But one thing he'd certainly do if he had a say in
the government. He would expel all the monks and nuns, for they're
like the mange: the weaker the sufferer, the more it thrives. To this
argument Leandro, the elder son, added that as far as the monks, nuns
and other small fry were concerned, the best course with them was to
lop off their heads like hogs, and with regard to the priests, whether
Catholic, Protestant or Chinese, nothing would be lost if there were
nary a one.
The old lady, too, joined the conversation, and since to her, as a
huckstress of vegetables, politics was chiefly a question between
marketwomen and the municipal guards, she spoke of a row in which the
amiable ladies of the Cebada market had discharged their garden
produce at the heads of several redcoats who were defending a
trouble-maker of the market. The huckstresses wanted to organize a
union, and then lay down the law and fix prices. Now this didn't at
all appeal to her.
"What the deuce!" she exclaimed. "What right have they to take away a
person's stock if he wants to sell it cheaper? Suppose I take it into
my head to give it all away free."
"Why no, senora," differed Leandro. "That's not right."
"And why not?"
"Because it isn't. Because tradesfolk ought to help one another, and
if you, let's suppose, do as you say, you prevent somebody else from
selling, and that's why Socialism was invented,--to favour man's
industry.
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