Bernie Babcock

“ Do you know, father, I love every woman who gave a husband or a son to her country, and I almost hold in reverence the memory of the men who shed their blood to effect the abolition of human slavery in America."
The tall form of the Judge straightened and his eye brightened, like a soldier's when he hears the names of his old battle-fields.
"Do not forget," he said, "that there were those who acted as brave a part who never faced a cannon. It is easy to be borne by the force of a great wave; but those who by their time and talents put the wave of public opinion in motion are the real heroes. ”

“ Jean, my child, spare me. Say nothing now, child. I can not bear it. The faith of a lifetime is shattered. On that page I read, plainly as if it were printed there, that the President is a party to the infamy. The party of my lifelong loyalty stands committed by the act of its chosen leaders to the foulest anarchy that ever disgraced a civilized people. Had I no thought for temperance, as a citizen and as a lawyer, I could not otherwise than see in this the forerunner of the gravest national disaster. ”

“ Women do not ask, but rather they demand, the ballot. But this is begging the question. If it is right for women to have the ballot, it is right, and if it is wrong, it is wrong—that is all there is to it. Now, father, tell me the reasons."
"Why, Jean, have not I given you reasons and have you not overruled them, every one?" was the almost testy answer. "A woman is a woman, and God never intended her to vote." ”

“ As she passed the palaces of gilded doom, arrayed in cut glass and mirrors, luring the souls of men and boys to hell, she thought of the Christian voters of the nation who allow it to be so because, bound by party ties and fooled by party leaders, they will not force this mighty issue to the front and demand its recognition at the ballot-box; and these words rang in her ears: "Because I have called and ye have refused, ye have set at naught all my counsel. I also will laugh at your calamity when your destruction cometh as a whirlwind." ”

“ I cannot see, father, that the moral issue is any different. Of the two great evils, intemperance is certainly a greater curse than ever slavery was; for while it has all the pain and heartaches and sorrow of every description that accompanies slavery, the worst feature of it is that hell is filling up with souls that drink their doom when they drain the wine cup. I think I understand myself, father, and I say again, I am an Abolitionist. Bring on some other party platform. ”

“ But the gentleman turned to the woman, and Jean, trembling with fear and indignation, with crimson cheeks and flashing eyes, looked a second time into the face of the gentlemanly liquor dealer.
"I am so glad you came!" she gasped, and held out her hand to him.
As they turned to his buggy the gentleman cast a glance back at the prostrate soldier, who had crawled behind a bush to sleep until removed to the guardhouse.
"Such creatures are a disgrace to a civilized government," he exclaimed, with ill-concealed wrath.
"Our government is a disgrace to itself," she added. ”

“ He found them in the yard, Vivian swinging with her doll and Jean digging a hole in a pile of sand. When the important announcement was made, the black-haired Vivian clapped her hands for joy, but the other little girl kept right on digging, just as if she had not heard. When she had passed the critical point in the process of excavating she paused and looked up.
The expression in her father's face was something new to her, and she studied him in silence a moment, then said, solemnly:
"Are boys any better than girls, father?"
"Better? Why no, they are no better. They are boys, that is all." ”

“ Gilbert Allison frowned between his hands and spoke sharply.
"It is a legal business," he said.
"Legal? Yes, legal—but you have sense enough to know that if it is legal for you to sell, it must be legal for some other fellow to buy; and if some other fellow spends his money for liquor he had the right to drink it, and you can hardly be unreasonable enough to hold a man responsible for what he does when the lining has been eaten out of his stomach and his brain soaked with alcohol. Such a man is a legal murderer, and the custom that breeds him should take care of the finished production. ”

“ The traffic itself was a great evil generality, and as such met condemnation. But in generalities, as in mountain ranges, there are specific points that tower out distinctively for consideration. Such a pinnacle of iniquity this liquor firm had seemed to Jean to be since her acquaintance with the Crowleys.
"You must be mistaken," she observed at length.
Gilbert Allison had been amused before. Now he laughed. "If I am mistaken, life has been a vast mistake," he said, "for I have supposed myself to be this same Allison for over thirty years. ”

“ You know, father, that if polling places are not fit for decent women, neither are they fit for decent men, and the sooner decent people get around and clean them up, the better it will be for the country. Come, now, if you have a sound, logical reason why women should not vote, bring it on."
"Well," said the judge, "even admitting that the advent of women in politics might have a cleansing effect, women do not want the ballot."
"What women?" demanded Jean. ”

“ Jean laughed merrily.
"What are you laughing at?" demanded her father.
"Why, at you; you are back just where you started. Women must not vote because they are women. If you have nothing better to offer there is no use of going over the grounds again. This makes me think of the time I studied circulating decimals."
The judge joined in Jean's laugh, and turned again to his papers, as if glad of a diversion.
After Judge Thorn had picked up and rearranged his papers he looked toward Jean, who had suddenly grown quiet. ”

“ How many others like me?"
"A quarter of a million, I presume," he answered, a trifle grimly.
"And must I take my stand in politics away from my dear father, who is so wise and just?"
"You are young, Jean, and impulsive. You will see the matter in a different light when you have given the subject more thought. I am old now. For over half a century I have studied the affairs of men, and I tell you the time is not now expedient for such an issue to be forced to the front." ”

“ Jean spoke reflectively, as if to herself. "In savage countries where there is no Christianity, where all is black, human life is sometimes offered as a sacrifice to gods. Here in Christian America an altar is piled high with mother hearts and manhood and immortal souls.
"This sacrifice goes on unceasingly; the altar fires are never out, and the wail of the little ones and the groans of the crushed that go up from this great altar only cause this god to laugh. ”

