Think, baezine V'erhulst, of
offering her a woolen kerchief from Suske Derk's stall!
offering her a woolen kerchief from Suske Derk's stall!
Warner - World's Best Literature - v09 - Dra to Eme
.
.
A horrible old
woman pursued me with repeated blows. We crossed heath and
swamp; my shoulder-belt and my sword caught in the thickets;
my skin was scratched with thorns. . . . I few over ditches
three yards wide to escape from my persecutor. But the wicked
old woman galloped after me and belabored me incessantly. . .
I was too much of a coward to turn and face her. . . . Oh! that
race by starlight! . . . I almost hated our beloved Campine,
. . . for all this happened in La Bruyère. . . But I'll be
hanged if I know where! . . . Oh! my legs, my poor legs. . .
You'll not believe, but I'm as exhausted
"Pouh! Pouh! ” interrupted the faithful Warner Cats.
“Dreams are lies! so my grandmother used to say. You'll have
forgotten all about these phantoms by the time you're beyond
the ramparts, on the way to our beautiful Wildonck, these phan-
toms will all vanish. . . Be done with grumbling. . . Hang
nightmares, if only the awakening is sweet! ”
Kors got up, packed his kit, folded his blankets, and cheered
by the thought of his holiday, hummed a soldier's tune.
As he felt in his pocket he stopped suddenly. “Good heavens!
I could have sworn that I put it in my waistcoat pocket. ”
« What ?
What's up now, you grumbling devil ? ” asked
Warner.
« Dash it! Begga Leuven's penknife, . .
my Begga. . The
pretty knife which she bought me for my fête day when I was
last in Antwerp. ”
« Well ? »
“I cannot find it! . . . There's a fine state of things. .
What will Begga say? I wanted to show her the little treasure
still bright and new.
The dear soul will never forgive my care-
lessness. ”
.
## p. 5208 (#380) ###########################################
5208
GEORGES EEKHOUD
Nonsense! she'll give you another. . Besides, it is not
lucky to give knives; they cut the bonds of love! ” Warner added
gravely; "they bring misfortune. ”
«In the mean time, the bother is that I've lost the knife.
Damn it! ”
He turned his pockets inside out in vain.
« Well, I suppose I must make the best of it,” he said at last.
When he was ready, he shook hands with his comrade and
took up his bundle.
“Au revoir ! ” said Warner. “Remember me to all friends,
and drink a pint to my health next Sunday at Maus Walkiers.
Don't forget to go and see my old parents, and tell them that
my purse is as flat as a pancake. Remember me also to Stans
the wheelwright. ”
“Good. Are these all my orders ? ”
Davie hastened into the street.
Having left the town by the Vieux-Dieu fort, he followed the
treeless military road on a hot July morning. When he came
within sight of the spire of Wommelghem, he turned off by the
short cut which led to Ranst and Broechem.
Here the copses
and brushwood protected him from the intense heat of the sun.
He walked sharply, cap in hand, the sweat standing on his brow.
Over his shoulder he carried his bundle, tied in a red handker-
chief and fastened to a stick which he had cut on the way. He
stopped for a drink of beer at the toll-houses and cross-roads,
chatted with the barmaids if they took his fancy, then went
happily on. Towards midday he had passed through or skirted
four villages, and was a mile only from the home where his
father and Begga awaited him. As he recalled the bright
healthy face of his young sweetheart, the remembrance of his bad
dream and of the loss of the knife came back to him. Con-
founded knife! Kors could not separate the thought of Begga
from the lost treasure, and by a strange contradiction of human
nature he was almost angry with the poor girl, because she had
bought him this pocket-knife which had now come between them.
This ungenerous conclusion more and more took possession of
him. So preoccupied was he that he forgot to look where he
was going. Suddenly he noticed that he had gone astray
He was about to cross a bridge over the Campine canal,
though this bridge did not really lie in his route. Beyond it,
trees lined the road on either side for a great distance. Between
## p. 5209 (#381) ###########################################
GEORGES EEKHOUD
5209
the trunks could be seen vast meadows, which stretched towards
an immense purple heath, bathed in soft mist. Four fine cows
stood knee-deep in the meadow-grass which fringed the banks of
the canal; not far from the cows a young girl with a branch in
her hand sat on the slope guarding them.
He called to her:-
"Hi, Mietje, come here ! »
She sprang up, and jumped lightly over the fence, but when
she came within a few yards of the stranger she stopped, looked
at him for a moment, covered her face with her hands, and
turned to go away.
In a few rapid strides the soldier overtook
her, and caught her gently by the arm. He was secretly flattered
by the embarrassment of the young peasant girl. Silent, but
blushing red as a poppy, she looked down, and the blue-green of
her eyes could be seen beneath the fair lashes. She tried to turn
away and escape the scrutiny of the gallant.
“Bless me, what a pretty little puss! ” he exclaimed. «Tell
me, my beautiful one, where do such dainty maidens come from ? ”
“I come from Viersel,” she replied, in a very timid voice.
« Then we are neighbors, and almost fellow-villagers, for I live
at Wildonck, and was on my way thither. ”
“You will never reach it, if you follow this road. ”
“Egad! I don't deny it, my pretty one! A moment ago I
thought myself a fool for losing my way. Now I bless my stu-
pidity. ”
She did not reply to this compliment, but flushed crimson.
He would not set her free. The vision of Begga, sullen and
displeased at the loss of the knife, grew fainter and fainter. In
this frame of mind he welcomed the stranger gladly, as a pleas-
ant diversion from the thoughts which had tormented him just
before.
“What is your name, my flower of Viersel ? »
«Hendrika Let — Rika. ”
« That has always been one of my favorite names. It was my
mother's, Do your parents live far from here ? »
"My parents! I never knew them. I am a servant at boer
Verhulst's, whose farm you see down there, a short distance away
behind the alder-trees. ”
“You do not ask my name, Rika ? ”
She was burning to know the name of the beloved one, for
he was indeed the brilliant visitor of the enchanted night. She
## p. 5210 (#382) ###########################################
5210
GEORGES EEKHOUD
stilled the throbbing of her beating heart, and pretended to show
only the polite indifference which an honest girl would feel to
an agreeable passer-by who accosted her on the road.
“You shrug your shoulders and pout, Rika! Of what interest
is a soldier's name to you? Probably he is a bad fellow, as the
curé preaches,- a spendthrift, a deceiver of women. Well, I will
tell
you
all the same. I am Cornelis Davie, otherwise Kors,
Kors the Black, now brigadier in the first battery of the fifth
regiment of artillery, stationed at Fort IV. , at Vieux-Dieu, near
Antwerp. In two months I shall return to Wildonck for good,
and take up the management of the Stork Farm, for old Davie
has worked long enough. Then, Rika, Kors Davie will marry.
Can you not suggest some girl for him, my sweet Rika? Do
you think he will find some fair ones to choose from at Viersel ? ”
“I think you are getting further and further away from Wil-
donck! ” said the coquette.
It was true; they had walked along together, and the canal
was now far behind them.
“You rogue! ” said Kors, a little annoyed. “Why need you
remind me of the moment of parting ? ”
"If you follow this road, you may perhaps arrive to-morrow.
