provements, use his methods for filching power from the people. Their impudence is hastening the day of wrath, and the political party which wishes to escape all share in that wrath had best have as little to do with them as possible, and needs, above all, to avoid even the appearance of following their counsel.

The Mischief of the A. P. A.

THE bigot is generally devoid of that saving sense of humor which greatly helps to make life worth living. If it were not so those secret societies, like the so-called American Protective Association, which are engaged in a deadly warfare against all that is most significant and precious in American institutions, would not insist on parading themselves as « the patriotic orders.» Strange patriotism is this, which begins by denying the first tenet of American liberty,-freedom to worship God,-and proposes to punish religious beliefs which it does not share by depriving those who hold them, not only of their political rights, but, if possible, of the means of livelihood. The very enormity of the sworn purposes of these orders seems to be what gives them their opportunity; for the majority of honorable men find themselves incapable of believing that such purposes can be cherished by civilized human beings, and therefore fail to make any effective resistance to them. Thus they have the field to themselves; and with scarcely a protest, they creep in and intrench themselves in one community after another, gathering together a large mass of the ignorant and intolerant, and by their secret methods and their compact military organization making themselves a power in the local elections. Many communities have awakened when it was too late to find the grip of these secret orders firmly fastened upon their municipal machinery. There should be no need of warning intelligent citizens against the dangers of such organizations. They are the deadly enemies of democratic institutions. There may be business which can be legitimately carried on behind closed doors, but the public business is not of this nature. The attempt to control our politics in this way is an amazing usurpation of power; yet the subversion of republican government which has thus been accomplished in many localities has excited but little comment. On this question the great majority of newspapers are dumb, while thousands of Protestant ministers are helping on the fatal work. Some resistance, indeed, has been made to this domination in a few instances: Massachusetts, in the persons of Senator Hoar and the late Governor Greenhalge, has furnished a commendable example, but very few conspicuous politicians have ventured to challenge the secret power.

The political success of this conspiracy is due, of course, to the machine politicians. A secret organization whose vote can be controlled almost absolutely, whose official head can promise to throw it bodily into either side of the scale, does not need to have a very large membership in order that it may dictate nearly all the nominations of one or the other of the two parties. If twenty or even ten per cent. of the voters of a community can be handled in this way, one of the parties will be sure to give their leaders nearly everything they ask for. Ambitious minor politicians will make haste to join the society, there will be candidates enough in its member

ship to fill all the offices, and for a time the party which secures its alliance is sure to elect its candidates. In this way, in many communities, the control of one or the other of the parties has passed almost entirely into the hands of the «patriotic » orders.

The mischief of this movement has lately begun to reveal itself at the National capital. The defeat of the appropriation for Indian schools, because most of these schools are under the care of Roman Catholics, is due to these societies, and it is to their hostility that we owe the shameful proposal to exclude from the National gallery of statuary the effigy of the great pioneer and discoverer Father Marquette. With respect to the schools, they avail themselves of a sentiment which widely prevails, and which is reasonable enough, but which, in this case, is greatly overstrained, with the result of depriving the Indian pupils of educational privileges. The spirit of the organization is exhibited also in the semi-official announcement that Senator Hawley of Connecticut is to be denied a reëlection because of the part he took in securing the promotion to a generalship of Colonel Coppinger, whose fault is that he is a Roman Catholic. Not only are Roman Catholics to be refused permission to take part in the defense of their country, but those who decline to ostracize them must themselves be ostracized.

The Père Marquette incident is such an illustration of bigotry as ought to bring a blush to the cheek of every American. That the great French priest was a brave and noble man can be disputed by nobody; that his work among the Indians was one of beautiful devotion is not a matter of controversy; that to him was largely due the discovery of the upper Mississippi River, and the opening of the great Northwest to civilization, is the testimony of history. Yet simply because he was a Roman Catholic priest the «patriotic » orders would deny the State which is most closely associated with his beneficent activity the right of celebrating his services to the nation.

