if he does he probably finds that it is princeton or something of that sort he gets annoyed and never can see the use of having different names for stations in jersey by and by there is newark three or four newarks apparently then marshes then long rock cuttings devoted to the advertisements of patent medicines and ready made clothing and new york tonics for jersey agus and jersey city is reached on the ferry boat philip bought an evening paper from a boy crying here's the evening gram all about the murder and with a breathless haste ran his eye over the following shocking murder tragedy in high life a beautiful woman shoots a distinguished confederate soldier at the southern hotel jealousy the cause this morning occurred another of those shocking murders which have become the almost daily food of the newspapers the direct result of the socialistic doctrines and women's rights agitations which have made every woman the avenger of her own wrongs and all society the hunting ground for her victims about nine o'clock a lady deliberately shot a man dead in the public parlor of the southern hotel coolly remarking as she threw down her revolver and permitted herself to be taken to custody he brought it on himself our reporters were immediately dispatched to the scene of the tragedy and gathered the following particulars yesterday afternoon arrived at the hotel from washington colonel george selby and family who had taken passage and were to sail at noon today in the steamer scotia for england the colonel was a handsome man about forty a gentleman of wealth and high social position a resident of new orleans he served with distinction in the confederate army and received a wound in the leg from which he has never entirely recovered being obliged to use a cane in locomotion this morning at about nine o'clock a lady accompanied by a gentleman called at the office of the hotel and asked for colonel selby the colonel was at breakfast with the clerk tell him that a lady and gentleman wish to see him for a moment in the parlor the clerk said that the gentleman asked her what do you want to see him for and that she replied he is going to europe and i ought to just say goodbye colonel selby was informed and the lady and gentleman were shown to the parlor in which there were at the time three or four other persons five minutes after two shots were fired in quick succession and there was a rush to the parlor from which the reports came him colonel selby was found lying on the floor bleeding but not dead two gentlemen who had just come in had seized the lady who made no resistance and she was at once given in charge of a police officer who arrived the persons who were in the parlor agree substantially as to what had occurred they had happened to be looking towards the door when the man colonel selby entered with his cane and they looked at him because he stopped as if surprised and frightened and made a backward movement at the same moment the lady in the bonnet advanced toward him and said something like george will you go with me he replied throwing up his hand and retreating my god i can't don't fire and the next instance two shots were heard and he fell the lady appeared to be beside herself with rage or excitement and trembled very much when the gentleman took hold of her it was to them she said he brought it on himself colonel selby was carried at once to his room and dr. puffer the eminent surgeon was sent for it was found that he was shot through the breast and through the abdomen other aid was summoned but the wounds were mortal and colonel selby expired in an hour in pain but his mind was clear to the last and he made a full deposition the substance of it was that his murderer is a miss laura hawkins whom he had known at washington as a lobbyist and had had some business with her she had followed him with her attentions and solicitations and had endeavored to make him desert his wife and go to europe with her when he resisted and avoided her she had threatened him only the day before he left washington she had declared that he would never go out of the city alive without her it seems to have been a deliberate and premeditated murder the woman following him from washington on purpose to commit it we learned that the murderess who is a woman of dazzling and transcendent beauty is about twenty six or seven she's a niece of senator dillworthy yet whose house she has been spending the winter she belongs to a high southern family and has a reputation of being an aris like some other great beauties and bells in washington however there have been whispers that she had something to do with the lobby if we mistake not we have heard her name mentioned in connection with the sale of the tennessee lands to the knobs university the bill for which passed the house last night her companion is a mr harry breerley a new york dandy who has been in washington his connection with her and with this tragedy is not known but he was also taken into custody and will be detained at least as a witness ps one of the person's present in the pauler says that after laura hawkins had fired twice she turned the pistol towards herself but that breerley sprung and caught it from her hand and that it was he who threw it to the floor further particulars with full biographies of all the parties in our next edition philip hastened at once to the southern hotel where he found still a great state of excitement and a thousand different and exaggerated stories passing from mouth to mouth the witnesses of the event had told it over so many times that they had worked it up into a most dramatic scene and embellished it with whatever could heighten its awfulness outsiders had taken up invention also the colonel's wife had gone insane they said the children had rushed into the pauler and rolled themselves in their father's blood the hotel clerk said that he noticed there was murder in the woman's eye when he saw her a person who had met the woman on the stairs felt a creeping sensation some thought breerley was an accomplice and that he had set the