A Thousand and One Afternoons in ChicagoHecht, Ben
General
A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago
Hecht, Ben
Chicago (Ill.) -- Literary collections; Hecht, Ben, 1893-1964 -- Homes and haunts -- Illinois -- Chicago
This, to the audience, is old stuff. Yet they watch the talker. He has
something they one and all treasured in their own hearts. A faith in
something. The workingmen in the audience have stopped smoking. They
listen with a faint skepticism in their eyes. The intelligentsia, however,
are warming up. For the moment old emotions are stirring in them.
Sincerity in others--the martyr spirit in others--is something which
thrills the insincerity of all intelligentsia.
Suddenly there is a change in the hall. Our stuttering orator with the
forceful manner has made a few startling remarks. He has said, "And what
we must do, comrades, is to use force. We can get nowhere without force.
We must uproot, overthrow and seize the government."
Scandal! A murmur races around the hall. The residents from the north and
south sides who have favored this discussion of world revolution with
their uplifting presence are uneasy. Somebody should stop the man. It's
one thing to be sincere, and another thing to be too sincere and tell them
that they should use force.
Now, what's the matter? The orator has grown violent.
It is somebody in the back of the hall. Heads turn. A policeman! The
orator swings his arms, and in his foreign tongue, goes on. "They are
stopping us. The bourgeoisie! They have sent the polizei! But we stand
firm. The police are powerless against us. Even though they drive us from
this hall."
The orator is all alone in his excitement. The audience has, despite his
valorous pronouncements, grown nervous. And the policeman walking down the
aisle seems embarrassed. He arrives at the platform finally. He hands a
card to the orator. The orator glances at the card and then waves it in
the air. Then he reads it slowly, his lips moving as he spells the words
out. The audience is shifting around, acting as if it wanted to rise and
bolt for the door.
"Ah," exclaims the orator, "the policeman says that an enemy of the
revolution has smashed an automobile belonging to one of the audience that
was standing in front of the hall. The number of the automobile is as
follows." He recites the number slowly. And then: "If anybody has an
automobile by that number standing downstairs he better go and look after
it."
A substantial looking north sider arises and walks hurriedly through the
hall. The orator decides to subside. There is a wait for the chief
speaker, who has not yet arrived. During the wait an incident develops.
There are two lights burning at the rear of the stage. A young woman calls
one of the officials of the meeting.
"Look," she says, "those lights make it impossible for us to see the
speaker who stands in front of them. They shine in our eyes."
The official wears a red sash across the front of his coat. He is one of
the minor leaders among the west side soviet radicals. He blinks. "What do
you want of me?" he inquires with indignation. "I should go and turn the
lights out? You think I'm the janitor?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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