“But perhaps the idea has been best expressed by Mr. Grant Allen. Hear his clean-cut statement: ‘No man, indeed, is truly civilised till he can say in all sincerity to every woman of all the women he loves, to every woman of all the women who love him: “Give me what you can of your love and yourself; but never strive for my sake to deny any love, to strangle any impulse that pants for breath within you. Give me what you can, while you can, without grudging, but the moment you feel you love me no more, don’t do injustice to your own prospective children by giving them a father whom you no longer respect, or admire, or yearn for.” When men and women can both alike say this, the world will be civilised. Until they can say it truly, the world will be as now, a jarring battle-field of monopolist instincts.’
“Then this gem from another of the frousy-headed—Karl Pearson: ‘In a Socialist form of government the sex relation would vary according to the feelings and wants of individuals.’
“Observe in all these long-haired philosophers how closely the idea of private property is linked with the family. That is why the moment you attack private property in your pulpit your wife knows instinctively that you are attacking the basis of her life and home. Private property had its origin in the family. The family is the source of all monopolistic instincts, and your reign of moonshine brotherhood can never be brought to pass until you destroy monogamic marriage.”
“But my dream is of an ideal marriage and home life,” cried the preacher.
“Yes, and that is why you make me furious. You don’t know the origin or meaning of this Socialistic dream and yet you are preaching it every Sunday, inflaming the minds of that crowd. I don’t blame your wife. She sees in her soul the rock on which you must wreck your ship sooner or later. The herd and the mating pair cannot co-exist as dominant forces. This is why Socialism never converts a woman except through some—individual man. Woman’s maternal instinct created monogamic marriage. The only women who become Socialists directly are the sexless, the defectives and the oversexed, who can always be depended on to make the herd a lively place for its fighting male members. What have you to say to this?”
Overman turned his head sideways and pierced Gordon again with his single eye.
“Well, I confess you’ve given me something to think about, and I’m going to the bottom of the subject. You’ve opened vistas of great ideas. It’s the question of the century, the thought that is sweeping life before it. While I’ve been listening to you, more and more I’ve seen the need of consecration to the leading and teaching of the people who are being swept by millions into this movement. But you haven’t told me what to do with Van Meter.”
“Yes, I have, The trouble, I tell you, is with you, not Van Meter. He’s a little man, but he’s just the size of a deacon in a modern church in New York. Win him over and work with him. He’s your only hope. Van Meter knows his business as a deacon and trustee. You are off the track.”
“But how can I ever reconcile Van Meter’s commercialism with any living religion?”
Overman frowned and shrugged his shoulders.