



Produced by Al Haines








  THE BIRD IN
  THE BOX


  BY MARY MEARS


  Author of "The Breath of The Runners"



  TORONTO
  WILLIAM BRIGGS




  _All rights reserved, including that of translation
  into foreign languages including the Scandinavian_

  Copyright, 1910, by
  FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

  October, 1910




To

THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER

"NELLY WILDWOOD"

THIS BOOK IS DEVOTEDLY INSCRIBED




AUTHOR'S PREFACE

The soul of man at birth is immured in a prison.  It is like a bird
singing in a cage, heedless of the bars that confine it.  But later the
soul knows its bondage.

Panting with a desire for liberty, man tries in two ways to attain it,
through his ability to labour, through his capacity to feel.

He has need of freedom, hence the poem, the ship, the engine, the
thousand cunning and gigantic structures for annihilating space, for
chaining the forces of nature.

He has need of freedom, hence the universal outpouring of his
affections, the glory and the emancipation of his highest love.

June, 1910




  CONTENTS


  BOOK I

  CHAPTER

  I The Long Journey and the Longer One
  II The Waiting of Women
  III The Sun
  IV Amid Bleak Surroundings
  V The Barnacle
  VI The Figure-head Gains an Admirer
  VII Concerning Alexander Emil St. Ives
  VIII In the Cause of Science
  IX The Old Fascination
  X In Which a Kiss Is Given and Regretted
  XI At the Old Burying Point
  XII The Migratory Instinct


  BOOK II

  I The Street of Masts
  II Emily Short--Toy-Maker
  III Simon Hart to the Rescue
  IV The Unexpected Happens
  V Showing that Sacrifices Are not Always Appreciated
  VI Despair and Desolation
  VII Stop--Look--Listen
  VIII A Woman's Caprice; A Father's Repentance;
       A Lover's Self-Conquest; A Girl's Pity
  IX Rachel--Simon
  X The Bird in the Box


  BOOK III

  I The House in Washington Square
  II Continuation of the History of a Genius
  III The Confession
  IV How is it Possible to Stop Loving
  V Love by the Sea
  VI The Insistent Past
  VII In Which John Smith Unburdens His Conscience
  VIII The Place of the Statues
  IX The Energy of Being
  X In the Garden
  XI Flames
  XII Love Confronts Despair
  XIII The Escape




BOOK I



THE BIRD IN THE BOX



CHAPTER I

THE LONG JOURNEY AND THE LONGER ONE

The new vessel, gay with swelling scarves of bunting, ornamented from
stem to stern with floating flags that kissed the breeze, rested easily
on the stocks.  The ways under her had been greased, the space before
her in the river cleared.  High on the prow her name _Merida_ shone in
gold letters.  Every eye was upon her.

Grimy faces looked from shop windows.  The windows of the bending-shed,
the blackboard-shed, the pipe-cutting shop, the sheet-iron shop, the
joiner-shop, the brass-foundry,--all were filled with countenances
blackened by labour.  Similar countenances peered from the masts of
vessels still in the slips, and from the heights of the immense
travelling cranes and floating derricks.  These gigantic and uncouth
machines seemed to await the launch with an eagerness of their own.
Had not each, in its own way, helped to fashion her--this marvel of a
new ship?

The contrivances for drilling, chipping, caulking, blowing
rivet-heating fires seemed to hold their breath, so unwonted was their
stillness at this hour; while the mammoth pontoon, whose duty was still
to be performed,--that of transporting the eighty-ton boiler a distance
of one hundred feet and depositing it, a living heart, within the
vessel,--the pontoon seemed to be lost in speculation.

The stocks gave no sign.  Amid all the excitement of the yard, these
great mother-arms of wood awaited stoically the instant when they must
release their burden.  All the morning a swarm of workmen had been busy
loosening their tenacious hold on the new vessel.

"She'll go out at the turn of the tide," remarked a reporter; "that
chap over there with an eyeglass will give the signal.  He's launched
over a hundred vessels, and never a hitch."

The newspaper artist to whom these remarks