The inopportuneness of this recrudescence of bigotry is not the least of its mischievous features. At the very time when all the truly conservative forces of the country are needed to fight for its life against the civic treason of its politicians and the greed of its spoilers, these organizations are raising false issues to befog the ignorant and mislead the unthinking. But this is not all. No intelligent observer of events in the United States within the last five years can fail to be aware of the contest for supremacy that has been going on between the progressive and the reactionary elements of the Roman Catholic communion, or to note what a signal advance has been made thereby in the liberalizing and Americanizing of that historic institution. We do not share its creed, but it would be wickedly provincial not to wish that it may contribute its greatest influence toward the uplifting of mankind and toward the support of the free institutions of the country, rejecting all political alliances as fatal to its highest usefulness. It is remarkable that, just as its wisest leaders have apparently succeeded in cutting it loose from certain degrading political affiliations in the State of New York, its opponents have entered upon the very course they denounce.

To the student of current politics the operations of this new political force present an interesting problem.

To what extent will it be able to dictate the Presidential nominations? Will its adhesion to either party prove a gain or a loss? Will the party managers court it or shun it? Will its influence be offset by the open, unpartizan, and patriotic political activity of the Christian Endeavor movement? The exigencies of the next election always press upon the mind of the partizan leader, and the hope of securing the solid support of such a formidable contingent will powerfully affect his imagination. But it should not require any exceptional far-sightedness to discern the ruin which must overtake any party, in a free government, that identifies its fortunes with these "patriotic orders. Such principles and purposes as their oaths reveal cannot be harbored by any political organization without forfeiting the confidence of the people.

A Model Forestry Commission. THE readers of THE CENTURY are familiar with the various efforts that from time to time have been made during the last seven years to arouse members of Congress and the public to the peril of neglecting the National forests. The indifference of our lawmakers to the

preservation of our largest and most valuable agricultural crop has been phenomenal-the only bright spot in the dark record being the system of forest reservation advocated in these pages, and authorized by act of Congress, March 3, 1891. Under this law 17,000,000 acres of forest land of high altitude have been set aside by Presidents Harrison and Cleveland as reservoirs of timber and of water; but the enemies of the reservation policy have succeeded in defeating all measures looking to the proper defense and use of these lands, while the sheep-herders of the West go on in their depredations, unawed by the paper bullets of the brain» fulminated against them by the Secretary of the Interior, who is powerless to call to his support a single soldier of the United States army. Even as we write a vigorous organization of the sheep-herders of Oregon is besieging the Secretary to consent to give up three fourths of the great Cascade Forest Reserve in that State. To yield to them would not only be against the immediate interests of Oregon, but would be a reversal of the beneficent policy of two administrations for which there would be no adequate reason, and would be a positive enactment of the principle, «After us the deluge,» heretofore negatively shown in our legislative inaction.

But at last the whole policy of the Government has been turned in the right direction. By the official initiative of the Secretary of the Interior, the Honorable Hoke Smith, a National investigation has just been set on foot, which, by the sheer force of its authoritativeness, must compel legislative attention. By the constitution of the National Academy of Science it becomes the duty of this body to undertake the investigation of any scientific problem upon the request of the head of a department of the Gov

1 Among the articles on this subject printed in THE CENTURY during the last seven years, are these: How to Preserve the Forests, June, 1889; "The Treasures of the Yosemite,» August, 1890; Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park, September, 1890; "Amateur Management of the Yosemite Scenery,» October, 1890; Forestry in America,» November, 1890; "Trees in America, December, 1890; «The Pressing Need of Forest Reservation in the Sierra,» June, 1892 ; « A Memorable Advance in Forest Preservation,» Ápril, 1893 ; « Our New National Forest Reserves," September, 1893; The Forest Reserves and the

ernment, and such a request for the study of the subject of forestry Secretary Smith has made of the president of the academy, Professor Wolcott Gibbs, who has responded in a spirit commensurate with the importance of the Secretary's wise and patriotic action. In his acceptance of the task President Gibbs says:

It is needless to remind you that the matter you refer to the Academy is important and difficult. No subject upon which the Academy has been asked before by the Government for advice compares with it in scope, and it is the opinion of thoughtful men that no other economic problem confronting the Government of the United States equals in importance that offered by the present condition and future fate of the forests of western North America.

