“The Cellar of Little Egypt” is among the least appreciated of Russell Kirk’s many ghost stories. It is a tale about how businesses can be corrupted from internal forces, and it offers businessmen a shot of moral imagination.
“The Cellar of Little Egypt” is among the least appreciated of Russell Kirk’s many ghost stories. Kirk penned this story in 1949 between the writing of the heralded “Behind the Stumps” published in the London Mystery Magazine in early 1950 and Kirk’s second publication in that journal in December of 1950, “The Surly Sullen Bell.” Kirk submitted “The Cellar of Little Egypt” for publication but the editors of London Mystery Magazine rejected the story. Kirk biographer Bradley Birzer contends that this tale “is the hardest of Kirk’s stories to understand[i] and suggests that it “feels more like a vignette of small-town life.” London Mystery Magazine published Kirk’s “Uncle Isaiah” in late 1951 and then his “Old Place of Sorworth” in 1952. So, of the first five supernatural tales penned by Kirk, “The Cellar of Little Egypt” was the only one rejected for publication.
Kirk eventually published the tale in his first collection of ghost stories in 1962 and it was the only story out of the ten in that volume which Kirk had not published first in a literary magazine. As such, Prof. Birzer is correct to note the story as a bit of an outlier. When Ash-Tree Press published a two-volume collection of Kirk’s twenty-two ghost stories, series editor John Pelan commented on twenty-one out of twenty-two stories across his two introductions. Once again, “The Cellar of Little Egypt” was the sole unmentioned tale. No one seems to know what to say about this particular story.
Prof. Birzer and the magazine editors rightly criticize the story for an overabundance of characters but Kirk needed an abundance of characters to illustrate two separate communities—the corrupted community of Little Egypt (Dan Slattery, Baldy Johnson, Red Fellows, and Jack Cane) and the nobler community of New Devon’s citizens (Deputy George Russell, Brice the Undertaker, Uncle Jake, and his nephew, Roy). For simplicity, this essay focuses primarily on three characters: Amos Trimble (the protagonist), Uncle Jake (the sidekick), and “Bloody” Dan Slattery (the antagonist). Furthermore, some of the difficulty with “The Cellar of Little Egypt” (henceforth referred to as “Cellar”) as a story must surely lie with its peculiar narrative structure. Uncle Jake’s nephew, Roy, narrates the tale when he is an “old codger” long after the death of his Uncle Jake. Roy states that “Cellar” is a story about Amos Trimble as he learned it from his Uncle Jake some fifty years earlier. Roy notes that this is a story “they don’t tell children.” In the end, Roy’s narration clarifies that Amos Trimble is the protagonist, as he is mentioned in the first sentence, as the core subject of Uncle Jake’s oral history, and in the tale’s final sentence.
This essay interprets “Cellar” as one of a select few of Kirk’s ghostly tales which focus on a business context as opposed to the government context. Whereas “Behind the Stumps” or “Ex Tenebris” are tales of overreaching civil servants getting their due, “Cellar” is a story about the judgment of corrupt business and its leadership. In addition, this essay explains the basic moral core of “Cellar” by focusing on its attention to Old Testament prophetic writings, particularly the book of Ezekiel.
Business Corruption and Judgment in Kirk’s Early Ghost Stories
Kirk penned the tale in 1950, and the narrator reflects on a time “fifty years gone,” or about the year 1900. As a result, the text is intentionally a pre-Prohibition tale. Alcohol use is one of the key vices in the tale, and Uncle Jake has an alcohol problem. The key location, Little Egypt, is a tavern where the most notable piece of furniture is a “long oak bar.” “Cellar” is a tale about how businesses can be corrupted from internal forces. In contrast, “Uncle Isaiah” written the following year is a tale about how external forces can corrupt a business. Either way, readers can easily overlook the core business context in both of these stories.
