When I first entered the large hall of Shawmut College, where I was to deliver my lectures, I noticed near the door of the room a gentleman of about forty years of age. He was too old to be one of the students and as I had not seen him when Dr. Leete introduced me to the professors of the institution, I was somewhat curious to know in what capacity he honored my debut. The cordial reception I had met at the hands of the professors, the fact that every seat of the large hall was occupied, acted as a stimulus and when Dr. White, the president of Shawmut College had introduced me with a few complimentary remarks as a living witness of the nineteenth century, I began my first lecture in the best of spirits. My speech contained naturally many of the points that Dr. Leete had most dwelt upon, when, in his conversations with me, he had compared the organization of society of the nineteenth and that of the twentieth centuries. I said in substance, that my hearers must not expect a synopsis of the civilization of the two centuries or a panegyric of the present state of affairs. I would point out but a few conditions, regulations As characteristic of the spirit of the civilization of the nineteenth century, I described the insane competition, where a man in a foul fight must “cheat, overreach, supplant, defraud, buy below worth and sell above, break down the business by which his neighbor fed his young ones, tempt men to buy what they ought not and to sell what they should not, grind their laborers, sweat their debtors, cozen their creditors,” And while one hundred and thirteen years ago all men worked like slaves, until completely exhausted, without having even a guaranty that they would not die in poverty or from hunger, the men of the twentieth century were walking in the sunlight of freedom, security, happiness and equality. After receiving an excellent education in standard schools and then passing through an apprenticeship of three years, the young people of the twentieth century select their vocation. Short hours of work permit them, even during the years of service in the industrial army, to spend more time for the continuation of their studies and for recreation than the people who lived a hundred years ago had ever believed to be consistent with a successful management of industries, farming or public affairs. Free from all cares, in perfect harmony with each other, without the disturbing influence of political parties, enjoying a wealth unprecedented in the history of nations, we might verily say: “The long and weary winter of our race is ended. Its summer has begun. Humanity has burst the chrysalis. The heavens are before it!” I had spoken with enthusiasm, yes, even with deep emotion and I expected, if not a warm, at least a sympathetic reception of my address. But only a faint and very cold applause followed my remarks. I had the impression that not one fourth of the young men present had found it worth their while to show their approval of my lecture, and that the applause of even these few had been an act of courtesy rather than a spontaneous outburst of feeling. The chilly reception was such a great disappointment to me that I could not rally courage enough to leave my chair and pass through the students as they were leaving the hall. I busied myself at the little desk before me until everybody had gone with the exception of the gentleman who had arrested my attention when I entered the room. He remained at the door evidently waiting for me. “You belong to the college?” I asked, to hide my embarrassment. “Indeed I do”, he answered with a light smile, that challenged another question. “I suppose I have the pleasure of meeting one of my colleagues”, I continued. “My name is West”. “Until about a month ago I was Professor Forest, your predecessor in teaching the history of the nineteenth century; to-day I am one of the janitors and my chief has been good enough to recommend this room to my care.” I had during the last few days seen and heard so But the information, that to a professor of history was assigned the duty of cleaning the rooms, where he had once lectured, sounded so incredible and opened such an unpleasing prospect for my own career, that I could not conceal my amazement. “And what has caused this singular change of position”, I inquired. “In comparing the lot of humanity in 1900 and 2000 I came to conclusions very different from yours”, responded Mr. Forest. “You do not mean to say, that the condition of the people of the nineteenth century was better than that of the present generation?” I asked with some curiosity. “That is my opinion”, said Mr. Forest. “The only way I can understand you holding such extraordinary views, is that you are personally quite unacquainted with the civilization of which you speak so highly,” I declared. “I have “Then you must of course disapprove the views developed in my lecture?” “Your address will undoubtedly be published in extenso in all the administration organs, that is, in nearly every newspaper in the land”, said Mr. Forest, evading a direct answer to my question. “Administration organs you say”, I asked with surprise: “Has the administration organs, and why does it need them?” “Of course the administration has organs”, answered Forest. “And it is both difficult and unpleasant to edit an opposition paper. Therefore we have only a few of them.” “But Dr. Leete said: “We have no parties or politicians and as for demagoguery and corruption, they are words having only a historical significance.” My companion