The Accursed

by Joyce Carol Oates

  FOR SHE WAS TAINTED, AND IMPURE; AND NOT DESERVING OF LIFE.

  FOR SHE WOULD CLING TO ME LIKE MUD; AND WAS FRIGHTENING TO ME.

  FOR SHE WAS SENSUOUS AND BEAUTIFUL IN A WAY UTTERLY NEW TO ME, THAT WAS TERRIBLE TO BEHOLD, AND MUST BE PUNISHED.

  FOR SHE DARED SLIDE HER ARMS AROUND MY NECK AND MADE TO MOVE HER FLESHY LIPS AGAINST MY NECK, MY CHEEK, MY MOUTH ALL SHAMELESSLY AND TO ENJOIN ME INTO KISSING HER IN TURN—AS I COULD NOT RESIST.

  FOR SHE SEDUCED ME INTO BETRAYING MY FIANCÉE WHOSE VERY NAME IN THE HEAT OF SUCH PASSION I COULD NOT HAVE RECALLED.

  FOR SHE CURSED ME AND PRESSED HER DEMON’S BODY AGAINST ME; AND TOUCHED HER HOT TONGUE TO ME AND LAUGHED AND TEASED AND TORMENTED AND AROUSED SUCH HELLISH DESIRE IN ME, IT WAS NOT TO BE BORNE.

  FOR IT WAS SHE AND SHE ALONE THE BLIGHTED ONE WHO BROUGHT ME DOWN TO SIN AND TO THE CONDITION OF COMMON MAN AND TO MORTALITY AND O FEARSOME GOD!—I KNOW NOT ALL.

  IT WAS NOT YOUNG WINSLOW SLADE INNOCENT OF ALL CARNAL KNOWLEDGE UNTIL THAT TIME WHO GROVELED UPON THE GIRL TO BURY HIMSELF IN HER BODY EVEN AS THE DESPERATE LIFE FLED FROM HER—IT WAS ANOTHER BEING ENTIRELY—A TRUE DEMON NOT BAPTIZED AS A SLADE. AND THE LORD GOD WAS THE ONLY WITNESS, AND DID NOT INTERVENE.

  GAZING STERNLY DOWN UPON ME WHERE I LAY ENTWINED IN THE GIRL’S ARMS AND AGAINST HER BREASTS AND BELLY AND THE FLESH OF HER LEGS FROM WHICH HEAT WAS FADING RAPIDLY AND NO REPENTANCE COULD SUMMON BACK. AND THE FLEET THOUGHT CAME TO ME, I WOULD COVER HER IN LEAVES AND DIRT AND ANOINT HER FOREHEAD WITH MUD AND HIDE FROM THE LORD IN THE DEPTHS OF THE WOODS AND ABANDON MY LIFE AMONG CIVILIZED MEN FOREVERMORE.

  WILD ANGRY LAUGHTER DESCENDED FROM THE HEAVENS LIKE MADDENED THUNDER AS THE LORD GOD DEMANDED OF ME WHAT WICKEDNESS HAVE YOU WORKED UPON THE FEMALE MY FINE LAD WHAT BIT OF NAUGHTINESS HAVE YOU PERFORMED IN SECRET AS ALL OF THE SLADES PERFORM IN SECRET FROM YOUR DAYS OF SLAVE-HOLDING UNTIL NOW YOUR GREAT FORTUNE WHICH IS THE LORD’S BLESSING HARVESTED FROM THE BENT AND BROKEN BACKS OF FACTORY WORKERS, MILL-WORKERS, DUMB AND STAMMERING IMMIGRANTS MISSING FINGERS, TOES, EYES YET YOU HAVE TRIED TO TRICK YOUR GOD, YOU HAVE TRIED TO DISGUISE YOUR SIN AS IF IT WERE A MERE CRIME, DO YOU THINK IT IS A MATTER OF FASTENING UP YOUR BREECHES MY LAD AND CREEPING OFF INTO THE FOREST PANTING LIKE A BEAST, DO YOU THINK THAT THIS NIGHT WILL BE EXORCISED WHEN THE MOON’S STONY RAYS SUCCUMB TO THE SUN; DO YOU THINK MY GREEN YOUNG WHELP THAT YOU HAVE ACTED ALONE IN THIS DAMNED PLACE AND WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR LORD?