Kirk’s implicit view of business comes through in his choice of jobs for characters along with a bit of commentary. Uncle Jake in “Cellar” is a cobbler and Daniel Kinnard in “Uncle Isaiah” is a tailor. With these choices, Kirk affirms the nobility of the craftsman and small family business while bemoaning the factories, mills, and supermarkets that now populate New Devon. Cobblers and tailors are both noble vocations related to helping clothe the naked, per the requirements of Judeo-Christian teaching. Not coincidentally, these two trades are also central to “A Lyke-Wake Dirge,” a well-known song about the soul’s journey after death which Kirk explicitly utilized in two stories (“Saviourgate” and “The Reflex-Man in Whinnymuir Close”).
The song teaches that a soul’s journey through a difficult, purgatorial afterlife is made better if a person helped provide clothes or shoes while alive. By contrast, those who did not provide clothing and shoes are forced to continue a thorn-filled journey with neither trousers nor shoes. Kirk connects Uncle Jake’s cobbling to a possible divine purpose by having Uncle Jake finish the hammering of each nail with the exclamation “Hum b’God!” Uncle Jake’s cobbling does not spare him from all vice or suffering, but it most likely helps fortify him against the judgment that descends upon Little Egypt. Below is a table displaying a selection of lyrics from “A Lyke-Wake Dirge” and their parallels to characters in both “Cellar” and “Uncle Isaiah.” [ii]
Sit thee down and put them on
Sit then down and put them on
Daniel Kinnaird is a tailor in “Uncle Isaiah”
The whinnes shall prick thee to the bare bane
The thorns shall prick you to the bare bone
At t’ Brig o’ Dread thou’lt find foothold
At Bridge of Dread you’ll find foothold
Down thou tumblest to Hell flame
You’ll tumble down to Hell’s flames
The fire sall never make thee shrink
The fire will never make you shrink
The fire will burn thee to the bare bane
The fire will burn you to the bare bone
The table above suggests that Kirk had a working knowledge of “A Lyke-Wake Dirge” as early as 1950 and used it to structure two of his first four stories. The virtuous trades and business vices of key characters fall neatly into the existing verses of the dirge. In contrast to Uncle Jakes’ cobbling, “Bloody” Dan Slattery’s butchering and bartending is another matter altogether. Bloody Dan butchers only humans in “Cellar” and sells only alcohol – both clear corruptions of the virtue of giving meat and drink. And what does the “Lyke-Wake Dirge” say about such people? Little Egypt indeed burns before the story ends and its butcher-bartender perishes. In “Uncle Isaiah,” Daniel Kinnaird’s tailoring business contrasts with Bruno Costa’s extortion “business” and Costa gets his judgment at the hands of Uncle Isaiah.
Let’s examine Little Egypt’s downward spiral in more detail. Circa 1890, the business was known as the Madison and was “a first-rate tavern, one of the prettiest in the state.” Kirk does not condemn tavern businesses in his ghostly tales. In fact, The Crosskeys inn and tavern is a paradisical portal in his 1976 tale, “Saviourgate.” When the Madison came under the ownership of Baldy Johnson, however, it became “a filthy hole.” Baldy is an archetypical Egyptian female with a shaven head. She also has a child of uncertain paternity. Unlike Ann Lurlin in “Old Place of Sorworth” who brings out the noblest in a man, Baldy Johnson brings out the worst in the men around her. As the woman in charge, Baldy Johnson allows violence and vice to take over.
Some of the Madison’s patrons traveled to the Chicago Exposition in 1892 and witnessed the exotic dancer Little Egypt perform[iii]. Upon their return, they change the name of the Madison to Little Egypt and the downward spiral continues. Little Egypt appears to have two core business activities: a bar and card tables. For Kirk, the card table represents the mere redistribution of wealth with no value-added activity like the more noble businesses of cobbling, tailoring, or farming. The bar, staffed by “Bloody” Dan Slattery, becomes a point of corruption for New Devon. Dan Slattery is simply a pharaoh figure carrying an ax instead of a scepter. He is just as likely to slaughter a man as he is to slaughter an animal, as evidenced by the human sacrifice of Jingo Criminy with Criminy’s own stove serving as Slattery’s altar.
