Page:Gaskell - North and South, vol. II, 1855.djvu/206

 democrat, a red republican, a member of the Peace Society, a socialist—"

"Papa, it's all because I'm standing up for the progress of commerce. Mr. Bell would have had it keep still at exchanging wild-beast skins for acorns.

"No, no. I'd dig the ground and grow potatoes. And I'd shave the wild-beast skins and make the wool into broad cloth. Don't exaggerate, missy. But I'm tired of this bustle. Everybody rushing over everybody, in their hurry to get rich."

"It is not every one who can sit comfortably in a set of college rooms, and let his riches grow without any exertion of his own. No doubt there is many a man here who would be thankful if his property would increase as yours has done, without his taking any trouble about it," said Mr. Hale.

"I don't believe they would. It's the bustle and the struggle they like. As for sitting still, and learning from the past, or shaping out the future by faithful work done in a prophetic spirit—Why! Pooh! I don't believe there's a man in Milton who knows how to sit still; and it is a great art."

"Milton people, I suspect, think Oxford men don't know how to move. It would be a very good thing if they mixed a little more."

"It might be good for the Miltoners. Many things might be good for them which would be very disagreeable for other people."

"Are you not a Milton man yourself?" asked Margaret. "I should have thought you would have been proud of your town."

"I confess, I don't see what there is to be proud