And you jest said I had
convinced you that Serepta's errents wuz errents of truth and justice, and
you would love to do 'em."
"Well, yes, yes--I would love to--as it were--. But, my dear madam, much as
I would like to oblige you, I have not the time to devote to the cause of
Right and Justice. I don't think you realize the constant pressure of hard
work that is ageing us and wearing us out, before our day.
"As I said, we have to watch the liquor interest constantly to see that the
liquor dealers suffer no loss--we have to do that, of course."
And he continued dreamily, as if losin' sight of me and talkin' to himself:
"The wealthy Corporations and Trusts, we have to condemn them loudly to
please the common people, and help 'em secretly to please ourselves, or our
richest perkisits are lost. The Canal Ring, the Indian Agency, the Land
Grabbers, the political bosses. In fact, we are surrounded by a host of
bandits that we have to appease and profit by; oh, how these matters wear
into the gray matter of our brains!"
"Gray matter!" sez I, with my nose uplifted to its extremest height, "I
should call it black matter!"
"Well, the name is immaterial, but these labors, though pocket filling, are
brain wearing. And of late I and the rest of our loyal henchmen have been
worn out in our labors in tariff revision. You know how we claim to help
the common people by the revision; you've probable read about it in the
papers.
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