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The Facts Concerning The Recent
Carnival Of Crime In Connecticut
By
Mark Twain
I was
feeling blithe, almost jocund. I put a match to my cigar, and just then the
morning's mail was handed in. The first superscription I glanced at was in a
handwriting that sent a thrill of pleasure through and through me. It was A=
unt
Mary's; and she was the person I loved and honored most in all the world,
outside of my own household. She had been my boyhood's idol; maturity, whic=
h is
fatal to so many enchantments, had not been able to dislodge her from her
pedestal; no, it had only justified her right to be there, and placed her
dethronement permanently among the impossibilities. To show how strong her
influence over me was, I will observe that long after everybody else's
"do-stop-smoking" had ceased to affect me in the slightest degree,
Aunt Mary could still stir my torpid conscience into faint signs of life wh=
en
she touched upon the matter. But all things have their limit in this world.=
A
happy day came at last, when even Aunt Mary's words could no longer move me=
. I
was not merely glad to see that day arrive; I was more than glad--I was gra=
teful;
for when its sun had set, the one alloy that was able to mar my enjoyment o=
f my
aunt's society was gone. The remainder of her stay with us that winter was =
in
every way a delight. Of course she pleaded with me just as earnestly as eve=
r,
after that blessed day, to quit my pernicious habit, but to no purpose
whatever; the moment she opened the subject I at once became calmly,
peacefully, contentedly indifferent--absolutely, adamantinely indifferent.
Consequently the closing weeks of that memorable visit melted away as
pleasantly as a dream, they were so freighted for me with tranquil
satisfaction. I could not have enjoyed my pet vice more if my gentle tormen=
tor
had been a smoker herself, and an advocate of the practice. Well, the sight=
of
her handwriting reminded me that I way getting very hungry to see her again=
. I
easily guessed what I should find in her letter. I opened it. Good! just as=
I
expected; she was coming! Coming this very day, too, and by the morning tra=
in;
I might expect her any moment.
I said to myself, "I am thoroughly happy =
and
content now. If my most pitiless enemy could appear before me at this momen=
t, I
would freely right any wrong I may have done him."
Straightway the door opened, and a shriveled,
shabby dwarf entered. He was not more than two feet high. He seemed to be a=
bout
forty years old. Every feature and every inch of him was a trifle out of sh=
ape;
and so, while one could not put his finger upon any particular part and say=
, "This
is a conspicuous deformity," the spectator perceived that this little
person was a deformity as a whole--a vague, general, evenly blended, nicely
adjusted deformity. There was a fox-like cunning in the face and the sharp
little eyes, and also alertness and malice. And yet, this vile bit of human
rubbish seemed to bear a sort of remote and ill-defined resemblance to me! =
It
was dully perceptible in the mean form, the countenance, and even the cloth=
es,
gestures, manner, and attitudes of the creature. He was a farfetched, dim
suggestion of a burlesque upon me, a caricature of me in little. One thing
about him struck me forcibly and most unpleasantly: he was covered all over
with a fuzzy, greenish mold, such as one sometimes sees upon mildewed bread=
. The
sight of it was nauseating.
He stepped along with a chipper air, and flung
himself into a doll's chair in a very free-and-easy way, without waiting to=
be
asked. He tossed his hat into the waste-basket. He picked up my old chalk p=
ipe from
the floor, gave the stem a wipe or two on his knee, filled the bowl from the
tobacco-box at his side, and said to me in a tone of pert command:
"Gimme a match!"
I blushed to the roots of my hair; partly with
indignation, but mainly because it somehow seemed to me that this whole
performance was very like an exaggeration of conduct which I myself had
sometimes been guilty of in my intercourse with familiar friends--but never,
never with strangers, I observed to myself. I wanted to kick the pygmy into=
the
fire, but some incomprehensible sense of being legally and legitimately und=
er
his authority forced me to obey his order. He applied the match to the pipe,
took a contemplative whiff or two, and remarked, in an irritatingly familiar
way:
"Seems to me it's devilish odd weather for
this time of year."
