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i

WALL
STREET
ii
iii

WALL
STREET
A H I S T O R Y

Fourth Edition

Charles R. Geisst

1
iv

1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.

Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.

© Charles R. Geisst 1997

First published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 1997

First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1999
Reissued in cloth & paperback by Oxford University Press, Inc., 2004
Reissued in paperback by Oxford University Press, Inc., 2012
Reissued in paperback by Oxford University Press, Inc., 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction
rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Geisst, Charles R., author.
Title: Wall Street : a history / Charles R. Geisst.
Description: Updated edition. | New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2018] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017059880 (print) | LCCN 2018002074 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190613556 (UPDF) | ISBN 9780190613563 (EPUB) |
ISBN 9780190613549 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Wall Street (New York, N.Y.)—History. | New York Stock Exchange.
Classification: LCC HG4572 (ebook) | LCC HG4572 .G4 2018 (print) |
DDC 332.64/273—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017059880

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
v

For Margaret and Meg

vi
vi

Contents

Preface ix
Introduction xi
One The Early Years (1790–1840) 1
Two The Railroad and Civil War Eras (1840–70) 29
Three The Robber Barons (1870–90) 58
Four The Age of the Trusts (1880–1910) 93
Five The Money Trust (1890–1920) 120
Six The Booming Twenties (1920–29) 149
Seven Wall Street Meets the New Deal (1930–35) 200
Eight The Struggle Continues (1936–54) 247
Nine Bull Market (1954–69) 276
Ten Bear Market (1970–81) 302
Eleven Mergermania (1982–97) 330
Twelve Running Out of Steam (1998–2003) 377
Thirteen The Cataclysm (2004–08) 404
Fourteen The Great Recession (2009–2013) 445
Fifteen Recovery, Tapers, and Tantrums (2014– ) 471

vii
vi

viii Contents

Notes 499
Bibliography 519
Index 529
ix

Preface

The recent financial crisis has brought Wall Street history almost full
circle. The freewheeling days of the nineteenth and early twentieth cen-
turies were brought to an end by Depression-era laws designed to protect
the public from financial excesses that ended in bank failures and sharp
turns in economic cycles. The prosperity brought by a growing economy
and a strong dose of hubris on Wall Street caused pressure, and those
regulations were eventually jettisoned in the 1990s by deregulation that
brought back the good old days of financial excess.
Twenty years have passed since the first edition of this book appeared.
Since then, four new chapters in several editions have been added to
chronicle the tumultuous events since the late 1990s, including the dot.
com crisis, the demise of the Glass-Steagall Act, Enron, the housing boom
of the early 2000s, widespread changes in trading equities, new financial
products, and finally the credit crisis of 2008. The most recent chapter
covers events as the worst days of the Great Recession ended and a slow
recovery began. Some new material has been added on the first mortgage
securities crisis in the 1880s and credit market conditions leading to the
Crash of 1929.

Oradell, New Jersey

September 2017

ix
x
xi

Introduction

This is the first history of Wall Street. From the Street’s earliest
beginnings, it has never had its own complete history chronicling the
major events in finance and government that changed the way securities
were created and traded. Despite its tradition of self-reliance, it has not
developed without outside influence. Over the years, government has had
a great deal to do with Wall Street’s development, more than financiers
would like to admit.
Like the society it reflects, Wall Street has grown extraordinarily
complicated over the last two centuries. New markets have sprung up,
functions have been divided, and the sheer size of trading volume has
expanded dramatically. But the core of the Street’s business would still
be recognized by a nineteenth-century trader. Daniel Drew and Jacob
Little would still recognize many trading techniques and basic finan-
cial instruments. Fortunately, their philosophies for taking advantage of
others have been replaced with investor protections and a bevy of securi-
ties laws designed to keep the poachers out of the henhouse, where they
had comfortably resided for almost 150 years.
Bull markets and bear markets are the stuff that Wall Street is made
of. The boom and bust cycle began early, when the Street was just an out-
door market in lower Manhattan. The first major trauma that shook the
market was a bubble brought on by rampant land speculation that shook
the very heart of New York’s infant financial community. In the inter-
vening two hundred years, much has changed, but the Street still has not
shaken off the boom and bust mentality. The bear market of the 1970s and

