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CHAPTER 1

Introduction
to Blockchain
The entirety of this chapter is comprised of an excerpt from
Introducing Blockchain with Lisp: Implement and Extend
Blockchains with the Racket Language by Boro Sitnikovski,
and it is reused here with the author’s permission.

“Chained” by Filip Rizov

© Spiro Buzharovski 2022 1
S. Buzharovski, Introducing Blockchain with Java,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-7927-4_1
Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

In this chapter, we will see some definitions and examples for

blockchain. We will see what properties a blockchain has, what it allows us
to do, and what it is good for.

Definition 1-1 Blockchain is a system in which a record of

transactions is maintained across several computers that are linked
in a peer-to-peer network.1

We will give an example that will serve as motivation, as well as define

what encryption and hashing techniques are and how they will help us
with our system.
Note that we will skip some of the technical bits in this chapter, as it is
only supposed to serve as introductory material. The technical bits will be
covered later when we start building the blockchain.

1.1 Motivation and Basic Definitions

Let’s assume that you and your friends exchange money often, for
example, paying for dinner or drinks. It can be inconvenient to exchange
cash all the time.
One possible solution is to keep records of all the bills that you and
your friends have. This is called a ledger and is depicted in Figure 1-1.

1
We will use this definition throughout the book, but note that there are many
different definitions on the Internet. By the end of this book, you should be able to
distinguish the slight nuances and similarities in each definition.

2
 Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

Figure 1-1. A ledger and a set of connected friends (peers)

Definition 1-2 A ledger is a book that contains a record of

transactions.

Further, at the end of every day, you all sit together and refer to the
ledger to do the calculations to settle up. Let’s imagine that there is a pot
that is the place where all of the money is kept. If you spent more than
you received, you put that money in the pot; otherwise, you take that
money out.
We want to design the system such that it functions similarly to a
regular bank account. A holder of a wallet (bank account) should be
able to only send money from their wallet to other wallets. Thus, every
person in the system will have a wallet of a kind, which can also be used
to determine the balance for them. Note that with the current setup using
a ledger, we have to go through all the existing records to determine the
balance of a specific wallet.
If we want to avoid going through all the existing records, there is a way
we can optimize this with unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs), as we will
see later in Chapter 3.

3
Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

A problem that may arise is the double-spending problem, where Bob

can try to send all of his money to Alice and you at the same time, thus
effectively doubling the money he sends in relation to what he owned.
There are several ways this can be resolved, and the solution that we will
provide will be a simple check of the sum of the inputs and the sum of the
outputs.
A problem that might appear with this kind of system is that anyone
can add a transaction. For example, Bob can add a transaction where Alice
pays him a few dollars without Alice’s approval. We need to re-think our
system such that each transaction will have a way to be verified/signed.

Definition 1-3 A digital signature is a way to verify the

authenticity of digital messages or documents.

For signing and verifying transactions we will rely on digital signatures

(Figure 1-2). For now, let’s assume that anyone who adds information to
the ledger also adds a signature with each record, and others have no way
to modify the signature, but only to verify it. We will cover the technical
details in the “Encryption” section.

Figure 1-2. Our ledger now contains signatures

4
 Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

However, let’s assume that Bob is keeping the ledger to himself, and
everybody agrees to this. The ledger is now stored in what is a centralized
place. But in this case, if Bob is unavailable at the end of the day when
everybody gathers to settle up, nobody will be able to refer to the ledger.
We need a way to decentralize the ledger, such that at any given time
any of the people can do a transaction. For this, every person involved will
keep a copy of the ledger to themselves, and when they meet at the end of
the day, they will sync their ledgers.
You are connected to your friends, and so are they to you. Informally,
this makes a peer-to-peer network.

Definition 1-4 A peer-to-peer network is formed when two or

more computers are connected to each other.

For example, when you are accessing a web page on the Internet using
a browser, your browser is the client, and the web page you’re accessing is
hosted by a server. This represents a centralized system since every user is
getting the information from a single place—the server.
In contrast, in a peer-to-peer network, which represents a
decentralized system, the distinction between a client and a server is
blurred. Every peer is both a client and a server at the same time.
With the system (Figure 1-3), as the list of peers (people) grows, we
might run into a problem of trust. When everybody meets at the end of
the day to sync their ledgers, how can they believe the others that the
transactions listed in their ledgers are true? Even if everybody trusts
everybody else for their ledger, what if a new person wants to join this
network? It’s natural for existing users to ask this newcomer to prove that
they can be trusted. We need to modify our system to support this kind of
trust. One way to achieve that is through so-called proof of work, which we
introduce next.

5
Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

Figure 1-3. A decentralized ledger

Definition 1-5 A proof of work is data that is time-consuming to

calculate and easy for others to verify.

For each record we will also include a special number (or a hash)
that will represent proof of work, in that it will provide proof that the
transaction is valid. We will cover the technical details in the “Hashing”
section.
At the end of the day, we agree that we will trust the ledger of the
person who has put most of the work in it. If Bob has some errands to
run, he can catch up the next day by trusting the rest of the peers in the
network.
In addition to all this, we want the transactions to have an order, so
every record will also contain a link to the previous record. This represents
the actual blockchain, depicted in Figure 1-4.

6
 Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

Figure 1-4. A chain of blocks: blockchain

If everybody agreed to use this ledger as a source of truth, there would

be no need to exchange physical money at all. Everybody can just use the
ledger to put in or retrieve money from it.
To understand the technical bits of digital signatures and proof
of work, we will be looking at encryption and hashing, respectively.
Fortunately for us, the programming language that we will be using has
built-in functionalities for encryption and hashing. We don’t have to dig
too deep into how hashing and encryption and decryption work, but a
basic understanding of them will be sufficient.
Observe how we started with a simple definition of a ledger and
gradually built up to a complex system. We will use the same approach in
programming.

1.2 Encryption
We will start with the following definition.

Definition 1-6 Encryption is a method of encoding values such

that only authorized people can view the original content. Decryption
is a method of decoding encrypted values.

7
Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

Note that in this section we will mostly talk about numbers, but
characters and letters can also be encrypted/decrypted with the same
methods, by using the ASCII2 values for the characters.
Before we talk about encryption, we first have to recall what functions are,
since the encoding/decoding values are achieved with the usage of them.

1.2.1 Functions

Figure 1-5. A function

Definition 1-7 Functions are mathematical entities that assign

unique outputs to given inputs.

