Part 31 (2/2)
This seemed a plain crazy proposition; but Guffey explained it as a matter of politics. If they went too far, these fellows would go out and capture the votes from them, and maybe take away the government from them, and where would they be then? Peter had never paid any attention to politics before this, but both he and Gladys realized after this lecture that they must broaden their view-point. It was not enough to put the Reds in jail and crack their skulls, you had to keep public sympathy for what you were doing, you had to make the public understand that it was necessary, you had to carry on what was called ”propaganda,” to keep the public aware of the odiousness of these cattle, and the desperate nature of their purposes.
The man who perceived that most clearly was the Attorney-General of the country, and Guffey in his lecture pointed out the double nature of his activities. Not merely was the Attorney-General breaking up the Communist and the Communist Labor parties and sending their members to jail; he was using the funds of his office to send out an endless stream of propaganda, to keep the country frightened about these Red plots. Right now he had men in American City working over the data which Guffey had collected, and every week or two he would make a speech somewhere, or would issue a statement to the newspapers, telling of new bomb plots and new conspiracies to overthrow the government. And how clever he was about it! He would get the pictures of the very worst-looking of the Reds, pictures taken after they had been kept in jail for weeks without a shave, and with the third degree to spoil their tempers; and these pictures would be spread on a sheet with the caption: ”MEN LIKE THESE WOULD RULE YOU.” This would be sent to ten thousand country newspapers all over the nation, and ninety-nine hundred would publish it, and ninety-nine million Americans would want to murder the Reds next morning. So successful had this plan proven that the Attorney-General was expecting to be nominated for President by means of it, and all the agencies of his department were working to that end.
The same thing was being done by all the other agencies of big business all over the country. The ”Improve America League” of American City was publis.h.i.+ng full-page advertis.e.m.e.nts in the ”Times,” and the ”Home and Fireside a.s.sociation” of Eldorado was doing the same thing in the Eldorado ”Times,” and the ”Patriot's Defense Legion” was doing the same thing in the Flagland ”Banner.”
They were investigating the records of all political candidates, and if any of them showed the faintest tinge of pink, Guffey's office would set to work to rake up their records and get up scandals on them, and the business men would contribute a big campaign fund, and these candidates would be snowed under at the polls. That was the kind of work they were doing, and all Guffey's operatives must bear in mind the importance of it, and must never take any step that would hamper this political campaign, this propaganda on behalf of law and order.
Section 85
Peter went out from this conference a sober man, realizing for the first time his responsibilities as a voter, and a shepherd to other voters. Peter agreed with Gladys that his views had been too narrow; his conception of the duties of a secret agent had been of the pre-war order. Now he must realize that the world was changed; now, in this new world made safe for democracy, the secret agent was the real ruler of society, the real master of affairs, the trustee, as it were, for civilization. Peter and his wife must take up this new role and make themselves fit for it. They ought of course not be moved by personal considerations, but at the same time they must recognize the fact that this higher role would be of great advantage to them; it would enable them to move up in the world, to meet the best people. Thru five or six years of her young life Gladys had sat polis.h.i.+ng the fingernails and fondling the soft white hands of the genteel; and always a fire of determination had burnt in her breast, that some day she would belong to this world of gentility, she would meet these people, not as an employee, but as an equal, she would not merely hold their hands, but would have them hold hers.
Now the chance had come. She had a little talk with Guffey, and Guffey said it would be a good idea, and he would speak to Billy Nash, the secretary of the ”Improve America League”; and he did so, and next week the American City ”Times” announced that on the following Sunday evening the Men's Bible Cla.s.s of the Bethlehem Church would have an interesting meeting. It would be addressed by an ”under cover” operative of the government, a former Red who had been for many years a most dangerous agitator, but had seen the error of his ways, and had made amends by giving his services to the government in the recent I. W. W. trials.
The Bethlehem Church didn't amount to very much, it was an obscure sect like the Holy Rollers; but Gladys had been shrewd, and had insisted that you mustn't try to climb to the top of the mountain in one step. Peter must first ”try it on the dog,” and if he failed, there would be no great harm done.
But Gladys worked just as hard to make a success of this lecture as if they had been going into real society. She spent several days getting up her costume and Peter's, and she spent a whole day getting her toilet ready, and before they set out she spent at least an hour putting the finis.h.i.+ng touches upon herself in front of a mirror, and seeing that Peter was proper in every detail. When Mr.
