Afterward I had a little talk with Florence. I said: “I am afraid I was speaking for your benefit. Do you mind?”
“No,” she answered, “but I am not going to be that sort of society girl.”
I walked homeward with Virginia and Henry. Virginia told me that the club made her think, that things we said came back to her weeks and weeks afterward, and gave new meanings to life.
Next week we are going to have the last meeting. Henry asked me whether we were going to speak of “Aloofness.”
“Yes,” I answered, “and it will include all we have said until now.”
SEVENTEENTH MEETING
I read Henry’s paper:
“We should not be partisan. Do not fight against any one as an enemy, but as a friend who tries to help another, by thwarting his wrong purpose.
“Again we can go to Lincoln for an example. When he was president, Lincoln sent to his great political enemy, Douglas, and asked for his aid in the approaching struggle. Again, when the war was almost over, and those about him said that the Southern leaders would have to be severely dealt with, he told them that though he could not avoid the hated war, now that their end had been gained, he wanted peace, and bore no malice toward his Southern countrymen, whom he would deal with as leniently as possible.”
Then I read Marian’s paper: