Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1888-07-21


it, The brakes stop moving and the fire
sends up new tongues and leaps along the
smoking beams and rafters i'll fresh fury,
while the men listened breathiessly to this
stranger. The women too gather nearer, and
look in curiosity at their buehaads and
| brothers who drink in So eagerly lis poLsoIoG
words
81 s'pose ye Thought ye Didn't work long
enough for yer ninety cents dny. But ye
hev Ay, boys, that big heap o bricl; stands
| for that old mans lneaaneSS; it's the machine
to crush ye. It's the way he bleads ye But
how sweet he is tonight. Ye never noticed
it before, did ye? He's seed you a starvin'
on the wages he paid, and yer purity darters
| gone to the bad for the want Of few things
i IL gals kinder like Soma IN ye, too, has
! got old and cripples in his service He aint
ever guv mite, has hel Now it's your
| turn
| And the man shouted loud above the hiss
| ing, cracking flames that leapad out OF @
| dozen windows in wild glce. Let his mills
| burn fur warnin' to such as he who make
SO much sorror and misery in this ere purity
world that if Satan tortured their cruel souls
! forever1nore, it, wouldn't be feather in the
| balance Let him know the despair of a
/ poor man for once"
1t was almost madness that glittered in the
| fellows darting eyes and bis voice grew
hoarse and terrible as he pointed his thick
| fingers at the mill half hid in smoke, lit up in
| spots with forks of flame
LET every plank of it go. It's only served
| to make him richer each month, and We
poorer. Such machine as that don't dc
sarve to stand. Let his riches he's used so
poor turn to ashes this night. Tears and
prayin' couldn't git equal rights for us; the
fire win do it, though"
! Ezekiel Breton elbowed his way into their
midst
| He had lost his hat, and stood pale in his
agony in the presence of the men who
| thought he had wronged them. He was con
scious of no guilt; he had only made his
money as others made theirs; faifer, indeed,
| than mere money lenders, who added moth
| ing to the worlds productions. He knew, of
! course, the poor suffered, but 4 man can't be
too squeamish, and the same road was open
to them that he had taken. And as for
wages, who could blame a man for getting
help as cheaply as be can2 That is business.
Mr. Breton knew but one argument FOR
them.
"Tf you want pay he shouted, there is
money, dollar an hour to eacn man"
But not face relaxed; he looked fearfully
from one to another, and then up at the
! glrinnjng face of the stranger, "only save
my mill" The old man put up his hand tc
| his white hair in piteous gesture as he
| glanced at the sheets of fame and lurid
smoke that shut of the sky above his devoted
mill
''See the fire grows every second, we ale
lost unless you go to work l will pay ten
| dollars an hour"
The brakes began to move slowly up and
down. Philip felt the water throb through
| the hose as it touched his side, but it was
only one fitful squirt, for the stranger, who
seemed to hold the mills at his mercy, had
found his voice again.
keep yer money, old man; you will need
every penny of it, for you've cheated yer last
ont of yer help in them mills. Yer mill he2
got to 60"
Philip saw his father turn toward his mills,
the pride of his life and look as fondly at
their grim walls as a man on the woman he
loves and the tears of futile agony wet his
cheeks. That moment the young man aged
ten years
The crowd fell back again, and another
speaker mounted the strange rostIum. He
looked young for such a crisis, but there was
new suggestion of power in his lips and the
sullen crowd wondered what he thought be
could say to persuade them.
II suppose" began Philip slowly, as if
! every minute might not be worth fortune,
~ presume and his vsce sounded dry and
hard, you will want your wages as usual,
next pay day. Is there any one of you fool
! ish enough to imagine you will get them if
the mills go"
Then the young man glanced at the burly
stranger, who, clearly enough, was taken
aback by this new style of appeal to a crowd.
POSSIBLY this broad 5houldered friend of
yoGis is going to find living for you. You
have got to find it somewhere, and you won't
have particularly good characters to recon-
mend you to new tyrants.
Mind, men, | don't say but it is quite
| fair, but mill owners manage their business
about the same way. 1t is all very we'll to
complain, but the first necessity is place to
work; if there isn't that, you surely can't
have any rights. | may as well tell you, the
mills are heavily insured, and you can't quite
have the rare satisfaction of seeing that old
man ruined. But / doubt if he will care to
put any more mills under such extra risks.
Some of your women and ignorant people,
who don't see the fun of starving, may think
| you have done a poor nights work"
The stranger had disappeared, and the
faces of the men, clustered about their en-
gine, had lost their sullen cast The young
mans black eyes glistened in the new ecstasy
of an orators triumph.
''One thing will promise. / will do what
can in your behalf. l know the lines of
most of you have fallen into hard places, and
promise if can see any way to tighten the
burden of life on your shoulders ! will help
you"
The men returned to their work with q
murmur Of approval Was it too later
Tho brakes started up again, The men
ran up the ladders again, with the hose in
their hands, in the renewed battle with the
fire. Philip had moved the crowd He had
chosen instinctively the only method for the
crisis, while the flames cracked and flashed
in high carnival But was it not too late!
The men were working with new energy
new hopes were in their hearts The mill
owners son had promised to help them; he
sympathized with their cheerless poverty,
and who could do more than hei
If the whole line of mills went it would be