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Rh forget all about them whenever I think of what's happened to these fellows here."

"Look here, boys, you might let us go. We ain't done nothing to you, and it's a terrible thing to be shut up in prison for ten years or so. Call it off, won't you, and cut these things loose? You'll never be sorry for it," suggested Martin.

A roar of laughter greeted his plea, and made him frown savagely. After that he wasted no breath in trying to hoodwink those bright boys. They knew what type of rascal he and his companion represented, and that the best place for them was under lock and key. Every home would be that much safer once these strolling thieves were behind stone walls.

They were still in the woods, though nearing the road where the walking would be much better. Frank limped along as best he could. He would have liked to mount his wheel, and thus relieve his lame leg as much as possible; but to do so he would have to quit the column of guards. This he absolutely declined to do, for fear lest those desperate scoundrels find some clever way to escape.

"Makes me think of the victorious Romans returned from Carthage, with their captives tied to their chariots," declared one boy, hilariously.

"Only we haven't got any chariots. But we do look a little like ancient Romans, all right, don't we,


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mulready, William

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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172 fellows, with only running togs on?" laughed a second.

"I say, Frank, do you know if these chumps had any friends around here?" demanded George suddenly.

"What makes you say that?" cried Frank, quickly, for he realized from the tone in which the question was put that the other had some reason for asking it.

"Why, they say that these hoboes or yeggmen always hunt in bunches. Anyhow, I heard Chief Hogg make that remark. And I was wondering whether it could be true."

George was one of those fellows who like to hear themselves talk. When he had anything to say he took a roundabout course in delivering himself, that was very irritating to wide-awake chaps like Frank.

"You've seen something, George. Now, what was it?" he demanded, sternly.

"Well, I happened to be looking ahead among the trees when I saw a man just popping behind a tree. There, if you look sharp you'll see him peeking out now. And as sure as you live, there's another of them back of that big sycamore yonder. Why, the woods are full of them, fellows. Perhaps we've just walked into a trap, and it's cut and run for us!"

Various exclamations of surprise and chagrin greeted this announcement, and the bunch of lads began to exhibit signs of extreme nervousness.


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114 As early as three thousand years before the Christian Era Egyptian seagoing ships (p. 32 and Fig. 14) began to issue from the Nile and cross the Mediterranean northward. The copper which these ships brought into the Ægean (p. 14) then slowly spread, through the Mediterranean, from people to people. It finally crossed Europe as the trader carried it with his pack trains up the Rhone and the Danube, or over the Alpine passes into the valley of the Elbe and there shifted his cargo to river boats, in which he floated downstream to the northern seas—where by 2000 B.C. copper became common as far north as Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. In return the trader carried back amber to the Mediterranean ports.

Stone implements had, however, by no means disappeared in Europe, but the northern craftsman, pleased with the form of


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 CHAPTER XIX

"Don't believe him, Frank; George is bluffing, that's all!"

"It's becoming a habit with him; we were just talking of sousing him in a creek as we came along, to break him off!" exclaimed another of the runners.

"It's the old cry of 'wolf' and this time the beast has come, for I saw a head stick out from behind a tree myself!" cried Molly Manners.

"Where? Which tree, Molly? Take care what you say, or there'll be two in the swim before long!" came an excited chorus.

"Look for yourself, ninnies—just as George said, there's a man behind that big sycamore; don't you see his head moving?" demanded the accused one.

"It's true, fellows; I can see him now!" came from Ben Cloud.

"Yes, and I caught sight of the other back of that oak. Oh! say, what shall we do about it?" asked a slender chap, who looked considerably alarmed. Rh


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174 Frank laughed, and so heartily that the others stared at him, wondering what he could see about the affair to make it seem comical. To them it was a decidedly serious matter.

"History loves to repeat itself, fellows; you know that. On that other night, after Lanky and myself had been presented with that horse and buggy, you remember we were ourselves held up on the road?" he remarked, presently.

"Yes, but it turned out to be by friends!" declared one of the quaking boys.

"Well, once again our guardian angel seems to be hovering near, to show up on the scene just after the battle is won. Watch now, and see," and elevating his voice Frank shouted:

"Hello! there, Chief Hogg, come this way, for we've got something nice for you!"

"Chief Hogg!" ejaculated George.

"It is, for a fact! What do you think of that, fellows? Talk about habit, our gallant police force seem to have fallen into one. When the smoke of battle clears away, just as Frank says, they always bob up on the ground to claim the spoils!" and the relieved Molly Manners struck a dramatic attitude to indicate disgust.

There was no longer any doubt about the fact. The two men in hiding had shown themselves now,


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Rh and were hastening toward the group of runners in the cross-country hare and hounds chase.

And the jovial face of the chief was too well known to every lad in Columbia not to be readily recognized now.

It bore a look of mingled wonder and dismay now. The chief wanted to capture those two desperate rascals badly, but he had hoped to have the credit of doing so himself. If this sort of thing kept on the citizens of Columbia would be talking of dismissing the present force and employing a few youngsters instead.

"Hello! boys! What's been going on here? Seems to me you've been taking high-handed action. And unless my eyes deceive me, these gents must be the much-wanted chaps from Fordham way, unless the description I had over the 'phone was all wrong. Now, tell me all about it, Frank."

Chief Hogg seemed to take it for granted that Frank must be the leading figure in the wonderful event. Perhaps he based his conclusion on general principles, knowing the boy as well as he did. Then again Frank was the only one not in running togs, and his appearance suggested that he had been in some sort of rumpus.

"Oh, there's little to tell. I was on an errand for my father up Squire Prentice's way, and on the road back these fellows captured me, after a little tussle.


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176 The coming of the boys put another face on the matter, and we succeeded in turning the tables on Martin and Joey. That's all," said Frank, shortly.

"The fact that you mention those names tells me you must be sure about the men, eh, Frank?" questioned the officer, smiling broadly now, and patting Frank on the back.

"They admitted as much," said the other quickly. "In fact, it was because I fooled them about that empty bag that they had it in for me, they said. And you'll laugh when I tell you just what they were talking of doing; planning to make a visit to headquarters this very night, holding up the lone officer left in charge, and looting the safe, in the belief that the jewelry was still kept there."

"Good gracious! they must be desperate cases!" exclaimed Molly, shivering as he drew a little further away from the bound men.

"They must have been joshing you, Frank!" remarked one of the other lads.

"Don't you believe it," said the head of the Columbia police force, soberly, as he stared in the sneering faces of the two prisoners; "from all accounts they're capable of doing anything along that line. It would have been a rough deal, though, and I'd got the laugh from every other police chief in the State. Frank, I owe you another bunch of thanks for this. You're a darling, for a fact!"


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Rh region naturally became the outposts of the great oriental civilizations which we have found so early on the Nile and the Euphrates. From these centers the Ægean world, at first slow and backward like western and northern Europe, received continual impulses toward a higher civilization—impulses felt in trade, metal-working, pottery, house-building, and in many other ways.

At the northwest corner of Asia Minor, controlling the profitable trade crossing from Asia to Europe at this point, stood the ancient and highly prosperous Ægean city of Troy. By 2500 B.C., some centuries after it had received the first metals, its rulers had erected a strong citadel of sunbaked brick, with massive stone foundations, the earliest fortress in the Ægean world (the Second City, Fig. 58). Here they carried on industries in pottery, metalworking, and textiles, which show wide foreign-trade connections. Their kindred and neighbors on the east were the Hittites. In the later days of the Egyptian Empire the Hittites themselves held a great empire in central and eastern Asia Minor (Figs. 59, 60). They gave Egypt much trouble in Syria, and they early invaded Babylonia and Assyria also (p. 70).

Toward the east, then, the population of Asia Minor merged gradually with the Tigris-Euphrates world, whose history we have


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Rh "'Some men are born great, and others have greatness thrust upon them.' Frank is midway between the two," remarked Molly Manners, solemnly.

"So say we all of us!" echoed the bunch in concert, raising their hands after the manner of a witness in court.

"Thanks, fellows! You overwhelm me," laughed the object of this demonstration.

"Well, boys, are you ready to turn these chaps over to the majesty of the law?" asked Chief Hogg, with a grin.

"Take them, and welcome, sir. Some of us want to chase off on our game, as we've already lost enough time. But remember that every mother's son expects to see his name chiseled in the annals of Columbia, to be handed down to posterity as shining examples of the modern hero!" cried Molly.

"Hear! hear! That's the stuff! Frank isn't going to monopolize all the glory in this affair! When he won out in that last baseball game he had eight husky fellows back of him; now he has an even dozen. Come on you hounds; let's get busy and take up the paper trail!"

And so the majority of the runners started off again. They looked back once or twice rather wistfully, and waved their hands to Frank, as though, truth to tell, all of them would much rather have


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178 given up the game for the day and accompanied the procession into town.

Boylike they sighed to be in the limelight, to hear the ejaculations of astonishment that would arise when the citizens learned what had happened, and discover the admiring eyes of the pretty girls of Columbia fastened upon them. It does not fall to the lot of the average lad to shine as a hero more than once in a lifetime; and they begrudged losing the opportunity.

Frank, together with Molly Manners, and another boy who had become winded and was unable to continue the chase over field and hill, accompanied Chief Hogg and his man when they walked the two prisoners into town.

Of course the police had taken the bonds off the men, and substituted shining steel bracelets that were more apt to appear business-like.

Martin and Joey were hardened characters. They doubtless felt keenly their condition, yet tried to appear utterly indifferent, sneering as they bandied words with their guards.

And in this way they drew into the outskirts of Columbia. People flocked out of houses to stare, and make all manner of comments.

