Preface

Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading

Team

BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW

A Novel

BY

ALBION W. TOURGEE, LL.D.,

LATE JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA

THIS VOLUME I GRATEFULLY DEDICATE TO

My Wife;

TO WHOSE UNFLINCHING COURAGE, UNFALTERING FAITH, UNFAILING CHEER, AND STEADFAST LOVE, I OWE MORE THAN MANY VOLUMES MIGHT DECLARE.

TRANSLATION:

[ From an Ancient Egyptian Papyrus-Roll, recently discovered.]

It came to pass that when Pharaoh had made an end of giving commandment that the children of Israel should deliver the daily tale of bricks, but should not be furnished with any straw wherewith to make them, but should instead go into the fields and gather such stubble as might be left therein, that Neoncapos, the king's jester, laughed.

And when he was asked whereat he laughed, he answered, At the king's order.

And thereupon he laughed the more.

Then was Pharaoh, the king, exceeding wroth, and he gave commandment that an owl be given to Neoncapos, the king's jester, and that he be set forth without the gate of the king's palace, and that he be forbidden to return, or to speak to any in all the land, save only unto the owl which had been given him, until such time as the bird should answer and tell him what he should say.

Then they that stood about the king, and all who saw Neoncapos, cried out, What a fool's errand is this! So that the saying remains even unto this day.

Nevertheless, upon the next day came Neoncapos again into the presence of Pharaoh, the king.

Then was Pharaoh greatly astonished, and he said, How is this? Hath the bird spoken?

And Neoncapos, the king's jester, bowed himself unto the earth, and said, He hath, my lord.

Then was Pharaoh, the king, filled with amazement, and said, Tell me what he hath said unto thee.

And Neoncapos raised himself before the king, and answered him, and said:

As I went out upon the errand whereunto thou hadst sent me forth, I remembered thy commandment to obey it. And I spake only unto the bird which thou gavest me, and said unto him:

The re was a certain great king which held a people in bondage, and set over them task-masters, and required of them all the bricks that they could make, man for man, and day by day;

For the king was in great haste seeking to build a palace which should be greater and nobler than any in the world, and should remain to himself and his children a testimony of his glory forever.

And it came to pass, at length, that the king gave commandment that no more straw should be given unto them that made the bricks, but that they should still deliver the tale which had been aforetime required of them.

And thereupon the king's jester laughed.

Because he said to himself, If the laborers have not straw wherewith to attemper the clay, but only stubble and chaff gathered from the fields, will not the bricks be ill-made and lack strength and symmetry of form, so that the wall made thereof will not be true and strong, or fitly joined together? For the lack of a little straw it may be that the palace of the great king will fall upon him and all his people that dwell therein. The reupon the king was wroth with his fool, and his countenance was changed, and he spake harshly unto him, and—

It matters not what thou saidst unto the bird, said the king. What did the bird say unto thee?

The bird, said Neoncapos, bowing himself low before the king, the bird, my lord, looked at me in great amaze, and cried again and again, in an exceeding loud voice: Who! Who-o! Who-o-o!

Then was Pharaoh exceeding wroth, and his anger burned within him, and he commanded that the fool should be taken and bound with cords, and cast into prison, while he should consider of a fit punishment for his impudent words.

NOTE.-A script attached to this manuscript, evidently of later date, informs us that the fool escaped the penalty of his folly by the disaster at the Red Sea.

CONTENTS

I. TRI-NOMINATE

II. THE FONT

III. THE JUNONIAN RITE

IV. MARS MEDDLES

V. NUNC PRO TUNC

VI. THE TOGA VIRILIS

VII. DAMON AND PYTHIAS

VIII. A FRIENDLY PROLOGUE

IX. A BRUISED REED

X. AN EXPRESS TRUST

XI. RED WING

XII. ON THE WAY AY TO JERICHO

XIII. NEGOTIATING A TREATY

XIV. BORN OF THE STORM

XV. TO HIM AND HIS HEIRS FOREVER

XVI. A CHILD OF THE HILLS

XVII. GOOD-MORROW AND FAREWELL

XVIII."PRIME WRAPPERS,"

XIX. THE SHADOW OF THE FLAG,

XX. PHANTASMAGORIA,

XXI. A CHILD-MAN

XXII. HOW THE FALLOW WAS SEEDED

XXIII. AN OFFERING OF FIRST-FRUITS

XXIV. A BLACK DBMOCRITUS

XXV. A DOUBLE-HEADED ARGUMENT

XXVI. TAKEN AT HIS WORD

XXVII. MOSES IN THE SUNSHINE

XXVIII. IN THE PATH OF THE STORM

XXIX. LIKE AND UNLIKE

XXX. AN UNBIDDEN GUEST

XXXI. A LIFE FOR A LIFE

XXXII. A VOICE FROM THE DARKNESS

XXXIII. A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION

XXXIV. THE MAJESTY OF THE LAW

XXXV. A PARTICULAR TENANCY LAPSES

XXXVI. THE BEACON-LIGHT OF LOVE

XXXVII. THE"BEST FRIENDS"REVEAL THEMSELVES

XXXVIII."THE ROSE ABOVE THE MOULD,"

XXXIX. WHAT THE MIST HID

XL. DAWNING

XLI. Q. E. D.

XLII. THROUGH A CLOUD-RIFT

XLIII. A GLAD GOOD-BY

XLIV. PUTTING THIS AND THAT TOGETHER

XLV. ANOTHER OX GORED

XLVI. BACKWARD AND FORWARD

XLVII. BREASTING THE TORRENT

XLVIII. THE PRICE OF HONOR

XLIX. HIGHLY RESOLVED

L. FACE ANSWERETH UNTO FACE

LI. HOW SLEEP THE BRAVE?

LII. REDEEMED OUT OF THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE

LIII. IN THE CYCLONE

LIV. A BOLT OUT OF THE CLOUD

LV. AN UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER

LVI. SOME OLD LETTERS

LVII. A SWEET AND BITTER FRUITAGE

LVIII. COMING TO THE FRONT

LIX. THE SHUTTLECOCK OF FATE

LX. THE EXODIAN

LXI. WHAT SHALL THE END BE?

LXII. How?

BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW.