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Chapter I. A Queer Character

‘ ‘ Mankind should be like rivers free :

The less they are damned, the better.”

ERPENTS, generation of vipers ! how can ye escape the damnation of hell ? ” I was threading my way through the back streets of a Christian city, and wondering the while that, within sight of so many steeples, there should be so much misery, so much degradation, when the above words fell upon my ear with so startling an emphasis that, in spite of my hurry, I paused to see who had spoken 1 them.

! Turning in the direction of the sound, I found ! that I was not alone in my curiosity; for quite a I group had gathered around a tall, singular-looking 1 man, who stood with his head thrown back, his right arm extended, his chest heaving with emotion, and his eye flashing with a fire that seemed volcanic in its intensity.

NOTHING LIKE IT.

‘‘ Eb is raving again,” said a well-dressed but sensual-looking man standing near me.

‘‘ Who is he ? ” I asked.

“ Oh ! a half-crazy fellow who believes that society is all wrong. Rockman they call him, — Eben Rockman. I do not see what he is allowed to run loose for. But I suppose he is harmless.”

The last words caught the ear of the one of whom they were spoken, and a look passed over his face which I have no power to analyze, — such a mixture of severity, pity, and contempt, all in one ; the object of which cowered and shrank within himself as though from a flash of coming doom. This but a moment, however, and then he burst into a loud laugh with, —

‘‘ Come, Eb, don’t annihilate a fellow.”

A fellow, are you ? I am glad of it ; something less than a man., of course ; a sheep-thief, people used to call such when I was a boy.”

Rockman paused till the laugh that this retort had produced died away, and then continued, ‘‘ No, I would not annihilate a fellow ; it would be too small a business : but, had I the power, I would kick this damned system of society to the hell in which it belongs, and to which it is going too, as fast as time can carry it.”

“ What has roused you so now, Mr. Rockman ? ” asked a clerical-looking gentlemen who had just come upon the scene.

I suppose, parson, that you would say it was the devil, the natural depravity within me ; but, if I should hold my peace, the very stones would cry out

A QUEER CHARACTER.

against the self-righteous injustice of this Pharisaical world.”

‘‘It is necessary that we be charitable to all,” replied the parson.

“Charitable? yes, even at the expense of justice. Look there.”

I looked in the direction indicated by his finger, and saw a woman of perhaps thirty years of age issuing from the office of a petty justice, police-court, or something of the kind, — a place where men sit in judgment on woman ; where they condemn her for breaking laws that she had no voice in making, and no control of the circumstances which pressed her into the breaking.

This woman was fair to look upon, notwithstanding the despairing expression upon her features ; handsome she had been, was yet. There was something of her native dignity left, for the jeer of the crowd was hushed into silence ere it rose to the lip, and all seemed to feel the splendor, the majesty even, of the ruin that had been wrought, and so shrank back, and allowed her to be led away by the burly policeman without sending an insult after her.

The Rev. Mr. Small sighed and turned away. The well-dressed man who had called himself a “ fellow ” asked, “ What’s the crime ? ” and Rockman replied, “ Love’s sacrifice.”

“ Love’s sacrifice ? ” I repeated inquiringly.

“ Yes; do you not know that it is a sin to love? People can hate each other with impunity ; but when, like an innocent child, a woman loves and trusts a man, then she is accursed, trodden under foot.”

NOTHING LIKE IT.

Please explain yourself,” said I, for there was something in this singular man that interested me.

‘‘ There is nothing to explain, madam ; only she loved a man, or a being called by that name, and this is her requital. She bore him three children, or, rather, she bore the State three children ; for as soon as they are old enough the State will take them, if it needs them, and send them off to be shot at. But the man she loved has forsaken her ; and the State that makes laws for her without her consent refuses to provide for her while she is doing its work, and so she took what they and she needed ; and this is the result.”

‘‘ But where is her husband ? ”

“ She has no husband that the law recognizes.”

“ No husband ! What right has she with children, then?”

The right that God Almighty gave her, madam, — the right in virtue of her being a woman.”

“ But ” —

“ The law had not said she might. I know it had not ; but had the law any right in the matter ? ”

‘‘We should be in a state of anarchy, if there were no laws to regulate society,” I found tongue to say at length, in spite of the piercing eye that Rockman fixed upon me.

“ Oh ! come away, sister, and leave that crazy man to himself,” said a voice near me.