xi
xi

xii Introduction

the recession of 1982 were followed by a bull market that lasted longer
than any other bull market except the one that began in the late 1950s.
Wall Street history has undergone several phases, which will be found
here in four distinct periods. The first is the early years, from 1790 to the
beginning of the Civil War. During this time, trading techniques were
developed and fortunes made that fueled the fires of legend and lore. The
second period, from the Civil War to 1929, encompassed the development
of the railways and the trusts, the robber barons, and most notably the
money trust. It was not until 1929 that the money trust actually lost its grip
on the financial system and became highly regulated four years later. Only
when the grip was broken did the country enter the modern period of
regulation and public accountability. The third period was relatively brief
but intense. Between 1929 and 1954 the markets felt the vise of regulation
as well as the effects of depression and war. The fourth and final period
began with the great bull market of the Eisenhower years that gave new
vitality to the markets and the economy.
Stock and bond financing began early, almost as soon as the new
Republic was born. During the early period, from the 1790s to the Civil
War, investors were a hardy breed. With no protection from sharp
practices, they were the victims of predators whose names have become
legends in Wall Street folklore. But the days of Drew, Little, and Vanderbilt
were limited. The second-generation robber barons who succeeded them
found a government more interested in developing regulations to restrain
their activities than in looking the other way.
The latter part of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries
saw a consolidation of American industry and, with it, Wall Street. The
great industrialists and bankers emerged during this time to create the
leviathan industrial trusts that dominated economic life for nearly half a
century. Although the oldest Wall Street firms were only about fifty years
old at the turn of the century, they were treated as aristocracy. The great
banking houses of Morgan, Lazard, and Belmont were relatively young
but came to occupy a central place in American life, eclipsing the influence
of the robber barons such as Jay Gould and Jim Fisk. Although the robber
barons were consolidators and builders in their own right, their market
tactics outlived their industrial prowess in the annals of the Street.
The modern era in the financial world began in 1934 when New Deal
legislation severely shackled trading practices. Investor protection became
the new watchword as stern new faces replaced the old guard that had
allowed the excesses of the past under the banner of free enterprise. The
new regulators were trustbusters whose particular targets were the finan-
cial community and the large utility holding companies. No longer would
nineteenth-century homespun philosophies espousing social Darwinism
be permitted to rule the Street. Big fish would no longer be able to gobble
xi

Introduction xiii

up small ones. Small fish now had rights and were protected by the new
federal securities laws.
The fourth phase of Wall Street’s history came in the late 1950s, when
the small investor became acquainted with the market. Many securities
firms began catering to retail customers in addition to their more tra-
ditional institutional clients such as insurance companies and pension
funds. With this new emphasis, the Street began to change its shape.
Large, originally retail-oriented firms emerged as the dominant houses.
The result was all-purpose securities firms catering to all sorts of clients,
replacing the white-shoe partnership firms of the past.
Since the Great Depression, the major theme that has dominated
the Street has been the relationship between banking and the securities
business. The two have been purposely separated since 1934 in order to
protect the banking system from market catastrophes such as the 1929
stock market crash. But as the world becomes more complex and commu-
nications technology improves, the old protections are quickly falling by
the wayside in favor of integrating all sorts of banking activities under one
roof. While this is the most recent concern on the Street, it certainly has
not been the only one.
Throughout its history, the personalities on Wall Street have always
loved a good anecdote. Perhaps no other segment of American business
has such a fondness for glib phrases and hero worship. Many of these
anecdotes have become part and parcel of Wall Street lore and are in-
cluded in this volume. They were particularly rampant in the nineteenth
century, when “great man” theories of history were in vogue. Prominent
figures steered the course of history while the less significant simply went
along for the ride. As time passed, such notions receded as society be-
came more complex and institutions grew and developed. But originally,
the markets and industrial society were dominated by towering figures
such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J. P. Morgan. Even
the more typical robber barons such as Commodore Vanderbilt and Jay
Gould also were legends in their own time. Jay Gould became known as
“Mephistopheles,” Jay Cooke the “Modern Midas,” and J. P. Morgan the
“financial gorgon.” Much of early Wall Street history involves the inter-
play between these individuals and the markets. One of the great puzzles
of American history is just how long Wall Street and its dominant person-
alities were allowed to remain totally independent from any meaningful
source of outside interference despite growing concern over their power
and influence.
Several startling facts emerge from the Street’s two-hundred-year ex-
istence. When the Street was dominated by individuals and the banking
aristocracies, it was usually its own worst enemy. Fortunes were made and
lavishly spent, capturing the headlines. Some of the profits were given
xvi

