THE CHAUTAUQUANS: OR, WITHIN THE CIRCLE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 295, 12 December 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE CHAUTAUQUANS: OR, WITHIN THE CIRCLE.

BY JOHN HABRERTON,

Authoj: of "Helen's Babies," "Tho Barton

Experiment," etc,

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS

CHAPTERS.

This story was commenced in our issue of "November 28th. Ib opens with a conversation between Mr Broad, owner of the Brinston foundry, and Mr Whibton, the minister of the village, upon the possibility of socially uniting all the people in the village by interesting them permanently in sonic .§ingle subject. Their discussion is participated in by a Miss Dawn, who propounds a scheme which wasoriginated by the Chaubauqua Scientific and Literary Socieby and has been found bo work well. The scheme consisted in an agreement to engage in an hour's study every day. Miss Dawn explained that the society " started very modestly a few years ago, it seems, and instead of failing, it has been improving, until now it numbers forty or fifty thousand studencs each year, and has graduated many thousands of people, each of whom has studied a prescribed course lor four years, and aboub onehalf of whom havei meb together once a week or fortnight in whab are called local circles, to compare notes and talk over what they have been learning." The subjects of study were merely such books as are studied in the academies and colleges ; bub (Miss Dawn explained) the result seemed to come not so much from what they studied as from fixing people's minds for a little part of every day on something which made them think, and which thoy could chab aboub with people who had been reading the same books. Another delightful thing aboub it was that parents ar.d their larger children often follow the same studies together.

Having enlisted the minister and the manufacturer in her scheme, Miss Dawn pressed into the service a young gentleman named Joe Warren, an ardent admirer oi the young lady, who undertook to become the apostle of the new idea among the young men of the village. Tlio story now proceeds.

CHAPTER 111,

AN UNUSUAL GATHERING,

' Tii.eee hasn't been such a representative gathering in this village before, since-th c widow Beanblossom's barn burned down.'

The speaker was Mr Broad, the manu facturer, and he addressed himself to Post master Brown, who replied :

' I guess you're right, lb even beats the great day at tho post-office when the blizzard kept us from getting any mails from the south and east for three day 3.'

There certainly was a greab crowd—the mail, floor of the Dawn mansion would seat a hundred people, provided they were packed closely together, and on. this occasion the parlours were so crowded with women that men could simply stand in the hall and about the doors. The several people who had taken the enterprise in hand and endeavoured to get recruits had not imagined that Mr Dawn's invitation would be so generally accepted.

' Brown, the question is,' said Mr Broad, ' how many of these people came here tonight through interest in the reading course, and how many out of mere curiosity, or so a3 to be able to say that they had visited Mrs Dawn ?' .

'Hard bo tell,' the postmaster replied. 'I should say half and half would be about a fair estimate.'

To properly dispose and manage the guest 3 for this unusual assemblage, required all the tact of the Dawn family. The firsb persons bo arrive were Broad and his daughters; the manufacturer had brought his family up to punctual habits, and with them eight o'clock meant eight o'clock — not five minutes past. The Broad girls were fairly educated, and had good manners ; they fell ab once inbo animated chat wibh bheir hosb, but when Postmaster Brown and his two sons arrived the conversation began to labour under some restraint, for the Broad girls had never regarded the Brown boys as exactly 'in society.' The young men were entirely respectable, but they worked with their own hands on the litble farm, which their father owned, near the edge of the village, and the Broad girls had decided ideas about people who did their own work. The arrival of a fashionable family or two. pub new life inbo bhe conversation ; bub ben minutes later bhe Broads were almost paralysed by the entry of old Mrs Purkis aud her two daughtei-3, the three women looking as awkward and embarrassed and uncomfortable as was possible even for people whose daily life seems a continual apology for living at all. Mrs Dawn went bravely to their rescue and was assisted by her daughter, who had to bear herself away from the Brown boys, but who first had the forethought to whisper to some of her more fashionable acquaintances that those boys were really two of the nicest of the fellows whom she had met at school, and that they always looked and acted as if they had retained all their old manners and were gaining new.

