Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1877-10-24
4 Common Case.

4 Common Case.
Your home is in America. then,
sir?' said the Englisman, with the
rather wistful mir of an English artisan
of whose creed the first article is that
he must not step outside his own place.
But Max answered with II cordialit,
which showed the other that he might
ask any questions he chose. Max had
20 idea of going outside his place either
But rs he did not know vet what that
place WAS, and rs he knew that he was
himself a gentleman, he had no heSita-
ton III talking, rs an equal whether
with prince, priest, or peasant. So John
Myrick was almost immediately ut ease
with him, and was pushing inquiries ao
to the new home before him, which Max
answered gladly and intelhgently.
1t was the old story. Here was a
good weaver, who had ever prospercd
SO far rs to be mt the head of the room
in the flannel mill in which he worked
nay the man was proud of his skill in
his craft. But, for all that, he had
abandoned it, and abandoned it, rs he
said, forever, He had withdrawn from
n cooperative store, at heavy loss, all
he had invested there; he had sold, at
worse loss, every stick of his modest
furniture; he had drawn from the saw
ngs-bank all his earnings and his wife's;
and now, with the shy, honest wife her
self, whom Max saw yonder nursing her
baby, with the shy, pretty daughter
yonder, leaning against the rail and
looked ut the guls, and with these
children he was going to II new land, to
be n farmer, and meant to leave forever
his old home. What was more strange,
he was leaving it with cxultation, with.
out tear
Max was greatly interested in Myrick.
He told him Ut once of his own cXpc-
ricnce rs working hand in making
flannel. They compared notes eagerly
Us to English and American customs.
He found that Myrick was sourcd--pcr-
haps with reason, He had, indeed,
more than the average ofthat jealousy
which man who has worked hard till :
forty, with n wife who has worked hard.
and children who have worked hard,
is apt to have, when he looks upon the
owner of the factories in which they
have worked, and upon his wife and
children. TO see the owner, his wife and
children, better dressed every day than
he and his even were on Sunday; to see
them drive into the village in their car
riagc of II forenoon, and gaping ms if
they had nothing To do, when he had
only stepped for an instant out of his
room, made Myrick angry. But his
anger was not so much with them, My
rick had been IN enthusiast in one and
another plan for cooperation, in
which united workmcn, in their union
were to take the place Of the rich CAPT
talist And of each of these plans the
upshot had always been the same. If it
were cooperative shop for buying and
selling, it had ended IN their training
some smart fellow to be the shop-kecpcr
and as soon rs hc had learned how, mt
the cost Of the co-opcrators, why, they
were nowhere, and he had stepped into
the class of shop-kccpers, and made his
profits out Of the workmen ~ we'll as
the oldest screw in the town. Once
they thought they had made some head
way in little mill for spinning yarns,
which was on this same cooperative
principle. But, Lord Mr.. Rising, ii
Just lasted while our money lasted. The
market tattcncd, and we needed to
hold our yarns q little, you know; and
then, who was going to discount a bill
for us? We had no credit Credit is a
luxury for another guess sort Of folk
than we"
So the poor fellow was leaving York
shire with two or there very bitter tastes
/ in his mouth He had earned TO hate
the business to which he was bred, he
had learned to hate the country IN
which he was bred and he had learned
to distrust mcn--thrcc very bad lessons
Many II talk had he and Max about
such matters. Max told him what he
had learned about the co-opcrators Of
Germany, 1t interested Myrick, but
gave him but little courage. The result
of all such talk was well enough cx-
pressed one night as they parted, when
Max said:
Well, / do not know just how it is to
be- But | tell you, men have got 10
stand by each other That is the whole
story From Back to Back" by
Edward Everett Hale, in Harper's Mag
asine for No,ember.