Cæsar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century

terms I have named, I thinkwe can get along pleasantly together. I may not be here all the time.'

  "The offer was accepted; the workman was dismissed with thanks. Thatafternoon the whole family moved in. The delight of Christina wasunbounded. There was one room which I had forseen would be assignedto her, and that I had adorned with some flowers. She was introducedto me; we shook hands; and I was soon a member of the family. What acurious flock of little white-heads, of all ages, they were--sturdy,rosy, chubby, healthy, merry, and loving toward one another. Theybrought very little of their poor furniture with them; it was tooshabby for the new surroundings; they gave it away to their formerneighbors. But I noticed that the father carefully carried into thekitchen an old chair, time-worn and venerable; the back was gone, andit was nothing but a stool. The next day I observed a pudgy littleboy, not quite three years old (the father's favorite, as Idiscovered), driving wrought nails into it with a little iron hammer.

  "'Stop! stop! my man!' I exclaimed; 'you must not drive nails in thefurniture.'

  "I looked at the chair: the seat of it was a mass of nailholes. Andthen Christina, noticing my looks of perplexity, said:

  "'Last Christmas we were very, very poor. Papa was out of work. Wecould scarcely get enough to eat. Papa saw the preparations in thestore windows for Christmas--the great heaps of presents; and he sawthe busy parents hurrying about buying gifts for their children, andhe felt very sad that he could not give us any presents, not even tolittle Ole, whom he loves so much. So he went into the blacksmithshop of a friend, and, taking up a piece of iron that had been thrownon the floor, he made that little hammer Ole has in his hand, and anumber of wrought nails; and he brought them home and showed Ole howto use the hammer and drive the nails into the chair; and when he haddriven them all into the wood, papa would pry them out for him, andthe work would commence all over again, and Ole was happy all daylong.'

  "I found my eyes growing damp; for I was thinking of the riotousprofusion of the rich, and of the costly toys they heap upon theirchildren; and the contrast of this poor man, unable to buy a singlecheap toy for his family, and giving his chubby boy a rude ironhammer and nails, to pound into that poor stool, as a substitute fordoll or rocking-horse, was very touching. And then I looked with somewonder at the straightforward honesty of the little maid, who, in themidst of the new, fine house, was not ashamed to talk so frankly ofthe dismal wretchedness and want which a few days before had been thelot of the family. She saw nothing to be ashamed of in poverty; whileby meaner and more sordid souls it is regarded as the very abasementof shame and crime.

  "Ole was pounding away at his nails.

  "'Does he not hurt himself sometimes?' I asked.

  "'Oh yes, she said, laughing; 'at first he would hit his littlefingers many a hard rap; and he would start to cry, but papa wouldtell him that "_men_ never cry;--and then it was funny to see how hewould purse up his little red mouth, while the tears of pain ran downfrom his big round eyes, but not a sound more would escape him.'

  "And I said to myself: 'This is the stuff of which was formed themasterful race that overran the world under the names of a dozendifferent peoples. Ice and snow made the tough fiber, mental andphysical, which the hot sun of southern climes afterward melted intothe viciousness of more luxurious nations. Man is scourged intogreatness by adversity, and leveled into mediocrity by prosperity.This little fellow, whose groans die between his set teeth, has inhim the blood of the Vikings.'

