Page:Traveler from Altruria, Howells, 1894.djvu/119

Rh silence that ensued there was nothing to prevent the Altrurian from coming in with another of his questions. "How far does this state of things extend downward?" Does it include the working-classes, too?"

"Oh, no!" we all answered together, and Mrs. Makely said: "With your Altrurian ideas I suppose you would naturally sympathize a great deal more with the lower classes, and think they had to endure all the hardships in our system; but if you could realize how the struggle goes on in the best society, and how we all have to fight for what we get, or don't get, you would be disposed to pity our upper classes, too."

"I am sure I should," said the Altrurian.

Makely remarked, "I used to hear my father say that slavery was harder on the whites than it was on the blacks, and that he wanted it done away with for the sake of the masters."

Makely rather faltered in conclusion, as if he were not quite satisfied with his remark, and I distinctly felt a want of proportion in it; but I did not wish to say anything. His wife had no reluctance.

"Well, there's no comparison between the two things, but the struggle certainly doesn't affect the