The Rise Of Silas Lapham By William Dean Howells Part 1 by William Dean Howells (read dune txt) 📕

Of It.

 

They Were Not Girls Who Embroidered or Abandoned

Themselves To Needle-Work. Irene Spent Her Abundant

Leisure In shopping for Herself And Her Mother,  Of Whom

Both Daughters Made A Kind Of Idol,  Buying her Caps

And Laces Out Of Their Pin-Money,  And Getting her Dresses

Far Beyond Her Capacity To Wear.  Irene Dressed herself

Very Stylishly,  And Spent Hours On Her Toilet Every Day.

Her Sister Had A Simpler Taste,  And,  If She Had Done

Altogether As She Liked,  Might Even Have Slighted dress.

They All Three Took Long Naps Every Day,  And Sat Hours

Together Minutely Discussing what They Saw Out Of The Window.

In Her Self-Guided search For Self-Improvement,  The Elder

Sister Went To Many Church Lectures On A Vast Variety

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Of Secular Subjects,  And Usually Came Home With A Comic

Account Of Them,  And That Made More Matter Of Talk For The

Whole Family.  She Could Make Fun Of Nearly Everything;

Irene Complained that She Scared away The Young Men Whom

They Got Acquainted with At The Dancing-School Sociables.

They Were,  Perhaps,  Not The Wisest Young Men.

 

The Girls Had Learned to Dance At Papanti'S; But They Had

Not Belonged to The Private Classes.  They Did Not Even Know

Of Them,  And A Great Gulf Divided them From Those Who Did.

Their Father Did Not Like Company,  Except Such As Came

Informally In their Way; And Their Mother Had Remained

Too Rustic To Know How To Attract It In the Sophisticated

City Fashion.  None Of Them Had Grasped the Idea Of

European Travel; But They Had Gone About To Mountain

And Sea-Side Resorts,  The Mother And The Two Girls,

Where They Witnessed the Spectacle Which Such Resorts

Present Throughout New England,  Of Multitudes Of Girls,

Lovely,  Accomplished,  Exquisitely Dressed,  Humbly Glad

Of The Presence Of Any Sort Of Young Man; But The Laphams

Had No Skill Or Courage To Make Themselves Noticed,  Far Less

Courted by The Solitary Invalid,  Or Clergyman,  Or Artist.

They Lurked helplessly About In the Hotel Parlours,

Looking on And Not Knowing how To Put Themselves Forward.

Perhaps They Did Not Care A Great Deal To Do So.

They Had Not A Conceit Of Themselves,  But A Sort Of Content

In Their Own Ways That One May Notice In certain Families.

The Very Strength Of Their Mutual Affection Was A Barrier

To Worldly Knowledge; They Dressed for One Another;

They Equipped their House For Their Own Satisfaction;

They Lived richly To Themselves,  Not Because They Were Selfish,

But Because They Did Not Know How To Do Otherwise.

The Elder Daughter Did Not Care For Society,  Apparently.

The Younger,  Who Was But Three Years Younger,  Was Not Yet

Quite Old Enough To Be Ambitious Of It.  With All Her

Wonderful Beauty,  She Had An Innocence Almost Vegetable.

When Her Beauty,  Which In its Immaturity Was Crude And Harsh,

Suddenly Ripened,  She Bloomed and Glowed with The Unconsciousness

Of A Flower; She Not Merely Did Not Feel Herself Admired,

But Hardly Knew Herself Discovered.  If She Dressed well,

Perhaps Too Well,  It Was Because She Had The Instinct

Of Dress; But Till She Met This Young Man Who Was So Nice

To Her At Baie St. Paul,  She Had Scarcely Lived a Detached,

Individual Life,  So Wholly Had She Depended on Her Mother

And Her Sister For Her Opinions,  Almost Her Sensations.

She Took Account Of Everything he Did And Said,

Pondering it,  And Trying to Make Out Exactly What He Meant,

To The Inflection Of A Syllable,  The Slightest Movement

Or Gesture.  In this Way She Began For The First Time

To Form Ideas Which She Had Not Derived from Her Family,

And They Were None The Less Her Own Because They Were

Often Mistaken.

 

Some Of The Things That He Partly Said,  Partly Looked,

She Reported to Her Mother,  And They Talked them Over,

As They Did Everything relating to These New Acquaintances,

And Wrought Them Into The Novel Point Of View Which

They Were Acquiring.  When Mrs. Lapham Returned home,

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She Submitted all The Accumulated facts Of The Case,

And All Her Own Conjectures,  To Her Husband,  And Canvassed

Them Anew.

 

At First He Was Disposed to Regard The Whole Affair As Of

Small Importance,  And She Had To Insist A Little Beyond

Her Own Convictions In order To Counteract His Indifference.

 

"Well,  I Can Tell You," She Said,  "That If You

Think They Were Not The Nicest People You Ever Saw,

You'Re Mightily Mistaken.  They Had About The Best Manners;

And They Had Been Everywhere,  And Knew Everything.  I Declare

It Made Me Feel As If We Had Always Lived in the Backwoods.

I Don'T Know But The Mother And The Daughters Would Have Let

You Feel So A Little,  If They'D Showed out All They Thought;

But They Never Did; And The Son--Well,  I Can'T Express It,

Silas! But That Young Man Had About Perfect Ways."

 

"Seem Struck Up On Irene?" Asked the Colonel.

