All in a garden fair; the simple story of three boys ... - University Library

240 ALL IX A GARDEX FAIR.
kinizs ; but there are dictators. It is the same
thing, l)ut witli clianged name. Every man
who aspires to lead man.kind must be ready to
assume tlie purple, if he succeed.'
Claire began to compreliend ; l)ut she in-
terrupted not.
' I myself,' her father went on, ' have made
my humble attempt. But for the destruction
of my poems I might now be—Gambetta. I
failed. Yet to have endeavoured makes all
the life illustrious.' lie paused, thinking of the
barricades and of himself a lad of twenty-one,
brandishing a gun and shouting for tlie Re-
public, which was going to do so nuuli for the
world and has done so little. ' It was necessary/
he went on, 'that Allen should be a poet first,
as I was. The rest will follow. He knows
the people; he knows all that I can teach liim.
Wlien the moment arrives he will cease to be
a poet, and will become a prophet. He will
spring to his feet and speak, lie will be the
leader, dictator, rex, imperator, scjtus servoruni—
all that there is of most maifuificent.*