If such a thing happened in this country
I'd be one of the first to join in. But I've never had a taste
for bloodshed. I'd rather the thing had been done without. From
the first you seemed to be the man who might have brought it about.
We listened to you, we watched your career, and we began to have
hopes. Mr. Brott, the bodies and souls of millions of your
fellow-creatures were in the hollow of your hand. It was you who
might have set them free. It was you who might have made this the
greatest, the freest, the happiest country in the world. Not so
much for us perhaps as for our children, and our children's children.
We didn't expect a huge social upheaval in a week, or even a decade
of years. But we did expect to see the first blow struck. Oh, yes,
we expected that."
"I have disappointed you, I know, you and many others," Brott said
bitterly. "I wish I could explain. But I can't!"
"Oh, it doesn't matter," the man answered. "You have broken the
hearts of thousands of suffering men and women--you who might have
led them into the light, have forged another bolt in the bars which
stand between them and liberty. So they must live on in the
darkness, dull, dumb creatures with just spirit enough to spit and
curse at the sound of your name. It was the greatest trust God
ever placed in one man's hand--and you--you abused it.
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