"
"What is it that you regret so much?" asked Joe, softly. "It is a noble
life."
"It is, indeed, if only a man knows how to live it," answered John. "But
sometimes I think I do not. You once said a very true thing to me about it
all. Do you remember?"
"No; what was it?"
"You said I should not succeed because I am not enough of a partisan, and
because every one is a partisan here."
"Did I? Yes, I remember saying it," answered Joe, secretly pleased that he
should not have forgotten it. "I do not think it is so very true, after
all. It is true to-day; but it is for men like you to set things right, to
make partisanship a thing of the past. Men ought to make laws because they
are just and necessary, not in order that they may profit by them at the
expense of the rest of the world. And to have such good laws men ought to
choose good men to represent them."
"There is no denying the truth of that," said John. "That is the way to
construct the ideal republic. It would be the way to do a great many ideal
things.
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