Philip Dru: Administrator | Page 3

instrument for good. Oftentimes our inclinations lead us in
certain directions, and it is only afterwards that it seems as if fate may from the first have
so determined it."
The mischievous twinkle left the girl's eyes, and the languid tone of her voice changed to
one a little more like sincerity.
"But suppose there is no war," she demanded, "suppose you go on living at barracks here
and there, and with no broader outlook than such a life entails, will you be satisfied? Is
that all you have in mind to do in the world?"
He looked at her more perplexed than ever. Such an observation of life, his life, seemed
beyond her years, for he knew but little of the women of his own generation. He
wondered, too, if she would understand if he told her all that was in his mind.
"Gloria, we are entering a new era. The past is no longer to be a guide to the future. A
century and a half ago there arose in France a giant that had slumbered for untold
centuries. He knew he had suffered grievous wrongs, but he did not know how to right
them. He therefore struck out blindly and cruelly, and the innocent went down with the
guilty. He was almost wholly ignorant for in the scheme of society as then constructed,
the ruling few felt that he must be kept ignorant, otherwise they could not continue to
hold him in bondage. For him the door of opportunity was closed, and he struggled from
the cradle to the grave for the minimum of food and clothing necessary to keep breath
within the body. His labor and his very life itself was subject to the greed, the passion and
the caprice of his over-lord.
"So when he awoke he could only destroy. Unfortunately for him, there was not one of
the governing class who was big enough and humane enough to lend a guiding and a
friendly hand, so he was led by weak, and selfish men who could only incite him to
further wanton murder and demolition.
"But out of that revelry of blood there dawned upon mankind the hope of a more splendid
day. The divinity of kings, the God-given right to rule, was shattered for all time. The
giant at last knew his strength, and with head erect, and the light of freedom in his eyes,
he dared to assert the liberty, equality and fraternity of man. Then throughout the Western
world one stratum of society after another demanded and obtained the right to acquire
wealth and to share in the government. Here and there one bolder and more forceful than
the rest acquired great wealth and with it great power. Not satisfied with reasonable gain,
they sought to multiply it beyond all bounds of need. They who had sprung from the
people a short life span ago were now throttling individual effort and shackling the great
movement for equal rights and equal opportunity."
Dru's voice became tense and vibrant, and he talked in quick sharp jerks.
"Nowhere in the world is wealth more defiant, and monopoly more insistent than in this
mighty republic," he said, "and it is here that the next great battle for human

emancipation will be fought and won. And from the blood and travail of an enlightened
people, there will be born a spirit of love and brotherhood which will transform the world;
and the Star of Bethlehem, seen but darkly for two thousand years, will shine again with a
steady and effulgent glow."
CHAPTER II
THE VISION OF PHILIP DRU
Long before Philip had finished speaking, Gloria saw that he had forgotten her presence.
With glistening eyes and face aflame he had talked on and on with such compelling force
that she beheld in him the prophet of a new day.
She sat very still for a while, and then she reached out to touch his sleeve.
"I think I understand how you feel now," she said in a tone different from any she had yet
used. "I have been reared in a different atmosphere from you, and at home have heard
only the other side, while at school they mostly evade the question. My father is one of
the 'bold and forceful few' as perhaps you know, but he does not seem to me to want to
harm anyone. He is kind to us, and charitable too, as that word is commonly used, and I
am sure he has done much good with his money."
"I am sorry, Gloria, if I have hurt you by what I said," answered Dru.
"Oh! never mind, for I am sure you are right," answered the girl, but Philip continued--
"Your father, I think, is not to blame. It is the system