The Exiles and Other StoriesDavis, Richard Harding
General
The Exiles and Other Stories
Davis, Richard Harding
Short stories, American; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
CHARLES DANA GIBSON.
CONTENTS
The First Glimpse of Davis Charles Dana Gibson
THE EXILES
THE BOY ORATOR OF ZEPATA CITY
THE OTHER WOMAN
ON THE FEVER SHIP
THE LION AND THE UNICORN
THE LAST RIDE TOGETHER
MISS DELAMAR'S UNDERSTUDY
THE REPORTER WHO MADE HIMSELF KING
ILLUSTRATIONS
INSTEAD SHE BURIED HER FACE IN ITS FOLDS (Frontispiece)
STOPPING FOR HALF-HOURS AT A TIME BEFORE A BAZAAR
THE BOAR HUNT
CONSUMED TEA AND THIN SLICES OF BREAD
"I NEVER SAW A KING," GORDON REMARKED
THE EXILES
I
The greatest number of people in the world prefer the most highly
civilized places of the world, because they know what sort of things
are going to happen there, and because they also know by experience
that those are the sort of things they like. A very few people prefer
barbarous and utterly uncivilized portions of the globe for the reason
that they receive while there new impressions, and because they like
the unexpected better than a routine of existence, no matter how
pleasant that routine may be. But the most interesting places of all
to study are those in which the savage and the cultivated man lie down
together and try to live together in unity. This is so because we can
learn from such places just how far a man of cultivation lapses into
barbarism when he associates with savages, and how far the remnants of
his former civilization will have influence upon the barbarians among
whom he has come to live.
There are many such colonies as these, and they are the most picturesque
plague-spots on the globe. You will find them in New Zealand and at
Yokohama, in Algiers, Tunis, and Tangier, and scattered thickly all
along the South American coast-line wherever the law of extradition
obtains not, and where public opinion, which is one of the things a
colony can do longest without, is unknown. These are the unofficial
Botany Bays and Melillas of the world, where the criminal goes of his
own accord, and not because his government has urged him to do so and
paid his passage there. This is the story of a young man who went to
such a place for the benefit he hoped it would be to his health, and
not because he had robbed any one, or done a young girl an injury. He
was the only son of Judge Henry Howard Holcombe, of New York. That was
all that it was generally considered necessary to say of him. It was
not, however, quite enough, for, while his father had had nothing but
the right and the good of his State and country to think about, the
son was further occupied by trying to live up to his father's name.
Young Holcombe was impressed by this fact from his earliest childhood.
It rested upon him while at Harvard and during his years at the law
school, and it went with him into society and into the courts of law.
When he rose to plead a case he did not forget, nor did those present
forget, that his father while alive had crowded those same halls with
silent, earnest listeners; and when he addressed a mass-meeting at
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account