Blade-O'-Grass. Golden Grain. and Bread and Cheese and Kisses.Farjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
General
Blade-O'-Grass. Golden Grain. and Bread and Cheese and Kisses.
Farjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
Christmas stories; Fiction
'Happy he who has them! It is Nature's law; and no man can gainsay
it.' The theme possesses a fascination for Saul Fielding, and he
continues warmly, 'I put aside as distinctly outrageous all that is
said of the folly and wickedness of poor people marrying and having
large families. This very fact, which theorists wax indignant
over--theorists, mind you, who have wives and families themselves, and
who, by their arguments, lay down the monstrous proposition that
nature works in the blood according to the length of a man's
purse--this very fact has made England strong; had it been otherwise,
the nation would have been emasculated. Besides, you can't set natural
feeling to the tune of theory; nor, when a man's individual happiness
is concerned, can you induce him to believe in the truth of general
propositions which, being carried out in his own person as one of the
units, would make his very existence hateful to him.'
Mr. Million opens his eyes even wider than before; such language from
the lips of the ragged man before him is indeed astonishing.
'What more have you to say? he gasps. 'You will want property equally
divided----'
'No, sir, indeed,' interrupts Saul Fielding, daring to feel indignant,
even in the presence of so rich a man, at the suggestion. 'The man who
makes honestly for himself is entitled to possess and enjoy. I am no
socialist.'
'You would, at all events,' pursues Mr. Million, 'feed the working
man with a silver spoon?--You would open the places of amusement for
him on the Sabbath?'
'I would open some places and shut others.'
'What places, now?'
'The museums, the public galleries. I would give him every chance--he
has a right to it--to elevate himself during the only leisure he has.'
'And in this way,' demands Mr. Million severely, 'you would desecrate
the Sabbath!'
For the life of him Saul Fielding cannot help saying,
'A greater desecration than even that can be in your eyes takes place
on the Sabbath in places that are open in the name of the law.'
'You refer to----'
'Public-houses. If they are allowed to be open, what reasonable
argument can be brought against the opening of places the good
influence of which is universally acknowledged? It is the withholding
of these just privileges that causes much discontent and ill-feeling.'
This is quite enough for Mr. Million. This man, ragged, penniless,
has the effrontery to tell the rich brewer to his face that he would
have the public picture-galleries and museums of art opened on the
Sabbath-day, and that he would shut the public-houses. Mr. Million can
find no words to express his indignation. He can only say, stiffly and
coldly,
'I have heard quite enough of your opinions, sir. Come to the point of
your visit. You see'--pointing to the papers scattered about the
table--'that I am very busy.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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