were fastened
appealingly on a slender Russian lad, slouching in his chair at the end
of the row. "You want to be an American, I know."

Suddenly the slim lithe figure straightened, and the dark brows drew
together in a frown. "What are you getting at?" came in a sharp tone.
"I'm an American, ain't I? You don't take me for no German, do you?"

"No, no, of course not," she apologized placatingly. "Oh, certainly not.
I mean, you want to learn the things of America, so you can love this
country, and make it yours. Then you will forget that other land from
which you came, and know this for your own, now and forever."

Eveley was arrested by the steady gleam of a pair of eyes in the middle
of the row. There was open denial and disbelief written in every feature
and line of his face.

"Why?" came the terse query, as Eveley paused.

Eveley gazed upon him in wonderment. "Wh-what did you say?"

"I said, why?"

"Well, why not?" she countered nervously. "This is your country now. You
must love it best in all the world, and must grow to be like us,--one of
us,--America for Americans only, you know."

"You tell us to forget the land we came from," he said in an even
impersonal voice. "Is that patriotism,--to forget the land of your birth?
I thought patriotism was to remember your home-land,--holding it in your
heart,--hoping to return to it again,--and make it better."

"But--but that is not patriotism to this country," protested Eveley,
aghast. "That is--disloyalty. If you wish to be always of your own land,
and to love it best, you should stay there. If you come here, to get our
training, our education, our development, our riches,--then this must be
your country, and no other."

"Why?" he asked again. "Why should we not come here and get all the good
things you can give us, and learn what you can teach us, and take what
money we can earn, and then go back with all these good things to make
our own land bigger and better and richer? That is patriotism, I think."

"No, no," protested Eveley again. "That is not loyalty. If you choose
this country for your home, it must be first in your heart, and last
also. This is your home-land now,--the land you believe in, the land of
your love, America first."

"But America was not first. The home-land was first."

"Yes, it was first," she admitted pacifically. "But America is last.
America is the final touch. And so now you will learn our language, our
games, our business, our w