Perez was only one of thousands,
who came home deeply imbued with principles of social equality;
principles, which, despite finely phrased manifestoes and declarations
of independence, were destined to work like a slow leaven for
generations yet, ere they transformed the oligarchical system of
colonial society, into the democracy of our day. It is true that, Paul
Hubbard, Abner, Peleg, Meshech, and the rest, had been like Perez in
the army, and yet the democratic impressions they had there received,
now that they had returned home, served only to exasperate them
against the pretensions of the superior class, without availing to
eradicate their inbred instincts of servility in the presence of the
very men they hated. Precisely this self-contemptuous recognition of
his own servile feeling, operating on a morose temper, was the key to
Hubbard's special bitterness toward the silk stockings. That Perez had
none of this peasant's instinct, must, after all, be partly ascribed
to the fact that his descent, by his mother's side, had been a
gentleman's, and as Reuben had taken after Elnathan, so Perez was his
mother's boy. He felt himself a gentleman, although a farmer's son.
The air of dainty remoteness and distinction, which invested Desire in
his imagination, was by virtue of her womanhood, solely, not as the
representative of a higher class.
Pages:
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208