"
"Oh, what a puzzle!" she exclaimed, and then: "Is there any way of
helping the poor that wouldn't be open to the same objection?"
That brought us once more to the subject I had put aside at our last
meeting. She had not forgotten it, and asked again for an
explanation. What did I mean by the competitive wage system?
My purpose in this writing is to tell the story of Sylvia
Castleman's life, to show, not merely what she was, but what she
became. I have to make real to you a process of growth in her soul,
and at this moment the important event is her discovery of the
class-struggle and her reaction to it. You may say, perhaps, that
you are not interested in the class-struggle, but you cannot alter
the fact that you live in an age when millions of people are having
the course of their lives changed by the discovery of it. Here, for
instance, is a girl who has been taught to keep her promises, and
has promised to love, honour and obey a man; she is to find the task
more difficult, because she comes to understand the competitive
wage-system while he does not understand it and does not wish to.
If that seems to you strange material out of which to make a
domestic drama, I can only tell you that you have missed some of the
vital facts of your own time.
Pages:
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57