 Section 19 of A to Z. 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 Chad Horner from Balli Clare in County Hunter Northern Ireland, situated in the northeast of the island of Ireland. A to Z by Various. Section 19. Quaint Korea by Louise Jordan Milne. Chapter 3. Soul from the City Wall. Seen from the wall, a most wonderful wall which describes a circuit of 9,975 paces. Soul looks like a bed of thriving mushrooms. Mushrooms planted between the surrounding high hills, but grown in many places up onto those hills. Yes, they look very much like mushrooms. Those low, one-storied houses with their sloping, Chinese-like roofs. Some tiled, some turfed, and all neutral-tinted. The houses of soul are as alike as mushrooms are and as thickly planted. The wall defines the city with a strange outline. Now it dips into the tiny valley. Now it pulls itself up onto the top of some high hill. Korea is a most distressingly hilly country. If you elect to go for a decent stroll, it is a matter of climbing a hill. And when you reach the summit of the hill, it is a matter of tumbling down the other side to scramble up another hill. And your path will be just such a succession of ups and downs, even though you go north until you reach the ever-white mountain. And in reaching it, reach the river of the duck's grain, which, flowing towards the south, divides Korea from China. Reach the two-man Kang, which, flowing towards the northeast, divides Korea from the territory of the Tsar. Up and down it will be, even though you push east until you reach the purple sea of Japan. Still, up and down will find it, although you go as far south or as far west as Korea goes. And find yourself on the shores of China's Yellow Sea. Korea looks like a strange storm at sea. Its hills are so many that they lose their grandeur as individuality is lost in multitude. But we must get back on the wall, the wall of soul. The wall, which is purely Chinese in character, is punctuated by eight gates. All of them have sufficient names. Several of them are strictly reserved for very special purposes. The south gate is called the Gate of Everlasting Ceremony. The west gate is the Gate of Ineability. The east gate is the Gate of Elevated Humanity. The southwest gate is the Gate of the Criminals. The majority of Korean criminals who are condemned to death are beheaded. But this may not be within the city walls. The procession of the man about to die passes through the criminal's gate. And that gate is never opened, save on the occasions of such gruesome functions. The southeast gate is the Gate of the Dead. No corpse is entered within the city walls. And no corpse, save only the corpse of a king, may pass through any other gate than the Gate of the Dead. Any corpse but the monarchs would defile the gates through which soul's humanity is want to ebb and flow. The Gate of the Dead has another name. It is often called the Gate of Drainage. For by its side, the river Hanyang flows out to the Yellow Sea. The northern gate stands high upon the summit of a peculiarly shaped hill, which the French missionaries aptly named Coxcombe. This gate is never opened, save to facilitate the flight of a Korean king. The gates differ greatly in size, which adds to the unusual picturesqueness of the wall. The Coxcombe, up to whose highest ridge the wall of soul runs, is at once the most distinct and the most interesting bit of soul's background. It is among the mountains of the world, so uniquely shaped that no one who has ever seen it can ever forget it. And it is the udder of the most sacred of Korea's national ceremonies. Although a large portion of this hill is enclosed within soul's wall, soul itself, climbing city though it is, has not climbed far up the hill. The summit of the Coxcombe is an uninhabited high suburb of soul. When the night has well fallen, when the white clad masses in soul's marketplace can no longer see the outlines of the hill, four great lights break out upon that hill's crest. To all in soul, those lights cry out, all's well, in all Korea all's well. Each light represents two of the eight provinces into which Korea is divided. If in any Korean province or county there is war or threatening of war, a supplementary light burns near the light that indicates that province. If the war light is placed on the left, war or invasion threatens one province. If the war light is placed on the right, war or worse threatens another province. The bonfire signal service of the Korean War Office is complicated and elaborated. One extra fire means that an enemy has been sighted off some part of the sandy Korean coast. Two lights mean that the enemy have landed. Three mean the enemy are moving inland. Four mean they are pushing toward the capital. Five well. When five such fires flare up, the citizens of Seoul can only pray or run and dine themselves in the rapid rushing river that leaves Seoul as the condemned leave it. Because those five bonfires mean that the enemy draw near the city's gate, telegraphy, as Edison knows it, is unknown in Korea. But the Koreans have a weird but vivid telegraphy of their own at short intervals upon their rocky sandy coast. Huge cranes are built. Each crane is tended by a trusted official of the Korean King. When dusk begins to fall, the attendant of the crane lights in it a great bonfire, if all as well. That bonfire's light is seen by the attendant of the fire, some miles more inland, some miles near Seoul, and so from every pace of Korea's boundary, the faithful servants of Korea's King flash to Korea's capital, the message, all as well. A hundred lines of message light meet upon that queer hill, the cockscomb of Seoul. Many a night of late, unless the wires have lied to us, there must have been a great confusion among those signal fires and vast confusion in pure frightened Seoul. A certain light will mean China has punched upon us. Another light will mean Japan has stabbed us, and a score of other lights will mean a score of dire facts which only the heads of the Korean War Department could translate for us if they could. Curfew shall not ring tonight. Ah, I often said Helen when this Chinese-Japanese war was first declared. I have seen those four placid bonfires tell the gentle Koreans that no lion of England nor of India had roared, that no eagle of Russia not to needlessly mention Austria or America had swept, no dragon of China or Japan had built destroying fire. Tonight, if those fires burn, they flash a message of dire distress to Seoul's shrinking. Blue-robed men and hidden unseen women, unless happily they are unconscious, what an excuse for war their isolated peninsula has become. Per Korea, what has she done? Nothing unwomenly. But women like she has been unfortunately situated up. China has just suffered a plague. Japan has suffered an earthquake. For very many years, China and Japan have thought it expedient to soothe national heartache, resultant upon national disaster with the potent mustard plaster of war. The Chinese hate the Japanese. The Japanese hate the Chinese. The Koreans hate the Japanese and the Chinese, and are hated by both. An oriental embryo is not hard of conception. The worst of it is that Korea seems doomed, and Korea, with all her faults, is one of the few remaining widows of the dead, but not childless, old world. And she, good, purda woman that she is, is lying down with considerable, wifely dignity upon the funeral pile, which civilization has lit to cremate the false, old notions of the past. One who has lived in Korea can but think it rather a pity that Korea should cease to be, or be, too much remodeled, whoever's in the wrong Japan or China. Nature has found Korea so nearly perfect that it seems almost profane for man or those combinations of men called nations to find fault with her. In Korea there are snows that never melt. In Korea there are flowers that never cease to bloom. The land of the morning calm. Per little peninsula. Only twice and a half the size of Scotland. The soft, rosy oriental haze is going to be ripped off of you. And in the cold, clear, brilliant light of westernized day, you are going to fade away into nothing. But before you quite fade away, let us have a peep at you. You are superior in many ways to our land. For one thing, you begin your year more sensibly. You ring the New Year in with the birth of the year's first flowers. The Korean New Year is a month later than ours. The snow is still upon the ground there in February, but even so the fruitless plum trees open their myriad buds. And long before the cold snow has melted from their feet, their heads are covered with a warm, tinted, perfumed snow of bloom. A few weeks later, and the cherry trees are white with a magnificence of blossom that nowhere in this world cherry trees can excel, not even in Japan. Before the cherry blossoms fall, the wisteria breaks into 10,000 clusters of purple loveliness. Then the peonies flunt in every fertile and half-fertile spot and mock like the impudence they are, the splendor of the sun. But their proud heads fall ere long, and all Korea is lovely with the iris. Autumn is the most delightful of the Korean seasons. It is matchless. Not even on the banks of the Hudson does summer die so splendid a death as she dies in Korea. The Korean summer, superb and perfumed as she is, is very like that false cador of whom Malcolm said to Duncan. Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it. Winter in Korea is unqualifiedly cold. The hills are white with snow and the rivers are grey with ice. The people huddle into their overheated houses, and I believe that the entire nation does not own a pair of skates. The only sleds or sleighs belong to the fishermen who crack through the ice to catch their finny prey. The fisherman sits upon the sled as he plies his noiseless industry, and when his day's work is done he plies his scaly plunder upon the sled and so drags it to the marketplace. But it was summer when Helm first stood upon the wall of Seoul. A parapet creulates the outer edge of that old wall. It is broken with loopholes and notched with embrasures, and every few yards its broken outline is broken again by the overhanging branches of flower-heavy trees or by the bright blossoms of some vine that has fine foot in one of the old wall's mossy niches. And within this picturesque wall huddles superlatively picturesque Seoul. The royal palaces are noticeable for their gardens and their size, big as they are, and they are very big. They are none too big for the vast harem that forms a most important part of their household. Far from the houses of the king stands the south-set-apart palace. The resident Chinese commissioner lived there. In front of this building stands one of Seoul's two remarkable red-arrow gates. Near is the United States Legation. One of the most interesting features of Seoul is its little Japanese colony. The following description of it was written a few years ago by a talented American who was for some months the guest of the king of Korea. With its back up against the south-mountain stands the building of the Japanese Legation. From a flagstaff above it floats the Japanese ensign. The red ball on the Whitefield. Here lives the little Japanese colony. A tree bit of transplanted Japan. All alive in an alien land. Some of the Legation have with them their wives and many children play about the courtyard. It has its own force of soldiers. Kept constantly recruited from home. Its doctors. Its policeman. All it can need to be sufficient to itself. The minister is as much a governor as a representative at a foreign court. Day and night the soldiers stand before the gateway of the Legation building and change guard as if it were a camp. And whenever the minister goes abroad a certain number of them accompany him as escort. The soldiers are needed. Twice the Legation has had to fight its way from Seoul to the sea. In Korea when one dynasty gives way to another and that is a fairly frequent occurrence the newly thrown dynasty abandons the capital of the old dynasty and establishes for itself and it serves forever a new capital. So was Seoul established 500 years ago by the first crowned ancestor of Korea's present king. The city wall was thrown about a very considerable area and according to rigid Korean custom that wall must forever mark the