  SO DEAFENING HIS LAUGHTER FOR IT WAS THE LORD GOD OF WRATH OF OUR HEBREW ANCESTORS AND NOT THE LORD JESUS WHO DIED ON THE CROSS FOR OUR SINS AND SO I SOUGHT TO BURROW INTO THE VERY EARTH TO ESCAPE SUCH LAUGHTER AS THE STARK-STARING FEMALE GRINNED AT ME IN THE RIGOR OF DEATH AND REVEALED HERSELF SO VERY YOUNG, NOT MORE THAN SIXTEEN AND SHE WOULD NOT WAKE WHEN I GRIPPED HER SHOULDERS AND SHOOK AND SHOOK AND CRIED OUT TO HER TO ARISE BEFORE IT WAS TOO LATE, I WOULD MAKE UP TO HER AND TO HER PEOPLE ALL THAT I COULD, I WOULD MAKE AMENDS FOR MY LUST AND MY CRUELTY BUT THERE WAS NO RESPONSE, FOR ALL BREATH HAD CEASED; THE SINGED SKIN THAT HAD SO REPELLED AS IT HAD ATTRACTED WAS FADING NOW AS WARMTH FADED FROM THE BODY, THAT COULD NOT BE CALLED BACK. AND THE LORD GOD SAW ALL AND HIS WRATH WAS THE MORE, THAT I HAD COMMITTED SO COARSE AND CRUDE A SIN AND TRIED THEN TO HIDE FROM HIM. AND THAT WAS THE GREATER SIN.

  JESUS—TWIN OF JUDAS THOMAS—SPOKE IN A VOICE LIKE A TRUMPET, DO YOU THINK, MAN, THAT I AM COME TO BRING PEACE TO THE WORLD AND KNOW NOT THAT I AM COME TO CAST DIVISIONS—FIRE, SWORD, WAR, FOR THE CHILDREN SHALL BE SET AGAINST THE FATHER AND THE HUSBAND AGAINST THE WIFE AND THERE SHALL BE FIVE IN A HOUSE: THREE AGAINST TWO, AND TWO AGAINST THREE; THE FATHER AGAINST THE SON AND THE SON AGAINST THE FATHER; AND ALL MANKIND SHALL STAND AS SOLITARIES.

  IN ANGER JESUS SPAKE, I WILL GIVE YOU THAT WHICH THE EYE HAS NOT YET SEEN, AND THE EAR HAS NEVER HEARD, AND THE HAND HAS NOT DARED TO TOUCH, AND THAT WHICH HAS NOT YET ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN.

  AND JESUS PROMISED, THAT SHALL BE THY PARTICULAR WISDOM, TO KNOW WHAT NO OTHER MEN KNOW: BUT TO STAND SOLITARY FROM THEM, IN THAT KNOWING.

  KNOW, O DEARLY BELOVED GATHERED TOGETHER TODAY IN THIS PLACE OF WORSHIP, IT WAS NOT THE LUCKLESS SELINCOURT WHO COMMITTED THE BRUTE CRIME AT COLD SPRING THOUGH THE MAN WAS PUNISHED FOR IT: HIS LIFE TAKEN FROM HIM AT THE END OF A ROPE IN THE PRISON AT TRENTON WHILE THE TRUE MURDERER HID AWAY IN WEALTH AND RECTITUDE LESS THAN TWENTY MILES AWAY IN THE VILLAGE OF PRINCETON; THE MURDERER HID IN PLAIN SIGHT YET IN TERROR OF BEING DISCOVERED AND REVEALED AND SHAMED THROUGHOUT THE LAND FOR LAYING HIS HAND UPON A FEMALE SO DEFILED AND OF A CASTAWAY RACE, A DESCENDANT OF THOSE BROUGHT FROM AFRICA IN CHAINS HAVING BEEN SOLD INTO SLAVERY BY THEIR KINDRED AFRICANS FOR PURE GAIN.

