These little ones, without means and without the sympathy of the multitudes, who, in their desperation in the struggle for bread, forgot or did not see them, were sent to this aunt. That poor old woman had griefs enough of her own. Her life was well nigh worked out. She had neither nerves nor strength. Her limbs were stiff and rheumatic. Her eyes were dim and her aged back was bent. In her mean little cottage by the roadside at Annisquan she had all she could do to nurse the fading embers of her life’s fires, and she was now expected to support these two little infants, one three and one five years of age. She was cross to them, but she did not mean to be. She was very impatient and she did not know it. She did not take them into her arms as a mother would, but that never occurred to her. And yet she loved them, but the power of expressing love had long been crushed out by poverty.
So one day these two ragged, half-fed little boys, with their tear-bestained cheeks and great eyes, made more expressive by being set in the pale faces pinched by want, started out from the old aunt’s house in search of a place their mother used to tell them about which was called Heaven, where she said their papa was. The children were afterward found nearly starved to death lying near the roadside seven miles from home by some charitably disposed persons, who fed them and subsequently caused them to be placed in an orphan asylum, where they were kept and given a meagre education suitable to their lowly financial condition. When they were large and strong enough they were sent to the West and placed in the charge of farmers, but were widely separated. The author traced the development of each. Both were naturally possessed of powerful minds. One became a money maker, the other the champion of a new system for the development of his race. One was a great banker and amassed millions. The other was a great co-operator and occupied a high station in the Co-operative Commonwealth. She carried her story into the future that she might picture conditions which had not yet obtained.
In those days it was a favorite method of illustrating economic principles, and had been made quite fashionable by Bellamy’s famous work called “Looking Backward.” Miss Woodberry’s novel was not so remarkable for its plot as for the vivid contrast which it presented between the competitive and co-operative system, and so powerfully did her pen draw the picture that while the brother who gave his life to the one, though not worse than most of its supporters, seemed possessed of a demon of greed; the brother who gave his life to the other appeared to be no more nor less than a man. This novel seemed to me then, as it does now, both instructive and artistic and equal to any of those which my wife has written since.
“What shall we do now?” asked Miss Woodberry. “You have obtained a favorable criticism and the Association will publish the novel. What advantage will it give me or you to do so?”
“I shall urge you first to make an application for membership,” I replied. “Although you were not a citizen of Idaho nor a member of the National Brotherhood, you will find that your accomplishments and this novel will gain you immediate admission.”
“Yes!” exclaimed she. “But what else? Does not the Co-opolitan Association provide for some reward for a meritorious work?”
“The Co-opolitan Association will endeavor to be just,” I replied. “In the case of Dupont, the man who invented the Dupont motorcycle, which has brought us a large accession of wealth, the Legislative Council has allowed him a five years’ furlough and he is now traveling in Europe, but draws his full pay on the Industrial Army. Dupont has decided to take only one year now and then the rest of his time hereafter. Then there is Dr. James, who received a furlough of three months and an advance of $1,200.00 from his next three years’ pay, for special merit and extraordinary services of a professional character. We have a system of rewarding those who display special merit or who by some new invention add to the wealth, comfort or power of the Association.
“Our Legislative Council requests each department chief to present, every three months, the names of members most deserving of reward, and after fully and fairly informing themselves as to the work, art or production recommended, dispenses its rewards according to its best judgment. At the last meeting of the Legislative Council for this purpose ten men in my department were rewarded. One got six weeks rest, another two months, a third one week and others various terms of respite. This was in addition to the vacation. I am not in the habit of selecting these ten myself. I leave that to my foreman and in doing so avoid jealousies. I shall not recommend you, but I believe this novel will suggest to the Legislative Council the propriety of a reward.”
This reference to her entering some department suggested the old discussion again of whether she would apply or not. She was very much attached to the Association and believed it would ultimately own the entire state, but she was not sure, she said, that she ought to become absorbed in it. We considered that we might marry and that I could supply the house from my income and she could, if her novel was successful from a financial point of view, do other literary work at home and for ourselves. But she was not committed to this view, nor were her opinions fixed. However, she finally agreed with me in the belief that her life could be made far more useful as a member than as an individual. We agreed that if both were employed by the Association our united efforts would bring us twenty-four hundred dollars a year so long as twelve hundred dollars was each member’s income. I had long before converted all the property which I had inherited into cash of the gold and silver kind and had turned it over to the Association with the understanding that I would be permitted to withdraw it in amounts not greater than $1,200.00 per annum, if I so desired. The Association paid nothing for its use, but agreed to furnish, on the terms stated, goods, wares, labor checks or orders instead of money, or even money, if the proper affidavit and application for money was filed.
Aunt Lydia had also been economical in expenditures for the house, so that my expenses for two years had only been two thousand dollars, and I had a thousand dollars in unexpended labor-credit checks. This was also left with the Association, undrawn, so that the Association was indebted to me in the sum of $11,000.00. My affianced wife, as well as myself, was anxious to visit Europe and Asia, and this fund of $11,000.00 we calculated would enable us to do so without pinching ourselves while abroad. It was not possible to pinch ourselves at home, because at this time every department was accomplishing wonders in the production of wealth.