The experience had been tremendously
educational for Clara. As Kate was a socialist and Columbus was rapidly
becoming an industrial city, she talked of the meaning of capital and labor
and the effect of changing conditions on the lives of men and women. To
Kate, Clara could talk as to a man, but the antagonism that so often exists
between men and women did not come into and spoil their companionship. In
the evening when Clara went to Kate's house her aunt sent a carriage to
bring her home at nine. Kate rode home with her. They got to the Woodburn
house and went in. Kate was bold and free with the Woodburns, as with her
brother and Clara. "Come," she said laughing, "put away your figures and
your knitting. Let's talk." She sat in a large chair with her legs crossed
and talked with Henderson Woodburn of the affairs of the plow company. The
two got into a discussion of the relative merits of the free trade and
protection ideas. Then the two older people went to bed and Kate talked to
Clara. "Your uncle is an old duffer," she said. "He knows nothing about the
meaning of what he's doing in life." When she started home afoot across the
city, Clara was alarmed for her safety. "You must get a cab or let me wake
up uncle's man; something may happen," she said. Kate laughed and went off,
striding along the street like a man. Sometimes she thrust her hands into
her skirt pockets, that were like the trouser pockets of a man, and it was
difficult for Clara to remember that she was a woman.
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