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This was the evening of the great public meeting, called
for the purpose of passing resolutions respecting a measure
pending in Congress. The subject was one which young
Lennox was acquainted with, as it had long engaged his
attention. Miserable as he was at this moment, a desire
to escape from himself led him to be thankful for such a
distraction, and while Frank and Mary were gone to Eltons's,
he repaired to deliver his address.

On arriving at the large room which had been designated
for the purpose, he found many distinguished citizens assembled.
His father and Mr. Emmerson were already
there. The hall rapidly filled to overflowing. An eminent
man was elected to the chair, and several secretaries appointed.
Many speakers were anxious to express their
views on the subject, and two or three did so, and were received
with interest. At length Mr. Emmerson rose. He
was listened to with respectful attention. His remarks
showed the results of study; for, as Harry afterward discovered,
he had been long and laboriously preparing himself
for the occasion. Distinction was his passion, and to
it he had resolved to devote himself. But he was regarded
as a cold, dry man, laborious in details and learned in facts,
without enlarged views, or original inferences or ideas. His
discourse, while it made a favourable impression, did not
produce any particular effect.

Harry was rather surprised to perceive that he had made
use of several arguments similar to those contained in his
own memoranda. He set it down, of course, as accident,
for there was scarcely a man whom he would not sooner
have suspected of anything wrong, so highly was he esteemed
for purity and gentleness of mind and manners.
He was, however, fairly puzzled, on hearing him, as he proceeded,
deliver some remarks in support of a delay in the
passage of the offensive bill, an exact counterpart of those
which, at the intimation of Emmerson himself, he had proposed
to omit in his own observations.

After Emmerson rose a Mr. Holford, a gentleman of

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large stature and dignified personal appearance, with a sonorous
voice and an apparent familiarity with public speaking.
He occupied the attention of the audience an hour
with fine words and high-sounding phrases, frequently eliciting
applause by the artful recurrence of patriotic sentiments.
But Harry perceived that this person belonged to the class
of mere demagogues, who, by dint of impudence and perseverance,
not only thrust themselves into prominent places,
but maintain themselves there triumphantly, while men of
merit and modesty remain in obscurity. Notwithstanding
very general applause, his eloquence was made up of superficial
commonplaces and phrases, borrowed, ready-made,
from the floating oratory of the day. A part of what he
said was good, but that was not his own, and, whenever he
ventured into anything like original argument or declamation,
he betrayed the poverty of his attainments and the
smallness of his understanding by flimsy sophistry or swelling
bombast. It was all received, however, with the unexamining
approbation characteristic of a public meeting,
and which evidently made the speaker (although he repeated
the quotation that he was “no orator as Brutus is”) believe
himself a much greater orator than that ancient or
most other modern gentlemen.

At length Harry rose, striving to fly from himself, and to
lose in any manner the keen sense of his late disappointment.
We have not ventured to describe him, but the reader
must imagine a young man rather above the middle stature,
as noble in person as expressive and handsome in
countenance. His features had a manly gravity and even
sternness, which gave place to sweetness when he smiled.
His eyes were dark and full of expression, and a voice,
more soft, flexible, and, at the same time, powerful, was
rarely heard. He had not uttered ten sentences before
every one became aware he was no common man. Free
from embarrassment, he presented by far the clearest view
of the case which had been given, drew enlarged, unexpected,
and striking inferences with the logical precision
of a more matured orator, and in language the most eloquent,
enchained, delighted, and convinced everybody. With
all the knowledge of details and facts of Emmerson, and a
far more chaste and rich flow of language than Holford, he
added that kind of light and fire which only genius and sincerity
know how to throw around what they touch.

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Warmed by the exertion and by the consciousness of his success,
he triumphantly completed the argumentative part of his address
to an audience who gave neither the cold respect
awarded to Emmerson, nor the noisy applause elicited by
the clap-traps of the pompous Holford, but the attention of
men whose minds are really awakened. In conclusion,
when his points were clearly proved, and the objections raised
by the opposite party had been undeniably silenced, he
ended by an appeal to the clear judgment and higher feelings
of the nation, in a strain not often heard at public meetings,
and which showed a speaker as far above the petty desire
of self-display as the mere interested influence of party
views.

A pause followed his concluding words, for his auditors
preserved a moment's silence, unwilling to lose a syllable,
till a simultaneous burst of applause, ended, resumed, hushed,
and prolonged again, told that the minds and hearts of all
present had been under the spell of eloquence.

He was acknowledged the speaker of the evening.

On descending from the stage, he was received in triumph
by his friends, and heartily congratulated before he
could reach and accept the hand of his delighted father.

By the side of the latter stood Emmerson, silent and motionless,
and with a peculiar expression of discontent on his
dark features. Harry was struck with it, and felt it chill
the warm flow of his blood and the pleasure of his success;
and had he not known him, he would have thought he saw
on his countenance only the workings of mean selfishness
and pale envy.

