CHAPTER VIII.
JOHN WYCLIFF’S den had become well known as a resort for workingmen, and people in other walks of life were occasionally to be found in consultation with him. Ford Hulbert, a real estate and insurance agent, was an occasional caller.
“You knew Wells Boardman, who was recently killed in an accident on the Papyrus Electric Street Railway?� asked Hulbert.
“Yes, very well; an old neighbor when we lived out in the country. His daughter, Lena, was one of the best girls I ever met. Her laugh would do one more good than medicine sometimes. A half hour with her was a sure cure for the blues.�
“I don’t need to tell you much about her, then.�
“No, you do not. I have known her from the cradle up. A better girl or woman was never raised on the hills.She was a rollicking, laughing, singing sunbeam, and never a thought of wrong in it all. Many a heart has been tangled in those brown curls of hers, though. It seems strange to me now, as I look back, that I was not one of the victims; but, then, we were too much like a sister and brother for that.�
There was a pause, broken by Mr. Hulbert.
“She made an early and unfortunate marriage, I believe?�
“Yes; she left the hills, and came down into this dull valley. She brought the sparkle of the mountain brook, and the melody of the bobolinks with her. Wherever she went there was a ripple of laughter, a burst of sunshine, a peal of music. Such a girl could not be without admirers. She had plenty of them. And then,—what did she do? Deliberately picked out the worst one in the whole lot,—a drunken libertine, a man with whom scarcely any other respectable woman would be seen crossing the street.�
“Why did she do it?�
“I cannot tell. Some thought it was because he had more money than her other admirers, but that may have been unjust to her. Whatever the reason, she had plenty of reason to regret her decision when it was too late.�
“And then?� queried Hulbert, as Wycliff remained silent for several minutes, and showed no disposition to resume the conversation.
“Just what might have been expected. The scoundrel cared nothing for her and was soon running after other women, just as though he had no wife, to whom he had vowed fidelity. They had children,—two of them, and she remained several years for her children’s sake. But it became more than flesh and blood could endure. He was continually abusing her, in the hope that she would leave him. When I was a boy I heard of a man who turned his son out of doors, and then whipped him for leaving home. Lena’s husband was just about as consistent as that. He treated her so contemptibly,that if she had not left him, she must have gone crazy. Then he said that his wife ‘could not have had much love for the children, else she would not have left them;’—the lying wretch. I have lived in places where he would have had a coat of tar and feathers.�
“And then?� pursued Mr. Hulbert, who seemed anxious to have Wycliff continue.
“Well, not exactly what the villain had been planning for. He expected to secure a divorce for desertion, and to marry another woman who had attracted his wandering affections, but his wife secured the divorce, and the care of the children.�
“And now,� said Hulbert, in a low tone of voice, “an honest man who actually loves her, will find it very difficult to convince her of his loyalty to her.�
Wycliff glanced up quickly.
“You are an admirer of Lena?�
“Yes, but we had a break. We had a falling-out the evening you left BeaunaVista. We were watering our horses, sheltered from your sight by the hemlock bushes. I made a remark about Mr. Sharp, in connection with the church, which offended her.�
“Yes, she is very loyal to the church; but the church has hardly kept its pledges to her in her trouble. I did not know that there were any disinterested witnesses of my difference with Sharp, else I might have proceeded differently.�
“But now I must do my errand,� resumed Hulbert. “I came to see you because Miss Boardman could not come, and she wishes your advice. Zechariah Baldwin, for the Papyrus Electric Street Railway Company, has offered her three thousand dollars in settlement for her father’s death.�
“The company acknowledges its liability, then?�
“Yes; the only question is as to the amount which shall be paid.�
“Isn’t Congressman Baldwin a stockholder in the company?�
“Yes; he is the heaviest stockholder.�
“Of course, you know that the State of Massachusetts, some years ago, obeying the demands of the railroad corporations, which were killing a great many people, made a law that not more than five thousand dollars could be collected for a human life, lost through the fault of a railroad corporation. It’s an infamous law, but it’s there, all the same.�
“Miss Boardman wants your advice as to whether she shall accept the three thousand dollars.�
“Has she called upon Congressman Baldwin?�
