The Belle of Bowling Green
of the old grey walls, and you know how Gerard plumes himself on being
heir to the place.”
“Yes, I know; but, mother, the Scotch place is now a very distinctive
and valuable property. You are as proud as any of us, when the
newspapers announce ‘Mr. Gerard Murray and a party of friends _en route_
to Castle Murray, his ancestral home in the Scotch Highlands, for the
shooting season.’ And the years Gerard does not himself go there he
rents the place for an almost incredible sum to some rich American or
Englishman. I am sure we should miss the money, as well as the
distinction, Murray Castle brings us if it was no longer ours. For my
part, I think my Grandfather Murray did a very wise thing in buying back
and renovating the old home, I do believe it will prove one of his best
speculations.”
“I do not doubt your faith, Carlita; and you must remember, I am now
giving you instances of good results from your grandfather’s wandering
fever. For you know wherever he went the lust for land went with him.
He had also the strangest instinct concerning its value. In some occult
way he divined the fortune of land, just as some fishermen point out to
the fleet of boats exactly where the school of herring swim, though no
ripple on the water and no shimmer of the fish show to the ordinary
eye--or, as I myself have seen, a man step out from his comrades and say
‘You may dig here, there is water beneath our feet.’ In some such way,
your grandfather could pick out the corners of certain streets, and even
plots and parcels of unplanted lands, as future desirable locations.”
“I do wish, mother, such an instinct was hereditary, and that it had
come my road.”
“It was a special gift, and perhaps was allied to the second-sight that
was not uncommon among his people. I was going to tell you that about
1850 he went to New Orleans. He had property there, and always kept it,
my mother thought, because it gave him a plausible excuse for a journey
when he could find no other. Well, on this journey he met, in New
Orleans, General Sam Houston. The two men loved each other on sight, and
your grandfather went back with him to Texas. He was infatuated with the
country. He wrote mother the most extravagant love letters, all inspired
by the skies, and the prairies, the wonderful sunshine, the intoxicating
atmosphere, and the seas of flowers nodding, even at his bridle reins.
And my dear mother affected an equal enthusiasm; she told him to enjoy
the trip in all its fulness--not to hurry home. She assured him all was
well--and that she was able to manage affairs a little longer without
him.”
“I suppose she knew that he would stay until the fever of wandering had
exhausted itself?”
“Perhaps she did; but even if so, her sympathy made him more happy. He
remained in Texas nearly a year, and, of course, bought land there. Some
of this land has been very advantageously turned into cash; but there
was one tract he would never part with. To be sure, no one seemed to
want it; and I have heard Texans who came to our house--where they were
always welcome--ask him what motive he had in buying land so valueless.
He always laughed a little, and said, ‘It was a fancy of his.’ Then
_they_ would laugh, and tell him that ‘he was rich enough to buy a
fancy.’ All the same, it was easy to see they thought either that my
father had been cheated or else that he was a mighty poor judge of land
and localities. But nothing altered his opinion of the Texas property,
and he took a promise both from my brothers and myself that we would not
sell it for fifty years. Well, Carlita, you know how it turned out?”
“Mother! You mean the oil lands? Good gracious! How could grandfather
know? There was no oil found below ground in his day--how could he
know?”
“So you see, though mother had these periods of loneliness and trial,
_we_ are reaping their harvest; and I am sure she is glad of it.”
“Grandfather was a strange ‘mixture of the elements’; so shrewd and
worldly-wise, and yet so romantic.”
“You may add sentiment to the romance. When he first entered Castle
Murray he saw it exactly as it had been left. No one had touched
anything. The old chief’s chair, as he pushed it from the table when he
had eaten his last meal in the home he was leaving, remained just at the
angle taken; a half-bottle of usquebaugh and an unbroken glass stood on
the bare oak table. The dust of generations lay an inch thick, and on
the hearthstone were a few remnants of half-burnt wood. These remnants
your grandfather carefully gathered, and when the first fire in the
Bowling Green house was lit they kindled it. But no one who ever saw
Leonard Murray buying or selling land would have dreamed that he had
room in his heart for a bit of sentiment like that.”
“I have heard him called a shrewd, hard man.”
“I know. Listen again. You have complained of the superabundance of
white roses at our old country home up the river?”
“Well, mother, they are absurdly out of proportion. They cover walls and
fences and over-run the garden, and ought to give place, in part, to
other flowers.”
“Not while I live. My mother and father carefully reared the first
growth from the seeds of one white rose, which in some way was vitally
connected with their love. There was a quarrel, and my mother rejected
the rose; and father kept it, and then after they were married they
planted the seed, and watched and nourished it, until it became a tree
bearing white roses. From slips of that tree the garden has been
garlanded with roses. I do not wish it changed, until you have put the
last earthly rose in my cold hands.”
“Dear mother! Dear mother!”
They talked over these incidents until Gerard returned; and then as they
took some slight refreshment together fell into speculations concerning
the past and present Bowling Green. Gerard was sympathetic with its
past, but enthusiastic as to its future. And when Mrs. Bloommaert spoke
feelingly of the dignified men who in early days had been the familiar
figures on its pleasant sidewalks, Gerard answered:
“Dear auntie, these dignified old merchants in breeches and beavers and
fine lawn ruffles have most worthy successors in the clean-shaved men of
to-day, sensibly clothed from their soft hats to their comfortably
low-cut shoes. Would it not be delightful to show some of these old,
dignified merchants over the new Bowling Green? Take them through Nassau
Street and way up Broadway? I think they would need all the training
they have been having since they died to bear it.”
“You ought not to speak so lightly of the future life, Gerard.”
