Page:Traveler from Altruria, Howells, 1894.djvu/148

142 "Oh, that is a lot of crazy Hayseeds, who don't want to pay back the money they have borrowed, or who find themselves unable to meet their interest. It will soon blow over. We are always having these political flurries. A good crop will make it all right with them."

"But is it true that they have to pay such rates of interest as our young friend mentioned?"

"Well," I said, seeing the thing in the humorous light, which softens for us Americans so many of the hardships of others, "I suppose that man likes to squeeze his brother man, when he gets him in his grip. That's human nature, you know."

"Is it?" asked the Altrurian.

It seemed to me that he had asked something like that before when I alleged human nature in defense of some piece of everyday selfishness. But I thought best not to notice it, and I went on: "The land is so rich out there that a farm will often pay for itself with a single crop."

"Is it possible?" cried the Altrurian. "Then I suppose it seldom really happens that a mortgage is foreclosed, in the way our young friend insinuated?"

"Well, I can't say that exactly," and having