Mr Broad nudged the -postmaster, and said :

'Brown, how aboub Purkis himself, eh 1 You were going to drag him inbo this enterprise.' 'Yes; but I didn't promise to d" ib all at once, though the fellow did r> ro me thab ho would come wibh his it. ..y tonight. I suspect he really did co_iu as far as the door, and then lost his courage. 1 don'b wonder, eibher, although I gavo him credib for a new suit of clothes—pretty cheap ones, 1 admit —with the understanding that he was to come.'

Joe Warren entered a moment or two later, looking less at ease than Miss Dawn had ever seen him. After greeting the hostess he quickly succeeded in drawing Alice aside, and whispered bo her : ' I've kepb my word, but I'm afraid you'll be sorry.'

' Where are they ?' asked the girl, looking about bhe room. 'Oh, they're coming; they'll be here. There are eleven of them, too, nob one of whom ever was in this house before.'

' Be carefnl to watch for them, and present each one to mother when he comes, and then to me, unless you see me recognise them and know them when you approach us. We know more people by sight and name than perhaps you imagine. Don'b allow any one of them to feel uncomfortable for an instant. If they're, acquaintances of yours, I promise you we will do all in our power to make them feel at ease.'

' There are some of them,' said Warren, 'who I don't believe could feel at ease unless they had the front of a building to lean against.'

' They may leatn against the wall of the room, and there are also door-casings and window-casings in abundance. After everyone has arrived I am going to take you about and present you bo all the girls whom I have invited. I'm sure you won't forget that they're my guests for tha evening, although perhaps you haven't been in the habib of meeting thiern elsewhere since you left school.'

' You may cpuni upon me,' said Joe; ' although I confess it will be a new experience—perhaps very amusing.'

' Why amusing?' asked the girl, sharply. ' Does being a gentlieman deprive one. of the ordinary sympathies of human nature ?'

'Oh, no,'said Joe,, somewhatembarrassed, noting wibh delight that two of the young men whom he had invited were just entering the door.

The couple had not many more opportunities to converse wibh each other during bhe evening, for people soon began to arrive rapidly and fill the room 1 so closely that the fifty extra chairs whi/ch Mr Dawn had borrowed by way of a joke from one of the furniture dealers were all put in requisition. The ladies of the house everted bhemselves bo bhe übmosb so to place people that conversation would nob flag,; and they were so successful that in a veryjfew moments the hum of voices was as loud and continuous as in the most fashiona-'blo party in bhe world. As bhe throng /increased, all the mon present, even those' of whose manners Joe Warren had doubled, gave up bheir scabs to ladies, and the h,_lls were soon filled wibh a lot of men, whotm Mr Dawn did his best to make entirely ab home. Meanwhile, Mr Whj.bbon, the minister, was hurrying toward the house afber a prolonged visit to a sick/ parishioner. As he turned a corner und»'_r the lamp he saw a figure which, in spite ;of clothes of unusual neatness, he could npt help recognising as bhat of old Purkis ; /though why the man should be called old. he did not know, for he had heard that JPurkis was a mere boy when he entered the; army at the beginning of the civil war. .

' Good evening, j Mr Purkis,' he said, stopping and laying'; his hand on the man's shoulder. ' You arle going the wrong way. Mr Brown told trie you were going to Dawn's to - nighb \ wibh your wife and daughters.' • 'Yes,' said Purkis, in a listless tone. ' I went. 1 took niy women folks there.'

' But he expected you to remain there. We're counting on- you ; we wanb you to help this enterprise along.' ' Don'b chaff me, Mr Whibton. Ib isn'b fair ; I can'b static-1 it, and I won't—not tonight, anyhow.' / ' My dear fellov'/,' said the minister, ' I'm not chaffing you. j What do you mean? I meant exacbly whab I said : Wo do need you to help this enterprise along. We have talked the matter over a greab deal, and we know there 13 a number of men over whom you have ; considorablo influence, and they are jusb the men whom we want to get into it.' ''.

' You're mistaken,' said Purkis ; ' Brown's been foolin' you. I ain't got no influence over any sorb of people.'

