THE GLEAM
Any City (opening his eyes, as if waking from sleep). What a dream I have had! No, I believe it was what the seers of old would call a vision, for a light seemed to be with me always. (Picks up tax paper and opens it.) Well, dream or vision, I have learned a lesson. I will follow the gleam! By the gleam I see my path—I will cut off my hand before I cut one cent from this school appropriation! By the light of the gleam I will follow the path—I will give more, and more, and more, that my children may be educated in the knowledge and practice of Democracy. By the gleam I shall reach the goal—the democratic education of every soul in America. Only by thus following the gleam may I make certain that “government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”