as he could be, and he wuz the
only boy amongst all the grandchildren; it is a blow Deacon Henzy will
never git over. And his ma went into one faintin' fit after another
when he wuz brought home, and will never be a well woman agin, and his
pa's hair in three months grew gray as a rat; it 'most killed all on
'em."

"Well," sez Arvilly, "what verdict do you think that fool brought
in?"

"What fool?" sez I.

"The law!" sez Arvilly sternly. "The judge brought in a verdict of one
dollar damages; it said that children wuzn't wage-earners and
therefore they wuzn't worth any more."

I throwed my arms 'round Tommy onbeknown to me, and sez I, "Millions
and millions of money wouldn't pay your grandma for you." And Tommy
wonnered and wonnered that a little boy's life wuzn't worth more than
a dollar.

"Why," sez I, "the law gives twenty dollars for a two-year-old
heifer."

"Yes," sez Arvilly, "the law don't reckon Willie Henzy's life worth so
much as a yearlin' calf or a dog. But they can do jest as they please;
these great monopolies have spun their golden web round politicians
and office-seekers and office-holders and rule the whole country. They
can set their own valuation on life and limb, and every dollar they
can save in bruised flesh and death and agony, is one more dollar to
divide amongst the stockholders."

"Well," sez I, "we mustn't forgit to be megum, Arvilly; we mustn't
forgit in our indignation all the good they do carryin' folks from
hether to yon for almost nothin'."

"Well, they no need to act more heartless than Nero or King Herod. I
don't believe that old Nero himself would done this; I believe he
would gin two dollars for Willie Henzy."

And I sez, "I never neighbored with Mr. Nero. But if I could git holt
of that judge," sez I, "he would remember it to his dyin' day."

"He wouldn't care for what you said," sez Arvilly; "he got his pay.
There hain't any of these big monopolies got any more soul than a
stun-boat."

It is only nine hours from Suez to Cairo. How often have I spoke of
the great desert of Sarah in hours of Jonesville mirth and sadness,
little thinkin' that I should ever cross it in this mortal spear, but
we did pass through a corner on't and had a good view of the Suez
Canal, about which so much has been said and done. For milds we went
through the Valley of the Nile, that great wet nurse of Egypt. The
banks on either side on't stand dressed in livin' green. There wuz a
good many Ame