“Oh, that was in the atmosphere, I think. I was in love with Greek because I worshipped Jowett. That was a boyish dream. All scholarly ambition is a thing of the past. I shall never do anything in that line.”
“Perhaps not. You have too much energy and activity for a student’s life. I should like to see you a power in the House.”
“Dearest flatterer, you would like to see me Prime Minister. I have no doubt you think that it simply rests with myself to become First Lord of the Treasury at an earlier age than William Pitt.”
“No, no, Jack, I am not a foolish mother, fondly as I love you. But I know that you have good gifts, and I want the world to profit by them. I should like to see you in Parliament. There is so much to be done by good men in the shaping of our new England—the England of enlightenment and humanity—and I want to see my son’s hand at the plough.”
“The field to be ploughed is wide and the soil is stubborn; but I don’t know that my hand would be strong enough to drive a furrow.”
“You could help, Jack; every good man can help.”
“Mother, I believe you are at heart a Radical.”
“I don’t think one need be a Radical to wish that the masses were better off and more thought of than they are. Some of the best and noblest things that have been done for the poor have been done by Conservatives. No, Jack, it is because I am not a Radical that I want to see you in Parliament. You are rich, well-born, well-educated. You could fill a place that might be filled by some Radical adventurer who would look to Parliamentary life as a means of pushing his own fortune.”
“If I can find any constituency willing to elect Conservative me instead of that Radical adventurer—who would in all probability be a much better speaker than I am, and appeal to a larger electorate—well and good. I have no great aversion to Parliament, but oh, you artful woman, I know why you would have me write M.P. after my name. ‘If I can pen him up with the other sheep in the House of Commons he can go no more a-roving.’ That is what you say to yourself, mother mine.”
“No, no, Jack. I sadly want you at home, but I am not a hypocrite. Most of all I want to see you with higher aims than those of a mere pleasure-seeker. I want to be proud of my son.”