It was the
way he _got_ father, and by that very valuing kept alive what was there
to value. Why, he literally laid this country at my father's feet--as if
that was what this country was for, as if it made up for the hard early
things--for the wrong things.
MADELINE: He must really have been a pretty nice old party. No doubt I
would have hit it off with him all right. I don't seem to hit it off
with the--speeches about him. Somehow I want to say, 'Oh, give us a
rest.'
FEJEVARY: (_offended_) And that, I presume, is what you want to say to
me.
MADELINE: No, no, I didn't mean you, Uncle. Though (_hesitatingly_) I
was wondering how you could think you were talking on your side.
FEJEVARY: What do you mean--my side?
MADELINE: Oh, I don't--exactly. That's nice about him being--of the
earth. Sometimes when I'm out for a tramp--way off by myself--yes, I
know. And I wonder if that doesn't explain his feeling about the
Indians. Father told me how grandfather took it to heart about the
Indians.
FEJEVARY: He felt it as you'd feel it if it were your brother. So he
must give his choicest land to the thing we might become. 'Then maybe I
can lie under the same sod with the red boys and not be ashamed.
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