“ Yes : go, madam, and don’t waste your time and strength on me,” said Rockman ; “ go, and think out this question : Has the law, has God or man, the right to deprive us of the natural use of any organ of the body or brain ? ”

And then, turning, he walked away, repeating loud enough for all to hear, ‘‘ God damn this thievish, Christian nation ! ”

I went to my bed that night earlier than usual, but could not sleep. My soul was full of questionings ; and the voice of the singular being that I had met kept ringing in my ear, like the veritable curse of the Almighty. His closing words would have seemed the rankest profanity from any other lips; but as I remembered his tall form, his white hair, clear eye, and erect carriage, I could almost fancy that one of the ancient prophets had returned to earth to rebuke its sin.

And yet what strange ideas he had advocated ? A woman a right to be a mother, and not a wife ? Horrible ! could I think of such a fate for my darling sister just budding into womanhood ? And yet it might be hers ; but woe to the man who would dare to wrong her ! I would take his heart’s blood. And then my mind went back to the woman I had seen led away a prisoner. Where was the father of her children ? Who was he ? Where were the children ?

It was useless. I could not sleep : so I arose, bathed my face, dressed, and sat by the windoV till daylight broke. The first sound that I heard in the morning was that of an early workman in the adjoining lot, on which a house was being built. Presently he began to sing in an undertone, raising his voice a little as he entered into the spirit of the piece ; and I caught the words, —

NOTHING LIKE IT.

“ Woe to the man whose wealth proclaims Another man’s undoing;

Whose palace walls so proudly rise On interest, rent, and ruin! ”

“Hallo there, John! you seem to be merry this morning. But where did you get those words, —

‘ On interest, rent, and ruin ’ ? ’’

“I do not know, Mr. Wellby. I have heard them somewhere, I presume, and repeated them without thinking.”

“ I am glad you are not one of the discontented sort, J ohn ; for I should dismiss you if you were. I want none of your moping people about me. Why, where do you suppose I get the money to build this house ? ”

“ Indeed I do not know, sir.”

“ Didn’t care, so that you got the pay for your work, eh? Well, I guess you would be bad off if we moneyed men did not furnish you work. And it saves you the trouble of thinking too. All you have to do is to do your work, and take your pay for it.”

“We ought to be very much obliged to you, Mr. Wellby, and very thankful for our lot, I presume,” was the quiet reply.

“ Come, now, don’t be sarcastic, John, for I was just going to tell you where the money came from to build this house ; and, as work is not very brisk this season, perhaps you would have gone hungry if I had not been able to build it.”

“ Please go on : I am listening.”

“ Yes : well, I suppose you know that twelve years

A QUEER CHARACTER.

ago city lots were not as high here in this part of the city as they are now ; and, more than that, there was a bankrupt sale of some half-dozen or more ; and, having a little ready money, I got them for a mere trifle.”

‘‘ Less than their real worth, sir ? ”

Yes ; but business is business, you know, John, and they had to be sold.”

“ True : a bankrupt sale, I think you said ? ”

I did, and a pretty mess they made of it ; got in debt to everybody, and then could not pay fifty cents on a dollar. Downright dishonesty I call that.”

John looked up, as if he would speak, then, closing his lips firmly, looked down again, and went on with his work ; but there was a sort of tremor, a nervousness in his movements, that had not been evident before.

I was becoming interested, and listened for the next word, fearing that I should lose it, or that some other portion of the conversation would escape me.

‘‘ Yes,” he continued, after a moment’s silence, “people have no business to go so beyond their means. But, as those lots were to be sold, I might as well have them as any one else ; so I bought them, and in two years’ time sold two of them for twice as much as I paid for the whole six. That money I sent West, for I could get a better rate of interest there than here. Twelve per cent I realized, getting my pay once in six months, one hundred and twenty dollars on two thousand, twice a year. I then borrowed three thousand here at seven per cent, and put up a house on one of the lots. Business grew

NOTHING LIKE IT.

brisk, rents went up ; and in two years from the time it was completed I received four hundred dollars rent-money; over and above interest on the three thousand, and taxes on the whole purchase, or what there was left, — the four lots and the improvements.

“ This, with the two hundred and forty from the West, was the commencement of the second house ; I managing to support my family, wife and one child, on what I could earn outside this business. In eight years from the time I made the purchase, I had the second house built and paid for without any additional debt. Two years more, and I had the third one built ; and in the last two years I have paid up the three thousand, and have enough left to build another house.

