r movement."

For some few minutes neither spoke.

"One of the most splendid men I ever knew," remarked Geisner, suddenly,
"was a workman who organised a sort of co-operative housekeeping club
among a number of single fellows. They took a good-sized 'fiat' and
gradually extended it till they had the whole of the large house. Then
this good fellow organised others until there were, I think, some thirty
of them scattered about the city. They had cards which admitted any
member of one house into any other of an evening, so that wherever a man
was at night he could find friends and conversation and various games. I
used to talk to him a great deal, helping him keep the books of an
evening when he came home from his work. He had some great plans. Those
places were hotbeds of Socialism," he added.

"What became of him?"

Geisner shrugged his shoulders without answering.

"Isn't it a pity that we can't co-operate right through in the same way?"
said Ned.

"It's the easiest way to bring Socialism about," answered Geisner. "Many
have thought of it. Some have tried. But the great difficulty seems to be
to get the right conditions. Absolute isolation while the new conditions
are being established; colonists who are rough and ready and accustomed
to such work and at the same time are thoroughly saturated with
Socialism; men accustomed to discuss and argue and at the same time
drilled to abide, when necessary, by a majority decision; these are very
hard to get. Besides, the attempts have been on small scales, and though
some have been fairly successful as far as they went, have not pointed
the great lesson. One great success would give men more Faith than a
whole century of talking and preaching. And it will come when men are
ready for it, when the times are ripe."

They were silent again.

"We would be free under Socialism?" asked Ned.

"What could stop us, even under State Socialism. The basis of all slavery
and all slavish thought is necessarily the monopoly of the means of
working, that is of living. If the State monopolises them, not the State
ruled by the propertied classes but the State ruled by the whole people,
to work would become every man's right. Nineteen laws out of twenty could
then be dropped, for they would become useless. We should be free as men
have never been before, because the ideal of the State would be
toleration and kindness."

"Let's go and hear the speaking," he added, jumping up. "I've talked