city's limits. But the actual city, the city of the people has surged far beyond that wall. One class of Seoul's inhabitants a most important class lives almost in its entirety outside the city's gates. The fishermen of Seoul live in the river suburbs. There they ply their trade winter and summer and I might also add day and night. They live upon the banks of the river from which they draw their livelihood. Their quaint low houses fringe the edge of the land and their boats fringe the edge of the water. Fish and rice are the staple foods of the Koreans saving the north of the peninsula where rice will not grow. Their fish and millet are the general food. Fish is the great staple throughout the country and no class of men perhaps are so important to Seoul's general welfare as the fishermen who live just beyond the walls and daily come into her marketplaces to sell their slippery spoil. Meat is scarcely eaten in Korea. Korea is a land of fearful famines. The rice fails, the millet fails. Everything fails except the fish. Yes, I think that I may unqualifiedly say that to Korea no class is so important as the fishermen. To the very life of the Koreans no class, so necessary, so indispensable. The women of position are carried through the streets in the closet of closed palanquins. A woman of the middle class if obliged to walk abroad invariably wraps an ordinary dress about her head and shoulders and very far from seductive does she look. The long loose sleeves of the dress hang from her head like great ungainly shapeless ears and the folds of the ungraceful garment are held tightly in front of her face by one determined hand. A hand that never does and for nothing in the world would relax its hold. The women of the very poorest class, the heures of wood and drawers of water are indeed compelled to with uncovered heads and unveiled faces go about the streets but they move rapidly. They look neither to the right nor to the left and they slink by men with downcast eyes and men never look at them indeed. A Korean gentleman will not by one single glance betray that he is aware of the presence in public of any woman unless indeed she belong to the Geisha or accomplished class. The Geisha girls go about the streets frankly and unhiddenly enough but they are a class aside. In Korean wifehood, in Korean motherhood they have no part. The Koreans take a great deal of medicine those that can afford it and it never seems to do them any harm. For the rich, pills of incredible size are richly gilded and placed in elaborate boxes. The poor take smaller pills ungilded and omit the boxes altogether. Very many Koreans take medicine at regular intervals without the slightest reference to their then state of health. These systematic persons do not take medicine when they are ill unless the illness has the good taste to fall upon their newly appointed medicine day. This is how an old Korean explained to Helen the philosophy of the medicine regularly taken theory. On every seventh day you rest whether you are tired or regular. The old man's eye twinkled finally as he spoke as who should say what are you answered now and Helen rather felt that he had her on the hip. Mr. Percival Lowell says in Korea medicine is an heirloom from Hori Antiquity an apocothery's shop. Their needs not to adorn itself with external and irrelevant charms like the beautiful purple jar that so deceived poor little Rosamond. Upon eminent respectability alone it bases its claim to custom and its traditions are certainly convincing. Painted upon suitable spots along the front of the building runs the legend Sin-Yong-Yu-Op that is the profession left behind by Sin-Yong-Yu-Op. This eminent person was a spiritual agricultureist the discoverer of both agriculture and medicine and the pills sold in the shops today are supposed to be the counterparts of those invented by him. Worthily to render the legend we ought to translate it Jones successor to Escalapius. There are two distinct careers distinct though having much in common the Korea of the upper classes and the Korea of the populace we have of late been hearing quite a good deal about the history of Korea but the topography of Korea about the king of Korea and about the Korea of the upper classes but about the lower classes we have heard comparatively little the literature at our disposal concerning Korea is more than meager very little of this literature deals with the people, the common people of Korea the streets of Seoul the streets upon whose edges the people of Seoul live the streets through which the people of Seoul surge are very wide most of them have however the appearance of being very narrow wide streets seem to the Korean mind unnecessary luxuries the people of Seoul utilise the streets of their city by erecting temporary booths outside their houses and beyond the booths they spread their trays and mats of merchandise inch by inch the street disappears beneath the extemporised shops of the people until at last just enough for him is left the interminable procession of humanity to squeeze through this encroachment is taken good naturedly enough by everyone the people positively pick their slow way between trays of nuts and mats of grain booths of hats and sleds of fish when the king wishes to take a promenade or ride through any of the streets of Seoul all the booths are taken from those streets and with the trays and mats are tucked out of sight the streets are swept and garnished the next day or if it is not too late when his majesty has returned to his palace the booths are re erected the mats and trays are rearranged and the everyday life of Seoul goes placently on until the sovereign elects to take another erring it is a common blunder to speak of the people of Seoul as wearing white garments a blunder or rather a laziness to which I must plead guilty Korean garments are invariably of a peculiar, delicate blue unless the weaver be a person of much importance then indeed may his garments brighten into deeper blue flush into soft and lovely pink or if they chance to be the vestments of the king flush into proud of scarlet seen from a distance an ordinary Korean appears to be clad in white the blue of his dress is so pale and so many careless writers eye among them have made the mistake of saying that white is the blue of the dress of the Korean populace the Koreans have a passion for rugged scenery but then indeed they have a passion for every manner of scenery they call the rocks the earth's bones they call the soil the earth's flesh the flowers and the trees they call her hair there is no more rugged bit of scenery near Seoul than the valley of clothes and in it stands a picturesque little temple which was built so the Koreans say to commemorate a battle that they once won it is a very beautiful specimen of Korean architecture indeed I know no lovelier example of what the architecture of older Korea has become under the influence of Chinese thought and Chinese art through the valley of clothes runs a long clear stream on whose banks are innumerable large smooth topped rocks all together it is an admirable place for oriental washing in the winter every Korean garment is ripped into all its component parts before it is washed in summer the garments are washed in winter and summer this ripping up of the clothes before washing them is one of the comparatively few customs which the Koreans have borrowed from the Chinese in Japan however all clothes about to be washed are taken to pieces whether it be winter or summer nothing could well be simpler than the modus operandi of the Korean washer men and washer women the clothes are well soaked in the stream then they are well beaten with smooth heavy edge-less sticks on the ground or on the rocks as much in the sun as possible and left to dry indefinitely no one ever steals them think of it and even the gentle winds of the isiatic heavens scorn to blow them away if there seems the slightest chance of such a catastrophe a few smooth pebbles are laid upon the garment's edges the qualities which the upper classes of Korea have most in common are love of art and literature reverence for law kindness of disposition and love of nature the point upon which they most differ is religion Korea is really a country without religion the upper classes are intellectual to a degree but their intellectuality is invariably of the agnostic order rationalism and agnosticism are the only recognised religions in upper Korean circles the Korean populace also profess agnosticism but do not practice it at least they do not practice rationalism for if they believe in no gods most of them believe in certainness devils the sacred devil trees are supposed to be after the blind most efficacious in ridding the land of the spirits of evil a writer one of the best writers on Korea thus describes a devil tree upon which he came one bleak autumn day an ancient tree around whose base lies piled a heap of stones the tree is sacred superstition has preserved it where most of its fellows have gone to feed the subterranean ovens it is not usually very large nor does it look extremely venerable so that it is at least open to suspicion that its sanctity is an honour which is passed along from oak to acorn or from pine to seed however it is usually a fair specimen of a tree and where there are few others to fight with it comes out finally by comparison otherwise there is nothing distinctive about the tree except that it exists that it is not cut down and born off to the city on the back of some bull there to vanish in the smoke on its branches hang commonly a few old rags evidently once a brilliantly coloured cloth they look to be shreds of the garments of such unwary travellers as approached too close but a nearer inspection shows them to be tied on designedly the heap of small stones piled around the base of the tree gives one the impression at first that the road is about to undergo repairs which it sadly needs and that the stones have been collected for the purpose this however is a fallacy no Korean road ever is repaired the spot is called Son Wang Don or the home of the king of the fairies the stones helped to form what was once a fairy temple now a devil jail and the strips of cloth are pieces of garments from those who believed themselves to devils or feared lest they might become so a man caught by an evil spirit exiles a part of his clothing to the branches of one of these trees so as to jolid the demon into attaching there we have tried to peep at soul the soul of the people but not all soul is plebeian it has a most decided aristocracy both architectural and human soul has no temples none may be built within her walls of all civilised countries Korea is the one country without religion religion or its analogous superstitions are there of course but that religion is in Korea not part of Korea in Korea religion is under a ban of official discontentance or national discredence such temples as do exist in Korea dwell like architectural lepers without the city's walls but soul has her official buildings and the dwellings of her rich above all she has her palaces but hold there is one temple within the walls of soul but it is there on sufferance there against the law and it is just inside the walls it is on a high lonely mountain place and far remote from the actual city the throbbing breathing human city and soul has also what was once a temple it is as interesting as anything in soul in the first place it is the only pagoda in soul almost if not quite the only pagoda in Korea in the second place it is extremely beautiful in the third place it more than any building I know since the decay of all things human even off those perhaps greatest of all human things great thought systems yesterday the yesterday of 500 years ago this souls one pagoda was a Buddhist temple today it is a neglected unconsidered tolerated rather than admired ornament in the middle class Koreans backyard the pagoda of soul owes its solitary but not honored old age to the fact that unlike most pagodas of its period unkind it was built of stone it is eight stories representative of eight stages or degrees of the Buddhist heaven but it is entirely composed of two pieces of stone in the idea it is Chinese but its form is a modification or a local adaptation of its idea and it is peculiarly