broke into a loud laugh, after which he asked: “Excuse, please, my merriment, but Dr. Leete is a great joker, who never fails to “bring down the house.” Well! Well! That is too good. I wish I could have seen his face when he gave you that information.” And Mr. Forest laughed again. “Dr. Leete is a politician?” I asked in the utmost astonishment. “Yes. Dr. Leete is the most influential leader of the administration party in Boston. I owe it to his kind interference, that I am still connected with the college.” Noticing that I did not know how to construe this statement, Mr. Forest added: “When, in comparing the civilization of your days with ours, I came to the conclusion, that communism had proved a failure, I was accused of misleading and corrupting the students and the usual sentence in such cases: “confinement in an insane asylum”, was passed. Because, it is claimed, that only a madman could find fault with the best organization of society ever introduced. Dr. Leete, however, declared, that my insanity was so harmless, that confinement in an asylum seemed unnecessary, besides being too expensive. I could still earn my living by doing light work about the college building; and my case would serve as a “The students seem to share your opinion, at least they received my remarks very coldly,” I remarked, in order to avoid a discussion of the qualities of my host. Mr. Forest’s keen grey eyes rested for a moment upon my face, and then he said in a friendly tone: “I believe you were convinced of what you said, Mr. West; but did it not occur to you, that you treated your time and your contemporaries very severely? Did competition really demand, that one should defraud his neighbor, grind his laborers, sweat his debtors and snatch the bread from others? Were the majority of the men of your time swindlers and Shylocks? Were the laborers all slaves, working each day until completely exhausted? I remember distinctly, that the wage-workers of your time struck frequently for eight hours, declining to work nine or ten hours per diem for good pay. I think you had a strong, proud and independent class of laborers, who could not fairly be regarded as slaves. And as for the girls, I have seen the statements and complaints, that help for housekeeping was very scarce in your days and was paid from $2. to $5. per week, with board, so that there was no excuse for any decent girl to sell herself for bread.—Of course your state of civilization was very far from The warm tone of his voice and the sympathetic expression of his eyes caused me to shake hands with Forest, although everything he had said went directly against my friends, my views, my feelings and my interests. I left him in an uneasy mood and walked home revolving in my mind his criticism of my lecture. I met Dr. Leete and the ladies, and Edith inquired whether my debut as professor had satisfied my expectations. I have always tried to be frank and true: so I gave Dr. Leete and his family a synopsis of my speech, mentioned the cool reception of my address and my disappointment. I spoke of Mr. Forest’s criticism, leaving out, of course, his observations relative to Dr. Leete, and confessed that his censure was not wholly undeserved inasmuch as I had gone too far in charging upon the whole people the bad qualities which reckless competition had stamped on certain individuals. “He did, when I asked him if he were a member of the college staff of teachers. He said that he was discharged for his heresy and that he owed his comparatively lenient treatment to you.” “It is not Forest’s habit to conceal his opinions and he may have given you a nice idea of Dr. Leete”, my host said with a smile. I thought best under the circumstances to repeat Forest’s remarks in regard to Dr. Leete, which remarks were very good natured and rather complimentary to my host. I may add that I desired very much to So I said: “Mr. Forest laughed heartily when I repeated your remarks that you have no party nor politicians. He called you a great practical joker, a shrewd politician, the leader of the administration party in Boston and a good man.” Dr. Leete smiled somewhat grimly as he replied: “That is a character I ought to be grateful for, considering that it comes from a faultfinder like Forest. Concerning his references to me as a politician I will say that I never held an office, but that the administration has occasionally consulted me and other citizens on important questions. Political parties we have not. There are of course a few incurable faultfinders like Mr. Forest and a few radical growlers, but we pay but little attention to them so long as they do not disturb the public peace. If they do, we send them to a hospital where they receive proper treatment.” Although these words were spoken in the tone of light conversation, they impressed me deeply. “If they do, we send them to a hospital, where they receive proper treatment.” Did not this confirm Forest’s statement, that the usual sentence against the opponents of communism was confinement in an insane asylum? My unpleasant thoughts were interrupted by Edith’s sweet voice remarking: “I think Mr. Forest is an With an expression of fatherly love, Dr. Leete placed his right hand on Edith’s thick hair and said: “The ladies of the court of Louis XVI. of France also considered very entertaining the ideas that caused the revolution and cost many of the “entertained” ladies and gentlemen their heads beneath the guillotine.—Ideas are little sparks. They may easily cause a conflagration if not watched”. |