Chapter 18

"While the minister sat in the midst of his dreams," went on the speaker, "word came to him that Isræls Pers Perrson had taken his life. He could not endure the thought of his folly in selling his share of the mine. He felt he would be unable to live and see from day to day another enjoy the wealth that might have been his."

The King moved slightly in his chair. He now had both eyes wide open. "Methinks," said he, "that had I been this minister, I should have had enough of that mine."

"The King is a rich man; at least he has plenty. It was not so with the minister, who owned nothing. This poor man, when he saw that God's blessing appeared not to be with his undertaking, thought: 'I shall not dream further about making myself prosperous and useful with these riches. I cannot let the silver mine lie in the ground, however; I must take out the ore for the poor and needy. I will work the silver mine to help put the whole community on its feet.'

"One day the minister went over to Olaf Svard's to talk with him and his brother about the best disposal of the mine. When he came near the soldier's home, he met a cart surrounded by awe-stricken farmers. Within the cart sat a man, his feet bound with a rope and his hands behind him.

"As the minister passed, the cart stopped, giving the minister an opportunity to observe the prisoner more closely. His head was bound around so that it was hard to see him, but the minister thought he recognized Olaf Svard. He heard the prisoner pleading with the guards to let him speak with the minister.

"As he came closer to the cart, the prisoner turned towards him, saying, 'You will soon be the only one who knows where the silver mine is.'

"'What is that you say, Olaf?'

"'You see, minister, since we heard that it is a silver mine we have found, my brother and I have not remained such good friends as formerly. We often have come to disputes, and last night we had an argument over which one of us five first found the mine. We came to blows, and I have killed my brother and he has given me a deep mark on my forehead.[290-1] I shall hang now and you will then be the only one who knows the site of the mine. I should like to request something of you.'

"'Speak up,' said the minister. 'I will do all in my power for you.'

"'You know I shall leave several little children behind me,' said the soldier.

"'So far as that is concerned,' interrupted the minister, 'you may rest easy. Whatever is your share they shall have.'

"'No,' said Olaf, 'it is another thing I wanted to ask of you. Do not let them have any part of that which comes out of the mine.'

"The minister fell back a few steps, then remained motionless, unable to reply.

"'If you do not promise me this, I cannot die in peace.'

"The minister at last promised reluctantly, and the cart continued on its way, bearing the murderer to his doom.

"The minister stood there in the road, deliberating on how he should keep the promise he had just given. All the way home he thought over the riches which he had expected would bring such joy.

"'If it should prove,' he mused, 'that the people of this parish are unable to endure wealth, since already four have died who had been strong practical men, ought I not to give up the idea of working the mine?' He pictured his whole parish going to destruction because of the silver. Would it be right that he, who was placed as a guardian over the souls of these poor people, should put into their hands something which might be the cause of their ruin?"

The King raised himself upright in his chair and stared at the speaker. "I might say that you give me to understand that the pastor of this isolated community must be a real man."

"But this that I have related was not all," continued the minister, "for as soon as the news of the mine spread over the neighboring parishes, workers ceased to labor and went about light-heartedly, awaiting the time when the great riches should pour in on them. All idlers in that section roamed into the hamlet. Drunkenness, quarreling, and fighting became constant problems for the minister's solution. Many people did nothing but wander around through fields and forest looking for the mine. The minister noted, also, that as soon as he left home, men spied upon him to see whether he visited the silver mine, so that they might steal the secret of its location from him.

"When things had come to this pass, the minister called the farmers to a meeting. He reminded them of the many tragedies that the discovery of the silver mine had brought to their community and asked if they were going to allow themselves to be ruined or if they wished to save themselves. And then he asked if they wanted him, who was their pastor, to contribute to their ruin. He himself had decided that he would not reveal to anyone the location of the mine, nor would he ever attempt to derive any wealth therefrom.

"He then asked the farmers how they would vote for the future. If they desired to continue seeking after the mine and awaiting riches, he intended to go so far from them that no news of their misery would ever reach him. If, on the other hand, they would give up thinking of the silver mine, he would remain among them. 'But however you choose,' repeated the minister, 'remember that no one will ever hear from me any information about the location of the silver mine.'"

"Well," said the King, "what did the farmers decide?"

"They did as the minister desired of them. They understood that he meant well for them when he was willing to remain in poverty for their sake. They urged him to go to the forest and take every precaution to conceal the vein so that no one would ever find it."

"Since then the minister has remained here as poor as the others?"

"Yes, as poor as the others."

"Has he, in spite of this, married and built a new parsonage?"

"No, he has not had the means. He lives in the same old place."

"That is a beautiful story," said the King, bending his head.

The minister stood silent before the King. In a few minutes the latter continued: "Was it of the silver mine that you were thinking when you said that the minister here could furnish me with as much money as I should need?"

"Yes," said the other.

"But I can't put thumb-screws on him; and how otherwise could I bring a man like him to show me the mine--a man who has forsaken his beloved and all material blessings?"

"That is another matter," said the minister. "If it is the Fatherland that needs help, he will undoubtedly give up the secret."

"Do I have your assurance for that?"

"Yes, I will answer for it."

"Does he not care, then, how it goes with his parishioners?"

"That shall stand in God's hands."

The King arose from his chair and walked over to the window. He stood for a moment observing the people outside. The longer he stood, the clearer his large eyes glistened. His whole stature seemed to expand.

"You may present my compliments to the minister of this parish," said the King, "and say to him that there is given no more beautiful sight to Sweden's King than to see such a people as these."

Thereupon the King turned from the window and looked smilingly at the minister. "Is it true that the minister of this parish is so poor that he takes off his black robe as soon as the service is over and dresses as one of the peasants?"

"Yes, he is as poor as that," said the minister, and a flush of embarrassment spread over his rough but noble face.

The King again stepped to the window. He apparently was in his best mood. All that was great and noble within him had been awakened. "He shall let the silver mine rest in peace. Since through all his life he has starved and worked to perfect a people such as these, he shall be permitted to keep them as they are."

"But if the kingdom is in danger----"

"The kingdom is better served with men than with money." When he had said these words, the King shook hands with the minister and stepped out of the study.

Outside stood the people, as impassive as when he went in. But when the King came down the steps, one of the farmers approached him.

"Have you talked with our minister?"

"Yes, I have talked with him."

"Then you have also received answer from us," said the farmer.

"Yes, I have received your answer."

--_Translated from the Swedish by_ C. Frederick Carlson.

NOTES

O. HENRY (Page 11)

Sydney Porter, whose pen name was O. Henry, was an American journalist who lived during the years 1862 to 1910. For several years he wandered in the South and Southwest, gathering the many and varied experiences of a journalistic career. These he aptly used in his numerous short stories, and he was ever a beguiling story teller.

He finally settled down in New York City and there wrote his best stories. Instead of writing of the Four Hundred, or the social set of the great city, as so many other writers were fond of doing, with his clever pen he revealed to us through little sketches the real life of the four million others in New York. Laundresses, messenger boys, policemen, clerks, even the tramps ever present in the parks were pictured for us as real everyday people whom one could find anywhere. Read his stories in _The Four Million_, from which "The Gift of the Magi" is taken, for you will like them.

O. Henry, while his stories usually lack the qualities of enduring literature, those of a cultured style and a universal theme--a theme that will be true to human experience through the ages--is yet master of the composition of the short story. Examine "The Gift of the Magi" and you will find that it develops one main incident carried out in a single afternoon with all the necessary details compressed; that is, the details are suggested in a few words but not developed. The story has originality and appeals to the imagination of the reader, for the whole life of the two characters is suggested through this brief, rather touching sketch. The end, though it is a surprise and comes like the crack of a whip, was nevertheless carefully prepared for. Then the writer is through, and we are left with the feeling that we know this everyday young couple, who after all have the priceless gift, an unselfish love, which, hidden from the eyes of the world, glorifies their commonplace existence.

O. Henry approaches true literature here, for he has a theme that has lived and will ever live to uplift human life. His style too, influenced by his theme, is raised somewhat from his usual slangy expression.

The Gift of the Magi

11, 1. The Magi. Wise men who brought gifts to the infant Christ as he lay in the manger at Bethlehem.

13, 1. Queen of Sheba. A queen of Old Testament history, who is reported to have sought an alliance with Solomon, King of Israel, in the tenth century B.C., bringing to him fabulous gifts of gold and jewels.

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BOOTH TARKINGTON (Page 19)

Booth Tarkington was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1869. The author's love for and knowledge of his native state is revealed to us in several of his best novels. He was educated at Exeter Academy, at Purdue University, and at Princeton.

Mr. Tarkington may truly be said to be a literary man. Unlike most of our other authors, he has had no other formal occupation except that of writing. To this work, since he left Princeton, he has given all of his time and energy. For eight years he wrote stories that were always rejected. His courage and perseverance, however, were finally richly rewarded. With his first accepted work, _The Gentleman from Indiana_, he attained a secure position as a writer of distinction.

Mr. Tarkington is said to be exceedingly companionable and entirely without self-consciousness and egotism. He is a ready and entertaining talker and tells a story as well as he writes one. He has, too, a keen sense of the humorous. This naturalness and this sense of humor may be noticed readily in the story, "A Reward of Merit" selected from _Penrod and Sam_.

The books, _Penrod_, _Penrod and Sam_, and _Seventeen_ are studies of the human boy, presented in a series of chapters that read like so many short stories.

A Reward of Merit

21, 1. Obedient to inherited impulse. The boys followed an unreasoning impulse in their nature, inherited from their savage ancestors, who got their living by pursuing and killing running animals.

2. Automatons of instinct. Creatures guided, not by reason or will, but by tendencies inherited from savage ancestors.

22, 1. Practioner of an art, etc. A humorous way of saying that gambling by the method of throwing dice dates back probably further than the time of the Romans.

30, 1. Sang-froid. A French word meaning coolness under trying circumstances.

36, 1. Gothic. A term applied to certain types of architecture of the Middle Ages. Whitey, with bones and ribs showing, suggested the pillars and pointed arches of a Gothic building.

43, 1. Nemesis. An ancient goddess in Greek literature who justly punished any one who sinned.

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MARY RAYMOND SHIPMAN ANDREWS (Page 48)

Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews is a well-known short story writer of the present day. She was born in Mobile, Alabama. Her present home is in Syracuse, New York.

Mrs. Andrews is perhaps best known by her story of Lincoln, "The Perfect Tribute," the one of her stories which will surely endure the test of time and rank high as literature. Among her best work are also stories of camping trips in the Canadian woods--stories which show her keen delight in life out-of-doors, for Mrs. Andrews says of herself, "I paddle a canoe much better than I write a story."

In "American, Sir!" the story of the World War given in this book, one finds Mrs. Andrews's usual qualities of sentiment, dramatic effect, and distinctive style. To readers of "The Perfect Tribute," it is enough to say that in her stories of the recent war Mrs. Andrews writes with the same exalted spirit of American patriotism that she showed in that story of the Civil War. She believes that out of the sorrow and suffering of the war have come the glory of courage and self-sacrifice and a new and deeper love for America.

"American, Sir!"

49, 1. "Tapped" for "Bones" or "Scroll and Key." "Bones" and "Scroll and Key" are two fraternities at Yale to which the students deem it a great honor to belong. On the great day when new members are chosen, every one assembles on the campus, where the new members are tapped on the shoulder by old members and told to go to their rooms.

52, 1. Croix de Guerre. The French War Cross, a decoration given by France to soldiers for extreme bravery and self-sacrifice.

