354
PARTISAN REVIEW
the extent of this learning because of the intensity of his family
pride. Jasper heard of
his
uncle's esteem by accident, when one of
his uncle's cronies asked him whether he really was interested in
reading dry books. And Jasper was surprised, for he had never had
a word of praise from Seymour. But then when Seymour became
angry with Jasper because Jasper refused to get him cigars, he
attacked his nephew for reading what he did.
"You're going to land in jail one of these days," said Seymour,
"reading all these red magazines."
Jasper was astounded and it took some time for him to make
out that what Seymour had in mind was the copy of
The New Re–
public
he had glanced at in his nephew's bedroom. After the quarrel
was over, Jasper sought in vain to explain to Seymour that
The New
Republic
was liberal and not socialist in politics. But Seymour re–
garded this as a sophistical distinction.
"All those guys," he said, "are just sore because they are not
rich. Give any one of them a million dollars and they would forget
all about being reds."
And when Jasper argued in vain that socialism was not a ques–
tion of personal resentment, but of altering the economic system, Sey–
mour announced as if he had discovered the thought that it was im–
possible to change human nature. These discussions occurred during
the worst years of the depression and Jasper told his mother too that
the remedy would be a different social order. Sarah said that if what
Jasper said was true, then capitalism would not have lasted so long.
It was useless for Jasper to remind his mother of the panics and
crashes which had recurred in her lifetime, for she remembered
chiefly that they had ended and prosperity had returned.
"Most people have to admit that something is wrong," said
Jasper to his mother, repeating an argument he had read. But Sarah
was unwilling to believe that the depression was not going to end
soon. And she thought her son was obviously wrong when he said
that was the result of the competition for profits. Sarah knew that
human beings are always fighting with one another and some men
are just evil. Her husband was a good example. She had compared
her husband to the Kaiser more than once. She was also -:iisturbed
because she felt that Jasper was turning out in the way that the
lunatic fringe of her youth had turned out, loafers and good-for–
nothings who talk parlor socialism and do not earn a living.
Michael was given his divorce by Sarah in the first year of the
depression. He had immediately married again and he had died two