woman on to kill his rival some said the woman showed the calmness and indifference of insanity philip learned that harry and laura had both been taken to the city prison and he went there but he was not admitted not being a newspaper reporter he could not see either of them that night but the officer questioned him suspiciously and asked him who he was he might perhaps see breerley in the morning the latest editions of the evening papers had the result of the inquest it was a plain enough case for the jury but they sat over it a long time listening to the wrangling of the physicians dr puffer insisted that the man died from the effects of the wound in his chest dr dobbe has strongly insisted that the wound in his abdomen caused death dr go lightly suggested that in his opinion death ensued from a complication of the two wounds and perhaps other causes he examined the table waiter as to whether colonel selby ate any breakfast and what he ate and if he had any appetite the jury finally threw themselves back upon the indisputable fact that selby was dead that either wound would have killed him admitted by the doctors and rendered a verdict that he died from pistol shot wounds inflicted by a pistol in the hands of laura hawkins the morning papers blazed with big type and overflowed with details of the murder the accounts in the evening papers were only the premonitory drops to this mighty shower the scene was dramatically worked up in column after column there was sketches biographical and historical there were long specials from washington given a full history of laura's career there and the names of men with whom she was said to be intimate a description of senator dillworthy's residence and of his family and of laura's room in his house and a sketch of the senator's appearance and what he had said there was a great deal about her beauty her accomplishments and her brilliant position in society and her doubtful position in society there was also an interview with colonel cellars and another with washington hawkins the brother of the murderous one journal had a long dispatch from hawkeye reporting the excitement in that quiet village and the reception of the awful intelligence all the parties had been interviewed there were reports of conversations with the clerk at the hotel with the callboy with the waiter at the table with all the witnesses with the policeman with the landlord who wanted it understood that nothing of that sort had ever happened in his house before although it had always been frequented by the best southern society and with mrs. colonel selby there were diagrams illustrating the scene of the shooting and views of the hotel and street and portraits of the parties there were three minute and different statements from the doctors about the wounds so technically worded that nobody could understand them harry and laura had also been interviewed and there was a statement from philip himself which a reporter had knocked him up out of bed at midnight to give though how he found him philip never could conjecture what some of the journalists lacked and suitable length for the occasion they made up an encyclopedic information about other similar murders and shootings the statement from laura was not full in fact it was fragmentary and consisted of nine parts of the reporter's valuable observations to one of laura's and it was as the reporter significantly remarked incoherent but it appeared that laura claimed to be selby's wife or to have been his wife that he had deserted her and betrayed her and that she was going to follow him to europe when the reporter asked what made you shoot him miss hawkins laura's only reply was very simply did i shoot him do they say i shot him and she would say no more the news of the murder was made the excitement of the day talk of it filled the town the facts reported were scrutinized the standing of the parties was discussed the dozen different theories of the motive broached in the newspapers were disputed over during the night subtle electricity had carried the tail over all the wires of the continent and under the sea and in all the villages and towns of the union from the atlantic to the territories and a way up and down the pacific slope and as far as london and paris and berlin that morning the name of laura hawkins was spoken by millions and millions of people while the owner of it the sweet child of years ago the beautiful queen of washington drawing rooms sat shivering on her cot bed in the darkness of a damp cell in the tombs end of chapter 46 recording by tom lennon chapter 47 of the gilded age 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.org recording by richard kilmer the gilded age by mark twain and charles dudley warner chapter 47 Phillips first effort was to get harry out of the tombs he gained permission to see him in the presence of an officer during the day and he found that hero very much cast down i never intended to come to such a place as this old fellow he said the philip it's no place for a gentleman they have no idea how to treat a gentleman look at that provender pointing to his uneaten prison ration they tell me i am detained as a witness and i passed the night among a lot of cutthroats and dirty rascals a pretty witness i'd be in a month spent in such company but what under heavens asked philip induced you to come to new york with laura what was it for what for why she wanted me to come i didn't know anything about that cursed selby she said it was lobby business for the university i had no idea what she was dragging me into that confounded hotel for i suppose she knew that the southerners all go there and thought she'd find her man oh lord i wish i'd taken your advice you might as well murder somebody and have the credit for it as get into the newspapers the way i have she's pure devil that girl you ought to have seen how sweet she was on me what an ass i am well i'm not going to dispute a poor prisoner but the first thing is to get you out of this i brought the note laura wrote you for one thing and i've seen your uncle