“That’s very kind of you,” replied the Governor, “but I’ll venture to say that neither one of these young men will need urging when the time comes.” “I’m sure I won’t,” declared Ben. The Governor turned to Hal. “And how about you?” he asked. “Well,” replied the boy frankly, “I can’t say that I’m just crazy about it. I’d be glad to be a soldier and fight for my country in time of war. But I wouldn’t particularly care to go out on strike duty, the way my father did, and fight men who can’t defend themselves.” The Governor looked serious. “I see!” he said, after a moment’s pause. “You would prefer to choose your enemy. Most of us would. But we can’t always do that. We’ve got to take them as they come. And a domestic foe may prove to be a greater menace to our rights and liberties than a foreign one. However, I shall expect, some day, to see you both in the uniform of a Guardsman.” If Benjamin Barriscale, Sr., resented the governor’s criticism of his impolitic speech, he did not manifest his resentment. The fact that he invited the executive head of the state and members of his staff to dine at the Barriscale mansion before going to the grand ball in the evening, and that the invitation was accepted, was significant of the continuance of friendly if not cordial relations between them. Neither one of them could afford, unnecessarily, to antagonize the other, and both of them knew it. It was not until the first snow of the winter lay an inch deep on the armory roof that Ben and Hal completed the tasks the compensation for which paid the damages assessed by Mr. Barriscale for the destruction of his statue. On a Saturday morning early in December the two boys called at the office of the manufacturing company to close accounts. The ironmaster dictated a form of receipt to be given to each of them, and, when the papers were duly signed, he delivered them with much formality. Then he turned to Hal. “What do you propose to make of yourself?” he inquired bluntly. “I--I don’t know just what you mean,” stammered the boy. “I mean what are you going to do for a living when you finish school? Ben here is going into this business with me. I shall begin training him this vacation. I intend that eventually he shall succeed me in the management if he shows aptness and industry. What are your plans?” “Why,” replied the boy, “father and I have rather figured it out that when I get through high school I am to prepare for college if he can afford to send me. And when I get through college maybe I’ll study to be a lawyer or a doctor or a preacher. I don’t know yet.” “Well, it’s high time you did know. A boy of your age should have his eye fixed on a certain goal, and then bend all his energy and effort to reach it.” “But,” added Hal, “I know what I’d like to be. I’d like to be one of those settlement workers, like my cousin Jim is, or something like that, and help poor people to get their rights, and down-and-outers to have their chance to get up again.”