rich in most exotic Korean carvings after the pagoda perhaps before the pagoda there are in soul three buildings more than any others indicative of the difference between soul the old and conservative and soul the new and iconoclastic I mean the foreign office the war office and the home office they are all of recent date all concessions to cosmopolitanism with which Korea the old had no sympathy and into which though ever so little Korea the new has been forced by that most brutal of all forces the force of circumstances forced by the irresistible might of the gigantic disproportion to her own of alien numbers a few years ago Korea had never had a foreign office because Korea had never dained to be cognizant of the existence of any foreign power true she has for many years paid a lazy tribute to China and applied a lazier trade with Japan until a short time ago she has been essentially and indeed a hermit nation yes it was barely the land of the morning calm no reveal broke its early morning slumber no drum woke its night to alarm it was a heaven of earthly peace a heaven in which there was neither fighting nor dying in battle but that has changed so far as outside turmoil can ripple the placid waters upon which the lotus flower blooms and bends in a luxury of perfumed sleep as it does nowhere else the lake and ponds of Korea Korea admit it gracefully if unfortunately foreigners to your shores admit it them for purposes of commerce and of peace alas she has had to recognize them as ambassadors of war introducers of bloodshed Korea's army has for many years been very purely artistic ornamentally belligerent nothing more it has been found impossible to evolve it into anything more brittle 19th century-ish effective and up to date Korea's home office sprang up as it must have done in any self-respecting soil as soon as the foreign office became a regrettable fate of complaint until Korea had a foreign office Korea's war office was by no means the sad burlesque that it is now until Korea had a foreign office she had not the filmist need of a home office Korea was all in all to Korea every effort of her being was undivertedly directed to the welfare of herself and her own she had no need of no excuse for a home office because all was home everything for home but when she was physically forced to admit the existence of other peoples she was morally forced to insistently emphasize the existence of her own people soul is rich in palaces very rich in their quality if not in their quantity each palace is like every considerable Korean dwelling a collection of houses and every Korean palace like every Korean dwelling in any distinction is more remarkable more admirable because of its surroundings its gardens than because of itself there are four nations preeminent for landscape gardening preeminent in this order the Japanese the Koreans the Chinese the Italians Korea is by her climate held behind Japan in landscape gardening most of the flowers that bloom all the year round can in Korea only bloom for a few months but in one phase of landscape gardening the art of bringing nature into a garden and there ornamenting her without insulting her the Koreans quite equal the Japanese water in the form of miniature lakes is the crown the very center of every far eastern garden nowhere in the world are artificial lakes or ponds so perfected so a blush with bloom so a quiver with perfume as they are in Korea sometimes they dot great green swords sometimes they softly ripple against the very foundations of a palace often as they are the one blessed detail of a middle class man's dwelling but they are almost always emerald with lotus leaves and in season brilliant with the bloom and fragrant with the breath of the lotus flowers marble bridges span them if they are in the king's gardens a unique island centers them wherever they are a wee island that is shaded by its one dropping tree there the master of the garden spans the long summer days basking in the surrounding beauty smoking drinking tea and fishing end of section 19 section 20 of A to Z this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org A to Z by Various Chapter 7 Social Character of the Beverage From Tea Its Mystery in History by Samuel Phillips Day Since the introduction of tea into England but more especially since the British public has patronized it a market improvement characterizes the tone and manners of society it is not possibly too great an assumption to assert that there must exist something about tea specially suitable to the English constitution and climate for not even in Scotland or Ireland nor in any European country is the beverage consumed to a like extent certain travelers of here that a large consumption of the leaf obtains Russia but it is chiefly the upper classes who are addicted to its use the Mugeeks peasants and artisans scarcely know the taste of it for now is in the time of Peter the Great they regard vodka as their only national drink that all classes of the community in this country have derived much benefit from the persistent use of tea is placed beyond dispute it has proved and still proves a highly prized boon to millions the artist at his easel the author at his desk the statement fresh from an exhaustive oration the actor from the stage after fulfilling an arduous role the orator from the platform the preacher from the pulpit the toiling mechanic the weary laborer the poor governess the tired laundress the humble cottage housewife the votary of pleasure even on escaping from the scene of revelry may the queen on earth throne have one and all to acknowledge and express gratitude for the grateful and invigorating infusion shortly after it had become fashionable to partake of tea persons of quality in England were want to invite their friends to a dish of the newly imported beverage Lord McCully mentions how tea which at the time brought the army of Scotland to London AD 1660 had been handed round to be stared at and just touch with the lips as a great rarity of China was 80 years later a regular article of import and was soon consumed in such quantities that financiers began to consider it as an important source of revenue seven years later the Queen Anne of England of England has this entry in his famous diary home and there find my wife making of tea a drink which Mr. Pelling the apothecary tells her is good for her cold that Queen Anne ranked among the votaries of the leaf is manifest from Pope's couplet Thou great Anne whom three realms obey doth sometimes counsel take both writers of renown make constant illusions to the new drink S.A.S. and the spectator the Tatler and other literary organs are ever dropping remarks respecting the tea table Pope in his Rape of the Lock when Belinda is declaring what terrible things she would rather have had happen than have lost her favorite curl makes her cap everything but the wish that she could be transported to guilt chariot never marks the way where none learn ombra none ever drink away then which privation she can imagine nothing worse then what a source of social pleasure the afternoon tea becomes Brady and as well known metrical version of the Psalms thus illustrates the advantages accruing their from when a discourse of nature's mystic powers and noblest themes we pass the well spent hours whilst all around the virtues sacred band and listening graces please attendance stand thus our tea conversations we employ where with delight instruction we enjoy quaffing without the waste of time or wealth the sovereign drink of pleasure and of health the poet Cooper's praise of the beverage has been sadly hackneyed nevertheless as the laureate of the tea table his lines are worthy of future reproduction who cannot recall how Mrs. Gilpin scornfully characterizes her neighbor's children as being markedly inferior to her own as hey is Duboe as though the force of comparison could no further go yet it is in his more serious and didactic poem that the melancholy friend of the hairs exclaims now stir the fire and close the shutters fast let fall the curtain wheel the sofa round and while the bubbling loud hissing throws up a steaming column and the cups that cheer but not inebriate wait on each so let us welcome peaceful evening in but tea had its avowed enemies no less than its staunch friends certain old fashioned physicians did not like it neither even sneered at it and denounced it Jonas Hanway the philanthropic but eccentric founder of the marine and Magdalene societies more bold than his compares actually rushed into print in order to unveil against it but he had reason to regret his hot headed impetuosity in answer to his petty attack the beverage found a noble defender and no less a personage than Dr. Johnson whose defense in point of style is among the best essays the great moralist ever penned Hanway however nothing daunted resume the attack having lost his temper he gave full scope to his prejudices and denounced tea as the worst of poisons and the secondary cause of all the moral, religious and political evils that distracted mankind not only so but he was rash enough to attack the leviathan of literature personally yet he had far better had saved his ink for Johnson the first time in his life that he had retorted on an adversary fell upon him like an avalanche Hanway having foolishly laid himself open to ridicule most assuredly the doctor did not spare him such a contest of course could not be regarded as equal no possible comparison existed between the combatants therefore setting aside all the hard knocks which Johnson administered for Jonas it will be sufficient to produce one passage in which the eminent writer declares himself a hardened sinner in the use of the infusion of this plant whose teapot had no time to cool who with tea solace the midnight and with tea welcomed the morning there is not the slightest exaggeration in this confession what is affirmed therein is attested both by Boswell and Mrs. Thrall in their respective writings who record that Dr. Johnson frequently exceeded a dozen large cups at one meal it is alleged that the first command given by our gracious queen upon her accession to the throne was bring me a cup of tea and the times it is to be hoped that Her Majesty got the former uncolored for a time it appears that so far as one class of the community was concerned the use of tea was likely to be checked by the imperious sway of inconstant fashion it became the custom in the houses of the aristocracy to supply only coffee after dinner so that for a period tea was ostracized recently however a reaction has set in for we find that the most agreeable meetings in society are those which assemble at the 5 o'clock tea accordingly one of the whirly gigs of time is so conspired that while the fashionable breakfast and dinner hours are completely revolutionized the hour for tea has reverted to the precise period of the day at which it used to be taken 100 years ago although noble ladies have not now black pages to hand around the tea cups yet the very china used by their great grandmothers is called into requisition simply because of its antiquity one circumstance calls for special notice it is this that in the words of Dr. Johnson everywhere unintoxicating and non-narcotic beverages are in general use among tribes of every color beneath every sun and in every condition of life the custom therefore must meet some universal wad of our common nature philanthropists and sociologists are now fully alive to the moral effects produced by such non-intoxicant drinks as tea and coffee in temperance is the bane of the nation and now that legislation has utterly failed to restrain the evils arising there from philanthropy full of faith in the experiment endeavors by the establishment in divers quarters of quite a different class of public houses to arrest an evil which is assuming the gravest character and there can be no doubt that if the masses could be induced to substitute the pure beverages tea and coffee for the deleterious fluids they are want to imbibe the country would be vastly benefited by the solitary change end of section 20 section 21 of A to Z this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org A to Z by Various Unsettled Points of Etiquette from Lippincott's magazine of popular literature and science volume 11 number 