Free Testimony Of Two Men by Taylor Caldwell Page B

to touch the bell under her chair with her foot to summon fresh hot toast.
    “Hah!” exclaimed Jonathan. “Here’s our nice fat Mr. Taft calling the Filipinos ‘our little brown brothers!’ That should make them happy, considering they have proud Spanish blood in them!” He chuckled. “And here’s a parody of that, by an anonymous American soldier: ‘He may be a brother of Big Bill Taft—but he ain’t no brother of mine!’ What nauseating condescensions politicians can spout!”
    “There do seem to be a lot of troubles going on,” said Marjorie Ferrier in a mild tone. “Well, the Boer War is over, at any rate.”
    “Remember what Life said about that war? ‘A small boy with diamonds is no match for a large burglar with experience.’”
    “I never cared for the Boers,” said Marjorie, refilling Jonathan’s cup.
    “No, I suppose you didn’t. You are one of the few admirers of the resounding British Empire.”
    “Oh, Jon, come! The British Empire is the balance wheel in the world. Don’t you remember that cartoon in that London newspaper, the Times, I think, last year, of Russia and the United States jointly seizing a globe of the world, with Britain reduced to a tiny figurine beneath it? Oh, dear, I hope not! Not so long as Britain is strong, at any rate.” Her voice had Jonathan’s deep timbre, but was lighter and gentler.
    Jonathan put down his newspaper and then looked at it gloomily. “There was an earlier cartoon; I saw a reproduction of it. First published in the New York Herald, I think, 1857. Thomas Nast? Wonderful cartoonist. He depicted, then, forty-four years ago, that old bearded Ivan and America would one day be struggling to divide the world between them.”
    “Absurd,” said Marjorie. She rang for more hot toast. “Why should America have imperialistic ambitions? Absurd. And that barbarous Russia, with her Czars, has enough trouble subduing her own people and keeping them from revolt. She is a very mysterious Oriental nation, isn’t she? Why in the world should America ever come into contact with her, except perhaps in trade, and we do very little of that? There’s no point of real contact between our country and Russia.”
    “You never can tell about the future,” said Jonathan. His mother laughed a little.
    “We are a big nation,” said Marjorie, “and we haven’t even begun to develop it. We still have Territories which are not yet States. It will take centuries, really, to fill America from
    coast to coast. We have quite enough to do without any foreign ambitions or any alliances with anyone!”
    “You never can tell,” repeated Jonathan. “What makes you think we won’t have ‘ambitions,’ say in twenty-five or fifty years? If we don’t, we’ll be unique in the history of the world, and of mankind.”
    “We are unique,” said Marjorie in a tranquil tone. “We had no ambitions, not even in the last war. We’ll be giving Cuba her freedom soon.”
    Jonathan thoughtfully sipped at his fresh coffee. “Unique,” he repeated. He shook his head. “No, we’re not. We began as ancient Rome began. Well probably end as she did, too, in a bloody despotism, with dictators, and perhaps Caesars, finally.”
    “How morbid you are this morning,” said Marjorie. “But, then, you were always a solemn little boy, too.” She smiled at him fondly, a smile he did not see.
    “There’s one thing you can always be certain of,” said Jonathan, “that it’s very unwise not to underestimate the goodwill of mankind. We haven’t honestly taken one step forward to true manhood in five thousand years. We’re the same old murdering bas—” He stopped. But Marjorie only smiled.
    “Not America,” she said. “The Spanish-American War wasn’t really a war in the full sense. We’ve been at peace since 1865, over thirty-five years. We’ll never have the wars Europeans have, thank God.”
    “Don’t be too sure. We’ll begin to feel our oats. It’s human nature.”
    “But,