An American Tragedy (134 page)

“We will begin with 276 to-night. ‘How firm a foundation.’ All right, Miss Schoof.”

At this the younger of the two women—very parched and spare—angular and homely—to whom life had denied quite all—seated herself upon the yellow camp chair and after arranging the stops and turning the leaves of the book, began playing the chosen hymn, to the tune of which they all joined in.

By this time various homeward bound individuals of diverse occupations and interests noticing this small group so advantageously disposed near the principal thoroughfare of the city, hesitated a moment,—either to eye them askance or to ascertain the character of their work. And as they sang, the nondescript and indifferent street audience gazed, held by the peculiarity of such an unimportant group publicly raising its voice against the vast skepticism and apathy of life. That gray and flabby and ineffectual old man, in his worn and baggy blue suit. This robust and yet uncouth and weary and white-haired woman; this fresh and unsoiled and unspoiled and uncomprehending boy. What was he doing here? And again that neglected and thin spinster and her equally thin and distrait looking mother. Of the group, the wife stood out in the eyes of the passers-by as having the force and determination which, however blind or erroneous, makes for self-preservation, if not real success in life. She, more than any of the others, stood up with an ignorant, yet somehow respectable air of conviction. And as several of the many who chanced to pause, watched her, her hymn-book dropped to her side, her glance directed straight before her into space, each said on his way: “Well, here is one, who, whatever her defects, probably does what she believes as nearly as possible.” A kind of hard, fighting faith in the wisdom and mercy of the definite overruling and watchful and merciful power which she proclaimed was written in her every feature and gesture.

The song was followed with a long prayer and by the wife; then a sermon by the husband, testimonies by the others—all that God had done for them. Then the return march to the hall, the hymnals having been gathered, the organ folded and lifted by a strap over the husband’s shoulder. And as they walked—it was the husband that commented: “A fine night. It seemed to me they were a little more attentive than usual.”

“Oh, yes,” returned the younger woman that had played the organ. “At least eleven took tracts. And one old gentleman asked me where the mission was and when we held services.”

“Praise the Lord,” commented the man.

And then at last the mission itself—“The Star of Hope. Bethel Independent Mission, Meetings every Wednesday and Saturday night, 8 to 10. Sundays at 11, 3, 8. Everybody welcome.” And under this legend in each window—“God is Love.” And below that again in smaller type: “How long since you wrote to Mother.”

“Kin’ I have a dime, grandma? I wana’ go up to the corner and git an ice-cream cone.” It was the boy asking.

“Yes, I guess so, Russell. But listen to me. You are to come right back.”

“Yes, I will, grandma, sure. You know me.”

He took the dime that his Grandmother had extracted from a deep pocket in her dress and ran with it to the ice-cream vendor.

Her darling boy. The light and color of her declining years. She must be kind to him, more liberal with him, not restrain him too much, as maybe, maybe, she had——She looked affectionately and yet a little vacantly after him as he ran. “For
his
sake.”

The small company, minus Russell, entered the yellow, unprepossessing door and disappeared.

Sister Carrie
, 1900 Novel (Signet Classic 0-451-52760-7

Jennie Gerhardt
, 1911 Novel

¹
The Financier
, 1912 Novel

A Traveler at Forty
, 1913 Autobiography

¹
The Titam
, 1914 Novel

The “Genius,”
1915 Novel

Players of the Natural and Supernatural
, 1916 Plays

A Hoosier Holiday
, 1916 Autobiography

Free and Other Stories
, 1918 Play

Twelve Men
, 1919 Biographical Sketches and Stories

Hey Rub-a-Dub-Dub
, 1920 Essays

A Book About Myself (Newspaper Days)
, 1922 Autobiography

Moods
, 1922, 1928 Poems

The Color of a Great City
, 1923 Essays

An American Tragedy
, 1925 Novel (Signet Classic 0-451-52770-4)

Chains
, 1927 Stories

Dreiser Looks at Russia
, 1928 Travel

A Gallery of Women
, 1929 Biographical Sketches and Stories

Dawn
, 1931 Autobiography

Tragic America
, 1931 Study

America is Worth Saving
, 1941 Study

The Bulwark
, 1946 Novel

¹
The Stoic
, 1947 Novel

Notes on Life
, 1974 Essays

Theodore Deriser: A Selection of Uncollected Prose
, 1977

 

Bloom, Harold, ed.,
Theodore Dreiser’s “An American Tragedy,”
New York: Chelsea House, 1988.

Brandon, Craig,
Murder in the Adirondacks
. Utica, New York: North Country Books, 1986.

Brownell, Joseph W. and Wawrzaszek, Patricia A.,
Adirondack Tragedy: The Gillette Murder Case of 1906
. Interlaken, N.Y.: Heart of the Lakes Publishing, 1986.

Dreiser, Helen,
My Life With Dreiser
, Cleveland, Ohio: World Publishing, 1951

Dudley, Dorothy,
Dreiser and the Land of the Free
. New York: Beechhurst Press, 1946.

Elias, Robert,
Theodore Dreiser: Apostle of Nature
. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1949.

Fishkin, Shelley Fisher,
From Fact into Fiction
. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Gerber, Phillip L.
Theodore Dreiser
. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1964.

Gilmer, Walker,
Horace Liveright
, New York: David Lewis, 1970.

Gogol, Miriam, ed.
Theodore Dreiser: Beyond Naturalism
New York: New York University Press, 1955.

Hussman, Lawrence,
Dreiser and His Fiction: A Twentieth Century Quest
. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983.

Kazin, Alfred and Charles Shapiro, eds.
The Stature of Theodore Dreiser
. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1955.

Lehan, Richard,
Theodore Dreiser, His World and His Novels
. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1969.

Lingeman, Richard,
Theodore Dreiser: An American Journey 1908- 1945
. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1990.

Lingeman, Richard,
Theodore Dreiser: An American Journey
. New York: John Wiley, 1993.

Matthiessen, F.O.
Theodore Dreiser
. New York: Dell, 1950.

Moers, Ellen,
Two Dreisers
, New York: Viking Press, 1969.

Pizer, Donald,
The Novels of Theodore Dreiser, A Critical Study
. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1976.

Pizer, Donald, ed.,
Critical Essays on Theodore Dreiser
, Boston: G.K. Hall, 1981.

Plank, Kathryn M.,
“Dreiser’s Real American Tragedy,” Papers on Language and Literature 27
(Spring 1991).

Riggio, Thomas P. ed.,
Dreiser-Mencken Letters: The Correspondence of Theodore Dreiser and H.L. Mencken, 1907-1945
. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981.

Riggio, Thomas P., ed.,
Theodore Dreis
er: The American Diaries 1902-1926
, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.

Salzman, Jack, ed.
Theodore Dreiser: The Critical Reception
, New York: David Lewis, 1972.

Swanberg, W.A.,
Dreiser
, New Yrok: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1965.