Fessenden

“ The bracing air and the dancing yacht, if not the conversation, held Fessenden’s interest for an hour or two. As he headed toward home, the glory of the day put a happy idea into his head. He would return Betty’s picnic of yesterday by a day’s sail on the Wisp. Somehow he would manage to elude his Sandywood responsibilities again.
Darkness always fell long before dinner was served at Sandywood. Therefore, Fessenden, going for a stroll in the wilderness of a garden, ostensibly to indulge in an ante-prandial cigar, found in the dusk no difficulty in extending his walk to White Cottage. ”

“ Fessenden must have wondered how the kindest hearted man in all the world could have likewise been the most noted satirist of his day. For my part, I have tried in vain to form a conception of my venerable and peaceful friend as a champion in the stormy strife of party, flinging mud full in the faces of his foes, and shouting forth the bitter laughter that rang from border to border of the land ”

“ He made enemies, but he either fought them or accepted [59] them with philosophy, and he had an army of disciples, who followed his imaginative flights and his most radical theories to the bitter end.
But his fellow-men interested Fessenden less at this period than the wonderful excursions he was making daily into the new realms of thought and research. It was during the middle of the third year that he gave himself up more particularly to the study of finance, the development of banking, and political economy. He pursued these studies with a curious sense of reviving old memories ”

“ Schuyler Carleton looked like a condemned man who has just been granted a reprieve.
"Do you know, Fessenden," he said, "you're the only one who does believe me innocent?"
"Nonsense, man! Nobody believes you guilty."
"They're so strongly suspicious that it's little short of belief," said Carleton sadly. "And truly, Rob, I can't blame them. Everything is against me. ”

“ Mr. Taylor, the landlord of the inn, was flattered at being a party to a confidential conversation with a real detective, and willingly promised secrecy in the matter.
"Then," went on Fessenden, "will you tell me all you know of the movements of Mr. Willard last evening?"
Mr. Taylor looked a bit disappointed at this request, for he foresaw that his story would be but brief. However, he elaborated the recital and spun it out as long as he possibly could. But after all his circumlocution, Fessenden found that the facts were given precisely as Willard had stated them himself. ”

“ It is as inevitable as the phenomenon of man and woman itself, and must be taken as philosophically as the ills of the flesh, which under the proper diffusion of scientific knowledge will be obviated in time. It is to be hoped that puppy-love will prove an equally amenable microbe. Now take to the woods and think like a man.”
Fessenden took to the woods, but the time was not yet come when he could think like a man. ”

“ And so as an outcome of Kitty’s suggestion, Fessenden determined to have a plain talk with Schuyler Carleton.
“Old man,” he said, the first time opportunity found him alone with Schuyler in the Carleton library, “I want to offer you my help. I know that sounds presumptuous, but we’re old friends, Carleton, and I think I may be allowed a little presumption on that score. And first, though it seems to me absurdly unnecessary, I want to assure you of my belief in your own innocence. Pshaw, belief is a weak word! ”

“ He answered in a moment: “Our ideals, like our theories, are the best in the world. When you are launched out into the hustle, it will be time enough to know how they work. Meanwhile, don’t worry about your country—it has an amazing power of taking care of itself; but develop your intellect and your strength of character. Do you repeat that lesson of mine once a week?”
Mr. Abbott invariably asked this question, and Fessenden was usually able to nod satisfactorily. ”

“ He is calling the doves that have been fluttering about the apartment. They come at his bidding, and he places them upon Hatsu’s shoulders; and upon her outstretched arms.
Into her hand he has put a great bunch of heliotrope, and now he sprinkles a strong elixir of catnip over the hem of the Princess’ gown, and upon her sandalled feet.
“Go,” he says, “and stand before the people.” And opening the curtains a little way, he thrusts her forth! and as the silken folds fall back, behind her, the people hear the voice! that makes all men, high or low, rich, or poor, simple, or wise, tremble! ”

