The Bay State Monthly. Volume 2, No. 6, March, 1885

They spent a day or two more in looking around the different public institutions, the Clarke Institute for the Deaf, on Round Hill, giving them the most interest. But in spite of these attractions, Mrs. Tracy's keen mother-eye noticed that Reuben was getting a little impatient to climb a mountain, that mountain "with the tunnel" as he expressed it. So she decided to go there the first pleasant day; and as it was now the time of full moon she proposed to remain upon the mountain all night, much to Reuben's delight.

The next day proved to be pleasant, so they in company with Uncle Edward and his wife started for Mount Holyoke, a distance of three miles. A short drive brought them to the Hokanum ferry where they were to cross the Connecticut. As they drove upon what seemed to Reuben a wharf, he, accustomed only to the Boston ferry-boats, remarked that the boat was not in yet. And it was not until a moment later when he found himself moving away from the land that he discovered that he was on the boat itself! The way in which they were being borne across the river by man's use of the pulley and wire was a great novelty to the boy and could only suggest to his mother the most primitive days.

It took them five minutes to cross—about eighty-five rods—after which a short drive through a pretty country took them to the foot of the mountain. Then following a good carriage-road they were soon at the half-way house where Reuben at last found the "tunnel" which had given him so much wonder.

After examining the stationary engine at the foot of the inclined plane, in this wooden enclosure which Reuben had called the tunnel, they seated themselves in the car and in two and a quarter minutes were landed at the top, 600 feet higher.

Mrs. Tracy on going up felt a little fear which was overcome when her brother informed her that Mr. French was always at the top with his watchful eye.

"Yes, that is so," said a voice as they stepped out of the car, and Mrs. Tracy was introduced to the same Mr. French who was so much in earnest years ago when she visited the place to make it a success.

They talked over the intervening years, Mr. French telling her of his improvements, how the first railroad was built in 1854, and the present track was laid in 1867, and how more than half a million people had been up over it.

He showed her a picture of the first house built there in 1821, then of the one rebuilt in 1851, which was gradually enlarged, until it became the present size in 1861, ten years later.

She was particularly interested to hear him tell of the famous people who had visited the place, so much so, that he brought out for inspection some of the autograph books which filled a long shelf. He said that there were names recorded as far back as 1824. As they looked them over they saw at the date of August 12, 1847, in bold handwriting, "Charles Summer," with the testimony that the view from Mount Holyoke was "surpassingly lovely."

At the sight of the clearly written name "Jenny Lind, Sweden," at the date of July 7, 1851, Reuben exclaimed—"Oh, she was that big singer; mamma showed me the house on Round Hill where she lived and was married."

That he should remember this fact pleased Mrs. Tracy while his boyish enthusiasm led Mr. French to tell a pleasant little reminiscence of her visit there which was heartily enjoyed by them all. And that others may have the pleasure of hearing it from him on his own premises I will not repeat it here.

After a little further talk on the history of the place, in which Reuben learned that it was named Holyoke in 1654 in honor of Captain Elizur Holyoke, they began to enjoy the lovely pictures all around them.

It was fortunate for them that a heavy wind of the night before had taken away the clouds which had for a time hidden the mountains farthest off. Hence they were now able to see distinctly the Green Mountains in Vermont, Wachusett and Greylock in Massachusetts, and Monadnock in New Hampshire.

As they spoke of the many little villages which gave the human interest to the scene, Mr. French said that they could see from there thirty-two towns in Massachusetts and eight in Connecticut.

He adjusted the telescope so that they could easily tell the time on the clock at Smith College. He adjusted it again and they saw the Amherst College buildings. Another adjustment revealed Mount Holyoke Seminary at South Hadley; and in this way they saw the Armory at Springfield, the Insane asylum at Northampton, and other well-known buildings.

A sight of the unique Front street in Old Hadley with its four rows of fine old shade trees led Uncle Edward to promise his guests a drive through it before they should return to Salem.

The fine combination of meadow, river, hills and towns, as pictured through a colored reflecting glass, was a delight indeed.

In one of the views, Reuben spied an island striped with cultivated fields which Mr. French said was called Ox Bow; he pointed out another called Shepard's island, which, with Ox Bow, added much to the scenery.

The winding river suggested to Mrs. Tracy how much nature loved a curve. While Uncle Edward, who had visited the chief mountains in this land and in Europe, said that he always came back to this mountain view as the loveliest and the most restful of them all, although it was not the grandest or the most awe inspiring.

So the day passed on Mount Holyoke, giving them at every moment living pictures which no painter could equal. When the sun went down the moon came up to give her light, and nature reveled in her beauty.

