"I hear," replied Mr. Blake, the undertaker, "that they're doing first-rate. My wife has joined."
"You 'n' your wife are gettin' to be reg'lar jiners, ain't yer? B'long to 'most everything now," remarked Sam.
"Well, we like to keep in touch with what's going on in the world," replied Mr. Blake, modestly.
"Business is business," chuckled Sam. Mr. Blake made no reply to the insinuation. "What do they want a club for, anyway?" Sam continued. "Don't they have enough to do without gettin' together and stirrin' things up?"
"Perhaps it's because they want a change," suggested Alick Purbeck.
"Change?" sniffed Sam, scornfully. "What change do any of us get? We get up in the morning every day at the same time, eat our breakfast, go to work, eat our dinner, go to work, eat our supper, and—sometimes we come down here and swap lies, and—"
"There's your change," interrupted Mr. Blake. "At our work most of us men meet different people, we see new faces and new things, but the women stay at home, wash, sew, cook, care for the children, and never know when the day is done unless they look at the clock—then they're not always sure."
"There ain't any use tryin' to argue with you," replied Sam. "What are they goin' to do at this club that'll give 'em a change?"
"Well," said Mr. Blake, "I understand that they're going to give a play, study art, science, and so forth, and give social affairs that will bring the people together in a way that will benefit us all."
"Ump! I'd like to know how they'll do me any good," grunted Sam.