it. We should see certain things yet, let us
hope and believe. First, a modified monarchy,
till Arthur’s days were done, then the destruction
of the throne, nobility abolished, every member of
it bound out to some useful trade, universal suffrage
instituted, and the whole government placed in the
hands of the men and women of the nation there to
remain. Yes, there was no occasion to give up
my dream yet a while.
MARCO
We strolled along in a sufficiently indolent fashion
now, and talked. We must dispose of about the
amount of time it ought to take to go to the little
hamlet of Abblasoure and put justice on the track
of those murderers and get back home again. And
meantime I had an auxiliary interest which had never
paled yet, never lost its novelty for me since I had
been in Arthur’s kingdom: the behavior—born
of nice and exact subdivisions of caste—of
chance passers-by toward each other. Toward
the shaven monk who trudged along with his cowl tilted
back and the sweat washing down his fat jowls, the
coal-burner was deeply reverent; to the gentleman
he was abject; with the small farmer and the free mechanic
he was cordial and gossipy; and when a slave passed
by with a countenance respectfully lowered, this chap’s
nose was in the air—he couldn’t even
see him. Well, there are times when one would
like to hang the whole human race and finish the farce.
Presently we struck an incident. A small mob
of half-naked boys and girls came tearing out of the
woods, scared and shrieking. The eldest among
them were not more than twelve or fourteen years old.
They implored help, but they were so beside themselves
that we couldn’t make out what the matter was.
However, we plunged into the wood, they skurrying
in the lead, and the trouble was quickly revealed:
they had hanged a little fellow with a bark rope,
and he was kicking and struggling, in the process of
choking to death. We rescued him, and fetched
him around. It was some more human nature; the
admiring little folk imitating their elders; they
were playing mob, and had achieved a success which
promised to be a good deal more serious than they
had bargained for.
It was not a dull excursion for me. I managed
to put in the time very well. I made various
acquaintanceships, and in my quality of stranger was
able to ask as many questions as I wanted to.
A thing which naturally interested me, as a statesman,
was the matter of wages. I picked up what I
could under that head during the afternoon.
A man who hasn’t had much experience, and doesn’t
think, is apt to measure a nation’s prosperity
or lack of prosperity by the mere size of the prevailing
wages; if the wages be high, the nation is prosperous;
if low, it isn’t. Which is an error.
It isn’t what sum you get, it’s how much
you can buy with it, that’s the important thing;
and it’s that that tells whether your wages
