"That reminds me of Paris," remarked Geisner, watching them.
"I suppose you are French?"
"No. I've been in France considerably."
"It's a beautiful country, isn't it?"
"All countries are beautiful in their way. Sydney Harbour is the most beautiful spot I know. I hardly know where I was born. In Germany I think."
"Things are pretty bad in those old countries, aren't they?"
"Things are pretty bad everywhere, aren't they?"
"Yes," answered Ned, meditatively. "They seem to be. They're bad enough here and this is called the workingman's paradise. But a good many seem glad enough to get here from other countries. It must be pretty bad where they come from."
"So it is. It is what it is here, only more so. It is what things will be in a very few years here if you let them go on. As a matter of fact the old countries ought to be wore prosperous than the new ones, but our social system has become so ill-balanced that in the countries where there are most people at work those people are more wretched than where there are comparatively few working."
"How do you mean?"