The Relentless CityBenson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
General
The Relentless City
Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
British -- United States -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Upper class -- Fiction
'There is a Sabbath peace about,' said he; 'that always makes me feel
energetic. The feeling of energy passes completely away on Monday
morning, and it and I are strangers till the ensuing Sunday. Then we
meet. But now it is here, I think I shall go to church. There is a
church, isn't there? Come to church, Bertie.'
'No,' said Bertie.
'That is always the way,' remarked Ginger; 'and it is the same with me.
I never want to do what anybody else proposes; so don't propose to me,
Sybil.'
'Ginger, why don't you do something?' asked Sybil.
'I will go to church,' said Ginger.
'No, you won't. I want you to tell Bertie and me about America. You
haven't been there, have you?'
'No. The capital is New York,' said Ginger; 'and you are sick before
you get there. When you get there, you are sick again. Then you come
back. That is why I haven't been. Next question, please.'
'Why is Bertie going, then?' she asked.
'Because--because he is Bertie instead of me.'
'And why am I going, then?'
'Because you are not Judy. And you are both going there because you are
both progressive English people.'
Ginger got up, and stood in front of them.
'All people who on earth do dwell,' said he, 'go to America if they
want to dwell--really dwell--on earth. If you want to have all material
things at your command, you will, if you are going to get them at
all, get them quicker there than anywhere else. But if you attain
your ambition, you will come back like cast iron. Everything that was
a pleasure to you will be a business; you will play bridge with a
cast-iron face, and ask for your winnings; you will study the nature
of your soil before you plant a daisy in it; you will always get your
money's worth out of everybody. You will be cast iron.'
'No, I won't,' said Sybil. 'You are quite wrong. I will come back in
nature as I went.'
'You can't. If you were strong enough for that, you wouldn't go; your
going is a sign of weakness.'
Sybil laughed, and stretched herself more at ease on her couch.
'I am not weak,' she said.
Ginger sat down again.
'I am not sure that to do anything is not a sign of weakness,' he said.
'It isn't so easy to loaf as you imagine. Lots of people try to loaf,
and take to sheer hard work as a rest from it. I don't suppose anybody
in America loafs, and that I expect you will find is the vital and
essential difference between them and us. It implies a lot.'
'Go on, Ginger,' said Sybil, as he paused.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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