mithfield," said Crane, "candidly, now, what is the matter
with all of you? You know you really are a very queer lot."

Thus appealed to, Smithfield considered.

"Well, sir," he said, "I think the trouble--as much as any one thing is
the trouble--is that we're young, and servants oughtn't to be young.
They should be strong, healthy, hard working, but not young; for youth
means impulses, hopes of improvement, love of enjoyment, all qualities
servants must not have." The man spoke entirely without bitterness, and
Crane turning to him said suddenly:

"Smithfield, what do you think about class distinctions?"

For the first time, Smithfield smiled.

"I think, sir," he said, "that if they were done away with, I should
lose my job."

"Well, by heaven, if I were you, then," cried Crane, with unusual
feeling, "I'd get a job that wasn't dependent on a lie, for if I believe
anything it is that all these dissimilarities between rich and poor, and
men and women, and black and white, are pretty trivial as compared with
their similarities. It's my opinion we are all very much alike,
Smithfield," and Crane, as he spoke, was astonished at the passion for
democracy that stirred within him.

"That, sir," replied Smithfield, "if you forgive my saying it, is the
attitude toward democracy of some one who has always been at the top.
There must be distinctions, mustn't there, sir, and you would probably
say that the ideal distinction was along the line of merit--that every
one should have the place in the world that he deserves. But, dear me,
sir, that would be very cruel. So many of us would then be face to face
with our own inferiority. Now, as things are, I can think that it's only
outside conditions that are keeping me down, and that I should make as
good or even better a master, begging your pardon, than you, sir. But
under a true democracy, if I were still in an inferior position, I
should have to admit I belonged there, which I don't admit at all now,
not at all."

"But how about my not admitting that I'm a master?" said Crane.

"In one sense, perhaps you are not, sir," answered Smithfield. "For,
after all, some training is necessary to be a servant, particularly a
butler, but for the exercise of the functions of the higher classes, no
training at all seems to be required. Curious, isn't it, sir? Utterly
unskilled labor is found only among the very rich and the very poor."

The conversation had brought them to the house, with