ted by begging and
stealing. These were ordered to stand aside till the rest of us had
been disposed of.

The saloon passengers were taken next. Most of them, who had nothing
at all to show, were called up together and were asked what they had
to say for themselves. A well-dressed gentleman, who spoke for the
rest, said that the whole investigation was a mystery to him. He and
his friends had been born to good fortunes, and had found themselves,
on entering upon life, amply provided for. They had never been told
that work was required of them, either work with their hands or work
with their heads,--in fact, work of any kind. It was right of course
for the poor to work, because they could not honestly live otherwise.
For themselves, they had spent their time in amusements, generally
innocent. They had paid for everything which they had consumed. They
had stolen nothing, taken nothing from any man by violence or fraud.
They had kept the Commandments, all ten of them, from the time when
they were old enough to understand them. The speaker, at least,
declared that he had no breach of any Commandment on his own
conscience, and he believed that he might say as much of his
companions. They were superior people, who had been always looked up
to and well spoken of; and to call upon them to show what they had
done was against reason and equity.

"Gentlemen," said the chief official, "we have heard this many times;
yet as often as it is repeated we feel fresh astonishment. You have
been in a world where work is the condition of life. Not a meal can be
had by any man that some one has not worked to produce. Those who work
deserve to eat; those who do not work deserve to starve. There are but
three ways of living: by working, by stealing, or by begging. Those
who have not lived by the first have lived by one of the other two.
And no matter how superior you think yourselves, you will not pass
here till you have something of your own to produce. You have had your
wages beforehand--ample wages, as you acknowledge yourselves. What
have you to show?"

"Wages!" the speaker said: "we are not hired servants; we received no
wages. What we spent was our own. All the orders we received were that
we were not to do wrong. We have done no wrong. I appeal to the higher
court."

But the appeal could not be received. To all who presented themselves
with empty boxes, no matter who they were, or how excellent their
characters appeared to one ano