This clay,well mixed with marl and sand,Follows the motion of my hand,For some must follow and some command,Though all are made of clay.
--LONGFELLOW
THE afternoon sunshine was flooding the September landscape with molten gold,filling the valley with intense heat,and rippling back in warm waves from the crest of the ridge.
Dean Fenneben's study in the south tower of Sunrise looked out on the new heaven and the new earth,every day-dawn created afresh for his eyes;for truly,the Walnut Valley in any mood needs only eyes that see to be called a goodly land.
And it was because of the magnificent vista,unfolding in woodland,and winding river,and fertile field,and far golden prairie--it was because of the unconscious power of all this upon the student mind,that Dr.Fenneben had set his college up here.
On this September afternoon,the Dean sat looking out on this land of pure delight a-quiver in the late summer sunshine.
Nature had done well by Lloyd Fenneben.His height was commanding,and he was slender,rather than heavy,with ease of movement as if the play of every muscle was nerved to harmony.
His heavy black hair was worn a trifle long on the upper part of his head and fell in masses above his forehead.
His eyes were black and keen under heavy black brows.
Every feature was strong and massive,but saved from sternness by a genial kindliness and sense of humor.
Whoever came into his presence felt that magnetic power only a king of his kind can possess.
Long the Dean sat gazing at the gleaming landscape and the sleepy town beyond the campus and the pigeons circling gracefully above a little cottage,hidden by trees,up the river.
"A wonderful region!"he murmured."If that old white-haired brother of mine digging about the roots of Greek and Sanscrit back in Harvard could only see all this,maybe he might understand why I choose to stay here with my college instead of tying up with a university back East.But,maybe not.
We are only step-brothers.He is old enough to be my father,and with all his knowledge of books he could never read men.However,he sent me West with a fat pocketbook in the interest of higher education.
I hope I've invested well.And our magnificent group of buildings up here and our broad-acred campus,together with our splendid enrollment of students justify my hope.Strange,I have never known whose money I was using.
Not Joshua Wream's,I know that.Money is nothing to the Wreams except as it endows libraries,builds colleges,and extends universities.
Too scholarly for these prairies,all of them!Too scholarly!"The Dean's eyes were fixed on a tiny shaft of blue smoke rising steadily from the rough country in the valley beyond Lagonda Ledge,but his mind was still on his brother.
"Dr.Joshua Wream,D.D.,Litt.D.,LL.D.,etc.!He has taken all the degrees conferable,except the degree of human insight."Something behind the strong face sent a line of pathos into it with the thought.
"He has piled up enough for me to look after this fall,anyhow.
It was bad enough for that niece of ours to be left a penniless orphan with only the two uncles to look after her and both of us bachelors.
And now,after he has been shaping Elinor Wream's life until she is ready for college,he sends her out here to me,frankly declaring that she is too much for him.She always was."He turned to a letter lying on the table beside him,a smile playing about the frown on his countenance.
"He hopes I can do better by Elinor than he has been able to do,because he's never had a wife nor child to teach him,"he continued,giving word to his thought."A fine time for me to begin!
No wife nor child has ever taught me anything.He says she is a good girl,a beautiful girl with only two great faults.Only two!
She's lucky.`One'"--Fenneben glanced more closely at the letter--"`is her self-will.'I never knew a Wream that didn't have that fault.
`And the other'"--the frown drove back the smile now--"`is her notion of wealth.Nobody but a rich man could ever win her hand.'
She who has been simply reared,with all the Wream creed that higher education is the final end of man,is set with a Wream-like firmness in her hatred of poverty,her eagerness for riches and luxury.
And to add to all this responsibility he must send me his pet Greek scholar,Vincent Burgess,to try out as a professor in Sunrise.A Burgess,of all men in the world,to be sent to me!Of course this young man knows nothing of my affairs but is my brother too old and too scholarly to remember what I've tried a thousand times to forget?
I thought the old wound had healed by this time."A wave of sadness swept the strong man's face."I've asked Burgess to come up at three.I must find out what material is sent here for my shaping.
It is a president's business to shape well,and I must do my best,God help me!"A shadow darkened Lloyd Fenneben's face,and his black eyes held a strange light.He stared vacantly at the landscape until he suddenly noted the slender wavering pillar of smoke beyond the Walnut.
"There are no houses in those glens and hidden places,"he thought.
"I wonder what fire is under that smoke on a day like this.
It is a far cry from the top of this ridge to the bottom of that half-tamed region down there.One may see into three counties here,but it is rough traveling across the river by day,and worse by night."The bell above the south turret chimed the hour of three as Vincent Burgess entered the study.
"Take this seat by the window,"Dr.Fenneben said with a genial smile and a handclasp worth remembering."You can see an Empire from this point,if you care to look out."Vincent Burgess sat at ease in any presence.He had the face of a scholar,and the manners of a gentleman.But he gave no sign that he cared to view the empire that lay beyond the window.
"We are to be co-workers for some time,Burgess.May I ask you why you chose to come to Kansas?"Fenneben came straight to the purpose of the interview.