2. Caporetto disaster. The Italian army was overwhelmingly defeated by the Germans near the village of Caporetto on October 24, 1917. This disaster was brought about by fraternization, or friendly relations, between the soldiers of the Austro-German and Italian armies. Skillful German propaganda had led the Italians to believe that fighting would be brought to an end if the Italian soldiers would do no more shooting. Then new German troops were brought forward to make a deadly attack upon the Italian army. So thoroughly had the Germans played their game that the Italians lost more than 250,000 prisoners and 2300 guns before they realized how they had been duped.

3. Lombardy and Venetia. Provinces in northern Italy, which are noted for their beautiful scenery and places of interest to tourists.

4. Tagliamento. A small river in northern Italy. The Italian army made a stand here in a bloody encounter with the Germans.

5. Piave. Another river in northern Italy, south of the Tagliamento. Here the Italians brought the Germans to a stand and held them for several months. They did this by a system of lagoon defenses from the lower Piave to the Gulf of Venice. This is most interesting to read about in any of the histories of the World War.

55, 1. Bersagliari. Italian sharp-shooters.

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KATHERINE MAYO (Page 68)

Katherine Mayo was born in Ridgway, Pennsylvania, but she was educated at private schools in Boston and Cambridge, and her home has long been in New York City.

She is a contributor to our best periodicals, _The Atlantic Monthly_, _Scribner's_, _The North American_, _The Outlook_, and _The Saturday Evening Post_. Her stories are almost all founded on facts. The story "John G." in this collection of short stories is selected from _The Standard Bearers_, which is a group of true narratives concerning the Pennsylvania State Police. These tales are told by Miss Mayo in a finely distinctive way which makes vivid the gallant deeds of these brave men.

Miss Mayo's interest in the history and deeds of the Pennsylvania State Police was aroused by her personal experience of the helplessness of country districts in New York state to prevent or punish crime. Miss Mayo had heard that Pennsylvania years ago had acknowledged its duty to protect all its people, and to that end had established a rural patrol known as the State Police. Finding little in print concerning this force, she went to Pennsylvania to study the facts first hand.

The results of her investigations she published early in 1917 in her book, _Justice to All_, with an introduction by ex-President Roosevelt, in which he declares the volume to be so valuable that it should be in every public library and every school-library in the land.

In _The Standard Bearers_, she tells of some of the special feats of early members of that now famous force. No detective stories, no tales of the Wild West can exceed in thrilling human interest these true narratives of events that have happened in our own time and in our own country.

Miss Mayo during the world war has done active work over seas in the "Y." True stories of her experiences with the doughboys have appeared in _The North American_, and in _The Outlook_.

John G.

68, 1. Barrack-Room Ballads. Poems by Rudyard Kipling with the atmosphere of the far East.

69, 1. Pennsylvania State Police. See sketch of Katherine Mayo.

2. I. W. W. Industrial Workers of the World, a revolutionary labor organization. The members have given much trouble by their extreme views, such as eternal war against their employers. They believe that they should organize as a class and take possession of the earth, abolishing the wage system.

70, 1. Blue ribbon. A sign of distinction; a blue ribbon worn by a horse at a horse show denotes that he has won the first prize.

2. Atlantis. A mythical island of vast extent mentioned by Plato and other ancient writers and placed by them in the distant unknown West.

72, 1. Two by twelves. A plank two inches thick by twelve inches wide.

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MYRA KELLY (Page 77)

Myra Kelly, who later became Mrs. Allan Macnaughton, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1876 and died in England in 1910. She lived almost all of her short life, however, in New York City. Here she was educated in the public schools and at Teachers College, Columbia University.

She was an American teacher and author. She taught in the New York public schools from 1899 to 1901 and at Teachers College in 1902 and 1903. She first became known by her stories of children in the primary schools of New York City. She wrote chiefly of the children of the East Side, with whom she had had first-hand experience, while teaching in the public schools. Her stories give the Yiddish dialect inimitably and they show a fine, wise tolerance as well as a shrewd knowledge of child character.

