The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-07-11
BOSS DARLIN."
BY KATE W. HAMILTON,

BY KATE w. HAMILTON.
"You can't always tell what's in bun
die by the looks of the wrapper"
The old man had found seat on fall
en- tree that lay upon sunny hillside,
and was carefully smoothing and shaping
cane he had cut near by. He held il
up as he spoke and let his eye run along
its length, as if to discover its Irregular.
ties; but his gaze wandered quite beyond
the stick to the valley and river below,
where stood the great mill, with its tall
blackened chimneys and massive walls.
"No, sir, you can't always tell by the
looks of bundle what's inside of it,n he
repeated more emphatically. "And if
folks would only understand it, and stop
tryin', 'twould save a deal OF trouble.
Now, there's the Darlin'-"
"Darlin's" the visitor repeated, uncer-
tainly.
The keen eyes under the old mans
shaggy brows twinkled, and his gray
mustache twitched.
"Oh, faint the name of any kind of
workman, like puddler or mailer, or such,
its just name that's his. We give ii
when he first come here, twelve wears
and more ago. Things had been going
pretty bad at the mill then-stops and
bitches of one kind or 'nother-and
times gettin' worse for the men all the
while.
acknowledgement most of it was, or,
leastways, we thought so. Old Keswick
he was the overseer here-was one of
the short-sighted, savin' kind, that would
lose dollar in tryin' to keep a penny.
He'd pinch and screw and 'conomize, as
he called it, and let things 60 that ought
to be tended to, till at last some big break
would sweep off in day all his stinginess
had saved in year. Then he'd think
expenses was so high that wages ought to
be cut little lower.
81 don't need to tell you that there
wasn't any love wasted between him and
the men. They'd got discouraged and
bitter, and sort of reckless-like, when all
Of sudden one day Keswick dropped
down in dead faint in the mill, and had
to be carried home. That was the be-
ginnin' of long sickness that ended his
work at the mill.
"The rest Of the company bought out
his interest, and he went off to Europe.
We didn't know who would be sent to
take charge then, but we sort of hoped
,twould be left in Jim Bryces hands.
He'd been here the longest of any of the
men, and knew deal about the business
in practical kind of way.
"There wasn't much reason to expect
it, Of course, tut he was the man we
wanted. Naturally, after the way things
had been goin', we thought one of our
selves, who'd feel some interest in his old
mates, would be an improvement. Then,
one day, down in the mornin' train comes
one OF the company, bringin' with him a
young feller-looked younger than he
was, with his white skin, blue eyes, and
light curly hair like girl; that kind al
ways does-that he said was the new
superintendent.
superintendent says Tom Clark
son, as they passed by where we was
workip'. That chap never superin-
tended nothin' heftier than a handbook
IN his born days
"Well, he didn't look like it, that's a
fact. But the company owned the mill,
you see, and this Teller was one of their
sort, and so into the place he goes, fine
clo'es, curly hair, white hands and all.
b'hsve them white hands made the
boys madden than anything else. They
was strong enough lookin', too, but white
as lady's.
"Look at emf says Tom, holdin' up
his own rough, black paws to show the
difference. If the company's, bound to
give him somethin' to do, why don't they
buy him pretty little pianner, and set
him to playin' ita That's all he's fit for.
He ought to be safe at home, mammy's
darlin'r
$50 that was the name we got to call
In hm-'The Darlin'.' Not to his face,
bless you, no! Them blue eyes could
turn steel-blue now and then, and flash
out sharp of sudden like knife-blade.
"After while we found there was
some experiments to be made-some in
vention Of his-and that was one reason
why he'd come here. We didn't like
him any better after we heard that, can
tell you, for we thought the company'd
sink a lot more money in such nonsense
WASN'T our money, and so we hadn't no
reason to grumble, you saya Well,
there's two sides to that There's two
sides to most things if body'll only take
trouble to look for 'em.
"Did you ever think how you'd feel to
look down at your hands, big, strong and
willin', but helpless to pervide for them
dependin' on you, and then see pair of
soft, white hands carelessly wastin' what
would be life to you and yours?
"That's how it looked to us. For times
had been hard with us, and, as / told
you, Old Keswick had always calculated
that the losses must be evened up on wages
somehow.
"'And this feller,-Ill be bound he's
never invented nothin' more useful than a
new tie to his cravatr says jim Bryce
hell fool away no end of money, and
then either the mill will have to go down,
or wages will, and mine has got about to
the foot of the ladder now.'
ooh, there's no doubt we'll go down,
unless some of his experiments blows him
up. Wish they wouldn answers Tom,
only he put it rather uglier than that.
"Of course twas only talk, but the
feelin' was under it, and, after a while,
from hopin' somethin' would hammer. the
boys went little farther, and got tc plan
min how to make it happen.
81 amt goin' to tell much about any
plot. 1 took care not to know much
about it, for fear I'd run across somethin'
I'd feel bound to try to bender, and
didn't want to bender nothin', that's the
fact. Only there was no murder nor
nothin' like that in it; the men wasn't