For example, you might have a function that accepts as input a person and
as output returns the person’s age or name. Another example is the function
f (x) = x + 1. There are many inputs this function can accept: 1, 2, 3.14. For
example, when we input 2, it gives us an output of 3, since f (2) = 2 + 1 = 3.

2
An ASCII table is a table that assigns a unique number to each character
(such as !, @, a, Z, etc.).

8
 Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

One simple way to think of functions is in the form of tables. For a

function f (x) accepting a single argument x, we have a two-column table
where the first column is the input, and the second column is the output.
For a function f (x, y) accepting two arguments x and y, we have a three-­
column table where the first and second columns represent the input, and
the third column is the output. Thus, to display the function discussed
earlier in the form of a table, it would look like this:
xf (x)
1 2
2 3
… …

1.2.2 Symmetric-Key Algorithm

We can assume that there exist functions E(x) and D(x) for encryption and
decryption, respectively. We want these functions to have the following
properties:

• E(x) ≠ x, meaning that the encrypted value should

not be the same as the original value

• E(x) ≠ D(x), meaning that the encryption and

decryption functions produce different values

• D(E(x)) = x, meaning that the decryption of an

encrypted value should return the original value

For example, let’s assume there’s some kind of an encryption scheme,

say E("Boro") = 426f726f. We can “safely” communicate the value 426f726f
without actually exposing our original value, and only those who know the
decryption scheme D(x) will be able to see that D(426f726f) = "Boro".

9
Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

Another example of encryption scheme is for E(x) to shift every

character in x forward, and for D(x) to shift every character in x backward.
This scheme is known as the Caesar cipher. To encrypt the text “abc” we
have E("abc") = "bcd", and to decrypt it we have D("bcd") = "abc".
However, the scheme described makes a symmetric algorithm
(Figure 1-6), meaning that we have to share the functions E and D with the
parties involved, and as such, they may be open to attacks.

Figure 1-6. Symmetric-key algorithm

1.2.3 Asymmetric-Key Algorithm

To solve the problems that arise with symmetric-key algorithms, we will
use what is called an asymmetric algorithm or public-key cryptography
(Figure 1-7). In this scheme, we have two kinds of keys: public and private.
We share the public key with the world and keep the private one to ourselves.

Figure 1-7. Asymmetric-key algorithm

This algorithm scheme has a neat property where only the private key
can decode a message, and the public key can encode a message.

10
 Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

We have two functions that should have the same properties as those
for the symmetric-key algorithm.

• E(x, p), which encrypts a message x given a

public key p

• D(x′ , s), which decrypts an encrypted message

x′ given a private (secret) key s

In our example, we will rely on the modulo operation. Recall that

a mod b represents the remainder when a is divided by b. For example,
4 mod 2 = 0 because there is no remainder when dividing 4 by 2; however,
5 mod 2 = 1.
Here’s one example of a basic encryption algorithm based on addition
and modulo operations:

1. Pick one random number, for example 100. This will

represent a common, publicly available key.

2. Pick another random number in the range (1, 100),

for example 97. This will represent the private key s.

3. The public key p is obtained by subtracting the

common key from the private: 100 − 97 = 3.

4. To encrypt data, add it to the public key and take

modulo 100: E(x, p) = (x + p) mod 100.

5. To decrypt data, we use the same logic but with our

private key, so D(x′ , s) = (x′ + s) mod 100.

For example, suppose we want to encrypt 5. Then E(5, 3) = (5 + 3)

mod 100 = 8. To decrypt 8, we have D(8, 97) = (8 + 97) mod 100 =
105 mod 100 = 5.
This example uses a very simple generation pair of (x + y) mod c.
But, in practice, the pair generation algorithm is much more complex and
harder to break by attackers. After all, the complexity of the algorithm’s
computation is what makes it hard to break it.

11
Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

We can use a similar algorithm for digital signatures:

• S(x, s), which signs a message x given a private key

s (encryption)

• V (x′ , sig, p), which verifies a signed message

x′ , given signature sig and public key p (decryption)

As we said earlier, each record will also include a special number (or a
hash). This hash will be what is produced by S(x, s) (encryption). A hash
can be verified by using the verify function to confirm a record’s ownership
(decryption).
The wallet will contain a pair of public and a private key. These keys
will be used to receive or send money. With the private key, it is possible
to write new blocks (or transactions) to the blockchain, effectively
spending money. With the public key, others can send currency and verify
signatures.

EXERCISE 1-1

Come up with a table of functions such that:

1. The input is a number, and the output is a number

2. The input is a number, and the output is the name of an

employee in a company given that number

EXERCISE 1-2

Check the three properties for a symmetric-key algorithm to ensure the Caesar
cipher is compatible with them.

12
 Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

EXERCISE 1-3

Come up with an encryption scheme, based on mathematical substitution.

EXERCISE 1-4

Use the asymmetric-key algorithm we defined to sign a message and verify it.

Hint This is similar to the encryption/decryption example shown

earlier.

1.3 Hashing
Definition 1-8 Hashing is a one-way function in that it encodes
text without a way to retrieve the original value.

Hashing is simpler than the previously described encryption schemes. One

example of a hashing function is to return the length of characters as in H
("abc") = 3, but also H ("bcd") = 3. This means we don’t have a way to
retrieve the original value just by using the return value 3.
As we mentioned earlier, the reason to use such a technique is that
it has some interesting properties, such as providing us with the proof
of work.

Definition 1-9 Mining is the process of validating transactions.

For this effort, successful miners obtain money as a reward.

13
Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

Hashcash is one kind of a proof-of-work system.3 We will use it to

implement mining. We will see how this algorithm works in detail in the
later chapters where we will implement it.
Hashing functions have another useful property that allows connecting
two or more distinct blocks by having the information about the current
block’s hash (current hash) and previous block’s hash (previous hash) in
each block. For example, block-1 may have a hash such as 123456, and
block-2 may have a hash such as 345678. Now, block-2’s previous-hash will
be block-1’s current hash, that is, 123456. Here, we linked these two blocks,
thus effectively creating a linked list of blocks containing ledgers with
transactions. Figure 1-4 depicts this linking.
The hash of the block is based on the block’s data itself, so to verify a
hash we can just hash the block’s data and compare it to current hash.
Two or more blocks (or transactions) that are connected form a
blockchain. The validity of the blockchain will depend on the validity of
each transaction.

EXERCISE 1-5

Come up with your own hashing function.