“No, and she will not do so. She has too much independence for that. She will not go to him.�
“Tell Lena not to be in a hurry, to wait a few days, and I will see if I can do anything for her.�
“All right; if you can help her any she will do the fair thing by you. She ought to receive much more than they offer her. Good night.�
Wycliff sat alone some time after his visitor had gone, looking into the fire,and thinking of many things. One of his long-cherished idols had been gradually dethroned. He had been, before coming to Papyrus, a great admirer of Congressman Baldwin. It was hard for him to give up his political idol, but he had seen the workingmen of Papyrus defrauded of their votes, and Congressman Baldwin a silent and satisfied witness of the robbery. One word from Congressman Baldwin, who was the political boss of the State, would have blotted from the statute books of Massachusetts the damnable “Five-Thousand-Dollar Law;� but Congressman Baldwin never spoke the word. Instead, his puppets at Boston voted to retain the law, which shielded railroad and street railway corporations from just punishment for deaths caused by them, and robbed families of their victims. Wycliff himself, by David Baldwin’s orders, had been blacklisted in all the Baldwin industries. The spotless Deacon Surface had notified every concern controlled by the Baldwins not to give employmentto John Wycliff. This was more than his idolatry would bear. A man will forgive many things, but ought he to forgive the man who tries to take the bread away from his family?
John Wycliff looked up at the face of Congressman Baldwin, on the wall opposite. He arose and took down the portrait.
“What on earth are you doing, John?� asked his wife, summoned from another room by the noise of breaking glass and splintering wood.
Bare feet came pattering down the stairs from the chamber above.
“Say, pop; what’s up?�
“Robbie, what did the Israelites do every time they got a chance? What did the Lord have to punish them for, very often?�
“Worshipping idols.�
“And once in a while, after being punished enough, what would they do?�
“Burn up their idols.�
“That’s right. That’s what I’ve been doing. Now I’ll kiss you both if you’llclear out, and leave me alone, to write.�
He then wrote a letter to an old friend and schoolmate, now an editor in Charleston, South Carolina. From that letter the following is extract taken:—
“You have frequently requested me to write something for your paper, a request which I have been very slow to comply with. I do not suppose you wish me to write your editorials, and the enclosed article is only intended as a hint of the way in which I would use the facts referred to.�
“You have frequently requested me to write something for your paper, a request which I have been very slow to comply with. I do not suppose you wish me to write your editorials, and the enclosed article is only intended as a hint of the way in which I would use the facts referred to.�
Within a week the whole country echoed with the first public attack ever made upon Congressman Baldwin. The attack was made by a Charleston, South Carolina, newspaper, and every political paper in the country was immediately drawn into the combat, either as an assailant or defender of the Congressman. Congressman Baldwin in a public speech, had commented bitterly upon the cheapness of human life in the South; and now every Southern newspaper, and many of their Northern sympathizers, were revenged upon him. The followingparagraphs from the Charleston paper formed the key-note of their attack:—
“We have listened, and so has the rest of the country, while this immaculate and infallible Baldwin upbraided us for the cheapness of a human life in the South. What is the value of human life in Congressman Baldwin’s own model town of Papyrus, in the model state of Massachusetts? Congressman Baldwin’s trolley company takes the life of a man earning fifteen hundred dollars a year, and in full payment for that life, it offers the victim’s family three thousand dollars. The Savings Banks offer the safest investment for widows and orphans. Should they accept, they would receive from the savings bank, at three and a half per cent.,—one hundred and five dollars a year.“To sum up the case: Congressman Baldwin’s railway takes a life worth fifteen hundred dollars a year to the victim’s family, and offers that family one hundred and five dollars a year in full settlement. And yet Congressman Baldwin says that human life is cheap,—in the South. Under Massachusetts law a railway company cannot be obliged to pay more than five thousand dollars fortaking a human life, while under a just law, like that of New York, a railroad corporation has been compelled to pay one hundred thousand dollars for a human life, lost through its negligence. A jury awarded that sum against the New York Central for a victim of the Park Avenue tunnel disaster of 1902.