CHAPTER XII.
WORK, AND LOVE, AND PARADISE.
It is twenty years after the demolition of the Austral Bank by the Revolutionists, under the leadership of Oliver Spence.
The sun is shining brightly through the trees, the sky is as beautiful in its heavenly blue as only an Australian sky can be, the birds, filled with the joy of living, are twittering merrily.
Two well-dressed men are strolling leisurely along, chatting together in a friendly manner. The elder of the two is probably about forty-four years of age, the other some ten years younger.
"I suppose, Jack, that your pension will soon be due," says the younger man.
"Not for another year yet, Tom," says the other. "I am not forty-five yet, and the pension is not due until I reach that age."
"Times were very different when we were young, Jack. No labour day of four hours and a retirement pension at forty-five then. Nothing but uncertainty of employment, low wages, long hours, and the possibility of a pauper's grave stared us in the face."
"You may well say that, Ton. I am older than you, and I have seen more, but I never saw a workman going to his work dressed as we are, nor taking his time about it, as we are. And the misery that existed among the workers was appalling. It is marvelous how they could have endured it so long. I would willingly have gone through two revolutions to abolish such an iniquitous tyranny as that of the usurious plutocracy which then held sway. Under the old regime no man could be certain that his life would not terminate amidst scenes of abject pauperism or desperate criminality. Now we are all certain of a suitable occupation and an honorable career. There is work for all, and overwork and slavery for none."
"What do you think of the new law, giving every man and woman in the country a vote?"
"I quite approve of it. At the same time, although many find fault with the Revolutionists for seizing political power, and holding it without consulting the majority, I think they did right. The majority at that time had not sufficient courage to take up arms against any government, Revolutionary or otherwise, but they had been so deluded by the press, the politicians, and the rest of those who were "in the swim," that they would cert&inly have voted against the Revolutionists had they been given the power."
"They have changed now, Jack."
