when i left mr. forest after our last conversation i was convinced, partly by his arguments, partly by my own observations, that communism had not established the millennium, as i had first supposed, after the lectures of dr. leete; but that it had degraded humanity in every respect.
i felt that i must speak frankly to dr. leete about the change in my convictions, resign my position as professor of shawmut college, and that this would give my life in the society of the twentieth century a new and unpleasant direction.
dr. leete had treated me with the utmost kindness, and if i, from the commencement of our relations, had refused to become enthusiastic over communism, my amiable host, i think, would have not only tolerated my views but would have continued his friendship for me, provided i did not join the active opposition to the administration. he might even have consented to my marriage with edith. but now the circumstances were such, that my change of mind involved the most unpleasant consequences for dr. leete. he had recommended me as a man especially qualified above others to become the successor of mr. forest as professor of the history of the nineteenth century. i owed my appointment solely to his influence,116 and there could be no doubt that my apostacy from communism would seriously injure the respect in which dr. leete’s advice had been held heretofore. my host would feel this keenly. the rather sudden change in my opinions, the consequence of my very limited knowledge of national economy, could have no other effect upon dr. leete’s family, than to destroy their good opinion of me. they would be forced to believe me a shallow, superficial and ungrateful man, who had changed from an enthusiastic advocate of communism to such a decided opponent of this theory that i would resign a position granted to me through dr. leete’s efforts, and thus place my kind host in an embarrassing position.
and how would edith regard my resignation of the professorship? she was attached to her father by a well founded affection and esteem. would her love for me prove strong enough to overcome the shock my step involved? my blind enthusiasm for the present order of things had been heralded all over the country by the administration organs; they had pointed to the fact that i, a living witness of the civilization of the nineteenth century, had become an almost fanatic advocate of communism. the fact that i had changed my mind after becoming familiar with the facts and circumstances, would compel the administration to treat me as a deceitful, unprincipled demagogue, if not as a scoundrel. there was very little doubt that i would be assigned to the most objectionable work, even if i was spared a term in an insane asylum. and117 how could i ask edith leete, blooming like a beautiful flower in a well protected garden, the house of her highly esteemed father, to join her lot to a man who would be regarded by most of the people either as a superficial babbler or as an unmasked hypocrite, deserving his fate to be degraded to class b of the third grade.
the fear of losing the love of edith overshadowed for a while all other considerations, for i loved in edith leete edith bartlett! and the reflection that my resignation would cause the loss of edith to me weighed upon my mind like a nightmare. never in my life had i felt so distressed and miserable as on my way to dr. leete’s house after my last conversation with mr. forest.
for a moment i harbored the idea of ending my misery by my own hand, but i resolved to be a man and face my fate. so i walked to dr. leete’s house determined not to deceive my friends nor to shrink from my duty as a man of honor.
i found dr. leete, who generally appeared so gentle and composed, in a rather excited mood. he looked both careworn and threatening. before i could address him he stepped in front of me and said:
“i have positive information that our mutual friend mr. fest, is plotting to incite a rebellion of the radicals. frequent secret meetings have taken place during the last few days, and i learn that fest intends to start the rebellion here in boston”.
118 “what means will you employ to prevent it?” i asked. “will you call out the citizens and arrest the conspirators? i am at your service”, i added, very glad to demonstrate my readiness to serve my host at least against the radicals whose abominable theories i hated—not to mention my dislike for their leader.
“i doubt very much whether it would be good policy to appeal to the people”, replied the doctor. “such a step would attach too much importance to the conspiracy. i wish i had placed that man fest under medical care, when he left our house. he is the real danger of the hour. his followers do not amount to much, but under a leader like fest, who combines a certain rude eloquence with reckless audacity and physical power, a rebellion may become a dangerous movement. to prevent this i have given orders to arrest the archconspirator and to put him in a safe place under medical treatment”.
i could not indorse this step although it would, perhaps, prove successful. i suppressed my objections, however, and asked dr. leete if he could give a few minutes attention to my own affairs, for i considered it my duty not to keep secret my convictions any longer from edith’s father.
with his usual kindness dr. leete turned to me and requested me to defer the conversation until next morning if the delay would not be very disagreeable to me.
i consented.
we took our places at the table in the dining room.119 mrs. leete had sent for a light supper to the common eating house, but none of us did justice to the meal. we all felt apprehensive.
dr. leete looked at his watch.
“by this time fest ought to be in the care of the officers and physicians”, he said. “i expect a report”.
after a few uneasy minutes we heard a noise in the street, as if a great number of people were coming up to the house.
the housedoor was opened, and a brawling crowd entered the hall and pressed forward into the dining room. the mob was led by fest, who, evidently, had just been through a hot fight. his woolen shirt was torn, and he swung a heavy butcher’s axe stained with blood.
