Part 23 (1/2)
Taylor's clothes, though unostentatious, were in the latest fas.h.i.+on. She had hoped to find her dowdy or unenlightened, and to be able to look down on her from the heights of her own New York experience.
The lawyer in charge of the bill presented lucidly and with skill the merits of his case, calling to the stand four prominent educators from as many different sections of the State, and several citizens of well-known character, among them Babc.o.c.k's former pastor, Rev. Henry Glynn. He pointed out that the school committee, as at present const.i.tuted, was an unwieldy body of twenty-four members, that it was regarded as the first round in the ladder of political preferment, and that the members which composed it were elected not on the ground of their fitness, but because they were ambitious for political recognition.
The legislative committee listened politely but coldly to these statements and to the testimony of the witnesses. It was evident that they regarded the proposed reform with distrust.
”Do you mean us to understand that the public schools of this State are not among the best, if not the best, in the world?” asked one member of the committee, somewhat sternly.
”I recognize the merits of our school system, but I am not blind to its faults,” responded the attorney in charge of the bill. He was a man who possessed the courage of his convictions, but he was a lawyer of tact, and he knew that his answer went to the full limit of what he could safely utter by way of qualification without hopelessly imperilling his cause.
”Are not our public schools turning out yearly hundreds of boys and girls who are a growing credit to the soundness of the inst.i.tutions of the country?” continued the same inquisitor.
Here was a proposition which opened such a vista of circuitous and careful speech, were he to attempt to answer it and be true to conscience without being false to patriotism, that Mr. Hunter was driven to reply, ”I am unable to deny the general accuracy of your statement.”
”Then why seek to hara.s.s those who are doing such good work by unfriendly legislation?”
The member plainly felt that he had disposed of the matter by this triumphant interrogation, for he listened with scant attention to a repet.i.tion of the grounds on which, relief was sought.
Mr. Lyons's method of reply was a surprise to Selma. She had looked for a fervid vindication of the principle of the people's choice, and an eloquent, sarcastic setting forth of the evils of the exclusive and aristocratic spirit. He began by complimenting the members of the committee on their ability to deal intelligently with the important question before them, and then proceeded to refer to the sincere but mistaken zeal of the advocates of the bill, whom he described as people animated by conscientious motives, but unduly distrustful of the capacity of the American people. His manner suggested a desire to be at peace with all the world and was agreeably conciliatory, as though he deprecated the existence of friction. He said that he would not do the members of the committee the injustice to suppose that they could seriously favor the pa.s.sage of a bill which would deprive the intelligent average voter of one of his dearest privileges; but that he desired to put himself on record as thinking it a fortunate circ.u.mstance, on the whole, that the well-intentioned promoters of the bill had brought this matter to the attention of the legislature, and had an opportunity to express their views. He believed that the hearing would be productive of benefit to both parties, in that on the one hand it would tend to make the voters more careful as to whom they selected for the important duties of the school board, and on the other would--he, as a lover of democratic inst.i.tutions, hoped--serve to convince the friends of the bill that they had exaggerated the evils of the situation, and that they were engaged in a false and hopeless undertaking in seeking to confine by hard and fast lines the spontaneous yearnings of the American people to control the education of their children. ”We say to these critics,” he continued, ”some of whom are enrolled under the solemn name of reformers, that we welcome their zeal and offer co-operation in a resolute purpose to exercise unswerving vigilance in the selection of candidates for the high office of guardians of our public schools. So far as they will join hands with us in keeping undefiled the traditions of our forefathers, to that extent we are heartily in accord with them, but when they seek to override those traditions and to fasten upon this community a method which is based on a lack of confidence in democratic theories, then I--and gentlemen, I feel sure that you--are against them.”
Lyons sat down, having given everyone in the room, with the exception of a few discerning spirits on the other side, the impression that he had intended to be pre-eminently fair, and that he had held out the olive branch when he would have been justified in using the scourge. The inclination to make friends, to smooth over seamy situations and to avoid repellent language in dealing with adversaries, except in corporation cases before juries and on special occasions when defending his political convictions, had become a growing tendency with him now that he was in training for public office. Selma did not quite know what to make of it at first. She had expected that he would crush their opponents beneath an avalanche of righteous invective. Instead he took his seat with an expression of countenance which was no less benignant than dignified. When the hearing was declared closed, a few minutes later, he looked in her direction, and in the course of his pa.s.sage to where she was sitting stopped to exchange affable greetings with a.s.semblymen and others who came in his way. At his approach Mrs. Earle uttered congratulations so comprehensive that Selma felt able to refrain for the moment from committing herself. ”I am glad that you were pleased,” he said. ”I think I covered the ground, and no one's feelings have been hurt.” As though he divined what was pa.s.sing through Selma's mind, he added in an aside intended only for their ears, ”It was not necessary to use all our powder, for I could tell from the way the committee acted that they were with us.”
