He saw what a wall he was butting against.

"And is this to go on forever ?" he asked.
"Yes, forever.

'The poor ye have with you always.'" "But present conditions may be overturned." "Possibly, but other conditions just as bad, or even worse, will build on the ruins.

That is the history you spoke of just now." "But slavery was swept away--and, let me affirm," he suddenly broke off, "that the condition of the poorer people in this town is worse than the slavery that existed in the South.

From that slavery the government pointed toward freedom, and mill-owners in the North applauded--men, too, mind you, who were the hardest of masters.