and explain the truth of the case to him he will be here soon harry's uncle came with other friends and in the course of the day made such a showing to the authorities that harry was released on giving bonds to appear as a witness when wanted his spirits rose with their usual elasticity as soon as he was out of center street and he insisted on giving philip and his friends a royal supper at delmonico's an excess which was perhaps excusable in the rebound of his feelings and which was committed with his usual reckless generosity harry ordered the supper and it is perhaps needless to say that philip paid the bill neither of the young men felt like attempting to see laura that day and she saw no company except the newspaper reporters until the arrival of colonel cellars and washington hawkins who had hastened to new york with all speed they found laura in a cell in the upper tier of the woman's department the cell was somewhat larger than those in the men's department and might be eight feet by ten feet square perhaps a little longer it was a stone floor and all and tile roof was oven-shaped a narrow slit in the roof admitted sufficient light and was the only means of ventilation when the window was opened there was nothing to prevent the rain coming in the only means of heating being from the corridor when the door was ajar the cell was chilly and at this time damp it was whitewashed and clean but it had a slight jail odor its only furniture was a narrow iron bedstead with a tick of straw and some blankets not too clean when colonel cellars was conducted to this cell by the matron and looked in his emotions quite overcame him the tears rolled down his cheeks and his voice trembled so that he could hardly speak washington was unable to say anything he looked from laura to the miserable creatures who were walking in the corridor with unutterable disgust laura was alone calm and self-contained though she was not unmoved by the sight of the grief of her friends are you comfortable laura was the first word the colonel could get out you see she replied i can't say it's exactly comfortable are you cold it is pretty chilly the stone floor is like ice it chills me through to step on it i have to sit on the bed poor thing poor thing and can you eat anything no i'm not hungry i don't know that i could eat anything i can't eat that oh dear continued the colonel it's dreadful but cheer up dear cheer up and the colonel broke down entirely but he went on we'll stand by you we'll do everything for you i know you couldn't have meant to do it it must have been insanity you know or something of that sort you never did anything of the sort before laura smiled very faintly and said yes it was something of that sort it's all a whirl he was a villain you don't know i'd rather have killed him myself in a duel you know all fair i wish i had but don't you be down we'll get you the best council the lawyers in new york can do anything i've read of cases but you must be comfortable now we've brought some of your clothes at the hotel what else can we get for you laura suggested that she would like some sheets for her bed a piece of carpet to step on and her meals sent in and some books and writing materials if it was allowed the colonel and washington promised to procure all these things and then took their sorrowful leave a great deal more affected than the criminal was apparently by her situation the colonel told the matron has he went away that if she would look to laura's comfort a little it shouldn't be the worst for her and to the turnkey who let them out he patronizingly said you've got a big establishment here a credit to the city i've got a friend in there i shall see you again sir by the next day something more of laura's own story began to appear in the newspapers colored and hythened by reporters rhetoric some of them cast a lurid light upon the colonel's career and represented his victim as a beautiful avenger of her murdered innocence and others pictured her as his willing paramour and pitiless slayer her communications to the reporters were stopped by her lawyers as soon as they were retained and visited her but this fact did not prevent it may have facilitated the appearance of casual paragraphs here and there which were likely to beget popular sympathy for the poor girl the occasion did not pass without improvement by the leading journals and philip preserved the editorial comments of three or four of them which pleased him most these he used to read aloud to his friends afterwards and asked them to guess from which journal each of them had been cut one began in this simple manner history never repeats itself but the kaleidoscope combinations of the pictured present often seem to be constructed out of the broken fragments of antique legends washington is not corinth and leis the beautiful daughter of timandra might not have been the prototype of the ravishing laura daughter of the plebeian house of hawkins but the orators add statesmen who were the purchasers of the favors of the one may have been as incorruptible as the republican statesmen who learned how to love and how to vote from the sweet lips of the washington lobbyist and perhaps the modern leis would never have departed from the national capital if there had been there even one republican xenocrats who resisted her blandishments but here the parallel fails leis wandering away with the youth ripostratus is slain by the woman who are jealous of her charms laura straying into thessaly with the young birely slays her other lover and becomes the champion of the wrongs of her sex another journal began its editorial with less lyrical beauty but with equal force it closed as follows with laura hawkins fair fascinating and fatal and with the dissolute kernel of a lost cause who has reaped the harvest he sowed we have nothing to do but has the curtain rises on this awful tragedy we catch a glimpse of the society at the capital under this administration which we cannot contemplate without alarm for the fate of the republic a third newspaper took up the subject