Jimmie grunted contemptuously but Meekins was so absorbed in his subject he did not notice the unmistakable comment.
“And they’re on to us, too,” he cheerfully went on. “Before the war we had them fooled—they believed everything we did or said was right because we said it, we who have built up this great industrial machine. But the war opened their eyes. They see us now for what we are an army waving banners of Christianity but with guns in our hands, the folds of the banner hiding traders and industrialists who see that missionaries are sent where there are rich resources to be found.”
Jimmie could restrain himself no longer, he had to put this visionary young whippersnapper in his place.
“But look what we do for them—we clean up their filthy towns for them, teach them how to live like decent human beings, and bring them a real religion instead of the pagan, heathenish doctrines they’ve got!”
“Granted that we teach them sanitation, build them roads and railway lines,” Meekins cheerfully agreed. “But do we teach them or, better, prove to them that our religion is