have the face to come an' talk to me about 'em, as if that had anything to do with wages.It's my belief their priests put 'em up to it.People don't begin to reelize--that church of idolatry 'll be the ruin o' this country, if it ain't checked in time.Jest you go at 'em hammer 'n' tongs! I've got Eyetalians in the quarries now.
They're sensible fellows: they know when they're well off--a dollar a day, an' they're satisfied, an' everything goes smooth.""But they're Catholics, the same as the Irish," suddenly interjected the lawyer, from his place by the window.
Theron pricked up his ears at the sound of his voice.
There was an anti-Pierce note in it, so to speak, which it did him good to hear.The consciousness of sympathy began on the instant to inspire him with courage.
"I know some people SAY they are," Brother Pierce guardedly retorted "but I've summered an' wintered both kinds, an' I hold to it they're different.I grant ye, the Eyetalians ARE some given to jabbin' knives into each other, but they never git up strikes, an' they don't grumble about wages.Why, look at the way they live--jest some weeds an' yarbs dug up on the roadside, an'
stewed in a kettle with a piece o' fat the size o'
your finger, an' a loaf o' bread, an' they're happy as a king.
There's some sense in THAT; but the Irish, they've got to have meat an' potatoes an' butter jest as if--as if--""As if they'd b'en used to 'em at home," put in Mr.Winch, to help his colleague out.
The lawyer ostentatiously drew up his chair to the desk, and began turning over the leaves of his biggest book.
"It's getting on toward noon, gentlemen," he said, in an impatient voice.
The business meeting which followed was for a considerable time confined to hearing extracts from the books and papers read in a swift and formal fashion by Mr.Gorringe.
If this was intended to inform the new pastor of the exact financial situation in Octavius, it lamentably failed of its purpose.Theron had little knowledge of figures;and though he tried hard to listen, and to assume an air of comprehension, he did not understand much of what he heard.