24 Author Unknown in England the higher the rank the more affable and kind I found them it is only the little people climbing up who are disagreeable Sully not alone of English people can this be said in society all over the world it is the same for everywhere men and women born and bred ladies and gentlemen value their reputation as such too highly to risk it by any rudeness or uncurtiousness they may upon occasion be frigidly polite but polite they will always be but customs vary so much that some things which would be considered polite in one country would be looked upon in another as rude or intrusive take for instance one illustration among many which might be cited a foreigner sent on a diplomatic mission to this country brought with him letters of introduction letters of a large family having affairs of importance to attend to he was remiss about delivering these letters on this occasion but on a second visit having more leisure he made it a point to have himself presented at a ball to every member of the family who was present after the ball he told a lady of the trouble he had given himself and asked her congratulations upon having accomplished so much in one evening she being upon intimate terms with him assured him that his politeness was not only unnecessary but would in all probability be misunderstood according to the customs of our country said the lady you ought to have waited until they asked to be presented to you how could I do that he inquired indignantly when it was my duty to make myself known to them out of respect for the writer of the letters to those to whom she had written besides one can never be too civil to ladies and gentlemen the lady replied true only you must first be sure that you are dealing with ladies and gentlemen who understand all points of etiquette as you do before his return to his own country he learned his error by the result for during a stay of some months he never received an invitation from any of the family by following the customs of his own country instead of adopting those of the country he was in he had subjected himself to being looked upon as a pushing foreigner who valued their acquaintance so highly that he was determined to gain it even at the sacrifice of the customs of good society Americans when abroad unless in an official position have very little opportunity of gaining a knowledge of such requirements of etiquette had had influenced this gentleman making the overtures he had thought necessary nor can we be expected to be acquainted with them the rules of social etiquette are all so well understood and practised in Europe that no opportunity presents itself for the miscomprehensions as to one's duties in society which prevail with us there every detail is prescribed by the codes and usages of course and one might as well pass an acquaintance in the street without the usual salutation as neglect any one of these forms again to illustrate a gentleman belonging at one time to the English legation in Washington passed a summer at one of our fashionable watering places his official position would have secured him the consideration to which he was entitled even had he not been the general favourite that he was but the men who left their cards from time to time upon him were not always particular in having themselves presented the first time they met him afterward at the club or at dinners and looking upon this omission as he had been trained to do it could not but seem to him an intentional rudeness on their part the consequence was he avoided the water in place thereafter and sought his summer recreation where there was less pretension at least and where he doubtless became less exacting or more accustomed to such trifling breaches of etiquette for one of an exact code many points of etiquette are with us left open to discussion and this without reference to foreign ideas thus the custom of inviting gentlemen to call when a married lady wishes to give them the entree to her house seems to have become an obsolete one with a great many quite recently a discussion took place as to its propriety between several ladies of distinction in this city one lady said that it was the Philadelphia custom for gentlemen to call where they wished without waiting for an invitation after they had made the acquaintance of any lady in the family and more than one married woman asserted that they had never yet asked a gentleman to come to see them while another insisted that gentlemen generally would not venture to make a call upon any married lady unless she had invited them or they had first asked her permission as a difference of opinion exists on this point it would be well if it could be an understood thing that any gentleman wishing to make the acquaintance of a lady could, after having himself presented to her, leave his card at her house with his address upon it of course this applies only to comparative strangers for any young man can commit his card to his mother or sister to leave for him at a house where either visits if he wishes to be included in invitations unless his card is left in this way or in person how can he expect to be remembered some years ago a lady who gave a ball during the winter after her return from a residence abroad admitted to send invitations to the young men who, having previously visited at her house had not left their cards at her door since her arrival home preferring to substitute gentlemen who had never been entertained by her to inviting those who were so remiss for this reason she gave permission to several young ladies to name gentlemen among their friends whom they would like to have invited and so agreeable to the hostess was the selection thus made that she placed permanently upon her inviting list the names of those who sufficiently appreciated her courtesy to remember afterward the slight duties and their acceptance of her hospitality imposed upon them still another illustration will show what unsettled ideas many hold in regard to points of etiquette which ought not to admit of any diversity of opinion ladies sometimes say to each other after having been in the habit of meeting for years without exchanging visits I hope you will come and see me and almost as frequently the answer is made oh you must come and see me first one moment of reflection will prevent a lady from making that answer unless she were much the older of the two when she could with propriety give that as the reason the lady who extends the invitation makes the first advance and the one who receives it should at least say I thank you you are very kind even if she has no intention of availing herself of it a lady in the fashionable circles of our largest metropolis once boasted that she had never made a first visit she was not aware probably that in the opinion of those conversant with the duties of her position she stamped herself as being just as underbred as if she had announced that she did not wait for anyone to call upon her no lady surely is of so little importance in the circle in which she moves as never to be placed in circumstances where a first visit from her nor does anyone in our land so nearly approach the position of a reigning monarch as to decree that all, irrespective of age or priority of residence should make the first call upon her one of the most reasonable rules of etiquette is that which requires prompt replies to invitations the reason why an invitation to dine or to an opera box should be answered as soon as received that it will not admit of questioning but many who are punctilious in these particulars are remiss in sending promptly their acceptances or regrets for parties and balls most of those who neglect this duty do so from thoughtlessness or carelessness but there are some who have the idea that it increases their importance to delay their reply or that promptness gives evidence of eagerness to accept or to refuse others again are prevented from paying that direct attention to an invitation which politeness requires for the inconvenience of sending a special messenger with their notes where any doubt exists in reference to the ability of the person invited to be present at a soiree or ball an acceptance should be sent at once and if afterwards prevented from going a short note of explanation or regret should be dispatched it is well known that a few words make all the difference between a plight and an impolite regret Mrs. Gordon regrets that she cannot accept Mrs. Stanley's invitation for Tuesday evening it's not only curt but would be considered by many positively ruled the mistake arises however more frequently from ignorance than from intentional rudeness Mrs. Gordon regrets extremely that she cannot accept Mrs. Sydney's kind invitation for Tuesday evening is all that is necessary all answers to invitations given in the name of the lady and gentlemen of the house are generally acknowledged to both in the answer and the envelope addressed to the lady alone some persons are in the habit of sending acceptances to invitations for balls even when they know they are not going but this is very unfair to the hostess not only because she orders her supper for all who accept but because she may wish to invite others in their places if she knows in time that they are not to be present no house is so large but it has a limit to the number of people that can be comfortably entertained and some ladies are compelled by the length of their visiting list to give two or three entertainments in order to include all whom they wish to invite when the invitations are sent out ten days in advance if answered within three days the hostess is unable to select from her other lists such as her friends as she would like to pay the compliment of inviting twice in case the number of regrets which she receives will permit her to do so but delaying the answers or accepting with no intention of going puts it out of her power to send other invitations an invitation once given cannot be recalled even from the best motives without subjecting the one who recalls it to the charge of being either ignorant or regardless of all conventional rules of politeness some years ago a lady who had been invited with her husband to a musical entertainment given at the house of an acquaintance for a mutual friend of the inviter and the invited received after having accepted the invitation a note requesting her not to come on the ground that she had spoken slanderously of the lady for whom the soiree was to be given entirely innocent of the charge she demanded an explanation which resulted in completely exonerating her the invitation was then repeated but of course as the withdrawal of it had been intended as a punishment the rudeness was of too flagrant a character to overlook and all visiting between the parties ceased from that day the rule would not apply to a more recent case where a lady gave a ball and endeavouring to avoid a crush and make it agreeable her guests left out all young men under twenty one years of age but finding that she had received wrong information concerning the age of one whom she had invited and that this one exception was much commented upon causing her to appear inconsistent she wrote a note asking permission to recall the invitation having received no answer to it and expressing her regret that she should be made to appear rude where no rudeness was intended in this case the gentleman could without compromising his dignity have sent a courteous reply assuring the lady that he perfectly understood her motives and begging her not to give herself any uneasiness upon his account in having felt compelled to withdraw the invitation by doing so he would have made the lady his firm friend and had she appreciated his politeness as it would have deserved to be appreciated she would have lost no opportunity in her sense of it there is no better test of ladies and gentlemen than the manner in which they receive being left out of a general invitation they may feel ever so keenly the omission but it should never betray itself in a shadow of change either in look or in tone if the invitation is not a general one why should anyone feel hurt by being omitted no one but the entertainer can know all the motives that influence her in her selections and here might be mentioned several reasonable points of etiquette which