“ Fairbanks looked amazed and thoughtful, but Rob Fessenden was frankly incredulous.
"Mr. Stone," he said respectfully, "I am sure you know what you're talking about, but will you tell me how a man could get up through that hole? It doesn't seem to me that a small-sized boy could squeeze through."
Fleming Stone took a silver-cased tape-measure from his pocket, and handed it to Rob without a word. ”

“ She has prostrated herself upon the earth, and the priests forming in two lines, walk past her, swinging their golden censers right and left, and I can hear the voice of the Princess, joining in the petition, for the soul of her father—still on its journey to the kingdom that lies beyond the tomb. Now the sound of the singing grows fainter, the silence comes again, and Hatsu rises and goes on her way. She has reached a flight of broad stone steps. She is weary and the steps are many, but she presses on. ”

“ Miriam stood watching in silence the form of her mistress the Princess Hatsu until she had disappeared from sight in a curve of the avenue, or path, then she sat herself down upon a stone bench, and with closed eyes and folded hands sent prayers—like white-winged angels—to keep the Princess company. ”

“ I mentally called the roll—wealth, respectability, honor, all on their knees before Dominick, each with his eye upon the branch of the plum tree that bore the kind of fruit he fancied. And I wondered how they felt25 inside,—for I was then ignorant of the great foundation truth of practical ethics, that a man's conscience is not the producer but the product of his career.
Fessenden accompanied me to the door. "The old man's in a hell of a humor to-night," said he. "His wife's caught on to a little game he's been up to, and she's the only human being he's afraid of. ”

“ As chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, his services were second in value only to those of President Lincoln and Secretary Salmon P. Chase in efforts to provide funds for the defence of the Union; and in July 1864 Fessenden succeeded Chase as secretary of the treasury. The finances of the country in the early summer of 1864 were in a critical condition; a few days before leaving office Secretary Chase had been compelled to withdraw from the market $32,000,000 of 6% bonds, on account of the lack of acceptable bids ”

“ Even as the Princess spoke these words, there came a strong tap upon the door, and in an instant she had resumed her seat, and Miriam her place, behind her mistress’ chair.
Then, at the bidding of Hatsu, the door swung back, and two by two, there entered a company of youths, each bearing golden lamps.
Following the youths came a man, holding a golden salver, on which lay a small parchment scroll. Bowing low (not kneeling) , he presented it to the [Pg 16] Princess, who received it and read aloud the contents, in a clear, quiet voice. ”

“ For I will keep you in entrancement through those days and safe hid from all eyes save Hatsu’s and my own, and when the time has been accomplished Hatsu shall take the child, and holding it before the people, proclaim it her son and heir!
“That Zelas is true to me, I now know, beyond all doubt. Zelas, Hatsu’s uncle! Of what sad comminglings are we made! my soul and heart are crying [Pg 47] out in pity, and yet my mortal mind, my scholar’s questioning, urges me on——”
But—he pauses—his quick ear detects a footstep—and looking up he sees coming slowly toward him the Princess. ”

“ They’ll fall before great doctor Lettsom.
I resolved to recommend your arranging yourselves under the banners of this Leviathan of the Galenical throng, from the moment I first heard of his noble and spirited sally against the tractors. Disdaining the wretched trammels of why and wherefore, and without assigning those paltry trifles, called reasons, for his opinions, on the merits of Perkinism, our intrepid commander determined to extirpate it root and branch, with his simple ipse dixit. This is what we ought to expect from a hero of such prowess. ”

“ Neither does Hatsu’s heart tremble, at the thought of meeting the great High Priest, although she knows that no woman has ever before beheld his face. Although she knows that when he ministers to the people, it is always behind the Temple’s silken veil.”
[Pg 29] “It is truth that thou speaketh, fair spirit, so lead on.”
“She is pausing,” said Miriam, “for there has come to her ears the sound of voices. They the voices of a great company of priests, and they are repeating in low, even tones the prayers for the dead. ”