'That's nons.onse, Mr Purkis ; you've lots of old associates about this town—men who were in the war wibh you and—'

' Yes. and some bf them are sorry to meet me in the street because they think they oughb bo say {something and bhab I'm nob worth saying" ib to. I know what they think about me ; I don't know as I can blame them much, but—'

'Mr Purkis, you've gob a fib of the blues to-night.'

' Oh, I'm goin' into the thing, Mr Whitbon. I've promised my wife and the gal 3, and I'm goiri' to stick to it. I'm goin' to read with 'er_t and help 'em along. I ain't such a foofi as I look. I went to school when I was; a boy and learned a good deal; I was at the head of the class often and often. 'Taici't no lack of brains that is the matter with ime.'

' Then' stand by your wife and daughters ab the meeting to-nighc. That's the proper place for yon. (Jome along.'

So saying, tlio minister pub his arm through that of Purkis, turned the man and walked hirm toward the house. There was silence for 11 moment or two, for Purkis had so long been accustomed to yielding to any influence or will stronger than his own thab he did nob know how to make resistance ; yet he said ■: ' I don'b believe j you know, Mr Whibton, how mean you'ra bein' to me. Do you know what everybody '11 think and say if I go into thab house ? They've seen me around the town jdrunk, an' slouchin' an' lazy an' shabby, jan' just as soon as I go nto the house yo-'u'll see everybody's head go toward everybody else's head an' they'll begin to whisper tan'—l can't stand it—not before my wife acid daughters.' ' Oh, nonsense,! Mr Purki„ You musbn'b imagine everybody looks ab you and nothing else when there is a whole crowd of people around. Why, man alive, you're too conceited to live! if you think your personal appearance attracts so much attention as all that. If you are at all fearful on the subject, though;, I promiao you that you shall have a quiei:,ir.conspicuous place somewhere in the rea.r of the rooms. I'll give you my word bbjat I will go. with you and see that you're riot brought boo prominently to the front. Ijlub don't go back on your wife and daughters. How do you know but they're feeling uncomfortable? They'd feel a great deal be|ter if they had you beside bhem.' |j Purkis did opt reply, although the minister was sure t-u'.'o or three times that the man was tryinjj to withdraw his arm and get away. j. As the two peached the house and walked up bhe path toward the door, Purkis gave a violent twitch,, saying:

' You must exouse me to-night, Mr Whitton ; reailly, you must. I'll give you my word that I'll go some other time; tonight I'm all unstrung.' The minister tightened the grip of his arm upon the othei-, and replied : ' Just the roaso/n why you should be strung up, my dear fellow. Come along ; we'll attend to yort.'

They were nov> on the broad doorstep; the minister could feel his companion trembling violently. The door was slightly ajar. Whitton/ placed bobh hands on Purkis's shoulder-, touched the door wibh his own foot, and m an instant the frightened man was in the' hall and having his hand grasped by Mr .Dawn, who said : 'Mr Purkis; I'm ever so glad to see you. I was afraid yau wouldn't come. Your wife and daughter are having a pleasant time inside. Go right, in and join.them.'

' Don'b let us disturb the company, Mr Dawn,' said the j minister quickly. 'Mr Purkis andl will] manage to find room for for ourselves somo way.'

Then he kept hiis promise and retired the unwilling guest bo an inconspicuous corner of bho room,.albhough bhey ran the gauntlet of two or three dozen men while doing so. 'Ladies and gentlemen,' said Mr Dawn, rapping upon a] littb table at one end of the parlour, ' f l . temporary figure - bead is sometimes necessary in a large gathering of people,and as' I haven't been of any other service to the enterprise of which you have been informed,/l have beon selected for thab position. You. all know the purpose for which we hay's gathered. I suspect my .estimable fani.ily has talked some of you almost to death on the subjecb, bub bhey