 

"How Can I Tell? He Seemed just About As Much Struck Up

On Me.  Anyway,  He Paid Me As Much Attention As He Did Her.

Perhaps It'S More The Way,  Now,  To Notice The Mother Than

It Used to Be."

 

Lapham Ventured no Conjecture,  But Asked,  As He Had

Asked already,  Who The People Were.

 

Mrs. Lapham Repeated their Name.  Lapham Nodded his Head.

"Do You Know Them? What Business Is He In?"

 

"I Guess He Ain'T In anything," Said Lapham.

 

"They Were Very Nice," Said Mrs. Lapham Impartially.

 

"Well,  They'D Ought To Be," Returned the Colonel.

"Never Done Anything else."

 

"They Didn'T Seem Stuck Up," Urged his Wife.

 

"They'D No Need to--With You.  I Could Buy Him And Sell Him,

Twice Over."

 

This Answer Satisfied mrs. Lapham Rather With The Fact Than

With Her Husband.  "Well,  I Guess I Wouldn'T Brag,  Silas," She Said.

 

In The Winter The Ladies Of This Family,  Who Returned

To Town Very Late,  Came To Call On Mrs. Lapham.

They Were Again Very Polite.  But The Mother Let Drop,

In Apology For Their Calling almost At Nightfall,

That The Coachman Had Not Known The Way Exactly.

 

"Nearly All Our Friends Are On The New Land Or On The Hill."

 

There Was A Barb In this That Rankled after The Ladies

Had Gone; And On Comparing notes With Her Daughter,

Mrs. Lapham Found That A Barb Had Been Left To Rankle

In Her Mind Also.

 

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"They Said They Had Never Been In this Part Of The Town Before."

 

Upon A Strict Search Of Her Memory,  Irene Could Not Report

That The Fact Had Been Stated with Anything like Insinuation,

But It Was That Which Gave It A More Penetrating effect.

 

"Oh,  Well,  Of Course," Said Lapham,  To Whom These Facts

Were Referred.  "Those Sort Of People Haven'T Got Much

Business Up Our Way,  And They Don'T Come.  It'S A Fair

Thing all Round.  We Don'T Trouble The Hill Or The New

Land Much."

 

"We Know Where They Are," Suggested his Wife Thoughtfully.

 

"Yes," Assented the Colonel.  "I Know Where They Are.

I'Ve Got A Lot Of Land Over On The Back Bay."

 

"You Have?" Eagerly Demanded his Wife.

 

"Want Me To Build On It?" He Asked in reply,  With A

Quizzical Smile.

 

"I Guess We Can Get Along Here For A While."

 

This Was At Night.  In the Morning mrs. Lapham Said--

 

"I Suppose We Ought To Do The Best We Can For The Children,

In Every Way."

 

"I Supposed we Always Had," Replied her Husband.

 

"Yes,  We Have,  According to Our Light."

 

"Have You Got Some New Light?"

 

"I Don'T Know As It'S Light.  But If The Girls Are Going

To Keep On Living in boston And Marry Here,  I Presume

We Ought To Try To Get Them Into Society,  Some Way;

Or Ought To Do Something."

 

"Well,  Who'S Ever Done More For Their Children Than We Have?"

Demanded lapham,  With A Pang At The Thought That He Could

Possibly Have Been Out-Done. "Don'T They Have Everything

They Want? Don'T They Dress Just As You Say? Don'T You

Go Everywhere With 'Em? Is There Ever Anything going

On That'S Worth While That They Don'T See It Or Hear

It? I Don'T Know What You Mean.  Why Don'T You Get Them

Into Society? There'S Money Enough!"

 

"There'S Got To Be Something besides Money,  I Guess,"

Said Mrs. Lapham,  With A Hopeless Sigh.  "I Presume We

Didn'T Go To Work Just The Right Way About Their Schooling.

We Ought To Have Got Them Into Some School Where They'D

Have Got Acquainted with City Girls--Girls Who Could Help

Them Along.

 

Nearly Everybody At Miss Smillie'S Was From Some Where Else."

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That She Had Never Seen Nor Heard Of Those People,

Whether To Ignore Her Husband In the Transaction Altogether,

Or To Write His Name On Her Own Card.  She Decided

Finally Upon This Measure,  And She Had The Relief Of Not

Finding the Family At Home.  As Far As She Could Judge,

Irene Seemed to Suffer A Little Disappointment From The Fact.

 

For Several Months There Was No Communication Between

The Families.  Then There Came To Nankeen Square

A Lithographed circular From The People On The Hill,

Signed in ink By The Mother,  And Affording mrs. Lapham

An Opportunity To Subscribe For A Charity Of Undeniable

Merit And Acceptability.  She Submitted it To Her Husband,

Who Promptly Drew A Cheque For Five Hundred dollars.

 

She Tore It In two.  "I Will Take A Cheque

For A Hundred,  Silas," She Said.

 

"Why?" He Asked,  Looking up Guiltily At Her.

 

"Because A Hundred is Enough; And I Don'T Want To Show

Off Before Them."

 

"Oh,  I Thought May Be You Did.  Well,  Pert," He Added,

Having satisfied human Nature By The Preliminary Thrust,

"I Guess You'Re About Right.  When Do You Want I Should Begin

To Build On Beacon Street?" He Handed her The New Cheque,

Where She Stood Over Him,  And Then Leaned back In his Chair

And Looked