“Exactly,” said Mrs. Munger. “I never thought of that.”
Mrs. Gerrish shifted her baby to another knee, and followed her husband with her eyes, as he dismounted from his stool and began to pace the room.
“I came into this town a poor boy, without a penny in my pocket, and I have made my own way, every inch of it, unaided and alone. I am a thorough believer in giving every one an equal chance to rise and to--get along; I would not throw an obstacle in anybody's way; but I do not believe--I do _not_ believe--in pampering those who have not risen, or have made no effort to rise.”
“It's their wastefulness, in nine cases out of ten, that keeps them down,” said Mrs. Gerrish.
“I don't care _what_ it is, I don't _ask_ what it is, that keeps them down. I don't expect to invite my clerks or Mrs. Gerrish's servants into my parlour. I will meet them at the polls, or the communion table, or on any proper occasion; but a man's home is _sacred_. I will not allow my wife or my children to associate with those whose--whose--whose idleness, or vice, or whatever, has kept them down in a country where--where everybody stands on an equality; and what I will not do myself, I will not ask others to do. I make it a rule to do unto others as I would have them do unto me. It is all nonsense to attempt to introduce those one-ideaed notions into--put them in practice.”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Munger, with deep conviction, “that is my own feeling, Mr. Gerrish, and I'm glad to have it corroborated by your experience. Then you _wouldn't_ drop the little invited dance and supper?”
“I will tell you how I feel about it, Mrs. Munger,” said Mr. Gerrish, pausing in his walk, and putting on a fine, patronising, gentleman-of-the-old-school smile. “You may put me down for any number of tickets--five, ten, fifteen--and you may command me in anything I can do to further the objects of your enterprise, if you will _keep_ the invited supper and dance. But I should not be prepared to do anything if they are dropped.”
“What a comfort it is to meet a person who knows his own mind!” exclaimed Mrs. Munger.
“Got company, Billy?” asked a voice at the door; and it added, “Glad to see _you_ here, Mrs. Gerrish.”
“Ah, Mr. Putney! Come in. Hope I see you well, sir!” cried Mr. Gerrish. “Come in!” he repeated, with jovial frankness. “Nobody but friends here.”