mean well, and I hope you will forgive tlfem; it seems to be the custom of •organising a local circle. Whab we are bo jdo is more than I am able to inform yoi, but all are expected to inform themselves speedily and acb accordingly, and to ;hold themselves to the full performance of their duties. The first officer necessary bo elect is president, and I will bake advantage of my own brief authority and positioij to nominate our fellow-townsman, Mr Brpad. He is, I believe, the only man in Brinston who is .accustomed to managing a large number of people, and I strongly suspect that we, as a readingclass, will need to be managed with a pretty strong hand ab first. ' Second the motion,' said, some one. ' Moved and seconded that Mr Broad be elected president of this organisation.' Mr Broad rose to hia feet and endeavoured to excuse himself, bub the temporary president declined to listen, and continued : 4 All in favour of the motion, say aye. 5 There was a general response. ' Contrary, no. Elected. Mr Broad will please report for duty at once, and take the chair which I vacate.' ' ' Ladies and gentlemen,' said Mr Broad, not entirely ab ease, 'I think you. have made an unwise selection, for there are some people in this town who have formed the impression, through my manner in business, that I'm an overbearing man and rather hard to get along with; bhe only reuson for this is that I have always gone on the principle that what ought to be done musb be done, and I want to warn all of you in advance, as most of you are grown people and have something to do in the world, more or less, that to carry this thing bhrough, each for yourself, you have gob to push, press, urge and insist, quite as much as I have to do in my factory. I also assure you, however, to put your minds at ease, thab you'll geb very little pushing or urging from me; if I'm going to read this course, I shall need all I the spare force I have bo keep myself up to the mark. I've been reading the circular, and I find that in a large town a circle generally has two or three vice-presidents, m addition bo a breasurer, the reasons for which will occur to you as we go along. Following the precedent thus set, I would like to know the pleasure of the meeting as to who 3hall be first vice-president.' ' Mrh Dawn,' shouted Joe Warren. 'Second the motion,' several voices. ' Moved and seconded that Mrs Dawn be elected firsb vice-presidenb; bhose in favour, please say, aye.' ' Aye,' responded every one. ' Noes will nob be asked for,' said the president. 'Whom will you put in nomination for second vice-president?' ' Postmaster,' said two voices at once. ' A great deal of sense has been displayed by this organisation since the great mistake ib made in electing its president,' said Mr Broad. ' All in favour of Mr Brown's election, please say aye.' Mr Brown was elected, at which his sons looked pleased. 'Do we need a third vice-president?' asked the chairman. 'Mr President,' said the minister, arising, ' we most assuredly do need a third vicepresident. We need a number of people to enter this circle as members, whom I'm not sure the rest of us can successfully reach. I move'you, sir, that as third vice-president we elect Mr James Madison Purkis, and count upon him to bring a lob of his associates into the organisation.'

' Capital suggestion,' said the chairman, frowning at one or two young persons who indulged in giggles and titters.

The motion was put and carried, while the nominee liberally tobbered. As soon as he could recover from his asbonishmenb he exclaimed :

Mr Chairman, I—l—l—l can't do anything of this kind.'

'The gentleman is oub of order,' blandly remarked the chairman. ' Excuses must be made- before nominations— arevoted upon. Mr Purkis is duly elected third vice-pre, a ident of this association, and must be obeyed and respected accordingly. Will some one nominate a person for secretary and treasurer ?'

' Mr Joseph Warren,' said Alice Dawn,

'Good idea!' said the chairman. 'Givß that young man something to do; he probably won't have to take care of any money.' "^

Joe Warren was duly elected, and then, after some discussion, the formal meeting adjourned, although the participants remained for some time chatting with one another and becoming better acquainted, as somo of them afterward said, than they ever had been, while Alice Dawn's sixteen-year-old brother had made some of his awkward schoolmates feel entirely at home. The postmaster, the manufacturer, the minister, Mrs Dawn and Alice gathered, after the crowd had almost disappeared, and Mr Broad rubbed his hands, as he said :

' Well, the little arrangement we made in caucus wenb through splendidly, didn't it ? I'm glad to have something decent to apply political methods to.' /

Meanwhile the Purkis family was on its way home; Mrs Purkis clinging to her husband's arm as if she never could let go of ib. The conversation on bhe way was restricbed to remarks by the girls, on the personal appearance of some attendants of bheir own sex. The father had nobhing to say, and the mother kept him company in his silence, bub when finally the family had retired, the man said to his wife :

' Oh, Maria 1 I dasn'b go oub of the house to-morrow mornin', hardly ; I'll be afeared to be seen on the street by any of the fellers that I know. I'll be afeared to meeb the small boys after they have been to school and heard about it, like they will be sure to.'