xiv Introduction

back to the public, but often the major impression was that market raiding
tactics were acts of collusion designed to outwit the smaller investors at
every turn. The major market falls and many banking crises were correctly
called “panics.” They were the results of investors and traders reacting
poorly to economic trends that beset the country. The major fear was that
money would be lost both to circumstance and to unscrupulous traders
more than willing to take advantage of every market weakness.
The crash of 1929 was the last old-fashioned panic. It was a crucible
in American history because, while more nineteenth than twentieth cen-
tury in flavor, it had no easy remedy. The major figures of the past such as
Pierpont Morgan were not there to help prop up the banking system with
their self-aggrandizing sense of public duty. The economy and the markets
had become too large for any individual or individuals to save. The con-
certed effort of the Wall Street banking community to rescue the market
in the aftermath of the crash proved to be too little too late. Investors had
been ruined and frightened away from a professional traders’ market. No
one group possessed the resources to put the economy on the right track.
America entered October 1929 very much still in the nineteenth century.
By 1933, when banking and securities legislation was passed, it had finally
entered the twentieth century. From that time on, the public demanded to
be protected from investment bankers, who became public enemy number
one during the 1930s.
Throughout its two-hundred-year history, Wall Street has come to
embrace all of the financial markets, not just those in New York City.
In its earliest days Wall Street was a thoroughfare built alongside a wall
designed to protect lower Manhattan from unfriendly Indians. The pre-
decessor of the New York Stock Exchange was founded shortly thereafter
to bring stock and bond trading indoors and make it more orderly. But
Wall Street today encompasses more than just the stock exchange. It is di-
vided into stock markets, bond markets of various sizes and shapes, as well
as commodity futures markets and other derivatives markets in Chicago,
Philadelphia, and Kansas City increasingly known for their complexity. In
the intervening years, other walls have been created to protect the public
from a “hostile” securities business. The sometimes uneasy relationship
between finance and government is the theme of Wall Street’s history.
xv

WALL
STREET
xvi
 C H A P T E R O N E

The Early Years

(1790–1840)

Remember, time is money.

Benjamin Franklin

America in 1790 was a diverse place and a land of unparalleled

opportunity. The existing merchant class, mostly British and Dutch by
origin, had already carved out lucrative careers as merchant traders. They
made their livings in countless ways, but most revolved around trad-
ing essential commodities that Europeans coveted, such as furs, natural
resources, and tobacco. Land speculation was another area that drew atten-
tion because the Americans had an abundance of land and the Europeans
desired it probably more than any other type of property. In these endeav-
ors the great American fortunes—those of Girard, Astor, Biddle, and oth-
ers—would be made, and occasionally broken.
Most of America’s riches were based on an abundance of land. The
New World provided more than just space for the land-starved Europeans.
The millions of undeveloped acres west of the Alleghenies provided tangi-
ble proof that the extremely pessimistic demographic theories of Thomas
Malthus had a distinctly American antidote. “Population, when unchecked,
increases in a geometric ratio. Subsistence only increases in an arithmetic
ratio,” Malthus wrote in his 1798 Essay on the Principle of Population, sug-
gesting that the population was growing faster than food supplies. But
the abundance of North America was proof that pessimistic theories of
doom were misguided. The United States was the savior of overcrowded
Europe. Horace Greeley later wrote, “If you have no family or friends to
aid you, and no prospect open to you . . . turn your face to the great West
and there build up your fortune and your home.” By the time he wrote this
in 1846, at least two generations had already done so.

