Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-03-07

. would nave been the same. lie was To blame
for letting her leave him in veXation. He
should have forgotten his own grievances
; and soOthed her with gentle words till she
smiled on him. 1t was not because she
wanted the thing so much, but it was the
first time he had ever crossed her wishes
Philip was so absorbed in his thoughts that
he did not observe that he was close upon an
excited crowd of village people, until such
words as these fell upon his ear:
| "a npice friend Of the poor man he be,
with his four fancy hosses. his silver dishes
to eat his viCtuGls out of. and his house like n
kings palace, while we lives and dies in dirt
and poverty. Who made him better nor us
do he work harder. do he sleep less, No, but
h. have his venison and his game dinners,
| while us starves on tea and crackers; he
| sprawls ON his fine cushions and sleeps III his
soft beds, while we rot i'll close attiCks, and
oats in dirty saloons, the poor mans only
| home, W hat title have he got to hay e bet
ter than we, aud give himself airs over u.s.
| Philip was astonishcd. The man who stood
on the steps of one of the tenement houses
instructing an audience extending quite
across the highway was no other than the
incendiary who had SO nearly caused the ruin
| of the Breton Mills the night of the great
fire The fellows hair was cropped as close
to his bullet head as it was then.
| The audience was mostly made up of old
men, women and children, with here and
there an able bodied man, who preferred talk
ing about his rights to deserving anything
One or two had observed the young mill
owner, but they took no pains to spread the
intelligence, and in moment more the agta-
tor had caught his breath and went on:
| HI feeds his hOsscs moron would keep two
poor families The wines lac drinks every day
cost enough TO keep another two
Perhaps the man was right in his TRADE
Perhaps Philip Breton had only begun TO
grasp the first outlines Of the great question
| he had fanCicd mastered.
| But Yc kiss his hand"
| mo, we won't" shouted the crowd There
RtiI 4
want, in the middle of the street, shouting
| with the rest. He could afford TO be idle
since his last liberal present
| ''Ge will thank him for his hein' SO kind TO
ye.",-
No, no!' screamed the women. What "A
| fool Philip Breton had been to count on graft
tude Human nature is too progressive to he
| grateful Perhaps he deserved no thanks
| lie had done more than others for his help.
The more. fool he was all sides would agree,
| unless hi went further. lle ought to have
been either a thorough radical or a thorough
| conservative. All parties abuse the half way
| reformer. A vessel of pottery between two
| jars of iron, he is certain to be crushed.
| A carriage was struggling down the street.
| How slow the crowd We're to give way. They
| were SO much interested in their orator that
they did not notice they were obstructing
| thu highway.
| "What good is such men as hims our wo-
| men is stronger than them sort"
| The horse seemed spirited, or else not
| properly guided All tho driver ought not
| to use whip in such situation as this
Good heavens! the horse had become I'M
manageable. A man. it was Bales himself,
| and woman had been struck by the shafts
and rolled under the feet Of the horse, who
was now rearing and punGing, while the
crowd scattered in all directions with screams
and curses.
Under the very wheels of the carriage lay
a woman stunned and helpless from the blow
she had received Instant death threatened
her. when a mans form cnl1pn1v ont pf
the dust under the herse's iron shoes and
caught the excited animal by his bit. The
crowd gathered i'll more closely than ever,
while dozen hands dragged out the old wo-
man from her terrible situation and wiped
the dust from her white, CHASTITY face The
orator had ceased his eloquence, and all dan
ger of accident seemed now avcrted, so
Philip Breton, was passing on his way.
But Bertha for the occupant of the car
riage was no other than She found her way
blocked in all directions by an angry mob.
Pull her out, scarlet face" screamed the
women Tear her pretty rags off from her"
Tho bareioOted children threw earth at her.
lean, dirty fingers plucked at her delicate
skirts. How dared they touch her! she |
shrank from the pollution of contact with
such creatures as these, with n terror that
would be Uncomfortable to u man. She saw |
them gather around the FESTIVE horse, who
seemed as impatient of their touch as she; |
they were beginning to undo his harness. In |
another moment she would be lost. But the |
morse was bLrOng, could ne not break through |
themf She did not care how many he should |
trample to death; she would rather, a thou |
sand times rather, die herself, than endure |
their insulting touch. But rongh hand |
caught the whip from her grasp; the crea- |
lures impaired nails hurt her; another hand |
was on her shoulders, and vile words, whose |
meaning she only felt, were ON every tongue. |
Her heart grew sick; oh, she prayed God |
Hvould not let her faint; oh, not now oh, not |
now-yet her vision seemed failing, she could
not see the horses head, and the terrible in
suits the people hurled at her grew indistinct,
like roaring of many waters in her ears
But sho saw hideous faced bag reach her
bare, brawny arm into the carriage and clutch
at her feet, they were lifting her out. But
a hand like iron flung the virago back.
"Stand off. 1t is my wifel" The mill own
er's wife. The crowd fell back for Il moment,
as if it was news for them; but Philip knew
by instinct, the lull would only last for a mo-
mcnt He must make the most of it. He
had only time to refasten little of the har
ness, when a sharp stone struck him on the
cheek and drew blood.
"How many husbands can a woman havef ]
screamed n woman ON the sidewalk
'JaiIs the place for her" growled Il man
at his shoulder Then the crowd closed in
again.
Let go the bit" demanded Philip, never
quailing. But Bales only grinned at him, az
Philip had seen him before, and frightened his
hold ON the horse.
You're too small to give orders; / amt in
!
time to put up a guard, his young master
had struck him blow in the face that fairly
staggered him, large man as he WINS.
ION, that's your game, is IT. Make way,
boys, all want Is room. III finish him up
quickn
The man wanted to make use of his weight
and strength in the directest way possible, so |
lie rushed forward to close with his autag-
oniSt, throwing up his hands to protect him
self. But he miscalculated and his cheek
bone fairly cracked with the force of the
second blow. Bales drew back for another !
attack The smile OF contempt was gone |
very dangerous look was in his eyes. His
young master had lost his first palcncss, a |
bright red spot burned in each cheek and his '
black eyes flashed forth defiance The dis
charged servant duCked his head and came at
Philip like lnaddened OK. Tho crowd held
its breath; tho slight form OF the master =
would go down, and the victor would pound q
his young life out of him Wns tIia Lad | r
,raZy to invite battle with u man of almost Il
twice his weight The Young man did not
finch hairs breadth He raised his arm d
again. What good of batterinE against the a
fellows thick skull' He was upon him-no, d
Philip had leaped aside at the last moment,
md, as Bales went past, had dealt him a ,
blow in the temple that sent his great form !
ceiling 10 the ground d
Before the crowd had time to move Philip Y
lad leaped into the carriage and caught the A
ems from his falnting wife He turned his =
lorse into an open space and the half fastened II
harness let the carriage run against the ami '
nails legs 1t was better than a thousand Il
Whips and he broke into wild gallop e
BALES had only time TO get his feet and shout =
fter the young mill owner: u
This is only the first roundr' III
Philip heard his words and nuttered to ii
imself: Il ought to have killed him. since Ir
had TO beat him. There isn't gold enough
d California TO buy him over now