EXERCISE 1-6

In which way can the linked list depicted in Figure 1-4 be traversed? What are
the implications of this property?

3
Hashcash was initially targeted for limiting email spam and other attacks.
However, recently it’s also become known for its usage in blockchains as part of
the mining process. Hashcash was proposed in 1997 by Adam Backa.

14
 Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

1.4 Smart Contracts

Definition 1-10 A smart contract is a self-executing contract

with the conditions of an agreement between a buyer and a seller
being directly written into lines of code.

A blockchain is programmable if the transactions themselves can be

programmed by users. For example, users (not necessarily programmers)
can write a script to add additional requirements that must be satisfied
before sending money. It could look something like this:

1     if (user has   more  than 10  money)

2            then  approve transaction
3            else reject transaction

Smart contracts are implemented as a computation that takes place on

the blockchain.

1.5 Bitcoin
Bitcoin was the world’s first implementation of a blockchain. In November
2008, a link to a paper authored by Satoshi Nakamoto titled “Bitcoin:
A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” was published on a cryptography
mailing list. Bitcoin’s white paper consists of nine pages; however, it is
a mostly theoretical explanation of the design and as such may be a bit
overwhelming to newcomers.
The Bitcoin software is open source code and was released in January
2009 on SourceForge. The design of a Bitcoin includes a decentralized
network (peer-to-peer network), block (mining), blockchain, transactions,
and wallets, each of which we will look at in detail in this book.

15
Chapter 1 Introduction to Blockchain

Although there are many blockchain models and each one of them
differs in implementation details, the blockchain we will be building upon
in this book will look pretty similar to Bitcoin, with some parts simplified.

1.6 Example Workflows

We will list a few important workflows that our system will use,
among others.
Mining a block creates a new block, using Hashcash to calculate the
current hash of the block. It also contains the previous hash that is a link to
the previous block in the blockchain.
Checking a wallet balance for person A will first filter all blocks in the
blockchain (sender = A or receiver = A) and then sum them to calculate
the balance. The more our blockchain grows, the longer this operation
will take. For that purpose, we will use unspent transaction outputs or the
UTXO model. This model is a list of transactions containing information
about the owner and the amount of money. Thus, every transaction will
consume elements from this list.
Adding a block to a blockchain consists of sending money from A to
B. One prerequisite is that A has enough money; we check this using the
wallet balance workflow. We proceed by creating a transaction (sender =
A, receiver = B) and signing it. Then we mine a block using this transaction
and update the UTXO with the rewards.

1.7 Summary
The point of this chapter is to get a vague idea of how the system that we
will implement looks. Things will become much clearer in the next chapter
where we will be explicit about the definitions of every entity.