The only painful shadow for Mrs. Tracy was when she felt sad that more of earth's troubled ones did not or could not come to drink in such peace and rest.

But such days must come to an end. And what can follow more delightful than a refreshing sleep on such a height. This they all had and were ready the next morning to return to Northampton.

As Reuben was anxious to count the steps which, on ascending the day before, he had noticed on the side of the inclined plane; he went down that way, while the rest of the party availed themselves of the car. He, boy-like, did not mind the extra labor and longer time which that choice involved, so long as he found out that there were five hundred and twenty-two steps.

As they descended the mountain from the half-way house Reuben gathered for a souvenir some of the beautiful laurel which, in full-bloom, was then adorning its sides.

A few days later after the promised ride to Old Hadley, three miles distant, which was extended four miles to Amherst to give Reuben a sight of the college where his papa graduated, Mrs. Tracy and her son returned to Salem. Mr. Tracy was highly entertained with Reuben's account of what he had seen, and felt more than ever that his money had been well invested. The rest of the vacation soon passed, the boy's active mind being profitably engaged in the interim of active, healthful sports.

And it is highly probable that by this time the geography class, with Ned Bolton as spokesman, has discovered that "Reuben Tracy knows more about a mountain than the geography itself!"

Gems From The Easy Chair

Christmas. There is nothing in the deepest and best sense human which in the truest and highest sense is not also Christian. The characteristic feeling about Christmas, as it is revealed in literature and tradition and association, is the striking and beautiful tribute to the practicability of Christianity.

Sermons. It is doubtless very unjust to the clergy to suppose that they turn the barrel of sermons to save themselves the trouble of writing new ones. Nothing but the levity of the pews could be guilty of such a suspicion. The preacher knows that one squeezing does not take all the juice out of an orange; and how much jucier a fruit is a good sermon! Moreover, the pews are so pachydermatous, so rhinoceros-skinned, that nothing but an incessant pelting upon the same spot makes an impression.

America. Whoever has seen a self-possessed and sagacious orator handling a tumultuous meeting as Phoebus-Appollo handles his madly plunging steeds, has seen the symbol of popular government, and understands why the sole fact of numerical force and brute power does not explain it. He who watches the ocean rising into every bay and creek in obedience to celestial attraction, sees in outward nature the law that governs the associated life of men, and which gives the American people faith in their own government, whether they can give a reason, for their faith or not.

National Bank Failures

By George H. Wood

Occasionally the attention of the daily press of the country is called to the provisions of the National Banking Law by the announcement of the failure of some national banking association, and immediately it teems with comments, and recommendations as to amendments which should be made to render the law effective. These recommendations and comments usually show the most lamentable ignorance, both as to the actual existing provisions of the law and its practical working, and as regards banking matters generally. In the case of the failure of the Middletown National Bank of New York, the advice which has been given in the columns of the press seems of itself to be sufficient, if it had been given sooner, to have prevented the disaster. The Directors have been blamed, very justly too, for they looked on while their President run them into all its difficulties, and as usual the Bank Examiners have been held responsible for the disaster. Some have even gone so far as to suggest that a provision be added to the National Banking Laws punishing Examiners who do not detect irregularities in the banks which they examine.

The provisions of the National Bank Act as they now stand are as perfect, theoretically, as they can be drawn, to protect both the depositors and the stockholders. The law provides for the publication of sworn reports, from time to time, of the condition of each national bank. These reports must be sworn to by the President, or Cashier, and their correctness must be attested by the signatures of at least three Directors. These reports are required five times a year and it is impossible to see how, if the Directors do their duty fully and honestly, any delinquency on the part of the officers of the bank can fail to be detected by them. Under the law, the stockholders elect the Directors, at least five in number. The officers of the bank are elected or appointed by the directors and are subject to them. Thus far the protection the Act provides is based upon what, so far as financial matters are concerned, is one of the great controlling influences of human nature, viz: self-interest. The stockholders, in order to protect themselves, are expected to elect Directors who will look out for the interests of all.

The sworn reports made to the Comptroller of the Currency are published in the newspapers where the banks are located, and a copy sent to that officer that he may know that the law in this respect has been complied with. The stockholders can inspect them at any time as they appear, and can note any changes which occur in them from time to time. The stockholders are also at perfect liberty to make any inquiries that they may deem fit, in any direction which their intelligence may suggest to them.

In addition to the protection which the law gives to the stockholders, and also to the depositors, by requiring the publication of reports of the condition of the national banks, Bank Examiners are provided in the law; these Bank Examiners are appointed by the Comptroller of the Currency, and make their examinations at any time that he may deem fit.

