es.

"Strikes me," said Randolph Fitts in council meet-ing, "that we are
arriving at the most exquisite state of socialism. This comes pretty
close to being the essence of that historic American dream, 'of the
people, by the people, for the people.' Up to date, that has been the
rarest socialistic doctrine ever promulgated, but we are going it a long
sight better. 'From the people, by the people, to the people.' What do
you call that but socialism?"

"Are you speaking to me?" demanded Percival.

"In a general way, yes."

"Well, it's not my idea of socialism. So far as I've been able to
discover, socialism is a game in which you are supposed to take
something out of your pocket and put it into the other fellow's whether
he wants it or not. This scheme of ours is quite another thing. We're
not planning to split even on what we've got in our pockets so much as
we're planning to divide what we've got in our hands, and there's a lot
of difference between a hand and a pocket, old top. You can see what's
in one and you can't see what's in the other. And, by the way, Fitts,
if we let the socialists in this camp suspect that we're trying to
introduce socialism here, there'll be a revolution before you can say
Jack Robinson. They won't stand for it. They'd let out the blamedest
roar on record if they thought we were trying to deprive them of the
right to feel sorry for themselves."

Ruth hurried over to the town-hall bright and early on this snowy, gusty
morning. The forenoon session of the school began punctually at 8:30
o'clock. She was there half an hour ahead of time to see that there
was a roaring fire in the huge fire-place, and that the benches for
the scholars were drawn up close to it. There were two teachers besides
herself,--and both of them were experienced "school marms." She taught
the "infant class," comprising about a dozen tots. The three teachers
took turns about in building the fires, arranging the benches and
cleaning the crude blackboard.

There had been church-services the night before, and the benches
were all in use, arranged so that they faced the combination
pulpit-rostrum-stage at the far end of the room. Tonight there was to be
a general committee meeting to discuss the prospective financial scheme
and the general election that was to take place the following week.

The structure was not blessed with a paucity of names. If there was
to be a council-meeting or a camp assembly, it was called the