"That's all right. Don't--till you're ready. When your faith needs to
sign itself to some register, do it. Right Wing, Left Wing Socialist,
Syndicalist, Communist, I. W. W., they're all headed right and there's
something the matter with them all. It doesn't matter really; start
a new party if you like. Names, names," he added, a little wearily,
"all names for the same thing--the new world that's struggling to be
born. Science, art, religion, politics, we're all fighting for the same
end--to root out the dead old forms, give new growths a chance. We're
all beating in our different ways toward the same thing--Understanding,
Beauty, Unity. One fits in where he can." He looked across the dirty
loft to a group of men waiting for him on the bench where Roger had
sat a few moments before. "This is mine. I had no special training,
nothing but physical strength and longing." His gaze came back to his
own hands, broken and sparsely covered at the wrists and knuckles with
stiff black hair. "I worked in a Pennsylvania coal mine when I was
twelve. I read at night. When I was nineteen I went for a while to
night-school with kids thirteen and fourteen. I never had three square
meals a day until I was twenty-three. I lived in mines and shops and
libraries."
He paused, and it seemed to Roger that he had gone away, back down the
years, alone. In those crowded years, herded among men, he had learned
to slip away, leave his gaunt, over-worked body to the crowd. Privacy
was a spiritual possession, free to his will.
He jerked himself back with a motion of his bowed shoulders.
"Have you had any special training along any line?"
"Yes, I'm a lawyer."
"Great. We need----"
"But I'd rather not practice, anyhow not plead in court for a while. I
don't feel that I understand enough about the thing as a whole. I want
to soak in it, feel myself honestly a part before I undertake to defend
men. Is that an out-of-the-way request?"
"It's an out-of-the-ordinary request. I wish more men felt as you do.
There wouldn't be so many misunderstandings and shiftings around and
party splits. I guess we can fit you in somewhere. How little can you
work for?"
Roger did not answer instantly.
"Married?"
"Yes."
"Perhaps you'd better talk it over with your wife."
"It's not necessary. She--she's with me in this."
"We need lawyers, but we can't pay what the meanest scrub can't better
in a very few years. What have you been getting?"
"Fifty a week."
"About ten beyond our possible limit--with expenses when you
travel--but not fancy ones. You can take outside cases on the side--if
you get them once you're known as one of us. That will have nothing to
do with us."
"I don't want any 'cases on the side,' not for the present anyhow."