  THIS MURDERER WHITE-SKINNED AND PRIZED WITHIN HIS FAMILY AS A MOST PROMISING SON SO DECEIVED HIMSELF SAYING, I AM A SLADE, AND ORDAINED BY GOD; AND GUILTY OF NO CRIME; FOR ALL THAT FALLS FROM MY HAND MUST BE GOD’S OWN DESIRE, AND CANNOT BE DEEMED SIN.

  HOW COLD IS YOUR BREATH, WINSLOW—MY YOUNG BRIDE SHRANK FROM ME ON OUR WEDDING NIGHT; FOR MINE WAS THE FETID BREATH OF THE GRAVE, THAT WAS MY OWN. FOR MY INNOCENT BRIDE ORIANA HAD ONLY TO GAZE INTO MY GUILT-SICKENED EYES TO KNOW OF THE FOUL CRIME COMMITTED IN MY HEART OF WHICH I WOULD NOT EVER SPEAK TO HER, OR TO ANYONE.

  AND IN THE NIGHT OF MANY YEARS TO COME PARALYZED IN SLEEP AND MY UNHAPPY WIFE BESIDE ME I STRUGGLED TO DRAG THE BODY DEEPER INTO THE FOREST AND FARTHER INTO THE NIGHT TO A PLACE OF MARSH GRASSES AND ROTTED TREES AND SNAKES RIPPLING BENEATH THE SURFACE OF BRACKISH WATER TREMBLING AND WHIMPERING LIKE A FRIGHTENED CHILD, O GOD THOU SEEST ALL, AND FORGIVE NOTHING! HOPING TO COVER THE BROKEN CREATURE WITH LEAVES AND MUD SCOOPED IN MY HANDS, AND FALLEN BRANCHES, THAT SHE WOULD NEVER BE DISCOVERED; AND IF NOT, AND IF NO ONE EVER KNEW WHAT HAD BECOME OF PEARL WHO HAD PRESSED HERSELF INTO THE ARMS OF MANY MEN FOR THE PROFIT OF THOSE MEN WHO USED HER YET ALSO IT SEEMED FOR SOME SMALL GESTURE OF LOVE, OR A MOCKERY OF LOVE. AND IF THIS WAS SO, AND THE BODY NEVER FOUND, THE CRUEL DEED HAD NOT TRANSPIRED—HAD IT?

  AFTERWARD RUNNING FOR MY LIFE. AND MY SHOES TAKEN FROM ME, SO I AM BAREFOOT.

  AND IN PURSUIT THE LORD GOD OF HOSTS LIKE A RAGING HOUND AND JESUS WITH A VOICE LIKE A TRUMPET JEERING AND NOT THE JESUS OF LOVE SAYING, LET US FORGE A COVENANT BETWEEN ME AND THEE: FIFTY YEARS SHALL YE BE GRANTED, TO EXERCISE WHAT TRIFLING GOOD, OR FURTHER HARM, YE WILL: AND THEN THE ANGELS OF WRATH WILL BE LOOSED UPON YOU—AND UPON THOSE WHOM YOU LOVE BEYOND YOURSELF.

  KNOW, WINSLOW SLADE, ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE NO ONE SHALL BE SPARED WHO DWELLS BESIDE YOU, AND EMBRACES YOU; FOR YOU ARE ACCURSED OF GOD, YET A WORTHY TWIN OF THE WRATHFUL GOD. HALLOWED BE THY NAME, REVEREND SLADE.

  AND IN TRUTH, O DEARLY BELOVED, I HAD NOT KNOWN THE LORD GOD OR HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON JESUS OF NAZARETH IN ALL MY LIFE BEFORE; NOR DO ANY OF YOU KNOW THESE, UNLESS YOU HAVE TASTED BLOOD.