16
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
unobtrusively to arrange her poor attire, rolling down her sleeves
and smoothing her darned skirt, all the while with a furtive glance of
her eye toward the door.
"Oh! my dear, I wouldn't have had you turned away for anything in
the world. My sister would be désolée. We have a better room than
this, where we usually receive our visitors. You will see what a nice
room it is. We can't very well afford to have two rooms; but this is
too small for us to live in comfortably and we have to keep it
because it has a stationary wash-stand with hot water, which
enables us to do our laundering."
"Yes, I see," murmured Miss Leigh softly.
"You see, we earn our living by making underclothes for—for a firm
——"
"I see, and what nice work you do." She was handling a garment
softly.
"Yes, my sister does beautiful work; and I used to do pretty well,
too; but I am troubled a little with my eyes lately. The light isn't very
good at night—and the gas is so expensive. I don't see quite as well
as I used to do."
"How much can you do?" asked her visitor, who had been making a
mental calculation.
"Why, I—It is hard to tell. I do the coarser work and my sister does
the finishing; then she usually launders and I iron when I am able. I
suffer with rheumatism so that I can't help her very much."
"I hope you make them pay you well for it," blurted out the girl.
"Why, we used to get a very good price. We got till recently seven
cents apiece, but now it has been cut down—that was for
everything, laundering and ironing, too. We are glad to get that."
"How on earth do you manage to live on it?"
"Oh! we live very well—very well, indeed," said the little lady
cheerfully. "Mrs. Kale is very good to us. She lets us have the rooms
cheaper than she would any one else. You see she used to know us
when we lived back in the East. Her father was a clerk in our father's
office, and her mother went to school with us. Then when we lost
everything and were turned out, we found we had to make our own
living and we came here to see about our case, and she found we
were here—and that's the way we came to be here. But don't you let
my sister know I told you about the sewing," she said, dropping her
voice, as a brisk step was heard outside the door. "Ah! here she is
now!" as at the moment the door opened and a brisk little old lady,
almost the counterpart of her sister, except that she might have
been ten years her junior, that is, sixty instead of seventy years of
age, tripped into the room.
"Oh! my dear Miss Leigh, how good of you to come all the way out
here to call on us! Sister, what in the world are you doing? Why will
you do this? I can't keep her from amusing herself! (This with a
shake of the head and a comical appeal for sympathy from her
visitor.) Won't you walk into our sitting-room? Now, sister, do go and
make yourself presentable. You know she will slave over all sorts of
queer things. She really loves sewing and ironing. I'm quite ashamed
to have you come into this pig-sty. Walk in, won't you?" And she led
the way into a larger room adjoining the work-room, leaving Miss
Leigh in doubt which was the more pathetic, the little old lady still
delving over the ironing-board, making no pretence to conceal their
poverty, or the other in her poor "best," trying to conceal the straits
in which they were fallen.
Eleanor had observed that the older sister's gaze had constantly
rested on the rose she wore, and as they were going out, the latter
called her sister's attention to it. She said, she thought it possibly
the most beautiful rose she had ever seen.
"Won't you have it?" said Eleanor, and unpinned it.
"Oh! no, indeed, I wouldn't deprive you of it for anything. It is just
where it ought to be."
Eleanor persisted, and finally overcame both her reluctance and her
sister's objection.
She was struck with the caressing way in which she took and held it,
pressing it against her withered cheek.
"Sister, don't you remember the Giant-of-Battles we used to have in
our garden at Rosebank? This reminds me of it so—its fragrance is
just the same."
"Yes. We used to have a great many roses," explained the younger
sister, as she led the way into the next room as if she were asking
Eleanor into a palace, though this room was almost as bare of
furniture as the other, the chief difference being an upright case
which was manifestly a folding-bed, and a table on which were a
score of books, and a few old daguerreotypes.
"Your friend, Mr. Marvel, was here the other day. What a nice young
man he is."
"Yes," said Eleanor. "I am going out to see him. Where has he
moved to?" Miss Pansy said she did not know the street; but her
sister had the address. She would go and see. When she came back,
she went over and opened the old Bible lying on the table. "Here is
where we keep the addresses of those we especially value," she
said, smiling. "Oh! here it is. When he was here the other day, he
brought us a treat; a whole half-dozen oranges; won't you let me
prepare you one? They are so delicious."
Eleanor, who had been holding a bank-note clutched in her hand,
thanked her with a smile, but said she must go. She walked across
the room, and took up the Bible casually, and when she laid it down
it gaped a little in a new place.
"Oh, you know we have had quite an adventure," said Miss Pansy.
"An adventure? Tell me about it."
"Why, you must know there is a young man here I am sure must be
some one in disguise. He is so—well, not exactly handsome, but
really distinguished looking, and he knows all about railroads and
things like that."
"You'd better look out for him," said Miss Leigh.
"Oh, do you think so? My sister and I were thinking of consulting
him about our affairs—our railroad case, you know."
"Oh! Well, what do you know about him?"
"Nothing yet. You see, he has just come; but he joined us on the
street this morning when we were going out—just shopping—and
offered to take our bundles—just two little bundles we had in our
hands, and was so polite. My dear, he has quite the grand air!"
"Oh, I see. Well, that does not necessarily make him a safe adviser.
Why not let me ask my father about your matter? He is a railroad
man, and could tell you in a minute all about it."
"Oh, could you? That would be so kind in you."
"But you must tell me the name of the road in which you had the
stock."
"Oh, my dear. I don't know that I can do that. I only know that it
was the Transcontinental and something and something else. I know
that much, because it was only about sixty miles long, and we used
to say that the name was longer than the road. My father used to
say that it would some day be a link in a transcontinental chain—
that's where it got its name, you know."
"Well, look out for your prince in disguise," said the girl, smiling as
she rose to take her leave.
That evening at dinner, after Eleanor had given her father an
account of her day, with which she always beguiled him, including a
description of her visit to the two old ladies, she suddenly asked,
"Father, what railroad was it that used to be known as the
Transcontinental Something and Something?'"
"The what?"
"The 'Transcontinental Something and Something Else?' It was about
sixty miles long, and was bought up by some bigger road and
reorganized."
"I suppose you mean the 'Transcontinental, North-western and Great
Iron Range Road.' That about meets the condition you mention.
What do you know about it?"
"Was it reorganized?"
"Yes; about twenty years ago, and again about ten years ago. I
never quite understood the last reorganization. Mr. Argand had it
done—and bought up most of the stock."
"Was any one squeezed out?"
"Sure—always are in such cases. That is the object of a
reorganization—partly. Why are you so interested in it?" Mr. Leigh's
countenance wore an amused look.
"I have two friends—old ladies—who lost everything they had in it."
"I guess it wasn't much. What is their name?"
"It was all they had. They are named Tipps."
Mr. Leigh's expression changed from amusement to seriousness.
"Tipps—Tipps?" he repeated reminiscently. "Bassett Tipps? I wonder
if they were connected with Bassett Tipps?"
"They were his daughters—that was their father's name. I remember
now, Miss Pansy told me once."
"You don't say so! Why, I used to know Colonel Tipps when he was
the big man of this region. He commanded this department before I
came out here to live, and the old settlers thought he was as great a
man as General Washington. He gave old Argand his start. He built