Farewell, my soldier. My cows may go astray as you have. ”
The happy girl pretended to move away. This time he seized
her round the waist, and holding her in his arms, repeated again
and again, “You are beautiful, Rika! ”
“If our Viersel lads saw you so foolish, they would laugh at
you. Are there no girls at Wildonck, or in the town ? ”
« The devil take the lads of Viersel, the girls of Wildonck,
and the women of Antwerp! I will win you from all the men
in your village, sweet one! you are more beautiful to me than all
the girls of my native place! Rika, if you will consent, our
marriage shall be fixed. ”
« This love will not last. ”
He pressed her more closely to him.
“Let me go, let me go, brigadier, or I shall scream. You
have surely been drinking. There are several inns between here
and your fort, are there not ? What would people say if they
met me with you ? Ah! to the right there is a road which
branches off and will take you home. Be off! Good-night! ”
The susceptible Davie had now forgotten the very existence
of the fair and prudent Begga Leuven.
## p. 5211 (#383) ###########################################
GEORGES EEKHOUD
5211
« Well, if it must be, I will go! ” he said, in a firm yet tender
voice. “But one word more, Rika. If I return in three days'
time; if I repeat then that I love you madly; if I ask you to be
my wife, will you refuse me ? »
“Cornelis Davie is making fun of Rika Let; land-owners do
not marry their farm servants. "
«I swear that I am in earnest! I have one desire, one wish
only. Rika, when I return in three days' time, on Monday, will
you meet me here ? »
A feeble consent was wrung from her.
When Kors tried to kiss her lips, she had not the strength to
resist; she returned his kiss passionately.
Then, not without a pang, he walked rapidly in the direction
of the foot-path, not daring to look back.
Breathless with excitement and triumph, Rika followed him
with her eyes, until he was lost behind a leafy clump of oaks.
It was fair-time again, but now Rika Let was happy; she
dined at Viersel with her former employers the Verhulsts,
accompanied by her husband, the fine Kors Davie of Wildonck,
Kors the Black, the owner of the Stork Farm.
Poor old Davie had fretted and died! Ah! the sorcery of old
Zanne Hokespokes was indeed potent; she had changed the loyal
Kors into an undutiful son and a faithless lover. Poor Begga
was helpless against the spells of the Devil. Nothing could do
away with the power of the incantation. "Do not be unhappy,
sweet Begga! Marry tall Milè, the lock-keeper; he has neither
the money nor the manly bearing of the ex-brigadier, but he
will love you better. ”
It was just a year ago, to the day, since Rika Let consulted
the witch. The poor dairymaid had reaped ample revenge for
the slights cast upon her. She wished to pay a visit to the Ver-
hulsts and introduce her rich husband to them, for the Verhulsts'
wealth was nothing compared to that of the Davies.
Rika was gorgeously dressed.
Think, baezine V'erhulst, of
offering her a woolen kerchief from Suske Derk's stall! Feel
the silk of her dress; it cost ten francs a yard, neither more nor
less. The lace on her large fête-cap is worth the price of at
least three fat pigs, and the diamond heart, a jewel which
belonged to the late baezine Davie, the mother of Kors, hanging
## p. 5212 (#384) ###########################################
5212
GEORGES EEKHOUD
(
round her throat on a massive gold chain, is more valuable than
all your trinkets!
At midday there was feasting at the Verhulsts' farm in honor
of the fair, and more especially to welcome the Davies. Masters,
friends, plowmen and haymakers, all with good appetite, seated
themselves round a table laden with enormous dishes brought in
by the farmer's wife and Rika's successor,
The obsequious Madame Verhulst overpowered her former
servant with attention.
"Baccine Davie, take one of these carbonades? They are soft
as butter. . . . A slice of ham ? It's fit for a king. Or perhaps
you will have some more of this chine, which has been specially
kept for your visit ? Or a spoonful of saffron rice? It melts in
the mouth. ”
“You are very kind, Madame Verhulst, but we breakfasted late
just before starting. · Kors, have our horses been fed ? »
“Do not be afraid, baezine Davie; Verhulst will see to that
himself. ”
Kors, who was more and more in love with his wife, presided
at the men's end of the table; near him sat Odo and Freek Ver-
hulst, who had formerly treated Rika so disdainfully. Kors, well
shaven, rubicund, merry, and wearing a dark-blue smock-frock,
looked lovingly and longingly in the direction of his wife.
A savory smell filled the large room, the steam dimmed the
copper ornaments on the chimney-piece, the crucifix, the candle-
sticks, the plates, which were formerly the pride of the cleanly
Rika.
At first the guests gravely and solemnly satisfied their hun-
ger, without saying a word. Then came the bumpers to wash
down the viands, for mealy Polder potatoes make one thirsty!
As the tankards were re-filled, tongues were loosed, and jokes
piquant as the waters of the Scheldt flew apace.
Later, coffee, together with white bread and butter, sprinkled
with currants, was served for the ladies. The men bestirred
themselves unwillingly. Silently and solemnly they filled their
pipes and smoked, while the old gossips and white-capped young
girls chattered like magpies. The low-roofed houses of the vil-
lage, which stand at the foot of the steeple pointing upward as
the watchful finger of God, fade in the gathering twilight.
Before the bugles and violins struck up in the Golden Swan,
whither baesine Davie was longing to go with her husband, the
## p. 5213 (#385) ###########################################
GEORGES EEKHOUD
5213
(
proud Rika took him by the arm and showed him round the
Verhulsts's farm. After visiting the cowsheds, the stables, the
pig-sties, and the dairy, they climbed to the garret where Rika
used to sleep. The same little camp bed stood there, the same
broken mirror, the solitary rickety stool. A feeling of emotion,
mingled perhaps with remorse, overcame the pretty farmer's wife
at sight of the familiar objects, and she threw herself into her
husband's arms. The young farmer kissed her passionately over
and over again. Rika sat on his knee with his arms around her,
and they were oblivious to all save their love.
Below in the court-yard shrill voices called to them; it was
time for the dances.
“There is no need to hasten, is there, my Rika ? ”
Kors, my well-beloved,” Rika said at last with a sigh, after
a long and delicious silence, “do you not remember this room ? »
"What a strange question, little woman! you know this is the
first time I have crossed the threshold ! »
“Are you certain ? ”
She laughed, amused at his puzzled, half-angry, half good-
natured look.
"Have you ever lost anything, Kors ? ” she persisted.
"Be done with riddles! Rather let us go and dance,” replied
Kors, relieved for the moment by the strident tones of the music,
and the sound of dancing.
Houps! Lourelourela! Rich and poor joined in the dance,
their figures outlined like black imps against the red windows of
the Golden Swan.
One word more,” said Rika, catching hold of Kors's blouse;
“have you no recollection of a little thing which you lost one
night on a journey ? ”
“No more enigmas for me, sweet one; let us be off. My feet
itch for the dance. ”
«Must I remind you ? — look ! »
She drew Begga Leuven's knife from her pocket.
