"I guess we can manage him," the manufacturer remarked.
"And socially he is non-existent?"
The Altrurian turned with this question to the banker, who said: "He is
certainly not in society."
"Then," said my guest, "if the working-man's wages are provisionally so
much better here than in Europe, why should they be discontented? What is
the real cause of their discontent?"
I have always been suspicious, in the company of practical men, of an
atmosphere of condescension to men of my calling, if nothing worse. I
fancy they commonly regard artists of all kinds as a sort of harmless
eccentrics, and that literary people they look upon as something droll, as
weak and soft, as not quite right. I believed that this particular group,
indeed, was rather abler to conceive of me as a rational person than most
others, but I knew that if even they had expected me to be as reasonable
as themselves they would not have been greatly disappointed if I were not;
and it seemed to me that I had put myself wrong with them in imparting to
the Altrurian that romantic impression that we hold labor in honor here. I
had really thought so, but I could not say so now, and I wished to
retrieve myself somehow.
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