"Oratory is a great power," remarked Joanna, half to herself; "it must be lovely to see hundreds of people hanging upon every word you utter, and to know that you can sway them for the time being as it pleases you!"
"It must indeed, my dear—in fact, it seems almost too great a power to be put into the hands of a man, even though the man be dear Master Paul himself. But it is a wonder to me that men get on in the world as well as they do, considering that they know nothing and can't bear to be taught. They say Providence takes special care of children and naturals, so I suppose Providence looks after men in the same sort of way. If it wasn't so, goodness knows what would become of them—the unmarried ones in particular!"
"You used to be such a strong Conservative," Joanna suggested, as she filled a vase with daffodils.
"So I was, miss; at one time the Conservatives seemed to me to do the least mischief of the two parties, because they were better able to mind their own business and leave the country to look after itself. As I have often passed the remark, interference is the one thing that I can't stand. I have no objection to speaking a word in season or out of season, whenever I think it is needed; but I know my own business, and I won't stand being taught it by anybody. And, I take it, the country is the same as me, miss; and doesn't want Governments to come poking their noses into things that don't concern them."
"So now I suppose you are a Liberal, Martha?"
"Well, I don't know that I'd go as far as that," replied Martha cautiously, "my father was a Liberal, and the love of reform got into his blood till he couldn't eat a bit of bacon without telling us how much better it might have been cooked if he'd had the doing of it himself. I've noticed, miss, that when the master of a house is a reformer, there's often trouble in the kitchen; so I set my face against reforms of any kind, as it were." And the good woman shook her duster to and fro, as if the whole Liberal party were wrapped up in it.
"Still some changes are improvements," persisted Joanna.
"I never came across them, miss; it seems to me that a new way of governing the country is like a new way of frying potatoes—the potatoes are no better than they were before, and the grease always smells. Still, my dear, I am no longer a Conservative. Take my word for that."
"What made you change your politics?" Joanna asked.
"Why, the way the Conservatives have turned against our Paul. As long as they kept themselves to themselves, and acted according to their lights, I had no objections to them; though I confess they sometimes made mistakes, like their betters. But when they turned against Master Paul, it was a different thing, and then I washed my hands once for all of the whole boiling of them."