The well-fed and the starving cordially greeted one another. Then
there were mutual explanations, and the old man who had lectured upon
chemistry had his say:--

"You want to know why we are all starving, and why we are so much
worse off than you, although we were educated at the same Board
School? I will tell you. It was because you very wisely made up your
minds to follow the occupations of your fathers. You became builders,
bakers, coal-heavers and paviors.

"Ah, we did that," sighed out the elderly workman, "because we were
too backward to attempt anything better. We were not clever people
like you! We couldn't play the piano, and paint and swim, and go
in for chemistry. We were not clever enough, and had to put up with
passing a very low standard."

"Thank your lucky stars it was so," exclaimed the chemist, with
tears in his eyes, "for your fate is happier than ours. We are all
fifth-rate, and can do nothing else. We have no chance against those
who have been born to this kind of thing, and we have forgotten how to
do your work. So we are starving, and--"

But here the old man was interrupted by a policeman, who ordered
all of them to move on. And on they moved. Half one way and half the
other.

* * * * *

OUR OWN FINANCIAL COLUMN.