He turned and held out his hand. At touch of the knife, the
remembrance of that strange night came back to him. Again he
saw the hideous old woman who pursued him with blows; he
crossed heath and swamp, his sword caught in the brushwood; he
ran until he was breathless. But now he understood more
than he did on that morning when he told his nightmare to his
loyal friend Warner Cats, the intimate friend whom he had lost
## p. 5214 (#386) ###########################################
5214
GEORGES EEKHOUD
in consequence of his willful marriage. He recognized this
accursed garret, where he had lost the pretty knife, a present
from his first lover. Reason returned, and with it all his pure
and holy passion for Begga. She who was called baezine Davie
had won him by sorcery. To kiss her lips he forsook Begga, his
gentle comrade; later, he was deaf to the curses of his grand-
father, he was indifferent when Begga married tall Milè, and he
shed no tears at the grave of the father whose death was brought
about by his disgraceful marriage.
And she, the abominable accomplice of the sorceress, still
clung to him,- the vampire!
The pale moon had risen, and now bathed the attic in silver
rays tinged with blue.
Rika sank to the ground beneath the unrecognizing glance
of Kors; she stretched out her hands to ward off what she felt
must come.
In Black Kors's contracted, bloodless hand, the open knife
shone as on the night of the charm.
Between two harsh and vibrating strains of music which came
from the Golden Swan, a discordant burst of laughter echoed
across the silent tragic plain surrounding Verhulst Farm.
At that moment, Kors in a fit of delirium plunged the knife
into Rika's breast. . . . She fell without uttering a cry.
Did not the incantation run:-“I command thee, charmed
plant, to bring me the man who will wound me as I wound
thee"?
## p. 5215 (#387) ###########################################
5215
EDWARD EGGLESTON
(1837-)
ES
DWARD EGGLESTON was born at Vevay, Indiana, December
10th, 1837
His father was a native of Amelia County,
Virginia, and was of a family which migrated from England
to Virginia in the seventeenth century, and which became one of
much distinction in the State. A brief biography of Mr. Eggleston
lately published affords some information as to his early years.
He
was a sufferer from ill health as a child. He had repeatedly to be
removed from school for this cause, and he spent a considerable part
of his boyhood on farms in Indiana, where he
made acquaintance with that rude backwoods
life which he has described in "The Hoosier
Schoolmaster) and other stories. An import-
ant incident of his youth was a visit of thir-
teen months which he paid to his relations
in Virginia in 1854. This opportunity of
making acquaintance under such favorable
circumstances with slave society, must have
been of great value to one who was to make
American history the chief pursuit of his life.
In 1856 he went to Minnesota, and there
lived a frontier life to the great improve- EDWARD EGGLESTON
ment of his health. The accounts we have
of him show him to have had the ardent and energetic character
which belongs to the youth of the West. When not yet nineteen
years old he became a Methodist preacher in that State. Later, ill
health forced him again to Minnesota, where with the enthusiasm of
a young man he traveled on foot, shod in Indian moccasins, in winter
and summer preaching to the mixed Indian and white populations on
the Minnesota River.
Mr. Eggleston's literary career began, while he was still preaching,
with contributions to Western periodicals. Having written for the
New York Independent, he was offered in 1870 the place of literary
editor of that paper, and the following year became its editor-in-
chief. He was afterwards editor of Hearth and Home, to the columns
of which journal he contributed (The Hoosier Schoolmaster,' a story
that has been very popular. He wrote a number of other novels,
“The End of the World,' The Mystery of Metropolisville, The
## p. 5216 (#388) ###########################################
5216
EDWARD EGGLESTON
Circuit Rider,' 'Roxy,' etc. In January 1880, while on a visit to
Europe, he began to make plans for a History of Life in the United
States. ' He had always had a strong taste for this subject, a keen
natural interest in history being evident here and there in his stories.
His historical researches were carried on in many of the chief libra-
ries of Europe and the United States. A result of these studies was
the thirteen articles on 'Life in the Colonial Period published in the
Century Magazine. These, however, were but preliminary studies to
the work which he intended should be the most important of his life.
The first volume of this work, The Beginners of a Nation,' was pub-
lished in 1896.
This work does not pretend to be a particular account of colonial
history. It is an attempt rather to describe the colonial individual
and colonial society, to state the succession of cause and effect in the
establishment of English life in North America, and to describe prin-
ciples rather than details, — giving however as much detail as is
necessary to illustrate principles. The volume of 1896 contains chap-
ters on (The James River Experimentsand The Procession of
Motives which led to colonization. Book ii. of this volume is upon
the Puritan migration, and has chapters on the rise of Puritanism in
England, on the Pilgrim migration, and the great Puritan exodus.
Book iii. receives the name of Centrifugal Forces in Colony Plant-
ing,' and contains accounts of Lord Baltimore's Maryland colony, of
Roger Williams, and the New England Dispersions, by which is
meant the establishment of communities in Connecticut and else-
where. In the sketch of Lord Baltimore, the courtier and friend of
kings, we have a striking contrast with the type of men who led the
Puritan migrations. There were odd characters in those days; and a
court favorite and worldling who, after having feathered his nest, is
willing to make two such voyages to Newfoundland as his must have
been, and to spend a winter there, all out of zeal for the establish-
ment of his religion in the Western wilds, is certainly a person
worthy of study.
The play of the forces that produced emigration, and their rela-
tions to the migrations, are described very clearly by the author.
People did not emigrate when they were happy at home. Thus,
Catholic emigration was small under Laud, when English Catholics
were beginning to think that the future was theirs; just as Puritan
emigration, vigorous under Laud, dwindled with the days of the
Puritan triumph in England. We have in "The James River Experi-
ments' a good example of the writer's method. The salient and sig-
nificant facts are given briefly, but with sufficient fullness to enable
the reader to have a satisfactory grasp of the matter; and where
some principle or general truth is to be pointed out, the author sets
## p. 5217 (#389) ###########################################
EDWARD EGGLESTON
5217
this forth strongly. For instance, in describing the motives of colo-
nization in Virginia, he shows how these motives were in almost all
cases delusions; how a succession of such delusions ran through the
times of Elizabeth and James; and how colonization succeeded in the
end only by doing what its projectors had never intended to do.
The Jamestown emigrants expected to find a passage to India, to dis-
cover gold and silver, to raise wine and silk. But none of these
things were done. Wines and silk indeed were raised. It is said
that Charles I. 's coronation robe was made of Virginian silk, and Mr.
Eggleston tells us that Charles II. certainly wore silk from worms
hatched and fed in his Virginian dominions. But these industries,
although encouraged to the utmost by government, could not be
made to take root. On the other hand, a determined effort was
made to discourage the production of tobacco. James I. wrote a book
against the culture of that pernicious “weed,” as he was the first to
describe it. But the hardy plant held its own and flourished in spite
of the royal disfavor. Nor were the colonists more successful in
their political intentions. Especially interesting, in view of recent
discussions, is the account given of the communistic experiments
which belonged to the early history of the American colonies. In
Virginia all the products of the colony were to go into a common
stock. But after twelve years' trial of this plan, there was a division
of the land among the older settlers. The pernicious character of
the system had been demonstrated. Every man sharked for his own
bootie,” says a writer on Virginia in 1609, “and was altogether care-
less of the succeeding penurie. ” The two years of communism in
the Plymouth colony was scarcely more successful. Bradford, finding
that the matter was one of life and death with the colony, abolished
the system, although the abolition was a revolutionary stroke, in
violation of the contract with the shareholders.
