Page:Poet Lore, volume 35, 1924.pdf/363

 later by the Latins. The first attempt was broken by a force of nations, the second by the force of nationalism.

Klementina.—But nationalism is not the highest object, the supreme aim, that man aspires to.

Dr. Svoboda.—Then what is higher?

Klementina.—Humanity.

Dr. Svoboda.—Humanism is only one noble part of the human soul. But man is also at various times a barbarian.

Klementina.—When?

Dr. Svoboda.—When the heart of the individual is neglected, or when in the name of culture or religion, nations are destroyed.

Klementina.—You are continually harping on nationality, yet your duty toward your family is more apparent, certainly, than an assumed duty to your country. Everything that concerns your family seems to be of secondary importance.

Dr. Svoboda.—Sometimes yes, and sometimes no. There is a turning point which may lead man either to a great action, or to one that is unjust.

Klementina.—The right step is the one which is prompted by self-denial, generosity, and duty.

Dr. Svoboda.—The right act is the one which, in a conflict between two duties, is prompted by the inner conviction of the individual.

Klementina.—That is intellectual sophistry.

Dr. Svoboda.—That is the highest law of morality.

Klementina (Maliciously).—Then you intend, on account of this highest law, to shake from your conscience your duty to your family?

Dr. Svoboda (Agitated and with emphasis).—I shake off only that duty, which my family seems to require of me, of selling myself to a slavish, unclean act, of giving my family the opportunity to profit by their father’s baseness.

Klementina.—What a speech!

Dr. Svoboda.—You have been poisoned by the words of that man! There is contagion and corruption in every footprint he leaves behind him!

Klementina.—But with the money he offers you, we might buy another smaller estate, recorded in the registers of the country.

Dr. Svoboda.—But when? After election, when the unfriendly party is shouting, “We have conquered!”