I flushed again, and in anger and humiliation =
as
before; for the language was hardly an exaggeration of some that I have utt=
ered
in my day, and moreover was delivered in a tone of voice and with an exaspe=
rating
drawl that had the seeming of a deliberate travesty of my style. Now there =
is
nothing I am quite so sensitive about as a mocking imitation of my drawling
infirmity of speech. I spoke up sharply and said:
"Look here, you miserable ash-cat! you wi=
ll
have to give a little more attention to your manners, or I will throw you o=
ut
of the window!"
The manikin smiled a smile of malicious content
and security, puffed a whiff of smoke contemptuously toward me, and said, w=
ith
a still more elaborate drawl:
"Come--go gently now; don't put on too ma=
ny
airs with your betters."
This cool snub rasped me all over, but it seem=
ed
to subjugate me, too, for a moment. The pygmy contemplated me awhile with h=
is
weasel eyes, and then said, in a peculiarly sneering way:
"You turned a tramp away from your door t=
his
morning."
I said crustily:
"Perhaps I did, perhaps I didn't. How do =
you
know?"
"Well, I know. It isn't any matter how I
know."
"Very well. Suppose I did turn a tramp aw=
ay
from the door--what of it?"
"Oh, nothing; nothing in particular. Only=
you
lied to him."
"I didn't! That is, I--"
"Yes, but you did; you lied to him."=
I felt a guilty pang--in truth, I had felt it
forty times before that tramp had traveled a block from my door--but still I
resolved to make a show of feeling slandered; so I said:
"This is a baseless impertinence. I said =
to
the tramp--"
"There--wait. You were about to lie again=
. I
know what you said to him. You said the cook was gone down-town and there w=
as
nothing left from breakfast. Two lies. You knew the cook was behind the doo=
r,
and plenty of provisions behind her."
This astonishing accuracy silenced me; and it
filled me with wondering speculations, too, as to how this cub could have g=
ot
his information. Of course he could have culled the conversation from the
tramp, but by what sort of magic had he contrived to find out about the
concealed cook? Now the dwarf spoke again:
"It was rather pitiful, rather small, in =
you
to refuse to read that poor young woman's manuscript the other day, and give
her an opinion as to its literary value; and she had come so far, too, and =
so
hopefully. Now wasn't it?"
I felt like a cur! And I had felt so every time
the thing had recurred to my mind, I may as well confess. I flushed hotly a=
nd
said:
"Look here, have you nothing better to do
than prowl around prying into other people's business? Did that girl tell y=
ou
that?"
"Never mind whether she did or not. The m=
ain
thing is, you did that contemptible thing. And you felt ashamed of it
afterward. Aha! you feel ashamed of it now!"
This was a sort of devilish glee. With fiery
earnestness I responded:
"I told that girl, in the kindest, gentle=
st
way, that I could not consent to deliver judgment upon any one's manuscript,
because an individual's verdict was worthless. It might underrate a work of
high merit and lose it to the world, or it might overrate a trashy producti=
on and
so open the way for its infliction upon the world: I said that the great pu=
blic
was the only tribunal competent to sit in judgment upon a literary effort, =
and
therefore it must be best to lay it before that tribunal in the outset, sin=
ce
in the end it must stand or fall by that mighty court's decision anyway.&qu=
ot;
"Yes, you said all that. So you did, you
juggling, small-souled shuffler! And yet when the happy hopefulness faded o=
ut
of that poor girl's face, when you saw her furtively slip beneath her shawl=
the
scroll she had so patiently and honestly scribbled at--so ashamed of her da=
rling
now, so proud of it before--when you saw the gladness go out of her eyes and
the tears come there, when she crept away so humbly who had come so--"=
"Oh, peace! peace! peace! Blister your me=
rciless
tongue, haven't all these thoughts tortured me enough without your coming h=
ere
to fetch them back again!"
Remorse! remorse! It seemed to me that it would
eat the very heart out of me! And yet that small fiend only sat there leeri=
ng
at me with joy and contempt, and placidly chuckling. Presently he began to
speak again. Every sentence was an accusation, and every accusation a truth.