may control her when a first invitation has not been accepted it is to be supposed that no other will be expected until the recipient of the invitation has returned the courtesy in some way be it ever so simple in cases where previous invitations have been accepted even those who are not in the habit of balancing the exchange of hospitalities cannot continue to extend them year after year however much they may wish to do so when not the slightest disposition is shown to make any return then too many ladies are not willing to overlook the omission of leaving cards after their entertainments and they very naturally feel that a distinction should be made between such young men as have shown an appreciation of their past courtesies and those who have not and again a lady may often be deterred from sending invitations to those whom she heartily wishes to invite from her dislike of making any advance to persons who are older residents or from a fear of being considered pushing or patronizing a lady who never makes first calls upon those who have lived longer than herself in the city where she resides unless in cases where age or infirmities upon the part of those inviting her make it her province to do so learned just before giving an entertainment that the wife of a gentleman from whom she had received assistance in the charitable labours which occupied some of her leisure hours was a native of another city and in writing a note upon business to the gentleman she expressed her intention of calling upon his wife explaining why she had not sooner done so she received an immediate reply from the husband in which after the business had been attended to he informed her that he and his wife selected their own circle of friends which was quite as large as they desired to make it the lady is promptly sent back a note in answer in which she expressed her regret for the mistake she had made and thanked him for having corrected the impression which she had formed of him as a gentleman in her acquaintance with him solely in business relations such an experience would prevent a sensitive woman from ever placing herself in a position to receive such a rudeness again from anyone and therefore no one whose duty it is to make a first call and who has not made it should ever feel hurt or offended at not being invited by such an acquaintance no matter how general may have been the invitation ladies who are the most apt to give offence are those who divide their lists giving two parties in the course of the year instead of the grand crush which is more popular some feel aggrieved because they are not invited to both fancying that there are reasons why an exception should be made in their favour while others prefer the party for which no invitation was sent those who send regrets for the first party sometimes expect to be invited to the second but this in no way changes the relation between the inviter and the invited it is the misfortune and not the fault of the lady who invites that such regrets are sent and if she is able to repeat her invitations to any upon her first list it will surely be to those who gave such reasons for regretting as illness or absence from the city certainly the entertainer must desire to make both parties equally pleasant and must select her guests to this end and yet there are those who when left out do not hesitate to show her by the change in their manner that they consider themselves more capable than she is of selecting her guests the question is frequently asked whether replies should be sent to invitations to wedding and other receptions and to at home cards if one receives a great compliment of being invited to a marriage ceremony not at church an acceptance or regret would of course be immediately sent for it is only in the case of the reception following that any doubt seems to exist it is generally understood that no answers are expected but as it is certainly very polite to send a regret when one is unable to accept why is it not equally polite to send an acceptance after receptions it is not considered necessary for those who have been present to call but those who are prevented from going call in person as soon as is convenient sometimes in the case of wedding receptions many are invited for the occasion friends either of the bride or groom whom the relative who gives the reception has never visited and has not wished to visit in the future of course the visiting then ends with the call made after the reception for if the cards left at the reception or afterward are not returned by those of the host or hostess no matter how desirous the recipient of the civility may be to extend her hospitality in return she ought not to do so unless under corresponding circumstances frequently those who are prevented from attending wedding receptions send their cards and these are returned by those of the bride and groom when they make their round of visits except in cases where after the reception their cards are sent with a new address then of course those who receive them always pay the first visit the gentleman sends his card alone when there has been no reception when he wishes to have his wife make the acquaintance of his friends whom she has not previously visited and the sooner the call is made under such circumstances the more polite it is considered the reason why an invitation to an opera box, like an invitation to dine must be answered immediately is because the number of seats being limited it is necessary when regrets are received to send out other invitations at once in order that all may be complimented alike by receiving them upon the same day gentleman not receiving any special invitation to a box who chants to be in the opera house in a dress suit often pay visits of ten or fifteen minutes to the box of any lady with whom they are well acquainted if a gentleman wishes to enter the box of some chaperone with whom he is not acquainted he always requests some mutual acquaintance in the box to present him to the chaperone immediately upon entering unless invited by her to remain he is careful not to prolong his visit beyond the time allowed young ladies are sometimes very thoughtless in urging young gentlemen to stay during an entire act or even longer but when the party is made up by the chaperone she does not like to see the gentleman whom she has invited incommoded by one whom she has not asked to her box the diversity of opinion that exists with us in reference to many points of etiquette is unfortunate for where no fixed rules exist there must always be misapprehensions and misunderstandings, rudeness suspected where none are intended and sometimes resented to the great perplexity of the offender as to the cause of the offence it is not everyone who knows how rudely people of the old school consider it to make use of a lady's house in calling upon a guest staying with her and leaving no card for the hostess this simple act of courtesy does not necessitate a service of visiting in as much as the lady only feels obliged to return her card through her friend leaving it to after circumstances to decide whether it will be mutually agreeable to make the acquaintance to call upon strangers for whom dinners are given when invited to meet them is very polite but it should not be construed into any intended impoliteness in this country if the call is not made and it may even happen that one is unable to be presented to such guests where the dinner is large though one should at least make the attempt nor is it generally understood how great is the discurtersy of permitting any person who has been shown into a house through the mistake of a servant when the ladies are engaged to be shown out again without seeing any member of the family the mistake having occurred if no member of the family is able to make her appearance without considerable delay a method should be sent down with an explanation inquiring if the visitor will wait until one of the ladies can come down the lady who finds herself admitted when out upon a round of calls will be without doubt only too glad of the excuse for departure and even if calling upon matters that require an answer her Savoir fair will prevent her from waiting under such circumstances any hesitation upon the part of the servant who answers the bell as to whether the ladies are at home or engaged authorizes the persons calling to leave their cards without waiting to ascertain the etiquette in regard to bowing is so simple and reasonable that one would scarcely suppose it possible that any differences of opinion could exist and yet there are some who think it a breach of politeness if one neglects to bow although meeting half a dozen times on a promenade or in driving custom has made it necessary to bow only the first time in passing after that exchange of salutations it is very properly not expected the difference between a courteous and a familiar bow should be remembered by gentlemen who wish to make a favourable impression a lady dislikes to receive from a man with whom she has but a slight acquaintance a bow accompanied by a broad smile as though he were on the most familiar terms with her it is far better to err on the other side and to give one of those stiff, ungracious bows which some men indulge in those gentlemen who smile with their eyes instead of their mouths give the most charming bows as for men who bow charmingly at one time and with excessive auteur at others according as they feel in good or bad humour they need never be surprised if the person thus treated should see speaking altogether nor can any man who does not lift or at least touch his hat in speaking to a lady expect that she will continue her salutations the rules to which illusions have been made are all reasonable but there are others which having only an imaginary foundation in the requirements of trooper lightness might be disregarded with advantage such for example as that of sending answers to invitations by a special messenger it is equally convenient to employ a man to deliver invitations or to send them by post with the reply it is different each family receiving an invitation has to send out a servant with the answer this not always being convenient the reply is frequently delayed sometimes until it is forgotten but if the foreign custom of sending acceptances and regrets by post could be brought into general use how much more sensible it would be it was the occasion of many comments when a few years since some cards not invitations were thus sent by mistake the servant posting those which he had forgotten to deliver before the wedding had taken place but it only needs a few resolute persons to set the example and persist in it to have it as generally adopted as it is abroad End of Section 21 Section 22 of A to Z 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 Louise J. Bell A to Z by Various Varney the Vampire or The Feast of Blood A Romance by Thomas Preskic-Prest and James Malcolm Reimer Chapter 1 How Graves Give Up Their Dead and How The Night Air Hideous Grows With Shrieks Midnight The Hailstorm The Dreadful Visitor The Vampire The Solemn Tones of an Old Cathedral Clock have announced midnight and that night the air is thick and heavy a strange death-like stillness pervades all nature like the ominous calm which precedes some more than usually terrific outbreak of the elements they seem to have paused even in their ordinary fluctuations to gather a terrific strength for the great effort A faint peel of thunder now comes from far off and the night air now comes from far off like a signal gun for the battle of the winds to begin it appeared to awaken them from their lethargy and one awful warring hurricane swept over a whole city producing more devastation in the four or five minutes it lasted than would a half century of ordinary phenomena it was as if some giant had blown upon some toy town and scattered many of the buildings before the hot blast of his terrific breath for as suddenly as that blast of wind had come did it cease and all was as still and calm as before sleepers awakened and thought that what they had heard must be the confused chimera of a dream they trembled and turned to sleep again all is still still as the very grave not a sound breaks the magic of repose what is that a strange pattering noise as of a million of