GIBSON: Isn't it noisy?
MIFFLIN [delighted]: It is! Every man has his own ideas and he expresses them. It means a freshness and originality in the work that never got into it before.
GIBSON [worried]: Originality? You don't mean to say they've changed any of the features of The Gibson Upright.
MIFFLIN: Oh, no; it's the same piano—and yet different! I almost feel I could tell the difference by looking at one. There's no change; yet now it has character. And those men—those men, Mr. Gibson—it's brought out their character so! They're thinking all the time.
GIBSON: They're working, too, of course?
MIFFLIN: Working! You never saw men work under the old capitalistic régime, Mr. Gibson! Don't think that this work is the driven, dogged thing it was when they had to. This is work with dignity, with enthusiasm, with spontaneity!
GIBSON [rising, very thoughtful]: Well, I ought to hope that it is, of course!
[He walks to and fro a moment, then comes and rests his hands on the back of a chair, looking at MIFFLIN.]
Mr. Mifflin, I went into this with open eyes. I was angry at the time, but I had thought of it often. And when I went out I went out! Now I've kept away and I don't intend to do any prying—as a matter of fact, I'm only back here for two or three days—but I have some natural curiosity, especially about certain particulars.
MIFFLIN: Everything is as open as the sunlight—no capitalistic secret machinations. Ask anything you like!