The forests in the Public Domain extend through 18 degrees of longitude and 20 degrees of latitude; they vary in density, composition, and sylvicultural condition from the most prolific in the world, outside the tropics, to the most meager. In some parts of the country they are valuable as sources of timber-supply ducing no timber of importance, they are not less which can be made permanent; in others, while provaluable for their influence upon the supply of water available for the inhabitants of regions dependent on irrigation for their means of subsistence. The character of the topography, and the climate of most of the region now embraced in the Public Domain, increase the tributed rainfall checks the growth of forests, while difficulty of the problem. Scanty and unequally dishigh mountain-ranges make them essential to regulate the flow of mountain streams.

You have done the Academy the honor of asking it to recommend a plan for the general treatment of the forest-covered portions of the Public Domain. That its report may be valuable as a basis for future legislation, it must consider:

1. The question of the ultimate ownership of the forests now belonging to the Government; that is, what portions of the forest on the Public Domain shall Government control into private hands. be allowed to pass, either in part or entirely, from

2. How shall the Government forests be administered so that the inhabitants of adjacent regions may draw fecting their permanency. their necessary forest supplies from them without af

3. What provision is possible and necessary to sehonest management of the forests of the Public Domain, cure for the Government a continuous, intelligent, and including those in the reservations already made, or which may be made in the future.

This admirable statement of the scope of the work is accompanied by the appointment of a commission of experts to undertake the investigation which, in character and in range of scientific knowledge of the sort that qualifies for a given task, has seldom, if ever, been equaled in the record of governmental work. The members are: Professor Charles S. Sargent of Harvard, chairman; Professor Wolcott Gibbs, ex-officio; Alexander Agassiz; Professor W. H. Brewer of Yale; General Henry L. Abbott, U. S. A. (retired); Arnold Hague of the Geological Survey; and Gifford Pinchot, practical forester.

These gentlemen, serving without pay, will proceed to make a scientific and practical study of the public forests from every point of view, and on the ground, and

Army, January, 1894; Forestry Legislation in Europe, April, 1894; "The Depletion of American Forests," May, 1894; Congress and the Forestry Question," November, 1894; A Plan to Save the Forests,» February, 1895; The Need of a National Forest Commission," February, 1895; The West and her Vanishing Forests," May, 1895; Reforesting Michigan Lands, July, 1895; "Hope for the Forests, September, 1895; "The Plight of the Arid West, February, 1896; Plain Words to Californians,» April, 1896.

their report and their recommendations, whatever they may be in detail, cannot fail to carry such weight with the press and the public that it will be as impossible to go back to the old policy of neglect as to reenact literary piracy, or the toleration of lotteries, or any other outworn system of robbing the many for the benefit of the few.

We regard the establishment of this commission as a landmark of national progress. While of extraordinary value to the whole country, it will prove, particularly, the salvation of the West from those who would sacrifice its entire future to the greed of the immediate moment.

HIST

Recent American Sculpture:

DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH'S O'REILLY GROUP. (SEE PAGE 89.) [ISTORY does not become ancient so fast but that many people will remember the coming and the going of John Boyle O'Reilly. He has been dead only half a dozen years, and it was so late as 1869 that he first landed in America. He came as an escaped Fenian after three years of confinement in English prisons and a final transportation to Australia. On his arrival here he took out naturalization papers, began lecturing, and soon became a reporter for the « Pilot.» In 1876 he became the editor and manager of the « Pilot, and remained so until the time of his death. In addition to his political writings he addressed himself to the Muse. The Irish Americans of New England accepted him as a leader, and when he died a memorial committee was appointed for the purpose of erecting « a statue or other monument to John Boyle O'Reilly.» The sculptor chosen for the work was Daniel Chester French, and the group for the base of the monument shown in the illustration is the first result of Mr. French's labor.