“Auntie, your pardon! But do you think that only the incarnated improve?
May not the de-incarnated be progressing also?”
“Of that condition I have no knowledge; but we all know that the first
builders of New York had the hard part. They laid the foundation of all
that has been done.”
“All right, aunt; but the men of to-day have built well and loftily on
their foundation. If they could see the Bowling Green to-day, and the
magnificent commercial city of which it is the centre--if they could see
the elevated roads, the motor cars, the railways, telegraphs, and ocean
cable service and all the rest of our business facilities, I am sure
they would have no words for their astonishment and delight.”
“Well, children, I have lived a long time to-day. I belong to the--past.
I am tired. Good-night, Gerard.”
“Good-night, aunt. Dream of the past, but be sure that however
enterprising, energetic, patriotic, and far-seeing those old-time New
Yorkers were, there is just as much enterprise and energy, just as much
patriotism and prudence, with the New Yorkers of to-day, for
“The bold brave heart of New York
Still beats on the Bowling Green!”
THE END
POPULAR COPYRIGHT BOOKS
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=Adventures of Captain Kettle.= Cutcliffe Hyne.
=Adventures of Gerard.= A. Conan Doyle.
=Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.= A. Conan Doyle.
=Alton of Somasco.= Harold Bindloss.
=Arms and the Woman.= Harold MacGrath.
=Artemus Ward’s Works= (extra illustrated).
=At the Mercy of Tiberius.= Augusta Evans Wilson.
=Battle Ground, The.= Ellen Glasgow.
=Belle of Bowling Green, The.= Amelia E. Barr.
=Ben Blair.= Will Lillibridge.
=Bob, Son of Battle.= Alfred Ollivant.
=Boss, The.= Alfred Henry Lewis.
=Brass Bowl, The.= Louis Joseph Vance.
=Brethren, The.= H. Rider Haggard.
=By Snare of Love.= Arthur W. Marchmont.
=By Wit of Woman.= Arthur W. Marchmont.
=Cap’n Erie.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Captain in the Ranks, A.= George Cary Eggleston.
=Cardigan.= Robert W. Chambers.
=Casting Away of Mrs. Leeks and Mrs. Aleshine.= Frank R. Stockton.
=Circle, The.= Katherine Cecil Thurston (author of “The Masquerader,”
“The Gambler”).
=Conquest of Canaan, The.= Booth Tarkington.
=Courier of Fortune, A.= Arthur W. Marchmont.
=Darrow Enigma, The.= Melvin Severy.
=Deliverance, The.= Ellen Glasgow.
=Exploits of Brigadier Gerard.= A. Conan Doyle.
=Fighting Chance, The.= Robert W. Chambers.
=For a Maiden Brave.= Chauncey C. Hotchkiss.
=For Love or Crown.= Arthur W. Marchmont.
=Fugitive Blacksmith, The.= Charles D. Stewart.
=Heart’s Highway, The.= Mary E. Wilkins.
=Holladay Case, The.= Burton Egbert Stevenson.
=Hurricane Island.= H. B. Marriott-Watson.
=Indifference of Juliet, The.= Grace S. Richmond.
=Infelice.= Augusta Evans Wilson.
=In the Name of a Woman.= Arthur W. Marchmont.
=Lady Betty Across the Water.= C. N. and A. M. Williamson.
=Lane That Had No Turning, The.= Gilbert Parker.
=Leavenworth Case, The.= Anna Katharine Green.
=Lilac Sunbonnet, The.= S. R. Crockett.
=Lin McLean.= Owen Wister.
=Long Night, The.= Stanley J. Weyman.
=Maid at Arms, The.= Robert W. Chambers.
=Man from Red Keg, The.= Eugene Thwing.
=Marathon Mystery, The.= Burton Egbert Stevenson.
=Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.= A. Conan Doyle.
=Millionaire Baby, The.= Anna Katharine Green.
=Missourian, The.= Eugene P. Lyle, Jr.
=My Friend the Chauffeur.= C. N. and A. M. Williamson.
=My Lady of the North.= Randall Parrish.
=Mystery of June 13th.= Melvin L. Severy.
=Mystery Tales.= Edgar Allen Poe.
=Nancy Stair.= Elinor Macartney Lane.
=None But the Brave.= Hamblen Sears.
=Order No. 11.= Caroline Abbot Stanley.
=Pam.= Bettina von Hutten.
=Pam Decides.= Bettina von Hutten.
=Partners of the Tide.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Phra the Phoenician.= Edwin Lester Arnold.
=President, The.= Alfred Henry Lewis.
=Princess Passes, The.= C. N. and A. M. Williamson.
=Private War, The.= Louis Joseph Vance.
=Prodigal Son, The.= Hall Caine.
=Queen’s Advocate, The.= Arthur W. Marchmont.
=Quickening, The.= Francis Lynde.
=Richard the Brazen.= Cyrus Townsend Brady and Edward Peple.
=Rose of the World.= Agnes and Egerton Castle.
=Sarita the Carlist.= Arthur W. Marchmont.
=Seats of the Mighty, The.= Gilbert Parker.
=Sir Nigel.= A. Conan Doyle.
=Sir Richard Calmady.= Lucas Malet.
=Speckled Bird.= Augusta Evans Wilson.
=Spoilers, The.= Rex Beach.
=Sunset Trail, The.= Alfred Henry Lewis.
=Sword of the Old Frontier, A.= Randall Parrish.
=Tales of Sherlock Holmes.= A. Conan Doyle.
=That Printer of Udell’s.= Harold Bell Wright.
=Throwback, The.= Alfred Henry Lewis.