roar of shell and shrapnel and in whine of machine-guns shall our answer
be couched.

"You cannot escape us. It is true that you have read history aright. It
is true that labor has from the beginning of history been in the dirt.
And it is equally true that so long as you and yours and those that come
after you have power, that labor shall remain in the dirt. I agree with
you. I agree with all that you have said. Power will be the arbiter,
as it always has been the arbiter. It is a struggle of classes. Just as
your class dragged down the old feudal nobility, so shall it be dragged
down by my class, the working class. If you will read your biology and
your sociology as clearly as you do your history, you will see that this
end I have described is inevitable. It does not matter whether it is in
one year, ten, or a thousand--your class shall be dragged down. And it
shall be done by power. We of the labor hosts have conned that word over
till our minds are all a-tingle with it. Power. It is a kingly word."

And so ended the night with the Philomaths.



CHAPTER VI

ADUMBRATIONS


It was about this time that the warnings of coming events began to fall
about us thick and fast. Ernest had already questioned father's policy
of having socialists and labor leaders at his house, and of openly
attending socialist meetings; and father had only laughed at him for