'Don't you do nothin' of the sort,' said Mrs Purkis ;'1 am proud of you—l never was so proud of you in my life—not even the day that I married you ; nothin' that's happened in twenty year has done me so much good as what happened to you tonight.'

'Butyou know I can'b be of any use to them folks, Maria. What do you suppose any feller, of the kind i know,. will say to me if I ask him to go into a thing like that ? He'll just tease the life out of me, an' make me mad, an' then I'll geb into a fight.'

' Them men didn't pub you in thab place for nothin', Madison,' said the wife. ' Now you go ahead and do what you're bein' put up to. If you're afeared to do it for your own sake try to*do it for mine. I ain't acallin' of no names, bub I do think it is time you done a little somethin' for me, particularly as it don't cosb you a cent of money, nor any hard work with your hands.' " ,

' I have been a mean, good-for-nothin' husband, Maria.'

' Nob as bad as that, Madison—not as bad as that,. You never was where I didn't believe you could pull yourself together and turn out a good deal betber if you'd only give your mind to it.'

'Do you really mean to say, Maria, that you've still got any faith an' trusb in me?'

' Lots of it—lots of it,' replied the woman. ' That ain't all, it's all i have gob in the world, except the gals, to have any faith an' brusb in. Now don't go back on me, Madison—don'b go back on me.'

CHAPTER IV.

TALKING IT OVER.

As Joe Warren sat in his room at nighb, after the organisation of the local circle, and looked in his mirror, he did not see the face of a young man who seemed to'be entirely ab ease with himself. The face he saw was that of one who seemed to be thinking very industriously about some,{thing for which he was nob finding a satisi factory answer. It was the face of a man '- in a brown study, and Joe seemed suddenly

weary of contemplating ib, for he sprang; out of his chair and began to pace the floor. He threw his hands behind him and dropped his head, as he said :

' I really wonder whab ib all will comjj to? She nominabed me for secretary! that certainly looks as if she cared something for me. Yet, on the other hand, if she really does care for me* how could she, being a woman—a young woman, and a very smart one, too— give herself away by nominating mo before a whole roomful of people, all of whom know both of us ? I wonder it she really did it because she think* I am lazy and oughb to have something to employ my mind and hands? If I thought bhab, I would resign ab once. No, I wouldn't, eibher; because tb«t» would offend her, and I'd be worse off than I am now. I wonder if she and old Broad have been discussing me? Thab remark of his about giving me somebhing to do was decidedly ungentlemanly. Confound- thab man, and all men like him ! They don't, seem to have a bib of sympathy for young men. I don't believe they ever were young themselves; they musb have been mere money-spinners from the time they wera b0y3.1 suppose that man traded jack-knives, sold blackberries, hoed corn and did anything and everything he could do all his life long to make a quarter, and then sbuffed the money away and never spenb a cenb of it on anything to enjoy himself with. I don'b doubb ib a bit. Probably that is the reason he is rich now. Well, I don't. begrudge him his money j he works hard enough for it; bub I'll be hanged if I'll be made a laughing-stock by him !

