The advocate., 1894-01-31
[COPYRIGHTl
The Dead Line.
BY GIDEON LAME, D. d.
story n

Overt0n did 'pitch in'' with such VigOr
as to show he was in earnest when he
said he enjoyed his supper. For time,
John was distant" as Mrs. COtterell
would have observed, and had not yet
made up his mind to like the stranger
guest; but in a few minutes, OVertOn,
leaving off the subject of war, ad-
dressed a remark or two to the black
smith, and soon had him telling about
the Labor day dispute with as much
freedom as if he and the stranger had
been friends for years.
Supper was over, Kate and her mother
had cleared off the table," and had
washed the dishes and put them away,
COtterell had done his chores, and all
were together in the parlOr;-the family
talking as freely as if they had been
alone, so thoroughly had OyertOn be-
come one of them. John having re-
CURED to the Labor day dispute and
thrown out the remark that socialism
was the only sensible thing for working
men to agitate, and that mere "Old
fashioned uniOniSm" was "behind the
times" OvertOn said:
"YOu will pardon my ignorance of
these things, Mr.. COtterell. 1t is not
because | am a capitalist, / assure you;
for only a few months ago, was so
poor that | had to beat my way on the
blind baggage'-if you have ever heard
of that luxurious mode of transpOrta-
tiOn?"
John laughed, and nodded assent.
OvertOn continued:
''But l have been unable to find out
anything definite about these new ideas.
DO you mind giving me an explanation
of sOCialism-what it is, and what it
proposes to do"
Nothing could have been more to
Johns liking than such an OppOrtu-
nifty as this to expOund his faVOrite
philosophy, in which, indeed, he was
thoroughly versed. SO he began, and
for half an hour entertained OVerton
with an exposition of the socialists
creed.
"Well," said Overton, when John
had concluded, sit is worth any
good mans thorough study. What
a happy world this would be if such
state Of society should ever be brought
about! No poverty, no prisons, no
scaffolds; not even soldier nor police
man. Delightful! And it does look
practicable, as you explain it"
"Policemen?' said John as he
frowned Indignantly. "What servile
tyrants they are They're ready to lick
the rich mans ,boOts-the toadies! but
have no mercy on the poor devils who
are in their power. If there were any
policemen on earth before the flood, III
bet Jehovah never let a pair of 'em go
into the ark. Just read over the names
of the cuSSeS when the newspapers tell
of their supposed bravery during a
strike in clubbing a lot of unarmed
wOrkingmen. Yet these same ours
whine about oppression in Europe"
1t were useless to attempt to repeat
all that was said on this theme. Suffice
it to say that it was a faVorite topic
with each of the speakers, and that
they simply exhausted it. Here was,
indeed, a bond of fellowship, and Over
ton and John went to occupy the same
bed like old friends, and talked till
they slept.
During the process of getting supper
and of clearing OFF, afterwards, Kate
had found opportunity to tell her
mother what 0Verton had proposed to
do; and that night Mrs. COtterell told
her husband of their daughters good
fortune. Sam Cotterell was suspicious
at first, because folks don't do such
things without some axe to grind" but
Mrs. Cotterell had more than half per-
suaded him before he went to sleep.
Early next morning Overton and John
took walk about the place, and the
former told of his acquaintance with
Kate, his proposal to educate her, her