“What's the matter?” asked he, as he perceived his
proffered hand was not accepted.

“Oh, nothing,” said Emmerson: “the crowd—the heat.”

Then, with a singular look, which afterward often rose in
Harry's memory, he added,

“I did not expect to see you so soon in public, when I
met you last night, you know!”

“Last night!” repeated his father: “where?”

“What do you mean by that?” said Harry, sternly.
“You knew I intended to address the meeting, Mr. Emmerson.”

“Yes, certainly; but—ha, ha, ha—you have proved yourself
a Demosthenes.”

Harry did not understand the tone of voice in which this
was said. The meeting immediately passed the intended

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resolutions, availing themselves of various suggestions made
by Harry, and the curious “last night, you know!” of Emmerson,
passed from his mind.

After the adjournment, Mr. Lennox, Harry, and Emmerson
were standing together, with several others, conversing,
when the chairman, Mr. Lawrence, an influential leader
of the politics of the state, came up, and shaking Harry
warmly by the hand, acknowledged in strong terms the
pleasure he had received from his address.

“You must sup with me,” he added, “you and your
father. I have something of importance to say to you.”

“To be sure—to be sure,” said Mr. Lennox; “and as for
my Harry, I tell you what, that young gentleman is destined
to be, one of these days, the ornament of whatever
office he chooses to desire. You don't know that boy.”

“I hope he knows you, sir,” said Harry, modestly, “or
else he will mistake the language of your heart for that of
your judgment.”

“Why, you impertinent young dog, what do you mean by
that?”

“It's all very well, sir—it's all very well, sir,” said the
pompous Holford, rubbing his hands, and assuming a look
of dignity, which did not hide his vexation and jealousy.
“These boys just out of college are full of fine words, but
we want a knowledge of things!”

“We do indeed—at least some of us,” said Lennox, with
an emphasis.

“They've missed the most important resolution, sir—the
most important, sir, by far!” said Holford. “I rarely address
promiscuous public meetings: I have other and more
important duties. But the resolution omitted spoils everything,
sir—spoils everything! I'm sorry I spoke. The
meeting will do more harm than good. I'll be d—d if I
don't regret I have appeared at it.”

“If that be an error, as perhaps it is,” said Mr. Lennox,
coolly, “you will have an opportunity to repair it on future
occasions.”

“I didn't address my remark to you, sir.”

“I addressed mine to you, Mr. Holford.”

“Come, gentlemen, my supper will be cold,” said Mr.
Lawrence. “Mr. Lennox, and you, sir” (to Harry), “you
must not give us the slip. I have something to propose to
you.”

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He added no other one to the party, and Emmerson silently
withdrew.

They repaired to the house of their host, where the supper-table
was already spread. The ladies of the family,
after a gay half hour, retired, and the gentlemen were left
to discuss subjects which exclusively interested them. It
was at once suggested by Mr. Lawrence that Harry should
accept an early seat in Congress.

“Well,” said his father, “what say you? As you don't
appear wanting in the valuable gift of speech, you can answer
for yourself, I suppose.”

“I think,” said Harry, “it requires time for reflection;
but I should, of course, be guided by your wishes, if I remain
in America.”

“Remain in America! Why, where the devil do you
expect to remain?”

“I have had some desire lately to go abroad.”

“What! a short tour, eh?” said Lawrence.

“A tour, but not a short one.”

“May I ask what you mean?” said his father. “You
have the intention of going abroad for a long time?”

“Yes, sir; a plan which, with your approbation, would
be a very pleasant thing for me.”

“What! leave us, Harry? Spend half a dozen years
abroad, and come back at last to find some old sexton, who
sings while he works, coolly pointing out our respective
graves: `Mrs. Lennox's, sir!' `Miss Mary's, sir!' `The
old gentleman's, sir—that one with the flowers!' Is that
what you call `very pleasant,' with my approbation?”

“My dear father, I did not intend to discuss the point
with you—at least not here; but, in respect to the seat in
Congress, I scarcely feel myself able—”

“Nonsense!” said Mr. Lawrence. “You are only a boy.
If every one had your modesty, where should we find men
to make up our tickets? You'll meet there (for I never
flatter, young gentleman) men infinitely above you in learning
and mind, to equal whom you might with profit spend
all the years of your life, and be satisfied if you half attained
your object.”

“I am fully aware of it, and that is why, or one reason
why, I hesitate.”

“But,” continued Mr. Lawrence, “you will find yet more
inferior to you in all these respects—men who do not

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hesitate, on that account, to take place among legislators and
statesmen.”