in a different tone it said our repeated predictions are verified the pernicious doctrines which we have announced as prevailing in american society have been again illustrated the name of the city is becoming a reproach we may have done something in averting its ruin in our resolute exposure of the great frauds we shall not be deterred from insisting that the outraged laws for the protection of human life shall be vindicated now so that a person can walk the streets or enter the public houses at least in the daytime without risk of a bullet through his brain the fourth journal began its remarks as follows the fullness with which we represent our readers this morning the details of the selby hawkins homicide is a miracle of modern journalism subsequent investigations can do little to fill out the picture it is the old story a beautiful woman shoots her up scounding lover in cold blood and we shall doubtless learn in due time that if she was not as mad as a hair in this month of march she was at least laboring under what is termed momentary insanity it would not be too much to say that upon the first publication of the facts of the tragedy there was an almost universal feeling of rage against the murderous in the tombs and that reports of her beauty only heightened the indignation it was as if she presumed upon that and upon her sex to defy the law and there was a fervent hope that the law would take its plain course yet laura was not without friends and some of them very influential too she had in keeping a great many secrets and a great many reputations perhaps who shall set himself up to judge human motives why indeed might we not feel pity for a woman whose brilliant career had been so suddenly extinguished in misfortune and crime those who had known her so well in washington might find it impossible to believe that the fascinating woman could have had murder in her heart and would readily give ear to the current sentimentality about the temporary aberration of mine under the stress of personal calamity senator dillworthy was greatly shocked of course but he was full of charity for the airing we shall all need mercy he said laura has an inmate of my family was a most exemplary female amiable affectionate and truthful perhaps too fond of gaiety and neglectful of the externals of religion but a woman of principle she may have had experiences of which i am ignorant but she could not have gone to this extremity if she had been in her own right mind to the senator's credit be it said he was willing to help laura and her family in this dreadful trial she herself was not without money for the washington lobbyist has not seldom more fortunate than the washington claimant and she was able to procure a good many luxuries to mitigate the severity of her prison life it enabled her also to have her own family near her and to see some of them daily the tender solicitude of her mother her childlike grief and her firm belief in the real guiltlessness of her daughter touched even the custodians of the tombs who are enured to scenes of pathos mrs. hawkins had hastened to her daughter as soon as she received money for the journey she had no reproaches she had only tenderness and pity she could not shut out the dreadful facts of the case but it had been enough for her that laura had said in their first interview mother i did not know what i was doing she obtained lodgings near the prison and devoted her life to her daughter as if she had been really her own child she would have remained in the prison day and night if it had been permitted she was aged and feeble but this great necessity seemed to give her new life the pathetic story of the old lady's administrations and her simplicity and faith also got into the newspapers in time and probably added to the pathos of this wrecked woman's fate which was beginning to be felt by the public it was certain that she had champions who thought that her wrongs ought to be placed against her crime an expression of this feeling came to her in various ways visitors came to see her and gifts of fruit and flowers were sent which brought some cheer into her hard and gloomy cell laura had declined to see either philip or harry somewhat to the former's relief who had a notion that she would necessarily feel humiliated by seeing him after breaking faith with him but to the discomforture of harry who still felt her fascination and thought her refusal heartless he told philip that of course he had got through with such a woman but he wanted to see her philip to keep him from some new foolishness persuaded him to go with him to philadelphia and give his valuable service in the mining operations at illiam the law took its course with laura she was indicted for murder in the first degree and held for trial at the summer term the two most distinguished criminal lawyers in the city had been retained for her defense and to that the resolute woman devoted her days with the courage that rose as she consulted with her counsel and understood the methods of criminal procedure in new york she was greatly depressed however by the news from washington congress adjourned and her bill had failed the past the senate it must wait for the next session end of chapter 47 recording by richard kilmer reo madina texas chapter 48 of the gilded age 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.org recording by richard kilmer the gilded age by mark twain and charles warner chapter 48 it had been a bad winter somehow for the firm of pennybacker bigler and small these celebrated contractors usually made more money during the session of the legislature at harrisburg than upon all their summer work and this winter had been unfruitful it was unaccountable to bigler you see mr. bolton he said and philip was present at the conversation it puts us all out it looks as if politics was played out we've counted on the year of simons reelection and now he's reelected and i've yet to see the first man who's the better for it you don't mean to say asked philip that he went in without paying anything not a scent