  MY FAMILY, MY RELATIVES, MY PRINCETON FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, MY BRETHREN IN CHRIST—O YE TO WHOM I HAVE LIED THESE MANY YEARS, YE TO WHOM IN ALL CUNNING I HAVE PRESENTED A FALSE FACE OF VIRTUE: KNOW THAT THREE DAYS PASSED BEFORE THE MILL-GIRL’S BODY WAS DISCOVERED DEEP IN THE FOREST BEYOND COLD SPRING; AND WITHIN A DAY THEN THE FRENCHMAN SELINCOURT WAS APPREHENDED, IN FLIGHT FOR HIS LIFE—A SIGN OF THE RUFFIAN’S GUILT IT WAS BELIEVED. (HIS COMPANION WHO HAD AS CRUELLY MISUSED PEARL WAS NEVER APPREHENDED.) SOON THEN THE MAN WAS MADE TO CONFESS HIS FOUL DEED, NOT ONLY MURDER BUT THE VIOLATION OF THE GIRL’S BODY UNMISTAKABLE AFTER EVEN THREE DAYS AND TOO VILE TO BE GIVEN UTTERANCE IN NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS. THE LORD GOD WATCHED OVER ME AS I WAS SEQUESTERED AWAY AT THE MANSE TAKEN SICK AND ENFEEBLED WITH A FEVER-MALAISE AND MY FEET COVERED IN SCABS AND BRUISES LIKE ONE WHO HAS BEEN CRUCIFIED. AND MY DEAR MOTHER ALL UNKNOWING, ACTING AS MY NURSE. FOR WOMEN HAVE ALWAYS PROTECTED ME, NOT KNOWING ME IN MY INNERMOST HEART. IT WAS AN ATTACK OF BRAIN FEVER, THE DIAGNOSIS CAME; OR INFLUENZA; OR—THEY KNEW NOT: BUT VERY GRAVE IT WAS INDEED, AND ONLY THE LORD GOD BY HIS MINISTRATIONS ALLOWED WINSLOW SLADE TO SURVIVE INTO HIS WRETCHED LIFE.

  SO IT CAME TO BE, THE FRENCHMAN SELINCOURT WAS TRIED AND FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE AND IN THE AUTUMN OF
1855 EXECUTED BY THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY FOR HIS DESPICABLE CRIME: BEING HANGED BY THE NECK UNTIL DECLARED DEAD. AND THE YOUNG SEMINARIAN HAD LONG SINCE RETURNED TO HIS PASTORAL STUDIES AND PLEASED HIS ELDERS WITH HIS PIETY, DILIGENCE, AND INTELLIGENCE; AND PLEASED THE LORD GOD AND HIS SON AS WELL; FOR SOON HE WAS DULY ORDAINED A MINISTER IN THE PRESBYTERIAN FAITH AND THE LORD GOD LAUGHED AT SUCH A MASQUERADE SAYING,

  KNOW THAT JESUS HAD A TWIN, DIDYMUS JUDAS THOMAS APOSTLE OF THE MOST HIGH, AND SO TOO WINSLOW SLADE HAS A TWIN: THIS BEING THE LORD GOD OF HOSTS WITH WHOM HE HAS FORGED A COVENANT TO DISGUISE THE WORKINGS OF EVIL ON EARTH WITH A PACIFIST SMILE AND IN THIS WAY TO PROMOTE EVIL AND ALL WICKEDNESS UPON THE EARTH; WHILE TAKING CARE ALWAYS TO PREACH THE REVERSE AND BEHAVING AT ALL TIMES AS IF HE WERE FREE OF THE SLIGHTEST TAINT OF SIN.

  FOR, MY BRETHREN: IT IS WICKEDNESS, DISCORD, AND TERROR THAT LEAD MEN TO THE LORD, IN THEIR BROKEN SOULS; AND IN FEAR OF HIS CRUELTY; AND TERROR OF HIS GAPING HELL.

  FOR THE HAPPINESS OF THE PEOPLE IS THE CURSE OF GOD, THAT THEY DRIFT FROM HIM, AND TURN THEIR EYES UPON ONE ANOTHER, OR UPON THEIR OWN MIRRORED SELVES—TO THE VAST DISPLEASURE OF THE LORD.

