V
Poor Jimmie remained in his seat, overwhelmed. That he, the most
devoted of workers for Socialism, should have been the cause of such
a disgraceful scene--bringing to this revolutionary meeting a man in
the uniform of a killer of the working-class! He could not stay and
face the comrades; before the speaking had finished, he gave Lizzie
a nudge, and the two got up and stole out, dodging everyone they
knew.
Outside they stood in perplexity. They thought, of course, that the
old man would have driven away without them; they pictured the long
walk from the trolley-line in the darkness and mud--and with Lizzie
dressed in her only Sunday-go-to-meeting! But when they went to the
place where Mr. Drew had left his buggy, to their surprise they
found him patiently waiting for them. Seeing them hesitate, he said,
"Come! Get in!" They were much embarrassed, but obeyed, and the old
mare started her amble towards home.
They rode for a long time in silence. Finally Jimmie could not stand
it, and began, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Drew. You don't understand--" But
the old man cut him off. "There's no use you and me tryin' to talk,
young man." So they rode the rest of the way without a sound--except
that once Jimmie imagined he heard Lizzie sobbing to herself.
Jimmie really felt terribly about it, for he had for this old
soldier a deep respect, even an affection. Mr. Drew had made his
impression not so much by his arguments, which Jimmie considered
sixty years out of date, as by his personality. Here was one patriot
who was straight! What a pity that he could not understand the
revolutionary point of view! What a pity that he had to be made
angry! It was one more of the horrors of war, which tore friends
apart, and set them to disputing and hating one another.
At least, that was the way it seemed to Jimmie that night, while he
was still full of the speeches he had heard. But at other times
doubts assailed him--for, of course, a man cannot defy and combat a
whole community without sometimes being led to wonder whether the
community may not have some right on its side. Jimmie would hear of
things the Germans had done in the war; they were such dirty
fighters, they went out of their way to do such utterly revolting
and useless, almost insane things! They made it so needlessly hard
for anyone who tried to defend them to think of them even as human
beings. Jimmie would argue that he did not mean to help the Germans;
he would resent bitterly the charges of the Leesville newspapers
that he was a German agent and a traitor; but he could not get away
from the uncomfortable fact that the things he was doing DID have a
tendency to further German interests, at least for a time.
When that was pointed out to him by some patriot in a controversy,
his answer would be that he was appealing to the German Socialists
to revolt against their military leaders; but then the patriot would
begin to find fault with the German Socialists, declaring that they
were much better Germans than Socialists, and citing utterances and
actions to prove it. One German Socialist had stood up in the
Reichstag and declared that the Germans had two ways of
fighting--their armies overcame their enemies in the field, while
their Socialists undermined the morale of the workers in enemy
countries. When that passage was read to Jimmie, he answered that it
was a lie; no such speech had ever been made by a Socialist. He had
no way of proving it was a lie, of course; he just knew it! But
then, when he went away and thought it over, he began to wonder;
suppose it were true! Suppose the German workers had been so drilled
and schooled in childhood that even those who called themselves
revolutionists were patriots at heart! Jimmie would begin to piece
this and that together--things he had heard or read. Certainly these
German Socialists were not displaying any great boldness in fighting
their government!
The answer was that they could not oppose their government, because
they would be put in jail. But that was a pretty poor answer; it was
their business to go to jail--if not, what right had they to expect
Jimmie Higgins to go here in America? Jimmie presented this problem
to Comrade Meissner, who answered that if Jimmie would go first,
then doubtless the German comrades would follow. But Jimmie could
not see why he should be first; and when they tried to clear up the
reason, it developed that down in his heart Jimmie had begun to
believe that Germany was more to blame for the war than America. And
not merely would Comrade Meissner not admit that, but he became
excited and vehement, trying to convince Jimmie that the other
capitalist governments of the world were the cause of the
war--Germany was only defending herself against them! So there they
were, involved in a controversy, just like any two non-revolutionary
people! Repeating over the same arguments which had gone on in the
local between Norwood, the lawyer, and Schneider, the brewer; only
this time Jimmie was taking the side of Norwood! Jimmie found
himself face to face with the disconcerting fact that his devoted
friend Meissner was a German--and therefore in some subtle way
different from him, unable to see things as he did!
