Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-10-28

and leisure. and am a workingman."
You don't need to be. Eric You
could get ahead You could command
any place in time with your intelligence
aud-and"-
Stuart hesitated for just the word,
but Eric said quietly:
Il have chosen my place. A work
ingman | am. and workingman l
shall be as long as there are wrongs to
right and rights to maintain
But what has all this to do with us,
Eric? We have been over all this
ground before. Do you not love me-"
Indeed, truly l do" Eric turned his
large dark eyes affectionately toward
his friend.
and do | not love you?"
Yes replied Eric simply. But our
ives are of necessity widening out far
Their apart. What can prevent that?
In the very nature of the situation it
tould not be otherwise Here l am adj
vising thousands of men to a course
which is directly opposed by your ia
Their and would be by you if you were
in his place. The time is coming when
the clash between your interests and
Stuart jumped to his feet. do you
mean to say, Eric, that friendship true
and loving cannot exist between you
and me simply because of the accident
of birth or the circumstance Of wealth
or difference in surroundings? Have
we not already proved that it can ex-
ist!'
Yes replied Eric slowly. ct can
exist, but it is in one sense an unnatu-.
raj existence. You represent capital
represent labor. Take the present sit
uatiOn of the strike. l believe as much
as l believe anything that it is right
ana even religious that we do as we do.
Deep in your heart you condemn us for
the lt4vement. If you were in your ia
theirs place, you would feel exactly as
he does about it. How, then, can we
expect the old relation between US to
be cOntinued?'
Stuart sat silent, looking out over the
beautiful valley. The town looked very
pretty in it's setting of hills and pines.
His fathers house was the most con-
spicuOus residence to be seen. From
where the two men sat it looked pala-
tial. Down at the other end of the
town among the miners houses Stuart
could distinguish Eric's home, a little
two story cottage, not different from a
hundred others. He did a good deal
of hard thinking in a few minutes;
then he said:
Eric. you began the talk about the
difference between us. Do you want to
break off anything? Is that your in
tentiOn"
Eric for the first time grew flushed
beneath his dark bronZed face. NO"
he said. Il simply wished to state the
conditions under which we now live.
There is no change in my feelings to-
ward you and cannot be-
Neither is there in mine toward you,
Eric. Why do you place the RESPONSE
biIity so wholly on me. as if | would be
the one to change or as if it rested with
me to say that our friendship was pos
sible or nOt?"
Because it does rest with you. Are
you not representative of riches. pow
er, intelligence. all the great machinery
which sets things in motion. society.
that world by itself, leisure. culture,
And is it not for you as
representative of all these things to
bear the responsibility which must al
ways rest on the strong and the educat-
ed and the wealthy" Eric paused on
the crest of wave of speech that
seemed about to break over all his self
control
Stuart after awhile said doggedly:
at comes back to the question. Is our
friendship to continue on the old ba
sis? | can be no other than | am. If
have been born to wealth and leisure
and education and society and travel
and all that. | am powerless to change
it. And you are what you are because
YOU have been born into it and choose
to continue there, though you know,
Eric. you could rise out of it if you
only would"
ut is useless to discuss that point"
replied Eric quietly. But tell me. Stu
art. in answer to the main question. dc
you believe in this striker"
NO; l cant say l do said Stuart,
with his usual frankness.
There! You see where the difficulty
lies" replied Eric sadly. THE very
nature of the situation compels
breach in our old relations with each
other. OF course l believe in the strike
Dr. l wouldn't be the leader of it,"
''It seems like a bad way to get at
what you want" said Stuart.
Have you studied into the details
IF the situation? Do you know all the
facts which have led up to this move
nent?"
81 know what my father has told me.
He says the men did not consult with
he companies and went out without |
or notice of any kind"
Eric rose to his feet. Its a liev' he
with a sudden passion that
10 one would suspect existed. 1t was