scraps of the foreign
elements, Chinese, Mexican, Russian, Italian, yes, even German,--though
Eveley considered it asking entirely too much, even of Heaven, to elevate
shreds of German infamy to American standards. At any rate, people were
doing this thing, taking the pliant, trusting mind of the foreigner,
petting it, training it, coaxing it,--until presently the flotsam and
jetsam of the Orient, of war-torn Europe, of the islands of the sea, of
all the world, should be Americanized into union, and strength, and
loyalty, and love.

It fascinated Eveley. She forgot that it was her duty as a patriotic
American. She forgot that nobody had any business doing anything but
minding one's own business. She fairly burned to have a part in the work
of assimilation. Her eyes glowed with eagerness, her cheeks flushed a
vivid scarlet, her lips trembled with the ecstatic passion of loyalty.

In the open discussion that followed after the last address, Eveley
suddenly, quite to her own surprise, found that she had something to say.

"But--isn't it mostly talk?" she asked, half shyly, anxious not to
offend, but unable to repress the doubt in her mind. "It does not seem
practical. You say we must assimilate the foreign element. But can one
assimilate a foreign element? Doesn't the fact that it is foreign--make
it impossible of assimilation? Oh, I know we have to do something, but as
long as we are foreigners, we to them, and they to us,--what can we do?"

The deadly silence that greeted her words frightened her, yet somehow
gave her courage to go on. She must be saying something rather sensible,
or they would not pay attention.

"We can not assimilate food elements that are foreign to the digestive
organs," she said. "Labor and capital have warred for years, and neither
can assimilate the other. Look at domestic conditions here,--in the home,
you know. People get married,--men and women, of opposing types and
interests and standards. And they can not assimilate each other, and the
divorce courts are running rampant. It does no good to say assimilation
is a duty, if it is impossible. And it seems to be."

"Your criticism is destructive, Miss Ainsworth," said a learned professor
who had spoken first, and Eveley was sorry now that she had not listened
to him. "Destructive criticism is never helpful. Have you anything
constructive to offer?"

"Well, maybe it is theoretic, also," said Eveley smiling faintly, and
although the smile w