almost unendurable to them on those terms. Not a few of them
actually died of the worry; many committed suicide. Of course, a
vast number of them joined actively in the cause of reaction, and
found some solace to their misery in the eagerness of conflict.
Lastly, many thousands gave way and submitted to 'the rebels'; and as
the numbers of these latter increased, it at last became clear to all
men that the cause which was once hopeless, was now triumphant, and
that the hopeless cause was that of slavery and privilege."



CHAPTER XVIII: THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW LIFE



"Well," said I, "so you got clear out of all your trouble. Were
people satisfied with the new order of things when it came?"

"People?" he said. "Well, surely all must have been glad of peace
when it came; especially when they found, as they must have found,
that after all, they--even the once rich--were not living very badly.
As to those who had been poor, all through the war, which lasted
about two years, their condition had been bettering, in spite of the
struggle; and when peace came at last, in a very short time they made
great strides towards a decent life. The great difficulty was that
the once-poor had such a feeble conception of the real pleasure of
life: so to say, they did not ask enough, did not know how to ask
enough, from the new state of things. It was perhaps rather a good
than an evil thing that the necessity for restoring the wealth
destroyed during the war forced them into working at first almost as