that road,—was, in fact, a man of remarkable foresight, and if he
had not been killed—Argand was his agent and general factotum—
They didn't come into the reorganization, I guess?"
"That's it—they did not—and now they want to get their interest
back."
"Well, tell them to save their money," said Mr. Leigh. "It's gone—they
can't get it back."
"They want you to get it back for them."
"Me!" exclaimed Mr. Leigh. "They want me to get it back! Oh, ho-ho!
They'd better go after your Aunt Sophia and Canter."
"Yes; I told them you would."
"You did?" Mr. Leigh's eyes once more lit up with amusement.
"Yes: you see they were robbed of every cent they had in the world,
and they have not a cent left."
"Oh! no, they were not robbed. Everything was properly done and
absolutely regular, as I remember. It must have been. I think there
was some sort of claim presented afterward by the Tipps Estate
which was turned down. Let me see; McSheen had the claim, and he
gave it up—that was when? Let me see. He became counsel for your
Uncle Argand in—what year was it?—you were a baby—it must have
been eighteen years ago."
"That was nineteen years ago, sir. I am now twenty," said his
daughter, sitting up with a very grand air.
The father's eyes lit up with pride and affection as he gazed at the
trim, straight figure and the glowing face.
"You were just a little baby—so big." He measured a space of about
two span with his hands. "That was your size then, for I know I
thought your Uncle Argand might have made me counsel instead of
McSheen. But he didn't. And that was McSheen's start."
"He sold out," said the girl with decision.
"Oh, no—I don't think he would do that. He is a lawyer."
"Yes, he would. He's a horrid, old, disreputable rascal. I've always
thought it, and now I know it. And I want you to get my old ladies'
interest back for them."
"I can't do that. No one can. It's too long ago. If they ever had a
claim it's all barred, long ago."
"It oughtn't to be—if it was stolen," persisted his daughter, "and it
was."
 XV
THE LADY OF THE VIOLETS
Having decided that Mrs. Kale's did not present the best advantages,
I determined to move to more suitable quarters. I chose a boarding-
house, partly by accident and partly because it was in a semi-
fashionable quarter which I liked, and I paid Mrs. Starling, the
landlady, a decisive person, two weeks' board in advance, so as to
have that long a lease at any rate, and a point from which to take
my bearings. I had learned of the place through Kalender, who was
deeply enamored of Miss Starling, a Byzantine-hued young lady, and
who regarded the house somewhat as Adam is assumed to have
regarded Eden after his banishment. Mrs. Starling was, in this case,
the angel of the flaming sword. She had higher ambitions for Miss
Starling.
I had less than forty dollars left, and fifteen of that was borrowed
next day by a fellow-boarder named Pushkin, who occupied the big
front room adjoining my little back hall-room, and who had
"forgotten to draw any money out of bank," he said, but would
"return it the next day at dinner time," a matter he also forgot. I was
particularly struck with him not because he had a title and was much
kotowed to by our landlady and her boarders—especially the ladies,
as because I recalled his name in juxtaposition with Miss Leigh's in
the flamboyant account of the ball the night after I arrived.
I was now ensconced in a little pigeon-hole of an office in a big
building near the court-house, where, with a table, two chairs, and a
dozen books, I had opened what I called my "law office," without a
client or an acquaintance; but with abundant hopes.
I found the old principle on which I had been reared set at naught,
and that life in its entirety was a vast struggle based on selfishness.
I was happy enough at first, and it was well I was. It was a long
time before I was happy again. Having in mind Miss Leigh, I wrote
and secured a few letters of introduction; but they were from people
who did not care anything for me to people who did not care
anything about them—semi-fashionable folk, mainly known in social
circles, and I had no money to throw away on society. One, indeed,
a friend of mine had gotten for me from Mr. Poole to a man of high
standing both in business and social circles, the president of a
manufacturing company, with which, as I learned later, Mr. Poole had
formerly some connection. This gentleman's name was Leigh, and I
wondered if he were the same person who had been posted by
Kalender at the head of my story of the delayed train. I thought of
presenting the letter. It, however, was so guarded that I thought it
would not do me the least good, and, besides, I did not wish to owe
anything to Lilian Poole's father, for I felt sure his influence had
always been against me, and I was still too sore to be willing to
accept a favor at his hands.
It was well I did not present it, for Mr. Poole with well-considered
and characteristic prudence, had written a private letter restricting
the former letter to mere social purposes, and had intimated that I
had been a failure in my profession and was inclined to speculate.
This character he had obtained, as I subsequently learned, from
Peck.
The new conditions with which I was confronted had a singular
effect on me. I was accustomed to a life where every one knew me
and I knew, if not every one, at least something good or bad about
every one.
Here I might have committed anything short of murder or suicide
without comment, and might have committed both without any one
outside of the reporters and the police and Dix caring a straw about
it.
I felt peculiarly lonely because I was inclined to be social and
preferred to associate with the first man I met on the street to being
alone. In fact, I have always accounted it one of my chief blessings
that I could find pleasure and entertainment for a half-hour in the
company of any man in the world except a fool or a man of fashion,
as the old writers used to speak of them, or as we call them now,
members of the smart set.
The first things that struck me as I stepped out into the thronged
streets of the city were the throngs that hurried, hurried, hurried
along, like a torrent pouring through a defile, never stopping nor
pausing—only flowing on, intent on but one thing—getting along.
Their faces, undistinguished and indistinguishable in the crowd, were
not eager, but anxious. There was no rest, and no room for rest,
more than in the rapids of Niagara. It was the bourgeoisie at flood,
strong, turgid, and in mass, ponderant; but inextinguishably
common. As I stood among them, yet not of them, I could not but
remark how like they were in mass and how not merely all
distinction but all individuality perished in the mixing. I recalled a
speech that my father had once made. "I prefer countrymen," he
said, "to city men. The latter are as like as their coats. The ready-
made-clothing house is a great civilizer, but also a great leveler. Like
the common school of which you boast, it may uplift the mass, but it
levels—it destroys all distinction."
This came home to me now.
I had a proof of its truth, and, I may add, of the effect of urban
influences not long after I launched on the restless sea of city life. I
was passing one day along a street filled with houses, some much
finer than others, when my way was blocked by a child's funeral in
front of a small but neat house beside one much more pretentious.
The white hearse stood at the door and the little white coffin with a
few flowers on it was just about to be borne out as I came up. A
child's funeral has always appealed to me peculiarly. It seems so sad
to have died on the threshold before even opening the door. It
appeared to me suddenly to have brought me near to my kind. And I
stopped in front of the adjoining house to wait till the sorrowing little
cortege had entered the carriage which followed behind the hearse.
A number of other persons had done the same thing. At this
moment, the door of the larger house next door opened, and a
woman, youngish and well-dressed, appeared and stood on her
steps waiting for her carriage which stood at some little distance.
As I was standing near her, I turned and asked her in an undertone:
"Can you tell me whose funeral this is?"
"No, I cannot," she said, so sharply that I took a good look at her as
she stood trying to button a tight glove.
"Oh! I thought, perhaps, you knew as they are your next-door
neighbors."