Nash introduced her personally to the Rev. Zebediah Muggins, and when this apostle of the second advent came out upon the platform and introduced her husband to the crowded working-cla.s.s audience, Gladys was so a-quiver with delight that it was more a pain than a pleasure.
Peter did not do perfectly, of course. He lost himself a few times, and stammered and floundered about; but he remembered Glady's advice--if he got stuck, to smile and explain that he had never spoken in public before. So everything went along nicely, and everybody in the Men's Bible Cla.s.s was aghast at the incredible revelations of this ex-Red and secret agent of law and order. So next week Peter was invited again--this time by the Young Saints'
League; and when he had made good there, he was drafted by the Ad.
Men's a.s.sociation, and then by the Crackers and Cheese Club. By this time he had acquired what Gladys called ”savwaa fair”; his fame spread rapidly, and at last came the supreme hour--he was summoned to Park Avenue to address the members of the Friendly Society, a parish organization of the Church of the Divine Compa.s.sion!
This was the goal upon which the eyes of Gladys had been fixed. This was the time that really counted, and Peter was groomed and rehea.r.s.ed all over again. Their home was only a few blocks from the church, but Gladys insisted that they must positively arrive in a taxi-cab, and when they entered the Parish Hall and the Rev. de Willoughby Stotterbridge, that exquisite almost-English gentleman, came up and shook hands with them, Gladys knew that she had at last arrived. The clergyman himself escorted her to the platform, and after he had introduced Peter, he seated himself beside her, thus definitely putting a seal upon her social position.
Peter, having learned his lecture by heart, having found out just what brought laughter and what brought tears and what brought patriotic applause, was now an a.s.sured success. After the lecture he answered questions, and two clerks in the employ of Billy Nash pa.s.sed around members.h.i.+p cards of the ”Improve America League,”
members.h.i.+p dues five dollars a year, sustaining members.h.i.+p twenty-five dollars a year, life members.h.i.+p two hundred dollars cash. Peter was shaken hands with by members of the most exclusive social set in American City, and told by them all to keep it up--his country needed him. Next morning there was an account of his lecture in the ”Times,” and the morning after there was an editorial about his revelations, with the moral: ”Join the Improve America League.”
Section 86
That second morning, when Peter got to his office, he found a letter waiting for him, a letter written on very conspicuous and expensive stationery, and addressed in a woman's tall and sharp-pointed handwriting. Peter opened it and got a start, for at the top of the letter was some kind of crest, and a Latin inscription, and the words: ”Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.” The letter informed him by the hand of a secretary that Mrs. Warring Sammye requested that Mr. Peter Gudge would be so good as to call upon her that afternoon at three o'clock. Peter studied the letter, and tried to figure out what kind of Red this was. He was impressed by the stationery and the regal tone, but that word ”Revolution” was one of the forbidden words. Mrs. Warren Sammye must be one of the ”Parlor Reds,” like Mrs. G.o.dd.
So Peter took the letter to McGivney, and said suspiciously, ”What kind of a Red plot is this?”
McGivney read the letter, and said, ”Red plot? How do you mean?”
”Why,” explained Peter, ”it says 'Daughters of the American Revolution.'”
And McGivney looked at him; at first he thought that Peter was joking, but when he saw that the fellow was really in earnest, he guffawed in his face. ”You b.o.o.b!” he said. ”Didn't you ever hear of the American Revolution? Don't you know anything about the Fourth of July?”
Just then the telephone rang and interrupted them, and McGivney shoved the letter to him saying, ”Ask your wife about it!” So when Gladys came in, Peter gave her the letter, and she was much excited.
It appeared that Mrs. Warring Sammye was a very tip-top society lady in American City, and this American Revolution of which she was a daughter was a perfectly respectable revolution that had happened a long time ago; the very best people belonged to it, and it was legal and proper to write about, and even to put on your letterheads.
Peter must go home and get himself into his best clothes at once, and telephone to the secretary that he would be pleased to call upon Mrs. Warring Sammye at the hour indicated. Incidentally, there were a few more things for Peter to study. He must get a copy of the social register, ”Who's Who in American City,” and he must get a history of his country, and learn about the Declaration of Independence, and what was the difference between a revolution that had happened a long time ago and one that was happening now.
<script>