“Fill your neighbour's glass,” said Mr. Lennox—“(I beg
your pardon, Lawrence; I make myself at home, you see),
and then your own, and let me, if you please, hear no more
of your going abroad at present. As for the seat in Congress,
I shall state at once my views. If I were as rich as
I ought to be, and could leave you, and your brother and
sister, a hundred or two thousand dollars each, after having
handsomely provided for your mother, I might, perhaps,
feel a pride in seeing you take your place, where your talents”
(Mr. Lennox always said what he thought) “could not
fail to be of service to your country, and to reflect a lustre
on your and my name.”

“Bravo!” said Lawrence.

“But I am not such a Crœsus as you appear to suppose.
Do you know how much I am worth?”

“No, sir.”

“Well, just enough to provide, in case of my sudden
death, a decent independence for your mother, and another
for your sister, who must be portioned like a sweet girl and
a gentleman's daughter as she is.”

“I hope so.”

“Then there's Frank. He has chosen a profession
where, even if he be not ingloriously scalped to begin with,
he will have no great opportunity to amass a fortune. His
expenses are great, his pay scandalously small, his danger
not inconsiderable, his chance of glory quite so. Yet he
must live like a gentleman. He has the tastes, habits, and
feelings of one; and where is he going to get a fortune if I
don't leave him one?”

“Very true!”

“But, my good friend,” said the benevolent Mr. Lawrence,
amused and interested by this glimpse of a family
scene, “if you leave all your property to your other children,
what remains for Harry?”

“I have given him a first-rate education. He is fully
fitted to go forth into life. He is a scholar and a gentleman,
and, what is equally to our present purpose, a superior
lawyer. If he attend to business, the honourable profession
to which he belongs, and of which he can easily become a
most distinguished member, as you may see by his display
this evening, will be to him, in twenty years, an ample

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fortune. Should he then wish it, and he will still be a
boy—”

“Your ideas of boyhood,” said Harry, “are rather comprehensive.”

“Hold your tongue, sir! If he then desire to descend to
politics, why, he does it, at least, with the advantage, that
if he fail, he has a place to stand on and a hole to creep
into. Politics undertaken from the hope of pecuniary gain,
or the more selfish ambition after place and power, cannot
fail to deprave the moral character as much as it must injure
and pervert the mind and destroy the reputation.”

“True, very true,” said Lawrence.

“There's Holford now,” continued Lennox, his fine face
beaming with the contempt he felt for everything mean,
“a mere ass! an empty demagogue! as ready to do any
dirty work as a street scavenger. He was always a paltry
fellow, for I knew him at school; but had he adopted a
more noble scheme of life, he might have enlarged and enriched
his mind with knowledge, and perhaps redeemed his
character. But watch the course of that man, and you shall
see that every year will make him less particular in his
actions and less honest in his opinions. Age will overtake
him in the exercise of all his lower faculties and meaner
passions, and while, perhaps, he may succeed in his exterior
designs, for such characters often do, he will do so, not
only at the sacrifice of his honour, but at last of his fame
and happiness. He will be obliged to resort to discreditable
tricks for advancement, and to perform degrading tasks
without reference to the delicacy of a gentleman or the duty
of a man of honour. Having started an ass, he will never
have time to make anything more of himself, till at last the
conviction that pure and noble things are unattainable by
him will cause him to despise them, pecuniary dependance
will make him a slave, and an old age of neglected insignificance
and contempt will end a life of empty assumption
and usurped honour.”

“Oh, I hope better of my old friend Holford!” said Lawrence.
“He is not very strong, perhaps, in the upper story,
but he has good points.”

“Doubtless! all men have; but I do not wish my son to
resemble him. Therefore, as he has to carve his own way
with his own good sword, it is time for him to know it, and
to perceive the necessity of applying himself to his

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profession steadily, resolutely, and severely. I myself am not a
business-man. I wish I were; but I hate business, and
I shall gradually endeavour to withdraw from the office,
leaving the whole toil and profit of it to you. You have
Emmerson, an inestimable, unassuming man, the most honest
and excellent partner in the world, and, withal, a sharp
and able lawyer; one of the few who unite integrity of
character, gentleness of heart, and mental ability. You
and he must manage matters. In a year or so I shall begin
to require a little repose, and think a tour abroad for
your mother and me would be more proper than for you.
Nevertheless, I am gratefully obliged to you, Lawrence, for
the honour you have done this youngster, and, in his name
and my own, I thank you.”

“I must say,” said Mr. Lawrence, “that, while I regret
your decision, I approve it.”

They separated. Harry had not distinctly followed all
his father's long harangue. His reveries had wandered to
the stern, beautiful face of Fanny Elton, to her cold words
and flashing eyes; but he had heard enough to learn that
his plan of foreign travel and foreign adventure was likely
to be opposed by divers more serious objections than had
at first presented themselves to his mind; that, notwithstanding
the wealth of his father, he was to start in life
without much benefit from it; and that, unless he were to
break forcibly away from many tender ties and some sober
duties, he was likely to be kept a prisoner in his native city.