“Congressman Baldwin is the political boss of his state, and responsible for that law which says to all the world that Massachusetts has no man whose life is worth more than five thousand dollars. Yet South Carolina once had slaves whose masters would not part with them for that sum. The explanation is simple. Baldwin has millions in railroads.“One more item and we are done. Baldwin and other Massachusetts statesmen declaim loudly against negro disfranchisement in the South: ‘Consistency is a jewel.’ Baldwin’s own mill-hands cannot vote on town-appropriations. Under the Massachusetts law they must stay in the mills and add to the Baldwin millions, while he ‘runs the town.’ Southerners say the black man is not fit to run the State. Baldwin of Massachusetts says his white mill-hands are not fit to run the Town. And he has Massachusetts law with him. ‘Peoplewho live in glass houses should not throw stones.’�
“We have listened, and so has the rest of the country, while this immaculate and infallible Baldwin upbraided us for the cheapness of a human life in the South. What is the value of human life in Congressman Baldwin’s own model town of Papyrus, in the model state of Massachusetts? Congressman Baldwin’s trolley company takes the life of a man earning fifteen hundred dollars a year, and in full payment for that life, it offers the victim’s family three thousand dollars. The Savings Banks offer the safest investment for widows and orphans. Should they accept, they would receive from the savings bank, at three and a half per cent.,—one hundred and five dollars a year.
“To sum up the case: Congressman Baldwin’s railway takes a life worth fifteen hundred dollars a year to the victim’s family, and offers that family one hundred and five dollars a year in full settlement. And yet Congressman Baldwin says that human life is cheap,—in the South. Under Massachusetts law a railway company cannot be obliged to pay more than five thousand dollars fortaking a human life, while under a just law, like that of New York, a railroad corporation has been compelled to pay one hundred thousand dollars for a human life, lost through its negligence. A jury awarded that sum against the New York Central for a victim of the Park Avenue tunnel disaster of 1902.
“Congressman Baldwin is the political boss of his state, and responsible for that law which says to all the world that Massachusetts has no man whose life is worth more than five thousand dollars. Yet South Carolina once had slaves whose masters would not part with them for that sum. The explanation is simple. Baldwin has millions in railroads.
“One more item and we are done. Baldwin and other Massachusetts statesmen declaim loudly against negro disfranchisement in the South: ‘Consistency is a jewel.’ Baldwin’s own mill-hands cannot vote on town-appropriations. Under the Massachusetts law they must stay in the mills and add to the Baldwin millions, while he ‘runs the town.’ Southerners say the black man is not fit to run the State. Baldwin of Massachusetts says his white mill-hands are not fit to run the Town. And he has Massachusetts law with him. ‘Peoplewho live in glass houses should not throw stones.’�
For weeks David Baldwin was the recipient of more unfriendly criticism than any other public man in Washington. The humble cause of all this trouble rolled his one gray eye, saying:—
“Blacklist me again for telling the truth, will you? Shut your eyes again, while your workmen’s votes are stolen, Dave Baldwin!�
Long before the battle was over the Congressman became very weary of it, and sent the following directions to his brother, Zechariah:—
“Pay Wells Boardman’s daughter twenty thousand dollars. Charge five thousand dollars to Papyrus Electric Railway, and balance to me.�
The news of this generous payment was spread throughout the country, and took the edge off the criticism of Baldwin.
“Is that you, Lena?� asked Mrs. Wycliff, one evening.
“I think it is,� was the answer.“Here’s a check for a thousand dollars, for your husband. Tell him he has earned it. I have said all along that John could make the Baldwins toe the mark. He is almost the only one about here who is not afraid of them, and he is the only one who hits them in the only place where they feel it,—in the newspapers. They don’t care anything about right and wrong, God, man or the devil, but they don’t like to have their injustice shown up in the newspapers, or in the courts. They don’t fear God, or His Word, or the Judgment Day, but they are afraid of newspapers and courts. I don’t care for the twenty thousand dollars myself, but with the income from it I can give my boys a good education. Tell John I hear that Zack Baldwin will give a thousand dollars to get him out of town. This thousand is for him to stay.