  FOR THE MISERY OF THE PEOPLE HAS LONG BEEN THE JOY OF THE LORD, FROM THE TIME OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL UNTIL NOW; AS ONLY WHEN THEY THROW THEMSELVES PROSTRATE BEFORE HIM IN ANNIHILATION OF THEIR MUTINOUS SPIRITS, AND WORSHIP HIM AS HE DEMANDS, IS THE LORD GOD FULFILLED, AND HIS RAGE QUELLED.

  FOR KNOW THAT THE LORD GOD IS A JEALOUS GOD AS THE HEBREW BIBLE HAS WARNED, AS HE HAS DECLARED AND COMMANDS THE WHIRLWIND, AND THE DEEPS OF THE SEA, AND THE SWORD OF THE BARBARIAN, AND EVERY MANNER OF VERMIN, IN HIS EMPLOY, THAT MEEKNESS, SERVILITY, UNBRIDLED FEAR AND TREMBLING BE THE LOT OF MANKIND; AND HIS GLORY EXALTED.

  THE CYNICS, ATHEISTS AND ANARCHISTS AMONG YOU ARE THE ESPECIAL ENEMIES OF GOD, AS THEY DO NOT REQUIRE HIM: YET IT IS REQUIRED OF THE BELIEVERS IN GOD, THAT THEY DO BATTLE WITH SUCH INFIDELS WHO WOULD SAVE THEM FROM THE WRATHFUL GOD, IN THEIR IGNORANCE. AS IT IS OUR AIM TO SOW DISCORD AMONG THE NATIONS, AND TO SET MEN AGAINST THEIR FELLOWS, FOR EACH TRIBE OF MAN BELIEVES THAT THE LORD GOD IS ITS GOD, AND HATES ALL OTHER TRIBES; IT IS THE FATE OF NATIONS TO BE SET FOREVER AGAINST ONE ANOTHER, THAT THE SWORD MAY BE WORSHIPPED, AND ENEMIES TERRORIZED IN THE NAME OF GOD THAT THEIR FERTILE LANDS AND WATERWAYS BE APPROPRIATED, YET ONLY IN THE NAME OF GOD.

  FOR KNOW THAT WE WHO ARE HIS AGENTS ARE MOST PRIZED WHERE WE PREACH DISCORD WHILE EMPLOYING A VOCABULARY OF LOVE; AND WE PLEASE HIM, IN SPEAKING OF ARMAGEDDON, AND LAST THINGS, AND THE LAYING WASTE OF THE SINFUL CITIES OF MANKIND—THE MORE SUBTLE OUR MANNER, THE MORE BENIGN AND LOVING, THE MORE PRIZED BY THE LORD FOR WE ARE THOSE WHO URGE THE SLAVE TO FORGIVE THE SLAVER, AND TO WEAR THE GARMENTS OF HIS RELIGION AS THEIR OWN; WE URGE THE DOWNTRODDEN TO REJOICE IN THE LITTLE THAT IS THEIRS, OUT OF FEAR OF HELL; TO STAY THE HAND OF THE REBEL, IN A FALSE PEACE.

  ALL THIS WAS TOLD TO ME ON THE VERY EVE OF MY ORDINATION. NEVER IN ALL THE INTERVENING YEARS HAVE I SWERVED FROM THIS FAITH.

