The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-11-13

would make It less fact.
<-It wasn't much, Sailie, only five
hundred dollars, yet 1t was all. To-
morrow was to have paid over the
money, but tomorrow we shall be
homeless. Outinto the streets, the
winter coming on, the world as mer-
ciless as the cold, and heaven more
/ fergetfull than either.
"a rich mans panic and q rich mans
failures" is what they call it. Frem
one end of the country to the other
the press takes up the words aud
prints them, trying to force the people
to believein the fallacy. But the peo-
pie, grown wise from experience,
start back in white faced horror as
they contemplate the fearful ruin this
Capitalization of wealth is forcing
upon them.
| There can be no rich mans failure,
no more than were the sun shattered
to atoms, could the planets, indiffer-
ent to its ruin, continue their course.
Like the tabled Persian bird, Intfak,
the male of which, had q hook onsone
side, the female q ring on the other,
and only when united could they fly /;
so may the capitalist and laborer, il
working together, ascend heaKenward
but if not they will be forced to the
depths.
Nick Nevins went to the bank on
the morrow in order to satisfy him
self that his ruin was sure. Oh hope
oh happinessl 1t had not failed, only
suspended, But to his sudden emo
tion of joy succeeded as quickly one
of despair. If it had NOT failed, what
then2 Was it any better for him ?
He must have his money to-day. A
week from to-day would be too late.
He met wild haggard faces hurrying
hithef and thither, saw the earnest,
groups of men on the corners, heard
the words again and again 'If l
can't get the money out Pm ruined" )"
He noted, too, that these were not
uttered by the millionaire, but by men
of small means, who had placed their
few hundreds in the bank for safe
keeping.
A carriage came dashing by. The
occupants alighted, entered famous
up town confectioners, and ordered
cake for q party. q It must be the
grandest affair of the season." he said
$50 do not spare expense This4wss
the man whose bank had suspended
payment.
The mortgage was closed. Nick
and Saliie, and the three little children
went out into the street. A few arti-
cles left at the pawn brokers' provided
them with shelter. Then sickness fell
upon them, followed quickly by death
The baby's burial exhausted their lit
| tie means.
ssThe rich mans failure" threw the
poor man out of employment. Nick
lost his place. There was no work to
be done-at least nothing wherewith
to pay for the doing of it. Therefore
great railroad companies said to their
employees: "You may work or lei
it alone-we can't pay you."
1t does not seem possible that peo-
pie can starye to death, when we re-
member how generous in golden
grain and luscious fruit is our bounte-
Gus, Warm-heafted mother earth. We
can only reconcile ourselves to this
fact by remembering that the wealth
| of the world is divided into a few
lions shares, and all of the millions
! of unprovided souls are busted in
keeping these rolled up together. To
be sure these shares are not always In
the same hands, but they remain oi
! the same bulk. In watching the
scramble, the hurry skurFy, the strug-
gle and tussel, of rabble bulls and
| bears, one is reminded of the sand in
the hour glass, each grain wholly un-
| conscious of the iIlimitable eternity
towards which tits tending. So drift
Ion these human grains ofGlay or clod-
Nick Nevins and his wife were
] starving, Whose fault was it2 Not
his own, surely. for Nick had always
worked willingly. He had always
been heWer of stone and q drawer
/ of water, and he might go ON now in
/ the same old groove, but somehow W
Nick had grown desperate and un-
reasonable. 20 make the situation
more trying, SalIie fell ill. Sallie and
Nick had logged along together for
more than thirty years. He had seen
the bloom fade from her face, and
the pallor creeping over it, had seen
the warm brown tinted hair grow
lusterless aud gray, and yet poor
Nick Nevins held in his heart the
faded, the lusterless, and gray image,
as loyally and tender as he had the
blooming, golden-tinted one of years
before. He never dreamed that the
world contained better one than the
one he had been walking life's jour-
ney with.
Loving Sallie, then, as he did, il
was terrible thing for Nick, to
watch the white face shrinking away
day by day, to know that it was not
disease, but destituti0B, that was
sending her down to death. What
was the wo1ld. what was life itself to
him, and Sallie gone? He had lived
/ for Sallie and for Sallie's children. He
could, if need be, die for them now.
I am sure | can't blame him, poor,
harrassed, tortured man. If you do,
try it bnce. Sit down, even in imag-
ination-and God forbid that it should
come to-you in any other WRy-and
fancy the one or ones you love the
best in all the world, dying of abso-
lutte want. Watch the loving eyes
sink back into the cavernous depths
dug by famine; see the lip-yOu re-
member it rosy and pouting-settle
/ away from the white teeth. Note the
white hand, how like a claw it has
become; thon when you have wit
messed this terrible fasting, blame
Nick Nevins, if you can, for thai
which followed
The country was in a terrible strait
/ There was no work to be given, De-
cause there was no money to pay for
work done.
Nick Nevins went out Oh the street
Something must be done. He was
desperate, and man desperate from
hunger is as insane and dangerous az
a man intoxicated with liquor.
The banks were closed, but the sa'
looms were open.
The poor were starving, but the
rich were feasting.
Nick's wife and children were dy.
ing, but the bankers wife and daugh-
ters were dancing.
1t was the night of the party, and
as Nick walked slowly up and down
before the rich mans house, uttering
smothered imprecations. the bankeI
came out under the gas lights and or
dered Nick away.