The presence of Frank with his bicycle seemed to be taken as evidence that he must have had something to do with the capture of the men.


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Rh jumped at the proper conclusion with regard to the identity of the prisoners; for the recent robbery at Fordham had been a matter of universal knowledge; as was also the meeting on the highway between the robbers and two of the town boys.

"Hello! Frank, what you been doing now?" called one admiring student of the high school, as he stared at the little procession.

"What's all this mean?" asked a voice Frank knew full well, since it belonged to his own father, who came out of the drug store at the corner, and surveyed the crowd with astonishment.

Frank immediately turned aside.

"See you later, Chief; and if you want me as a witness about anything, you know where to find me," he said, in a low tone, and accompanying his words with a smile.

"Mr. Allen, you'll have to look after that boy of yours!" called the officer, as he halted a minute and nodded to the merchant.

"What do you mean, Chief?" asked the puzzled gentleman.

"He's bound to beat me out of my job. Not satisfied with recovering all the loot that was taken from that Fordham store, he's just gone and captured the two desperate ruffians responsible for the robbery!" declared the chief; while Frank held up his hand, and shook his head in protest.


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180 "Why, my boy, is it possible?" exclaimed Mr. Allen, with deep feeling, as he grasped Frank's hand.

"Hurrah for Frank Allen, the pride of Columbia!" yelled a boy; and a series of shouts broke loose that caused every person within a block to run to their front doors to see what sort of procession was coming down the street.

"Please come along; I'll tell you all about it as we go home, dad, but it isn't quite as bad as that. I had help, and considerable of it too, or things might have been different from what they turned out. Say, you fellows, give a cheer for George Hastings, Molly Manners, Sandy Douglas and the rest of the bunch who helped get these two chaps. They deserve it more than I do!"

Leaving the crowd talking excitedly at this new development, Frank walked away with his father. Mr. Allen was burning with eagerness to hear what it was all about, and hence Frank had to tell the story, from the moment he found his wheel slipping at that spot on the road where the water from the spring overlapped it.

And when he had finished by giving most of the praise to the valiant sons of Columbia High who had appeared just in the nick of time, the gentleman squeezed his hand again and again, while there was a suspicious moisture in his eyes as he said:

"I consider myself a most fortunate man to have


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Rh a boy so capable of looking out for himself. And Frank, your mother will share my pride when she hears about this thing. But make as light of it as you can, son, because it will frighten her to know that you have been in serious danger." And Frank readily agreed, for he had been himself considering that very thing.


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 CHAPTER XX

THE SUNKEN ROWBOAT

" o'clock, and twenty minutes after!"

Frank found it difficult to believe his eyes. Only an hour and twenty minutes had passed since he started away from home on his wheel to deliver that urgent message for his father; and all these exciting events had happened.

"Better go and see where Helen is," his father had suggested, when they found that Mrs. Allen was lying down with a headache, and the gentleman decided it would be unwise to excite her with the story just then.

That caused Frank to remember that his sister had stated her intention of going for a row upon the river about the time he started off, and that her particular chum, whom Frank himself thought the sweetest girl in all Columbia, was expected to accompany her.

It was only with the desire to be with the girls, and not that he feared any peril could have overtaken them, that Frank immediately started out. Rh


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LINLITHGOW, {{sc|Earls of}. [See, d. 1622, first ;, 1610–1690, third ; , 1652?–1695, fourth .]

LINNECAR, RICHARD (1722–1800), dramatist, born at Wakefield in 1722, was for some time postmaster there. In 1763 he was elected one of the coroners for the West Riding of Yorkshire. For many years he was a prominent freemason. He died while holding an inquest at Swillington on 14 March 1800, aged 78 (Gent. Mag. 1800, pt. i. p. 391).

Linnecar published by subscription in 1789 a volume of ‘Miscellaneous Works’ (8vo, Leeds), containing two comedies, ‘The Lucky Escape,’ described by Genest ‘as insipid to the last degree,’ and ‘The Plotting Wives,’ the latter of which was acted at York on 6 Feb. 1769; a tragedy, ‘The Generous Moor;’ some prose ‘Strictures on Freemasonry,’ and numerous songs and other trifles in verse.

His portrait was painted by Singleton and engraved by T. Barrow.

LINNELL, JOHN (1792–1882), portrait and landscape painter, the son of a wood-carver and picture dealer, was born in 1792 in a house at the corner of Plumtree Street, Bloomsbury. Shortly after his birth his father removed to 2 Streatham Street, Bloomsbury. Thomas Dodd was his earliest patron. At ten years old he drew portraits in pencil and chalk, and later he copied successfully several of Morland's pictures. From his boyhood he frequented Christie's auction rooms, and made sketches from the works on the walls. He was soon introduced to Benjamin West, and entered the schools of the Royal Academy in 1805. For about a year (1805–6) he studied under John Varley, and made the acquaintance of William Henry Hunt, a fellow-pupil at Varley's, with whom he went out sketching, and of William Mulready, who assisted Varley in teaching, and with whom Linnell afterwards shared rooms in Francis Street, Tottenham Court Road. In 1807 he was awarded a medal for drawing from the life, and exhibited a ‘Study from Nature, View near Reading,’ at the Academy. Between 1805 and 1809 he made sketches in oil-colours on the banks of the Thames, and about this time was one of the young artists who enjoyed the kind patronage of Dr. Thomas Monro [q. v.]

In 1808 he exhibited at both the British Institution and the Royal Academy. His contribution to the latter, called ‘Fisherman,’ was purchased by Ridley (afterwards Lord) Colborne for fifteen guineas. In 1809 he was at Hastings with Hunt, and won a fifty guinea prize at the British Institution with his landscape, ‘Removing Timber.’ In the following year, to prove his opinion that it was easier for a painter to model than for a sculptor to draw, he competed for the modelling medal at the Royal Academy and won it. In 1810 he exhibited at the Royal Academy ‘Fishermen waiting for the Return of the Ferryboat, Hastings,’ and in 1811 ‘The Ducking: a Scene from Nature;’ but his next contribution to the Academy's exhibitions was in 1821. To the years between 1811 and 1815 (both inclusive) belong a series of water-colour sketches in the London parks, Bayswater, Kilburn, St. John's Wood, and Windsor Forest, with a few in Wales and the Isle of Wight. He also about this time was employed as a draughtsman by the elder Pugin [see ]. But though he drew occasionally in water-colours then and in later life, his usual medium was oil, in which he early attained great proficiency. A picture of ‘Quoit Players,’ painted in 1810 (exhibited in 1811 at the British Institution, and sold to Sir Thomas Baring for seventy-five guineas), has since realised 1,000l. In 1812, when the Society of Painters in Water-colours was transformed (for a few years) into the Society of Painters in Oil and Water Colours, Linnell became a member, and contributed fifty-two works to their exhibitions from 1813 to 1820. He was their treasurer in 1817. In 1820 they again excluded oil-paintings, and Linnell withdrew from the society and recommenced exhibiting with the Royal Academy. During this time his principal sources of income were portrait-painting and teaching. He not only drew and painted portraits, but he engraved them himself. In 1818, through Mr. George Cumberland of Bristol, he obtained an introduction to William Blake, and then began that human and artistic fellowship between the two men which lasted till Blake's death [see, 1757–1827]. Blake helped him in engraving, and he introduced Blake to J. Varley, Mulready, and others, who formed a congenial society animated by similar aims. He appears to have known William Godwin also, and to


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Rh "Let me see, I rather think Paul would like to go along," he mused, with what might be termed a knowing smile; for in thinking of his chum's pleasure Frank perhaps had an ax to grind himself—two boats, two girls, and a fellow in each to do the rowing!

"Is Paul home?" he asked, as he stood outside the door of the "Bird-cage," as his friend's sisters denominated their house.

"Why, yes, I believe he is, Frank. I heard him talking over the 'phone a minute ago; and here he comes tumbling down the stairs right now," replied Amelia, the oldest of the Bird girls.

Paul gave a whoop at sight of the boy on the stoop.

"Was just going to dash over to your house and demand an explanation. What's all this Molly Manners was telling me over the wire just now? Been doing it some more, have you? Fortune knocks at your door right frequently, pard, it seems. Come in and tell us how you captured those two hobo robbers, with the moral backing of Molly, and a few other paper chase runners!"

"Oh! is it possible, Frank? How wonderful, and how grand! Please come in and tell us all about it. I'm always so fond of everything along the line of the heroic!" exclaimed the girl, enthusiastically; but Frank, blushing, shook his head.


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184 "Sorry that I can't do it now, but really I haven't time. Father wants me to go and find Helen, who went rowing down the river after dinner, with Minnie, of course; and I thought Paul here might want to go with me. I haven't any boat, truth to tell, since one is lying smashed up the river and she has the other. Come on, get your cap, Paul, and oblige me."

"Then you won't come in and tell us about your adventure, Frank?" said Amelia, in a disappointed voice, for she was just at the romantic age, when novels were beginning to appeal to her love of chivalry.

"Glad to do so, later. I guess you'll soon hear all about it, for the boys will be getting in, and the story must go around in a hurry. But there wasn't anything especially heroic about it, Amelia, give you my word for that."

"I don't believe you, there!" said the girl, as the boys raced off.

"Now string me the yarn, Frank!" appealed Paul.

"Wait till we're on the river, and I'll accommodate you," was the reply.

"But is it true, and are both those men under arrest?" insisted Paul, whose natural curiosity could not be entirely held in restraint.

"I guess they are, for the last I saw of them Chief Hogg and one of his men were marching them to


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Rh the lockup, and each had a shiny pair of steel handcuffs decorating his wrists."

