On Time by Oliver Optic — Read

While I was walking with Waddie from the pier to his father's house, I deemed it necessary to ask myself whether or not I was "toadying" to the son of the rich man of Centreport. I should have despised myself if I had believed such was the case. Both my father and myself were determined to be independent, in the true sense of the word. We had discussed the meaning of the word, and reached the conclusion that genuine independence was not impudence, a desire to provoke a quarrel, or anything of that kind. We agreed that the term was often misunderstood and abused.

But true independence was a genuine self-respect, which would not allow its possessor to cringe before the mighty, or to sacrifice honor and integrity for the sake of money or position. Doubtless both of us had been guilty, to some extent, of this subserviency; but we were determined not to fall below our standard again. Colonel Wimpleton and Major Toppleton had money and influence; but we had skill and labor. We could do without them quite as well as they could do without us. Avoiding all conspiracies, all impudence, and all intentions to quarrel, we meant to maintain our own self-respect. If neither of the great men wanted us, we could go elsewhere, and "paddle our own canoe" to our own satisfaction.