  MY FIRST WIFE ORIANA THOUGH GUILTLESS OF HER HUSBAND’S SIN SUFFERED ITS EFFECTS NONETHELESS AND SHRANK FROM ME IN APPREHENSION, HOW COLD YOUR HANDS, MY HUSBAND, YOUR BREATH, YOUR LIPS—YOUR SOUL! THOUGH I FELT NO TRUE DESIRE FOR HER OR FOR ANY WOMAN SINCE THE NIGHT OF MARCH 1855 WHEN OUT OF MY LOINS LEAPT A BURNING AND POISONOUS FLUID CONJURED FORTH BY THE MILL-GIRL WITH THE SINGED SKIN AND MANGLED HAND; AND OVER THE YEARS, YET IT HAPPENED THAT SONS WERE BORN TO ME, OUT OF MY WIFE’S BODY FOR ALWAYS IT WAS KNOWN BETWEEN THE LORD GOD AND ME THAT HE SENT SONS TO ME THAT THE SLADES BE PERPETUATED AND OUR LINEAGE NOT EXTINCT. THUS IT WAS, TWO BABY DAUGHTERS WERE STRICKEN WITH DIPHTHERIA AND DIED AS INFANTS AS NEGLIGIBLE TO GOD’S PLAN; THOUGH ORIANA WAS DEVASTATED BY SUCH LOSSES, AND DID NOT EVER RECOVER FULLY; AND HERSELF PASSED AWAY OF A LINGERING MALAISE, WHEN MY SONS WERE HUSKY YOUNG BOYS OF NINE AND THIRTEEN YEARS AND DID NOT ANY LONGER REQUIRE HER.

  AND IN HER LOSS I GRIEVED, FOR I KNEW THAT I HAD DESTROYED HER LIFE, AS I HAD DESTROYED THE LIFE OF THE LITTLE MILL-GIRL.

  YET THE LORD SENT ANOTHER WOMAN TO ME, THAT I WOULD NOT FALL INTO DESPAIR; FOR IT IS THE VERY AGENTS OF THE WRATHFUL GOD WHO ARE VULNERABLE TO DESPAIR, AND TO ENDING THEIR LIVES, TO END THE MASQUERADE OF THEIR VIRTUE IN A PLUMMETING STRAIGHT TO HELL.

  THIS WOMAN, TABITHA, WAS ONE WHOM I HAD KNOWN LONGER THAN I HAD KNOWN ORIANA; WHO HAD NOT MARRIED, AND CONFESSED TO WINSLOW SLADE THAT SHE HAD LOVED HIM ALL THESE YEARS, AT A LITTLE DISTANCE. AN EAGER AND LOVING STEPMOTHER TABITHA WAS TO MY SONS, AND EAGER TO HAVE HER OWN BABIES; WHICH WAS NOT A WISH OF MINE YET ONE NIGHT THE HOT-FLESHED PEARL LAY BETWEEN US AND HER MOUTH WAS SUCKING AT MY MOUTH AND HER MANGLED FINGER-STUMPS TOUCHED ME LEWDLY AS MANY TIMES IN DREAMS SHE HAD TOUCHED ME; AND I WAS PROVOKED TO LUST AND TOOK MY AFFRIGHTED WIFE WHOSE NAME I COULD NOT HAVE RECALLED IN THE FRENZY OF THE MOMENT AND IN THIS SHAMEFUL WAY TABITHA BECAME PREGNANT IN THE SECOND YEAR OF OUR UNION AND HER LABOR WAS SO PROTRACTED AND EXCRUCIATING, MORE THAN TWO DAYS AND TWO NIGHTS, THE RESULT BEING AN INFANT GIRL WHO DIED WITHIN THE HOUR AND WAS NOT EVER BAPTIZED; AS TABITHA SCREAMED ALOUD IN PAIN AND DESPONDENCY AND MADNESS, AS I HAD NEVER HEARD HER UTTER SUCH PROFANE WORDS, CURSING ME, AND BEGGING THE LORD THAT MY BODY BE TORN IN TWO, AND MY BONES CRUSHED, AND MY FOUL HEART RIPPED FROM MY CHEST, THAT I SHOULD SUFFER AS I HAD CAUSED HER TO SUFFER; FOR HER DEATH WAS FAST UPON HER, AND SHE HAD LOST ALL QUALITIES OF THE PERSON KNOWN TO THE WORLD AS TABITHA PAIGE STRACHAN, SAVE SPEECH, THAT SHE MIGHT CURSE HER HUSBAND.

