Caesar's Column Part 25

And Frank, who had become riotous, said to me:

"You see, old fellow, you are about to marry a girl with a pedigree, and I another without one."

"No," said Christina, "I deny that charge; with us the very name we bear declares the pedigree. I am 'Christina Carl's Dotter,' and 'Carl' was the son of 'John,' who was the son of 'Frederick,' who was the son of 'Christian;' and so on for a hundred generations. I have a long pedigree; and I am very proud of it; and, what is more, they were all good, honest, virtuous people." And she heightened up a bit.

And then Frank kissed her before us all, and she boxed his ears, and then dinner was announced.

And what a pleasant dinner it was: the vegetables, crisp and fresh, were from their own garden; and the b.u.t.ter and milk and cream and schmearkase from their own dairy; and the fruit from their own trees; and the mother told us that the pudding was of Christina's own making; and thereupon Frank ate more of it than was good for him; and everything was so neat and bright, and everybody so happy; and Frank vowed that there never was before such luscious, golden b.u.t.ter; and Mrs. Jansen told us that that was the way they made it in Sweden, and she proceeded to explain the whole process. The only unhappy person at the table, it seemed to me, was poor Carl, and he had a wretched premonition that he was certainly going to drop some of the food on that brand-new broadcloth suit of his. I feel confident that when we took our departure he hurried to take off that overwhelming grandeur, with very much the feeling with which the dying saint shuffles off the mortal coil, and soars to heaven.

But then, in the midst of it all, there came across me the dreadful thought of what was to burst upon the world in a few days; and I could have groaned aloud in anguish of spirit. I felt we were like silly sheep gamboling on the edge of the volcano. But why not? We had not brought the world to this pa.s.s. Why should we not enjoy the sunshine, and that glorious light, brighter than all sunshine--the love of woman? For G.o.d alone, who made woman--the true woman--knows the infinite capacities for good which he has inclosed within her soul. And I don't believe one bit of that orthodox story. I think Eve ate the apple to obtain knowledge, and Adam devoured the core because he was hungry.

And these thoughts, of course, were suggested by my looking at Estella. She and Christina were in a profound conference; the two shades of golden hair mingling curiously as they whispered to each other, and blushed and laughed. And then Estella came over to me, and smiled and blushed again, and whispered: "Christina is delighted with the plan."

And then I said to Max, in a dignified, solemn way:

'My dear Max, or Frank, or Arthur, or whatever thy name may be--and 'if thou hast no other name to call thee by I will call thee devil'--I have observed, with great regret, that thou art very much afraid of standing up to-morrow and encountering in wedlock's ceremony the battery of bright eyes of the three Christinas. Now I realize that a friend should not only 'bear a friend's infirmities,'

but that he should stand by him in the hour of danger; and so to-morrow, 'when fear comes down upon you like a house,' Estella and I have concluded to stand with you, in the imminent deadly breach, and share your fate; and if, when you get through, there are any of the Christinas left, I will--with Estella's permission--even marry them myself 'For I am determined that such good material shall not go to waste.'

There was a general rejoicing, and Max embraced me; and then he hugged Christina; and then I took advantage of the excuse--I was very happy in finding such excuses--to do likewise by my stately beauty; and then there was handshaking by the old folks all around, and kisses from the little folks.

Not long afterward there was much whispering and laughing between Christina and Estella; they were in the garden; they seemed to be reading some paper, which they held between them. And then that scamp, Max, crept quietly behind them, and, reaching over, s.n.a.t.c.hed the paper out of their hands. And then Estella looked disturbed, and glanced at me and blushed; and Max began to dance and laugh, and cried out, "Ho! ho! we have a poet in the family!" And then I realized that some verses, which I had given Estella the day before, had fallen into the hands of that mocker. I would not give much for a man who does not grow poetical when he is making love. It is to man what song is to the bird. But to have one's weaknesses exposed--that is another matter! And so I ran after Max; but in vain. He climbed into a tree, and then began to recite my love poetry:

"Listen to this," he cried; "here are fourteen verses; each one begins and ends with the word _'thee.'_ Here's a sample:

"'All thought, all fear, all grief, all earth, all air, Forgot shall be; Knit unto each, to each kith, kind and kin,-- Life, like these rhyming verses, shall begin And end in--_thee!_'

"And here," he cried, "is another long poem. Phœbus! what a name--_'Artesian Waters!'_

Here Christina, Estella and I pelted the rogue with apples.