Mrs. Macnaughton's published volumes include _Little Citizens_, _Wards of Liberty_, _Rosnah_, _Little Aliens_, _New Faces_, and _Her Little Young Ladyship_. The story "Friends," presented in this collection, is taken from _Little Aliens_.

_Little Aliens_ contains nine stories, of which the settings are all in the homes of the children. Most of the stories in her first volume, _Little Citizens_, have their settings in the schools. The stories reveal a rich humor, an underlying pathos, a deep understanding of child nature, and a full grasp of the conditions with which all aliens, big or little, must contend.

Friends

77, 1. Friends. The dialect spoken by the child in this story is the American adaptation of the Yiddish, which is a German dialect spoken by the Jews of eastern Europe, containing many Hebrew and Slav expressions.

78, 1. Board of Monitors. A group of children appointed by the pupils to help the teacher in various ways.

79, 1. Krisht. Christian.

82, 1. Rabbi. A Jewish title for a teacher or interpreter of the law, also a pastor of a Jewish congregation. Kosher law refers to special Jewish laws. The laws regarding food specify how animals must be slaughtered in order that the meat may be ceremonially clean.

89, 1. Vis-a-vis. Opposite to one another.

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HAMLIN GARLAND (Page 97)

Hamlin Garland is a poet and novelist, whose stories are set mostly in the Middle West. He was born in 1860 on a farm near the present site of West Salem, Wisconsin. In 1869 his family moved out on the prairie of Mitchell County, Iowa, the scene of his _Boy Life on the Prairie_, and of many of the stories in _Main-Traveled Roads_. The selection, "A Camping Trip," given in this volume, is taken from _Boy Life on the Prairie_.

Mr. Garland's education was different from that of most of his contemporaries. When about sixteen, he became a pupil at the Cedar Valley Seminary, Osage, Iowa, though he worked on a farm during six months of the year. He graduated in 1881 from this school and for a year tramped through the eastern states. His people having settled in Brown County, Dakota, he drifted that way in the spring of 1883 and took up a claim in McPherson County, where he lived for a year on the unsurveyed land, making studies of the plains country, which were of great value to him later. _The Moccasin Ranch_ and several of his short stories resulted from this experience.

In the fall of 1884 he sold his claim and returned to the East, to Boston, intending to qualify himself for teaching. He soon found a helpful friend in Professor Moses True Brown, and became a pupil, and a little later an instructor, in the Boston School of Oratory. During years from 1885 to 1889 he taught private classes in English and American literature, and lectured in and about Boston on Browning, Shakespeare, the drama, etc., writing and studying meanwhile in the public library. In Boston he made the acquaintance of Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Dean Howells, Edward Everett Hale, Edwin Booth, and other leaders in literature and art.

Mr. Garland wrote his stories from first-hand experience with men under certain typical American conditions. His stories of _Boy Life on the Prairie_ and of _Main-Traveled Roads_ are grim stories of farm life in the West. They portray the conditions under which people lived on the prairies only a generation or two ago. He shows us that men may become true and strong because of their battle with such conditions. His books are as truly American as any our country has produced.

As a writer of literature, these books show Mr. Garland to be a realist, that is, a writer who deals with the facts of real life, but as you read _Boy Life on the Prairie_, you will see that he is fond of the ideal, of the fanciful, and of descriptions of simple rural scenes. The latter quality is very plain, when he writes of the birds and of the thrill of the open country that comes to the boys on their camping trip.

A Camping Trip

100, 1. A prairie schooner. A long canvas-covered wagon used especially by emigrants crossing the prairies.

105, 1. Skimmer-bugs. Bugs that skip or glide over the surface of the water.

111, 1. Luff. To turn the head of a vessel towards the wind. Hard-a-port is a direction given to the helmsman, meaning to put the helm quickly to the port or left side.

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DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER (Page 114)