Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1888-01-26


long whiskered man beckoned TO him
He found his way TO a seat with a hang
dog air, the best piece Of acting he had done
yet The same stolid look was on this mans
face, bleached to settled paleneSs from the
confinement of years in the walls OF the mills,
and there was bitterness about the mouth
and nostrils as if he had not kissed the rod
that smote him.
'No call to be shamed, young man. sup
pose them's the best clothes you got. Your
heart may be just as white as If you had
better ivin'."
The poor don't talk except when they have
something to say. So Philip said nothing, to
act in character.
II suppose you think you're pretty hard
up,n resumed the big whiskered man, who
was no other than Graves, the man who had
peered into his companions parlor window
only an hour ago. And he glanced signifl-
cantly at Philips boots and soiled panta-
looms
"Jest look at that little chap over yonder,
all bowed up. He don't look very hearty,
does he. Up to his house there's wife all
faded and broken, and two little cripples for
children, whinin' and screechin' from
mornin' tonight He would chop his head
off to help them, but he is slow and weak,
and don't git but ninety cents day, and he
can't save them babies a single ache, nor ease
their poor misshapen little bones one twinge.
1t takes every penny to keep the wretched
breath in 'em all, and him and his wife, once
as purity gal as ever you seen, has only to
stand and see 'em cry. They used to cry
themselves too, but that was long ago."
Graves looked about him. "Do you see
that lean faced man with tho hurt arm, at
the end of the scat ye're on. Well, he's got
the smartest little boy in town. All he
wanted was schoolin', and his father and
mother saved and scrimped so he could have
it. You oughter seen how proud they was to
see their lad struttin' off to school while they
kept a thinkin of him all day long in the
mill. And they was never too tired to hear
the boy tell them over the hard names
he had learned. And then they would
tell the neighbors, who sometimes got
jealous, how they was Savin' every
cent and how their boy was goin' to col
lege like old Breton's son. But there was no
call for the neighbors to be jealous; the
woman went to work one day when she was
sick, and caught her death o cold and it took
mint of money to nuss and then bury her.
Then the man fell and got hurt and the little
boy cried enough to break your heart when
they took his books away" The face of the
long whiskered man softencd an instant, but
he turned his head away.
"He needn't CRIED" he said grufly: 81
don't know as he was any better than the
rest of u.s."
Now there came little commotion on the
platform,
A man who sat head and shoulders above
the group on the platform rose to his full
height like young giant and came forward
He looked down into the upturned faces for
a moment in silence, and Philip felt his
steel blue eyes piercing him like sword.
Men" he began Then he stopped speak
ing moment. Eyes, men you are, in spite
of all the degradation the rich and the pow
erful can put upon you. The time is coming
when the principles of equality vaunted on
the pages of SO many lying constitutions, and
brcathed on the lips of so many false tongued
demagogues, shall be fully realized The
time is coming when the work shall not be on
one side and the reward on the other. We
shall not always wear rags as the livery of
our masters Not always shall the poor rise
early and toll late, wear their skin till it be
shriveled like parchment, and their bodies till
they be ready to drop into the grave for
WEAKNESS, only to pluck the fruit of Gods
bountiful earth for the lips of the idle and the
proud to taste. The gracious favors of ten
thousand smiling hills and valleys are gath
cred only for the few, and those whose AFRO
gance and hardness Of heart have least de-
served them. And they tell us it must be so;
that the few who are more capable and pru-
dent should thus be rewarded for their
superiority. They point to six thousand
years oppression of the poor, and say
what has been must be. Yes, for six
thousand years the groans of the poor have
gone up, and as long the few, for whom alone
all the beauty and bounty of the great earth
seemed to blossom, have answered with
curses and contempt" Now his magnificent
chest seemed to expand; his voice lost its pa
thetic tone and rang out like trumpet.
"But the knowledge they have given to
make us better slaves is bursting our fetters
before their frightened eyes. The astonished
people see at last the black and monstrous in
justice of their subsection. They have num-
bCred their hosts, as countless as the sands of
the sea- 1t is the strength of their arms has
girdled the earth with unceasing streams of
wealth. 1t is the ingenuity of their brains
has harnessed each of the untamed forces of
nature to service. The infinite number of
their cunning fingers has woven the fabrics
to clothe Christendom, and their red blood
poured out on a thousand battlefelds has
fr.iry fbo Of
masters"
His lips suddenly curled in majestic scorn.
Sand how long will your patient, calloused
hands build palaces for the great, while you
live in novels: Ought not such strong arms
as yours be able to win enough to make one
modest home happy, if you were not robbed?
The world is full of cheap comforts; the
harvests are boundless, the storehouses burst
ing, but each worthless pauper has as good q
share as you who make the wealth. You cause
the increase; your hands till the teeming lands
and work the tireless looms. Your shoul-
dcrs bow beneath the products of your toll
like muzzled oxen beating out the grain for
IMPLYING masters Why will you endure it?
They tell you it is only right; their books
teach gentle submission; their oily tongued
speakers soothe you with proverbs and con-
soling maXims, but all the wise men of cen
turies and all the hundred thousand printing
presses of today, heaping up books in every
language like new tower of Babel, cannot
turn lie into the truth"
Philip sat leaning forward, his eyes fixed
Oh the speaker i'll strange excitement. Cur
rams words came into his soul like molten
fire. consuming the chaff of years and leay-