‘‘ So much for interest and rents, and no robbery nor ruin about it. Those who have hired my houses have been glad to get them to do business in, and have made money out of it too ; and the man who hired my money was glad to get that. I have given employment to many a poor man who did not know where else to go ; and, taken as a whole, I feel that I have blessed the world, instead of cursing it.

“And blessed yourself too, Mr. Wellby.”

“ Yes ; for to-day I would not take fifty thousand dollars for what I paid one thousand for twelve years ago.”

“ For the lots ? ”

“For the four lots and the improvements ; it has all come from the six and my management.”

“ Has the same man held the money that you sent W est, all these years ? ”

‘‘ Yes ; or, rather, his widow has for the last two years. But, had I not taken pains to have had it well secured, I should lose it now ; for, since the man’s death, things have gone badly with them, and there are other debts. He would have worked out of his embarrassments, had he lived. I was there just before he died, and talked over his plans with him ; but now I do not know how it will be. But I am secure, at all events ; for the farm and buildings at forced sale and half price will bring twice that sum ; and, as I have the first mortgage, no one else can get any thing till my claim is satisfied.”

So your one thousand twelve years ago has become fifty thousand here, and the two thousand there beside. Mr. Wellby, you seem to be a fortunate man ; but I do not think I would change places with you.”

You are a sensible man, John Brown, and you may well say that ; for no one knows the care and perplexity that property is, but those to whom it is intrusted ; and, as the Lord’s stewards, we have no right to set it aside.”

‘‘Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites,” rang out upon the morning air ; and I turned to see my friend of the day before rapidly approaching. He paused beside of employer and employed, looked at each a moment, and then to Brown, “ ‘ Thpu art faithful over a few things, and shall yet be ruler over many ; ’ ” and to Wellby, “ ‘ Woe unto those who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers ; ’ the Lord’s stewards indeed ; ” and, passing on with rapid strides, was soon lost to sight.

Wellby and Brown looked at each other in astonishment, while the latter after a moment asked, ‘^How did he know what you were saying? he certainly was not near enough to hear.”

‘‘ I do not know,” was the reply, “unless the Devil helps his own ; for surely, if ever any one was possessed of the Devil, it is old Rockman.”

“ He seems quite familiar with Scripture,” said Brown.

“ Yes ; as much so as was his master when he took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple.”

“ He is harmless, I believe ? ”

“ Yes, only so far as his tongue goes ; and, if I had the control of him, he would use that less. But I must go, or I shall lose the boat. Good-morning, John : I shall trust you to see that all goes right till my return.” And the man of money passed quickly down the street toward the landing, while John resumed his singing. This time his refrain was, —

“ Whose money comes from usury,

And brings another’s ruin.”

I was sitting close to the window that looked out over the new wall that was going up ; and the sounds floated up to me on the still morning air as distinctly as though uttered in my room. But the blind was partly closed, so the speakers had not seen me, and doubtless never once suspected that they had a listener ; but their words were not soon forgotten. Indeed, the fact that I am now penning them down, shows that they are not likely to be forgotten. But the sound of the breakfast-bell aroused me from the

A QUEER CHARACTER.

train of thought into which I had fallen ; and for the time it was dropped.

The next morning, however, as I sat by the open window fronting the street, Eben Rockman again made his appearance ; he saw me, bowed, crossed over, and rang the bell. My sister went to the door.

“ Say to the lady I would like to see her a few moments.”

Yes, Mary, show the gentleman this way,” I said ; for I had heard what he asked.

‘‘ May the blessing of the Lord rest upon his handmaiden ! ” he said, bowing low as he entered. I ask no pardon for this intrusion,” he continued ; for I feel that thou art chosen to a work in the vineyard, that thou wilt willingly do, when thou seest the path plain before thee. This is a wicked and perverse generation; but woman shall yet be clothed with the sun of power, and the moon shall be under her feet.”

I looked at my strange visitor in silence, for I knew not what to reply. J ust then the refrain of the song of the workman in the adjoining lot came plainly, and to me it seemed plaintively, to my ear, —

“ Whose palace walls are proudly built From usury that bringeth ruin.”

Rockman listened, as if to hear more ; but whatever came next was lost in the noise of the hammer. “ Poor soul ! there is a tale to that undertone, if we could only learn what it is,” was the next comment.