"Gee!"

That was all Paul said, but the look of admiration which he bent on his chum spoke volumes. He could already read between the lines, and felt positive that Frank must have been deeply concerned in the capture of the rascals. The boy who could baffle a pair of clever rogues, as Frank had done the fellows with the stolen buggy, might be depended on to accomplish anything.

Paul had a boat of his own. It was arranged for two, and many times had he and Helen floated upon the bosom of the Harrapin in the moonlight, while canoes and other craft surrounded them, and the mellow voices of Columbia's sons and daughters blended in the musical sounds that stole over the rippling waves.

"Is it down-stream we go, Frank?" he asked, as they unshipped their oars.

"So I understood Helen to say she intended going. Father has always insisted that she tell her intentions before starting out. And I've a faint notion she expected you and I would come searching after them later in the afternonafternoon [sic]. She said they would have asked us to go along only Minnie thought we might be tired out after such a morning's work, and


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186 want to rest. That's to make you laugh, son!" and both of them indulged in a little merriment.

They certainly did not show any signs of being utterly pegged out as they swung the oars and sent the boat flying with the current.

"Now spin the yarn, please," remarked Paul, after they had gotten fairly started.

"I suppose I'll have to, since I promised; but you'll hear a better account of the conclusion than I can give you. But with regard to the part where I figured most, listen then and you'll hear about it."

Paul asked numerous questions as the story progressed. He also did not hesitate to declare that Frank had shown considerable nerve in defying those two reckless scamps as he did.

"And they even planned to break into jail and clean out the safe, did they? Well, all I can say is they were the toughest couple of hoboes I ever heard of. My! but I wish I had been in that paper chase! I missed the event of a lifetime when I stayed out to rest up. What wouldn't I give to have been on the spot at the time you yelled out 'Columbiad'! It must have sounded thrilling," he remarked.

"It was some exciting just then," admitted Frank; "and the boys behaved fine. You ought to have seen the way they piled onto those men. George even kicked the pistol out of Martin's hand! My heart


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Rh gave a jump when I heard it go off, for I was afraid one of them might have been hurt; but it was all right. They downed both fellows as if on the grid-iron. I'll never forget that sight, never!"

Paul groaned.

"What tough luck comes my way. I'm never around when these things come about. It's either Lanky or Ralph who happens to be with you, and in this case a whole raft of the fellows; but of course not me. Can't you arrange it so that I'll be along next inning, Frank?" he said, dolefully.

"Try; but like the boy with the apple, perhaps there ain't going to be any core; and possibly my string of adventures has played out," laughed Frank.

Paul turned his head to look ahead.

"Don't seem to see anything of the girls," he remarked, as if anxious to change to some other subject that offered him a chance to distinguish himself.

"They must have gone down pretty far, then. Keep your eye on the right bank as we move along, and I'll cover the other. The boat is green like my lighter one, and I reckon we can see it easy enough. If we don't, the girls are apt to give up a 'cooie' when they sight us coming."

"I hope they won't be cruel enough to let us sail past after taking all this trouble to join them," muttered Paul.


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188 "No danger of that, if I know Helen, and I think I do," remarked Frank.

"And as for Minnie, I think she would be apt to spy you a mile away, and wave," observed Paul, hastily, in order to hide his own confusion.

"Two men in a boat!" sang Frank, at which both laughed.

"Why, we've come over three miles already, and Bellport isn't much more than that below. Do you think they would venture this far?" asked the other, presently.

"Certainly not below the island around that bend. I've never known Helen to go beyond that in her exercise. She's unusually fond of a boat, as you understand, and particularly this boat," Frank went on.

"Oh! rats, any boat would answer just as well," but all the same Paul chuckled as if pleased at this suggestion of the brother of Helen.

But even Frank was getting a bit worried now, because they had discovered no signs of the girls.

"What's that over yonder near the shore?" asked Paul, suddenly.

"Where? Oh! yes, I see what you mean. Looks like a sunken boat of some kind. I suppose an old broken craft that's been cast loose, and gone under with the ice last winter," remarked Frank, carelessly.


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Rh bills and business documents written in cuneiform (wedge-writing), on clay tablets (Fig. 37). They therefore began to write the Babylonian cuneiform also. Their capital in central Asia Minor (Fig. 59), recently excavated, has furnished great numbers of such clay tablets, but they cannot yet be read. When they have been deciphered we shall learn many of the secrets of this great world of Asia Minor, which links the Ægean with the Asiatic Orient.

As Asia Minor was the link between the Ægean on the west and the Euphrates world on the east, so Crete was the link between Egypt on the South and the Ægean Sea on the north. This large island lies so far out in the Mediterranean that one is almost in doubt whether it belongs to Europe or Africa. Even in ancient ships the mariners issuing from the mouths of the Nile and steering northwestward would sight the Cretan mountains in a few days. Excavations in this island since 1900 have uncovered the ruins of palace after palace and revealed a new chapter in the story of the ancient world.

For a thousand years after Crete had received copper her people showed but little sign of progress. While the great pyramids of Egypt were being built (p. 29), the Cretan craftsman


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Rh "Perhaps," continued Paul, slowly, "but I don't recollect seeing it there before, and I've been down this way often. And look here, Frank, as it bobbed up just then it seemed to me as if it might be a green boat!"

"What?" almost shouted Frank, starting half out of his seat to stare at the object in question; and a moment later he too uttered the same words: "It is a green boat!"

"What shall we do?" asked Paul, looking alarmed, and a little white.

"Pull over there like mad. Perhaps it may be a mistake after all, and the thing turn out to be an old derelict. Pull!" exclaimed the other.

"Oh! I hope so," breathed Paul, uneasily.

Under the hearty strokes of the two boys the boat quickly arrived close beside the object that had attracted their attention. It was undoubtedly a boat, and a green one at that. Frank stretched out his hand and took hold of it.

"Waterlogged," he said, as he drew himself along the sunken craft in order to reach the bow.

"Frank, it looks to me like your boat!" cried Paul, huskily.

"It is my boat; see here," and Frank, drawing the sunken craft up by main strength until a fair portion of its bow was exposed, pointed to a name painted there.


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190 "It's the Undine, as sure as you live! What in the wide world can have happened to the girls?" muttered Paul, staring at that telltale name as though it might speak, and answer his question.


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 been long accustomed to go to the several kingdoms of the East upon mercantile commissions for the king and for his nobles. He had been at Cairo, Jerusalem, Ormus, Ispahan, and in the East Indies on the coast of Malabar; both in places conquered by the Portuguese, and in those that yet held out under their native Pagan princes. He was one of those factors which, as I have already said, are employed by the king and great men in Abyssinia to fell or barter, in the places above mentioned, such part of their revenue as are paid them in kind.

men are chiefly Greeks, or Armenians, but the preference is always given to the latter. Both nations pay caratch, or capitation, to the Grand Signior, (whose subjects they are) and both have, in consequence, passports, protections, and liberty to trade wherever they please throughout the empire, without being liable to those insults and extortions from the Turkish officers that other strangers are.

Armenians, of all the people in the East, are those most remarkable for their patience and sobriety. They are generally matters of most of the eastern languages; are of strong, robust constitutions; of all people, the most attentive to the beasts and merchandise they have in charge; exceedingly faithful, and content with little. This Matthew, queen Helena chose for her ambassador to Portugal, and joined a young Abyssinian with him, who died in the voyage. He was charged with letters to the king, which, with the other dispatches, as they are long, and abound with fiction and bombast rather than truth and fasts, I have not troubled myself to transcribe; they are, besides, in many printed collections.


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 appears clearly from these letters, that they were the joint compositions of Covillan, who knew perfectly the manner of corresponding with his court upon dangerous subjects, and of the simple Abyssinian confidents of the empress Helena, who, unacquainted with embassies or correspondence with princes, or the ill consequence that these letters would be of to their ambassador and his errand, if they happened to be intercepted by an enemy, told plainly all they desired and wished to execute by the assistance of the Portuguese. Thus, in the first part of the letter, (which we shall suppose dictated by Covillan) the empress remits the description of her wants, and what is the subject of the embassy, to Matthew her ambassador, whom she qualifies as her confidential servant, instructed in her most secret intentions; desiring the king of Portugal to believe what he shall report from her to him in private, as if they were her own words uttered immediately from her to him in person. So far was prudent; such a conduct as we should expect from a man like Covillan, long accustomed to be trusted with the secret negociations of his sovereign.

the latter end of his dispatches (the work, we suppose, of Abyssinian statesmen) divulges the whole secret. It explains the motives of this embassy in the clearest manner, desiring the king of Portugal to send a sufficient force to destroy Mecca and Medina; to assist them with a sufficient number of ships, and to annihilate the Turkish power by sea; while they, by land, should extirpate all the Mahometans on their borders; and it stigmatizes these Mahometans, both Turks and Moors, with the most opprobrious names it was possible to devise.


