Excerpt from The Way of the World

It was the hudson-fulton celebration which beckoned huge crowds to the metropolis of New York City, to watch the great parades both on land and water, and perceive how time with its progress changed from the sailing vessels to the mammoth steamers like palaces gliding through the waves. All trains were filled with crowds of enthusiastic people, chattering eagerly about the relative threads that weave back their ancestry to the Mayflower. If one could record their conversation it would link about half of the english-american population with the already overloaded Mayflower.

The train had passed a small station in New Jersey. Among the crowd who eagerly pressed their way to the already filled train was a woman leading a little girl by the hand. In the other hand she carried a small handbag. They did not fit in among the merrymakers as the deep, dark rings around their eyes gave proof of intense soul suffering. The child pushed her golden curls from her face and watched the crowd with questioning glances, won dering why they all waved little American flags in gestures as they spoke. A look of admiration rested tenderly on the little symbols and a deep sigh was the salute from the sad heart of a little four-year-old citizen. Her eyes would hastily travel back to her mother as if in fear that she had failed to support her, as the mother tried hard to steady herself.

There was quite a contrast between those pleasure seekers and the Woman, with white face and teeth set, and at times a convulsive twist at the cheek-bones, her eyes looking into empty space. Some of the travelers knew them, yet there was no response from the Woman to their kindly greetings. She held herself swaying as if in tune with her reverie.

A gentleman arose from his seat in the rear of the train and leaving his hat and flag in the seat to hold it, gently touched the Woman on the arm, then took the little pet, as he called the little girl, in his arms and led them to the waiting seat. Another gentleman in the next seat gave up his place to make room for the child. Mr. Levir, for that was the gentleman's name, thanked him and sat down holding the child in his lap. He was the Woman's lawyer and he seemed highly pleased at this meeting, and although he tried to talk to her, she sat looking out of the window - too far, it seemed, for him to find words to call her back from her reverie. He talked to Ronile, his pal, as he called the little girl and tried hard to make her smile by waving the little flag across her face.

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