  SUCH MADNESS IN CHILDBIRTH WAS HORRIFIC TO ALL WHO BEHELD AND TO THOSE TO WHOM IT WAS RECOUNTED FOR TABITHA HAD BEEN A GENTLE CHRISTIAN WOMAN WHO HAD NOT BEEN OBSERVED TO HAVE EVEN RAISED HER VOICE; YET THE GUILTY HUSBAND UNDERSTOOD, TABITHA HAD GAZED INTO HIS HEART, AND HAD KNOWN HIM AS NO OTHER LIVING PERSON KNEW HIM.

  NUMBERLESS SERMONS THE REVEREND WINSLOW SLADE PREACHED IN HIS OWN CHURCH IN PRINCETON AND THROUGHOUT NEW JERSEY AND PHILADELPHIA; AND IN NEW YORK CITY WHERE HIS PATRICIAN MANNER, HIS STUDIED EASE AND CHRISTIAN PIETY HELD HIM IN GOOD STEAD WITH HIS ELDERS AND THE MOST CONSERVATIVE OF CHURCH MEMBERS. AND THOSE WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN HIS ENEMIES WERE SO WON BY HIS MANNER AND HIS MAGNANIMITY, THEY DID NOT KNOW TO LOOK BEHIND THE MASK, AND SO WERE DISARMED. YET IN THE VERY MIDST OF AUSTERE PRESBYTERY THE REVEREND SLADE SLYLY SOWED SCHISM; FOR THIS WAS THE ERA OF HERESY TRIALS IN WHICH THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH BROUGHT CERTAIN OVERLY LIBERAL MEMBERS OF THE CLERGY TO HEEL.

  AND THE PROTESTANT PREACHERS INCLINING TOWARD THE EVANGELICAL AND THE ENTHUSIASTIC WERE CENSURED.

  AND THE IMMIGRANT MASSES OF IRELAND AND SOUTHERN EUROPE, HOTBEDS OF POPERY, ILLITERACY AND SUPERSTITION—THESE WERE DENOUNCED FROM THE PULPIT IN THE MOST JUDICIOUS VOCABULARY.

  AND THE JEWS—MURDERERS OF JESUS AND SOWERS OF THE ANTI-CHRIST.

  AND BRUTE NEGROES, ONLY A GENERATION BEFORE FREED OF THEIR WHITE MASTERS.

  AND HYSTERICAL FEMALES DEMANDING “RIGHTS.”

  AND THOSE WHO TAUGHT HERETICAL EVOLUTIONISM, AND THOSE WHO TAUGHT ATHEISTICAL SOCIALISM.

  ALL THESE THE LORD GOD SORELY DETESTED, AND WISHED TO HARM; AND THE REVEREND SLADE FROM HIS PULPIT SPOKE IN GENTLE AND INSIDIOUS CONDEMNATION OF THESE; AND OF THE GRIEVOUS ILLS THAT BEFELL THE LUCKLESS, PRIMARY AMONG THEM THE DARK-SKINNED DESCENDANTS OF OUR SLAVES LIKE THE MILL-GIRL PEARL, THE REVEREND DID NOT SPEAK EXCEPT IN THE MOST RESIGNED OF WAYS; FOR THE REVEREND TAUGHT THE “PEACE THAT PASSETH UNDERSTANDING” AND NOT THE CLENCHED FIST OF THE LABOR UNIONS AND THE IRON HAMMER HELD ALOFT. ALL OF WHICH PUT HIM IN GOOD STEAD WITH HIS ADMIRING CONGREGATION, AND WITH HIS MASTER THE LORD GOD ON HIGH.

  IN THIS WAY THE OUTWARD MAN PROSPERED: WINSLOW SLADE WAS INAUGURATED PRESIDENT OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY AND GOVERNOR OF THE STATE EVEN AS THE INWARD MAN KNEW HIMSELF JOYLESS AND WITHERED FOR THE LORD GOD FASTENED UPON HIM EACH HOUR AND MADE OF HIM A SHADOW AND A PHANTOM OF THE NIGHT, THAT HAS NO TRUE SUBSTANCE BY DAY YET IS MISTAKEN BY OTHERS AS A LIVING CREATURE.