”I felt sure they would be,” exclaimed Mrs. Earle. ”And, as you say, it is a pleasure that no one's feelings were hurt, and that we can all part friends.”
”Which reminds me,” said Lyons, ”that I should be glad of an introduction to Mrs. Taylor as she pa.s.ses us on her way out. I wish to a.s.sure her personally of my willingness to further her efforts to improve the quality of the school board.”
”That would be nice of you,” said Mrs. Earle, ”and ought to please and encourage her, for she will be disappointed, poor thing, and after all I suppose she means well. There she is now, and I will keep my eye on her.”
”But surely, Mr. Lyons,” said Selma, dazed yet interested by this doctrine of brotherly love, ”don't you think our school committee admirable as it is?”
”A highly efficient body,” he answered. ”But I should be glad to have our opponents--mistaken as we believe them to be--appreciate that we no less than they are zealous to preserve the present high standard. We must make them recognize that we are reformers and in sympathy with reform.”
”I see,” said Selma. ”For, of course, we are the real reformers. Convert them you mean? Be civil to them at least? I understand. Yes, I suppose there is no use in making enemies of them.” She was thinking aloud.
Though ever on her guard to resent false doctrine, she was so sure of the loyalty of both her companions that she could allow herself to be interested by this new point of view--a vast improvement on the New York manner because of its ethical suggestion. She realized that if Mr. Lyons was certain of the committee, it was right, and at the same time sensible, not to hurt anyone's feelings unnecessarily--although she felt a little suspicious because he had asked to be introduced to Mrs.
Taylor. Indeed, the more she thought of this att.i.tude, on the a.s.sumption that the victory was a.s.sured, the more it appealed to her conscience and intelligence; so much so that when Mrs. Earle darted forward to detain Mrs. Taylor, Selma was reflecting with admiration on his magnanimity.
She observed intently the meeting between Mr. Lyons and Mrs. Taylor. He was deferential, complimentary, and genial, and he made a suave, impressive offer of his personal services, in response to which Mrs.
Taylor regarded him with smiling incredulity--a smile which Selma considered impertinent. How dared she treat his courtly advances with flippant distrust!
”Are you aware, Mr. Lyons,” Mrs. Taylor was saying, ”that one of the present members of the school board is a milkman, and another a carpenter--both of them persons of very ordinary efficiency from an educational standpoint? Will you co-operate with us, when their terms expire next year and they seek re-election, to nominate more suitable candidates in their stead?”
”I shall be very glad when the time comes to investigate carefully their qualifications, and if they are proved to be unworthy of the confidence of the people, to use my influence against them. You may rely on this--rely on my cordial support, and the support of these ladies,” he added, indicating Mrs. Earle and Selma, with a wave of his hand, ”who, if you will permit me to say so, are no less interested than you in promoting good government.”
”Oh, yes, indeed. We thought we were making an ideal choice in Miss Luella Bailey,” said Mrs. Earle with effusion. ”If Mrs. Taylor had seen more of her, I feel sure she would have admired her, and then our Inst.i.tute would not have been dragged into politics.”
Mrs. Taylor did not attempt to answer this appeal. Instead she greeted Selma civilly, and said, ”I was sorry to hear that you were against us, Mrs. Littleton. We were allies once in a good cause, and in spite of Mr.
Lyons's protestations to the contrary, I a.s.sure you that this is another genuine opportunity to improve the existing order of things. At least,”
she added, gayly but firmly, ”you must not let Mr. Lyons's predilection to see everything through rose-colored spectacles prevent you from looking into the matter on your own account.”
”I have done so already,” answered Selma, affronted at the suggestion that she was uninformed, yet restrained from displaying her annoyance by the sudden inspiration that here was an admirable opportunity to practise the proselytizing forbearance suggested by Mr. Lyons. The idea of patronizing Mrs. Taylor from the vantage-ground of infallibility, tinctured by magnanimous condescension, appealed to her. ”I have made a thorough study of the question, and I never could look at it as you do, Mrs. Taylor. I sided with you before because I thought you were right--because you were in favor of giving everyone a chance of expression. But now I'm on the other side for the same reason--because you and your friends are disposed to deprive people of that very thing, and to regard their aspirations and their efforts contemptuously, if I may say so. That's the mistake we think you make--we who, as Mr. Lyons has stated, are no less eager than you to maintain the present high character of everything which concerns our school system. But if you only would see things in a little different light, both Mrs. Earle and I would be glad to welcome you as an ally and to co-operate with you.”