Every clause was freighted with sarcasm and derision, every slow-dropping w=
ord burned
like vitriol. The dwarf reminded me of times when I had flown at my childre=
n in
anger and punished them for faults which a little inquiry would have taught=
me
that others, and not they, had committed. He reminded me of how I had
disloyally allowed old friends to be traduced in my hearing, and been too
craven to utter a word in their defense. He reminded me of many dishonest
things which I had done; of many which I had procured to be done by children
and other irresponsible persons; of some which I had planned, thought upon,=
and
longed to do, and been kept from the performance by fear of consequences on=
ly.
With exquisite cruelty he recalled to my mind, item by item, wrongs and
unkindnesses I had inflicted and humiliations I had put upon friends since
dead, "who died thinking of those injuries, maybe, and grieving over
them," he added, by way of poison to the stab.
"For instance," said he, "take =
the
case of your younger brother, when you two were boys together, many a long =
year
ago. He always lovingly trusted in you with a fidelity that your manifold
treacheries were not able to shake. He followed you about like a dog, conte=
nt
to suffer wrong and abuse if he might only be with you; patient under these
injuries so long as it was your hand that inflicted them. The latest picture
you have of him in health and strength must be such a comfort to you! You p=
ledged
your honor that if he would let you blindfold him no harm should come to hi=
m;
and then, giggling and choking over the rare fun of the joke, you led him t=
o a
brook thinly glazed with ice, and pushed him in; and how you did laugh! Man,
you will never forget the gentle, reproachful look he gave you as he strugg=
led
shivering out, if you live a thousand years! Oh! you see it now, you see it
now!"
"Beast, I have seen it a million times, a=
nd
shall see it a million more! and may you rot away piecemeal, and suffer till
doomsday what I suffer now, for bringing it back to me again!"
The dwarf chuckled contentedly, and went on wi=
th
his accusing history of my career. I dropped into a moody, vengeful state, =
and
suffered in silence under the merciless lash. At last this remark of his ga=
ve
me a sudden rouse:
"Two months ago, on a Tuesday, you woke u=
p,
away in the night, and fell to thinking, with shame, about a peculiarly mean
and pitiful act of yours toward a poor ignorant Indian in the wilds of the
Rocky Mountains in the winter of eighteen hundred and--"
"Stop a moment, devil! Stop! Do you mean =
to
tell me that even my very thoughts are not hidden from you?"
"It seems to look like that. Didn't you t=
hink
the thoughts I have just mentioned?"
"If I didn't, I wish I may never breathe
again! Look here, friend--look me in the eye. Who are you?"
"Well, who do you think?"
"I think you are Satan himself. I think y=
ou
are the devil."
"No."
"No? Then who can you be?"
"Would you really like to know?"
"Indeed I would."
"Well, I am your Conscience!"
In an instant I was in a blaze of joy and
exultation. I sprang at the creature, roaring:
"Curse you, I have wished a hundred milli=
on
times that you were tangible, and that I could get my hands on your throat
once! Oh, but I will wreak a deadly vengeance on--"
Folly! Lightning does not move more quickly th=
an
my Conscience did! He darted aloft so suddenly that in the moment my fingers
clutched the empty air he was already perched on the top of the high bookca=
se,
with his thumb at his nose in token of derision. I flung the poker at him, =
and
missed. I fired the bootjack. In a blind rage I flew from place to place, a=
nd
snatched and hurled any missile that came handy; the storm of books, inksta=
nds,
and chunks of coal gloomed the air and beat about the manikin's perch
relentlessly, but all to no purpose; the nimble figure dodged every shot; a=
nd
not only that, but burst into a cackle of sarcastic and triumphant laughter=
as
I sat down exhausted. While I puffed and gasped with fatigue and excitement=
, my
Conscience talked to this effect:
"My good slave, you are curiously
witless--no, I mean characteristically so. In truth, you are always consist=
ent,
always yourself, always an ass. Other wise it must have occurred to you tha=
t if
you attempted this murder with a sad heart and a heavy conscience, I would
droop under the burdening in influence instantly. Fool, I should have weigh=
ed a
ton, and could not have budged from the floor; but instead, you are so
cheerfully anxious to kill me that your conscience is as light as a feather=
; hence
I am away up here out of your reach. I can almost respect a mere ordinary s=
ort
of fool; but you pah!"
