Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-01-04

except, as Sir John said, "by giving him
his head" TO change his tendencies.
March knew that his private word to
himself had been that if ones son could
not do as one desired, it was the next
lower point of felicity to wish what ones
son desired, and this was so admirably
fair and generous that March had several
times almost resolved to give up the vOy-
age and his plans as a sacrifice to such
moderation. But it had ended in his go
ing; and he was now writing his father
some Of the things which he had found
difficult to say, in praise of his kindness.
HIS departure had indeed caused both
his father and mother real distress, not so
much from dislike OF the journey itself,
as from dread of its consequences. If it
should result in his permanent residence
in the country his mothers stout patriot
ism gave her no comfort in the prospect,
and to his fathers rOyalism it was an in
eXpressibly painful contingency. 1t would
have been simply shocking TO both of
them if they had not, as it were. dwelt
with the possibility for several years be-
fore it came so near. March's wishes
were obvious enough when he returned
from Heidelberg; but he had not pressed
them. he had been content to look about
him and measure the world and himself
for time; for he had become imbued in
Germany with certain disrespect for
the opinions of the moment, since he was
constantly finding them in his young
mans state Of fluX, discredIted by the
light which he got from the next.
His feelings about America had GER
tainly passed through more than one stage
within his memory. AS a boy, before he
lett the West Indies where he had been
born, he had betn much attracted to the
country of his mother. The nation. then
trembling out of its swaddling clothes a
few hundred miles from him, was unde-
niably full of interest TO the OnlOOker.
That OnloOker being a thoughtful and
imaginative boy with an early exhibited
taste for the problems of government, it
is Ineligible that a comparatively faint
zephyr should blow the latent American
ism in his blood into an obstinate blaze.
This atmospheric impulse was furnished
him in unnecessary VigOr, when, after a
season spent at Elton, and longer one at
Oxford, he opened his mind to the subtle
ties of German thinking at Heidelberg.
1t was, to speak accurately, not direct
impulse which was impaired to him:
there were certain limitations touching
the inculcation of republicanIsm in Ger
man universities at this time. But the
tone of the place was distinctly liberal; a
breeze of truth seemed to be always blow
ing through its halls, eXpelling cObWebs
ones intelligence must have been barred
with much care to have avoided the mes
sage.
March, whose openness was as the
openness OF the honeycOmb, found him
self peculiarly susceptible to the infiu-
ence of this missionary and informing
breeze. The study of Political Science,
which was struggling towards its own,
gave the special impetus which was
lacking to his, feelings, and made him
brilliantly red republican.
In the further time that he spent at
Heidelberg mis- ideas were naturally mod
lfied by much the same sanitive power
which had equipped him with his theo-
rles and he returned to England and took
up his residence with his father, who had
laid aside the glories of the gubernatorial
function, very hearty republican, in
deed. but one Of much less inflamed
type than he had once liked to believe
himself.
This pale form of faith. however, took
on, it may be believed, a sufficiently high
color, to his fathers alarm, and during
the three years that interviewed between
his return to England and his departure
from it, his opinions gave the Baronet
considerable anxiety, He held, in the |
course Of this time, many memorable con- |
7ersatiOns with his son. Owen pretended no
more reverence ia an he felt for the laws |
Ind institutions Of his country which |
made possible the excited condition OF |
society, the general distress, and the |
threatening buildings of that political |
Dot which came so near boiling over |
about 1920. But he tried to treat his |
'ather's Drejudlces tenderly, and always /
sndeavored to put his revolutionary SEN
.iments as gently as possible.
IAN, fatheF!" cried he, as they came |
INTO the house one day after one Of the |
walks during which these colloquies |
Usually went on, 'yOu don't know what a |
mild radical l am. Pray, don't think me |
4 Reign of Terror man, and that sort of |
hing. l'Ve not the ghost Of wish to |
3ubyert society; l find it much too charm |
ng an institution. And, in a general di- |
should come out any better off. There |
are worse things, perhaps, than being the |
son of a gentleman who has the /
fortune to own such park as that'-he !
Indicated the beautiful eXpanse of turf |
before them as they paused on the steps |
certainly when that gentleman has the |
uncommon goodness to be Sir John |
March. What do you think, fatherY |
laughed the young republican, as ne took |
he old man by both his shoulders, and /
'orced him to give back his smile.
The fathers glance dwelt admiringly on |
MS sons staiwart form.
81 think you are much better son than |
'oyalist, my dear boy"
Once, when March had been speaking !
If the unWisdOm of form OF govern !
nent sEunder which the poor are without |
4 vote, and in the best circumstances can |
hardly own the soil, which they improve |
or others from year to year." sir John re-
Oined:
I, In h0f
have often thought that matters might |
BE improved. But l don't go quite so far.
[ don't know whether one of the results |
If your observation may have been that l |
am myself one of the 'others,' as you call |
hem. What if 1 say that weakly prefer |
10 be one of themW
81 should say that trust you will not |
i've to see anything that you would not |
like, dear fatherV
1t has been said that Lady March, as |
well as her husband, had in manner |
lived for some time with the possibility of
exactly the event which had now oc- |
CURED; but she had, of course, held no
such talks as Sir John with owen, ana
when her sons intention was first an
nounced to her, the philosophy with which |
she had tried to fortify herself in advance,
resolved itself simply into tears, She
why she had not long AGO per-
ceived how certaif.. it was; but it was,
best that she had not known, for
surely only those malevOlent spirits who
hope one day to rule the world by some
such code as prevails in Old Ladies'
Fl ONES can wish to make mothers ideas
of her son include the obvious.
When Lady March had conquered the
bit of weakness with which she had met
the first intelligence of her sons deplOra-
bl6iplan, she accepted it with.a kind of
After all, she told herself,
she was glad to have owen visit her ma
tive land, if it did not end in his remain
ing there; and she was soon going about
with a fair counterfeit of cheerfulness,
and settling herself to smooth her sons
path among her countrymen, as far as
letters Of introduction and the like kind
Iy documents could accomplish that end.
To March, the most fruitful OF these
amiable papers was that which made him
known to his cousin, Frederick Lincoln,
and his agreeable mother, Lady MARGINS
sister. They lived in one of the most per-
feet products of the colonial idea in archl-
lecture which March found in New York.
The house was generously made, and full
Of dignity and simplicity of it's own.
its long windows it looked upon
the Battery and the beautiful prospect
beyond, and in the autumn days March
often sat upon the balcony, with his aunt
and her daughters-for Lincoln had sew
eral sisters-and watched the cOncOurse
Of county men beneath them, who, hay-
ing accomplished the deliberate business
of the day in Wall and South, in Pine and
Cedar strppts and Maiden Lane. s1Oined