The Woman Who Vowed (The Demetrian)Harding, Ellison
Science
The Woman Who Vowed (The Demetrian)
Harding, Ellison
Science fiction; Utopias -- Fiction
"Take this case of Campbell's, for example"--Campbell was the name of
Anna's father--"as soon as Masters got at the head of several industrial
enterprises and had obtained a valuable credit in the community,
Campbell saw that there was here a credit to exploit and a real service
to be rendered to the public, so he induced Masters to start a bank, and
the bank of Masters & Campbell is known all over the United States. But
Campbell can explain all this better than I can; and although Campbell
never asks any one to his house, we can ask him to ours; or, better
still, we can ask the whole family to dine at Theodore's--you must see
Theodore's; his restaurant is one of our institutions. Come," he added,
"let us go at once to their building; we may catch Anna of Ann in the
tea-room, and agree upon a day."
We dressed rapidly, and on the way I expressed my disgust at Anna's
having to work in a factory when all her time might, under other
circumstances, be given to her art.
"Are you quite sure," asked Ariston, "that the enforced rest from her
artistic work is such a bad thing? How much of Michael Angelo's time was
spent in the purely mechanical part of his art? Then, too, there is no
reason why she should be compelled to work in the factory at all. Men
are all obliged to give the required quota of work to the state, but
women have always been granted dispensations, provided somebody
undertook either to do their work for them or to relieve the state of
their support. Now if Campbell were not a miser Anna need never do state
work. And if Anna were to marry an industrious and capable man she need
never do state work."
I looked at Ariston significantly, and he caught my eye.
"I saw Iréné yesterday," he said, "and we spoke of it. She is a noble
woman, and the eagerness and delight with which she heard me speak of
Anna made my eyes fill. She is altogether devoted now to her work in the
cloister; she is absorbed in her boy, who seems to combine all the vigor
of Chairo with her own gentleness; she teaches not only him but a class
of boys of his age, and is doing a splendid work there. I have quite
given up the idea that she will ever marry again."
It was pretty clear that, although Ariston was willing to admit he had
given up the idea of marrying Iréné, he was not willing to admit that he
was seriously entertaining the idea of marrying any one else. So I
returned to our original subject:
"But how can Campbell hoard?" asked I. "Isn't your money valueless two
years after its issue?"
"Yes, but Campbell has made a money of his own; besides, before he did
this, he hoarded gold."
"But I thought all the gold was owned by the state and used exclusively
for foreign exchanges?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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