The Witness, Grace Livingston Hill Lutz [the little red hen ebook .TXT] 📗
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- Author: Grace Livingston Hill Lutz
Book online «The Witness, Grace Livingston Hill Lutz [the little red hen ebook .TXT] 📗». Author Grace Livingston Hill Lutz
"No, I Like It," Said Mother, With A Smile, Brushing Away A Bright Tear
That Burst Out Unawares. "I Like It '_Hard_,' As Steve Used To Say! Do
You Know, Father, What I've Been Thinking--What I Thought Right Away
When I Read That Letter? I Thought, Suppose That Girl Was The One
Stephen Would Have Loved And Wanted To Marry If He Had Lived. And
Suppose He Had Brought Her Home Here, What A Fuss We Would Have Made
About Her, And All! And I'd Just Have Loved To Fix Up The House And Make
It Look Pleasant For Her And Love Her As If She Were My Own Daughter."
Father's Eyes Were Moist, Too. "H'm! Yes!" He Said, Trying To Clear His
Throat. "I Guess She'd Be Com'ny For You, Too, Mother, When I Have To Go
Chapter 11 Pg 60To Town, And She'd Help Around With The Work Some When She Got Better."
"I've Been Thinking," Said Mother. "I've Always Thought I'd Like To Fix
Up The Spare Room. I Read In My Magazine How To Fix Up A Young Girl's
Room When She Comes Home From College, And I'd Like To Fix It Like That
If There's Time. You Paint The Furniture White, And Have Two Sets Of
Curtains, Pink And White, And Little Shelves For Her Books. Do You Think
We Could Do It?"
"Why, Sure!" Said Father. He Was So Pleased To See Mother Interested
Like This That He Was Fairly Trembling. She Had Been So Still And Quiet
And Wistful Ever Since The News Came About Stephen. "Why, Sure! Get Some
Pretty Wall-Paper, Too, While You're 'Bout It. S'posen You And I Take A
Run To Town Again In The Morning And Pick It Out. Then You Can Pick Your
Curtains And Paint, Too, And Get Jed Lewis To Come In The Afternoon And
Put On The First Coat. How About Calling Him Up On The 'Phone Right Now
And Asking Him About It? I'm Real Glad We've Got That 'Phone. It'll Come
In Handy Now."
Mother's Eyes Glistened. The 'Phone Was Another Thing Stephen Insisted
Upon Before He Left Home. They Hadn't Used It Half A Dozen Times Except
When The Telegrams Came, But They Hadn't The Heart To Have It
Disconnected, Because Stephen Had Taken So Much Pride In Having It Put
In. He Said He Didn't Like His Mother Left Alone In The House Without A
Chance To Call A Neighbor Or Send For The Doctor.
"Come To Think Of It, Hadn't You Better Send A Telegram To That Chap
To-Night? You Know We Can 'Phone It Down To The Town Office. He'll Maybe
Be Worried How You're Going To Take That Letter. Tell Him He's Struck
The Right Party, All Right, And You're On The Job Writing That Little
Girl A Letter To-Night That'll Make Her Welcome And No Mistake. But Tell
Him We'll Finance This Operation Ourselves, And He Can Save The
Ottymobeel For The Next Case That Comes Along--Words To That Effect You
Know, Mother."
The Supper Things Were Shoved Back And The Telephone Brought Into
Requisition. They Called Up Jed Lewis First Before He Went To Bed, And
Got His Reluctant Promise That He Would Be On Hand At Two O'clock The
Next Afternoon. They Had To Tell Him They Were Expecting Company Or He
Might Not Have Been There For A Week In Spite Of His Promise.
It Took Nearly An Hour To Reduce The Telegram To Ten Words, But At Last
They Settled On:
Bonnie Welcome. Am Writing You Both To-Night. No Money
Necessary.
(Signed) Stephen's Mother And Father.
The Letters Were Happy Achievements Of Brevity, For It Was Getting Late,
And Mother Marshall Realized That They Must Be Up Early In The Morning
To Get All That Shopping Done Before Two O'clock.
First The Letter To Bonnie, Written In A Cramped, Laborious Hand:
Chapter 11 Pg 61
Dear Little Girl:
You Don't Know Me, But I've Heard About You From A Sort Of
Neighbor Of Yours. I'm Just A Lonely Mother Whose Only Son
Has Gone Home To Heaven. I've Heard All About Your Sorrow
And Loneliness, And I've Taken A Notion That Maybe You Would
Like To Come And Visit Me For A Little While And Help Cheer
Me Up. Maybe We Can Comfort Each Other A Little Bit, And,
Anyhow, I Want You To Come.
Father And I Are Fixing Up Your Room For You, Just As We
Would If You Were Our Own Daughter Coming Home From College.
For You See We've Quite Made Up Our Minds You Will Come, And
Father Wants You Just As Much As I Do. We Are Sending You
Mileage, And A Check To Get Any Little Things You May Need
For The Journey, Because, Of Course, We Wouldn't Want To Put
You To Expense To Come All This Long Way Just To Please Two
Lonely Old People. It's Enough For You That You Are Willing
To Come, And We're So Glad About It That It Almost Seems As
If The Birds Must Be Singing And The Spring Flowers Going To
Bloom For You, Even Though It Is Only The Middle Of Winter.