This idea, that the outcome was to be very different from the
intentions, appears not only in the striking chapter on (The Proces-
sion of Motives,' but crops up again and again in other parts of the
book. Thus, the ill success which attended the government of the
colonies from London resulted in the almost unconscious establish-
ment of several independent democratic communities in America.
This happened in Virginia and Plymouth. The Massachusetts Bay
Colony, however, was self-governing from the start.
But although causes and principles are matters of chief interest
with Mr. Eggleston, his book is full of a picturesqueness which is all
the more effective for being unobtrusive. The author has not that
tiresome sort of picturesqueness which insists on saying the whole
thing itself. The reader is credited with a little imagination, and
that faculty has frequent opportunity for exercise. It is charmed by
IX-327
## p. 5218 (#390) ###########################################
5218
EDWARD EGGLESTON
the striking passage in which is described the delight of the emi-
grants of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when, after having set sail
from England, they found themselves upon the open sea for the first
time without the supervision, or even the neighborhood, of bosses.
We know the sense of freedom which the broad and blue ocean
affords to us all; what must have been that feeling to men who had
scarcely ever had an hour of life untroubled by the domination of an
antagonistic religious authority! Every day, for ten weeks together,
they had preaching and exposition. On one ship,” says Mr. Eggles-
ton, «the watches were set to the accompaniment of psalm-singing. ”
The candor and fair-mindedness of this work is one of its special
merits. We have an indication of this quality in the author's refusal
to accept the weak supposition, common among writers upon Ameri-
can history, that the faults of our ancestors were in some way more
excusable than those of other people. He says in his Preface:- "I
have disregarded that convention which makes it obligatory for a
writer of American history to explain that intolerance in the first
settlers was not just like other intolerance, and that their cruelty and
injustice were justifiable under the circumstances. ” Other very im-
portant characteristics are sympathy, warmth of heart, and moral
enthusiasm. Nor is the work wanting in an adequate literary merit.
The style, especially in the later chapters, is free, simple, nervous,
and rhythmical.
Little has been said of Mr. Eggleston's novels in the course of
these remarks. But the qualities of his historical writing appear in
his novels. The qualities of the realistic novelist are of great use to
the historian, when the novelist has the thoroughness and the indus-
try of Mr. Eggleston. By the liveliness of his imagination, he suc-
ceeds in making history as real as fiction should be. Mr. Eggleston's
novels deserve the popularity they have attained. They are them-
selves, particularly those which describe Western life, valuable con-
tributions to history. The West, we may add, is Mr. Eggleston's
field. His most recent novel, “The Faith Doctor,' the scene of which
is laid in New York, is very inferior to his Western stories. Of
these novels probably the best is (The Graysons, a book full of
its author's reality and warmth of human sympathy; of this book the
reader will follow every word with the same lively interest with
which he reads (The Beginners of a Nation. '
## p. 5219 (#391) ###########################################
EDWARD EGGLESTON
5219
ROGER WILLIAMS: THE PROPHET OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
From The Beginners of a Nation': copyright 1896, by Edward Eggleston
L
OCAL jealousy and sectarian prejudice have done what they
could to obscure the facts of the trial and banishment of
Williams. It has been argued by more than one writer that
it was not a case of religious persecution at all, but the exclu-
sion of a man dangerous to the State. Cotton, with characteris-
tic verbal legerdemain, says that Williams was “enlarged” rather
than banished. The case has even been pettifogged in our own
time by the assertion that the banishment was only the action of
a commercial company excluding an uncongenial person from its
territory. But with what swift indignation would the Massachu-
setts rulers of the days of Dudley and Haynes have repudiated a
plea which denied their magistracy! They put so strong a press-
ure on Stoughton, who said that the assistants were not magis-
trates, that he made haste to renounce his pride of authorship
and to deliver his booklet to be officially burned; nor did even
this prevent his punishment. The rulers of “the Bay ” were
generally frank advocates of religious intolerance; they regarded
toleration as a door set open for the Devil to enter.
Not only
did they punish for unorthodox expressions, they even assumed
to inquire into private beliefs. Williams was only one of scores
bidden to depart on account of opinion.
The real and sufficient extenuation for the conduct of the
Massachusetts leaders is found in the character and standards of
A few obscure and contemned sectaries — Brownists,
Anabaptists, and despised Familists -- in Holland and England
had spoken more or less clearly in favor of religious liberty
before the rise of Roger Williams, but nobody of weight or re-
spectable standing in the whole world had befriended it. A11
the great authorities in Church and State, Catnolic and Prot-
estant, prelatical and Puritan, agreed in their detestation of it.
Even Robinson, the moderate pastor of the Leyden Pilgrims,
ventured to hold only to the toleration of tolerable opinions.
This was the toleration found at Amsterdam and in some other
parts of the Low Countries. Even this religious sufferance, which
did not amount to liberty, was sufficiently despicable in the eyes
of that intolerant age to bring upon the Dutch the contempt of
Christendom. It was a very qualified and limited toleration, and
the age.
## p. 5220 (#392) ###########################################
5220
EDWARD EGGLESTON
(
to
one from which Catholics and Arminians were excluded. It seems
to have been that practical amelioration of law which is produced
more effectually by commerce than by learning or religion. Out-
side of some parts of the Low Countries, and oddly enough of
the Turkish Empire, all the world worth counting decried toler-
ation as a great crime. It would have been wonderful indeed if
Massachusetts had been superior to the age.
“I dare aver,” say's
Nathaniel Ward, the New England lawyer-minister, “that God
doth nowhere in his Word tolerate Christian States to give tol-
erations to such adversaries of his Truth, if they have power in
their hands to suppress them. ” To set up toleration was
build a sconce against the walls of heaven to batter God out of
his chair,” in Ward's opinion.
This doctrine of intolerance was sanctioned by many refine-
ments of logic, such as Cotton's delicious sophistry that if a man
refused to be convinced of the truth, he was sinning against con-
science, and therefore it was not against the liberty of conscience
to coerce him. Cotton's moral intuitions were fairly suffocated
by logic. He declared that men should be compelled to attend
religious service, because it was better to be hypocrites than
profane persons. Hypocrites give God part of his due, the out-
ward man, but the profane person giveth God neither outward
nor inward man. ” To reason thus is to put subtlety into the
cathedra of common-sense, to bewilder vision by legerdemain.
Notwithstanding his natural gift for devoutness and his almost
immodest godliness, Cotton was incapable of high sincerity. He
would not specifically advise Williams's banishment, but having
labored with him round a corner according to his most approved
ecclesiastical formula, he said, “We have no more to say in his
behalf, but must sit down;” by which expression of passivity he
gave the signal to the "secular arm” to do its worst, while he
washed his hands in innocent self-complacency. When one scru-
pulous magistrate consulted him as to his obligation in Williams's
case, Cotton answered his hesitation by saying, “You know they
are so much incensed against his course that it is not your voice,
nor the voice of two or three more, that can suspend the sen-
tence. " By such shifty phrases he shirked responsibility for the
results of his own teaching.
woman pursued me with repeated blows. We crossed heath and
swamp; my shoulder-belt and my sword caught in the thickets;
my skin was scratched with thorns. . . . I few over ditches
three yards wide to escape from my persecutor. But the wicked
old woman galloped after me and belabored me incessantly. . .
