“By George, there are many of our so-called captains of industry who, if the truth were told, and a shorter and uglier word were not unpermissible, are little better than malefactors of great wealth.” This epigram, however heartily admired, was felt by many of the company to be a bit daring in the presence of the magnate: and the lean secretary spoke hastily, or at any rate, in less leisurely tones than usual: “After all, money is not everything. The richest people are not always the happiest, in spite of their luxury.” “You gentlemen can take it from me,” asserted the aeronaut, “that many poor people get a lot of pleasure out of life.” “Now, really though, that reminds me—children are very close observers, and, as you may have noticed, they ask the most remarkable questions. My little boy asked me, only last Tuesday, why poor people are always so polite and kind—” “Well, little pitchers have big ears—” “What you might call a chip of the old block, eh?—so that mighty little misses him?” “I may be prejudiced, but I thought it pretty good, coming from a kid of six—” “And it is perfectly true, gentlemen—the poor are kind to each other. Now, I believe just being kind makes you happier—” “And I often think that is a better sort of religion than just dressing up in your best clothes and going to church regularly on Sundays—” “That is a very true thought,” another chimed in. “And expressed, upon my word, with admirable clarity—” “Oh, whatever pretended pessimists in search of notoriety may say, most people are naturally kind, at heart—” “I would put it that Christianity, in spite of the carping sneers of science so-called, has led us once for all to recognize the vast brotherhood of man—” “So that, really, the world gets better every day—” “We have quite abolished war, for instance—” “My dear sir, were there nothing else, and even putting aside the outraged sentiments of civilized humanity, another great or prolonged war between any two of the leading nations is unthinkable—” “For the simple reason, gentlemen, that we have perfected our fighting machines to such an extent that the destruction involved would be too frightful—” “Then, too, we are improving the automobile to such an extent—” “Oh, in the end it will inevitably supplant the horse—” “It seems almost impossible to realize how we ever got along without the automobile—” “Do you know, I would not be surprised if some day horses were exhibited in museums—” “As rare and nearly extinct animals? Come, now, that is pretty good—” “And electricity is, as one might say, just in its infancy—” “The telephone, for instance—our ancestors would not have believed in the possibilities of such a thing—” “And, by George, they talk of giving an entire play with those moving-picture machines—acting the whole thing out, you know.” “Oh, yes, we live in the biggest, brainiest age the world has ever known—”