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Share and share alike; or, The grand principle (1865)
Share and share alike or The grand principle - 1865 Author:Sarah Ellis Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. Ssttletrmti. It would have been very hard upon James, in this undertaking, if there had been nobody really to stand by him in carrying out wha... more »t was just. It will be seen that, so far as we have introduced his companions, there was a pretty large amount of selfishness amongst them, and this we fancy is the chief reason why people do not very often agree to share and share alike. They want people to come down to themselves, but not to come up; or, in other words, they want those who have more than themselves to let them share with them, but they do'nt want those who have less than themselves to take anything which they consider their own. There were, however, many of the party from Grumbleton whom we have not yet named. Amongst others there was Walter Worthy, who stood by James in what was fair and right, and who assisted him very materially in the general settlement of the whole party. This settling of the party was a very serious business. There were so many wants, and so few things at first to satisfy such wants. This made some of them very peevish and cross, and they appeared not unlikely to quarrel, only that James thought it right to call a meeting. Not such a meeting as rich people called at home in the old country, where gentlemen had all the speaking to themselves,and the poor man might not lift up his voice; but a meeting at which all should be alike, all should have equal liberty to speak, and, what was better still, all should have equal power. Would not that be a grand meeting ? " Just what we want in the old country," some people say, "to make all things come right." Well, if not a grand meeting, for as they all sat upon the ground, it could not look very grand, they thought it seemed likely to be a very nice meeting indeed—so cordial —so...« less