not a dash scent as i can hear repeated mr. bigler indignantly i call it a swindle on the state how it was done gets me i never saw such a tight time for money in harrisburg were there no combinations no railroad jobs no mining schemes put through in connection with the election not that i knew said bigler shaking his head and discussed in fact it was openly said that there was no money in the election it's perfectly unheard of perhaps it suggested philip it was affected on what the insurance companies call the endowment or the paid up plan by which a policy is secured after a certain time without further payment you think then said mr. bolton smiling that a liberal and sagacious politician might own a legislature after a time and not be bothered with keeping up his payments whatever it is interrupted mr. bigler it's devilish and genius and goes ahead of my calculations it cleaned me out when i thought we had a dead sure thing i tell you what it is gentlemen i shall go in for reform things have got pretty mixed when a legislature will give away a united states senator ship it was melancholy but mr. bigler was not a man to be crushed by one misfortune or lose his confidence in human nature on one exhibition of apparent honesty he was already on his feet again or would be if mr. bolton could tide him over shoal water for 90 days we've got something with money in it he explained to mr. bolton got a hold of it by good luck we got the entire contract for dobson's patent pavement for the city of mobile see here mr. bigler made some figures contract so much cost of work and material so much profits so much at the end of the three months the city would owe the company three hundred and seventy five thousand dollars two hundred thousand of that would be profits the whole job was worth at least a million to the company it might be more there could be no mistake in these figures here was the contract mr. bolton knew what materials were worth and what the labor would cost mr. bolton knew very well from sore experience that there was always a mistake in figures when bigler or small made them and he knew that he ought to send the fellow about his business instead of that he let him talk they only wanted to raise fifty thousand dollars to carry on the contract that expended they would have city bonds mr. bolton said he hadn't the money but bigler could raise it on his name mr. bolton said he had no right to put his family to that risk but the entire contract could be assigned to him the security was ample it was a fortune to him if it was forfeited besides mr. bigler had been unfortunate he did not know where to look for the necessaries of life for his family if he could only have one more chance he was sure he could write himself he begged for it and mr. bolton yielded he could never refuse such appeals if he had befriended a man once and had been cheated by him the man appeared to have a claim upon him forever he shrank however from telling his wife what he had done on this occasion for he knew that if any person was more odious than small to his family it was bigler Philip tells me Mrs. Bolton said that evening that the man bigler has been with the again today I hope they will have nothing more to do with him he has been very unfortunate replied mr. Bolton uneasily he is always unfortunate and he is always getting thee into trouble but thee didn't listen to him again well mother his family is in want and I lent him my name but I took ample security the worst that can happen will be a little inconvenience Mrs. Bolton looked grave and anxious but she did not complain or remonstrate she knew what a little inconvenience meant but she knew there was no help for it if mr. Bolton had been on his way to market to buy dinner for his family with the only dollar he had in the world in his pocket he would have given it to a chance beggar who asked him for it Mrs. Bolton only asked and the question showed that she was no mere provident than her husband where her heart was interested but has he provided money for Philip to use in opening the coal mine yes I have set apart as much as it ought to cost to open the mine as much as we can afford to lose if no coal is found Philip has to control of it as equal partner in the venture deducting the capital invested he has great confidence in his success and I hope for his sake he won't be disappointed Philip could not but feel that he was treated very much like one of the Bolton family by all except Ruth his mother when he went home after his recovery from his accident had affected to be very jealous of mrs. Bolton about whom and Ruth she asked a thousand questions an affection of jealousy which no doubt concealed a real heartache which comes to every mother when her son goes out into the world and forms new ties and to mrs. Sterling a widow living on a small income in a remote Massachusetts village Philadelphia was a city of many splendors all this inhabitants seemed highly favored dwelling in ease and surrounded by superior advantage some of her neighbors had relations living in Philadelphia and it seemed to them somehow a guarantee of expectability to have relations in Philadelphia mrs. Sterling was not sorry to have Philip make his way among such well-to-do people and she was sure that no good fortune could be too good for his desserts so sir said Ruth when Philip came from New York have you been assisting in a petty tragedy I saw your name in the paper is this woman a specimen of your western friends my only assistance replied Philip a little annoyed wasn't trying to keep Harry out of a bad scrape and I failed after all he walked into her trap and he has been punished for it I'm going to take him up to Ilium to see if he won't work steadily at one thing and quit his nonsense is she as beautiful as the newspapers say she is I don't know she has a kind of beauty she's not like not like Alice well she is brilliant and she was called the handsomest woman in Washington dashing you know and sarcastic and witty Ruth do you believe a woman ever becomes a devil men do and I don't