The monument (to be erected in a small triangular park in the Back Bay district of Boston) is to take the form of a granite monolith of Celtic design. There will be a bronze bust of O'Reilly on the front of the shaft and this group of three figures in bronze at the back. It was fitting that the monument should show the features of the man in the bust, and symbolize the dominant qualities of the man's life in the group. As was abundantly shown in his verse, O'Reilly had his tender and sympathetic side. He had a love for the shepherd's pipe and the arts of peace; and this Mr. French has effectively represented by the figure of the genius of Poetry. He had also his sterner side, a nature quick to passion and resentful of wrong; and this Mr. French has represented by the strong figure of the soldier-the genius of Patriotism. Between the two sits the figure of Erin, the mother for whom he fought and sang. The two natures seem to support and console her: each has offered something to the leaves that lie in her lap; and as she sits sadly tranquil, forming the wreath of glory from shamrock, laurel, and oak, she seems to be thinking with pride of the deeds he has done in her name, and of the love that he in common with other sons has borne her. The figures are types, not portraits, and they lean to ward an expression of the Irish type in the Erin and in the Patriotism; but in other respects they are classic, yet with something too much of individualism and modern

spirit about them to be called either Greek or Italian. The Poetry, modestly offering a laurel leaf for the wreath, has a face of tender sadness which the light and shade seem to emphasize, and in pose is restfully relaxed, slightly leaning against the mother as though in sympathy. The lines of the figure, and the sweep of the wing which repeats the outer curve of the body and leg, are exceedingly graceful, and the lyre of Apollo, held in the left hand, relieves while it accents the rhythm of the lines. The figure of Patriotism is something of a contrast. The costume is that of a Roman or a Celtic warrior, the left hand clutches the flag, and slung at the back by a strap is the shield. The whole figure is heroic, strongly muscled, iron-like of frame, and stern of visage, as befits the soldier. The lines are shorter, rougher, more angular than in the Poetry, and instead of the soft relaxation of the gentler genius we have the half-strung rigidity of the guardsman ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. It is not a restless, but an alert figure-one that holds the oak leaf in the right hand easily enough but has something suggestive of nervous strength in the grasp of the left hand upon the flag. The Patriotism seems expressive of restraint; the Poetry indicates repose.

The entire group forms a pyramidal, balanced composition, and while the figures at the sides relieve each other, they also form the diagonal lines, and help support the pyramid of which the Erin is the center and the apex. She is seated erect upon a raised platform, and has a footstool or bench under her feet. The figure is massive, and is clad in a robe of heavy woven stuff that emphasizes the strength of the body by its breadth of treatment. The arms, bust, shoulders, and head are of corresponding proportions, and in their modeling give the feeling of structure and substance. The very largeness of the figure is impressive, and helps the dignity and majesty of the pose. The head is covered and the face is partly shadowed by a gracefully turned headcloth, which not only lends to the evenness of the composition by sustaining the large proportions of the body, but produces an admirable effect of light and shade upon the face. Little of the Greek is to be seen in the features: the cheek-bones are too high, the jaw is too square, the mouth too large, the nose too heavy, for the ideal classic proportions; but the ruggedness and boldness of the features create the heroic type. It is a face of great nobility, tinged by sadness, it is true, and yet with something of pride in the sorrow. Sorrow is shown, but

rather by suggestion than demonstration. It is present but restrained, held in check by fortitude. The result is that essential quality in all good sculpture-repose, restfulness, quiescent unity.

Mr. French won his spurs as a sculptor some years ago. His «Minute Man» at Boston and his «Death and the Sculptor 1 gave him artistic rank; and the thousands who visited the Columbian Exposition cannot fail to remember his colossal statue of the «Republic» in 1 See THE CENTURY for April, 1893.

the Court of Honor. Like many another artist, his American education has been broadened by years of residence and study in Europe. He has served his apprenticeship and had his day of foreign travel; to-day he is among us living in his age of production. He is well equipped, and, in company with several other sculptors of note, he is giving forth work that is not only creditable to his native land, but would be distinguished in any land. John C. Van Dyke.

2 See THE CENTURY for May, 1892.

The Protégé.

"THERE HERE was a right curious case in this neighborhood, my visitor said. I was sinking into something like a state of hypnotism, and the long-continued flow of words and click of knitting-needles were beginning to produce a faintly pleasurable sensation.

"I don't know whether you might call it curious either, but there was right much talk about it at the time, and a heap of people were down on Miss Delia and Miss Lidy. And it did look foolish the way they did; but I reckon people next door to starvation have their feelings, like the rest of us.