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 the first part of these dispatches, it is plain, Matthew, as an envoy, might have passed unmolested; he had only to give to the secret wishes of the empress, with which he was charged, what kind of mercantile colour he pleased. But the last part of the letter brought home to him a charge of the deepest dye, both of sacrilege and high-treason, that he meditated against the Ottoman empire, whose Raya he was; and, there can be no doubt, had these letters been intercepted and read, Matthew's embassy and life would have ended together under some exquisite species of torture. This, indeed, he seems to have apprehended; as, after his arrival in India, he constantly refused to shew his dispatches, even to the Portuguese viceroy himself, from whom, in the instant, he had received very singular favour and protection.

king, when of age, never could be brought to acknowledge this embassy by Matthew; but, as we shall see, did constantly deny it. If we believe the Portuguese, the despair of the empress was so great, that she offered one-third of the kingdom to the king of Portugal if he relieved her. Nothing of this kind appears in the letters; but, if this offer was part of Matthew's private dispatches, we may see a reason why David did not wish to own the commission and offer as his.

had a safe passage to Dabul in India, but here his misfortunes began. The governor, taking him for a spy, confined him in close prison. But Albuquerque, then viceroy of India, residing at Goa, who had himself a design


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, in his march, was come to a settlement of those last-mentioned savages, where Gafats, Agows, and Damots, all in peace, pastured immense flocks of cattle together. There are no where, I believe, in the world, cattle so beautiful as those of the Gafats, nor in such numbers. Large plains, for many days journey, are filled so full of these that they appear as one market.

halted here to give grass to his horses; and, while this was doing, it entered into his young head, that making prize of the cattle was of much greater consequence than protecting the caravan of Narea. Assembling then his cavalry, he fell upon the poor Gafats and Damots, who feared no harm; and, having soon put them all to flight, he drove off their cattle in such numbers, that, at Dancaz, it was said, above 100,000 had reached that marker.

king, much shocked at this violent robbery, ordered Serca Christos to give up the cattle, and surrender himself as prisoner. This message of the king he answered in terms of duty and obedience; but, in the mean time, went to the prince, and proposed to him to declare himself king and champion of the church of Alexandria. Facilidas received him with sharp reproofs, and he returned home much discontented. However, as he had now declared himself, he resolved to put the best face upon the matter; and, in order to make it generally believed that the prince and he understood each other, he sent him publicly word, "I have done what your highness ordered me; come and take possession of your kingdom." Upon which the prince ordered his messenger to be put in irons, and sent to Dancaz to the king his father.


text:
Public Law 112-13

 * Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

{{SECTION|SEC. 1.|SECTION 1}}. RONALD REAGAN CENTENNIAL COMMISION ACT AMENDMENTS.

 * (a) .—
 * Section 7(c) of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act (Public Law 111-25; 36 U.S.C. 101 note prec.) is amended by striking “April 30, 2011” and inserting “November 30, 2011”.

 * (b) .—
 * Section 8 of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act (Public Law 111-25; 36 U.S.C. 101 note prec.) is amended by striking “May 30, 2011” and inserting “December 31, 2011”.

Approved May 12, 2011.

Legislative History

 * CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 157 (2011):
 * Apr. 12, considered and passed House.
 * Apr. 14, considered and passed Senate without amendment.
 * Apr. 14, considered and passed Senate without amendment.

title: Public Law 112-13


text:
Scientific Philanthropy

 * Fouillée, Alfred Jules Émile (1883) Scientific Philanthropy. Published in two parts, see:
 * Fouillée, Alfred Jules Émile (1883) Scientific Philanthropy. Published in two parts, see:

title: Scientific Philanthropy


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 CHAPTER XXI

MAROONED ON THE ISLAND

" drag this boat up on shore. I want to examine it!" said Frank, who was just as pale as his companion, for a dreadful fear seemed to be tugging at his heart.

"Perhaps they found it leaking, and had to wade ashore when it went down right here," suggested Paul, as he scanned the wooden bank.

Frank shook his head, and sighed.

"It might be," he said, "but if they were close by don't you think they'd call out to us, and let us know?"

"But they were wet, and might have started for home by land. The road doesn't keep in sight of the river all the way, and we may have missed them."

They had already dragged the boat in closer to the shore now.

"Why, what's this—the anchor's down!" exclaimed Paul, suddenly. Rh


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192 "So it is. Now, that's odd. How do you suppose that ever came? And so far as I can see up to now, there's not a sign of a smash, so it doesn't look as if they had been run into. Pull again, until we'll get her up on the shore and turned over to let the water out."

As he spoke Frank jumped out into a foot of water, and laid hold with a will. Paul ran the bow of his craft up on the sandy beach and followed suit. Between them the green boat was pulled high on the shore.

"What did I say—nary a break, do you see. Paul, there's something mighty mysterious about this affair. Who sunk this boat, I'd like to know, and anchored her so securely she couldn't drift away downstream?"

"And, where are Helen and Minnie?" echoed the other, looking over the surface of the running river with an expression of dire dismay.

"I don't believe any accident has happened to them at all," declared Frank, stoutly, as he shut his teeth hard together.

"Then tell me how do you account for this?" and Paul pointed to the green boat.

"Perhaps they went ashore somewhere, and while they were gone some mean fellows came along and stole their boat, sinking it in this way just to plague the owner. Yes, they may even have thought I


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Rh had come down in it. There are some chaps we happen to know who would only be too willing to annoy me in that way."

What Frank had just said seemed to give his chum new hope. His face lighted up; and he even breathed without that horrible sound as though he were gasping for air.

"What if that happened to be so, where would the girls be likely to land and wait up for us?" asked Paul, eagerly.

"I was just thinking about that island down below," replied the other, quickly.

"Frank, I believe you're right. Let's pull for it and see. It was a mean trick if they did leave the girls there all this time. They must be frightened half to death. Come along!" exclaimed Paul, jumping into his boat.

"Lend me a pair of oars, will you?" asked Frank, as having turned the green craft over he started pushing it into the water again.

"Going to take it along, are you? A clever idea, and it may save us from coming back here again. Take this pair that you've been using. I hope we find the girls on the island; and won't they be glad to see us, though?"

In a minute or so both boats had been launched, and the boys were pulling for all they were worth toward the bend of the river.


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194 "There, I can just see the head of it now!" announced Paul, who happened to be a trifle in the lead.

Ten seconds later he cried out again, saying:

"Frank, there's something white waving from the island! I do believe it's them, and they're waving a handkerchief, hoping to attract the attention of some one!"

"I see what you mean. It's the girls all right. There's Minnie right now, and she sees us too, for she waves her hat!" said Frank, his voice trembling with sincere gratitude.

"Bully! It's all to the good, then! But all the same I could hammer that fool who played such a low trick on a couple of girls. Run you a race to the island, Frank!" exclaimed Paul.

"Go it, then. I'm game," replied his chum.

How the water did churn as the oars dipped deeply and the prows of the boats glided with the current! After the amazing time made in the cedar shell of the morning their speed must have seemed tame indeed. Besides, they were so very anxious to reach the island and hear what the girls had to say that seconds must have fairly dragged.

Frank had the heavier boat. Moreover, his muscles were a bit sore from the rough experience he had been through in connection with his adventure with Martin and Joey. Still, he held his own with


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Rh his chum, and when they reached the shelving shore at the head of the island, the only spot where a landing could be easily made at that point, both boats grated on the gravel at the same time.

Helen and Minnie were there waiting for them, and laughing, though Frank had an idea there was a little of the hysterical in his sister's merriment, as if she had recently passed through somewhat of a scare.

"Where did you find it?" demanded Minnie, pointing to the green boat.

"Up above the bend, near the left bank, and sunk! How did you come to lose it?" asked Frank in return.

The girls shook their heads.

"We just don't know. It was all right when we left it here, and walked into the woods to see if that bird had taken her young ones away. They were still there, and we stopped, how long was it, Helen, about ten minutes, to take another snap-shot of the little family? Then, when we got back here the boat was gone."

"Well, undoubtedly somebody came along while you were away, and stole your boat. I suspect however they thought I was on the island; for I can't believe any fellow would be so low and mean as to maroon a couple of pretty girls here on purpose. But after this I can see your finish, sister mine.


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196 Never again must you go off on the river without a manly protector along."

Frank looked at Paul as he spoke, and winked violently. But Paul was not at all abashed, for he thrust out his chest immediately and said:

"Behold the said manly protector, able, and a willing worker. But didn't you see any boys in a boat while you were here? There were so many afloat this morning it would be strange if none were on the river this afternoon. Think hard, now, girls, and tell us," he said.

"Why, yes," answered Minnie, promptly, "just as we came out here and found the boat gone, we heard the popping of a motor-boat passing down. It went out of sight before we could think to call out, because you see at first we were dazed, and thought we must have landed further down along the side of the island."

"A motor-boat, eh?" cried Frank. "Then it's very evident to my mind that the fellows in that must have amused themselves carrying your boat off and sinking it. And it wouldn't surprise me much if you told me the said boat was the property of"

"Lef Seller!" put in Paul, promptly.

Minnie nodednodded [sic] her head violently.

"That's just who it was. I recognized him holding the wheel. Besides, I know the Red Fox well,


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Rh for I've been aboard many times. It was Lef. Oh! how mean to steal our poor little boat; and then to sink it too! I'll never even speak to him again, I vow. It's perfectly contemptible, there!"

"Well, it was a nasty piece of business; but to be honest with you I'm sure Lef couldn't have dreamed that you girls were here alone. He just saw the green boat, and couldn't resist the temptation to give me another jab. It's a part of his nature, you know. When he runs up against me it acts on the fellow just like a red flag does with a bull in Spain. So of course he did it, and went on his way laughing to think he had put me in a hole."

Frank believed what he was saying to be the truth. He had little use for the skipper of the Red Fox, but at the same time could not bring himself to believe that any fellow could descend to injuring the girl he made a pretense of liking.

Minnie's scornful face told what she thought of such things.

"And to think that I once called him my friend; yes, and often went out with him to parties, and skating on the river! Oh! I'm glad I found him out. What a contemptible nature he has; and such a coward too. Please don't let's talk of Lef Seller any more. I'm shaking all over with indignation even now."


text: Scientific Culture

title: Scientific Culture


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198 "Agreed! There are subjects more to my taste, I tell you," laughed Frank.

