Page:Forty years of it (IA fortyyearsofit00whitiala).pdf/161

 was not going very well, but he said, with a flourish of magnanimity:

"Oh, well, it's immaterial to me whether you take the books or not, but of course you will wish to belong to the association?"

"But I already belong to the association in which Mr. Jefferson was chiefly interested," said Jones.

"What is that, may I ask?" said the agent.

"The United States of America," said Jones, "and as I am a member of that, I see no reason why I should join anything smaller."

And then he laughed, and if there had been any uneasiness because of his gentle guying, it disappeared when he laid his hand on the agent's shoulder and looked into his eyes in that spirit of friendliness which enveloped him like an aureole.

He had a conception of unity that was far beyond his contemporaries, a conception that will be beyond humanity for many years. It was that conception which enabled him to see through the vast superstition of war, and the superstition of partizanship, and all the other foolish credulities that have misled the people in all times.

One evening, it was just at dark, we were leaving the mayor's office to walk home—we walked home together nearly every evening—and in the dusk a tramp, a negro, came up and asked him for the price of a night's lodging. The Mayor fumbled in his pockets, but he had no small change, he had only a five-dollar bill, but he gave this to the tramp and said:

"Go get it changed, and bring it back."