«I reckon you 've seen that little miserable-looking house that sets right in the edge of the woods by Drake's Branch, with the stained-glass windows, and the little cupelo on top? That's where they lived, Miss Delia and Miss Lidy, and I never did see a house that favored the people inside it like that did, somehow.

«Many 's the time I 've been there with waiters of things for them-bread and butter, and bacon and tea, and I don't know what all. People in the neighborhood certainly were good to them; but they were real nice old ladies, if they were sorter thin and fidgety and fly-upthe-creek. Nobody ever took 'em things but in a waiter, no matter what it was, not wanting to hurt their feelings. They were mightily outdone with Mrs. Wilkins once for sending 'em a basket. "T was just about Christmas time, and she sent them a turkey, and a bucket of sausage, and cake, and mince-pie, and everything. But it certainly did hurt their feelings-being in a basket. It 'most spoilt that Christmas for them, having things sent them like she'd send them to a beggar; because they certainly were nice old ladies. But Mrs. Wilkins did n't mean a bit of harm.

<<I reckon it was right lonesome there in the edge of the woods, with the owls and the whippoorwills, and nothing much to occupy them, on account of their eyes. Both their eyesights had given out long before my time. I reckon it is 'most always that way with twins-they fail along together.

"Well, they were so exactly like each other I expect they did n't find each other any company at all. It was

like sitting up all day and looking in the looking-glass. And there war n't any use in talking, any more than in talking out loud to yourself, when you knew beforehand just exactly what the other one was going to say to you. And so that Christmas Mrs. Wilkins insulted 'em with that basket it came over me that I had n't sent 'em a thing for going on a fortnight. Jemmy had had the measles, and Mr. Tompkins's sister, Emma Jane, had been staying with me, with five children that I thought sure were going to catch it, and I 'd been so worried that Miss Delia and Miss Lidy had clean slipped out of my mind. And so I fixed up a real nice waiter of everything good I had, and a box of meat and flour and things like that (they did n't mind boxes like they did baskets). and I got Jack to drive me over in the spring-wagon, though 't was a mighty cold winter, and I thought I'd have frozen solid before I got there.»

She paused a moment to count her stitches.

<<Thirty-one, thirty-two- They always were sort of finicky about their house. On each side of the walk they kept nice white rocks fixed in rows, and everything just as nice as they could make it; but 't was a mighty forlorn, tumbledown-looking little house-real pitiful looking. « Well, I drove over there in the spring-wagon, and I certainly was glad when I saw a sorter flickering on the windows like fire. I never did see the place look so cheerful and lit up before.

«Miss Delia and Miss Lidy made a heap of fuss over me, like they always did, but there was something real funny and excited about them. They always did do like they were a heap gladder to see me than to see the things I'd brought them. The more they needed bread and meat to keep them from starving, the more they looked like they did n't care much about anything but the compliment of being thought of.

« Well, they hurried me in to the fire, and, if you'll believe me, sitting there as comfortable as you please was a great strong-looking young fellow about as old as my Jack.

We have a guest, Miss Delia whispered in one ear and Miss Lidy in the other. You might have knocked me down with a feather!

<«<He was a mighty ordinary-looking young man, I

thought, sorter sheepish and lazy-looking; but they seemed as proud of him as if he 'd been the governor of Virginia.

<< I reckon from what they said afterward this Rooney Cravens must have been the son of an old beau of one of them, I don't know which; and it amused the neighborhood mightily. We thought he was just going to be there a day or two, and everybody around sent in all sorts of things to help Miss Delia and Miss Lidy out. I reckon he lived high, and thought he was in right good quarters.

If you'll believe me, he stayed on and on and on; and it got to be pretty clear that he had no notion of going-a great strapping man he was, too.

«People got to be tired of it after a while, and there were some that talked right plainly to Miss Delia and Miss Lidy. And it did n't seem right for us to be supporting that good-for-nothing. He was just as good-fornothing as he could be, and, if the truth was known, he was nothing but a tramp when they took him in. I'd get so mad thinking of him sometimes I'd feel like I'd never send another morsel there for him to eat up; but then what would become of Miss Delia and Miss Lidy if people stopped helping 'em?