"And girls, you will be interested in hearing that Frank has been up to his old tricks again, and doing stunts," said Paul, eagerly; for he would much rather be allowed to praise his chum than hear himself lauded.

"Oh! come now, none of that stuff! The girls have had an adventure themselves, and don't want to hear any more about my doings. Chuck it, Paul!" cried Frank.

"Tell us all about it, Paul. Now that you've excited our curiosity do you think we could exist in ignorance? What has he been doing since we left home? Helen said he had gone off to carry a message for his father, over to Squire Prentice, and on his wheel, too. Whatever could have happened to him?" demanded Minnie, stepping in between Frank and his chum, as though to prevent interference.

Paul was nothing loth. He fairly burned to relate the story of how Frank had been waylaid on the road, taken prisoner by the two fugitives from justice, and last but not least assisted in the capture of the men. Indeed, he had even opened his mouth to start in, when Helen suddenly pointed out on the river and cried:

"Look, there comes that launch now; it's the Red Fox, surely!"


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Rh "It is, as sure as you live!" muttered Paul, as he turned to look at the dapper racing craft stealing up alongside the island with a constant rapid popping from the exhaust.

"But how's this? I thought you said you saw Lef Seller at the wheel when it went down the river a while ago? That doesn't look like Lef now, does it?" cried Frank.

"How strange! Helen, look, isn't that Lanky Wallace at the wheel?" said Minnie.

"It surely is," came the dazed reply.

"I begin to smell a rat," muttered Frank, remembering the strange absence of Lanky after the races had been run; "wait till I give him a hail, and we'll find out what he's doing, running another fellow's launch!"


text: The Boys of Columbia High on the River/Chapter 21


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 CHAPTER XXII

LANKY LIFTS THE VEIL OF MYSTERY

", there, Lanky!"

The boy at the wheel of the racing launch looked quickly toward the head of the island. He must have seen and recognized the group, for he waved his hand.

"Come ashore! We want you to give us a tow home!" called Frank, making a trumpet of his cupped hands.

Another wave told that Lanky understood. Immediately the course of the Red Fox was changed, so that she began to circle around.

"What ails the fellow? Looks as if he'd been up against trouble!" said Paul.

"That's certainly a fact, for his face is smeared with patches of blood. I wonder"

"What?" demanded Paul, as his friend and chum stopped short.

"If he did it," remarked Frank, with a peculiar smile. Rh


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Rh "Suppose you explain; none of us are mind readers, are we girls, and we like to know what all this mystery is about?"

"I beg your pardon, ladies; I forgot that you weren't in the secret. The truth of the matter is Lanky has been making a very solemn vow; and from present indications I imagine he's also been keeping the same," Frank went on.

"I see, and to make a guess myself I should say that Lef Seller had something to do with that same vow. Anyhow, the fact that Lanky is pushing up the Harrapin in Lef's pet motor-boat makes it look that way," smiled Paul.

"You're a champion guesser, my boy, for that is a fact," laughed Frank; "when we were run down so maliciously the other night. Lanky declared he would never rest until he had learned who held the wheel at the time, and whose boat did the trick. The coming of the race kept him back in his hunt, but I think he took it up this morning, for he gave me to understand as much."

"But how could he learn, if the other fellow refused to tell?" asked Helen.

Frank gave her a pitying look.

"Wait a minute more and perhaps the hero of the occasion will condescend to remove the scales from your eyes. I can give a pretty good guess myself,


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202 but the facts belong to Lanky, and I'll let him tell," he remarked.

"Well, here he is to speak for himself," declared Minnie, as the launch gently ran up on the shelving beach, or rather as close to the water's edge as was possible.

The boy who had been driving the Red Fox immediately sprang ashore.

"Hello! folks! I saw you here before you signaled, but didn't want to butt in," he exclaimed, cheerfully.

His face was streaked with dried blood, and when he grinned there was a trace of pain in his action.

"Whatever have you been doing, Lanky, to get such a scratched face?" asked Helen, surveying him in dismay.

"I suppose I do look kind of tough; but I didn't take the time to wash up after the circus, you see," he explained.

"Circus?" echoed Minnie, a puzzled expression upon her pretty face.

"Sure, and it was a jim dandy one, too. If you think I look bad you just want to take a peep at the other fellow, that's all. He's a screamer!"

Frank saw the direction of Lanky's glance, and had a sudden idea. He sprang forward so that he could look over the gunwhalegunwale [sic] of the motor-boat.


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Rh Something lay in the bottom, partly covered with a rug. A face glared up at him, and despite the marks upon it, and the look of disgust, he recognized the seemingly bound individual.

"Why, it's Lef," he ejaculated.

"Sure!" agreed Lanky, with a nod of assent; "who else would you suppose, when I was speeding his game little boat up the river? Oh! it's Lef, all right, and he's feeling left, and pretty punk just now, I warrant you, eh, Lef?"

The boy in the bottom of the launch snapped back at once:

"I tell you I'll have the law on you for this disgrace, Lanky Wallace! Think because your dad's a banker you can maul a feller just like you please. You'll get yours good and hard for this, see if you don't!"

Lanky did not appear to be alarmed at this dire threat. On the contrary he grinned as though he considered it a compliment.

"Tit for tat, my boy; I'm giving you back all you passed me, and with a little interest, that's all. Tucked me away nicely, you and your two cronies, didn't you? Well, I'm only returning the favor, leaving Bill and Tony to stump it home, if so be they ain't got enough bones in their jeans to pay for car-fare from Bellport up."


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204 "What's it all about, Lanky?" demanded Paul, eagerly.

"But first, before you tell us, please wash your face. I'm almost afraid to look at you, Lanky, you seem so fierce and bloodthirsty!" exclaimed Helen.

"Well, I'm not a bit bloodthirsty just now, thank you, Helen; that feeling has all passed away, and I'm in the best of humors. But I reckon I'm not quite presentable before ladies, and if you'll excuse me I'll make my twilight."

Stooping down by the river's edge, he proceeded to dash water in his face at a great rate; then he deliberately wiped his cheeks dry with a pocket handkerchief, while the girls turned their backs upon the scene.

"Say, that does feel better, fellows; I can even smile now without it hurting so much. My nose bled some, after Bill gave me a love tap that made me see a peck of stars. But all's well that ends well, and anyhow, I'm the last one to laugh," saying which Lanky took a peek over the side of the boat, jeered at the growling bound boy who was still breathing out threatenings galore, and then walked up to where the others awaited him.

"Now, what do you want to know, Frank?" he asked, dropping down beside them.

"First tell us what you learned this morning at


text:
The People of the State of California vs. Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The defendant is charged with a violation of Section 311.3 of the Penal Code of the State of California. Defendant pleads Not Guilty. The complaint alleged that the defendant did willfully and lewdly print, publish and sell obscene and indecent writings, papers and books, to wit: "Howl and Other Poems."

It is to be noted that the statute requires proof of criminal intent, namely, that the defendants did willfully and lewdly commit the acts specified. It should also be noted that no reference to minors is made in the statute.

It must be borne in mind that the prosecution has the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty two things: first, that the book is obscene and, second, that the defendants willfully and lewdly committed the crime alleged. It is elementary that where a statute makes a specific intent an element of an offense, such intent must be proved. The proof may be circumstantial; but if so, the circumstances must be such as reasonably to justify an inference of the intent.

The prosecution has advanced the theory that the word “indecent” means something less than obscene.

In their broadest meaning the words indecent and obscene might signify offensive to refinement, propriety and good taste. A penal statute requiring conformity to some current standard of propriety defined only by statutory words would make the standard in each case, ex post facto.

Unless the words used take the form of dirt for dirt's sake and can be traced to criminal behavior, either actual or demonstrably imminent, they are not in violation of the statute. Indecent as used in the Penal Code is synonymous with obscene, and there is no merit in the contention of the prosecution that the word indecent means something less than obscene.

The evidence shows that "Howl" was published by the defendant and therefore it remains to be seen whether said book is obscene and if so, whether this defendant willfully and lewdly published it. The prosecution contends that having published the book defendant had knowledge of the character of its contents and that from such knowledge a lewd intent might be inferred.

The mere fact of knowledge alone would not be sufficient. The surrounding circumstances would be important and must be such as reasonably to justify an inference of the intent. To illustrate, some might think a book obscene, others a work of art; with sincere difference of opinion. The bookseller would not be required to elect at his peril. Unless the prosecution proved that he acted lewdly in selling it, the burden would not be met.

Written reviews of “Howl” were admitted in evidence on behalf of the defendants, over the objection of the District Attorney. One was from the New York Times Book Review, dated September 2, 1956; one from the San Francisco Chronicle, dated May 19th, 1967, which included a statement by Ferlinghetti; one from the Nation dated February 23, 1957. All of the reviews praised “Howl.”

The practice of referring to reviews in cases of this nature has become well established. Opinions of professional critics publicly disseminated in the ordinary course of their employment are proper aids to the court in weighing the author's sincerity of purpose and the literary worth of his effort. These are factors which, while not determining whether a book is obscene, are to be considered in deciding that question.

Over the objection of the prosecution the defense produced nine expert witnesses, some of them with outstanding qualifications in the literary field. All of the defense experts agreed that "Howl" had literary merit, that it represented a sincere effort by the author to present a social picture, and that the language used was relevant to the theme. As Professor Mark Schorer put it: "Howl," like any work of literature, attempts and intends to make a significant comment on, or interpretation of, human experience as the author knows it.