Don't Wait To Get Any Fixings. Just Come As You Are. We're
Plain Folks.
Father Says Be Sure You Get A Good, Comfortable Berth In The
Sleeper, And Have Your Trunk Checked Right Through. If
You've Got Any Other Things Besides Your Trunk, Have Them
Sent Right Along By Freight. It's Better To Have Your Things
Here Where You Can Look After Them Than Stored Away Off
There.
We're So Happy About Your Coming We Can'testablished By The Revolutionary Coalition Headed By
Prince Lvov. From The Very First Day It Was Evident That The Cabinet Could
Never Satisfy The Russian People. It Was An Anomaly In That The Revolution
Had Been A Popular Revolution, While The Provisional Government Was
Overwhelmingly Representative Of The Landowners, Manufacturers, Bankers,
And Merchants--The Despised And Distrusted Bourgeoisie. The Very Meager
Representation Given To The Working Class, Through Kerensky, Was, In The
Circumstances, Remarkable For Its Stupid Effrontery And Its Disregard Of
The Most Obvious Realities. Much Has Been Said And Written Of The
Doctrinaire Attitude Which Has Characterized The Bolsheviki In The Later
Phases Of The Struggle, But If By Doctrinairism Is Meant Subservience To
Preconceived Theories And Disregard Of Realities, It Must Be Said That The
Statesmen Of The Bourgeoisie Were As Completely Its Victims As The
Bolsheviki Later Proved To Be. They Were Subservient To Dogma And
Indifferent To Fact.
The Bourgeois Leaders Of Russia--And Those Socialists Who Co-Operated With
Them--Attempted To Ignore The Biggest And Most Vital Fact In The Whole
Chapter 11 Pg 62Situation, Namely, The Fact That The Revolution Was Essentially A
Socialist Revolution In The Sense That The Overwhelming Mass Of The People
Were Bent Upon The Realization Of A Very Comprehensive, Though Somewhat
Crudely Conceived, Program Of Socialization. It Was Not A Mere Political
Revolution, And Political Changes Which Left The Essential Social Structure
Unchanged, Which Did Not Tend To Bring About Equality Of Democratic
Opportunity, And Which Left The Control Of The Nation In The Hands Of
Landowners And Capitalists, Could Never Satisfy The Masses Nor Fail To
Invite Their Savage Attack. Only The Most Hopeless And Futile Of
Doctrinaires Could Have Argued Themselves Into Believing Anything Else. It
Was Quite Idle To Argue From The Experience Of Other Countries That Russia
Must Follow The Universal Rule And Establish And Maintain Bourgeois Rule
For A Period More Or Less Prolonged. True, That Had Been The Experience Of
Most Nations, But It Was Foolish In The Extreme To Suppose That It Must Be
The Experience Of Russia, Whose Conditions Were So Utterly Unlike Those
Which Had Obtained In Any Nation Which Had By Revolution Established
Constitutional Government Upon A Democratic Basis.
To Begin With, In Every Other Country Revolution By The Bourgeoisie Itself
Had Been The Main Factor In The Overthrow Of Autocracy. Feudalism And
Monarchical Autocracy Fell In Western Europe Before The Might Of A Powerful
Rising Class. That This Class In Every Case Drew To Its Side The Masses And
Benefited By Their Co-Operation Must Not Be Allowed To Obscure The Fact
That In These Other Countries Of All The Classes In Society The Bourgeoisie
Was The Most Powerful. It Was That Fact Which Established Its Right To Rule
In Place Of The Deposed Rulers. The Russian Middle Class, However, Lacked
That Historic Right To Rule. In Consequence Of The Backwardness Of The
Nation From The Point Of View Of Industrial Development, The Bourgeoisie
Was Correspondingly Backward And Weak. Never In Any Country Had A Class So
Weak And Uninfluential Essayed The Rôle Of The Ruling Class. To Believe
That A Class Which At The Most Did Not Exceed Six Per Cent. Of The
Population Could Assert And Maintain Its Rule Over A Nation Of One Hundred
And Eighty Millions Of People, When These Had Been Stirred By Years Of
Revolutionary Agitation, Was At Once Pedantic And Absurd.
The Industrial Proletariat Was As Backward And As Relatively Weak As The
Bourgeoisie. Except By Armed Force And Tyranny Of The Worst Kind, This
Class Could Not Rule Russia. Its Fitness And Right To Rule Are Not
Appreciably Greater Than The Fitness And Right Of The Bourgeoisie. It
Cannot Even Be Said On Its Behalf That It Had Waged The Revolutionary
Struggle Of The Working Class, For In Truth Its Share In The Russian
Revolutionary Movement Had Been Relatively Small, Far Less Than That Of The
Peasant It Was Mother Marshall Who Put It Into Words:
Chapter 11 Pg 63
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