I was too much of a coward to turn and face her. . . . Oh! that
race by starlight! . . . I almost hated our beloved Campine,
. . . for all this happened in La Bruyère. . . But I'll be
hanged if I know where! . . . Oh! my legs, my poor legs. . .
You'll not believe, but I'm as exhausted
"Pouh! Pouh! ” interrupted the faithful Warner Cats.
“Dreams are lies! so my grandmother used to say. You'll have
forgotten all about these phantoms by the time you're beyond
the ramparts, on the way to our beautiful Wildonck, these phan-
toms will all vanish. . . Be done with grumbling. . . Hang
nightmares, if only the awakening is sweet! ”
Kors got up, packed his kit, folded his blankets, and cheered
by the thought of his holiday, hummed a soldier's tune.
As he felt in his pocket he stopped suddenly. “Good heavens!
I could have sworn that I put it in my waistcoat pocket. ”
« What ?
What's up now, you grumbling devil ? ” asked
Warner.
« Dash it! Begga Leuven's penknife, . .
my Begga. . The
pretty knife which she bought me for my fête day when I was
last in Antwerp. ”
« Well ? »
“I cannot find it! . . . There's a fine state of things. .
What will Begga say? I wanted to show her the little treasure
still bright and new.
The dear soul will never forgive my care-
lessness. ”
.
## p. 5208 (#380) ###########################################
5208
GEORGES EEKHOUD
Nonsense! she'll give you another. . Besides, it is not
lucky to give knives; they cut the bonds of love! ” Warner added
gravely; "they bring misfortune. ”
«In the mean time, the bother is that I've lost the knife.
Damn it! ”
He turned his pockets inside out in vain.
« Well, I suppose I must make the best of it,” he said at last.
When he was ready, he shook hands with his comrade and
took up his bundle.
“Au revoir ! ” said Warner. “Remember me to all friends,
and drink a pint to my health next Sunday at Maus Walkiers.
Don't forget to go and see my old parents, and tell them that
my purse is as flat as a pancake. Remember me also to Stans
the wheelwright. ”
“Good. Are these all my orders ? ”
Davie hastened into the street.
Having left the town by the Vieux-Dieu fort, he followed the
treeless military road on a hot July morning. When he came
within sight of the spire of Wommelghem, he turned off by the
short cut which led to Ranst and Broechem.
Here the copses
and brushwood protected him from the intense heat of the sun.
He walked sharply, cap in hand, the sweat standing on his brow.
Over his shoulder he carried his bundle, tied in a red handker-
chief and fastened to a stick which he had cut on the way. He
stopped for a drink of beer at the toll-houses and cross-roads,
chatted with the barmaids if they took his fancy, then went
happily on. Towards midday he had passed through or skirted
four villages, and was a mile only from the home where his
father and Begga awaited him. As he recalled the bright
healthy face of his young sweetheart, the remembrance of his bad
dream and of the loss of the knife came back to him. Con-
founded knife! Kors could not separate the thought of Begga
from the lost treasure, and by a strange contradiction of human
nature he was almost angry with the poor girl, because she had
bought him this pocket-knife which had now come between them.
This ungenerous conclusion more and more took possession of
him. So preoccupied was he that he forgot to look where he
was going. Suddenly he noticed that he had gone astray
He was about to cross a bridge over the Campine canal,
though this bridge did not really lie in his route. Beyond it,
trees lined the road on either side for a great distance. Between
## p. 5209 (#381) ###########################################
GEORGES EEKHOUD
5209
the trunks could be seen vast meadows, which stretched towards
an immense purple heath, bathed in soft mist. Four fine cows
stood knee-deep in the meadow-grass which fringed the banks of
the canal; not far from the cows a young girl with a branch in
her hand sat on the slope guarding them.
He called to her:-
"Hi, Mietje, come here ! »
She sprang up, and jumped lightly over the fence, but when
she came within a few yards of the stranger she stopped, looked
at him for a moment, covered her face with her hands, and
turned to go away.
In a few rapid strides the soldier overtook
her, and caught her gently by the arm. He was secretly flattered
by the embarrassment of the young peasant girl. Silent, but
blushing red as a poppy, she looked down, and the blue-green of
her eyes could be seen beneath the fair lashes. She tried to turn
away and escape the scrutiny of the gallant.
“Bless me, what a pretty little puss! ” he exclaimed. «Tell
me, my beautiful one, where do such dainty maidens come from ? ”
“I come from Viersel,” she replied, in a very timid voice.
« Then we are neighbors, and almost fellow-villagers, for I live
at Wildonck, and was on my way thither. ”
“You will never reach it, if you follow this road. ”
“Egad! I don't deny it, my pretty one! A moment ago I
thought myself a fool for losing my way. Now I bless my stu-
pidity. ”
She did not reply to this compliment, but flushed crimson.
He would not set her free. The vision of Begga, sullen and
displeased at the loss of the knife, grew fainter and fainter. In
this frame of mind he welcomed the stranger gladly, as a pleas-
ant diversion from the thoughts which had tormented him just
before.
“What is your name, my flower of Viersel ? »
«Hendrika Let — Rika. ”
« That has always been one of my favorite names. It was my
mother's, Do your parents live far from here ? »
"My parents! I never knew them. I am a servant at boer
Verhulst's, whose farm you see down there, a short distance away
behind the alder-trees. ”
“You do not ask my name, Rika ? ”
She was burning to know the name of the beloved one, for
he was indeed the brilliant visitor of the enchanted night. She
## p. 5210 (#382) ###########################################
5210
GEORGES EEKHOUD
stilled the throbbing of her beating heart, and pretended to show
only the polite indifference which an honest girl would feel to
an agreeable passer-by who accosted her on the road.
“You shrug your shoulders and pout, Rika! Of what interest
is a soldier's name to you? Probably he is a bad fellow, as the
curé preaches,- a spendthrift, a deceiver of women. Well, I will
tell
you
all the same. I am Cornelis Davie, otherwise Kors,
Kors the Black, now brigadier in the first battery of the fifth
regiment of artillery, stationed at Fort IV. , at Vieux-Dieu, near
Antwerp. In two months I shall return to Wildonck for good,
and take up the management of the Stork Farm, for old Davie
has worked long enough. Then, Rika, Kors Davie will marry.
Can you not suggest some girl for him, my sweet Rika? Do
you think he will find some fair ones to choose from at Viersel ? ”
“I think you are getting further and further away from Wil-
donck! ” said the coquette.
It was true; they had walked along together, and the canal
was now far behind them.
“You rogue! ” said Kors, a little annoyed. “Why need you
remind me of the moment of parting ? ”
"If you follow this road, you may perhaps arrive to-morrow.
