"That is perfectly true."
"I cannot blame people for seeing the humorous side of much that their parents considered wholly serious," added Paul, "nor for laughing—tenderly and among themselves—at old-fashioned forms which they have outgrown; but laughing tenderly and sneering are two very different things. For instance, a man who now-a-days could read such books as The Fairchild Family and Stories from the Church Catechism without a smile, would be lacking in a sense of humour; but a man who sneered at the underlying godliness thus quaintly embodied, would be deficient in true reverence and spiritual insight."
"Quite so."
"Besides, I cannot understand the indifference to the charm of old association which would permit a man to regard with anything but tenderness the faith in which he was brought up, however far he might leave it behind in his maturer years. For instance, nothing would induce me to wear boots with elastic-sides; I think they are extremely uncomfortable and unhealthy and unbecoming; nevertheless, I never catch sight of those worn by my mother without being conscious of a wave of tender amusement; and for her sake all women who walk through life in elastic-sided boots are in a measure sacred to me."
Mr. Ford smiled, as he looked at the well-dressed man walking by his side. "Yet you yourself would not buy a pair of boots unless they had patent fasteners and cork soles, and every other invention of modern times."
"Of course I should not: which things are an allegory."
"Eh, dear!" sighed Mr. Ford, "I wish I had a son like you. What a political future I would have mapped out for him!"
"I am afraid I am a person who does not lend himself to mapping-out. I should like to go into political life, I confess; but I fear my politics would not always be your politics, Mr. Ford."
"I think they would, in great issues, and we would leave the trifles to take care of themselves. We are both opportunists, Paul; the only difference between us is the difference between the opportunities of thirty years ago and the opportunities of to-day."
"I think you have hit the nail on the head."