1
2 WALL STREET

With the abundance of land, food, furs, and minerals, the only con-
straint on accumulating wealth was self-imposed. Success was limited
only by lack of imagination. Trading with the Europeans and with the
Indians, manufacturing basic staples, and ship transportation all had been
pursued successfully by some of the country’s oldest, and newest, entre-
preneurs. The businessman providing these services was adding value to
other goods and services for a society that was hardly self-sufficient at the
time. Making money was smiled upon, almost expected, as long as some
basic rules of the game were followed. Others had to benefit as well from
entrepreneurship. A popular form of utilitarian philosophy was in vogue,
and America was proving to be its best laboratory. The Protestant ethic
had not yet disappeared, but leverage was not well accepted. Borrowing
money to become successful in business was becoming popular because it
was recognized as the only way that capitalism could be practiced in some
cases. But the practice was still not socially acceptable and also had a weak
institutional underpinning.
Between independence and the Civil War, land played the pivotal role
in American investments and dreams. The vast areas of the country and
its seemingly never-ending territories provided untold opportunities for
Americans and Europeans alike. They represented everything the Old
World could no longer offer—opportunity, space to grow, and investment
possibilities. The idea certainly never lost its allure. When early entrepre-
neurs borrowed large sums of money, it was often to purchase land in the
hope of selling it to someone else at a profit. Even after much land was
titled in the nineteenth century, its central role in American ideology was
never forgotten. Its role as the pivotal part of the American Dream is still
often used to describe the American experience on an individual level.
At the time of American independence, land was viewed less for
homeownership than for productive purposes. England had already been
stripped bare of many natural resources, and new lands were sought to
provide a new supply. The oak tree was already extinct in Britain, and
many hardwoods had to be imported. The sight of the vast Appalachian
forests proved tempting for the overcrowded and overtaxed Europeans
who coveted the timber, furs, and minerals that these vast expanses could
provide. Much land was also needed to provide the new addictive crop
craved by both Europeans and Americans—tobacco.
The desire to own property had also been deeply ingrained in the
European, and particularly English, imagination. In the previous century,
after Britain’s civil war, John Locke had argued forcefully for property as
an extension of man’s self. To deprive a man of property was to deprive
him of a basic right, as the framers of the American Constitution knew
well. Arguing persuasively in The Federalist Papers, James Madison stated,
“Government is instituted no less for protection of the property than
 The Early Years (1790–1840) 3

of the persons of individuals.”1 This constitutional principle would help

make property a central issue in American politics. But in the 1790s it was
still something of a novel concept that nevertheless presented opportuni-
ties for vast wealth. No sooner had the ink on the Constitution dried than
European investments in the new country increased substantially. Within
a few years, land speculation would cause the first financial crash on Wall
Street.
Despite the promise, doing business in colonial America in the
middle and late eighteenth century was not an easy matter. Each colony
had its own currency and jealously protected its own economic position,
even when the federal government was formed after independence. The
Constitution prohibited the states from coining their own money after
1789, but the chartered banks that would soon be established within the
states took up that task. In the early years of the new Republic, many of
the same problems persisted. The country was not the homogeneous place
that it was later to become. Business between merchant traders, the life-
line of the early economy, could be conducted in British pounds, French
francs, or Spanish doubloons, as well as the new American dollars. When
transactions proved especially risky, payment was often requested in spe-
cie—gold or silver bullion. In the absence of state or federal taxes or high
labor costs, great fortunes were amassed by the American merchant class.
But the marketplace was hardly as efficient as those of the mother coun-
tries, Britain and Holland. Basic institutions were still lacking. The new
US Treasury Department was not instituted until six months after George
Washington was sworn in as president in 1789.
Another institution the new country lacked was an organized stock
exchange, a place where shares in trading companies and early manufac-
turers could change hands. Without an organized exchange, commerce
in the new country would not develop quickly or well. Exchanges were
needed so that investors could become familiar with companies and their
products. Only when the merchants began turning their attention to pro-
viding money for new ventures did the idea of trading shares and bonds
become more attractive. A market for these sorts of intangible assets had
already existed in Europe for about a hundred years, but the idea was slow
in crossing the Atlantic.
The European stock exchanges, or bourses, as they were called, were
established in the seventeenth century as places where governments could
sell their own loans (bonds) and the large mercantile trading companies
could raise fresh cash for their overseas adventures. The Dutch devel-
oped their bourses first, as early as 1611, with the English following about
seventy-five years later. Besides trading commodities vital to the devel-
oping mercantilist trade, both bourses began to actively trade new con-
cepts in financing—shares and loans or bonds. Governments and the early
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
KOLMAS KOHTAUS.

Vaudemont'in TRISTAN. Orange'n JAUFFRED, kummallakin kitara

olalla.

JAUFFRED (perällä, sala-oven takana).

Kavahtakaatte. Pilkku pimeä

Tääll' ompi.

TRISTAN (myöskin sala-oven takana).

Päisin vaan… Mut seiskaa! tääll'

On ovi.

JAUFFRED.

Ovi?

TRISTAN.

Vartokaas… ja lukku.
Se aukee.
 (Tulevat sisään.)
Mitä nä'enkään!

JAUFFRED.

Oi taivas!
Mi kukkain tuoksu!

TRISTAN.

Kasvitarha — täällä?
Välissä vuorten autioin! Ja kas
Tät' ihanuutta, — mikä järjestys!

JAUFFRED.

Ma aivan hämmästyn.

TRISTAN.

Ken paikan tään

On omistaja? Tehän täällä seuduin
Olette tuttu, lähell' asuttenkin.