« Well, this went on I don't know how long, -a year or more, and all the time Miss Delia and Miss Lidy were pinching and screwing and pampering that-that-I don't know what to call him (there ain't a bad enough word in the dictionary)—till they were nearer skin and bone than ever, and quoting him all the time like he was Solomon, till everybody was down on them. Some people left off sending them anything, and other people sorter grudged them what they did give, so that things went right hard with them. But their heads were just as hard as rocks about that Rooney.

« Well, they managed to get on some way, and all the time that Rooney Cravens just flourished. You could see him, any time of day, sitting on a barrel out in front of the Cross Roads store, cutting sticks and telling jokes. I never had the patience to listen to him myself, but they say he could make you split your sides laughing; specially when he took off Miss Delia and Miss Lidy.

«There did n't seem to be any chance of a change for the better, and we just did n't know what to do, when suddenly, lo and behold, Mr. Rooney took himself off!

« We certainly did congratulate ourselves. We just laughed in our sleeves, and thought we'd sorter starved

do what I could for the poor old ladies. I don't know but what we did more for them than we had before he ever came, to make up for the sorter boycott we'd been carrying on. We all went there real often, and carried them things, and we did think we were shut of Rooney Cravens forever.

« Well, I don't reckon it was more than two months after he left that I drove over there one day with two dressed chickens and a pat of butter, and some other things. I put my knitting in my pocket, thinking I would pay the old ladies a nice long visit. I never could bear to go when that Rooney Cravens was hanging around, and I'd been trying ever since to make up for it.

<<I'd been sitting there about an hour when I heard feet come tramping up the walk and into the house. We all three looked at each other, and jumped up, and, if you'll believe me, Miss Delia and Miss Lidy clapped their hands like they had clean gone distracted. They ran and opened the door faster than I thought they could, and such a 'miration as they made over that Rooney Cravens I never saw since I've been born.

"I sat there mighty stiff and awkward, not saying a word, just turning off my knitting as hard as I could, so I could go. I think Miss Delia and Miss Lidy had forgotten I was there -'mirating over that precious Rooney!

«He sorter hung back, as they tried to draw him in to the fire, and I thought at first it was on account of me, because he always had a shamefaced, hangdog way about him when the neighbors were around, as well he might.

<< But he put his hands in his pockets, and stood on his heels, and actually kinder winked at me. Wait a minute, he said; (I-I left something outside I 've got to get. Miss Delia and Miss Lidy looked at each other, and I could see what they thought shining in their faces. I could n't help softening to him a little myself.

I do believe he 's brought them a nice ham or turkey, or a pair of blankets, or something, I was saying in my mind when the door opened.

«He had brought them something! Bless your heart, he surely had brought them something!-Fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight->

She finished her counting before she went on. «He surely had brought them something!

«He kinder giggled, and shoved in a big yellowhaired girl, who looked around her as cool as a cucumber. «My wife, ladies, says Mr. Rooney, just like that.

« We all started like we'd been shot, -I know I did,

«But you'd have been sorry for poor Miss Delia and Miss Lidy if you'd seen how they grieved. They did n't know where he 'd gone any more than the rest of us, and they looked like they 'd lost their last friend. I could n't help feeling for them, but I'd get right mad with them, too, to hear them talk.

«He was so sensitive, they were always saying, over and over and over again. He knew people in the neighborhood had taken a prejudice against him, and it hurt him so he could n't stay.)

"I got mighty tired of hearing all these lamentings over Rooney, but so long as he was n't there I tried to

minute, real stupid.

«I was just looking for the old ladies to show 'em the door, but, lo and behold, if you'll believe me, they went right up to that girl and put their arms around her! And what do you reckon they said to her-both of them?

<<<Welcome home, my dear, just that way-Sixty, sixty-one, sixty-two-welcome home, my dear, if you'll believe my words!

« ‹ What made you do it?› I said to Rooney, feeling like I'd like to wring his neck.

He was sitting on the arm of the little haircloth sofa, chewing the end of a match and swinging his feet. « A fellow dared me, he said, just like that.»

Annie Steger Winston.