fairy feet it is hail yes a hail storm has burst over the city leaves are dashed from the trees mingled with small boughs that lie most opposed to the direct fury of the pelting particles of ice are broken and the rapt repose that before was so remarkable in its intensity is exchanged for a noise which in its accumulation drowns every cry of surprise or consternation which here and there arose from persons who found their houses invaded by the storm now and then too there would come a sudden gust of wind that in its strength as it blew laterally would for a moment hold millions of the hail stones suspended in midair but it was only to dash them with redoubled force in some new direction where more mischief was to be done oh how the storm raged hail rain wind in very truth an awful night there is an antique chamber in an ancient house curious and quaint carvings adorn the walls and the large chimney piece is a curiosity of itself the ceiling is low and a large bay window from roof to floor looks to the west the window is latticed and filled with curiously painted glass and rich stained pieces which send in a strange yet beautiful light when sun or moon shines into the apartment there is but one portrait in that room although the walls seem paneled for the express purpose of containing a series of pictures that portrait is of a young man with a pale face a stately brow and a strange expression about the eyes which no one cared to look on twice there is a stately bed in that chamber of carved walnut wood is it made rich in design and elaborate in execution one of those works of art which owe their existence to the Elizabethan era it is hung with heavy silken and damask furnishing nodding feathers are at its corners covered with dust are they and they lend a funerial aspect to the room the floor is of polished oak God how the hail dashes on the old bay window like an occasional discharge of mimic musketry it comes clashing beating and cracking upon the small panes but they resist it their small size saves them the wind the hail the rain expend their fury in vain the bed in that old chamber is occupied a creature formed in all fashions of loveliness lies in a half sleep upon that ancient couch a girl young and beautiful as a spring morning her long hair has escaped from its confinement and streams over the blackened coverings of the bedstead she has been restless in her sleep for the clothing of the bed is in much confusion one arm is over her head the other hangs nearly off the side of the bed near to which she lies a neck and bosom that would have formed a study for the rarest sculptor that ever providence gave genius to were half disclosed she moaned slightly in her sleep and once or twice the lips moved as if in prayer at least one might judge so for the name of him who suffered for all came once faintly from them she has endured much fatigue and the storm does not awaken her but it can disturb the slumbers it does not possess the power to destroy entirely the turmoil of the elements wakes the senses although it cannot entirely break the repose they have lapsed into oh what a world of witchery was in that mouth slightly parted and exhibiting within the pearly teeth that glistened even in the faint light that came from that bay window how sweetly the long silk and eyelashes lay upon the cheek now she moves and one shoulder is entirely visible whiter fairer than the spotless clothing of the bed on which she lies is the smooth skin of that fair creature just budding into womanhood and in that transition state which presents to us all the charms of the girl almost of the child with the more matured beauty and gentleness of advancing years was that lightning yes an awful vivid terrifying flash then a roaring peel of thunder as if a thousand mountains were rolling one over the other in the blue vault of heaven who sleeps now in that ancient city not one living soul the dread trumpet of eternity could not more effectually have awakened anyone the hail continues the wind continues the uproar of the elements seems at its height now she awakens that beautiful girl on the antique bed she opens those eyes of celestial blue and a faint cry of alarm bursts from her lips at least it is a cry which amid the noise and turmoil without sounds but faint and weak she sits upon the bed and presses her hands upon her eyes heavens what a wild torrent of wind and rain and hail the thunder likewise seems intent upon awakening sufficient echoes to last until the next flash of forked lightning should again produce the wild concussion of the air she murmurs a prayer a prayer for those she loves best the names of those dear to her gentle heart come from her lips she weeps and prays she thinks then of what devastation the storm must surely produce and to the great god of heaven she prays for all living things another flash a wild blue bewildering flash of lightning streams across that day window for an instant bringing out every color in it with terrible distinctness a shriek bursts from the lips of the young girl and then with eyes fixed upon that window which in another moment is all darkness and with such an expression of terror upon her face as it had never before known she trembled and the perspiration of intense fear stood upon her brow what what was it she gasped real or a delusion oh god what was it a figure tall and gaunt endeavoring from the outside to unclasp the window I saw it that flash of lightning revealed it to me it stood the whole length of the window there was a lull of the wind the hail was not falling so thickly moreover it now fell what there was of it and yet a strange clattering sound came upon the glass of that long window it could not be a delusion she is awake and she hears it what can produce it another flash of lightning another shriek there could be now no delusion a tall figure is standing on the ledge immediately outside the long window it is its fingernails upon the glass that produces the sound so like the hail now that the hail has ceased intense fear paralyzed the limbs of that beautiful girl that one shriek is all she can utter with hands clasped a face of marble beating so wildly in her bosom that each moment it seems as if it would break its confines eyes distended and fixed upon the window she waits froze with horror the pattering and clattering of the nails continue no word is spoken and now she fancies she can trace the darker form of that figure against the window and she can see the long arms moving to and fro feeling for some mode of entrance what strange light is that which now gradually creeps up into the air red and terrible brighter and brighter it grows the lightning has set fire to a mill and the reflection of the rapidly consuming building falls upon that long window there can be no mistake the figure is there still feeling for an entrance and clattering against the glass with its long nails that appears if the growth of many years had been untouched she tries to scream again but a choking sensation comes over her and she cannot be too dreadful she tries to move each limb seems weighed down by tons of lead she can but in a horse faint whisper cry help help help and that one word she repeats like a person in a dream the red glare of the fire continues it throws up the tall gaunt figure in hideous relief against the long window it shows too upon the one portrait that is in the chamber and that portrait appears to fix its eyes upon the attempting intruder while the flickering light from the fire makes it look fearfully life-like a small pane of glass is broken and the form from without introduces a long gaunt hand which seems utterly destitute of flesh the fastening is removed and one half of the window which opens like folding doors his swung wide open upon its hinges and yet now she could not scream she could not move help help was all she could say but oh that look of terror that sat upon her face it was dreadful a look to haunt the memory for a lifetime a look to obtrude itself upon the happiest moments and turn them to bitterness the figure turns half round and the light falls upon the face it is perfectly white perfectly bloodless the eyes look like polished tin the lips are drawn back and the principal feature next to those dreadful eyes is the teeth the fearful looking teeth projecting like those of some wild animal hideously glaringly white and fang-like it approaches the bed with a strange gliding movement it clashes together the long nails that literally appear to hang from the finger ends no sound comes from its lips is she going mad that young and beautiful girl exposed to so much terror she has drawn up all her limbs she cannot even now say help the power of articulation is gone but the power of movement has returned to her she can draw herself slowly along to the other side of the bed from that towards which the hideous appearance is coming but her eyes are fascinated the glance of a serpent could not have produced a greater effect upon her than did the fixed gaze of those awful metallic looking eyes that were bent on her face crouching down so that the gigantic height was lost and the horrible protruding white face was the most prominent object came on the figure what was it what did it want there what made it look so hideous so unlike an inhabitant of the earth and yet to be on it now she has got to the verge of the bed and the figure pauses it seemed as if when it paused she lost the power to proceed the clothing of the bed was now clutched in her hands with unconscious power she drew her breath short and thick her bosom heaves and her limbs tremble yet she cannot withdraw her eyes from that marble looking face he holds her with his glittering eye the storm has ceased all is still the winds are hushed the church clock the hour of one a hissing sound comes from the throat of the hideous being and he raises his long gaunt arms the lips move he advances the girl places one small foot from the bed onto the floor she is unconsciously dragging the clothing with her the door of the room in that direction can she reach it has she the power to walk can she withdraw her eyes from the face of the intruder and so break the hideous charm god of heaven is it real or some dream so like reality has to nearly overturn the judgment forever the figure has paused again and half on the bed and half out of it that young girl lies trembling her long hair streams across the entire width of the bed as she has slowly moved along she has left it streaming across the pillows the pause lasted about a minute oh what an age of agony that minute was indeed enough for madness to do its work in with a sudden rush that could not be foreseen with a strange howling cry that was enough to awaken terror in every breast the figure sees the long tresses of her hair and twining them round his bony hands he held her to the bed then she screamed heaven granted her then power to scream shriek followed shriek a rapid succession the bed close fell in a heap by the side of the bed she was dragged by her long silk and hair completely onto it again her beautifully rounded limbs quivered with the agony of her soul the glassy horrible eyes of the figure ran over that angelic form with a hideous satisfaction horrible profanation he drags her head to the bed's edge he forces it back by the long hair still entwined in his grasp with a plunge he seizes her neck in his fang-like teeth a gush of blood and a hideous sucking-noise follows the girl has swooned and the vampire is at his hideous repast end of section 22 Chapter 1 of Varni the Vampire Recording by Louise J. Bell Sebastopol, California Ulster Stand for Union by Ronald McNeill Chapter 12 A story is told of Queen Victoria that in her youthful days when studying constitutional history she once asked Lord Milburn whether under any circumstances citizens were justified in resisting legal authority to which the old courtier replied when asked that question by a sovereign of the House of Hanover I fell bound to answer in the affirmative a similar question being asked of an Ulster man by Mr. Asquith Mr. Lloyd George or Sir Edward Gray in 1912 the reply would surely have been that such a question asked by a statesman claiming to be a guardian of liberal principles and of the wing tradition could only be answered in the affirmative this at all