Homos is going to write an account of his travels when he gets
home, he can't accuse us of hypocrisy, at any rate. And I always used to
think it was one of our virtues! What with Mr. Camp, here, and my friend
the banker at the hotel, I don't think he'll have much reason to complain
even of our reticence."
"Well, whatever he says of us," sighed Mrs. Makely, with a pious glance at
the sword over the bed, "he will have to say that, in spite of our
divisions and classes, we are all Americans, and, if we haven't the same
opinions and ideas on minor matters, we all have the same country."
"I don't know about that," came from Reuben Camp, with shocking
promptness. "I don't believe we all have the same country. America is one
thing for you, and it's quite another thing for us. America means ease and
comfort and amusement for you, year in and year out, and if it means work,
it's work that you _wish_ to do. For us, America means work that we _have_
to do, and hard work all the time if we're going to make both ends meet.
It means liberty for you; but what liberty has a man got who doesn't know
where his next meal is coming from? Once I was in a strike, when I was
working on the railroad, and I've seen men come and give up their liberty
for a chance to earn their family's living.
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