"If he was discouraged or broken down any way," Lemuel calmly added.
"Oh!" said Sewell. "You mean that you found more sympathy among your
old friends and neighbours than you do here?"
"No," said Lemuel bluntly. "That's what city people think. But it's
all a mistake. There isn't half the sympathy in the country that
there is in the city. Folks pry into each other's business more, but
they don't really care so much. What I mean is that you could live
cheaper, and the fight isn't so hard. You might have to use your
hands more, but you wouldn't have to use your head hardly at all.
There isn't so much opposition--competition."
"Oh," said Sewell a second time. "But this competition--this
struggle--in which one or the other must go to the wall, isn't that
painful?"
"I don't know as it is," answered Lemuel, "as long as you're young
and strong. And it don't always follow that one must go to the wall.
I've seen some things where both got on better."
Sewell succumbed to this worldly wisdom. He was frequently at the
disadvantage men of cloistered lives must be, in having his theories
in advance of his facts. He now left this point, and covertly
touched another that had come up in his last talk with Evans about
Barker. "But you find in the country, don't you, a greater equality
of social condition? People are more on a level, and have fewer
artificial distinctions.
Pages:
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304