I would have given anything, then, to be
heavyhearted, so that I could get this person down from there and take his
life, but I could no more be heavy-hearted over such a desire than I could =
have
sorrowed over its accomplishment. So I could only look longingly up at my
master, and rave at the ill luck that denied me a heavy conscience the one =
only
time that I had ever wanted such a thing in my life. By and by I got to mus=
ing over
the hour's strange adventure, and of course my human curiosity began to wor=
k. I
set myself to framing in my mind some questions for this fiend to answer. J=
ust
then one of my boys entered, leaving the door open behind him, and exclaime=
d:
"My! what has been going on here? The
bookcase is all one riddle of--"
I sprang up in consternation, and shouted:
"Out of this! Hurry! jump! Fly! Shut the
door! Quick, or my Conscience will get away!"
The door slammed to, and I locked it. I glance=
d up
and was grateful, to the bottom of my heart, to see that my owner was still=
my
prisoner. I said:
"Hang you, I might have lost you! Children
are the heedlessest creatures. But look here, friend, the boy did not seem =
to
notice you at all; how is that?"
"For a very good reason. I am invisible to
all but you."
I made a mental note of that piece of informat=
ion
with a good deal of satisfaction. I could kill this miscreant now, if I got=
a
chance, and no one would know it. But this very reflection made me so
lighthearted that my Conscience could hardly keep his seat, but was like to
float aloft toward the ceiling like a toy balloon. I said, presently:
"Come, my Conscience, let us be friendly.=
Let
us fly a flag of truce for a while. I am suffering to ask you some
questions."
"Very well. Begin."
"Well, then, in the first place, why were=
you
never visible to me before?"
"Because you never asked to see me before;
that is, you never asked in the right spirit and the proper form before. You
were just in the right spirit this time, and when you called for your most
pitiless enemy I was that person by a very large majority, though you did n=
ot
suspect it."
"Well, did that remark of mine turn you i=
nto
flesh and blood?"
"No. It only made me visible to you. I am
unsubstantial, just as other spirits are."
This remark prodded me with a sharp misgiving.=
If he was unsubstantial, how was I going to ki=
ll
him? But I dissembled, and said persuasively:
"Conscience, it isn't sociable of you to =
keep
at such a distance. Come down and take another smoke."
This was answered with a look that was full of
derision, and with this observation added:
"Come where you can get at me and kill me?
The invitation is declined with thanks."
"All right," said I to myself; "=
;so
it seems a spirit can be killed, after all; there will be one spirit lackin=
g in
this world, presently, or I lose my guess." Then I said aloud:
"Friend--"
"There; wait a bit. I am not your friend.=
I
am your enemy; I am not your equal, I am your master, Call me 'my lord,' if=
you
please. You are too familiar."
"I don't like such titles. I am willing to
call you, sir. That is as far as--"
"We will have no argument about this. Just
obey, that is all. Go on with your chatter."
"Very well, my lord--since nothing but my
lord will suit you--I was going to ask you how long you will be visible to
me?"
"Always!"
I broke out with strong indignation: "Thi=
s is
simply an outrage. That is what I think of it! You have dogged, and dogged,=
and
dogged me, all the days of my life, invisible. That was misery enough, now =
to
have such a looking thing as you tagging after me like another shadow all t=
he
rest of my day is an intolerable prospect. You have my opinion my lord, mak=
e the
most of it."
"My lad, there was never so pleased a
conscience in this world as I was when you made me visible. It gives me an
inconceivable advantage. Now I can look you straight in the eye, and call y=
ou
names, and leer at you, jeer at you, sneer at you; and you know what eloque=
nce
there is in visible gesture and expression, more especially when the effect=
is heightened
by audible speech. I shall always address you henceforth in your o-w-n
s-n-i-v-e-l-i-n-g d-r-a-w-l--baby!"
