Doctor Jones' Picnic Part 9

The hour of departure had arrived. Farewells had all been said, and the company had ascended except the Doctor and his wife.

"I cannot say what I wish to you," said Barton, taking each of them by the hand. "I simply look upon you as messengers from G.o.d, and I want to give you something more substantial than thanks." He placed a buckskin sack of gold in the hand of Dr. Jones.

"Oh! no, Mr. Barton, my good friend," said the Doctor, handing it back; "I won't take a cent. You are ten thousand times welcome to anything I have done. I feel myself richly remunerated in the satisfaction of leaving you all happy."

"Take it, Mrs. Jones, as a present from me," said Barton, and he pressed it into her hand. "You will really hurt me if you do not accept it."

"Then I will do so, Mr. Barton. Good-bye," and away they shot up to the cabin. At a given signal Joe and Sam cast the anchors off, they whizzed up to the engine-room, and the mighty ball bounded skyward like a bird in the clear, frosty morning air. A very brisk wind was blowing from nearly due south, and the voyagers were delighted with the progress they made that day toward their destination.

All day they sped at more than forty miles an hour over the vast elevated plains that were but barren wastes, growing every hour drearier and more desolate.

"Of all the misnomers on earth, the name given this country ranks first," said Professor Gray.

"What is the meaning of the word 'Labrador,' Professor?" asked Denison.

"The literal meaning of the word is 'cultivable land.' As to its appropriateness, you can judge for yourselves. I do not know who bestowed upon it this misfit of a name, but it must have been a hardy explorer, who did it in a fit of spleen and wretchedness."

"The Barton family seems to be comfortable and happy in poor old Labrador," said Mrs. Jones.

"Yes, but my dear madame, they do not live by cultivating the land,"

returned the Professor. "The seasons are too variable, and the changes of temperature are far too sudden to permit raising of crops of any kind."

"Mr. Barton told me that they did raise a little garden stuff, such as onions, lettuce, and radishes; but potatoes, corn, etc., invariably are nipped by frost, and never mature," said Denison.

The Professor, a few moments before noon, ascended to the observatory with s.e.xtant and chronometer, and determined the lat.i.tude and longitude of "Silver Cloud," as Mrs. Jones had named the aluminum ship. He made the entry in his logbook.

"There is our exact position now, Doctor," and he placed the point of a pencil on the map of Labrador.

"In forty-eight hours we will be within the Arctics at this rate of speed," cried Dr. Jones, rubbing his hands with delight.

The face of the country was so uninteresting and monotonous, covered more or less with snow, that the voyagers became tired of looking at it, and turned their attention to various pursuits within the cabin.

Becoming tired of music, they read, played games, conversed, etc.

The Doctor and Professor were each expert chess players, and their games were long and closely contested. Victory perched about as often upon the banner of one as the other.

Fred worked daily upon a composition which he ent.i.tled "The North Pole March," and declared that the music should be played by himself, while the rest of the company marched around the aluminum flagstaff, after its erection at the summit of the earth, the North Pole. The two ladies were greatly interested in Fred's composition, and hummed and sang it with him, offering suggestions here and there that were of more or less benefit to him.

Denison and Will spent their time attending to the springs, watching the thermometers and barometer. This, however, occupied but little of their leisure, and they played many games of checkers and backgammon. Will took an occasional snapshot with his camera when he saw anything of interest. He had taken some excellent photographs of Silver Cloud and company, which he had left with the Barton family. Who can doubt that they were an unfailing source of delight and tender remembrance to this intelligent and interesting family, as they sat about their great fireplace during the long winter nights. And the artist had taken some sketches of Constance House and inhabitants, which he had brought with him. He had converted one of the spare bedrooms into a studio, and spent an hour or two daily upon a portrait in oil of Jennie Barton. The fact of the matter is, the unadorned beauty and grace of the lovely Jennie had touched his artistic taste beyond anything that he had ever experienced in his life. And away deep in his heart, almost unknown to himself, was a determination to spend a summer season at Constance House, as soon after their return from the Pole as possible.

Silver Cloud all this time was hastening with the speed of a carrier pigeon, nearly due north. Dr. Jones and Professor Gray could not repress their satisfaction each day as their observations showed them to be moving straight as an arrow toward the object of their journey. The alt.i.tude they maintained was very little more or less than three thousand feet, and the wind continued from the south at the rate of twenty or thirty miles per hour. The outside temperature was balmy and bracing during the day, so that the balcony afforded them a splendid promenade, where they spent hours daily, exercising in walking round and round the s.p.a.cious cabin, and studying the topography of the country.

