The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-07
SWEET BEULAH LAND.

Ia" ~ Anoney' no trade. no years Oh dlScre-
ton, no experience of men and things, no inhu-
entail acquaintance, no anything except healthy
appetite sound digestion, and the hopefulness
OF one and twenty that in the fall Of 1865
found myself in New York. / must add to what
have said had enough mother wit to know
that destiny had changed the path of America,
and that northward tie star of empire had taken
her way, and that northward my fortune was
to lead me. Neither was I strictly speaking in
New York. was really in New Jersey, and in
that part of it called Hoboken. 1t was a great
deal cheaper place to board in than New York;
and 1t was separated from the great city only by
two-cent ferriable river. I was not only out
of work. but was out of the way of getting it You
may say that where there's will there's way.
A great many excellent people told me so. l had
the WILL but the way didn't open to me for long
time, and when it did twas a hard one to travel,
and has been to this day. There were lots Of
paths open to exconfederate soldiers his Chris
tan majesty, the Emperor of Mexico, one Maxi
milan. shortly after shot as traitor, offered
commissions to them, AMI made one duke the
Khedive of Egypt wanted to make lot of us
colonels; and the Emperor of Brazil offered US
coffee plantations; but laying aside the fact that
war" to last lifetime most of us, myself cor
tainly, were prevented from embracing the
offers of these foreign potentates by the same
i'll luck that prevents me to-day from editing &
paper which should unite the blandness of the
New York Tribune with the concentrated fervor
Of Mr.. Dana's morning luminary. Need allude
to deficiency of capital to start on the enter
priseR boarded at queer hotel kept by the
queerest kind of Scotchman, and frequented
by the queerest kind of people. 1t was cheap.
and the provender was plentiful and good, and
the beds were soft and clean. He only charged
me 81 per week; But eh mon," he said,
''its the boarders that the muckle siller comes
frae, it's the transoms Feggs, but its four del-
lars the day the vagroms pays me. Solitude
hath charms, young mon, but its luxury folk
nun pay toll for" 1t was peculiar that he had
a continual influx of we'll dressed "weel
tochered," the Scotchman said, gentlemen who
were flush of money and staid of habit, and bus
iness-like i'll appearance, who stayed for day or
two and then left us. They always talked OF
their successful business ventures, and when
asked my Scotch friend, for friend he proved to
be, to aid me in procuring situation with some
one or other of them: "Ye1l know a hantel
MAR when we've laid as much grey on your head
as 1 have" he said So came to notice the
''transoms" but slightly At last there came
one who held me as the Ancient Mariner held
the wedding guest. Not that he was ancient; he
looked forty FIVE, and we'll kept. well balanced in
step, proper in height about five feet eight
clear in voice, fair of skin, with hair of the deep
tlue-black that shows Northern blood flor the
black of the Indian, Arabian and Negro hair is
lusterless and reddish under a strong light and
with eyes hazel, and large, and wistfu such
eyes painter might give to saint or even
to the Christ, though he would probably
sin against nature in doing, for never, in long
years of close observation, have seen the hazel
eye in the head of a truthful man. OF trust
worthy woman. For all that, il is the most glo-
rious eye in the world. l have said his voice
was clear, so is the voice of BELL but the mans
voice was magnetic. 1t thrilled and haunted
you if he only said "a fine day, sir" Your mind
went back to the fine days of long ago, when
even rainy days were finer than the June sun.
shine of your money-hunting years Meeting
him on the stairs one day. he was singing;
'Whle the mountain tops l stand
And see thy wales, sweet Beulah land"
At one and twenty, and specially at one and
twenty after four years in camp and in prison,
the soul of man does not banker after the sweet
waters of Beuah land; at that period of strong
appetite and coarse digestion, even the husks
which the swine doeat are palatable Youth is
glorious, but OH my soul, it is animal; that is to
say healthy youth is. Spirituality is a grace of
ripened thought and punctured feeling. But
this mans song of 'Beulah Land" made even
boy see the wales and hear the ripping streams
of the blessed country. When he sang it yon
heard the sweet song of your dead mother 'sing-
ing in paradise" The man must have a name,
and herein he shall be called Smith He stayed
at the hotel four days, he spoke to nobody, savo
as necessity or courtesy demanded but he
forever sang lin low voice and utterly to him
self the lines Of "Beuah Land which 1 have
quoted. Those two lines aud no more The
fourth day was rainy. | had come in from New
York. again unsuccessful of work, a dollar and
three quarters poorer than yesterday, dismal
and comfortless ] had been debating in my
mind the wisdom of going further west, won
dering how much further west my few remain
ing dollars would take me, and wondering,
furthermore, what sort of u realm the much
talked of West really was:
"While on the mountain tops I stand,
And see thy wales, sweet Beulah land"
Smith had come into the little dingy parIor--
unnoticed by me, so deep had been my study
He was sitting within ten feet of me- He
put his hazel eyes right onto me for an instant,
then fixed them on the little half-dead fire. and
with his melody of "Beulah Land" still in my GERS
he began to talk to me. ''Ydung man. he said
"my heart is warm to you. You are
stranger in astrange land, and so am l. You are
poor and l was once very poor myself.
You are ambitious and ambition has XII He'd me.
Killed mel 1t killed me ten years ago and am
still young man, as youth is counted among
millionaires politicians, great lawyers and the
men who achieve success. / am little more than
forty. and / have been dead for
ten years. EIe is an escaped lunatic, l said to
myself. dead for ten years, and damned for
five of them" he continued. Religious mania.
like the womans who hung herself because she
thought she had committed the objectionable
sin. In Aiken S. c.. l reflected ut might
have been different 1t was my own fault Do
YOU believe in a God} He said all this in rapid