This opened the way for me to speak ; and I told him what I had heard Wellby say the day before.

“ Two thousand dollars for ten years, at twelve per cent interest, twenty-four hundred dollars, — four hundred more than the original sum,” said Rockman as if to himself ; and then turning to me, he asked, ‘‘ And, if this steward of the Lord had paid twelve per cent on each six months’ interest that has been paid back to him, how much do you suppose, madam, the amount would have been ? ”

‘‘ I do not know,” I replied, “ but nearty as much as the original sum, I should think.”

‘‘ True ; but, instead of paying twelve per cent, he has made it bring him more than that, so the matter stands thus : For the use of two thousand dollars ten years, he has received two thousand foiu* hundred dollars direct, and usury on that sum, through the tricks of trade, at even a higher than twelve per cent, for the time varying from nine years and six months, down to six months.

But the interest on two thousand two hundred and ninety dollars for six months, at twelve per cent, is one hundred forty-five dollars, eighty cents.”

“ Where do you get that sum for six months ? ” I asked.

“ It is the amount from the two thousand at twelve per cent for nine years and six months ; and W ellby has had the use of these sums, as they have been paid from time to time, and, from his own statement, has made them turn to what he calls good account.”

“ Yes, I see now,” I replied after a moment’s thought ; and Rockman continued, —

At the end of the first six months, he received one hundred and twenty dollars ; we have counted

A QUEER CHARACTER.

the interest on that for one six months in our last i statement ; that would give, in nine years, one hundred twenty-nine dollars, and over. But I will not go on bothering you with figures : you can work it out for yourself. According to his own statement, however, Wellby has made that two thousand pay him more than twice the amount ; and now he talks of securing the original sum. Outrageous ! damnable !

, “ Yes, I know it sounds rough,” he said as if in

reply to my thought ; “ but not half so rough as it ! will be on that poor widow when her home is sold as ; a sacrifice to, and she left penniless by, the wolves of usury.”

‘‘ I did not reprove you, sir,” I said.

“ Your lips did not, madam, but your eyes did. No, you need not regret it: it is no more than is ; to be expected from the way we have been educated, i Avoid rough things, seek smooth things, be delicate, tender, refined ; better slide down to hell on a polished surface, than to climb into heaven over thorns and briers. ‘ Prophesy smooth things unto us ; ’ that is the language of the people ; but woe unto them that sew pillows to all armholes, that cry,

‘ Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace ! ”

“ You seem familiar with Scripture,” I said.

I am, madam, and I ought to be : I was a Methodist minister for twenty years, and the power of the Lord went with me. I have had sinners lying in heaps all about me, crying, agonizing for mercy. The groan of anguish that told of soul travail, the shout of the new born — well, well, I see, I feel, I am in the spirit of it now ; but it is past, it is past ;

the glory has departed, Ichabod is written upon all the borders of that people ; I am alone, alone.” Here his voice fell to a low, wailing pathos, ending in a gush of tears.

He had remained standing, merely bowing as I requested him to be seated ; but now he sank into the nearest chair, and sat some minutes, as if lost in thought.

“ Forgive me,” he said, at length, rising slowly to his feet, “ but even Jesus wept over Jerusalem.”

Then clasping his hands, in attitude of supplication, with eyes upraised, and head thrown back, he exclaimed, ‘‘ Oh, my country, my country ! Father, if it be possible, let the bitter cup pass from it ; ” and then with a Good-morning, madam,” he left the house, and walked rapidly away.

His manner was so earnest, and the transition so quick, so entire from the tone of anguished entreaty to that of common politeness, that I was completely puzzled, and could come to no decision whatever concerning him. Was he crazy? If so, there was method in his madness. But the cares and duties of the next few days drove all thought of him from my mind ; and it was months before I met him again.

LOVE AND LAW.

CHAPTER IL

LOVE AND LAW.

‘ Love divine, all loves excelling,

Fix in me thy humble home/’

JOVE is the fulfilling of the law.” These were the words that the Rev. Arthur Berrian took for his text one sabbath morning, some three months after the occurrence related in the last chapter.

I had not met Mr. Rockman since ; but somehow, as these words were read from the desk, the thought of him came to my mind, and I involuntarily looked around as if expecting to see him. Nor was I mistaken : there he sat, three or four slips in front, and just far enough to the right, so that, by turning a little sideways, he could look me in the face.

