The air is cooler. Grip-til-lah thinks a storm is brewing.
Even Nofuhl is puzzled over the wooden image we brought aboard
yesterday. It is well preserved, with the barbaric coloring still
fresh upon it. They found it standing upright in a little shop.
How these idols were worshipped, and why they are found in little
shops and never in the great temples is a mystery. It has a diadem of
feathers on the head, and as we sat smoking upon the deck this evening
I remarked to Nofuhl that it might be the portrait of some Mehrikan
noble. Whereupon he said they had no nobles. "But the Mehrikans of
gentle blood," I asked, "had they no titles?"
"Neither titles nor gentle blood," he answered. "And as they were
all of much the same origin, and came to this country simply to thrive
more fatly than at home, there was nothing except difference in wealth
on which to establish a superior order. Being deep respecters of money
this was a satisfying distinction. It soon resulted that those
families who possessed riches for a generation or two became the
substitute for an aristocracy. This upper class was given to sports
and pastimes, spending their wealth freely, being prodigiously fond of
display. Their intellectual development was feeble, and they wielded
but little influence save in social matters. They followed closely the
fashions of foreign aristocracies. Great attentions were paid to
wandering nobles from other lands. Even distant relatives of titled
people were greeted with the warmest enthusiasm."
Then I said to him, "But explain to me, O Nofuhl, how it was possible
for so shallow a nation to become so great."
"They were great only in numbers and too weak to endure success. At
the beginning of the twentieth century--as they counted time--huge
fortunes were amassed in a day, and the Mehrikans became drunk with
money."
Whereupon I exclaimed, "O Land of Delight! For much money is
cheering."
But the old man shook his head. "Very true, O Prince; but the effect
was woful. These vast fortunes soon dominated all things, even the
seat of government and the courts of Justice. Tricks of finance
brought fabulous gains. Young men became demoralized. For sober
industry with its moderate profits was ridiculed."
"Verily, that would be natural!" I said. "But in a land where all
were rich who was found to cook and scrub, to fetch and carry and to
till the soil? For none will shovel earth when his pockets are
stuffed with gold."
"All were not rich. And when the poor also became greedy they became
hostile. Then began social upheavals with bloodshed and havoc."