And then father was arrested for attempted assault, fined in the police court, and bound over to keep the peace.

It was all so ridiculous that when he got home he had to laugh himself.

But what a furor was raised in the local papers! There was grave talk about the bacillus of violence that infected all men who embraced socialism; and father, with his long and peaceful life, was instanced as a shining example of how the bacillus of violence worked.

Also, it was asserted by more than one paper that father's mind had weakened under the strain of scientific study, and confinement in a state asylum for the insane was suggested.

Nor was this merely talk.