Kirk’s basic business moral is that The Madison/Little Egypt is corrupted from within—from the immoral leadership of Baldy Johnson and “Bloody” Dan Slattery. Further, one corrupt business can corrupt other virtuous trades in the community. It is interesting to note that Kirk avoids commentary on greed in both this tale and “Uncle Isaiah”. Instead, he delves into the familial origins and consequences of greed in other tales, most notably “Fate’s Purse” and “What Shadows We Pursue”. However, supernatural judgment descends on both Little Egypt in the person of Amos Trimble and Bruno Costa in the person of Uncle Isaiah. As such, let’s turn our attention to Amos Trimble, the supernatural protagonist in “Cellar.”
Amos Trimble and Old Testament Prophecy in “Cellar”
Kirk’s 1950 stories are filled with Old Testament references. Old Testament epigraphs introduce “Behind the Stumps,” “Uncle Isaiah,” “The Surly Sullen Bell,” and “Ex Tenebris.” The names of Old Testament prophets are quite common as well. There’s Daniel Kinnaird and his Uncle Isaiah and “Cellar” features Amos Trimble who leaves a message behind in the book of Ezekiel. Some readers might find the Ezekiel 8:8 reference in “Cellar” confusing.
“Just where was this paper stuck?” said Russell.
“What made you ask that?” Brice said. “It’s a funny thing. I wrote down the book, chapter, and verse: Ezekiel, eighth chapter, eighth verse, at the top of the page. Look it up.”
Russell took his own Bible from the whatnot in the corner, and read aloud to Brice and Jake: “Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee and accomplish mine anger upon thee; and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for thy abominations.”
Attentive readers quickly notice that Russell reads Ezekiel 7:8 rather than Ezekiel 8:8. However, the slip of paper was not marking a specific verse but rather a page in an already opened Bible on Amos Trimble’s desk. Thus, Deputy Russell could open to a page with Ezekiel 8:8 at the top and find the verse Ezekiel 7:8 in the general vicinity or, easier still, on the prior facing page. The specificity of the verse is not as important as that the verse comes from the book of Ezekiel and mentions a judgement of fury. No single Old Testament book contains more prophecy against Egypt than the book of Ezekiel. Throughout the Torah and the Old Testament Prophets, Egypt continuously represents what God does not want for his covenant people.[iv]
Ezekiel Chapters 29 through 32 contain a prophecy against both Egypt and Pharaoh. Amos Trimble is the prophet who delivers this judgment to pharaoh Dan Slattery and the corrupt community of Little Egypt. Ezekiel prophecies that God is against Pharaoh king of Egypt (29:3), that Egypt will become a desolate wasteland (29:9), that God will set fire to Egypt (30:16), and that Pharaoh will be broken and lie among the dead in the pit of Sheol (32:18, 32:28). In the Old Testament, Sheol is a subterranean underworld filled with the souls of both the righteous and unrighteous dead.
Every Kirk story has an epigraph and this story’s epigraph is about being dead and underground. The actual cellar of Little Egypt is not the deepest or lowest place in the tale. The entrance to the cellar is via the back room of Little Egypt and the cellar has a cistern that’s even lower. Dan Slattery kills three people in this story: Jingo Criminy, Amos Trimble, and Red Fellows. But Slattery has killed more than those accounted for in this story as evidenced by the inclusive cry from the cellar during the fire at Little Egypt: “Why don’t you get us out of the cellar Slattery?” Slattery’s dead have congregated in the Sheol of the cellar and cistern of Little Egypt and Trimble is sent, in part, to release these dead from their captivity. As such, “Cellar” takes its place in the long line of sagas about a protagonist entering the underworld.
Amos Trimble is this protagonist and his descent into the cellar of Little Egypt more resembles Jesus’ descent to hell than either Dante’s trip through the Inferno or Aeneas’ descent to the underworld. Similar to Ralph Bain in Kirk’s novel Lord of the Hollow Dark, Amos Trimble is sent, not summoned. There is no indication that the noble citizens of New Devon called out for divine assistance. Rather, Amos Trimble arrives in New Devon “from the West” and purchases the Adams House for his residence where he kept his many books including his Bible. Contrast this with Uncle Jake: “There’d been a day when people called him a great reader – before he got in with the boys at Little Egypt.” Little Egypt boasts only cards and no mention of even the newspapers that graced The Crosskeys in “Saviourgate.” Trimble is also said to have powers and, after the death of Jingo Criminy, he conducts a candlelit session that harkens back to the Swedenborgian events of Russell Kirk’s upbringing.