JAUFFRED.

Jokapa tietäis! Tätä kasvitarhaa

Unissakaan en olo nähnyt koskaan.
Mi troopillinen kyllyys! Ontoin kasvein
Vihanta! Palmuja kas korkeoita!

TRISTAN.
 Ja asuinhuoneusta! Kuinka soma!
Puoliksi murattein ja ruusuin peitoss'!
— Entäspä asukkaat?

JAUFFRED.

En näe mä ketä;
Tän huvipuiston luulen kokonansa
Ilmaantuneeksi joskus kesäyönä,
Jolloinka Luna suostui tulemaan
Endymionin luo, ja kätki puhtaan
Vuon onnensa Vaucluse'n vuoristoon.
Näin ollen, asukkaat kyll' ovat menneet.

TRISTAN.

Ei, kyllä tääll' on niitä, jotka aina

Tääll' ovat, asuvat, ja liikkuvat.
Kas tuoss' on käytävällä jäljet tuoreet.

JAUFFRED.

Niin oikein, pienten sieväin jalkain. Tulkaa!

Nuot johtanevat, meitä tolalle.
Ne vievät tuonne alas huoneen taakse.

TRISTAN.

Ei, vartokaamme, kunnes joku tulee.

Älkäämme rohjetko. Jo paha kyll',
Ett' omin valloin tänne tunkeilimme.
JAUFFRED.

No, olkoon. Niin jos onni meitä noutaa.

Kuin tähän asti, olen tyytyväinen. —
Sill' ompahan tää onneks' sanottava:
Viel' emme kauhan' olleet luostarista,
Hilpeinä kulkein, vuoroin lauleskellen,
Kun vilkaselta kuningas René'n
Mä näin; hän miettiväisnä astui haussa
Cordovalaisen lääkärin. Te välttää
Tahdoitte kuningasta, kanssanne
Mua veditten, ja yli puitten, pölkkyin
Pakoillessamme, vuoren juurella
Yht'äkkiä me huomaitsemme aukon,
Jok' ilmeisesti oli tehty. Tuota
Me tutkimme ja, ensin pimeässä
Hapuillen, tänne vihdoin jouduimme.
— Mut sanokaas yks seikka mulle: miksi
Tahdoitte karttaa kuningas René'tä?
Hänenpä tähtensä te tulittenkin;
Mua pyysitten te luoksi hänen käymään
Myötänne huomenna: ja olettenpa
— Niin, kaikkihan sen tietää — olettenpa
Kihlattu hänen tyttärensä kanssa.

TRISTAN.

Kihlattu? Niinpä sanotaan. Ma tuskin

Yhdeksän vuoden vanha olin, kun
Ma kihlattiin. Mun isän' ja Burgund
Niin saivat päätetyksi, silloin kuin tuo
Sovinto tehtiin kanssa kuninkaan.
Mut, Jauffred, nyt ma olen vanhempi.
Ja niinkuin moinen sovinto, mi kesken
Paraimman voiton oikeuten' alttiiks'
On pannut, niinkuin tuo mua suututtaa,
Niin suututtaa myös naittaminen moinen.
Mä ylemnielin tänne tullut oon;
Ja ylemnielin hieman vaan ma aion
Täss' asiassa tehdä.

JAUFFRED.

Kuningasta
Mun sääli on. Mä tiedän, että kauan
Iloinnut on hän tuosta sovinnosta,
Mi vahvistettiin tällä liitolla.

TRISTAN.

Niin, hällä siitä hyöty lie sen uskon.

— Te tämän tyttären kai tunnetten?

JAUFFRED.

En: hänt' on muutamassa luostarissa

Espanjan sydänmailla kasvatettu.
Hän sieltä tuodaan teidän tullessanne.
Mut älkää unhottako, missä oomme.
Sisälle tänne kyllä pääsimme,
Ja paikan ihanuutta ei voi kieltää.
Mut pääsemmekö yhtä hyvin pois,
On toinen seikka.

TRISTAN.

Hoo, ei ole vaaraa.

JAUFFRED.

Te ette kolkuta ja kuulustele,

Ovatko väet kotona? Ma saanko —?

TRISTAN

Ei, suokaa mun. Jos joku kalman henki

Tai velho täällä hallitsee, niin onhan
Se soveljasta, että vaara ensin
Mua kohtaa, joka teidät viettelin.

(Kolkuttaa ovea.)

Ei ketään.

JAUFFRED.

Ovi aukaiskaa.

TRISTAN.