A Bank Examiner to afford perfect security for the real merit of his examination, has a disagreeable duty to perform. He enters a bank, which by all the world is supposed to be well conducted and solvent, and to be managed by honorable men, respected and looked up to by the whole community. His position, however, is that of a Censor, and it does not permit him to assume what the world supposes. On the contrary, to make a good examination, he must take nothing for granted, and quietly act on the ground that something is wrong. "Suspicions are the sinews of the mind" in this case, and an examiner without them cannot expect to detect mismanagement or defalcation. The position requires tact as well as technical skill—tact not to offend unnecessarily or disturb friendly relations, and skill to bring to light all that should be discovered—and undoubtedly requires a high class of mind in the one that fills it well. Bank examinations are not the only security provided in the law, and it is ridiculous to assert that the Directors, stockholders and depositors should throw aside or neglect to use all the other means which the law provides to enable them to protect themselves, and rely entirely upon the Government examinations, which in the nature of things must depend for success on the sagacity of one individual.

The framers of the National Bank Act, while they did all that they could to protect the depositors and stockholders of national banks, as has been seen, were still not perfectly sure but that failures might sometimes occur. This feeling doubtless arose from a knowledge on their part of the weakness of human nature, and of the imperfections of systems of Government. That they felt in this way, is indicated by the fact that they have provided, also, a method of protecting, as far as possible, the depositors of national banks that do fail. They have provided for the appointment of receivers and for a distribution, under Government control, of such assets as can be collected from the wrecks of the failed banks. The stockholders of such banks are subject to the penalty of being compelled to contribute, if the deficiency in the assets requires it, an amount not exceeding the par value of the shares of stock held by them in addition to the amount already invested in such shares, to the fund necessary to pay depositors. This of itself would seem sufficient to be careful and place a live Board of Directors in charge of a large fund, considering the manner the stockholders of the Pacific National Bank of Boston kicked and squirmed when this provision of the law was applied.

The experience of the past has been that bank officers have concealed all their operations from the proprietors, and when failures have occurred everybody has been astonished. As an additional safeguard to meet this secrecy an organization has just been perfected in New York which is a step farther in commercial agencies than has ever been attempted. From one of their printed circulars it is ascertained that they propose to keep in pay a corps of detectives and other agencies, "as a check upon defalcations and embezzlements by bank Presidents, and Cashiers and other officials." But it is not exactly clear who will watch the detectives.

Elizabeth

A Romance Of Colonial Days

By Frances C. Sparhawk, Author of "A Lazy Man's Work."

Chapter XI—Unwelcome News

June was doing its best to make the world content. Little clouds floated through the blue sky, like the light sighs of a mood that must find some expression, and the air for all its softness was invigorating, it was so full of life and purity. This day, like many another, needed only to bring as fair hopes to the lives of those who looked into it as it did to the nature it overbrooded to make the faces its light breezes fanned as bright as the skies were, with only shadows of expression to give the brightness new beauty. But no such light was on Elizabeth Royal's face as she sat at the open window of her room with a piece of delicate embroidery in her hands. Her future had not opened out into life; the winter had killed its buds of promise.

After all, Stephen Archdale had not gone to England. His father and Governor Wentworth had insisted that it was much wiser to send an older and a better business man. "Do you want to make the best of your case?" the Colonel had asked incisively when Stephen hesitated. And the young man had yielded, though reluctantly. It would have been so much easier for him to be away and to be doing something. But at present he must think only of doing the wisest thing.

Elizabeth had not seen him; he had written to her father once, and had promised to write again as soon as he had the slightest news. He had tried his best to be cheerful, and had sent her a message that endeavored to be hopeful; but she saw that courtesy struggled with despair. She knew that they need never meet; but if this thing were true—she could not believe it—but if it were true, then happiness was over. Life in a June day has such possibilities of happiness; and that morning her eyes grew so misty that she took a few wrong stitches in her work, and as footsteps drew near the room, perceived this and began to pick them out with nervous haste. She had not finished, however, when Mrs. Eveleigh came in. As Elizabeth had expected, her first remark was a comment.

"What! another mistake, my dear? You know you made one only yesterday, and you can work so beautifully when you give your mind to it. It is a bad plan to have such a dreamy way with one. For my part, I should think you would have had enough of doing things in dreams and never knowing what they will end in. You would better wake up for the rest of your life."

As Elizabeth had heard the same remark numberless times before, its effect was not startling. In silence she went on picking out her stitches.

"Why not say you think so, too? It would be more dutiful in you," continued Mrs. Eveleigh.

"You take care that I am waked up," returned Elizabeth. "You don't leave one many illusions."