Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1888-01-21

fire, consuming the cnaif of years and leay-
ing path of LIGHT behind. He was full of
wonder that he had been blind so long, mixed
with joy at his new piercing vision. He had
forgotten how he had come there, and felt
sudden desire to take the hand of every poor
man in tho room and pledge him his help.
But no one seemed touched as he was The
same hard look was on each face, the mask
the poor assume 10 cover their distress, but
the eyes of them all were conferred on their
orator.
But You are poor, and with your wives
and children are hungry for even the crust
Of bread your masters cast you. Though you
were a million to one, you are held to their
service, no matter how unjust, by the daily
recurring facts Of hunger and cold. Look!
the fields are white with their harvests, the
shops filed with their cloths, but the law
|. makers and their pitiless police are in their
pay, and you must bow your meek necks and
thank your masters humbly for the trihe
their greed vouchsafes YOU"
Philips heart thumced painfully within his
faded coat. Could the speaker give no hope
to the wretched listeners hanging ON his lipsl
Must they cringe forever at tho foot of
power9 Their thin, worn hands made the
bread, but it was snatched from their mouths
and doled out in scanty allowance as the
price of hopeless slavery He had never seen
it before.
''Who is heln he whispered TO his conpan-
ion. The man did not even turn his face
from the speaker.
at is Curran. He belongs to the Labor
league" This, then, was the agitator his fa-
Their spoke Of And Bertha lad pictured him
rightly, with his clustering auburn hair. For
a moment he stood silent, while under the
divine light in his eyes the souls Of each one
ripened for his next words.
"Alone you can do nothing, but united we
can shake the world, and all over the land
the oppressed are banding together. We are
weak now, but when the long stifled voice OF
your wrongs finds utterance, the answering
means of millions will rouse your souls to the
resistless martyr pitch. Then it will seem
sweet to die-yes, to starve--with your dear
ones about you inspired with the same en-
thusiasm When the generation is born
which dare starve but has forgotten how to
yield, and even for the bread of life will not
sell its children into eternal slavery, then
will the gold Of the rich rot worthless in
their white hands till they divide with us our
common heritage"
He stopped and sat down, and as his en-
thusiasm faded from his face, Philip saw he
was not handsome. The eyes that had seemed
so wonderful were too deep seated beneath
his heavy brows and his smooth shaved face
was Scared from exposure to sun and storm;
yet, while he had been speaking, pity and di-
vine wrath in turn melting and burning in
his eyes and lighting up his rugged cheeks,
he had seemed beautiful, like an archangel.
The audience sat in silence moment, then
ch, tal hic 81 n
other, and then all rose listlessly to their
feet. Philip thought their zest in life had
gone so long ago that they did not even miss
it; then he remembered what his life was,
bright as a June morning Did God love
him SO much better than these weary crea-
lures, whose only refuge was in hopeless
nessl Then he thought of Bertha waiting
for him, and he hurried out, glad that he
seemed to be escaping notice. Where Was
the funny adventure he had TO tell his swset-
hearth A new world had been revealed to
him; world within the world he had played
with, that knew no such thing as mirth, but
fed forever ON bitter realities, and his little
spark of happiness seemed smothered in its
black night. Each one must have a family
circle Of his own There were hungry eyes
that looked to him for the cheer his poor
heart was too dead to give. Suddenly heavy
hand was laid on his shoulder.
"Praps you amt got no place to go to,
friend.n 1t was his big whiskered compan-
ion in the hail. Graves
81 sort o liked your looks in the meetin'
tonight, and you're welcome to n bed at my
house if you want it."
ooh, no." stumbled Philip, at his wits end.
ooh, nol Why not, thenl Where be you
goin' to stays" and the man took his hand
from the young mans shoulder and eyed him
suspiciously. "Why, he wanted to go home
and lay off his masquerade forever. Bertha,
all radiant in all that wealth can add to
beauty, was awaiting him. He had SO much
to tell her," but he had nothing to say aloud.
II won't take no refusal, insisted the man,
taking Philip by the arm. 'No words; Jane
viii get along easy with an extra for once.
presume you've slept in wuss places"