I let fly with the coal-hod. No result. My lord
said:
"Come, come! Remember the flag of
truce!"
"Ah, I forgot that. I will try to be civi=
l;
and you try it, too, for a novelty. The idea of a civil conscience! It is a
good joke; an excellent joke. All the consciences I have ever heard of were
nagging, badgering, fault-finding, execrable savages! Yes; and always in a
sweat about some poor little insignificant trifle or other--destruction cat=
ch
the lot of them, I say! I would trade mine for the smallpox and seven kinds=
of consumption,
and be glad of the chance. Now tell me, why is it that a conscience can't h=
aul
a man over the coals once, for an offense, and then let him alone? Why is it
that it wants to keep on pegging at him, day and night and night and day, w=
eek
in and week out, forever and ever, about the same old thing? There is no se=
nse
in that, and no reason in it. I think a conscience that will act like that =
is
meaner than the very dirt itself."
"Well, WE like it; that suffices."
"Do you do it with the honest intent to
improve a man?"
That question produced a sarcastic smile, and =
this
reply:
"No, sir. Excuse me. We do it simply beca=
use
it is 'business.' It is our trade. The purpose of it is to improve the man,=
but
we are merely disinterested agents. We are appointed by authority, and have=
n't anything
to say in the matter. We obey orders and leave the consequences where they
belong. But I am willing to admit this much: we do crowd the orders a trifle
when we get a chance, which is most of the time. We enjoy it. We are instru=
cted
to remind a man a few times of an error; and I don't mind acknowledging tha=
t we
try to give pretty good measure. And when we get hold of a man of a peculia=
rly
sensitive nature, oh, but we do haze him! I have consciences to come all the
way from China and Russia to see a person of that kind put through his pace=
s,
on a special occasion. Why, I knew a man of that sort who had accidentally
crippled a mulatto baby; the news went abroad, and I wish you may never com=
mit another
sin if the consciences didn't flock from all over the earth to enjoy the fun
and help his master exorcise him. That man walked the floor in torture for
forty-eight hours, without eating or sleeping, and then blew his brains out.
The child was perfectly well again in three weeks."
"Well, you are a precious crew, not to pu=
t it
too strong. I think I begin to see now why you have always been a trifle
inconsistent with me. In your anxiety to get all the juice you can out of a
sin, you make a man repent of it in three or four different ways. For insta=
nce,
you found fault with me for lying to that tramp, and I suffered over that. =
But
it was only yesterday that I told a tramp the square truth, to wit, that, it
being regarded as bad citizenship to encourage vagrancy, I would give him
nothing. What did you do then: Why, you made me say to myself, 'Ah, it would
have been so much kinder and more blameless to ease him off with a little w=
hite
lie, and send him away feeling that if he could not have bread, the gentle =
treatment
was at least something to be grateful for!' Well, I suffered all day about
that. Three days before I had fed a tramp, and fed him freely, supposing it=
a
virtuous act. Straight off you said, 'Oh, false citizen, to have fed a tram=
p!'
and I suffered as usual. I gave a tramp work; you objected to it--after the=
contract
was made, of course; you never speak up beforehand. Next, I refused a tramp
work; you objected to that. Next, I proposed to kill a tramp; you kept me a=
wake
all night, oozing remorse at every pore. Sure I was going to be right this
time, I sent the next tramp away with my benediction; and I wish you may li=
ve
as long as I do, if you didn't make me smart all night again because I didn=
't
kill him. Is there any way of satisfying that malignant invention which is
called a conscience?"
"Ha, ha! this is luxury! Go on!"
"But come, now, answer me that question. =
Is
there any way?"
"Well, none that I propose to tell you, my
son. Ass! I don't care what act you may turn your hand to, I can straightwa=
y whisper
a word in your ear and make you think you have committed a dreadful meannes=
s.
It is my business--and my joy--to make you repent of everything you do. If I
have fooled away any opportunities it was not intentional; I beg to assure =
you
it was not intentional!"
