“‘What do you advise me to do?’ he asked.
“‘Pay it.’
“‘It will probably be a dead loss.’
“‘Probably, but it’s plainly up to you. He’s got in trouble keeping your pace. To tell the honest truth, you’re responsible for it, and the public will charge it to your account. You must pay the bill or suffer moral bankruptcy.’
“Harry was taken by surprise.
“‘But I can pay for my folly,’ he said.
“‘Yes; but when it becomes another man’s 42 folly it’s stolen property, and as much yours as ever. The goods have your mark on ’em, and, by and by, they’re dumped at your door. They may be damaged by dirt and vermin, but you’ve got to take ’em.
“‘After all, Harry, why should a young man whose education has cost a hundred thousand dollars, if a cent, be giving up his life to folly? You’re too smart to spend the most of your time looking beautiful––trying to excite the admiration of women and the envy of men. That might do in some of the old countries where the people are as dumb as cattle and are capable only of the emotion of awe and need professional gentlemen to excite it, and to feed upon their substance. Here the people have their moments of weakness, but mostly they are pretty level-headed. They judge men by what they do, not by what they look like. The professional gentleman is first an object of curiosity and then an object of scorn. He’s not for us. Young man, I knew your 43 father and your grandfather. I like you and want you to know that I am speaking kindly, but you ought to go to work.’
“‘Mr. Potter, he said, ‘upon my word, sir, I’m going to work one of these days––at something––I don’t know what.’
“‘The sooner the better,’ I said. ‘Work is the thing that makes men––nothing else. In Pointview everybody used to work. Now here are some facts for your genealogy that you haven’t discovered. Your grandfather and grandmother raised a family of nine children and never had a servant––think of that. Your grandmother made clothes for the family and did all the work of the house. She was a doctor, a nurse, a teacher, a spinner, a weaver, a knitter, a sewer, a cook, a washerwoman, a gentle and tender mother. Now we are beginning to rot with idleness.