"Well, I do not. It's no concern of mine," she said shortly. She
beckoned to her carriage across the way. The coachman who had
been looking at the funeral caught sight of her and with a start
wheeled his horses around to draw up. The number of persons,
however, who had stopped like myself prevented his coming up to
her door, which appeared to annoy the lady.
"Can't you move these people on?" she demanded angrily of a stout
officer who stood like the rest of us, looking on.
"It's a funeral," he said briefly.
"Well, I know it is. I don't expect you to interfere with that. It's these
idlers and curiosity mongers who block the way that I want moved
to clear a way for my carriage. And if you can't do it, I'll ask Mr.
McSheen to put a man on this beat who can. As it happens I am
going there now." Insolence could go no farther.
"Let that carriage come up here, will you?" said the officer without
changing his expression. "Drive up, lad," he beckoned to the
coachman who came as near as he could.
"To Mrs. McSheen's," said the lady in a voice evidently intended for
the officer to hear, "and next time, don't stand across the street
staring at what you have no business with, but keep your eyes open
so that you won't keep me waiting half an hour beckoning to you."
She entered the carriage and drove off, making a new attack on her
glove to close it over a pudgy wrist. I glanced at the coachman as
she closed the door and I saw an angry gleam flash in his eye. And
when I turned to the officer he was following the carriage with a
look of hate. I suddenly felt drawn to them both, and the old fight
between the People and the Bourgeoisie suddenly took shape before
me, and I found where my sympathies lay. At this moment the
officer turned and I caught his eye and held it. It was hard and
angry at first, but as he gave me a keen second glance, he saw
something in my face and his eye softened.
"Who is Mr. McSheen?" I asked.
"The next mayor," he said briefly.
"Oh!" I took out my card under an impulse and scribbled my office
address on it and handed it to him. "If you have any trouble about
this let me know."
He took it and turning it slowly gazed at it, at first with a puzzled
look. Then as he saw the address his expression changed.
He opened his coat and put it carefully in his pocket.
"Thank you, sir," he said finally.
I turned away with the consciousness that I had had a new light
thrown on life, and had found it more selfish than I had dreamed. I
had begun with high hopes. It was, indeed, ever my nature to be
hopeful, being healthy and strong and in the prime of vigorous
youth. I was always rich when at my poorest, only my heavy
freighted ship had not come in. I knew that though the larder was
lean and storms were beating furiously off the coast, somewhere,
beating her way against the contrary winds, the argosy was slowly
making headway, and some day I should find her moored beside my
pier and see her stores unladen at my feet. The stress and storm of
the struggle were not unwelcome to me. I was always a good fighter
when aroused; but I was lazy and too indolent to get aroused. Now,
however, I was wide awake. The greatness of the city stirred my
pulses. Its blackness and its force aroused my sleeping powers, and
as I stepped into the surf and felt the rush of the tides as they swept
about and by me, I felt as a fair swimmer might who steps for the
first time in a fierce current and feels it clutch his limbs and draw
him in. I was not afraid, only awakened and alive to the struggle
before me, and my senses thrilled as I plunged and rose to catch my
breath and face the vast unknown. Later on I found that the chief
danger I had not counted on: the benumbing of the senses, the slow
process under which spirit, energy, courage, and even hope finally
die.
One who has never had the experience of starting in a big city
alone, without a connection of any kind, cannot conceive what it
means: the loneliness—utter as in a desert—the waiting—the terrible
waiting—being obliged to sit day after day and just wait for business
to come, watching your small funds ooze out drop by drop, seeing
men pass your door and enter others' offices and never one turn in
at yours, till your spirit sinks lower and lower and your heart dies
within you. One who has not felt it does not know what it is to be
out of work and not able to get it. The rich and fat and sleek—the
safe and secure—what know they of want! Want, not of money, but
of work: the only capital of the honest and industrious poor! It is the
spectre that ever haunts the poor. It makes the world look as though
the whole system of society were out of joint—as if all men were in
conspiracy against you—as if God had forgotten you. I found men in
a harder case than mine—men in multitude, with wives and children,
the babe perishing at the mother's withered breast, the children
dying for food, staggering along the streets seeking work in vain,
while wealth in a glittering flood poured through the streets in which
they perished. This bitter knowledge I came to learn day after day
till I grew almost to hate mankind. The next step is war against
society. Not all who wage it hate the men they fight. It is the cause
they hate. There I sat day after day, full of hope and eagerness and
—now that my conceit was somewhat knocked out of me—with not
only abundant ability, but the stern resolve to transact any business
which might be entrusted to me, and just rotted to despair. No
wonder men go to the devil, and enlist to fight the whole
establishment of organized society. I almost went. When I look back
at it now it seems like a miracle that I did not go wholly. Pride saved
me. It survived long after hope died. Sometimes, I even thought of
the pistol I had in my trunk. But I had made up my mind to live and
win. There, too, came in Pride. I could not bear to think of Lilian
Poole and Peck. How she would congratulate herself and how Peck
would gloat! No, I could not give him that satisfaction. Peck did me a
good turn there. A strong enmity, well based, is not always without
good results; but Peck should not smear my memory with pretended
pity. So I starved, but held on. When I got so that I could endure it
no longer, I used to go out and walk up and down the streets—
sometimes the fashionable streets—and look at the handsome
residences and the fine carriages and automobiles flashing by and
the handsomely dressed people passing, and recall that I was as
good as they—in my heart, I thought, better. Some of them with
kind faces I used to fancy my friends; but that they did not know I
was in town. This conceit helped me. And at times I used to fancy
that I lived in a particular house, and owned a particular team: thus
living for a brief moment like a child in "making pictures." A house is
sometimes personal and well-nigh human to me. It appears to have
qualities almost human and to express them on its face: kindness,
hostility, arrogance, breadth or narrowness, and brutal selfishness
are often graven on its front. I have often felt that I could tell from
the outside of a house the characteristics of the people within.
Arrogance, ignorance, want of tact, pretentiousness and display,
spoke from every massy doorway and gaudy decoration with a
loudness which would have shocked a savage. This being so, what
characters some of the wealthy people of our cities must have! It
must be one of the compensations of the poor that the houses of
the rich are often so hideous and unhome-like.
The mansion I selected finally as mine was a light stone mansion,
simple in its style, but charming in its proportions; not one of the
largest, but certainly one of the prettiest in the whole city. Amid a
waste of splendid vulgarity it was almost perfect in its harmonious
architectural design and lines, and had a sunny, homelike look. It
stood in an ample lot with sun and air all around it, and grass and
flowers about it. Our fathers used to say, "seated," which has a more
established and restful sound. It looked a home of refinement and
ease. Its stable was set back some distance behind and a little to
one side, so that I could see that it was of the same stone with the
mansion and just enough of the same general style to indicate that it
belonged to the mansion, and the teams that came out of it were
the nattiest and daintiest in the city.
One day as I was walking, trying to divert myself from my loneliness,
a brougham rolled out of this stable with a pair of airy, prancing