The prosecution produced two experts in rebuttal, whose qualifications were slightly less than those of the defense. One testified that "Howl" had some clarity of thought but was an imitation of Walt Whitman, and had no literary merit; the other and by far the most voluble, that it had no value at all. The court did not allow any of the experts to express an opinion on the question of obscenity because this was the very issue to be decided by the court.

Experts are used every day in court on other subjects and no reason presents itself justifying their exclusion from this type of case when their experience and knowledge can be of assistance. The court also read many of the books previously held obscene or not for the purpose of comparison.

In determining whether a book is obscene it must be construed as a whole. The courts are agreed that in making this determination, the book must be construed as a whole and that regard shall be had for its place in the arts.

The freedoms of speech and press are inherent in a nation of free people. These freedoms must be protected if we are to remain free, both individually and as a nation. The protection for this freedom is found in the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and in the Constitution of California, Art. I, sec. 9 which provides in part: “Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. . .”

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution prohibits any State from encroaching upon freedom of speech and freedom of the press to the same extent that the First Amendment prevents the Federal Congress from doing so.

These guarantees occupy a preferred position under our law to such an extent that the courts, when considering whether legislation infringes upon them, neutralize the presumption usually indulged in favor of constitutionality.

Thomas Jefferson in his bill for establishing religious freedom wrote that “to suffer the Civil Magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy which at once destroys all religious liberty. . . it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order."

The now familiar "clear and present danger" rule represents a compromise between the ideas of and those of the judges, who had in the meantime departed from the forthright views of the great statesman. Under the rule the publisher of a writing may be punished if the publication in question creates a clear and present danger that there will result from it some substantive evil which the legislature has a right to proscribe and punish.

Mr. Justice Brandeis maintained that free speech may not be curbed where the community has the chance to answer back. He said: "those who won our independence by revolution were not cowards. They did not fear political change. They did not exalt order at the cost of liberty. To courageous, self-reliant men, with confidence in the power of free and fearless reasoning applied through the processes of popular government, no danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present, unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is opportunity for full discussion. If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence. Only an emergency can justify repression. Such must be the rule if authority is to be reconciled with freedom. Such, in my opinion, is the command of the Constitution. It is therefore always open to Americans to challenge a law abridging free speech and assembly by showing that there was no emergency justifying it.

"Moreover, even imminent danger cannot justify resort to prohibition of these functions essential to effective democracy, unless the evil apprehended is relatively serious. Prohibition of free speech and assembly is a measure so stringent that it would be inappropriate as the means for averting a relatively trivial harm to society-the fact that speech is likely to result in some violence or in destruction of property is not enough to justify its suppression. There must be the probability of serious injury to the State. Among free men, the deterrents ordinarily to be applied to prevent crime are education and punishment for violations of the law, not abridgment of the rights of free speech and assembly."

The authors of the First Amendment knew that novel and unconventional ideas might disturb the complacent, but they chose to encourage a freedom which they believed essential if vigorous enlightenment was ever to triumph over slothful ignorance.

I agree with the words of Macaulay who finds it difficult to believe that in a world so full of temptations as this, any gentleman, whose life would have been virtuous if he had not read Aristophanes and Juvenal, will be made vicious by reading them.

I do not believe that "Howl" is without redeeming social importance. The first part of "Howl" presents a picture of a nightmare world; the second part is an indictment of those elements in modern society destructive of the best qualities of human nature; such elements are predominantly identified as materialism, conformity, and mechanization leading toward war. The third part presents a picture of an individual who is a specific representation of what the author conceives as a general condition.

"Footnote to Howl" seems to be a declamation that everything in the world is holy, including parts of the body by name. It ends in a plea for holy living.

The poems, "Supermarket," "Sunflower Sutra," "In the Baggage Room at Greyhound," "An Asphodel," "Song" and "Wild Orphan" require no discussion relative to obscenity. In "Transcription of Organ Music" the "I" in four lines remembers his first sex relation at age 23 but only the bare ultimate fact and that he enjoyed it. Even out of context it is written in language that is not obscene, and included in the whole it becomes a part of the individual's experience "real or imagined," but lyric rather than hortatory and violent, like "Howl."

The theme of "Howl" presents "unorthodox and controversial ideas." Coarse and vulgar language is used in treatment and sex acts are mentioned, but unless the book is entirely lacking in "social importance" it cannot be held obscene. This point does not seem to have been specifically presented or decided in any of the cases leading up to Roth v. United States.

No hard and fast rule can be fixed for the determination of what is obscene, because such determination depends on the locale, the time, the mind of the community and the prevailing mores. Even the word itself has had a chameleon-like history through the past, and as Mr. Justice Cardozo said: "A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged. It is the skin of living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used." The writing, however, must have a substantial tendency to deprave or corrupt its readers by inciting lascivious thoughts or arousing lustful desires.

The effect of the publication on the ordinary reader is what counts. The Statute does not intend that we shall "reduce our treatment of sex to the standard of a child's library in the supposed interest of a salacious few. This test, however, should not be left to stand alone, for there is another element of equal importance-the tenor of the times and the change in social acceptance of what is inherently decent.

The modern rule is that obscenity is measured by the erotic allurement upon the average modern reader; that the erotic allurement of a book is measured by whether it is sexually impure-i.e., pornographic, "dirt for dirt's sake," a calculated incitement to sexual desire-or whether it reveals an effort to reflect life, including its dirt, with reasonable accuracy and balance; and that mere coarseness or vulgarity is not obscenity.

Sexual impurity in literature (pornography, as some of the cases call it) is any writing whose dominant purpose and effect is erotic allurement; a calculated and effective incitement to sexual desire. It is the effect that counts, more than the purpose, and no indictment can stand unless it can be shown.

In the Roth case no question of obscenity was involved or considered by the court. The sole question was whether obscenity as such was protected by the constitution and the court held it was not. In the appeals involved the material was obviously pornographic, it was advertised and sold as such. The United States Supreme Court refers to the various rules on obscenity by stating that: "sex and obscenity are not synonymous. Obscene material is material which deals with sex in a manner appealing to prurient interest. The portrayal of sex, e.g., in art, literature and scientific works is not itself sufficient reason to deny material the constitutional protection of freedom of speech and press."

The following instruction, given in the Alberts case, is approved in Roth: "The test is not whether it would arouse sexual desires or sexual impure thoughts in those comprising a particular segment of the community, the young, the immature or the highly prudish, or would leave another segment, the scientific or highly educated or the so-called worldly-wise and sophisticated indifferent and unmoved. The test in each case is the effect of the book, picture or publication considered as a whole, not upon any particular class, but upon all those whom it is likely to reach. In other words, you determine its impact upon the average person in the community. The books, pictures and circulars must be judged, as a whole, in their entire context, and you are not to consider detached or separate portions in reaching a conclusion. You judge the circulars, pictures and publications which have been put in evidence by present-day standards of the community. You may ask yourself does it offend the common conscience of the community by present-day standards. In this case, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you and you alone are the exclusive judges of what the common conscience of the community is, and in determining that conscience you are to consider the community as a whole, young and old, educated and uneducated, the religious and the irreligious-men, women and children."

Mr. Chief justice Warren, concurring in the result in the Roth case, stated: "I agree with the result reached by the court in these cases, but the line dividing the salacious or pornographic from literature or science is not straight and unwavering, the personal element in these cases is seen most strongly in the requirement of scienter. Under the California law, the prohibited activity must be done `willfully and lewdly.' "

There are a number of words used in "Howl" that are presently considered coarse and vulgar in some circles of the community; in other circles such words are in everyday use. It would be unrealistic to deny these facts. The author of "Howl" has used those words because he believed that his portrayal required them as being in character. The People state that it is not necessary to use such words and that others would be more palatable to good taste. The answer is that life is not encased in one formula whereby everyone acts the same or conforms to a particular pattern. No two persons think alike; we were all made from the same mold but in different patterns. Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemism? An author should be real in treating his subject and be allowed to express his thoughts and ideas in his own words.

In People v. Viking Press, the court said: "The Courts have strictly limited the applicability of the statute to works of pornography and they have consistently declined to apply it to books of genuine literary value. If the statute were construed more broadly than in the manner just indicated, its effect would be to prevent altogether the realistic portrayal in literature of a large and important field of life. . . . The Court may not require the author to put refined language into the mouths of primitive people," and in People v. Vanguard Press, the Court observed: "The speech of the characters must be considered in relation to its setting and the theme of the story. It seems clear that use of foul language will not of itself bring a novel or play within the condemnation of the statute. As I have indicated above, all but one of these books are profoundly tragic, and that one has its normal quota of frustration and despair. No one could envy or wish to emulate the characters that move so desolately through these pages. Far from inciting to lewd or lecherous desires, which are sensorially pleasurable, these books leave one either with a sense of horror or of pity for the degradation of mankind. The effect upon the normal reader, l'homme moyen sensuel (there is no such deft precision in English), would be anything but what the vice hunters fear it might be. We are so fearful for other people's morals; they so seldom have the courage of our own convictions."

