Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/334

 and nurserymen. Seth developed the well-known cherries, "Bing" and the "Black Republican," which latter the South re-named the "Luelling." Seth and his wife, and Alfred Luelling, were live-minded people, and they gathered about them other active brains. They thought, and they read; they had lectures and they recited from the English poets. Lacking orthodox teachers, they guided themselves through studies ranging from economics to spiritualism. Unafraid of any new idea, they gave a welcome and a hearing to any apostle of any ism. U'Ren was well received among them. He was taken into partnership in the business. When that failed in the panic of 1893, there was a quarrel, and bitter feelings which endure to this day, but U'Ren says that his health, his heart, and his mind all were better for this life among these people.

It was here that he heard first of the referendum. They were all members of the Farmers Alliance, and Alfred Luelling brought to a meeting one night J. W. Sullivan s book on direct legislation in Switzerland. It contained the whole set of tools of which, hitherto, U Ren had heard of but one, the initiative. This would enable the people to make laws; the ref ere ndum would enable them to stop legislation initiated