e?" inquired he.

"The one with the very black beard is house-builder Sand, the second is
Eisenhart, machine-builder, the third is Erdfloh, a landowner, the
fourth and fifth are tobacco merchants. All those gentlemen are
chieftains of the party of progress."

"They show it," observed Gerlach. "Their looks, in a manner, command
every man that comes in to take the green ticket, and I imagine I can
read on their brows: 'Woe to him who dares vote against us. He shall be
under a ban, and shall have neither employment nor bread.' It is
unmitigated tyranny! I imagine I see in those fat fellows so many
cotton-planters voting their slaves."

"That is a one-sided conclusion, my most esteemed," rejoined the
banker. "In country villages, the position here assumed by the magnates
of progress is filled by the lords of ultramontanism, clerical
gentlemen in cassocks, who keep a sharp eye on the fingers of their
parishioners. This, too, is influencing."

"But not constraining," opposed the millionaire promptly. "The clergy
exert a legitimate influence by convincing, by advancing solid grounds
for their political creed. They never have recourse to compulsory
measures, nor dare they do so, because it would be opposed to the
Gospel which they preach. The autocrats of progress, on the contrary,
do not hesitate about using threats and violence. Should a man refuse
to bow to their dictates, they cruelly deprive him of the means of
subsistence. This is not only inhuman, but it is also an accursed
scheme for making slaves of the people and robbing them of principle."

"Ah! look yonder--there is Holt."

The land cultivator had walked into the hall head erect. He looked
along the table and stood undecided. One of the ministering spirits of
progress soon fluttered about him, offering him a green ticket. Holt
glanced at it, and a contemptuous smile spread over his face. He next
tore it to pieces, which he threw on the floor.

"What are you about?" asked the angel of progress reproachfully.

"I have reduced Shund and his colleagues to fragments," answered Holt
dryly, then approaching the commissary he demanded a yellow ticket.

"Glorious!" applauded Gerlach. "I have half a mind to present this true
German _man_ with another thousand as a reward for his spirit."

The fat men had observed with astonishment the action of the land
cultivator. Their astonishment turned to rage when Holt, leisurely
seating himself at the table, took a pen in hi