Elder Conklin - Frank Harris (i am malala young readers edition .TXT) š
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At this moment Mrs. Gulmore re-entered the room.
āTo think of it! Sal left the gas-stove flarinā. I made her get up and come downstairs to put it out. Thatāll learn her! Of all the careless, shiftless creatures, these coloured people are the worst. Come, Ida, itās long after nine, and Iām tired. You can read in your bedroom if you want to.ā
After the usual āgood nightā and kisses, Ida went upstairs. While Mrs. Gulmore busied herself putting āthings straight,ā Mr. Gulmore sat thinking:
āShe takes after her mother in everythinā, but she has more pride. Itās that makes her bitter. Sheās jest like herāonly prettier. The same peaky nose, pointed chin, little thin ears set close to her head, fine hairāthe Yankee school-marm. First-rate managinā women; the best wives in the world to keep a house anā help a man on. But they haināt got sensuality enough to be properly affectionate.ā
*
On the following afternoon Roberts stopped before the door of his house and looked back towards the University. There on the crest of the hill stood the huge building of bluish-grey stone with the round tower of the observatory in the middleālike a mallet with a stubby handle in the air.
While gazing thus a shrill voice reached him, the eager treble of a newsboy:
āGreat Scandal!ā he heardāand then āScandal in the University! Full Report! Only five cents! Five cents for the āHeraldāsā Special!ā
He hastened to the gate and beckoned to the little figure in the distance. His thoughts were whirling. What did it mean? Could the āHeraldā have issued a special edition with the report of the meeting? Impossible! there wasnāt time for that. Yet, he had walked leisurely with Krazinski, and newspapers did wonders sometimes. Wonders! ātwould be a breach of confidence. There was an honourable understanding that no one should divulge what took place in a Faculty meeting. āHonourableā and Gulmoreāthe two words wouldnāt go together. Could it be?
A glance at the contents-bill brought a flush to his face. He gave a quarter for the sheet, and as the boy fumbled for change he said, taking hold of the bill:
āI want this too; you can keep the rest of the money,ā and hurried into the house.
May met him at the door of the sitting-room, but did not speak, while he opened out the paper, and in silence showed her the six columns, containing a verbatim report of the meeting.
āWhat do you think of that?ā he asked, and without waiting for an answer he spread the contents-bill upon the table.
āThis is better,ā he went on, bitterly. āRead this!ā And she read:
RUCTIONS IN LEARNINGāS HOME.
THE PRESIDENTāS FLANK ATTACK.
FOURS TO A PAIR.
THE PAGAN RETIRES AND THE POLE.
āOh, the brutes! How could they?ā May exclaimed. āBut what does it mean?ā
āYou have it all there,ā he said, touching the bill; āall in two or three lines of cheerful insult, as is our American fashion. In spite of the opinion of every leading lawyer in the State, sixteenāfanatics, to give them the benefit of the doubt, voted that a disbelief in Christian dogma was the same thing as āopen immorality.ā The Father of Lies made such men!ā
āDid no one vote for you?ā
āTwo, Krazinski and some one else, I think ātwas little Black, and two papers were blank. But fancy the President speaking against me, though he has a casting-vote. All he could say was that the parents were the only proper judges of what a student should be taught. Let us grant that; I may have been mistaken, wrong, if you like; but my fault was not āopen immorality,ā as specified in the Statute. They lied against me, those sixteen.ā
May sympathized too keenly with his indignation to think of trying to allay it; she couldnāt help asking, āWhat did you do after the voting?ā
āWhat could I do? I had had enough of such opponents. I told them that if they dismissed me Iād take the case into the courts, where at the worst their reading of the words āopen immoralityā would be put upon record, and my character freed from stain. But, if they chose to rescind their vote I said I was willing to resign.ā
āThey accepted that?ā
āKrazinski forced them to. He told them some home-truths. They dared not face the law courts lest it should come out that the professorships were the rewards of sectarian bigotry. He went right through the list, and ended by resigning his position.
āThen Campbell got up and regretted his speech. It was uncalled-for and āyou know the sort of thing. My colleagues, he said, would have preferred to retain my services if I had yielded to the opinion of the parents. Under the circumstances there was no course open but to accept my resignation. They would not enter the vote upon the minutes; they would even write me a letter expressing regret at losing me, etc. So the matter ended.
āComing down the hill I tried to persuade Krazinski not to resign on my account. But the dear old fellow was obstinate; he had long intended to retire. He was very kind. He thinks I shall find another place easily.