Farewell, my soldier. My cows may go astray as you have. ”
The happy girl pretended to move away. This time he seized
her round the waist, and holding her in his arms, repeated again
and again, “You are beautiful, Rika! ”
“If our Viersel lads saw you so foolish, they would laugh at
you. Are there no girls at Wildonck, or in the town ? ”
« The devil take the lads of Viersel, the girls of Wildonck,
and the women of Antwerp! I will win you from all the men
in your village, sweet one! you are more beautiful to me than all
the girls of my native place! Rika, if you will consent, our
marriage shall be fixed. ”
« This love will not last. ”
He pressed her more closely to him.
“Let me go, let me go, brigadier, or I shall scream. You
have surely been drinking. There are several inns between here
and your fort, are there not ? What would people say if they
met me with you ? Ah! to the right there is a road which
branches off and will take you home. Be off! Good-night! ”
The susceptible Davie had now forgotten the very existence
of the fair and prudent Begga Leuven.
## p. 5211 (#383) ###########################################
GEORGES EEKHOUD
5211
« Well, if it must be, I will go! ” he said, in a firm yet tender
voice. “But one word more, Rika. If I return in three days'
time; if I repeat then that I love you madly; if I ask you to be
my wife, will you refuse me ? »
“Cornelis Davie is making fun of Rika Let; land-owners do
not marry their farm servants. "
«I swear that I am in earnest! I have one desire, one wish
only. Rika, when I return in three days' time, on Monday, will
you meet me here ? »
A feeble consent was wrung from her.
When Kors tried to kiss her lips, she had not the strength to
resist; she returned his kiss passionately.
Then, not without a pang, he walked rapidly in the direction
of the foot-path, not daring to look back.
Breathless with excitement and triumph, Rika followed him
with her eyes, until he was lost behind a leafy clump of oaks.
It was fair-time again, but now Rika Let was happy; she
dined at Viersel with her former employers the Verhulsts,
accompanied by her husband, the fine Kors Davie of Wildonck,
Kors the Black, the owner of the Stork Farm.
Poor old Davie had fretted and died! Ah! the sorcery of old
Zanne Hokespokes was indeed potent; she had changed the loyal
Kors into an undutiful son and a faithless lover. Poor Begga
was helpless against the spells of the Devil. Nothing could do
away with the power of the incantation. "Do not be unhappy,
sweet Begga! Marry tall Milè, the lock-keeper; he has neither
the money nor the manly bearing of the ex-brigadier, but he
will love you better. ”
It was just a year ago, to the day, since Rika Let consulted
the witch. The poor dairymaid had reaped ample revenge for
the slights cast upon her. She wished to pay a visit to the Ver-
hulsts and introduce her rich husband to them, for the Verhulsts'
wealth was nothing compared to that of the Davies.
Rika was gorgeously dressed.
Think, baezine V'erhulst, of
offering her a woolen kerchief from Suske Derk's stall! Feel
the silk of her dress; it cost ten francs a yard, neither more nor
less. The lace on her large fête-cap is worth the price of at
least three fat pigs, and the diamond heart, a jewel which
belonged to the late baezine Davie, the mother of Kors, hanging
## p. 5212 (#384) ###########################################
5212
GEORGES EEKHOUD
(
round her throat on a massive gold chain, is more valuable than
all your trinkets!
At midday there was feasting at the Verhulsts' farm in honor
of the fair, and more especially to welcome the Davies. Masters,
friends, plowmen and haymakers, all with good appetite, seated
themselves round a table laden with enormous dishes brought in
by the farmer's wife and Rika's successor,
The obsequious Madame Verhulst overpowered her former
servant with attention.
"Baccine Davie, take one of these carbonades? They are soft
as butter. . . . A slice of ham ? It's fit for a king. Or perhaps
you will have some more of this chine, which has been specially
kept for your visit ? Or a spoonful of saffron rice? It melts in
the mouth. ”
“You are very kind, Madame Verhulst, but we breakfasted late
just before starting. · Kors, have our horses been fed ? »
“Do not be afraid, baezine Davie; Verhulst will see to that
himself. ”
Kors, who was more and more in love with his wife, presided
at the men's end of the table; near him sat Odo and Freek Ver-
hulst, who had formerly treated Rika so disdainfully. Kors, well
shaven, rubicund, merry, and wearing a dark-blue smock-frock,
looked lovingly and longingly in the direction of his wife.
A savory smell filled the large room, the steam dimmed the
copper ornaments on the chimney-piece, the crucifix, the candle-
sticks, the plates, which were formerly the pride of the cleanly
Rika.
At first the guests gravely and solemnly satisfied their hun-
ger, without saying a word. Then came the bumpers to wash
down the viands, for mealy Polder potatoes make one thirsty!
As the tankards were re-filled, tongues were loosed, and jokes
piquant as the waters of the Scheldt flew apace.
Later, coffee, together with white bread and butter, sprinkled
with currants, was served for the ladies. The men bestirred
themselves unwillingly. Silently and solemnly they filled their
pipes and smoked, while the old gossips and white-capped young
girls chattered like magpies. The low-roofed houses of the vil-
lage, which stand at the foot of the steeple pointing upward as
the watchful finger of God, fade in the gathering twilight.
Before the bugles and violins struck up in the Golden Swan,
whither baesine Davie was longing to go with her husband, the
## p. 5213 (#385) ###########################################
GEORGES EEKHOUD
5213
(
proud Rika took him by the arm and showed him round the
Verhulsts's farm. After visiting the cowsheds, the stables, the
pig-sties, and the dairy, they climbed to the garret where Rika
used to sleep. The same little camp bed stood there, the same
broken mirror, the solitary rickety stool. A feeling of emotion,
mingled perhaps with remorse, overcame the pretty farmer's wife
at sight of the familiar objects, and she threw herself into her
husband's arms. The young farmer kissed her passionately over
and over again. Rika sat on his knee with his arms around her,
and they were oblivious to all save their love.
Below in the court-yard shrill voices called to them; it was
time for the dances.
“There is no need to hasten, is there, my Rika ? ”
Kors, my well-beloved,” Rika said at last with a sigh, after
a long and delicious silence, “do you not remember this room ? »
"What a strange question, little woman! you know this is the
first time I have crossed the threshold ! »
“Are you certain ? ”
She laughed, amused at his puzzled, half-angry, half good-
natured look.
"Have you ever lost anything, Kors ? ” she persisted.
"Be done with riddles! Rather let us go and dance,” replied
Kors, relieved for the moment by the strident tones of the music,
and the sound of dancing.
Houps! Lourelourela! Rich and poor joined in the dance,
their figures outlined like black imps against the red windows of
the Golden Swan.
One word more,” said Rika, catching hold of Kors's blouse;
“have you no recollection of a little thing which you lost one
night on a journey ? ”
“No more enigmas for me, sweet one; let us be off. My feet
itch for the dance. ”
«Must I remind you ? — look ! »
She drew Begga Leuven's knife from her pocket.