bays, shining like satin, and drew up to the carriage-block a little
before me, and a young lady came out of the house as I passed by.
My heart gave a leap, for it was the girl I had seen on the train. I
took her in, rather than scanned her as she tripped down the stone
steps, and she glanced at me for a second as if she thought I might
be an acquaintance. She made as she stood there one of the
loveliest pictures I had ever laid eyes on: her trim, slim figure,
exquisitely dressed, in the quietest way; soft, living brown hair,
brushed back from a white, broad forehead; beautiful, speaking eyes
under nearly straight brows; and a mouth neither too big for beauty
nor too small for character; all set off by a big black hat with rich
plumes that made a background for what I thought the loveliest face
I had ever seen.
Something pleasant had evidently just happened within; for she
came out of the door smiling, and I observed at the same moment
her eyes and her dimples. I wondered that people did not always
smile: that smile suddenly lit up everything for me. I forgot my
loneliness, my want of success, myself. Her hands were full of
parcels as she came down the steps, and just as I passed the wind
lifted the paper from one—a bunch of flowers, and in trying to
recover it she dropped another and it rolled down to my feet. I
picked it up and handed it to her. It was a ball, one of those big,
squashy, rubber balls with painted rings around it, that are given to
small children because they cannot do anything with them. She
thanked me sweetly and was turning to her carriage, when under a
sudden impulse, I stepped to the door, just as I should have done at
home, and, lifting my hat, said, "I beg your pardon, but mayn't I
open your door for you?"
She bowed, looking, perhaps, just the least shade surprised. But,
having handed her in, I was afraid of embarrassing her, and was
backing away and passing on when she thanked me again very
graciously. Again I lifted my hat and again got a look into her deep
eyes. As the carriage rolled off, she was leaning back in it, and I felt
her eyes upon me from under the shade of that big hat with a
pleasant look, but I had assumed an unconscious air, and even
stopped and picked up, as though carelessly, a couple of violets she
had dropped as she crossed the sidewalk; and after a sniff of their
fragrance, dropped them into my pocket-book, because they
reminded me of the past and because I hated to see them lie on the
hard pavement to be crushed by passing feet. The book was empty
enough otherwise, but somehow I did not mind it so much after the
violets were there.
"Who lives in that house?" I asked of an officer.
"Mr. Leigh, the banker and big west-side street-car man—runs all the
lines out that way—all the Argand estate don't run," he added. He
waved his arm to include a circle that might take in half the town or
half the world. "The big house in the middle of the block is Mrs.
Argand's—the great Philanthropist, you know? Everybody knows
her." I did not, but I did not care; I knew all I wanted to know—I
knew who Miss Leigh was. I reflected with some concern that this
was the name of the vice-president of the Railway whom I had
attacked through Kalender and of the man to whom Mr. Poole's
perfunctory letter was addressed. I went back to my office in better
spirits, and, having no brief to work on, even wrote a poem about
the violets—about her leaving a track of violets behind her.
I was drawn to that street a number of times afterward, but I saw
her no more.
I don't believe that love often comes at first sight; but that it may
come thus, or at least, at second sight, I have my own case to
prove. It may be that my empty heart, bruised and lonely in that
great city, was waiting with open door for any guest bold enough to
walk in and claim possession. It may be that that young lady with
her pleasant smile, her high-bred face and kindly air, crossing my
path in that stranger-thronged wilderness, was led by Providence; it
may be that her grace and charm were those I had pictured long in
the Heavenward dreams of youth and but now found. However it
was, I went home in love with an ideal whose outward semblance
was the girl with the children's toys—truly in love with her. And the
vision of Lilian Poole never came to me again in any guise that could
discomfort me. From this time the vision that haunted me and led
me on was of a sweet-eyed girl who dimpled as she smiled and
dropped her violets. The picture of Lilian Poole, standing by the
marble mantel in her plush-upholstered parlor, adjusting her bracelet
so as to set off her not too small wrist, while I faced my fate, flitted
before my mind, but she was a ghost to me, and my heart warmed
as I thought of the lady of the violets and the children's toys.
 XVI
THE SHADOW OF SHAM
I soon changed back to my first boarding-house. After my two
weeks were out for which I had prepaid, I went to my landlady, Mrs.
Starling, a tall, thin woman with high cheek bones, a cold eye and a
close mouth, and told her frankly I could not pay any more in
advance, and that, though I would certainly pay her within a short
time, it might not be convenient for me to pay her by the week, and
I left it with her whether she would keep me on these terms. She did
not hesitate a second. Her first duty was to herself and family, she
said, by which she meant her daughter, "Miss Starling," as she
always spoke of her, but whom the irreverent portion of the boarders
whom I associated with always spoke of as "Birdy," a young woman
who dressed much in yellow, perhaps because it matched her
blondined hair, played vehemently on the piano, and entertained the
young men who boarded there. "Besides, she wanted the room for a
dressing-room for a gentleman who wished a whole suite," she
added, with what I thought a little undue stress on the word
"gentleman," as the "gentleman" in question was the person who
had borrowed my money from me and never returned it: Count
Pushkin, who occupied the big room next my little one. He had, as I
learned, cut quite a dash in town for a while, living at one of the
most fashionable hotels, and driving a cart and tandem, and paying
assiduous attention to a young heiress in the city, daughter of a
manufacturer and street-car magnate; but latterly he had taken a
room at Mrs. Starling's, "in order," he gave out, "that he might be
quiet for a time," as a duke or duchess or something—I am not sure
he did not say a king—who was his relative, had died in Europe. He
had taken the greater part of the boarding-house by storm, for he
was a tall, showy-looking fellow, and would have been handsome
but for a hard and shifty eye. And I found myself in a pitiful minority
in my aversion to him, which, however, after a while, gained some
recruits among the young men, one of them, my young reporter,
Kalender, who had moved there from Mrs. Kale's.
The boarding-house keeper's daughter was desperately in love with
Pushkin, and, with her mother's able assistance, was making a dead
set for him, which partiality the count was using for what it was
worth, hardly attempting meantime to disguise his amusement at
them. He sang enough to be passable, though his voice was, like his
eye, hard and cold; and he used to sing duets with Miss Starling: the
method by which, according to a vivacious young Jew, named
Isadore Ringarten, who lived in the house, he paid his board. I never
knew how he acquired his information, but he was positive.
"I vish," said Isadore, "I could pay my board in vind—vith a little
song. Now, I can sing so the Count he would give me all he is vorth
to sing so like I sing; but I am not a count—efen on this side."
However this was, Pushkin paid the girl enough attention to turn the
poor thing's head, and made her treat harshly my reporter, Kalender,
who was deeply in love with her, and spent all his salary on her for
flowers, and lavished theatre tickets on her.
The evening before I left I had to call Pushkin down, who had been
drinking a little, and I must say, when I called, he came promptly. It
was after dinner in "the smoking room," as the apartment was
called, and he began to ridicule poor Victoria cruelly, saying she had
told him her hair was yellow like that of the girls of his own country,
and he had told her, no, that hers was natural, while theirs was
always dyed, and she swallowed it.
"She is in loaf mit me. She swallow whatefer I gif her—" he laughed.
The others laughed, too. But I did not. I thought of Lilian Poole and