"I know why they are called 'Artesian Waters,'" he cried; "it is because it took a great _bore_ to produce them. Hal ha! But listen to it:

"'There is a depth at which perpetual springs Fresh water, in all lands: The which once reached, the buried torrent flings Its treasures o'er the sands.'

"Ouch!" he cried, "that one hit me on the nose: I mean the apple, not the verse.

"'One knows not how, beneath the dark, deep crust, The clear flood there has come: One knows not why, amid eternal dust, Slumbers that sea of foam.'

"Plain enough," he cried, dodging the apples; "the attraction of gravitation did the business for it.

"'Dark-buried, sepulchred, entombed and deep, Away from mortal ken, It lies, till, summoned from its silent sleep, It leaps to light again.'

"Very good," he said, "and now here comes the application, the moral of the poem.

"'So shall we find no intellect so dull, No soul so cold to move, No heart of self or sinfulness so full, But still hath power to love.'

"Of course," he said; "he knows how it is himself; the poet fills the bill exactly.

'It lives immortal, universal all, The tenant of each breast; Locked in the silence of unbroken thrall, And deep and pulseless rest; Till, at a touch, with burst of power and pride, Its swollen torrents roll, Dash all the trappings of the mind aside, And ride above the soul.'

"Hurrah!" he cried, "that's splendid! But here's some more: _'To Estella.'_"

But I could stand no more, and so began to climb the tree. It was an apple-tree, and not a very big one at that, and Max was forced to retreat out upon a limb, and then drop to the ground. But the young ladies were too quick for him; they pounced upon him as he fell; and very soon my precious verses were hidden in Estella's bosom, whence, in a burst of confidence and pride, they had been taken to exhibit to Christina.

"Yes," said Estella, "it was nothing but mean jealousy, because he could not write such beautiful poetry to Christina." "Exactly," said Christina, "and I think I will refuse to marry him until he produces some verses equally fine."

"Before I would write such poetry as that," said Max, "I would go and hang myself."

"No man ought to be allowed to marry," said Estella, "until he has written a poem."

"If you drive Max to that," I said, "other people will hang themselves rather than hear his verses."

And thus, with laugh and jest and badinage, the glorious hours pa.s.sed away.

It was growing late; but we could not go until we had seen the cows milked, for that was a great event in the household; and "Bossy"

especially was a wonderful cow. Never before in the world had there been such a cow as "Bossy." The children had tied some ribbons to her horns, and little Ole was astride of her broad back, his chubby legs pointing directly to the horizon, and the rest of the juveniles danced around her; while the gentle and patient animal stood chewing her cud, with a profound look upon her peaceful face, much like that of a chief-justice considering "the rule in Sh.e.l.ley's case," or some other equally solemn and momentous subject.

And I could not help but think how kindly we should feel toward these good, serviceable ministers to man; for I remembered how many millions of our race had been nurtured through childhood and maturity upon their generous largess. I could see, in my imagination, the great bovine procession, lowing and moving, with their bleating calves trotting by their side, stretching away backward, farther and farther, through all the historic period; through all the conquests and b.l.o.o.d.y earth-staining battles, and all the sin and suffering of the race; and far beyond, even into the dim, pre-historic age, when the Aryan ancestors of all the European nations dwelt together under the same tents, and the blond-haired maidens took their name of "daughters" (the very word we now use) from their function of milkmaidens. And it seemed to me that we should love a creature so intimately blended with the history of our race, and which had done so much, indirectly, to give us the foundation on which to build civilization.

But we must away; and Carl, glad to do something in scenes in which he was not much fitted to shine, drove us to the station in his open spring wagon; Estella, once more the elderly, spectacled maiden, by my side; and the sunny little Christina beside Max's mother--going to the station to see us off; while that gentleman, on the front seat, talked learnedly with Carl about the pedigree of the famous horse "Lightning," which had just trotted its mile in less than two minutes.

And I thought, as I looked at Carl, how little it takes to make a happy household; and what a beautiful thing the human race is under favorable circ.u.mstances; and what a wicked and cruel and utterly abominable thing is the man who could oppress it, and drive it into the filth of sin and shame.