“ The Princess Hatsu, through, and by this pilgrimage of hers, is going to inspire in her people an awesome reverence that shall exalt her to a goddesship far beyond that bestowed upon the idiot, her husband (that is to be) , aye, even as I speak, by the command of Zelas, the news of this journey of the Princess (our future Queen) is being shouted through the land by mounted heralds, and everywhere prayers are offered for the preservation of the body and soul of this brave girl, that she may come through the awful, supernatural test, unconsumed ”

“ After many extracts from the work, and encomiums on each of the four cantos, the reviewers conclude, “Whatever may be the merits of the Metallic Tractors, or the demerits of their opponents, we have no hesitation to pronounce this performance to be far superior to the ephemeral productions of ordinary dealers in rhyme. The notes, which constitute more than half the book, are not behind the verse in spirit. Who the author can be we have not the least conception ”

“ These are among the patients whose cures are attested in Perkins’s publication, in which he has introduced them to show that his tractors do not cure by an influence on the imagination. The fallacy of any deductions, drawn from such cases, in favor of the tractors, will be apparent from the following most learned and elaborate investigation of the subject.
There are no animals in existence, I shall incontestably prove, that are more susceptible of impressions from imagination, than those above mentioned.
To begin with the crow. Strong mental faculties ever indicate a vivid imagination ”

“ Remember I have paid you thirty guineas, under the supposition that you were exerting your utmost endeavors to cure me, and that in the most safe, cheap, and expeditious manner. You now, in substance, acknowledge, that, although in possession of the means of restoring me to health, for the dishonorable purpose of picking my pocket, you continued me upon the bed of sickness! Who turns out to be the impostor? Let your own conscience answer.’ The justness of the retort, it will be easily believed, precluded the possibility of an exculpation.” Perkins’s New Cases, p. ”

“ He began lamenting that so sensible a person as the patient should be caught in the use of so contemptible a piece of quackery as the tractors. After assuring the patient that he had thrown away his five guineas, for that it was well established by Dr Haygarth, that a brick-bat, tobacco-pipe, goose-quill, or even the bare finger, would perform the same cures, he was interrupted by his patient: ‘And are you sincere in your belief that you could have produced, by those means, the same effects upon me, which I have experienced from the tractors?’ ‘Do I believe it? ”

“ Whose deeds, like Perkinites, are smutty;
But as they are aspiring geniuses,
Like Perkinites, they find Mecenases. [82] [124]
But chimney-sweepers and Perkineans
Are such a scurvy set of minions,
That not one rogue among them back’d is,
Except by knaves retired from practice. [83] [125]
That though certificates he dish up,
From surgeon, doctor, parson, bishop; [126]
From gentle, simple, yeomen, squires,
’Tis written, “that all men are liars!”
That grant his tractors cure diseases,
Folks ought to die just when God pleases;
But most of all the dirty poor,
Who make, quoth Darwin, good manure ”

“ Recal to your recollection, gentlemen, the denunciations he has so often made against every medical practitioner who should presume, either directly or indirectly, to offer any patronage to remedies which bore even the most distant resemblance to a nostrum. How often have the walls of the medical theatres of Saint Thomas’s hospital, and Windmill street, echoed loud responses to his declamations against the varlets, who should dare to recommend means, in the profits of the consumption of which the whole profession could not participate? ”

“ And dies to make worms a most plentiful meal.
Ye sons of Columbia, shun the syren of sloth
For if you submit to her leaden control,
You will find, when too late, like a venomous moth,
She consumes a man’s substance and poisons his soul. ”

“ My mode of commencing an airy tour, mounted, Muse and Co. on a poetical pony, which, by the way, is metamorphosed into a cutter, may, perhaps, be objected to by your fastidious critics, as a liberty even beyond a poet’s licentiousness. But there is nothing which we men of genius more thoroughly detest than any attempt to fetter our faculties with the frigid rules of criticism. ”