“here i am again, dr. leete”, he cried in his stentorian voice. “i gave you fair warning that i would not enter your house again as a friend. and since, you damned old hypocritical tyrant, you have given orders to imprison me in a mad-house, i have resolved that you shall die this evening. the people of boston shall be relieved from your tyranny”.
i seized a knife and stepping to the side of dr. leete, i stood ready to cover his body with my own.
but at this moment the mob’s attention was distracted by the sudden appearance in the room of forest, who jumped on the dining table and addressed the crowd without losing a second.
“i suppose you know who i am”, he said “i am an enemy of this man”, and he pointed to dr. leete.120 “because i would not defend this miserable administration i was removed from my place as professor of shawmut college, and it was dr. leete who assigned me to the position of janitor”.
“that’s just like the miserable old tyrant”, shouted a dirty looking fellow.
“therefore, i say: down with an administration that strangled free speech” continued mr. forest. “down with tyranny! but let us not butcher this miserable old fellow. it is not worthy of young and vigorous men like us to kill an unarmed old creature. let us place him in an insane asylum, where he intended to imprison our friend fest”.
“yes, yes, put him in a madhouse”, the mob yelled.
it was evident that forest was trying to save dr. leete’s life. my eye wandered to edith. she was very pale but composed. she had put her left arm around her father and she met my look with an expression of sympathy. unfortunately, fest noticed that expression in edith’s eyes, and his jealousy broke forth with increased force.
“you damned fools”, he cried in a hoarse voice, “don’t you see that this man forest is trying to save the life of that tricky and dangerous old tyrant? but i demand my share of the booty: the life of leete and his daughter”.
“do as you please, bob”! the mob yelled.
“leave this room, forest”, commanded robert fest. “i have no grudge against you; but if you stand in my way you will have to suffer the consequences”.
121 “so long as i live you shall not commit murder in this house”, mr. forest replied. “you ought to be ashamed, fest, of a conduct so unworthy of a gentleman”.
“shut up, you fool”, fest screamed with rage. “that hypocritical scoundrel, leete, has bulldozed the people long enough. he must die, and if you don’t get out of our way, you will die with him”.
a rage i had never felt before carried me away. “what has this old gentleman done to challenge your thirst for his blood, you mean, cruel coward?” i cried, and jumped at fest, trying to put my knife into his heart. but a dozen fists disarmed me, while fest commanded: “put that old bostonian in a bag and dump him in the harbor. although not a gentleman in the eyes of the professor i am a man of my word, and i have promised that resurrected spectre, i would drown him like a puppy when ever again he crossed my path”.
he lifted his axe and advanced towards dr. leete who remained silent, with his gray eyes fixed upon his brutal enemy.
once more forest tried to save the life of the leader of the administration, but in vain. a dirty looking ruffian buried a knife in forest’s true and fearless breast and with the words: “we are even, leete”, he sank to the floor. edith struggled with two men who had seized her arms and were trying to lead her away when fest’s axe descended on dr. leete’s gray head. without a murmur he fell to the122 ground, while edith with a loud cry fainted. fest seized her around her waist.
“she refused to be my wife” he said with a satanic grin, “now she will be mine without the ridiculous ceremony of marriage”, and while stepping to the door with edith’s lifeless body clasped by his left arm he said: “kill every friend of the administration, boys. i will meet you at the city hall in an hour or so”.
i made a tremendous, desperate effort to shake off the men who kept me back; i uttered a despairing cry and—awoke in my bed, may 31, 1887. at my bedside a physician, and my servant sawyer had been busy for some time awakening me from my deep mesmeric slumber. they had labored very hard until they succeeded, but more than an hour passed before i had regained my ability of reasoning, and then i felt greatly relieved.
with the swiftness of lightning all the details of my interesting but terrible dream passed through my mind. i weighed all the arguments of dr. leete and mr. forest carefully again, and felt delighted that i was living in the nineteenth century instead of in the communistic state that appeared to me now like a large penitentiary on the eve of a rebellion of the convicts.
“i would rather work harder at liberty than remain idle for a number of hours every day in a prison-like life”, i said reflectively, “for work is not an evil. and i would rather work a few years longer and miss some commodities of life than submit to communistic slavery. most of the luxuries for which we are struggling123 appear most desirable so long as we do not possess them, and we do not care much for them when they are ours”.
i resolved to use hereafter my best ability for the advancement of all desirable reforms for the benefit of mankind, and to preach contentment, the only solid basis of happiness. felicity is so independent of wealth, in fact glory and opulence are almost stumbling blocks in the way of happiness. happiness depends largely on our acceptance of our lot. in victor von scheffel’s famous poem “the trumpeter of s?ckingen” young werner when he parts from his beloved margaret, as he supposes forever, sings:
to life belongs this most unpleasant feature:
that not a rose without sharp thorns does grow.
though love eternal stirs our human nature
through pangs of parting we at last must go.
but margaret is at last reunited to young werner, she becomes his wife, and it would have been much more in consonance with the final result, if young werner, when departing from margaret, had sung thus:
to life belongs this very pleasant feature
that next to thorns the blooming roses bend,
and love eternal conquers human nature
in joy uniting lovers in the end.