I will not trouble you, my dear brother, by giving you a detailed account of the double marriage the next day. The same person married us both--a Scandinavian preacher, a friend of the Jansen family. I was not very particular who tied the knot and signed the bill of sale of Estella, provided I was sure the t.i.tle was good. But I do think that the union of man and wife should be something more than a mere civil contract. Marriage is not a partnership to sell dry goods--(sometimes, it is true, it is princ.i.p.ally an obligation to buy them)--or to practice medicine or law together; it is, or should be, an intimate blending of two souls, and natures, and lives; and where the marriage is happy and perfect there is, undoubtedly, a growing-together, not only of spirit and character, but even in the physical appearance of man and wife. Now as these two souls came--we concede--out of heaven, it seems to me that the ceremony which thus destroys their individuality, and blends them into one, should have some touch and color of heaven in it also.

It was a very happy day.

As I look upon it now it seems to me like one of those bright, wide rays of glorious light which we have sometimes seen bursting through a rift in the clouds, from the setting sun, and illuminating, for a brief s.p.a.ce of time, the black, perturbed and convulsed sky. One of our poets has compared it to--

"A dead soldier's sword athwart his pall."

But it faded away, and the storm came down, at last, heavy and dark and deadly.

CHAPTER x.x.x.

UPON THE HOUSE-TOP

A few days after our joint wedding Max came running in one day, and said:

"It is to be to-morrow."

He gave each of us a red cross to sew upon our clothes. He was very much excited, and hurried out again.

I had said to him, the morning of our marriage, that I desired to return home before the outbreak came, for I was now responsible for Estella's life and safety; and I feared that all communication of one part of the world with another would be cut off by the threatened revolution. He had begged me to remain. He said that at the interview with General Quincy it had been made a condition of the contract that each of the executive committee--Caesar, the vice-president and himself--should have one of the flying air-ships placed at his disposal, after the outbreak, well manned and equipped with bombs and arms of all kinds. These "Demons" were to be subject to their order at any time, and to be guarded by the troops at their magazine in one of the suburbs until called for.

The committee had several reasons for making this arrangement: the outbreak might fail and they would have to fly; or the outbreak might succeed, but become ungovernable, and they would have to escape from the tempest they had themselves invoked. Max had always had a dream that after the Plutocracy was overthrown the insurgents would reconstruct a purer and better state of society; but of late my conversations with him, and his own observations, had begun to shake his faith in this particular.

He said to me that if I remained he would guarantee the safety of myself and wife, and after I had seen the outbreak he would send me home in his air-ship; and moreover, if he became satisfied that the revolution had pa.s.sed beyond the control of himself and friends, he would, after rescuing his father from the prison where he was confined, accompany me with his whole family, and we would settle down together in my distant mountain home. He had, accordingly, turned all his large estate into gold and silver, which he had brought to the house; and I had likewise filled one large room full of a great library of books, which I had purchased to take with me--literature, science, art, encyclopedias, histories, philosophies, in fact all the treasures of the world's genius--together with type, printing presses, telescopes, phonographs, photographic instruments, electrical apparatus, eclesions, phemasticons, and all the other great inventions which the last hundred years have given us. For, I said to myself, if civilization utterly perishes in the rest of the world, there, in the mountains of Africa, shut out from attack by rocks and ice-topped mountains, and the cordon of tropical barbarians yet surrounding us, we will wait until exhausted and prostrate mankind is ready to listen to us and will help us reconstruct society upon a wise and just basis.

In the afternoon Max returned, bringing with him Carl Jansen and all his family. A dozen men also came, bearing great boxes. They were old and trusted servants of his father's family; and the boxes contained magazine rifles and pistols and fixed ammunition, together with hand-grenades. These were taken out, and we were all armed. Even the women had pistols, and knives strapped to their girdles. The men went out and again returned, bearing quant.i.ties of food, sufficient to last us during a siege, and also during our flight to my home. Water was also collected in kegs and barrels, for the supply might be cut of. Then Max came, and under his orders, as soon as night fell, the lower windows, the cellar openings and the front door were covered with sheathings of thick oak plank, of three thicknesses, strongly nailed; then the second story windows were similarly protected, loopholes being first bored, through which our rifles could be thrust, if necessary. Then the upper windows were also covered in the same way. The back door was left free for ingress and egress through the yard and back street, but powerful bars were arranged across it, and the oak plank left ready to board it up when required. The hand-grenades--there were a pile of them--were carried up to the flat roof. Then one of the men went out and painted red crosses on the doors and windows.