Ei käy
Se laatuun.

JAUFFRED.
 Koettakaa; kyll' laatuun käy.

TRISTAN.

No siis!
(Aukaisee oven.)
Oi taivas, Jauffred, mikä näky!

JAUFFRED.

Siis henki?

TRISTAN.

Kuinka? Henki? — niin, ma luulen…

Mut joku valkeuden kirkas henki.
Oi kas! kas!

JAUFFRED (katsoo sisään).

Kaunis tyttö vuotehella!

Hän nukkuu.

TRISTAN.

Niin, hän nukkuu. Rinta nousee

Ja laskee hiljan hänen hengitessään.
Kas kuinka suunsa luontuu hymyhyn,
Juur' kuin hän huomais' ihastuksemme.

JAUFFRED.
 Mä pyydän, Tristan, paetkaamme pois.
Mua huolettaapi kaunis näkö tuo.
Niin ylen viehättävä, ylen kaunis.
Tää ompi unilinna. Jalkamme
Jo salapauloiss' ovat, — paetkaamme!
— Mi teitä vaivaa, Tristan? Taivas! hän jo
Lumottu ompi. Seisoo tuijottaa,
Kuin maahan kiintynynnä. — Tristan, tulkaa!

TRISTAN (innostuneena katsoen sisään).

Oi hiljaa, Jauffred! herätä hän saattais'.

Oi hiljaa! Synti on tät' tyyneyttä
Ja rauhaa häiritä, mi leviää
Tuost' unen huopeest' yli kaiken luonnon.

JAUFFRED.

Oi kuulkaa!

TRISTAN.

Hiljaa, hiljaa! Pyhäinen

On paikka tää.
(Lankee polvillensa ja kurottaa käsiänsä avonaista oven kohden.)
Oi, ällös suuttuko,
Pyhyyttömällä katsehella että
Mä lähenen sun lepovuodettas!

JAUFFRED (nostaa häntä ylös).

 Voi nouskaa! Huolissani oon mä teistä.
Te noiduksihin ootte joutuneet.
Tuo näkö valhenäkö ompi. Tulkaa!

TRISTAN.

En saata.

JAUFFRED.

Älkää toki kuvapatsaan

Tavalla seisoko! Nyt päätös tehkää!

Jos ette tule, mieltä rohkaiskaatte —
Tiedustakaamme, ken tuo impi on,
Herättäkäämme hän.

TRISTAN.

Ei — synti ois se.

JAUFFRED.

Jos ette te, niin minä.

(Menee sisään.)

TRISTAN.

Tuota hurjaa! —
Hän kutsuu häntä, — kuule! Kätehen
Hän tohtii häntä tarttua…
 JAUFFRED (hämillänsä ulos tullen).

Nyt pois!
Ei voi hän herätä; — hän ompi jonkun
Salaisen loihtuvoiman vallassa.
Oi tulkaa! Hyvää en mä ennusta.
Olemme tunkenehet pyhyyteen,
Mik' uhkaa meitä kuolemalla.

TOISTAN.

Niin,
Pyhyyteen; ootte oikeassa. Mutta
Eloa — eikä kuoloa — se tarjoo.
Vaan — jättäkäämme tämä pyhä paikka,
Johonka tulemalla väärin teimme.
Hän nukkuu; — jalosti ei ole tehty.
Jos jäämme.

JAUFFRED.

Siispä tulkaa!

TRISTAN.

Vartokaas,
Oi Jauffred! Kerta silmäillä mun suokaa!
Vaan kerran häntä lähemmältä katson,
Ja sitte tulen.

JAUFFRED.
 Kas, hän polvistuu…
Hän hiljan hänen kättäns' suutelee.
Ja häntä katsoo!… Hänen kaulastaan
Hän rihman irrottaa, ja ottaa sen.
No, kiitos Jumalan, tuoss' on hän jällen.

TRISTAN (tullen ulos).

Syvälle sydämeeni painanut

Nyt oon tuon kauniin muodon, haihtua
Ei voi se sieltä. Niin, nyt lähtekäämme,
Ja peljätkäämme paikan jumaluutta.
Mut palata ma olen luvannut,
Ja joll'en pety, kuuntel' unissaan hän
Suloisin hymysuin mun lupaustan'?
Kas tämän kannehen ma otin. Jauffred.
Hijoiltun kiven, hänen rinnaltaan
Jok' oli. Niinkuin David leikkas' Saulin
Hameesta tilkan hänen nukkuissansa.
Merkiksi, että Saulin henki hänen
Ol' ollut kädessänsä, niin tää kanne
Todistakoon mun täällä ollehen,
Mut että minun henken' joutui hänen
Käteensä, vaikkapa hän nukkui. Jauffred.
Tulkaatte!

