The Crisis, Complete.
by Winston Churchill.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I. WHICH DEALS WITH ORIGINS
Faithfully to relate how Eliphalet Hopper came try St. Louis is to betray no secret. Mr. Hopper is wont to tell the story now, when his daughter-in-law is not by; and sometimes he tells it in her presence, for he is a shameless and determined old party who denies the divine right of Boston, and has taken again to chewing tobacco.
When Eliphalet came to town, his son"s wife, Mrs. Samuel D. (or S.
Dwyer as she is beginning to call herself), was not born. Gentlemen of Cavalier and Puritan descent had not yet begun to arrive at the Planters" House, to buy hunting shirts and broad rims, belts and bowies, and depart quietly for Kansas, there to indulge in that; most pleasurable of Anglo-Saxon pastimes, a free fight. Mr. Douglas had not thrown his bone of Local Sovereignty to the sleeping dogs of war.
To return to Eliphalet"s arrival,--a picture which has much that is interesting in it. Behold the friendless boy he stands in the prow of the great steamboat "Louisiana" of a scorching summer morning, and looks with something of a nameless disquiet on the chocolate waters of the Mississippi. There have been other sights, since pa.s.sing Louisville, which might have disgusted a Ma.s.sachusetts lad more. A certain deck on the "Paducah", which took him as far as Cairo, was devoted to cattle--black cattle. Eliphalet possessed a fortunate temperament. The deck was dark, and the smell of the wretches confined there was worse than it should have been. And the incessant weeping of some of the women was annoying, inasmuch as it drowned many of the profane communications of the overseer who was showing Eliphalet the sights. Then a fine-linened planter from down river had come in during the conversation, and paying no attention to the overseer"s salute cursed them all into silence, and left.
Eliphalet had ambition, which is not a wholly undesirable quality.
He began to wonder how it would feel to own a few of these valuable fellow-creatures. He reached out and touched lightly a young mulatto woman who sat beside him with an infant in her arms. The peculiar dumb expression on her face was lost on Eliphalet. The overseer had laughed coa.r.s.ely.
"What, skeered on "em?" said he. And seizing the girl by the cheek, gave it a cruel twinge that brought a cry out of her.
Eliphalet had reflected upon this incident after he had bid the overseer good-by at Cairo, and had seen that pitiful coffle piled aboard a steamer for New Orleans. And the result of his reflections was, that some day he would like to own slaves.
A dome of smoke like a mushroom hung over the city, visible from far down the river, motionless in the summer air. A long line of steamboats--white, patient animals--was tethered along the levee, and the Louisiana presently swung in her bow toward a gap in this line, where a ma.s.s of people was awaiting her arrival. Some invisible force lifted Eliphalet"s eyes to the upper deck, where they rested, as if by appointment, on the trim figure of the young man in command of the Louisiana. He was very young for the captain of a large New Orleans packet. When his lips moved, something happened. Once he raised his voice, and a negro stevedore rushed frantically aft, as if he had received the end of a lightning-bolt. Admiration burst from the pa.s.sengers, and one man cried out Captain Brent"s age--it was thirty-two.
Eliphalet snapped his teeth together. He was twenty-seven, and his ambition actually hurt him at such times. After the boat was fast to the landing stage he remained watching the captain, who was speaking a few parting words to some pa.s.sengers of fashion. The body-servants were taking their luggage to the carriages. Mr. Hopper envied the captain his free and vigorous speech, his ready jokes, and his hearty laugh. All the rest he knew for his own--in times to come. The carriages, the trained servants, the obsequiousness of the humbler pa.s.sengers. For of such is the Republic.
Then Eliphalet picked his way across the hot stones of the levee, pushing hither and thither in the rough crowd of river men; dodging the mules on the heavy drays, or making way for the carriages of the few people of importance who arrived on the boat. If any recollections of a cool, white farmhouse amongst barren New England hills disturbed his thoughts, this is not recorded. He gained the mouth of a street between the low houses which crowded on the broad river front. The black mud was thick under his feet from an overnight shower, and already steaming in the sun. The brick pavement was lumpy from much travel and near as dirty as the street. Here, too, were drays blocking the way, and sweaty negro teamsters swinging cowhides over the mules. The smell of many wares poured through the open doors, mingling with the perspiration of the porters. On every side of him were busy clerks, with their suspenders much in evidence, and Eliphalet paused once or twice to listen to their talk. It was tinged with that dialect he had heard, since leaving Cincinnati.
Turning a corner, Eliphalet came abruptly upon a prophecy. A great drove of mules was charging down the gorge of the street, and straight at him.
He dived into an entrance, and stood looking at the animals in startled wonder as they thundered by, flinging the mud over the pavements. A cursing lot of drovers on ragged horses made the rear guard.