"Don't worry; you haven't missed a trick =
that
I know of. I never did a thing in all my life, virtuous or otherwise, that I
didn't repent of in twenty-four hours. In church last Sunday I listened to a
charity sermon. My first impulse was to give three hundred and fifty dollar=
s; I
repented of that and reduced it a hundred; repented of that and reduced it =
another
hundred; repented of that and reduced it another hundred; repented of that =
and
reduced the remaining fifty to twenty-five; repented of that and came down =
to
fifteen; repented of that and dropped to two dollars and a half; when the p=
late
came around at last, I repented once more and contributed ten cents. Well, =
when
I got home, I did wish to goodness I had that ten cents back again! You nev=
er
did let me get through a charity sermon without having something to sweat a=
bout."
"Oh, and I never shall, I never shall. You
can always depend on me."
"I think so. Many and many's the restless
night I've wanted to take you by the neck. If I could only get hold of you
now!"
"Yes, no doubt. But I am not an ass; I am
only the saddle of an ass. But go on, go on. You entertain me more than I l=
ike
to confess."
"I am glad of that. (You will not mind my
lying a little, to keep in practice.) Look here; not to be too personal, I
think you are about the shabbiest and most contemptible little shriveled-up
reptile that can be imagined. I am grateful enough that you are invisible to
other people, for I should die with shame to be seen with such a mildewed
monkey of a conscience as you are. Now if you were five or six feet high,
and--"
"Oh, come! who is to blame?"
"I don't know."
"Why, you are; nobody else."
"Confound you, I wasn't consulted about y=
our
personal appearance."
"I don't care, you had a good deal to do =
with
it, nevertheless. When you were eight or nine years old, I was seven feet h=
igh,
and as pretty as a picture."
"I wish you had died young! So you have g=
rown
the wrong way, have you?"
"Some of us grow one way and some the oth=
er.
You had a large conscience once; if you've a small conscience now I reckon
there are reasons for it. However, both of us are to blame, you and I. You =
see,
you used to be conscientious about a great many things; morbidly so, I may =
say.
It was a great many years ago. You probably do not remember it now. Well, I=
took
a great interest in my work, and I so enjoyed the anguish which certain pet
sins of yours afflicted you with that I kept pelting at you until I rather
overdid the matter. You began to rebel. Of course I began to lose ground, t=
hen,
and shrivel a little--diminish in stature, get moldy, and grow deformed. The
more I weakened, the more stubbornly you fastened on to those particular si=
ns;
till at last the places on my person that represent those vices became as
callous as shark-skin. Take smoking, for instance. I played that card a lit=
tle
too long, and I lost. When people plead with you at this late day to quit t=
hat
vice, that old callous place seems to enlarge and cover me all over like a
shirt of mail. It exerts a mysterious, smothering effect; and presently I, =
your
faithful hater, your devoted Conscience, go sound asleep! Sound? It is no n=
ame
for it. I couldn't hear it thunder at such a time. You have some few other
vices--perhaps eighty, or maybe ninety--that affect me in much the same
way."
"This is flattering; you must be asleep a
good part of your time."
"Yes, of late years. I should be asleep a=
ll
the time but for the help I get."
"Who helps you?"
"Other consciences. Whenever a person who=
se
conscience I am acquainted with tries to plead with you about the vices you=
are
callous to, I get my friend to give his client a pang concerning some villa=
iny
of his own, and that shuts off his meddling and starts him off to hunt pers=
onal
consolation. My field of usefulness is about trimmed down to tramps, budding
authoresses, and that line of goods now; but don't you worry--I'll harry yo=
u on
theirs while they last! Just you put your trust in me."
"I think I can. But if you had only been =
good
enough to mention these facts some thirty years ago, I should have turned my
particular attention to sin, and I think that by this time I should not only
have had you pretty permanently asleep on the entire list of human vices, b=
ut reduced
to the size of a homeopathic pill, at that. That is about the style of
conscience I am pining for. If I only had you shrunk you down to a homeopat=
hic
pill, and could get my hands on you, would I put you in a glass case for a
keepsake? No, sir. I would give you to a yellow dog! That is where you ough=
t to
be--you and all your tribe. You are not fit to be in society, in my opinion.