(Menevät sala-ovea kohden, jolloin Jolantha tulee näkyviin

huoneen ovessa.)
NELJÄS KOHTAUS.

EDELLISET. JOLANTHA.

(Vaikka Jolantha on sokea, ovat hänen liikuntonsa vapaat ja tarkat.

Ainoasti kuuntelevan asentonsa kautta silloin tällöin ja käsien
ikäänkuin hapuilevista liikkeistä havaitsee, että häneltä näkö puuttuu.
Silmät ovat auki, mutta usein alaspäin ja liikkuvat varsin vähän.)

JOLANTHA (ovessa).

Martha! Bertrand!

TRISTAN.

Ah, tuoss' on hän!

JOLANTHA.

Puhuihan joku.
(Menee äänen johdolla suoraan Tristania kohden.)
Ken on siellä?

TRISTAN
 Outo,
Jok' anoo anteeks', ett' on huimapäänä
Hän paikan rauhaa häirinnyt ja teitä.

JOLANTHA

Sä kättä anna!
(Tristan antaa kättä.)
Et sä ole käynyt
Meill' ennen. Ääntäs en mä tunne. Kai
Sa Bertrandin tai Marthan kohtasit,
Kun tulit?

TRISTAN.

Ketäkään en kohdannut.
Mun saatti tänne muuan sattumus.

JAUFFRED (erikseen Tristanille).

Vähäisen Bertrandista tiedustelkaa!

JOLANTHA (kuunnellen).

Ken on sun mukanas?

TRISTAN.

Mun ystäväni,
Ritari, trubaduri näiltä seuduin.

JOLANTHA.
 Olette tervetulleet kumpikin.
Käykäätte sisään, siell' on viileämpi.

JAUFFRED (kiireesti).

Jos suvaitsette sen, niin tänne jäämme.

(Erikseen Tristanille:)
Se kyll' on paras.

JOLANTHA (joka vielä pitää Tristania kädestä).

Kätesi on lämmin:
Ma suonen tykkimisen huomaitsen.
Sa varmaan palavoitsit matkalla.
Sun eikö ole jano? Maltappas,
Ma tarjoon sulle maljan viiniä.

(Menee sisälle huoneesen.)

TRISTAN.

Kuink' armas olento! ja jalot kasvot!

Mi lempeä ja hellä hiljaisuus
Niiss' on! Ja äänensä kuink' ihanainen!

JAUFFRED.

Olette oikeassa. Kun hän puhuu.

Vastustamatta mieli viehättyy
Ja Herran haltuun heittäyy ja hänen.
Jaloa sukua hän varmaan on.
Mut — olla vähän varoillaan ei haita:
Kun viini tulee, Tristan, älkää juoko!

TRISTAN.

Halulla juon mä hänen kädestään

Vaikk' kuoleman.

(Jolantha palaa tuoden kannua ja pikaria.)

JOLANTHA.

Täss' ompi viiniä,

Jot' isäni on tapa juoda. Liian
On väkevää se mulle. Maistakaatte!

(Kaataa pikariin ja kohottaa sitä Tristanille.)

TRISTAN (juodessaan).

Ihana, nuori neiti, — onneksenne!

JOLANTHA.

Otappa kannu, jos sun ystäväskin

Halaisi juoda. Hedelmiä poimin
Mä teille muutamia — viinamarjoj'
Ja taateleit', tai mitä parhain maistuu.

(Poimii viiniköynnöksistä huoneen läheltä ja muista puista

hedelmiä koriin, jonka hän ottaa pöydältä.)

TRISTAN (tarjoo pikaria Jauffredille).

 Juokaatte, Jauffred!

JAUFFRED.

Ette mitäkään
Siis huomaa? teit' ei lainkaan rasita?

TRISTAN.

Ei, huolet' olkaa vaan.

JAUFFRED.

Siis onkohan

Se viiniä?
(Maistaa.)
Malvasiaa, kautt' taivaan!
Parempaa kuningas René'll' ei lie.
No, Tristan, minä juon, mut teidän siit'
On vastaaminen. (Juo.) Haa! Kuink' oivallisia!
Miss' semmoist' annetaan, ei siellä suinkaan
Vallitse mikään kalman henki.

JOLANTHA (lähenee taasen).