He turned and held out his hand. At touch of the knife, the
remembrance of that strange night came back to him. Again he
saw the hideous old woman who pursued him with blows; he
crossed heath and swamp, his sword caught in the brushwood; he
ran until he was breathless. But now he understood more
than he did on that morning when he told his nightmare to his
loyal friend Warner Cats, the intimate friend whom he had lost
## p. 5214 (#386) ###########################################
5214
GEORGES EEKHOUD
in consequence of his willful marriage. He recognized this
accursed garret, where he had lost the pretty knife, a present
from his first lover. Reason returned, and with it all his pure
and holy passion for Begga. She who was called baezine Davie
had won him by sorcery. To kiss her lips he forsook Begga, his
gentle comrade; later, he was deaf to the curses of his grand-
father, he was indifferent when Begga married tall Milè, and he
shed no tears at the grave of the father whose death was brought
about by his disgraceful marriage.
And she, the abominable accomplice of the sorceress, still
clung to him,- the vampire!
The pale moon had risen, and now bathed the attic in silver
rays tinged with blue.
Rika sank to the ground beneath the unrecognizing glance
of Kors; she stretched out her hands to ward off what she felt
must come.
In Black Kors's contracted, bloodless hand, the open knife
shone as on the night of the charm.
Between two harsh and vibrating strains of music which came
from the Golden Swan, a discordant burst of laughter echoed
across the silent tragic plain surrounding Verhulst Farm.
At that moment, Kors in a fit of delirium plunged the knife
into Rika's breast. . . . She fell without uttering a cry.
Did not the incantation run:-“I command thee, charmed
plant, to bring me the man who will wound me as I wound
thee"?
## p. 5215 (#387) ###########################################
5215
EDWARD EGGLESTON
(1837-)
ES
DWARD EGGLESTON was born at Vevay, Indiana, December
10th, 1837
His father was a native of Amelia County,
Virginia, and was of a family which migrated from England
to Virginia in the seventeenth century, and which became one of
much distinction in the State. A brief biography of Mr. Eggleston
lately published affords some information as to his early years.
He
was a sufferer from ill health as a child. He had repeatedly to be
removed from school for this cause, and he spent a considerable part
of his boyhood on farms in Indiana, where he
made acquaintance with that rude backwoods
life which he has described in "The Hoosier
Schoolmaster) and other stories. An import-
ant incident of his youth was a visit of thir-
teen months which he paid to his relations
in Virginia in 1854. This opportunity of
making acquaintance under such favorable
circumstances with slave society, must have
been of great value to one who was to make
American history the chief pursuit of his life.
In 1856 he went to Minnesota, and there
lived a frontier life to the great improve- EDWARD EGGLESTON
ment of his health. The accounts we have
of him show him to have had the ardent and energetic character
which belongs to the youth of the West. When not yet nineteen
years old he became a Methodist preacher in that State. Later, ill
health forced him again to Minnesota, where with the enthusiasm of
a young man he traveled on foot, shod in Indian moccasins, in winter
and summer preaching to the mixed Indian and white populations on
the Minnesota River.
Mr. Eggleston's literary career began, while he was still preaching,
with contributions to Western periodicals. Having written for the
New York Independent, he was offered in 1870 the place of literary
editor of that paper, and the following year became its editor-in-
chief. He was afterwards editor of Hearth and Home, to the columns
of which journal he contributed (The Hoosier Schoolmaster,' a story
that has been very popular. He wrote a number of other novels,
“The End of the World,' The Mystery of Metropolisville, The
## p. 5216 (#388) ###########################################
5216
EDWARD EGGLESTON
Circuit Rider,' 'Roxy,' etc. In January 1880, while on a visit to
Europe, he began to make plans for a History of Life in the United
States. ' He had always had a strong taste for this subject, a keen
natural interest in history being evident here and there in his stories.
His historical researches were carried on in many of the chief libra-
ries of Europe and the United States. A result of these studies was
the thirteen articles on 'Life in the Colonial Period published in the
Century Magazine. These, however, were but preliminary studies to
the work which he intended should be the most important of his life.
The first volume of this work, The Beginners of a Nation,' was pub-
lished in 1896.
This work does not pretend to be a particular account of colonial
history. It is an attempt rather to describe the colonial individual
and colonial society, to state the succession of cause and effect in the
establishment of English life in North America, and to describe prin-
ciples rather than details, — giving however as much detail as is
necessary to illustrate principles. The volume of 1896 contains chap-
ters on (The James River Experimentsand The Procession of
Motives which led to colonization. Book ii. of this volume is upon
the Puritan migration, and has chapters on the rise of Puritanism in
England, on the Pilgrim migration, and the great Puritan exodus.
Book iii. receives the name of Centrifugal Forces in Colony Plant-
ing,' and contains accounts of Lord Baltimore's Maryland colony, of
Roger Williams, and the New England Dispersions, by which is
meant the establishment of communities in Connecticut and else-
where. In the sketch of Lord Baltimore, the courtier and friend of
kings, we have a striking contrast with the type of men who led the
Puritan migrations. There were odd characters in those days; and a
court favorite and worldling who, after having feathered his nest, is
willing to make two such voyages to Newfoundland as his must have
been, and to spend a winter there, all out of zeal for the establish-
ment of his religion in the Western wilds, is certainly a person
worthy of study.
The play of the forces that produced emigration, and their rela-
tions to the migrations, are described very clearly by the author.
People did not emigrate when they were happy at home. Thus,
Catholic emigration was small under Laud, when English Catholics
were beginning to think that the future was theirs; just as Puritan
emigration, vigorous under Laud, dwindled with the days of the
Puritan triumph in England. We have in "The James River Experi-
ments' a good example of the writer's method. The salient and sig-
nificant facts are given briefly, but with sufficient fullness to enable
the reader to have a satisfactory grasp of the matter; and where
some principle or general truth is to be pointed out, the author sets
## p. 5217 (#389) ###########################################
EDWARD EGGLESTON
5217
this forth strongly. For instance, in describing the motives of colo-
nization in Virginia, he shows how these motives were in almost all
cases delusions; how a succession of such delusions ran through the
times of Elizabeth and James; and how colonization succeeded in the
end only by doing what its projectors had never intended to do.
The Jamestown emigrants expected to find a passage to India, to dis-
cover gold and silver, to raise wine and silk. But none of these
things were done. Wines and silk indeed were raised. It is said
that Charles I. 's coronation robe was made of Virginian silk, and Mr.
Eggleston tells us that Charles II. certainly wore silk from worms
hatched and fed in his Virginian dominions. But these industries,
although encouraged to the utmost by government, could not be
made to take root. On the other hand, a determined effort was
made to discourage the production of tobacco. James I. wrote a book
against the culture of that pernicious “weed,” as he was the first to
describe it. But the hardy plant held its own and flourished in spite
of the royal disfavor. Nor were the colonists more successful in
their political intentions. Especially interesting, in view of recent
discussions, is the account given of the communistic experiments
which belonged to the early history of the American colonies. In
Virginia all the products of the colony were to go into a common
stock. But after twelve years' trial of this plan, there was a division
of the land among the older settlers. The pernicious character of
the system had been demonstrated. Every man sharked for his own
bootie,” says a writer on Virginia in 1609, “and was altogether care-
less of the succeeding penurie. ” The two years of communism in
the Plymouth colony was scarcely more successful. Bradford, finding
that the matter was one of life and death with the colony, abolished
the system, although the abolition was a revolutionary stroke, in
violation of the contract with the shareholders.