events was the view of the late Duke of Devonshire who more than any other statesman of our time could claim to be a representative in his own person of the wing tradition handed down from 1688 passive obedience has indeed been preached as a political dogma in the course of English history but never by apostles of liberalism forcible resistance to legally constituted authority even when it involved repudiation of existing allegiance has often both in our own and foreign countries won the approval and sympathy of English liberals a long line of illustrious names from Halifax in England to Kosuth and Mazini on the continent might be quoted in support of such a proposition if anyone were likely to challenge it when then liberals professed to be utterly shocked by Ulster's declared intention to resist home rule both actively and passively they could not have based their attitude on the principle that under no circumstances could such resistance be morally justified indeed in the case in question there were circumstances that would have made the condemnation of Ulster by the English Liberal Party not a little hypocritical it preferred to any general ethical principle that party had itself been for a generation in the closest political alliance with Irish men whose leader had boasted that they were as much rebels as their fathers were in 1798 and whose power in Ireland had been built up by long sustained and sympathetic defiance of the law yet the same politicians who had excused if they had not applauded the plan of campaign and the organised boycotting and cattle driving which had for years characterised the agitation for home rule were unspeakably shocked when Ulster formed a disciplined volunteer force which never committed an outrage and prepared to set up a provisional government rather than be ruled by an assembly of cattle drivers in Dublin moreover many of Mr Asquith's supporters and one at least of his most distinguished colleagues in the cabinet of 1912 had himself organised resistance to an education act which they disliked but had been unable to defeat empowerment nevertheless it must of course be freely admitted that the question is to what conditions justify resistance to the legal authority in the state or rebellion if the more blunt expression be preferred is an exceedingly difficult one to answer it would sound cynical to say though Carlisle Hardy strengths from maintaining that success alone redeems rebellion from wickedness and folly yet it would be difficult to explain on any other principle why posterity has applauded the parliamentarians of 1643 and the wings of 1688 while condemning Monmouth and Charles Edward or why Mr Gladstone sympathised with Jefferson Davis when he looked like winning and withdrew that sympathy when he had lost but if success is not the test what is is it the aim of the men who resist the aim that appears honourable and heroic to one onlooker appears quite the opposite to another and so the test resolves itself into a matter personal partisanship that is probably as near as one can get to a solution of the question those who happen to agree with the purpose for which a rebellion takes place think the rebels in the right those who disagree think them in the wrong as Mr Winston Churchill succinctly puts it when commenting on the strictures passed on by his father for inciting Ulster to resist humril constitutional authorities will measure their censures according to their political opinions he reminds us moreover that when Lord Randolph was denounced as a rebel in the skin of a Tory the latter was able to cite the authority of Lord Ulthorpe Sir Robert Peele Mr Morley and the Prime Minister Gladstone himself in support of the contention that circumstances might justify morally if not technically in civil war to this distinguished catalogue of authorities an Ulster Apologist might have added the name of the Chief Secretary for Ireland in Mr Asquiths own cabinet who admitted in 1912 that if the religion of the Protestants were oppressed or their property despoiled they might be right to fight which meant that Mr Burrell did not condemn fighting in itself provided he were allowed to decide when the occasion for it had arisen greater authorities than Mr Burrell held that the Ulster case for resistance was a good and valid one as it stood no English statesman of the last half century has deservedly enjoyed a higher reputation for political probity combined with sound common sense on the 8th Duke of Devonshire as long ago as 1893 when this same issue had already been raised in circumstances much less favourable to Ulster and after the passing of the parliament act in 1911 the Duke of Devonshire said the people of Ulster believe rightly or wrongly that under a government responsible to an imperial parliament they possess at present the fullest security which they can possess of their personal freedom their liberties and their right to transact their own business in their own way you have no right to offer them any inferior security to that and if after weighing the character of the government which has sought to impose upon them they resolve that they are no longer bound to obey a law that allows them equal and just protection with their fellow subjects who can say how at all events can the descendants of those who resisted King James II say that they have not a right if they think fit to resist if they think they have the power the imposition of a government put upon them by force all the same there never was a community on the face of the earth to whom rebellion in any real sense of the word was more hateful than to the people of Ulster they traditionally were the champions of law and order in Ireland they prided themselves above all things on their loyalty to their King and to the British flag and they never entertained the idea that the movement would say started at Craig Avenue in 1911 and to which they solemnly pledged themselves by their covenant in the following year was in the slightest degree a departure from their cherished loyalty on the contrary it was an empathetic assertion of it they held firmly as Mr Bonar Law the Unionist party in Great Britain held also that Mr Asquith and his government were forcing home rule upon them by unconstitutional methods they did not believe that loyalty in the best sense, loyalty to the sovereign to the empire to the Majesty of the law required of them passive obedience to an act of parliament placed by such means on the statute book which they were convinced moreover was wholly repugnant to the great majority of the British people this aspect of the matter was admirably and soberly presented by the Times in one of the many weighty articles in which that great journal gave undeviating support to the Austro cause a free community cannot justly or even constitutionally be deprived of its privileges or its position in the realm by any measure that is not stamped with the considered unquestionable approval of the great body of electors in the United Kingdom any attempt so to deprive them is afraud upon their fundamental rights which they are justified in resisting as an act of violence by any means in their power this is elementary doctrine born out by the whole course of English history that the position was paradoxical calls for no denial but the path of the paradox lay in the fact that a movement denounced as rebellious by its political opponents was warmly supported not only by large masses probably by the majority of the people of this country but by numbers of individuals of the highest character occupying stations of great responsibility whatever may be thought of men engaged in actual political conflict whom some people appear to think capable of any wickedness no one can seriously suggest that men like Lord Magnatine like the late and present primates of Ireland like the late provost of Trinity like many other sober thinkers who supported Austro where men who would lightly lend themselves to rebellion or any other wild and irresponsible adventure as the Times very truly observed in a leading article in 1912 we remember no precedent in our domestic history since the revolution of 1688 for a movement among citizens law abiding by temperament and habit which resembles the present movement of the Austro Protestants it is no rabble who have taken it it is the work of orderly prosperous and deeply religious men nor did the paradox end there if the Austro movement was rebellious its purpose was as paradoxical as its circumstances it had in it no subversive element in this respect it stands so far as the writer's knowledge goes without precedent a solitary instance in the history of mankind the world has witnessed rebellions without number designed to bring about many different results to emancipate a people from oppression to upset an obnoxious form of government to expel or to restore a rival dynasty to transfer allegiance from one sovereign or one state to another but has there ever been a rebellion the object of which was to maintain the status quo yet that was the sole purpose of the Austro men in all they did from 1911 to 1914 that fact which distinguished their movement from every rebellion or revolution in history placed them on a far more solid ground of reasonable justification than the excuse offered by Mr Churchill for their bellicose attitude in his father's day although he is no doubt right in saying that when men are sufficiently in earnest they will back their words with more than votes it is a plea that would cover alike the conduct of Halifax and the other wigs who resist the legal authority of James II of the Jacobites who fought for his grandson and of the contrivers of many another bloody or bloodless revolution but there was nothing revolutionary in the Ulster movement it was resistance to the transfer of a people's allegiance without their consent to their forcible expulsion from a constitution with which they were content and their forcible inclusion in a constitution which they detested this was the very antithesis of revolution English radical writers and politicians might argue that no transfer of allegiance was contemplated but Ulster men thought they knew better and the later development of the Irish question proved how right they were even had they been proved wrong instead of right in their conviction that the true aim of Irish nationalism a term in which Sinn Fein is included was essentially separatist they knew better than English men how little reality there was in the theory that under the proposed home rule their allegiance would be unaffected and their political status suffered no degradation they claimed to occupy a position similar to that of the North in the American Civil War with this difference which so far as it went told in their favour that whereas Lincoln took up arms to resist secession they were prepared to do so to resist expulsion the purpose in both cases however being to preserve union the practical view of the question as it would appear in the eyes of ordinary men was well expressed by Lord Cursan in the House of Lords when he said the people of this country will be very loath to condemn those whose only disloyalty it will be to have been excessive in their loyalty to the king do not suppose that the people of this country will call those rebels whose only form of rebellion is to resist on remaining under the imperial parliament of course men like Sir Edward Cursan Lord London Derry Mr Thomas Sinclair and other Ulster leaders were too far saying not to realise that the course they were taking would expose them to the accusation of having set a bad example which others without the same grounds of justification might follow in very different circumstances but this was a risk they had to shoulder as of all who are not prepared to subscribe to the dogma of passive obedience without limit they accept it as the less of two evils but there was something humorous in the pretense put forward in 1916 and afterwards that the violence to which the adherence of Shinfien had recourse was merely copying Ulster as if Irish nationalism in its extreme form required precedent for insurrection even the leader of constitutional nationalism himself had traced his political pedigree to convicted rebels like Toon and Emmet and since the date of those heroes there have