  AND IT WAS KNOWN TO HIM ALWAYS: THE GIRL PEARL DIED THAT YOU MIGHT LIVE, AND PROSPER; EACH DAY AT CROSSWICKS, YOU WALK UPON HER BONES MOLDERING IN THE SOIL; AND THE CRIES OF BIRDS FROM THE EAVES
OF THE GREAT HOUSE ARE THE CRIES OF THE STRICKEN GIRL—YET YOU WILL BE CAST DOWN INTO HELL.

  IT WAS NOT KNOWN TO THE UNENLIGHTENED HOW THE NEW GOVERNOR WINSLOW SLADE WAS ELECTED BY SHAMELESS BALLOT-STUFFING THROUGH THE STATE AND PARTICULARLY IN THE CAPITAL CITY OF TRENTON. IT WAS NOT KNOWN HOW THE GOVERNOR SO REVERED FOR HAVING BEEN A MINISTER AND A FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE GREAT UNIVERSITY WAS BUT A PUPPET OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY LEADERS AS THE PARTY LEADERS WERE BUT PUPPETS OF THE TRUST. “BOLTERS” OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND NEW JERSEY HIRELINGS AND EX-GOVERNOR BEDEL AND HIS CRONIES AND OLD SENATOR SMITH OF BURLINGTON AND ANTI-ABBETT MEN AND PRO-ABBETT MEN AND RUFUS BLODGETT AND HIS HIRELINGS AND PASSAIC LABOR MEN AND COLONEL DICKINSON AND REPUBLICAN MALCONTENTS OUT OF NEWARK AND TEMPERANCE MEN AND LOCAL OPTION HIGH LICENSE ACT MEN AND LONG-ENTRENCHED “RUM POWER” MEN AND GENERAL FISK AND HIS MEN AND ANTI-RAILROAD TAX ACT MEN AND STANDARD OIL MEN AND THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD AND THE ATLANTIC CITY–CAPE MAY RACE TRACKS—OUT OF THIS COALITION A GREAT STINKING STEW WAS BREWED, WITH MANY A RAT’S EXCREMENT TOSSED IN, AND THE CORPSES OF BODIES FLOATING IN THE DELAWARE ROTTED AND SWARMING WITH MAGGOTS THAT GOVERNOR SLADE WAS REQUIRED TO TAKE INTO HIS MOUTH AND CHEW AND SWALLOW WITH NO PROTEST.

  SO IT WAS, A SPECTER HAD ASCENDED TO THE HIGHEST OF STATE OFFICES AND WHETHER HIS ELECTION OF 1887 WAS THE RESULT OF BALLOT-STUFFING OR NO, THE MAN WAS ELECTED TO THE GOVERNORSHIP OF NEW JERSEY WHICH COULD NOT HAVE FAILED TO PLEASE THE LORD GOD.

  FOR WHY WAS ZACHARIAS SLAIN IN THE TEMPLE BUT THAT HE HAD SUFFERED A VISION AND WHEN THE UNHAPPY MAN WISHED TO PROCLAIM HIS VISION TO THE MULTITUDES THE LORD GOD STOPPED HIS MOUTH AND HIS LIFE WAS TAKEN FROM HIM.

  BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!

  SOON THEN THE GOVERNOR WAS BELIEVED TO HAVE MISCALCULATED, IN MEANING TO IMPOSE A NECESSARY PEACE UPON THE STRIKING WORKERS OF JERSEY CITY BY BRINGING IN THE STATE MILITIA WHICH THEN DID MARCH AND FIRE UPON THEM IN A PANDEMONIUM OF HORROR IN WHICH WAY AS IF UNWITTINGLY THE GOVERNOR PROVOKED DAYS OF BLOODSHED; AND WHEN A SIMILAR UPRISING OCCURRED IN PATERSON, AND THE GOVERNOR FORBORE TO CALL IN TROOPS, YET MORE BLOODSHED ERUPTED, FOR THE FACTORY OWNERS, ACTING WITH DISPATCH, HAD HIRED THEIR OWN PRIVATE MILITIA TO DEAL WITH THE EMERGENCY.