ixth street tomorrow and you can see for yourself. There, now,
you are not angry, are you?"

"No," answered I, "the person you refer to I have seen many times. There
is nothing to be angry about. Certainly, not because he holds the
honorable position of cleaning the streets which you have to travel."

"Honorable," retorted Mrs. Snipe; "you must be joking. I cannot
understand how an aristocratic gentleman like yourself would otherwise
make such an absurd remark."

"I am not joking at all," said I; "in my estimation, the street-sweeper
belongs to the most honorable portion of mankind. He is down-trodden by
society now, owing to an unnatural system which permits the strong to
take the largest portion of wealth and rule; but the day will come when
men who sweep the streets or occupy other positions of worth to the
community, will enjoy the same luxuries and surroundings that you and
other non-producers now enjoy. They will live in the palaces now
occupied by the parasites who do no work. Such places as the Waldoria
Hotel will be utilized for their benefit, and those who do not work,
those who claim the right to live without labor, will be thrown out
entirely."

"Why, Mr. Convert, what do you mean by talking in such a beastly way? If
you are so fond of those vulgar street-sweepers, why don't you become
one of them?"

"I have," I answered. "The man you saw today sweeping the streets was
none other than myself, and I am proud of it."

"You are either joking or else you have gone out of your mind," said
Mrs. Snipe with a look of disgust. But upon my reiteration that I was
really the man she saw, both she and her daughters abruptly left my
presence and never looked at me afterwards. They no doubt communicated
the text of our conversation to the different people of the hotel, also,
for I discovered later that the other guests with whom I had become
acquainted, not only refused to converse with me, but regarded me as a
sort of curiosity or peculiar freak of nature. They would pass me on the
street, where I was working at different times, in their gorgeous
carriages, and, calling each other's attention would pass jokes at my
expense, and laugh loud and mockingly at me. At first these things
troubled me to some degree, but gradually I gathered courage to bear
their sneers-courage such as I had never experienced before.

I had faced all manner of dangers during my life without fear, but I had
never known the real meaning of c