Frequent trips were also made to the observatory, and sitting there with the windows open was very inspiring, as well as comfortable. To thus sit in so elevated a place with the windows wide open, while in a state of perspiration, the result of climbing the long stairway, would seem to have been the height of imprudence. But we must remember that such a thing as a breeze or draft of air was never felt on board the Silver Cloud while in motion. The great ship went exactly with the wind, and at precisely the same rate of speed. So, whether the wind blew one or a hundred miles an hour, it was always a dead calm aboard the Silver Cloud.

"This is the ideal place for all catarrhal and pulmonary cases,"

declared Dr. Jones. "I shall always prescribe a trip in Silver Cloud for this cla.s.s of patients hereafter."

"I fully believe in its efficacy," said Professor Gray. "But I fear that it will be too expensive a prescription for many of your poor patients."

"That's the trouble, that's the trouble," a.s.sented the Doctor, shaking his head sadly. "Millions are yearly dying that might be saved by this and other means on the same line. But the blindness and selfishness of mankind is so absolute and infernal that but little philanthropic work of this sort can be done. There are some n.o.ble exceptions, or we should have suffered the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah long since."

"But, Doctor, you believe that the world is getting better, do you not?"

asked Will.

"In what way?"

"Well, in every way. No one can doubt that in the arts and sciences more has been done in the past fifty years than in all the previous history of the world."

"Granted," a.s.sented the Doctor.

"All right. Then let us look at the social, moral, and spiritual sides of the question. Socially, certainly, no period of history can compare with the present. We are educating our children, feeding and clothing them better than they ever were before in the world."

"I really think we are," again a.s.sented Dr. Jones.

"Well, then," cried Will, glowing with triumph, thinking that he was fairly smoking the little Doctor out, "what can you say for _your_ side of the question? Was there ever a time when life and property were so protected as now? And were there ever so many Bibles and tracts and other religious matter published and disseminated as at the present time? Missionaries are going by thousands all over the earth, and the gospel will soon have been preached to all nations."

"That's so, that's so," concurred the Doctor again.

"Come, come, Doctor; defend your side of the question," cried Fred.

"I did not know that I had committed myself to either side," returned he. "But I will say this much: While I am not pessimistic as to the outcome of this struggle going on between G.o.d's and Satan's forces in the world, yet we should not overlook the fact that the devil is fearfully active in these times. While I have admitted all that Will has said, yet there is another side to the question. Let me call your attention to the fact that there never was a time when there was so much rum and tobacco used in the world as to-day. The amount consumed per capita is increasing tremendously. Remember that with every missionary there are sent in the same ship from seventy-five to one hundred gallons of intoxicants, and tobacco galore. Never has this world seen so vast preparation for war. The people of all Europe are groaning beneath the taxation imposed upon them for the support of vast armies and navies. At no time has money been piled up in the hands of the few as at the present. Hundreds of millions in many instances are held by a single individual. By no sort of philosophy can he be ent.i.tled to it, and by no system can he come into possession of it without robbing thousands of his fellowmen. And as to inventions: surely no man delights more in the splendid achievements of our age in this direction than I do. But I declare to you that I believe labor-saving machinery to be a mighty curse to mankind, because the laborer is being driven closer and closer to the wall by the innumerable inventions that are driving him out of every field of labor. The great money kings are taking advantage of every such invention, and what the end is to be I do not dare predict.

Ignatius Donnely's fearful picture in his work, Caeser's Column, I hope and believe to be terribly overdrawn. And, as I said before, I am not pessimistic as to the final outcome; but let us beware of crying 'Peace!

peace! when there is no peace!' The fact is, gentlemen, I cannot help thinking that St. James referred to these very times, when he said in the fifth chapter of his epistle: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped up treasure together for the last days.

Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them who have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth." See James, 5-4. I cannot, in the light of these prophecies, see that the world is growing essentially better rapidly, if at all."

"But, Doctor," said Will, "you cannot deny that the children of these times are incomparably better clothed, have more and better books, live in more comfortable homes, and are enjoying privileges never known to children of former generations."

"While I must a.s.sent to what you have said, yet all these advantages are not unmixed blessings. In my experience as a physician, I have seen very many precious lives go out, simply because they could not endure the high pressure system of our modern educators. I feel so strongly upon this subject that I would prefer that a child of mine should live and die absolutely illiterate, than that he should sacrifice one particle of health for any conceivable amount of mere book-learning. I once had an uncle who was a man of wonderful learning. He was a collegian, a master of half a dozen or more languages, and for all this he paid the price of his good health. All his life, he suffered the pangs of an outraged stomach and nervous system. He could never make any use of his splendidly cultivated brain, and was a miserable, unhappy burden to himself and friends to the end of his life. His end was sad, tinged with the element of ridiculousness. He was sitting in a field one day, resting during a short walk, when a great vicious hog attacked him, tossed him about, rooted him here and there, and would have certainly killed him outright if his cries had not brought a.s.sistance. He never recovered from the effects of the injuries received on that occasion.

