He even gesticulated a tiny illustration or two into the
edge of the text. Seldom had these earnest and intent young men heard
such a theme presented with so many nods and becks and wreathed smiles;
it seemed like the stirring of a cesspool with a silver soup-ladle.
"And what consolation have you to offer me for that?" smiled Truesdale,
as he finished.
He himself appeared to share but slightly the indignation that his
recital aroused; after all, these doings were alien to him--like the
domestic difficulties that might be distracting some ant-hill in
mid-Africa. But on the others it produced the effect that the recital of
specific injuries always does--and should.
"This, for example," answered a sardonic young man, whose close-shaven
black beard showed through his drawn and sallow skin: "that we are at
last playing the game with all the pieces on the board, with all the
cards in the pack; with all the elements, in other words, of a vast and
diversified human nature. The simple hopes and ideals of this Western
world of fifty years ago--even of twenty years ago--where are they now?
What the country really celebrated at Philadelphia in 1876, however
unconsciously, as the ending of its minority and the assumption of full
manhood with all its perplexities and cares. The broad life of the real
world began for us the very next year--"
"You mean with the railroad riots?" asked Brower.
--"and has been going on more fiercely ever since.
Pages:
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252