Now another question. Do you know a good many consciences in this
section?"
"Plenty of them."
"I would give anything to see some of the=
m!
Could you bring them here? And would they be visible to me?"
"Certainly not."
"I suppose I ought to have known that wit=
hout
asking. But no matter, you can describe them. Tell me about my neighbor
Thompson's conscience, please."
"Very well. I know him intimately; have k=
nown
him many years. I knew him when he was eleven feet high and of a faultless
figure. But he is very pasty and tough and misshapen now, and hardly ever
interests himself about anything. As to his present size--well, he sleeps i=
n a
cigar-box."
"Likely enough. There are few smaller, me=
aner
men in this region than Hugh Thompson. Do you know Robinson's conscience?&q=
uot;
"Yes. He is a shade under four and a half
feet high; used to be a blond; is a brunette now, but still shapely and
comely."
"Well, Robinson is a good fellow. Do you =
know
Tom Smith's conscience?"
"I have known him from childhood. He was
thirteen inches high, and rather sluggish, when he was two years old--as ne=
arly
all of us are at that age. He is thirty-seven feet high now, and the statel=
iest
figure in America. His legs are still racked with growing-pains, but he has=
a
good time, nevertheless. Never sleeps. He is the most active and energetic =
member
of the New England Conscience Club; is president of it. Night and day you c=
an
find him pegging away at Smith, panting with his labor, sleeves rolled up,
countenance all alive with enjoyment. He has got his victim splendidly
dragooned now. He can make poor Smith imagine that the most innocent little
thing he does is an odious sin; and then he sets to work and almost tortures
the soul out of him about it."
"Smith is the noblest man in all this
section, and the purest; and yet is always breaking his heart because he ca=
nnot
be good! Only a conscience could find pleasure in heaping agony upon a spir=
it
like that. Do you know my aunt Mary's conscience?"
"I have seen her at a distance, but am not
acquainted with her. She lives in the open air altogether, because no door =
is
large enough to admit her."
"I can believe that. Let me see. Do you k=
now
the conscience of that publisher who once stole some sketches of mine for a
'series' of his, and then left me to pay the law expenses I had to incur in
order to choke him off?"
"Yes. He has a wide fame. He was exhibite=
d, a
month ago, with some other antiquities, for the benefit of a recent Member =
of
the Cabinet's conscience that was starving in exile. Tickets and fares were
high, but I traveled for nothing by pretending to be the conscience of an
editor, and got in for half-price by representing myself to be the conscien=
ce
of a clergyman. However, the publisher's conscience, which was to have been=
the
main feature of the entertainment, was a failure--as an exhibition. He was
there, but what of that? The management had provided a microscope with a
magnifying power of only thirty thousand diameters, and so nobody got to see
him, after all. There was great and general dissatisfaction, of course,
but--"
Just here there was an eager footstep on the
stair; I opened the door, and my aunt Mary burst into the room. It was a jo=
yful
meeting and a cheery bombardment of questions and answers concerning family
matters ensued. By and by my aunt said:
"But I am going to abuse you a little now.
You promised me, the day I saw you last, that you would look after the need=
s of
the poor family around the corner as faithfully as I had done it myself. We=
ll,
I found out by accident that you failed of your promise. Was that right?&qu=
ot;
In simple truth, I never had thought of that
family a second time! And now such a splintering pang of guilt shot through=
me!