āNow, May, you have heard the whole tale, what is your opinion? Are you disappointed with me? You might well be. Iām disappointed with myself. Somehow or other Iāve not got hate enough in me to be a good fighter.ā
āDisappointed? How little you know me! Itās my life now to be with you. Whatever you say or do is right to me. I think itās all for the best; I wouldnāt have you stay here after what has passed.ā
May meant all she said, and more. At the bottom of her heart she was not sorry that he was going to leave Tecumseh. If she thereby lost the pleasure of appearing as his wife before the companions of her youth, on the other hand, he would belong to her more completely, now that he was cut off from all other sympathy and no longer likely to meet Miss Gulmore. Moreover, her determination to follow him in single-hearted devotion seemed to throw the limelight of romance upon her disagreement with her father, which had been much more acute than she had given Roberts to suppose. She had loved her father, and if he had appealed to her affection he could have so moved her that she would have shown Roberts a hesitation which, in his troubled and depressed condition, might have brought about a coldness between them, if not a rupture of their relations. But Hutchings, feeling that he was in the wrong, had contented himself with depreciating Roberts by sneer and innuendo, and so had aroused her generous partisanship. The proceedings of the Faculty naturally increased her sympathy with her lover, and her enthusiastic support did much to revive his confidence in himself. When they parted in the evening he had already begun to think of the preparations to be made for his journey Eastwards.
*
A few weeks later a little knot of friends stood together one morning on the down-platform of the Tecumseh station, waiting for the train to come in. Professor Roberts was the centre of the group, and by his side stood dainty May Hutchings, the violet eyes intense with courage that held the sweet lips to a smile. Around them were some ten or a dozen students and Krazinski, all in the highest spirits. They were talking about Robertsā new appointment at Yale, which he attributed to Krazinskiās influence. Presently they became aware of an unwonted stir at the entrance-door behind them. As they turned in wonder they saw that the negro hands had formed a lane through which, heralded by the obsequious station-master, Mr. Gulmore, with his daughter on his arm, was coming towards them. Heedless of their astonishment, the Boss walked on till he stood in front of Roberts.
āProfessor, weāve heard of your good fortune, and are come to congratulate you. Ida here always thought a pile of your knowledge anā teachinā, anā I guess she was right. Our little difference neednāt count now. You challenged me to a sort of wrastle anā you were thrown; but I bear no malice, anā Iām glad to offer you my hand anā to wish youā success.ā
Roberts shook hands without hesitation. He was simply surprised, and had no inkling of the reason which had led Gulmore to come to the station and to bring Ida. Had he been told that this was the fatherās plan for protecting his daughter against the possibility of indiscreet gossip he would have been still more astonished. āNor do I bear malice,ā he rejoined, with a smile; āthough the wrestling can hardly be considered fair when twenty pull one man down.ā
āāTwas my crowd against yours,ā replied the Boss indifferently. āBut Iām kinder sorry that youāre leavinā the town. Iād never have left a place where I was beaten. No, sir; Iād have taken root right there anā waited. Influence comes with time, anā you had youth on your side.ā
āThat may be your philosophy, Mr. Gulmore,ā said Roberts lightly, as the other paused, ābut itās not mine. Iām satisfied with one or two falls; theyāve taught me that the majority is with you.ā
Gulmoreās seriousness relaxed still further; he saw his opponentās ingenuousness, and took his statement as a tribute to his own power.
āMy philosophy,ā he began, as if the word pleased him, āmy philosophyāI guess I ken give you that in a few words. When I was a boy in Vermont I was reckoned smart at figgerinā. But one day an old farmer caught me. āSee here, boy,ā he said, āI live seventeen miles out of town, and when in late fall the roads are bad and I drive in with a cartload of potatoes, the shakinā sends all the big potatoes to the top and all the little ones to the bottom. Thatās good for me that wants to sell, but why is it? How does it come?ā
āWell, I didnāt know the reason then, anā I told him so. But I took the fact right there for my philosophy. Ef the road was long enough and rough enough I was sure to come to the top.ā
āI understand,ā said Roberts laughingly. āBut Iāve heard farmers here say that the biggest potatoes are not the best; they are generally hollow at theāin the middle, I mean.ā
āThatās weak,ā retorted Gulmore with renewed seriousness. āI shouldnāt hev thought youād hev missed the point like that. When I was a boy I skipped away from the meaninā out of conceit. I thought Iād climb high because I was big, and meant gettinā up moreān a little un could. But before I was a man I understood the reason. It isnāt that the big potatoes want particālar to come to the top; it is that the little potatoes are determined to get to the bottom.
āYou may now be havinā a boost up, Professor, I hope you are; but youāve gone underneath once, anā that looks bad.ā
āThe analogy seems perfect,ā replied Roberts thoughtfully. āBut, by your own showing, the big men owe their position to the number of their inferiors. And at the bottom lie the very smallest, helpless and bruised, supporting their fortunate brethren. A sad state of things at the best, Mr. Gulmore; but unbearable if the favoured ones forget their debt to those beneath them.ā
āSad or not,ā said the Boss, āit represents the facts, anā itās well to take account of them; but I guess we must be goinā, your timeāll soon be up. We wish you success, Professor.ā
SEPTEMBER, 1892 AND
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