The San Francisco call., 1904-11-27
CHAPTER Y.
The FIinty Wall.

There was one point about Jeremy
Chiddingfold's system Of philosophy
if that name may be allowed to dignity
the rather mixed assortment of facts
and inferences which he had gathered
from his studies: this point was that
there was no appeal against facts. Ma
ture was nature, feelings were feel
ings and change was development.
One thing was right to-day; 1t became
wrong tomorrow without ceasing to
have been right yesterday. Let there
be an end Of ignorant parrot-like chat
ter about inconsistency! Is evolution
inconsistency? Inconsistency with
what? He put this question and kim
dred ones quite heatedly to Mrs. Num-
pie, who did not at all understand
them, and to whom they savored Of
unorthodoxy; she had ever distrusted a
scientific education. If Jeremy could
have put his case in a concrete form
he would have won her sympathy. But
she did not know where such general
principles would stop and she had
heard that there were persons who i'm
pugned the authority of Moses.
Jeremy did not care much about Mrs.
Mumple's approval though he tried
his arguments on her as a boxer tries
his fists on a stuffed sack (she sug-
gested the simile). He did not ex-
pect to convince her and would have
been rather sorry if he had. In her
present mental condition she was in
valuable as a warning and butt. But
it was exasperating that Mrs. Hutting
should hold antique, Iudicrous ands lin
his opinion) In the end debased views
about social intercourse between the
seXes-in fact Ito descend to that con-
crete which Jeremys soul abhorred)
about girls of IL taking walks with
young men of %. Mrs. Hutting's views
I,fe Asvaf Tor
ceedings which he felt to be unbe-
coming to a philosopher. He had to
scheme, to lie in wait, to plan most
unlikely accidents, on occasion to pal
ter with truth, to slip behind a wagon
or to hide inside a barn. A recogni-
ton on Mrs. Huttings part of nature,
of facts and of development would have
relieved Jeremy from all these distaste-
full expedients.
But Mrs. Hutting was an old fash
ioned woman. She obeyed her husband
usually, however suggesting on what
points he might reasonably require
obedience. She expected her daughter
to obey her. And she had her Views,
which she had enforced IN a very quiet
but very firm way. Modern tenden-
cies were not In favor at the rectory;
that being established as a premise,
it followed that ANYTHING which was
disapproved Of at the rectory was a
modern tendency; wherefore clandes-
tine and spuriously accidental meet
ings between young men and young
women were a modern tendency, or,
anyhow, signs of one-and Of very
bad one, too. No ancient instances
would have shaken Mrs Hutting on
this point; the chain of logic was too
strong. Certainly Dora never tried to
shake her mothers judgment or to
break the chain. For Dora was old
fashioned, too. She admitted that
clandestine and spurlously accidental
meetings were wrong. But sometimes
the clandestine character or the spu-
robustness OF the accident could be
plausibly questioned; besides, a thing
may be wrong and yet not be so very,
very bad. And the thing may be such
fun, and so amusing that--well,
one goes, and tries not to be
found out. On these ancient
but not obsolete lines Miss Dora