been at least two armed risings in Ireland against the British crown and government if the taunt flung at Ulstermen have been that they had at last thrown overboard law and order and had stolen the nationalist policy of active resistance there would at least have been superficial plausibility in it but when it was suggested or implied that the Ulster example was actually responsible in any degree whatever for violent outbreaks in the other provinces a super silliest smile was the only possible retort from the lips of representatives of Ulster but what caused them some complexity was the disposition manifested in certain quarters in England to look upon the two parties in Ireland in regard to rebellion as six of one and half a dozen of the other it has always unhappily been characteristic of a certain type of Englishman to see no difference between the friends and the enemies of his country and if he has a preference at all to give it to the latter apart from all other circumstances which in the eyes of Ulstermen identified them up to the hilt in the policy they pursued apart from everything that distinguished them historically and morally from Irish rebels there was the and all important fact that the motive of their opponents was hostility to England whereas their own motive was friendliness and loyalty to England in that respect they never wavered if the course of events had ever led to the employment of British troops to crush the resistance of Ulster the extraordinary spectacle would have been presented to the wondering world of the king soldiers shooting down men marching under the British flag and singing God's say of the king it was no doubt because this was very generally understood in England that the sympathies of large masses of law loving people were never for a moment alienated from the men of Ulster by all the striving of their enemies to brand them as rebels constitutional authorities may as Churchill says measure their censures according to their political opinions but the generality of men who are not constitutional authorities whose political opinions if they have any are fluctuating and who care little for judicial niceties will measure their censures according to their instinctive sympathies and the sound instinct of English men forbade them to blame men who if rebels in law were their firm friends in fact for taking exceptional and even illegal measures when all others failed to preserve the full unity which they regarded as the fruit of that friendship end of section 23 section 24 of A to Z this is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Larry Wilson A to Z by Various X marks the Pedwalk by Fritz Leiber this is how it all began the terrible civil strife that devastates our world based in material in chapter 7 first clashes of the wheeled and footed sects of volume 3 of burgers monumental history of traffic published by the foundation for 22nd century studies the raggedy little old lady with the big shopping bag was in the exact center of the crosswalk when she became aware of the big black car bearing down on her behind the thick bulletproof glass its seven occupants had a misty look like men in a diving bell she saw there was no longer time to beat the car to either curb veering remorselessly it would catch her in the gutter useless to attempt a faint and double back such as any venturesome child executed a dozen times a day her reflexes were too slow polite, vacuous laughter came from the car's loudspeaker over the engine's mounting roar from her fellow pedestrians lining the curbs came as high of horror the little old lady dipped into her shopping bag and came up with a big blue back automatic she held it in both fists riding the recoils like a rodeo cowboy on a bucking bronco aiming at the base of the windshield just as a big game hunter aims at the vulnerable spine of a charging water-buffalo over the horny armor of its lowered head a little old lady squeezed off three shots before the car chewed her down from the right-hand curb a young woman in a wheelchair shrieked in obscenity at the car's occupants smithedee winter the driver wasn't happy the little old lady's last shot had taken two members of his car pool bursting through the laminated glass the steel-jacketed slug had traversed the neck of Phipps McKeith and buried itself in the skull of Horvendile Harker breaking viciously smithedee winter rammed the car over the right-hand curb pedestrian scattered into entries in narrow arcades among them a youth bounding high on crutches but smithedee winter got the girl in the wheelchair then he drove rapidly out of the slum ring into the suburbs a shred of a tan swinging from the flange of his right fore mudguard for a trophy despite the two-for-two casualty list he felt angry and depressed the secure predictable world around him seemed to be crumbling while his companions softly keen to dirge to Horvendile Phipps and quietly mopped up their blood he frowned and shook his head they oughtn't to let old ladies carry magnums he murmured witherspoon hobbs knotted agreement across the front seat corpse they oughtn't to let him carry anything God, how I hate feet he muttered looking down at his shrunken legs wheels forever he softly cheered the incident had immediate repercussions throughout the city at the combined wake of the little old lady in the girl in the wheelchair a fiery-tongued speaker invade against the white-walled fascists of suburbia telling to his hearers the fabled wonders of old Los Angeles where pedestrians were sacrosanct even outside crosswalks he called for a hobnail march across the nearest lawn bowling alleys and perambulator traversed golf courses of the motorists at the sunny side crematorium to which the bodies of Phipps and Horvy had been conveyed and equally impassioned and rather more grammatical orator reminded his listeners of the legendary justice of old Chicago where pedestrians were forbidden to carry small arms and anyone with one foot off the sidewalk was fair prey he broadly hinted that a holocaust primed if necessary with a few tank voles of gasoline was the only cure for the slums bands of skinny youths were loping at dusk out of the slum ring into the innermost sections of the larger donut of the suburbs slashing defenseless tires shooting expensive watchdogs and scrawling filthy words on the pristine panels of matrons runabouts which never ventured more than six blocks from home simultaneously squadrons of young suburban border cycles and scooter rides warred through the outermost precincts of the slum ring harrying children off sidewalks sausing stink bombs through second-storey tenement windows and effacing hovel fronts with sprays of black paint incident, a throne brick a cut corner and a coat of auto club were even reported from the center of the city traditionally neutral territory the government hurriedly acted suspending all traffic between center and the suburbs and establishing a 24-hour curfew in the slum ring government agents moved only by centipede card and pogo hopper to underline the point that they favored neither contending side the day of enforced non-movement for feet and wheels was spent in vengeful preparations behind lock garage doors machine guns that fired through the nose ornament were mounted under hoods illegal scythe blades were welded to oversized hubcaps and the stainless steel edges of flange fenders were honed to razor sharpness while nervous national guardsmen hopped about the deserted sidewalks of the slum ring grim-faced men and women wearing black arm bands moved through the web work of secret tunnels and hidden doors beating heavy caliber small arms and spikes studded paving blocks piling cobblestones on strategic rooftops and sapping upward from the secret tunnels to create car traps children got ready to soap intersections after dark the committee of pedestrian safety sometimes known as robespierre's rats prepared to release its too carefully hoarded anti-tank guns at nightfall under the tireless urging of the government representatives of the pedestrians and the motorists met on a huge safety island at the boundary of the slum ring and the suburbs underlings began a noisy dispute as to whether smith de winter had failed to give a courtesy honk before charging whether the little old lady had opened fire before the car had come within honking distance how many wheels of smith de car's car had been on the sidewalk when he hit the girl in the wheelchair and so on after a little while the high pedestrian and the chief motorist exchanged cautious winks and drew a side the red writhing of a hundred kerosene flares and the mystic yellow pulsing of a thousand firefly lamps mounted on yellow saw horses ranged around the safety island illumined two tragic strained faces a word before we get down to business the chief motorist whispered what's the current sq of your adults forty one and dropping the high pedestrian replied his eyes fearfully searching from side to side for eavesdroppers I can hardly get aids who are half way compost mentis our own sanity quotient is thirty seven the chief motorist revealed he shrugged helplessly the wheels inside my people's heads are slowing down I do not think they will be speeded up in my lifetime and they say the government's only fifty two the other said with a matching shrug well I suppose we must scrape out one more compromise the one suggested hollowly though I must confess there are times when I think we're all the figments of a paranoid's dream two hours of concentrated deliberations produced the new wheel foot articles of agreement among other points pedestrian handguns were limited to a slightly lower muscle velocity and to thirty eight caliber and under while motorists were required to give three hunks at one block distance before charging a pedestrian in a crosswalk two wheels over the curb changed a traffic kill from third degree manslaughter to petty homicide blind pedestrians were permitted to carry hand grenades immediately the government went to work the new wheel foot articles were loudspeaker and posted police and psychiatric social hoppers sent a peddled and pogoed through the slum ring seizing outside weapons and giving tranquilizing jet injections to the unruly teams of hypnotherapists and mechanics scuttled from home to home in the suburbs and from garage to garage enchanting a conformist serenity and stripping illegal armaments from cars on the advice of a rogue psychiatrist who said it would channel off aggressions a display of bullfighting was announced but this had to be cancelled when a strong protest was lodged by the decency league which had a large mixed wheel foot membership at dawn curfew was listed in the slum ring and traffic reopened between the suburbs and the center after a few uneasy moments it became apparent that the status quo had been restored smith the winter tooled his gleaming black machine along the ring a thick steel bolt with a large steel washer on either side neatly filled the hole the little old lady slug had made in the windshield a brick bounced off the roof bullets patterned against the side windows smith the ran a handkerchief around his neck under his collar and smiled a block ahead children were darting into the street cat-calling and thumbing their noses behind one of them limped a fat dog with a spiked collar smith the suddenly gunned his mortar he didn't hit any of the children but he got the dog a flashing light on the dash showed him the right front tire was losing pressure must have hit the collar as well he thumbed the matching emergency air button and the flashing stopped he turned toward witherspoon hobbs and said with thoughtful satisfaction I like a normal orderly world where you always have a little success but not champagne heady a little failure but just enough to brace you where the spoon hobbs was squinting at the next crosswalk its center was discolored by a brownie stained ribbon tracked by tires that's where you bagged the little old lady smith the he remarked I'll say this for her now she had spirit yes that's where I bagged her smith the agreed flatly he remembered wistfully the witch-like face growing rapidly larger her jerking shoulders in black bombazine the wild white circle dies he suddenly found himself feeling that this was a very dull day end of section 24