He was doing so when I looked up ; perhaps it was the magnetism of his eyes that drew mine that way. I was surprised, and a little annoyed, at the fixedness of his gaze. Its expression was that of questioning, as though he was trying to read something, to solve some problem. After a few moments a conclusion seemed to have been reached ; and then he dropped his eyes, leaned forward till his head rested on the slip in front of him, and never once looked up again during service.

But the sermon was spoiled for me. I could not listen to it. I do not know why, nor whither my mind wandered ; but I seemed in a sort of dream, and this continued till far into the night. True, I did whatever the occasion required, arose when the congregation arose, spoke to my friends when service was over ; but it was like a dream in a dream, and all done mechanically.

About a week afterward Rockman called again. ‘‘Well, madam, what do you think of love’s being the fulfilling of the law ? ” was his first salutation.

I looked at him, but made no reply. I could not think why he should ask such a question.

“ Do you not remember the text of last sabbath ? ” he asked.

“ Oh ! ” said I, and that was all I could think to say.

“ You heard the text, but not the sermon,” he continued, smiling.

“ How did you know that ? ” I asked.

“ By your looks and manner.”

“ By my looks and manner ! you did not once look at me during the sermon ! ” I exclaimed.

“ Perhaps not ; yet I saw you, and saw, too, that you will one day hold this sin-cursed people to the logic of their own teachings.”

“ The logic of their own teachings ? ”

“Yes, — that ‘love is the fulfilling of the law.’ ”

“ Who and what are you ? ” I asked in astonishment ; for his manner awed me.

“ The Devil, some say ; those who, were He here, would call the master of the house Beelzebub.”

LOVE AND LAW.

‘‘ But who do you say that you are ? ”

‘‘ Eben Rockman, a man who has been in a trance with his eyes open ; and ‘ man can not hide what Heaven would reveal : ’ so says the poet, and so say I. But never mind what I am, or what I predict ; you remember what I said to you when we first met, that woman has a right to become a mother in virtue of her womanhood?”

“ Yes, I remember it,” I said.

‘‘ Well, put that with the Bible declaration, ‘ Love is the fulfilling of tlie law.’ But first let me ask, what law is referred to, human or divine ? ”

‘‘ Divine law, of course.”

‘‘ When the divine law is fulfilled, has the human a right to step in, and exact something more ? ”

It would seem not,” I replied hesitatingly ; for I did not see the full bearing of his questioning, though I had a glimpse of it.

Well, I will change the form of the question a little : have Christians a right to exact more ? ”

‘‘ I can not see that they have, Mr. Rockman.”

‘‘ Don’t put a handle to my name, madam. Once I needed the Mr. and the Rev., but I have grown big enough to do without either. I am simply Eben, the son of Sarah and John. I would not allow the Rockman, only for the convenience of the people ; I do not need it. Reid, Sarah Reid, was my mother’s name ; and I have as good a right to be Eben Reid as Eben Rockman, — should, only my mother was a slave, and my father her master.”

‘‘ Your mother a slave ! you have no colored blood in your veins ? ”

NOTHING LIKE IT.

‘‘ None, only red ; and that, I believe, is the prevailing color of healthy blood ; if you mean African blood, no ; but there are other slaves than those of African descent.”

I have never seen any,” I said.

“ Is not ‘ love the fulfilling of the law,’ madam ? and, if so, any additional bond enslaves.”

“ But you would not have us do without law ? ”

I would have law fulfilled; love alone can do this. Legal enactments cannot fulfill : they make void the divine law, if they have any effect whatever. When in accordance with love, they are a useless addition ; and, when contrary to, they supersede, or, as I have said, make void.”

I must have looked the perplexity I felt ; for he regarded me a moment with a sort of paternal manner, and then said, Do not try to solve the problem now, but watch and wait ; it will all come clear in time. ‘ Here a little, and there a little.’ When wilBthe people reach the stature of men and women in Christ Jesus ? ”

‘‘But I do not believe in Christ Jesus in the sense that the church teaches,” I said.

“ You need not believe in him at all, unless you choose ; believe in yourself, and you will find your Christ soon enough.”

“ My Christ ? ”

“Yes; for ‘love is the. fulfilling of the law.’ Christ came to fulfill the law ; and those who love have found their Christ.

“ But I will mystify you no more now ; think of what I have said, and watch and pray ; and may the God of Eben bless thee ! Fare thee well.”