  "There was one thing I did out of policy, which yet went very muchagainst my inclinations, in dealing with such good and honest people.I knew that in all probability I had been traced by the spies of theOligarchy to this house; they would regard it of course as a crazyadventure, and would naturally assign it to base purposes. But itwould not do for me to appear altogether different, even in thisfamily, from the character I had given myself out to be, of areckless and dissipated man; for the agents of my enemies might talkto the servant, or to members of the household. And so the secondnight I came home to supper apparently drunk. It was curious to seethe looks of wonder, sorrow and sympathy exchanged between themembers of the family as I talked ramblingly and incoherently at thetable. But this feint served one purpose; it broke down the barrierbetween landlord and tenants. Indeed, paradoxical as it may seem, Ithink they thought more of me because of my supposed infirmity; for'pity is akin to love;' and it is hard for the tenderer feelings ofthe heart to twine about one who is so strong and flawless that hedemands no sympathy or forbearance at our hands. I ceased to be therich owner of a house--I was simply one of themselves; a foolishjourneyman printer; given to drink, but withal a kindly and pleasantman. Two days afterwards, Christina, who had looked at me severaltimes with a troubled brow, took me aside and tried to persuade me tojoin a temperance society of which her father was a member. It wasvery pretty and touching to see the motherly way in which the littlewoman took my hand, and coaxed me to give up my vice, and told me,with eloquent earnestness, all the terrible consequences which wouldflow from it. I was riot foolish enough to think that any tendersentiment influenced her. It was simply her natural goodness, and herpity for a poor fellow, almost now one of their own family, who wasgoing to destruction. And indeed, if I had been a veritable drunkard,she would have turned me from my evil courses. But I assured her thatI would try to reform; that I would drink less than previously, andthat, on the next New Year's day, I might be able to summon upcourage enough to go with her father to his society, and pledgemyself to total abstinence. She received these promises with manyexpressions of pleasure; and, although I had to keep up my falsecharacter, I never afterwards wounded her feelings by appearinganything more than simply elevated in spirit by drink.

  "They were a very kind, gentle, good people; quite unchanged byprosperity and unaffected in their manners. Even in their poverty thechildren had all looked clean and neat; now they were prettily, butnot expensively, dressed. Their religious devotion was great; and Iendeared myself to them by sometimes joining in their householdprayers. And I said to myself: If there is no God--as the miserablephilosophers tell us--there surely ought to be one, if for nothingelse than to listen to the supplications of these loving and gratefulhearts. And I could not believe that such tender devotions couldascend and be lost forever in empty and unresponsive space. Theimpulse of prayer, it seems to me, presupposes a God."

  CHAPTER XXV.

  MAX'S STORY CONTINUED--THE DARK SHADOW

  "But a cloud was moving up to cover the fair face of this pleasantprospect; and yet the sun was shining and the birds singing.

  "Christina was very busy during the day with her teachers. She lovedmusic and was anxious to excel. She had her lessons on the piano; sheimproved her mind by a judicious course of reading, in which I helpedher somewhat; she went twice a week to a grand Italian maestro, whoperfected her in her singing. And she took long walks to the poorneighborhood where she had formerly lived, to visit the sick andwretched among her old acquaintances, and she never left themempty-handed.

  "At the theater she grew more and more popular. Even the rudest ofthe audience recognized instinctively in her the goodness which theythemselves lacked. Every song was an ovation. Her praises began toresound in the newspapers; and she had already received advances fromthe manager of one of the grand opera-houses. A bright future openedbefore her--a vista of light and music and wealth and delight.

  "She did not escape, however, the unpleasant incidents natural tosuch a career. Her mother accompanied her to every performance, andwas, in so far, a shield to her; but she was beset with visitors atthe house; she was annoyed by men who stopped and claimedacquaintance with her on the streets; she received many gifts,flowers, fruit, jewelry, and all the other tempting sweet nothingswhich it is thought bewitch the heart of frail woman. But they had noeffect upon her. Only goodness seemed to cling to her, and evil fellfar off from her. You may set two plants side by side in the samesoil--one will draw only bitterness and poison from the earth; whileth
e other will gather, from the same nurture, nothing but sweetnessand perfume.

  'For virtue, as it never will be moved, Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven; So lust, though to a radiant angel linked, Will sate itself in a celestial bed, And prey on garbage."

  "Among the men who pestered Christina with their attentions was ayoung fellow named Nathan Brederhagan, the son of a rich widow. Hewas one of those weak and shallow brains to whom wealth becomes onlya vehicle in which to ride to destruction. He was in reality all thatI pretended to be--a reckless, drunken, useless spendthrift, with nohigher aim in life than wine and woman. He spent his days in vanityand his nights in debauchery. Across the clouded portal of thisfool's brain came, like a vision, the beautiful, gentle, giftedChristina. She was a new toy, the most charming he had ever