Trimble’s judgment of Little Egypt is completely voluntarily. “I’ll play your game,” he tells Slattery before Slattery kills and dismembers him in the cellar of Little Egypt. But Slattery’s diabolical imagination cannot conceive of Amos Trimble continuing to live on after his death and bringing an end to Slattery’s corrupt reign. For Slattery, humans and animals are both completely dead once they are killed. Trimble remains among the dead gathered in the cistern below the cellar of Little Egypt, even though Slattery and his gang dismember Trimble. But the cellar and cistern of Little Egypt could not hold Trimble even though he’s seen there at the end of the tale. It’s Trimble’s voice that everyone hears in the back room during the fire at Little Egypt. It’s also possible that he brings justice to Jack Cane in Chicago after Cane flees New Devon after the fire. He’s enough of a presence after his death that Dan Slattery starts keeping watch for his return. Trimble is also assumed to have exited the cellar to leave the message for Brice in his own Bible at the Adams House a month after the fire at Little Egypt. Overcoming the dismemberment, Trimble breaks Slattery’s neck and back at the end of the story.
Trimble’s actions bring an end to both “Bloody” Dan Slattery and Little Egypt as a business. Trimble’s actions also redeem Uncle Jake whose fall and rebirth parallel that of Little Egypt. Like the Madison tavern, Uncle Jake had once been a virtuous, hard-working cobbler. But as Little Egypt’s corrupting influence grows, Uncle Jakes’s life more and more consisted of drinking whiskey and playing cards at Little Egypt. After Trimble, Little Egypt becomes the Puritan Hotel and Uncle Jake returns to his cobbling bench. He stops drinking, focuses on his cobbling work, keeps watch, and shares this oral history with his nephew, Roy, so that it might be passed on to others.
A Failure of Imagination
Kirk’s 1957 Fortune essay, “The Inhumane Businessman” offers a few concluding perspectives on this and other of his earliest ghostly tales. “Humanism is a discipline that traces its origins back to the Hebrew prophets and the Greek philosophers,” Kirk writes, “and has existed ever since to humanize men.” He went on to lament that “with the successive industrial revolutions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries… this veneration of humane learning began to disappear—especially among businessmen in America.” Seven years prior to this Fortune essay Kirk imagined “Cellar” and its characters to demonstrate how deep the descent becomes when businessmen forsake the Western tradition for common vices—drunkenness, gambling, and overwork. Uncle Jake is also noted as working too much and having no leisure time which Kirk critiques as being similar to Aristotle’s slaves who suffer from “unremitting labor.” Amos Trimble, in contrast, is a man with leisure time who arrived “from the West.” This freedom positions him to voluntarily descended as deep as necessary to correct Little Egypt’s downward spiral. Kirk argues in this essay that, “Imagination rules business.” Dan Slattery’s fatal conceit was that he could not imagine a man might rise from the dead.
Kirk concludes his essay arguing that the American businessman is now the “chief guardian of our civil and cultural inheritance.” With “The Cellar of Little Egypt” and other ghostly tales, Kirk offers businessmen a shot of moral imagination. My own hope is that Kirk would be pleased that at least one of the “inhumane professors” he feared was overrunning business education recommends his second earliest ghost story as essential reading for businessmen or anyone else who wishes to better wield the sword of imagination.
Dr. Blaine McCormick is a management professor at the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University.
[i] See Bradley J. Birzer’s Russell Kirk: American Conservative (2015) University Press of Kentucky. This commentary is on page 299.
[ii] Traditional Lyrics and Translated Lyrics provide by Jeff Dunteman’s “Understanding Lyke Wake Dirge” retrieved at http://www.duntemann.com/likewakepage.htm
[iii] Little Egypt most likely performed in Chicago in 1893, not 1892.
[iv] See Leon Kass’ informative Founding God’s Nation: Reading Exodus (2021) Yale University Press.
The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politics—we approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.
The featured image is “McSorley’s Bar” (1912) by John Sloan, and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.