This idea, that the outcome was to be very different from the
intentions, appears not only in the striking chapter on (The Proces-
sion of Motives,' but crops up again and again in other parts of the
book. Thus, the ill success which attended the government of the
colonies from London resulted in the almost unconscious establish-
ment of several independent democratic communities in America.
This happened in Virginia and Plymouth. The Massachusetts Bay
Colony, however, was self-governing from the start.
But although causes and principles are matters of chief interest
with Mr. Eggleston, his book is full of a picturesqueness which is all
the more effective for being unobtrusive. The author has not that
tiresome sort of picturesqueness which insists on saying the whole
thing itself. The reader is credited with a little imagination, and
that faculty has frequent opportunity for exercise. It is charmed by
IX-327
## p. 5218 (#390) ###########################################
5218
EDWARD EGGLESTON
the striking passage in which is described the delight of the emi-
grants of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when, after having set sail
from England, they found themselves upon the open sea for the first
time without the supervision, or even the neighborhood, of bosses.
We know the sense of freedom which the broad and blue ocean
affords to us all; what must have been that feeling to men who had
scarcely ever had an hour of life untroubled by the domination of an
antagonistic religious authority! Every day, for ten weeks together,
they had preaching and exposition. On one ship,” says Mr. Eggles-
ton, «the watches were set to the accompaniment of psalm-singing. ”
The candor and fair-mindedness of this work is one of its special
merits. We have an indication of this quality in the author's refusal
to accept the weak supposition, common among writers upon Ameri-
can history, that the faults of our ancestors were in some way more
excusable than those of other people. He says in his Preface:- "I
have disregarded that convention which makes it obligatory for a
writer of American history to explain that intolerance in the first
settlers was not just like other intolerance, and that their cruelty and
injustice were justifiable under the circumstances. ” Other very im-
portant characteristics are sympathy, warmth of heart, and moral
enthusiasm. Nor is the work wanting in an adequate literary merit.
The style, especially in the later chapters, is free, simple, nervous,
and rhythmical.
Little has been said of Mr. Eggleston's novels in the course of
these remarks. But the qualities of his historical writing appear in
his novels. The qualities of the realistic novelist are of great use to
the historian, when the novelist has the thoroughness and the indus-
try of Mr. Eggleston. By the liveliness of his imagination, he suc-
ceeds in making history as real as fiction should be. Mr. Eggleston's
novels deserve the popularity they have attained. They are them-
selves, particularly those which describe Western life, valuable con-
tributions to history. The West, we may add, is Mr. Eggleston's
field. His most recent novel, “The Faith Doctor,' the scene of which
is laid in New York, is very inferior to his Western stories. Of
these novels probably the best is (The Graysons, a book full of
its author's reality and warmth of human sympathy; of this book the
reader will follow every word with the same lively interest with
which he reads (The Beginners of a Nation. '
## p. 5219 (#391) ###########################################
EDWARD EGGLESTON
5219
ROGER WILLIAMS: THE PROPHET OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
From The Beginners of a Nation': copyright 1896, by Edward Eggleston
L
OCAL jealousy and sectarian prejudice have done what they
could to obscure the facts of the trial and banishment of
Williams. It has been argued by more than one writer that
it was not a case of religious persecution at all, but the exclu-
sion of a man dangerous to the State. Cotton, with characteris-
tic verbal legerdemain, says that Williams was “enlarged” rather
than banished. The case has even been pettifogged in our own
time by the assertion that the banishment was only the action of
a commercial company excluding an uncongenial person from its
territory. But with what swift indignation would the Massachu-
setts rulers of the days of Dudley and Haynes have repudiated a
plea which denied their magistracy! They put so strong a press-
ure on Stoughton, who said that the assistants were not magis-
trates, that he made haste to renounce his pride of authorship
and to deliver his booklet to be officially burned; nor did even
this prevent his punishment. The rulers of “the Bay ” were
generally frank advocates of religious intolerance; they regarded
toleration as a door set open for the Devil to enter.
Not only
did they punish for unorthodox expressions, they even assumed
to inquire into private beliefs. Williams was only one of scores
bidden to depart on account of opinion.
The real and sufficient extenuation for the conduct of the
Massachusetts leaders is found in the character and standards of
A few obscure and contemned sectaries — Brownists,
Anabaptists, and despised Familists -- in Holland and England
had spoken more or less clearly in favor of religious liberty
before the rise of Roger Williams, but nobody of weight or re-
spectable standing in the whole world had befriended it. A11
the great authorities in Church and State, Catnolic and Prot-
estant, prelatical and Puritan, agreed in their detestation of it.
Even Robinson, the moderate pastor of the Leyden Pilgrims,
ventured to hold only to the toleration of tolerable opinions.
This was the toleration found at Amsterdam and in some other
parts of the Low Countries. Even this religious sufferance, which
did not amount to liberty, was sufficiently despicable in the eyes
of that intolerant age to bring upon the Dutch the contempt of
Christendom. It was a very qualified and limited toleration, and
the age.
## p. 5220 (#392) ###########################################
5220
EDWARD EGGLESTON
(
to
one from which Catholics and Arminians were excluded. It seems
to have been that practical amelioration of law which is produced
more effectually by commerce than by learning or religion. Out-
side of some parts of the Low Countries, and oddly enough of
the Turkish Empire, all the world worth counting decried toler-
ation as a great crime. It would have been wonderful indeed if
Massachusetts had been superior to the age.
“I dare aver,” say's
Nathaniel Ward, the New England lawyer-minister, “that God
doth nowhere in his Word tolerate Christian States to give tol-
erations to such adversaries of his Truth, if they have power in
their hands to suppress them. ” To set up toleration was
build a sconce against the walls of heaven to batter God out of
his chair,” in Ward's opinion.
This doctrine of intolerance was sanctioned by many refine-
ments of logic, such as Cotton's delicious sophistry that if a man
refused to be convinced of the truth, he was sinning against con-
science, and therefore it was not against the liberty of conscience
to coerce him. Cotton's moral intuitions were fairly suffocated
by logic. He declared that men should be compelled to attend
religious service, because it was better to be hypocrites than
profane persons. Hypocrites give God part of his due, the out-
ward man, but the profane person giveth God neither outward
nor inward man. ” To reason thus is to put subtlety into the
cathedra of common-sense, to bewilder vision by legerdemain.
Notwithstanding his natural gift for devoutness and his almost
immodest godliness, Cotton was incapable of high sincerity. He
would not specifically advise Williams's banishment, but having
labored with him round a corner according to his most approved
ecclesiastical formula, he said, “We have no more to say in his
behalf, but must sit down;” by which expression of passivity he
gave the signal to the "secular arm” to do its worst, while he
washed his hands in innocent self-complacency. When one scru-
pulous magistrate consulted him as to his obligation in Williams's
case, Cotton answered his hesitation by saying, “You know they
are so much incensed against his course that it is not your voice,
nor the voice of two or three more, that can suspend the sen-
tence. " By such shifty phrases he shirked responsibility for the
results of his own teaching.