In Commonwealth v. Gordon: the test for obscenity most frequently laid down seems to be whether the writing would tend to deprave the morals of those into whose hands the publication might fall by suggesting lewd thoughts and exciting sensual desires. The statute is therefore directed only at sexual impurity and not at blasphemy or coarse and vulgar behavior of any other kind. The word in common use for the purpose of such statute is "obscenity." The familiar four-letter words that are so often associated with sexual impurity are, almost without exception, of honest Anglo-Saxon ancestry, and were not invented for purely scatological effect. The one, for example, that is used to denote the sexual act is an old agricultural word meaning "to plant" and was at one time a wholly respectable member of the English vocabulary. The distinction between a word of decent etymological history and one of smut alone is important; it shows that fashions in language change as expectably as do the concepts of what language connotes. It is the old business of semantics again, the difference between word and concept. But there is another distinction. The decisions that I cite have sliced off vulgarity from obscenity. This has had the effect of making a clear division between the words of the bathroom and those of the bedroom; the former can no longer be regarded as obscene, since they have no erotic allurement, and the latter may be so regarded, depending on the circumstances of their use. This reduces the number of potentially offensive words sharply.

"The law does not undertake to punish bad English, vulgarity, or bad taste, and no matter how objectionable one may consider the book on those grounds, there is no right to convict on account of them. The dramatization of the song 'Frankie and Johnnie' caused much furor, but the court there held that 'the language of the play is coarse, vulgar and profane; the plot cheap and tawdry. As a dramatic composition it serves to degrade the stage where vice is thought by some to lose "half its evil by losing all its grossness." That it is indecent from every consideration of propriety is entirely clear' but the court is not a censor of plays and does not attempt to regulate manners. One may call a spade a spade without offending decency, although modesty may be shocked thereby. The question is not whether the scene is laid in a low dive where refined people are not found or whether the language is that of the bar room rather than the parlor. The question is whether the tendency of the play is to excite lustful and lecherous desire."

To determine whether a book falls within the condemnation of the statute, an evaluation must be made of the extent to which the book as a whole would have a demoralizing effect on its readers, specifically respecting sexual behavior. Various factors must be borne in mind when applying the judicially accepted standards used in measuring that effect. Among others, these factors include the theme of the book, the degree of sincerity of purpose evidenced in it, its literary worth, the channels used in its distribution, contemporary attitudes toward the literary treatment of sexual behavior and the types of readers reasonably to be expected to secure it for perusal.

Material is not obscene unless it arouses lustful thoughts of sex and tends to corrupt and deprave l'homme moyen sensuel by inciting him to anti-social activity or tending to create a clear and present danger that he will be so incited as the result of exposure thereto.

If the material is disgusting, revolting or filthy, to use just a few adjectives, the antithesis of pleasurable sexual desires is born, and it cannot be obscene.

In United States v. Roth, a footnote to the concurring opinion of Judge Frank is of interest: "The very argument advanced to sustain the statute's validity, so far as it condemns the obscene, goes to show the invalidity of the statute so far as it condemns 'filth,' if 'filth' means that which renders sexual desires 'disgusting.' For if the argument be sound that the legislature may constitutionally provide punishment for the obscene because, anti-socially, it arouses sexual desires by making sex attractive, then it follows that whatever makes sex disgusting is socially beneficial.

"To date there exist, I think, no thoroughgoing studies by competent persons which justify the conclusion that normal adults reading or seeing of the 'obscene' probably induces anti-social conduct. Such competent studies as have been made do conclude that so complex and numerous are the causes of sexual vice that it is impossible to assert with any assurance that 'obscenity' represents a ponderable causal factor in sexually deviant behavior. Although the whole subject of obscenity censorship hinges upon the unproved assumption that 'obscene' literature is a significant factor in causing sexual deviation from the community standard, no report can be found of a single effort at genuine research to test this assumption by singling out as a factor for study the effect of sex literature upon sexual behavior. What little competent research has been done, points definitely in a direction precisely the opposite to that assumption."

While the publishing of "smut" or "hard core pornography" is without any social importance and obscene by present-day standards, and should be punished for the good of the community, since there is no straight and unwavering line to act as a guide, censorship by Government should be held in tight reign. To act otherwise would destroy our freedoms of free speech and press. Even religion can be censored by the medium of taxation. The best method of censorship is by the people as self-guardians of public opinion and not by government. So we come back, once more, to Jefferson's advice that the only completely democratic way to control publications which arouse mere thoughts or feelings is through non-governmental censorship by public opinion.

From the foregoing certain rules can be set up, but as has been noted, they are not inflexible and are subject to changing conditions, and above all each case must be judged individually.

 * 1) If the material has the slightest redeeming social importance it is not obscene because it is protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, and the California Constitution.
 * 2) If it does not have the slightest redeeming social importance it may be obscene.
 * 3) The test of obscenity in California is that the material must have a tendency to deprave or corrupt readers by exciting lascivious thoughts or arousing lustful desire to the point that it presents a clear and present danger of inciting to anti-social or immoral action.
 * 4) The book or material must be judged as a whole by its effect on the average adult in the community.
 * 5) If the material is objectionable only because of coarse and vulgar language which is not erotic or aphrodisiac in character it is not obscene.
 * 6) Scienter must be proved.
 * 7) Book reviews may be received in evidence if properly authenticated.
 * 8) Evidence of expert witnesses in the literary field is proper.
 * 9) Comparison of the material with other similar material previously adjudicated is proper.
 * 10) The people owe a duty to themselves and to each other to preserve and protect their constitutional freedoms from any encroachment by government unless it appears that the allowable limits of such protection have been breached, and then to take only such action as will heal the breach.
 * 11) I agree with Mr. Justice Douglas: I have the same confidence in the ability of our people to reject noxious literature as I have in their capacity to sort out the true from the false in theology, economics, politics, or any other field.
 * 12) In considering material claimed to be obscene it is well to remember the motto: "Honi soit qui mal y pense." (Evil to him who evil thinks.)

Therefore, I conclude the book "Howl and Other Poems" does have some redeeming social importance, and I find the book is not obscene.


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Rh the time you made that gesture to me, and said 'green paint,'" began Frank.

"Just what you supposed—that I'd skirmished around among the motor-boats, and found plain marks of green paint on the bow of one. Just take a squint yourself, Frank, and you'll discover it there before your eyes," declared Lanky, pointing to the bow of the Red Fox.

While the craft had her body painted a bright red, to conform with her name, still it required no microscope to see the very evident green upon a certain portion of her bow about the water line, where it had undoubtedly come in contact with the emerald planking of Frank's boat when the mixup occurred on the river.

"Then you positively knew that it was Lef's boat that did the mischief, before you went into the eight-oared race?" asked Paul, admiringly.

"Shucks! of course I did. Knew it all along, only I wanted to get hold of some positive evidence before I jumped him. Didn't want to run chances of getting hurt before the race, and so I put it off, and tried to forget all about it."

"But you heard the decision of the referee, and knew the race was to be run off again day after to-morrow; why didn't you wait still longer?" asked Frank.

"It was too much for human nature to stand.


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206 I was all worked up, and needed some exercise, you see," answered Lanky.

"And you got it, all right!" shouted Lef, who must have been listening to all that was being said.

"Sure I did; but then three against one showed what cowards you all were," replied Lanky, promptly, and smiling as usual at the recollection.

"Look here, do you mean that you actually sneaked away and tackled Lef while he was with those two chums of his—that you didn't have the sense to take me along to see fair play? Well, you are a caution, I declare! But they say that a little cherub aloft always looks out for fools and innocent babes," remarked Frank, in pretended reproach, though his eyes were twinkling with amusement.

"You're sure complimentary, Frank; the only complaint I've got to make is that you don't specify which class I belong in. But we did have a rough-house time of it down there on the river bank, with not a solitary witness. I did all I could to play the David part, but the Philistines were too much for me. They gave me a warm session, and when finally I caved in they must have trussed me up and bundled me into the boat, for when I opened my peepers I found that we were afloat, and myself lying just like Lef is now."

Frank uttered an exclamation of surprise.

"What an outrage! Carried you off as though


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Rh they were pirates of the raging Spanish Main, did they? What did they mean to do to you, Lanky?" he burst forth, indignantly.

"Oh! they liked my company so much they didn't want to let me go out of their sight, I reckon. First they sailed down river and landed. Bill went away and came back with some grub, bought with money Lef gave him. They joked me about the hunger cure for indigestion, and never offered me a bite. Then they ran around some more and played a trick on some feller, I guess, because they seemed to be tickled to death about it. I heard 'em mention Frank's name, and had an idea he was mixed up in it somehow."

"They thought so too, but it was only my boat they stole and sunk, believing they had left me on this island to swim ashore; when it was the girls, taking a picture of a bird on its nest, or rather feeding its young," explained Frank.

"That was it, eh? Well, down below a mile or two they went ashore again to build a fire in Cragin's woods on the point. I heard Lef sending the others off, Bill to get some cigarettes in town, and Tony for some gasolene, for they were going to run down the river twenty miles or more, to see a friend and stay over night. They joked some about what they would do to me before kicking me loose; but I wasn't


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208 worrying about that a bit. I had my plans all laid by then."

Lanky stopped to indulge in a series of chuckles, after which he went on.

"You see, while I was lying there like a mummy I was soaking the string they'd tied around my wrists. There was some water in the bottom of the boat; splashed in during that fast time Lef made in the race, I guess. And the more I soaked the cord the better I was able to stretch it."

"You waited until Lef was alone?" questioned Frank, suggestively, during another pause.

"I sure did. And when I'd managed to get rid of the string around my hands, my little pocket knife did the needful to the other they'd wrapped around my legs. Say, you just ought to have seen that feller when I jumped him! He was the most surprised boy on earth, without exception."

"Aw! you took a mean advantage of me, that's what; jumped on my back when I wasn't looking. Even then I'd have got you only for a slip," growled the one who lay in the bottom of the motor-boat.

"That's your way of looking at it, Lef. You're welcome to your opinion. All I know is that we fought for all of ten minutes, and that I hammered you enough to feel satisfied that I'd paid you back for all I owed you. Then a notion came to turn the tables, and carry Lef back to town. That's all,


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Rh folks. I'm here, and you saw how I looked. The score is wiped out now."