' Still, I'm going to have a chance. I have promised her thab I'll look after the young fellows about town to bhe best of my ability; so I'll have plenty of opportunities to go to her house, nominally to consult her father and mother on the subjecb. If her interest in the circle continues, as I suppose it will, for there is any amounb of grip and hold-fast in that family, I will besure to see a greab deal of her. Confound, it ! I do wish I knew how much she was in earnest aboub this affair—aboub bobh affaire. I have heard of such bhings as girls deliberately interesting men in a subject so as to have the men nearer them; bub if she has any interest in me she has a very queer way of showing ib—hides ib very skilfully, in facb—still, there doesn't seem to be very much doubt aboub her interest in the circle ; so my best plan is to stick to thab and work for it with all my mighb. Yes, Joseph, my boy, that's your besb hold. Jusb you beC.L.S.C. all the while and every time that you meeb her or her mother. Work like fury aboub ib and talk about ib among the boys and try to bring new fellows in; if she has any doubb about your ability and your solidity of character, thab oughb to dissipate it. It's' your chance ; thab isn't all—it's your only chance at present, apparently. You can'b do anything by paying compliments to her, making sofo speeches, making eyes at her, nor anything of the sort. You mighb as well try it on the planet Venus. I sometimes wonder if there is any natural affecbion about thab girl. I never have heard of her showing any; perhaps it .isn'b in her; yeb her mother seems to be full of warmth and her father has the same sort of blood, judging by his steady attention to his wife and the courtesy he always shows her, no matter where one happens to see them together. Well, it takes all sorts of people to make a world; perhaps, if I study thab family carefully, as I'll have a good chance now, I may learn a greab deal that now I can only wonder about.'

Meanwhile, at the home of Mr Broad, the manufacturer, the same subjecb waa being discussed, but from a different standpoint.

'Eunice,' said the elder Miss Broadjtc-"-"' one of her sisters, 'whab do you j-"" Alice Dawn meant by nominF d P 1 ? Warren for secretary and breast/* 0 / 6 **- With circle? I bhittk' tt i Wa_'-hr _cicf ed her not to ever heard in my life.' -&?> while-he ' I suppose, Kate,' said the you?/?' fcw elve, addressed, who had a great deal v _i-:_,_. father's cold sense, 'I suppose ib was cause she thought he would make a good secretary and treasurer.'

' But the idea of standing righb up in a great crowd like that and naming a young man ! I never heard of such a thing in all my life. I think ib was—why, I think it» was almost indelicate.' ' I'm sure I can't see why, if a girl has* anything to say and is old enough to. be allowed to take part in meetings, she shouldn'b do it. Alice Dawn certainly is old enough—twenty-two or twenty-three, if she is a day.' ' As if that was the only way to look afc' it! You know perfectly well what folks will think. There are plenty of people who'll believe thab she has lost her head over that fellow, otherwise she couldn't! have been so—so —' ' Well ?' 'So careless. That's the real state-of the case. You certainly couldn't imagine* me do such a thing.' 'No, Kate,' drawled Eunice, 'I don'b think I could.' ' What do you mean by that ?' ' Only that if you'd got up and said anything about Joe Warren I'm sure you'd havo blushed so—' ' Eunice Broad, I'm ashamed of you !' 'You needn't be,' said the younger sister, 'because I think it's real sensible of you or anyone else to admire Joe Warren ; and I wish with all my mighb that he would come and make love to you like anything and marry you, for I'd like to have him in the family ; I think he would, make a real nice brother-in-law. There—■ I was right aboub it; you knew ib perfecbly well when I said so ; you oughbn'b to have. gob angry. Ib was very unsisterly to acb so.' ' Eunice,' said Kate, in a softer tone, after a.moment or two, in which she seemed to be at hesitation about something; 'do you really think from what you've seen, bhat that couple are really especially fgpd of each other?' ' I can't see any reason ab all for thinking • so. They are very polite to each other 1 '; ijf course, Joe can't help admiring Alice Dawn, for she.s a real fine girl—you'll admit thatt yourself—she is quite handsome besides, and as to her feelings toward him—well, you know how very few real nice young fellows there are in this town. Joe isn'b settled in business yet, and father hasn't any patience with young men who aren'b hard at work all the while, but I never heard of Joe saying anything ungentle'manly, or doing anything rude, or of being fond of bad company of any kind ; on the other hand, he is polite, thoughtful, and always knows what to say if he meets one—always says something, anyway, thab isn't unpleasant and—and—'

4 Well, go on. going to say ?'

What else were you

' Oh, you already know well enough, though I suppose you are trying to drag ib out of me, that he is the handsomesb young fellow in the whole town.'

[To he Continued.)