Täss'
On hedelmät, jos teidän haluttaa.
Mä pöydälle ne lasken.

JAUFFRED.
 Kaunis neiti!
Jop' oletten te meitä virvotelleet.
Maljaamme viiniä jo laskeneet
Niin elävyyttävää ja harvinaista,
Ett' aivan syystä arvelemme, jotta
Talossa rikkaassa ja arvoisessa
Olemme vieraisilla. Ihanuus
Ja viini luopi laulun: suosiolla
Siis kuunnelkaatte pari sanaa, jotka
Värsyinä polvikkaina ilmi tuovat
Kiitollisuutemme ja mielemme.

(Ottaa käsille kitaransa ja laususkelee, pari kertaa kieliä

näpättyänsä, seuraavaa, jota hän säisfää yksinkertaisilla akordeilla
anapestisessä tahdissa.)

Jo vauhdistaan
Se tunnetaan,
Tuo jahtihaukka lennossaan:
Ja laulustaan
Ja riemustaan
Tunteepi kertun oksallaan.

Miehuudestaan
Ja toimestaan
Ritari uljas huomataan;
Mut soitostaan,
Runoilustaan
Tuo trubaduri tunnetaan.

(Muuttaa tahtia.)
 Mut linnaan jos outohon astuilet,
Miss' urhoj' ja naisia viihtyy,
Sa suosion saavasi toivoilet,
Kun soittosi, laulusi kiihtyy;
Ja maljan kun hempeä poikanen tuo
Trubadurin terveydeksi,
Niin huomavi, huulille viinin kun luo,
Tämän paikan oivalliseksi.

(Lopettaa kovalla pääte-akordilla.)

JOLANTHA.

Suloinen laulus on ja mainiosti

Edistynyttä taitoa se näyttää.

TRISTAN.

Provence'n nuoremmista trubadureist⁵

On ystäväni suurimaineinen.

JOLANTHA (Tristanille).

Myös sulle annettiinko laulun mahti?

TRISTAN.

Ma olen hänen oppilaansa vaan.

Suvaitkaa sentään, — lempeisyytenne
Suo mulle rohkeutta lauleloon.
Mut hyvään tahtohoni tyytykää.
(Älottaa joka jakson seuraajasta parilla kitaran näppäämisellä.)

Ma mailman puuhaa pakenin,

Läpitse vuoren astelin
Hapuillen vaivoin pimeässä.
Ma vihdoin jouduin laaksohon,
Miss' aimo, vilvas puisto on,
Ma kauniit kasvit näin ja huoneen tässä.

Mut tääll' on hiljaa; mitäkään

En kuulo, linnun ääntäkään;
Miss' onkaan uurasteljat, kansa missä?
Kuhunka vaan mä silmän' luon,
On hilja kautta laakson tuon;
Juhlaista on, kuin illoin temppelissä.

Ma huoneen oven auki saan,

— Ja ah! kuin ruusu nukkuissaan,
Jon mailmalt' Untamo on kätkenynnä…
Ma sun näin uinuksissa noin,
Ja kaikki, minne silmän' loin,
Ol' lepohon sun kanssas viettynynnä.

Niin lieden liekkikin, ja kas!

Niin ilmakin sun poskillas,
Ja latva palmun nyykkäs' nukkuissansa.
Sun henkes kaiken elon soi,
Sun kauttas kaikki vihannoi,
Kaikk' kiinni silmäns' loi sun silmäs kanssa.

Nyt heräsit — ja kerrassaan

Myös luonto heräs' unestaan.
Kuin aamun koitost' ois se herännynnä.
Oi, ota, ruusu ontoin,
Nyt vastaan mielisuosioin
Tää aamutervehdys, mi heräs' ynnä!

JOLANTHA (Tristanille vähän ajan mietittyään, käsi otsallaan.)

Annappa mulle kitaras.

(Soittelee johdatusta ja säistää parilla tahdilla seuraavia jaksoja.)

Kunnian suuren
Se vieras on saava,
Mi herttaisen mielen
Tuo mukanaan,
'Tuo tarinoita
Ja lauluja, joita
Me mielusat oomme kuuntelemaan.

Mut suurimman kaikist'

On kunnian saava
Se vieras, mi voipi
Kielien soinnun
Lauluhan liittää,
Ja värsyjen polviin
Aatteita tuopi,
Ja lauseille lentimet luopi.

Myös pyhät voimat

Laulajan kanssa
Käy tupahan:
Ja laulaessansa