"But what will you do with him?" asked Helen.

"Cut him loose when I'm good and ready. I didn't want to give him a chance to say I'd run away with his old boat; that's one reason he's a passenger."

"But he threatens to have you arrested?" said Minnie, nervously.

Lanky laughed uproarouslyuproariously [sic].

"That would be too good a joke. I've got proof of all I charge against him. He kidnapped me, he did, and any feller's got a right to break loose. Frank, show the green paint to some one when we get in, so as to have outside witnesses. Then you make Lef get your smashed boat and have it put in apple pie order, or else see his dad."

"Just what I mean to do. He'll pay for the damage or his father must," replied the other; while Lef growled and said ugly things to the effect that never would he so demean himself.

But he did, all the same, knowing that Frank would keep his word.

The little party soon left the island, the two row-boats in tow of the launch, for the pull up the river was nothing to be envied. Frank made sure to call the attention of several parties to the green paint on the bow of the motor-boat; and Lef, who had been


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210 cut free by Lanky after they landed, was left in possession of his recovered craft, as ugly-tempered a boy as could be found in seven counties.

Doubtless the four young people enjoyed the balance of that eventful day after their own fashion. The river was an attractive place after the sun sank low, and with good company in each boat, time passed on fleeting wings. But Frank occasionally laughed silently as he remembered the appearance of Lanky's "fighting face" when he came ashore, after turning the table on Lef Seller and his crowd.

It might be a lesson for Lef; but Frank was not confiding enough to believe that it would cure the prank lover of his evil pastime.


text: The Boys of Columbia High on the River/Chapter 22


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 CHAPTER XXIII

ON THE HOME STRETCH

" they come!"

"Hurrah for the boys of good old Columbia!"

"Don't shout before you're out of the woods, fellows! This is the time Clifford trims your athletes good and hard!" shrilled a brawny lad from up the river, as he waved a little flag defiantly in the faces of the Columbia enthusiasts.

"Will they. Maybe—maybe not!" laughed Jack Eastwick, mockingly.

"Why, you've got a busted balloon in your crew. That fellow wants to try a race of a mile. Four miles is a man's race! Put him in the baby class," cried the other.

"Just take notice, Clifford, that Mr. Jonsey isn't grabbing his share of the cedar shell now as they swing it into the water. There's another drafted in his place. You saw him row before, because he was in the four-oared race. See that sorreltop chap—well, that's the boy who's going to lick you out of your boots! That's Ginger Harper!" Rh


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212 "Like fun he is! We've made a change or two, you'll find, and expect to do better than before," the Clifford boy went on, confidently.

"Wait! The proof of the pudding is in the eating of it," and the dispute dropped.

Frank was a little solicitous about Lanky. He did not know just how badly his friend might have been bruised in his double encounter with Lef and his cronies. Lanky, however, declared that he had been thoroughly rubbed down at the gymnasium that same night, and was feeling in prime shape.

As Frank had himself taken the precaution to do the same, and never felt more fit for a game race, he no longer worried about the other.

The scene was almost a duplicate of the morning of the Fourth. The sun shone just as brightly, the river offered as charming a scene for the sport in prospect; and if the crowd seemed diminished by Bellport staying at home, her crew being out of the race, those who attended made up for their thinned numbers by a double display of wild enthusiasm.

Again had Coach Willoughby been influenced to remain over in order to serve in the double capacity of coach and starter. Everybody was satisfied with his work, and it certainly did the old Princeton graduate a world of good to be in close touch with his beloved sports again.

On the preceding day he had put the crew through


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Rh a gruelling lot of work, and made sure that Ginger Harper learned the ropes in his position. Frank had asked his opinion later, and learned that the coach believed they had the race as good as won, barring accidents.

"Don't whisper a word of that to one of the boys, though. We don't want any over-confidence about it. Better let them believe they've got to strain every nerve to win," the other had said to Frank, in conclusion.

So Frank told them how Clifford had strengthened their crew; and every fellow was looking grim and determined as he took his place, just as though they were up against a handicap that had to be surmounted.

Up there near the bridge Frank knew those he loved were watching every move he made—father, mother, Helen, yes, and Minnie Cuthbert. He waved them a last signal as he sat there, and the smile of confidence on his face told his crew that no matter what he had said, Frank Allen fully believed they were going to come in ahead!

Each member of that crew immediately vowed to himself that it would be so; and that he was going to pull that day as never before in all his life.

Herman Hooker was there of course, with his faithful cohorts. They made more noise than ever, and that big megaphone could send an eloquent


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214 exhortation far up the river, as Herman pleaded with the rowers to "hit her up another peg, bullies, just another, for dear old Columbia High!"

The faculty had come out in force, every teacher who was in town or within fifty miles of the place eager to see their boys win new honors. At another point along the course the famous Glee Club of Columbia had nestled, and as the two speedy shells raced past they made the air ring with the favorite airs of the rival schools, though of course favoring their own in the singing.

Ralph West had found a seat near Helen and Minnie, and at the start his voice was raised with all the rest in a great send-off for the home crew.

The girls were fairly quivering with eagerness as they strained their eyes to catch the last glimpse of the two boats ere they were lost to view around the bend.

"Oh! what do you think about it, Ralph? Was Clifford ahead at the bend? Some one shouted that below there. It wasn't so, was it?" pleaded Helen, with tears in her bright eyes, so great was her interest.

"That was a Clifford fellow, you may be sure, and the wish was father to the thought. I was watching at the bend. You know we have a signal station there to tell us down here how the boats


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Rh happen to lie at the time they pass," said Ralph, with a reassuring smile.

"So Frank said, but I had forgotten about it. I remember now I did see a blue flag run up, and there it is; but what does that mean, Ralph?" asked Helen.

"Boats were exactly even when they turned the bend. So you see it's just what Frank said they wanted to do, keep Clifford alongside. He's satisfied that though Clifford is said to be a tremendous power on the home stretch he's got a better crew right now. But all the same I understand he means to turn the upper stake in the lead."

All along the two shores of the Harrapin thousands eagerly waited for the minutes to pass. They talked and sang and laughed to kill time. Back and forth they exchanged compliments with the boys and girls from the upper town; but it was all good-natured chaff that was indulged in.

"I reckon there's a big bunch of Clifford people up around the stake at Rattail Island," said Ralph, after a bit, as he surveyed the restless throngs, and noted how almost universal the Columbia colors were flaunted.

"Why more there than here?" asked Minnie, quickly.

"It's nearer home for one thing, and many boys and girls would have to walk down, as there is no


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216 trolley. I was told that the banks were black with people last time, and everything seemed to be Clifford," replied the boy.

"Oh! isn't it almost time for them to come?" asked Helen; "because I just feel as though I couldn't stand the suspense much longer. I want to just shriek!"

"Please don't until you see Frank come in a winner," laughed Ralph.

"There, look, they are running another flag up on the pole; oh! what does that mean, Ralph?" queried Minnie.

"H'm! I don't just like that," muttered Ralph, uneasily.

"Hear the shouts, and they seem to be from the upriver people. Does that mean Clifford is ahead?" demanded Frank's sister, springing to her feet.

"Clifford has turned the upper stake ahead. And Frank surely said he intended to do that trick," replied Ralph, trying to smile.

"Will they be beaten, do you think? Is that going to upset all Frank's plans?" Helen continued to ask, solicitously.

"Oh! not necessarily. You see one of the boats had to come around last, and it might just as well be ours. Perhaps Frank changed his mind after that last confidential talk with Coach Willoughby. Perhaps the coach has such confidence in the power


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Rh of Frank's crew to beat out the others that he wants Columbia to be just hanging on the flank of Clifford most of the way down."

Ralph said this bravely enough, but all the same deep down in his faithful heart he felt as though a cold hand had fallen. Could it be possible that something had befallen Columbia again, and that they were being left far in the lurch by their lusty young rivals.

"How far do you suppose Clifford is in the lead?"

"Will Frank be able to make it up if he leaves it to the last half mile?"

"Can't you find out just how they stand, please?"

Bombarded by such questions Ralph was at his wits ends how to reply.

"That's where the signal relay stations along the course show a weak place. They have no means of telling anything except which boat leads. But we won't have long to wait now, because they're coming flying down-stream like the wind. Listen, girls!"

"Oh! what is it? I hear cheering up there; it sounds like thunder?" cried Helen wringing her hands in excitement, and actually jumping up and down.

"I can't tell, except that the people seem to be some excited up yonder."

"And you said as much as that most of them were from Clifford. That would mean they have a reason


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 no one can overestimate the immense advantage of a facility so unlimited for knowing all that is going on in the places where authority lives. The conscience of every member of the representative body is at the service of the nation. All that he feels bound to know he can find out; and what he finds out goes to the ears of the country. The question is his, the answer the nation’s. And the inquisitiveness of such bodies as Congress is the best conceivable source of information. Congress is the only body which has the proper motive for inquiry, and it is the only body which has the power to act effectively upon the knowledge which its inquiries secure. The Press is merely curious or merely partisan. The people are scattered and unorganized. But Congress is, as it were, the corporate people, the mouthpiece of its will. It is a sovereign delegation which could ask questions with dignity, because with authority and with power to act.

Congress is fast becoming the governing body of the nation, and yet the only power which it possesses in perfection is the power which is but a part of government, the power of legislation. Legislation is but the oil of government. It is that which lubricates its channels and speeds its wheels; that which lessens the friction and so eases the movement. Or perhaps I shall be

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