Eliphalet mopped his brow. The mules seemed to have aroused in him some sense of his atomity, where the sight of the pillar of smoke and of the black cattle had failed. The feeling of a stranger in a strange land was upon him at last. A strange land, indeed! Could it be one with his native New England? Did Congress a.s.semble from the Antipodes? Wasn"t the great, ugly river and dirty city at the end of the earth, to be written about in Boston journals?
Turning in the doorway, he saw to his astonishment a great store, with high ceilings supported by columns. The door was stacked high with bales of dry goods. Beside him was a sign in gold lettering, "Carvel and Company, Wholesale Dry Goods." And lastly, looking down upon him with a quizzical expression, was a gentleman. There was no mistaking the gentleman. He was cool, which Eliphalet was not. And the fact is the more remarkable because the gentleman was attired according to the fashion of the day for men of his age, in a black coat with a teal of ruffled shirt showing, and a heavy black stock around his collar. He had a white mustache, and a goatee, and white hair under his black felt hat.
His face was long, his nose straight, and the sweetness of its smile had a strange effect upon Eliphalet, who stood on one foot.
"Well, sonny, scared of mules, are you?" The speech is a stately drawl very different from the nasal tw.a.n.g of Eliphalet"s bringing up. "Reckon you don"t come from anywhere round here?"
"No, sir," said Eliphalet. "From Willesden, Ma.s.sachusetts."
"Come in on the "Louisiana"?"
"Yes, sir." But why this politeness?
The elderly gentleman lighted a cigar. The noise of the rushing mules had now become a distant roar, like a whirlwind which has swept by. But Eliphalet did not stir.
"Friends in town?" inquired the gentleman at length.
"No, sir," sighed Mr. Hopper.
At this point of the conversation a crisp step sounded from behind and wonderful smile came again on the surface.
"Mornin", Colonel," said a voice which made Eliphalet jump. And he swung around to perceive the young captain of the Louisiana.
"Why, Captain Lige," cried the Colonel, without ceremony, "and how do you find yourself to-day, suh? A good trip from Orleans? We did not look for you so soon."
"Tolluble, Colonel, tolluble," said the young man, grasping the Colonel"s hand. "Well, Colonel, I just called to say that I got the seventy bales of goods you wanted."
"Ephum" cried the Colonel, diving toward a counter where gla.s.ses were set out,--a custom new to Eliphalet,--"Ephum, some of that very particular Colonel Crittenden sent me over from Kentucky last week."
An old darkey, with hair as white as the Colonel"s, appeared from behind the part.i.tion.
"I "lowed you"d want it, Ma.r.s.e Comyn, when I seed de Cap"n comin"," said he, with the privilege of an old servant. Indeed, the bottle was beneath his arm.
The Colonel smiled.
"Hope you"se well, Cap"n," said Ephum, as he drew the cork.
"Tolluble, Ephum," replied the Captain. "But, Ephum--say, Ephum!"
"Yes, sah."
"How"s my little sweetheart, Ephum?"
"Bress your soul, sah," said Ephum, his face falling perceptibly, "bress your soul, sah, Miss Jinny"s done gone to Halcyondale, in Kaintuck, to see her grandma. Ole Ephum ain"t de same n.i.g.g.e.r when she"s away."
The young Captain"s face showed as much disappointment as the darkey"s.
"Cuss it!" said he, strongly, "if that ain"t too bad! I brought her a Creole doll from New Orleans, which Madame Claire said was dressed finer than any one she"d ever seen. All lace and French gewgaws, Colonel. But you"ll send it to her?"
"That I will, Lige," said the Colonel, heartily. "And she shall write you the prettiest note of thanks you ever got."
"Bless her pretty face," cried the Captain. "Her health, Colonel! Here"s a long life to Miss Virginia Carvel, and may she rule forever! How old did you say this was?" he asked, looking into the gla.s.s.
"Over half a century," said Colonel Carvel.
"If it came from the ruins of Pompeii," cried Captain Brent, "it might be worthy of her!"
"What an idiot you are about that child, Lige," said the Colonel, who was not hiding his pleasure. The Colonel could hide nothing. "You ruin her!"
The bluff young Captain put down his gla.s.s to laugh.
"Ruin her!" he exclaimed. "Her pa don"t ruin her I eh, Ephum? Her pa don"t ruin her!"
"Lawsy, Ma.r.s.e Lige, I reckon he"s wuss"n any."
"Ephum," said the Colonel, pulling his goatee thoughtfully, "you"re a d.a.m.ned impertinent n.i.g.g.e.r. I vow I"ll sell you South one of these days.
Have you taken that letter to Mr. Renault?" He winked at his friend as the old darkey faded into the darkness of the store, and continued: "Did I ever tell you about Wilson Peale"s portrait of my grandmother, Dorothy Carvel, that I saw this summer at my brother Daniel"s, in Pennsylvania?