I glanced up at my Conscience. Plainly, my heavy heart was affecting him. H=
is
body was drooping forward; he seemed about to fall from the bookcase. My au=
nt continued:
"And think how you have neglected my poor
protege at the almshouse, you dear, hard-hearted promise-breaker!" I
blushed scarlet, and my tongue was tied. As the sense of my guilty negligen=
ce
waxed sharper and stronger, my Conscience began to sway heavily back and fo=
rth;
and when my aunt, after a little pause, said in a grieved tone, "Since=
you
never once went to see her, maybe it will not distress you now to know that=
that
poor child died, months ago, utterly friendless and forsaken!" My Cons=
cience
could no longer bear up under the weight of my sufferings, but tumbled head=
long
from his high perch and struck the floor with a dull, leaden thump. He lay
there writhing with pain and quaking with apprehension, but straining every
muscle in frantic efforts to get up. In a fever of expectancy I sprang to t=
he
door, locked it, placed my back against it, and bent a watchful gaze upon my
struggling master. Already my fingers were itching to begin their murderous
work.
"Oh, what can be the matter!" exclai=
med
by aunt, shrinking from me, and following with her frightened eyes the
direction of mine. My breath was coming in short, quick gasps now, and my
excitement was almost uncontrollable. My aunt cried out:
"Oh, do not look so! You appal me! Oh, wh=
at
can the matter be? What is it you see? Why do you stare so? Why do you work
your fingers like that?"
"Peace, woman!" I said, in a hoarse
whisper. "Look elsewhere; pay no attention to me; it is nothing--nothi=
ng.
I am often this way. It will pass in a moment. It comes from smoking too
much."
My injured lord was up, wild-eyed with terror,=
and
trying to hobble toward the door. I could hardly breathe, I was so wrought =
up.
My aunt wrung her hands, and said:
"Oh, I knew how it would be; I knew it wo=
uld
come to this at last! Oh, I implore you to crush out that fatal habit while=
it
may yet be time! You must not, you shall not be deaf to my supplications
longer!" My struggling Conscience showed sudden signs of weariness!
"Oh, promise me you will throw off this hateful slavery of tobacco!&qu=
ot;
My Conscience began to reel drowsily, and grope with his hands--enchanting
spectacle! "I beg you, I beseech you, I implore you! Your reason is
deserting you! There is madness in your eye! It flames with frenzy! Oh, hear
me, hear me, and be saved! See, I plead with you on my very knees!" As=
she
sank before me my Conscience reeled again, and then drooped languidly to the
floor, blinking toward me a last supplication for mercy, with heavy eyes.
"Oh, promise, or you are lost! Promise, and be redeemed! Promise! Prom=
ise
and live!" With a long-drawn sigh my conquered Conscience closed his e=
yes and
fell fast asleep!
With an exultant shout I sprang past my aunt, =
and
in an instant I had my lifelong foe by the throat. After so many years of
waiting and longing, he was mine at last. I tore him to shreds and fragment=
s. I
rent the fragments to bits. I cast the bleeding rubbish into the fire, and =
drew
into my nostrils the grateful incense of my burnt-offering. At last, and fo=
rever,
my Conscience was dead!
I was a free man! I turned upon my poor aunt, =
who
was almost petrified with terror, and shouted:
"Out of this with your paupers, your
charities, your reforms, your pestilent morals! You behold before you a man
whose life-conflict is done, whose soul is at peace; a man whose heart is d=
ead
to sorrow, dead to suffering, dead to remorse; a man WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE! =
In
my joy I spare you, though I could throttle you and never feel a pang!
Fly!"
She fled. Since that day my life is all bliss.
Bliss, unalloyed bliss. Nothing in all the world could persuade me to have a
conscience again. I settled all my old outstanding scores, and began the wo=
rld
anew. I killed thirty-eight persons during the first two weeks--all of them=
on
account of ancient grudges. I burned a dwelling that interrupted my view. I
swindled a widow and some orphans out of their last cow, which is a very go=
od
one, though not thoroughbred, I believe. I have also committed scores of
crimes, of various kinds, and have enjoyed my work exceedingly, whereas it
would formerly have broken my heart and turned my hair gray, I have no doub=
t.
In conclusion, I wish to state, by way of
advertisement, that medical colleges desiring assorted tramps for scientific
purposes, either by the gross, by cord measurement, or per ton, will do wel=
l to
examine the lot in my cellar before purchasing elsewhere, as these were all
selected and prepared by myself, and can be had at a low rate, because I wi=
sh
to clear, out my stock and get ready for the spring trade.