Suppose poor old uncle could at that time have traded all his dead and modern languages for a pair of good stout legs, would it not have been a grand bargain for him?"

"But could not your uncle have been more judicious and systematic in the prosecution of his studies, and have done the same amount of work without detriment to his health?" asked Professor Gray.

"I do not doubt that he might. But our schools are run nowadays upon, as I said before, a high-pressure system. Too many children are packed into imperfectly ventilated schoolrooms, and the poor teachers are miserably overtaxed. But the schools are graded, everything cut and dried, the curriculum made by state or county board; and, like the tyrant's bedstead, those too long must be cut off, and those too short must be stretched. All must fit the bedstead. That great story-teller, Charles d.i.c.kens, tells the story exactly in his picture of Dr. Blimmer's system of teaching. That poor babe, Paul Dombey, might as well have been fed to an insatiable ogre as to have been placed in the hands of that pompous idiot. And our country is full of little Paul Dombeys, blossoming for eternity. How much better to have let the poor little fellow play in the sands upon the beach with his sister Florence and old Glubb. But the precocious innocent must be murdered by this same senseless system, because of the inordinate vanity of a foolish father, and the stupidity of his teacher. In vain have I warned hundreds of parents, when I saw their children thus being hurried to premature graves. But they are so proud of the precocious darlings that they seldom heed until it is too late. Faugh! the whole business makes me sick."

"Well, Doctor, admitting all you say, what do you suggest as the remedy?

I have known many statesmen who could see and point out the evils, present or imminent, of society or state, with great sagacity and accuracy, but when it came to prescribing the remedy, were utterly impracticable," said Professor Gray.

"That is right, Professor Gray. It is very little benefit to a sick man to tell him that he is sick, or even to make for him a scientific diagnosis, if it be not supplemented by the remedy. I have remedial measures to suggest. In the first place, I would build schoolhouses upon strictly scientific principles; a certain number of cubic yards of pure air should be allowed each scholar, and the most perfect system of ventilation should always be used. Further, by way of homely ill.u.s.tration, I should treat the children upon the same principles that we do our horses. Some horses are calculated for heavy draught business, others for light draught, roadsters, racers, etc. I need not mention the folly of attempting to drive these animals out of their respective cla.s.ses. Now children differ as essentially in their mental capacities and requirements as do horses physically. You can by no possible means make a mathematician of a scholar who is deficient in the organ of calculation. It is a manifest injustice to hitch such a one beside another who is a perfect racer in the mathematical field. It is not fair to either of them. I claim that each child should be treated upon his individual merits, and in accordance with the natural gifts that G.o.d has bestowed upon him. The graded school system is in direct opposition to this idea, and is wholly wrong and unscientific."

"Well, as to the curriculum, Doctor," said Will, "suppose you were called upon to abridge the list of studies in our public schools, where would you begin and end? Isn't it a pity in this age of the world, to shut off from the children any one of the branches of science or learning?"

"Indeed, that would be a great pity, and far be it from me to do anything of the kind. I would not abridge the curriculum for any child; it should simply be taught that for which it has a capacity. A teacher who is not capable of so discriminating and antic.i.p.ating the wants of each pupil, is not a teacher in the best sense of the word, any more than a man is a horse trainer who cannot differentiate between a heavy draught-horse and a light roadster. I might say considerable as to methods of teaching, but I presume that you have heard enough for once."

"Yes, but we have not settled the question as to whether the world is getting better or not," returned Will. "I am willing to admit that our school system is defective. But what do you say as to the safety of life and property at this time, compared with any other age of the world?"

"Really, now, I wish an intelligent Armenian were here to answer that question."

"But that is not fair, Doctor. The Armenians are in the hands of the Turks and we know that they are capable of any conceivable inhumanity.

I supposed that we were discussing the world so far as civilized. I really think that it is a clear case of 'begging the question,' when you introduce the Armenian case into the discussion."

"Do you, indeed! And let me inquire, my dear boy, who is responsible for this wholesale slaughter of a people whose only crime is that of being nominal Christians? Five or six centuries ago the combined governments of Europe would have made common cause against the infamous Turk for much less than the murder of a Christian nation. But to-day there is so much less of manhood in Europe than there was in the days of chivalry, that the civilized world is sitting calmly by and permitting this unspeakable crime to go on at the sweet will of the b.l.o.o.d.y-handed Turk.