Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1888-02-18


ment--then Mr. Ellingsworth remembered
the maid servant crying at this moment in
the dining room.
s'Naturally Won prefer to let your half
clothed i'll fed hands make you the presents;
they earn You big dividends; you throw them
q crust Of bread, the market price of labor
you call it, and put the dividends in your own
pocket
.sBut it's my money made the mill, and my
management runs it.
ssAs for the money, = retorted Curran, ''per-
haps you Inherited a part of it, saved by the
tax laid ca the poor of the last generation, or
you borrowed it, perhaps, ON interest, and
made the help in your mill pay the interest
every penny of it; how else could it be paidf
You did not mako your money, no man can
till $1,000, 600 out of his farm, or dig it out
of coal mine. You simply took il. Your
new mills are paid for out of wages you
ought TO have given your help; you call them
yours; the new machinery comes out of them.
They are the real stockholders in it all"
Mr. Breton had sprung from his seat, but
Curran went ON unfinchingly. 1T isn't
earned, it is simply defrauded. The manage
ment Ii doubtless good, but no management
could. In the righteous course Of justice, brint
men; while the thousands who work fol
them live and die with the consuming thirs
for happiness never for one hour assuaged In
their souls.n
The old gentleman had come up close t.
him as he spoke, and as he finished, Currar
looked down calmly into face almost purple
with passion. 1t occurred to him that MIR
Breton was about to have an attack OF apo
plexy. The hand that held his gold headed
cane fairly trembled
"You have earned your last penny in IN,
millsln the old gentleman shouted at him
"We ought to have laws to shut up such mer
as you"
gentleman rose to his feet, ~ am very sorry to
have brought such q scene into your parlor;
It seemed unavoidable after what was said to
me. and it seems likely to prove more un
fortunate for me than for anybody else"
No one thought Of anything to say. Mr.
Ellingsworth vaguely wondered where the
man picked up his neat way of talking, but
then the wealthy, after al, have no monopoly
of talent.
Curran cast a whitening look of contempt
on the mill owner. ~ am sorry, too, to be
deprived of the chance to win my daily
bread"
He did not notice that the expression OF
the girls face had changed, or that she had
started to come to him, but there was a
grandeur of wrath in his face and bearing
that awed her She stood in the center OF
the room, with heaving bosom and fright.
ened, troubled eyes, watching him out of the
door Then her father came back through
the hall with his sarcastic smile finely curv.
| ing his thin lips
How beautifully he had known how to pre-
serve his own honor. 1t would have beer
| base and ignoble in him TO have crawled out
| of her parlor at the. entrance of her father
and Mr.. Breton, self confessed unworthy tc
| sit in their presence. And for all their wealth
and power and vantage ground, careless OF
what it must cost, he had thrown their in
| suits in their teeth and shown himself q
| grander man, a thousand times, than either
| of them.
| The warm food Of returning feeling swept
| over her soul She could not bear one more
| cruel word against him now. Before heI
| father could speak she had hurried into the
| hall and shut fast the door so that she should
| not hear the bitter sentence that was just
| parting his lips.
| What strange impulse moved her that she
| should go to the outer door and look eagerly
| down the street, But her insulted guest had
| not fingered In moment more she was al
| the gate, and saw his tail form only at
| little distance. No doubt he was thinking
sadly, or perhaps angrily, of her, as he
| walked and he could not guess that she had
| repented, and was eager this moment to beg
| his forgiveness, with all the sweet words she
| knew. Bertha glanced back at the house in
| hesitation. She could see the slim outlines Of
| her fathers figure Swallowed on the curtains
| ,of hat he cnXTi !
was this:
| sit is one of Bertha's freaks All women
| are subject to them"
| ''But / don't understand insisted Mr..
| Breton, wiping the peIspiration from his
| heated face ~ don't understand how she
can bring herself, "a girl of her notions, &c
| entertain a fellow like this. How long dc
| you suppose this has been going onl Ever
| since the dog adventure, very likely. II
| We're Philip
| 'But you recollect l am only three days
| returned from my trip, and am entirely UNI
| able to tell you how many times she has met
| this very striking individual. Don't hurry
| yourself into mental decline by trying to ex.
| plain on logical principles woman's per-
| formances," smiled Mr. Ellingsworth. "And
! | wouldn't take the trouble to suggest mis-
| givings to Phil. / would rather trust the
| girls nature, and l think know 1t, than de-
| pend on jealous lovers reproaches. Why,
| my dear friend, would stake my life ON the
| girls attachment TO the traditions of her
| position Our wives and daughters are
| thrice more intolerable unreasonable aristo-
| Gratis than we. If she had been guilty of a
| touch of foolish sentiment reaction is GER
tain, and she will only despise the man the
| more because of her season Of blindness"
| "But supposing the reaction came too
late" suggested Mr.. Breton anxiously.
''Then it better not come at all, he con-
tinued. ''The very character you give her
would make three people perfectly miserable
the man she refuses, the man she marries,
| and herself"
| But the girl who had stood at the gate in
her slippers, and with no covering for her
head but her golden hair fastened low on her
neck, had hesitated but moment. She
/ ao.,IJ ,,ok Iof C,,vrat, Iaoua hay. Tins.