The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25
Emile lola Writes of One in His
Most Graphic Style.
The Original Sketch on Which He Based
"EEsson moir"-A Vivid Picture of the
Shutting Down Of Great Foundry.

melancholy to the scene.
While the workmen were waiting the
proprietor came TO them from his Office. He
addressed them in a tone Of unfeisned sor-
row:
My men, we have been forced to shut
down and there is no more work for you
here. Business has absolutely ceased, and
even the orders we had have been counter
manded. so that large quantities of manu-
featured goods are left ON our hands. The
present month, December, generally SO
busy, threatens ruin to every foundry.
Yes, we have failed-that is the whole
story"
The workmen glanced at each other; they
dreaded to return home; they were afraid
of hunger ON the morrow. The proprietor
saw their despair and added in low voice:
We have done the best we could, but
our situation is as bad as yours-worse, per-
haps. We lost 5o,C00 francs in single
week. II we went on we should but in
crease our indebtedness without any pres
pect Of meeting it. Indeed, we have not
sou on hand toward making our payments
due on the 18th. / speak as your friend and
hide nothing from you. Eager creditors
have proceeded against us. and expect the
baillffs Will make Il levy tomorrow. You
see 1t was not our fault We held on to the
last. For your sake We would like to bridge
the chasni, but it cannot be done. for all is
oyer. l no longer have bread to Share with
anybody"
WOMEN IN TEARS.
He put out his hand and the worImen
grasped IL in silence. Then for several
minutes they gazed at their idle tools.
clenchlng thCir fists at Fate. Oh! how
different it was from other mornings,
when the files scraped and the hammers
rang out on the anvils! Already the dust
OF bankruptcy was spread over everything,
and the hles and the hammers Were as sound
as leep as the steam engine. Twenty, yes
thirty, families would starve the coming
week. Sone women, employed in the
lighter toll Of the packing department, were
suDblng III corner. The men put on a
look OIL firmness and courage. They said
that people could not die of hunger IN the
vast rich city of Paris.
When the proprietor had gone they said
he had aged ten years in the past week and
that his back was bent like that of an old
man. One more Thoughtful than the rest
said his troubles were doubtless greater
than he had admitted. They had Jumps in
their Threats, they were choking as they
quilted the workshop one by one. 1t seemed
10 them as II they were leaving death
chamber. The corpse was work, repre-
scented by the big dumb steam engine, ex-
tended there in the sinister gloom.
"a "eeh Hau pdssea anu one Oh the WORK
men from this suspended foundry was
walking the pavement. For six days he
had haunted the streets like the ghost of
famine. Work, however, he could not find.
He had offered to DO anything-even the
most menia tOil-but every door had been
closed against him.
THE FEARFUL PANIC.
Then he had proposed TO work for half
price, but the doors did not open. Had he
rendered his services without pay il would
have been the same, nobody could employ
him. There was absolutely nothing to do
aud the knell of the toilIng population had
sounded. The fearful panic had blocked
every industry, ami money seemed TO be
almost entirely Withdrawn from circulation.
At the end of the week there was nothing
to do Tut yield TO the terrible situation.
The workman, though gnawed by hunger,
had made last desperate effort, but with
the same lack of success. He had not q sou
as he slowly started to return home. 1t was
tempestuous night and the STREETS of Paris
were thick with mud. But he did not feel
the pelting rain; he realized only that lie
was hungry and that he dreaded to go home.
He reached the Seine and went on one OF
the bridges, leaning over parapet. The
swollen f1uod dashed along with an unceasing
roar 1t struck an arch of the bridge and
leaped up III jets of white foam. The work
man leaned further over. He Thought Of
casting himself into the surging waters,
WHICH sttuleu W De luIIOuSly SuHfulOHlIB
him to that death courted by so many poor,
unfortunate Paris work-gfriS. But No, no !!
Suicide was cowardly! He rushed off the
bridge.
STRONG TEMPTATIONS.
The storm was over. In The jewelers.
windows the gas shone on diamonds and
gold-a fortune! He had only to sbatter a
pane of glass and with one hand he
could snatch enough to keep himself and
his starving family in bread for years.
The temptation was strong, but The work
man was honest. He saw brilliantly light
ed. palatial restaurants and through
their windows people in rich attire eating
luxuries. Great God! how unequal was the
distribution of this worlds goods. He
fastened his steps, passing cook-shops.
pork-venders' shops, pastry-shops-all the
places where ravenous Paris was appeasing
lis hunger, while he had not SO much as
single moISei of food.
That morning his wife and little daughter
had wept scalding tears, and he had
promised 10 bring them bread at night. He
asked himself how lie should enter his
home, what he Shou d say to his loved ones
to make them patient. But they must have
something TO eat. He would try to do with
out-they could not
All at once he thought he would beg, but
when lie stopped passer-by he felt such
humiliation that he could not utter Il word.
He was pushed aside; people thought him
The workman's wife had come down to
the door, leaving their child asleep upstairs
She was almost IA skeleton and the Icy blasts
made her SILVER in her calico dress as thin as
a wafer.
Everything had gone to the pawnshop in
that single week. The, day before she had
sold the last handful Of filiing from her
mattress to junk-dealer; all the filing had
gone that way and now but the ticking was
left. That she had hung before the window
to keep the air from the child, who had
bad cough.
TIE wIFE's TRIALS.
The wife also had sought work, though
without the husbands knowledge. But the
women were more severely affected by the
panic than the men. In rooms on the same
landing as hers she heard unfortunate
creatures sob all night long. One OF these
wreiched women she had seen standing like
a statue at the corner of a street, ano. her
was dead and third had vanished.
Fortunately, she had good, sober hus-
band and they would have been quite conf
Portable had not the panic robbed them of
everything. But now she owed everybody
the baker, the grocer and the fruiterer;
her credit was exhausted and she was afraid
to pass their shops for fear OF being dunned.
That afternoon she had gone to her sisters
to borrow twenty sous. but had found such
poverty there that she had not dared to ask
Tor them but had burst into tears, her sis
ter weeping with her. When she departed
she promised to bring her sister morsel of
bread should her husband return with any.
Her husband had not returned. 1t was
raining, and she took refuge in the door,
way. The drops battered about her feet,
and her thin dress was soaked. Occasion
ally her Impotence made her run through
the storm to tile street-eorner 10 see If she
could not catch glimpse of her husband in
the distance. Shs was wet through and
through when She got back, and passed her
hands over her hair to dry IT, She stroye to
be patient trifle longer.
The pedestrians elb0wed her; she con-
tracted herself to be out of the way. Men
stared her in this face-she felt at times
their warm breath strike her cheeks. All
suspicious Paris-the street with its mud. its
glaring lights and its CHATTER Of vehicles
seemed to wish to seize her and hurl her into
the gutter. She was hungry. There was a
bakers shop across the street and she
thought OF the child asleep upstairs.
At length her husband came in sight,
sinking like thief along the houses. She
ran to him and looked anxiously into his
face.
Well?" she asked.
He shook his head Then as MALE az