know why women shouldn't but I never saw one well Laura Hawkins comes very near it but it is dreadful to think of her fate why do you suppose they will hang a woman do you suppose they will be so barbarous as that I wasn't thinking of that it's doubtful if a New York jury would find a woman guilty of any such crime but to think of her life if she is acquitted it is dreadful said Ruth thoughtfully but the worst of it is that you men do not want woman educated to do anything to be able to earn an honest living by their own exertions they are educated as if they were always to be petted and supported and there was never to be any such thing as misfortune I suppose now that you would all choose to have me stay idly at home and give up my profession oh no said Philip earnestly I respect your resolution but Ruth do you think you would be happier or do more good in following your profession than in having a home of your own what is the hinder of having a home of my own nothing perhaps only you never would be in it you would be away day and night if you had any practice and what sort of home would that make for your husband what sort of home is it for the wife whose husband is always writing about in his doctor's gig ah you know that is not fair the woman makes the home Philip and Ruth often had this sort of discussion to which Philip was always trying to give a personal turn he was now about to go to iliam for the season and he did not like to go without some assurance from Ruth that she might perhaps love him some day when he was worthy of it and when he could offer her something better than a partnership in his poverty I should work with a great deal better heart Ruth he said the morning he was taking leave if I knew you cared for me a little Ruth was looking down the color came faintly to her cheeks and she hesitated she needn't be looking down he thought for she was ever so much shorter than tall Philip it's not much of a place iliam Philip went on as if a little geographical remark would fit in here as well as anything else and I shall have plenty of time to think over the responsibility I have taken and his observation did not seem to be coming out anywhere but Ruth looked up and there was a light in her eyes that quickened Philip's pulse she took his hand and said with serious sweetness he mustn't lose heart Philip and then she added it in another mood he knows I graduate in the summer and she'll have my diploma and if anything happens mines explode sometimes they can send for me farewell the opening of the iliam coal mine was begun with energy but without many omens of success Philip was running a tunnel into the breast of the mountain in faith that the coal stratum ran there as it ought to how far he must go in he believed he knew but no one could tell exactly some of the miners said that they should probably go through the mountain and that the hole could be used for a railway tunnel the mining camp was a busy place at any rate quite a settlement of board and log shanties had gone up with a black smith shop a small machine shop and a temporary store for supplying the wants of the workmen Philip and Harry pitched the commodious tent and lived in the full enjoyment of the free life there is no difficulty in digging a bowl in the ground if you have money enough to pay for the digging but those who try this sort of work are always surprised at the large amount of money necessary to make a small hole the earth is never willing to yield one product hidden in her bosom without an equivalent for it and when a person asks of her coal she's quite apt to require gold in exchange it was exciting work for all concerned in it as the tunnel advanced into the rock every day promised to be the golden day this very blast might disclose the treasure the work went on week after week and at length during the night as well as the daytime gangs relieved each other and the tunnel was every hour inch by inch and foot by foot crawling into the mountain Philip was on the stretch of hope and excitement every payday he saw his funds melting away and still there was only the faintest show of what the miners call signs the life suited Harry whose buoyant hopefulness was never disturbed he made endless calculations which nobody could understand of the probable position of the vein he stood about among the workmen with the busiest air when he was down at iliam he called himself the engineer of the works and he used to spend hours smoking his pipe with the dutch landlord on the hotel porch and astonishing the idlers there with stories of his railroad operations in Missouri he talked with the landlord too about enlarging his hotel and about buying some village lots in the prospect of a raise when the mine was opened he taught the dutchman how to mix a great many cooling drinks for the summertime and had a bill at the hotel the growing length of which mr. dusenheimer contemplated with pleasant anticipation mr. birerly was a very useful and cheering person wherever he went midsummer arrived Philip could report to mr. bolton only progress and this was not a cheerful message for him to send to philadelphia in replied inquiries that he thought became more and more anxious Philip himself was a prey to the constant fear that the money would give out before the coal was struck at this time harry was summoned to new york to attend the trial of laura hawkins it was possible that philip would have to go also her lawyer wrote but they hoped for a postponement there was important evidence that they could not yet obtain any hope the judge would not force them to a trial unprepared there were many reasons for a delay reasons which of course are never mentioned but which it would seem that a new york judge sometimes must understand when he grants a postponement upon a motion that seems to the public altogether inadequate harry went but he soon came back the trial was put off every week we can gain said the learn counsel bream improves our chances the popular rage never lasts long end of chapter 48 recording by richard kilmer real madina texas