Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-12-30
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| y,
struck the fatal hour of twelve!
II.
Twenty years went BIZ. She had paid
the penalty exacted Of her-paid it brsve-
| ", too, ard without murmur.
1t was Christmas Eve again in bleak
New England factory town, through which
| a tumultunus river ran, with the build
logs of great corporation clustering on it's
banks.
White dIifcs filed TIE streets; the icy
water poured dak'y along the rsceway;
the pig wheels snd the lssssr wheels turned
sulkily in the clutches Of the December
frost
1--WE ere looking tor strike after Christ
mas, " Sid Colonel Kirke, the surerinten-
dent of the mills, who lived in Qaeen
Anne villa ac1o:s the stone bridge. The
work p eople are in state of ferment here,
es elsewhere 1t is an era Of discomfort
everybody grumbling, everybody dissG'is
fed"
The Colorel wa Just leaving his count
ing. DOM with friend who had come to
spend Christmas at the Qaeen Anne villa.
Would you like to go through the
place, Hoffman," he asked. You may
p0ss bly, lad something to interest you
hsrs"
The two went up the steep stairs to-
gether.
"WbaYs the matter with TIE mill peo
PEE" asked Hoffman, Carelessly.
'Ol, it's the old story" answered Kirk.
"They want shcrter hours and more pay.
They complain that nine-tenths Of their
waking time ia slept in the mills; they
rush to their work before day fairly COM
mences, and do not leave till night falls
twelve hours. We'll, !" with sbrug OF the
shoulders, "it's the bss. we can do for
them"
The txo men entered q hall crowded
with machinery and bright electric lights.
The heat, the smell Of oil, the incessant
inr and brzz and hum, struck Hoffman as
highly di:acreeable.
"And so the poor devils object to a sur
felt of these sweets ?" he said to Kirke.
Very Unreasonable, I'm sure ~
They we're passing loom at which 3
female operative stoSd adjusting a refrac-
tory shuttle. Hoffman saw a head chin
ing with Copper-gold hair-sUch hair as
was associse d in his memory with snnse;
SD eodOr on gray olive wood, and fires OF
ro;e and orange kirdled along the peaks Of
the Aires Mari:imes lie saw, also, q pale,
regular profile. aud downward sweep OF
black lsshes. Then he stopped and stared
blankly.
La belle Americaine, there, at that work,
shorn of her grandeur, but not Of her
heauts! She wore a serge 90 VI, fecked
with bits of cotton, likes flakes of snow.
Though he stood 60 near that he might
have touched her, she did Tot lift her eyes
fom her work nor betray in any way a
knowledge Of his presence.
Come on!' cried Kirke. "The horses
are waiting in the cod aud Nina wants to
take You in Der new Russian elejge for q
spin up tie river"
They went on. Shortly after the mill
hands tro1pei down the stair, to the stroke
of bell, and pissed ont through the fac
tory yard into the street. A little hunch-
backed girl, with a pale, starved face,
! limped beside the operative with the cop
per-g,ld hsir.
"Miss Thorpe" che said, "iid you
mind the swell that WAS in the mills with
the superintendent? He's spending Christ
m "a az the Kiskes' villa. Ever see Ninon
Kirke? She's dumpy and brown, bat
she wears velvsts, and sealssins, and
diamonds-and everything" spreading her
thin hands expinsively. "Fd Just like
to see you dressed up in her fine clothes
once"
Miss Tnops smiled.
81 would not like to dress in Miss
K;rke's clothes, LIZ am sure they
would not fit me-"
mo, they wouldn't, come to think of
it." assented Liz; shut yet you have
double her beauty, as anybody with eyes
can see. Oh, amt it cold?" shiversd the
child. blowing her red fingers. Christ
mas is marry enough for folks as live in
Queen Anua Eillss, bat it amt over
Jolly for tenement-kouse people, specially
when there's a strike brewing. I've got
to buy basket of coal and some liver and
onions for supper"
Aud LIZ limped into shop-door, leav-
ing Miss Thorpe to continue on alone to-
wards home and Teddy.
She had descended to the slavery of 3
New E1gland cotton mil-to the pane Of
such humble workers ss this little Liz.
Home now meant two rooms in crowded
tenement house on the river bank. Ted
dy, slight, angel feed boy, with an air
of ill-hsalth, SAT by the fire, with his gold
en- head btn. over violin, playing a
Christmas carol as Sibyl entered.
siBrayo, lsddiem she said, brightly, as