“ Crowley told it to me. I will never forget, father, the helpless despair that sounded in her voice and manner as she talked.
"'Ah, Miss Thorn!' she said, wearily, 'It's all over—all gone. I should have known better than to have hoped again; but hope is so sweet! Yesterday morning my husband seemed more like himself than he has for years. He kissed us when he went away and promised to be home early. We were all very happy. He is such a kind, good man when he is himself. ”

“ Couple the signs of the times, father, with an indisputable knowledge of corruption in politics, the inefficacy of the law because of the absolute power of rum and 'boodle' and the utter absence of any fixed moral principle in the dealings of the great majority of the old party leaders, and have we not an 'issue' that imperatively demands the attention of every loyal American? ”

“ I have refused to believe—to this very hour I have refused to believe that the man whose magnificent career I have watched with such interest and of whose stainless honor I have been so proud, would consent to be a party to such an act of anarchy. ”

“ The breaths came shorter and shorter—the weary girl had entered into rest.
The soul of the drunkard's daughter had gone where justice reigns supreme; where a God of justice watches the kingdoms of the earth and in mercy stays the doom that comes a certain penalty of the nation that sells its maids and youths to the rum fiend.
Mrs. Crowley stood looking down on the wan face of her first-born.
"Thank God she is happy! But it's hard—so hard!"
A mother's love is the same the world around. ”

“ The judge lifted his hands with a show of expostulation.
"So our Jean would be a politician," he cried. "Oh, the times! Oh, the customs!"
"Not quite so bad as that, father," replied the young woman, smiling but serious; "but I am in downright earnest. The making, the unmaking and the enforcing of law are politics, and every American woman should have an interest in these things. Every [Pg 28] thinking woman must have an interest in them. I must know more of politics." ”

“ Would you see the drunkard's daughter dressed for a walk this bitter night? A frail, slender girl, who should have been warmly clad, she is dressed in thinnest, shabby cotton, through which the elements will play as through rags of gauze, while the flesh of her feet, unprotected by her almost soleless shoes, will press against the sleet. The two faded pink roses that flap forlornly on the side of her coarse straw hat bear a silent suggestion of pathos—a faint remembrance, perhaps, of the days of departed happiness. ”

“ Allison, we cannot be even friends! We just cannot! You are a 'man atom of the great iniquity.'"
She crossed the room, and, raising a shade, stood looking absently into the moonlight. Gilbert Allison leaned forward and seemed trying to obtain the solution of some mystery from the outlines of her figure.
She still stood there when Judge Thorn entered from an adjoining room, and while he conversed with her liquor-dealer lover, Jean left the room to return no more that night. ”

“ I stand for the everlasting abolition of the liquor traffic. It is quite the proper thing for the daughter of a Republican to be an Abolitionist."
Judge Thorn laughed.
"You put your case plain enough," he said. "There is small room to doubt how you stand, but I think that you will see that abolition in this case would be impracticable. You know, my girl, in these days a half-loaf is better than no bread. Political parties, like the grass of the field, sprout up and die away. There are but two real parties. The fight on leading issues is between them. ”

“ One night when sitting closer than usual to her side, he calmly possessed himself of one of her hands.
"You are quite an enigma to me," he said. "How can you be a bit comfortable in such close proximity to a representative of the ungodly traffic?"
"I cannot," she answered, pulling at her hand. "I will go away."
"Will you?" and he tightened the pressure of his fingers.
Jean dropped her head on her free hand and was very still. Mr. Allison, watching her, presently saw a tear-drop on her cheek. ”

“ Even legal, licensed murder will have its reckoning time. You will see a face some day; you will hear a voice that will haunt you like the wail of a lost soul."
Mr. Allison shrugged his shoulders as if in apprehension.
"I hope not," he said; "but Miss Thorn, I am afraid you do not enjoy the society of a liquor dealer." ”

“ Public sentiment would not tolerate them, and if it did, the coming generation would not be lured to destruction by glitter and music.
"In the third place," and the girl sprang to her feet and stood looking her father full in the face, "a man who labored fearlessly for the overthrow of human slavery when public opinion pointed the finger of scorn at him, said to me not long since: 'Regulations and restrictions put on such a vice by the government are but its terms of partnership.'"
[Pg 38]
It took Judge Thorn half a minute to recognize his words. Then he laughed. ”

“ I do not believe a woman should get out of her sphere, but a woman's influence is mighty, and inasmuch as all law and reform come through the ballot box, there can be no harm in her giving an intelligent hearing to politics. ”

“ I can remember the time when a man who preached or taught Abolition was looked upon as narrow-minded, fanatical, bigoted and even criminal. When the name was a stench in the nostrils of the people even in liberty-loving Boston. When men were rotten-egged, beaten, and in some instances killed because they dared to follow the dictates of their own consciences and make sentiment for the [Pg 21] overthrow of the traffic in humanity. It took all this to bring it about. No great moral reform takes place without agitation, or without martyrs. ”

“ When a judge, and a Republican at that, finds it hard to vindicate his party's doings, and finds statistics overwhelmingly against his party's policy on moral questions, he will look for better things in better places. At this period of his political transmigration I believe a man is more to be pitied for misplaced confidence than blamed for tardy understanding. ”

“ EVERY ATOM IS A MAN.
"All this time the Christian men of this Christian nation stand around in a great circle, weeping and calling on a Christian's God to hasten the day when this other god shall be ground to dust, meantime mocking their God by legalizing this monstrous thing with their ballots." ”