Peck. Perhaps, I was thinking of my money, and I know I thought of
the account of the ball which took place the day I arrived. I told him
what I thought of his ridiculing a girl he flattered so to her face. He
turned on me, his eyes snapping, his face flushed, but his manner
cool and his voice level.
"Ha-ah! Are you in loaf mit her, too, like poor Kalender, who spent all
hees moneys on her, and what she laugh at to make me amused? I
gif her to you, den. I too not want her—I haf had her, you can take
her."
He made a gesture as if tossing something contemptuously into my
arms, and put his cigarette back in his teeth and drew a long breath.
There were none but men present, and some of them had stopped
laughing and were looking grave.
"No, I am not in love with her," I said quietly, standing up. "I only
will not allow you to speak so of any lady in my presence—that is
all." I was thinking of a girl who lived in a sunny house, and had
once taken a lot of little dirty-faced children to feed them, and once
had smiled into my eyes. I only knew her name, but her violets were
in my pocket near my heart. I was perfectly calm in my manner and
my face had whitened, and he mistook it, for he blurted out:
"Oh! I vill nod? I vill nod speaks in your presence. You vill gif me one
little lesson? You who know te vorl so vell. I tank you, Millot!"
He bowed low before me, spreading out his arms, and some of the
others tittered. It encouraged him and he straightened up and
stepped in front of me.
"I vill tell you vat I vill does," he proceeded. "I vill say vat I tam
please before you about anybodies." He paused and cast about for
something which would prove his boast. "Tere is nod a woman in tis
town or in America, py tam! that vill nod gif herself to fon title—to
me if I hax her, and say, 'tank you, Count.' Ha, ah?" He bent his
body forward and stuck his face almost into mine with a gesture as
insulting as he could make it, and as I stepped back a pace to get a
firm stand, he stuck out his tongue and wagged his head in derision.
The next second he had turned almost a somersault. I had taken
boxing lessons since Wolffert thrashed me. I saw the bottom of his
boots. He was at precisely the right distance for me and I caught
him fairly in the mouth. His head struck the floor and he lay so still
that for a few moments I thought I had killed him. But after a little
he came to and began to rise.
"Get up," I said, "and apologize to these gentlemen and to me." I
caught him and dragged him to his feet and faced him around.
"You haf insulted me. I vill see about tis," he spluttered, turning
away. But I caught him with a grip on his shoulder and steadied him.
The others were all on my side now; but I did not see them, I saw
only him.
"Apologize, or I will fling you out of the window." He apologized.
The affair passed. The Count explained his bruises by some story
that he had been run down by a bicycle, to which I learned he
afterward added a little fiction about having stopped a runaway and
having saved some one. But I had left before this little touch
occurred to him. Mrs. Starling must have had some idea of the
collision, though not of the original cause; for she was very decided
in the expression of her wishes to have possession of "the dressing
room" that night for the "gentleman," and I yielded possession.
The curious thing about it was that one reason I could not pay Mrs.
Starling again in advance was that he still had my money which he
had borrowed the day after I had arrived.
From Mrs. Starling's I went back to my old boarding-house, kept by
Mrs. Kale, as a much cheaper one, in a much poorer neighborhood,
where I was not asked to pay in advance, but paid at the end of the
month by pawning my scarf-pins and shirt studs, and gradually
everything else I had.
I was brought up to go to church, my people having all been earnest
Christians and devoted church people; but in my college years I had
gone through the usual conceited phase of callow agnosticism; and
partly from this intellectual juvenile disease and partly from self-
indulgence, I had allowed the habit to drop into desuetude, and
later, during my first years at the bar, I had been gradually dropping
it altogether. My conscience, however, was never quite easy about it.
My mother used to say that the promise as to training up a child in
the way he should go was not to be fulfilled in youth, but in age,
and as my years advanced, I began to find that the training of
childhood counted for more and more. Lilian Poole, however, had no
more religion than a cat. She wished to be comfortable and to follow
the general habit of the feline class to which she belonged. She went
to the Episcopal Church because it was fashionable, and whenever
she had half an excuse she stayed away from church unless it were
on a new-bonnet Sunday, like Easter or some such an occasion,
when she made up by the lowness of her genuflexions and the
apparent devoutness of her demeanor for all omissions. I must
confess that I was very easily influenced by her at that time, and
was quite as ready to absent myself from church as she was, though
I should have had a much deeper feeling for her if she had not
violated what I esteemed a canon of life, that women, at least,
should profess religion, and if she had not pretended to have
questionings herself as to matters as far beyond her intellect as the
Copernican system or Kepler's laws. I remember quoting to her once
Dr. Johnson's reply to Boswell, when the latter asked if Poole, the
actor, were not an atheist: "Yes, sir, as a dog is an atheist; he has
not thought on the matter at all."
"Dr. Samuel Johnson?" she asked. "You mean the one who wrote the
Dictionary?" and I saw that she was so pleased with her literary
knowledge in knowing his name that she never gave a thought to
the matter that we were discussing, so let it drop.
As David said, that in his trouble he called upon the Lord, so now, in
my solitude and poverty, I began once more to think on serious
things, and when Sunday came I would dress up and go to church,
partly in obedience to the feeling I speak of, and partly to be
associated with people well dressed and good mannered, or
passably so. The church I selected was a large stone edifice, St.
——'s, with a gilded cross on its somewhat stumpy spire, toward
which I saw a richly clad congregation wending their way Sunday
morning.
The rector, as was stated in gilded letters on a large sign, was the
Rev. Dr. Bartholomew Capon. I cannot say that the congregation
were especially refined looking or particularly cordial; in fact, they
were very far from cordial, and the solemn verger to whom I spoke,
after turning a deaf ear to my request for a seat, took occasion, as
soon as he had bowed and scraped a richly dressed, stout lady up
the aisle, to look me over on the sly, not omitting my shoes, before
he allowed me to take a seat in one of the rear pews.
The preacher—"The Rector," as he spoke of himself in the notices,
when he occasionally waived the rather frequent first personal
pronoun—was a middle-aged gentleman with a florid complexion, a
sonorous voice, a comfortable round person, and fair hands of which
he was far from ashamed; for he had what, but for my reverence for
the cloth, I should call a trick of using his hand with a voluminous,
fine cambric handkerchief held loosely in it. His face was self-
contained rather than strong, and handsome rather than pleasing.
He was so good-looking that it set me on reflecting what relation
looks bear to the rectorship of large and fashionable churches; for,
as I recalled it, nearly all the rectors of such churches were men of
looks, and it came to me that when Sir Roger de Coverley requested
his old college friend to send him down a chaplain, he desired him to
find out a man rather of plain sense than much learning, of a good
aspect, a clear voice, a sociable temper, and, if possible, a man who
knew something of backgammon. His sermon was altogether a
secondary consideration, for he could always read one of the Bishop
of St. Asaph's or Dr. South's or Dr. Tillotson's. Possibly, it is
something of the same feeling that subordinates the sermons to the
looks of rectors of fashionable churches. However, I did not have
long to reflect on that idea, for my thoughts were given a new and
permanently different, not to say pleasanter, direction, by the
sudden appearance of a trim figure, clad in a gray suit and large
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