The advocate., 1894-03-07

upon the stage to congratulate the ora
tor of the evening, the Hon. Bradford
Hornbeck. Among them was the bus
mess man whose handsome wife had
applauded John, and, to her husbands
astonishment, she went along While
her husband was talking with the dis
tinguished politician, she found Oppor-
tunity to shake hands with John and
to say to him, in very low tone:
81 am greatly interested in socialism,
and would like very much to talk with
you. Can you not call tomorrow
evening?"
And She slipped her card in his hand,
when he said: "I'll try" and then,
with the diplomacy characteristic OF
women, she joined the group about the
Hon. Bradford HOrnbeCk, asked her
husband to present her, and paid the
political ex-preacher a pretty compli'
ment. John hastily put the card into
his pocket without glancing at it, for
he perceived it was given him surreptl-
tiously, and hurried to the street with
the hope of overtaking the stranger
who had spoken at the meeting, for he
was now fully convinced that the
stranger was no other than "Marlh''
Mason-the- preacher friend of his
youthful days. Whoever he was, how
ever, that gentleman had disappeared.
A number of shopmen were gathered
in groups along the sidewalk in front
of the opera house. One was saying:
"COtterell was too much for 'em."
Another, speaking with conservative
drawl, said: "He went too far. He
had no business disturbing meeting
that way. He's too radical, anyhow"
They desisted as John approached, and
to his eager inquiry whether they had
seen the stranger come out, one Of
them replied that he had seen the man
go into restaurant in the block be-
low, come out again with grip
sack" and start towards the depot. 1t
was about time for the train to pass
going west, and John rushed to the
station just in time to see, as the train
passed out of sight around the curve,
the stranger entering the door OF the
rear sleeper. Nothing whatever was to
be learned about the visitor at the res
taurant, save that his appearance had
attracted attention, for the restaurant
had no register; nor was anything to
be learned elsewhere; and John was
compelled to give up the attempt. An
hour later he went to sleep in his
dreary room wondering whether he
would be discharged for what he had
said and done at the meeting. AT that
same moment. in her luxurious cham
bers, the fashionable woman who,
alone, had congratulated John after
his speech, was thinking Of the manli-
ness and the native ability Of the hand
some blacksmith despised by her
husband and his class for knowing and
daring to tell the truth, and for being
Workingman. For this woman OF
fashion had, without her husbands
knoWledge-he would have been scan
dalized had he known tread not only
Looking Backward" but the works OF
Tolstoi as well She could read Lmer-
son and Ruskin openly, for her hus-
band, from what he had heard,
supposed those authors to be reputable,
and their works were handsomely
bound; but reading known to be social
lSGlC ndu 10 D6 uOu6 Ill ScCI6G, Du6
looked forward with eagerness to a
conversation with the newly discovered
champion of the ideas which charmed
her. "What would some of my friends
say if they knew l had invited COM
mon workingman to my hOuse?' she
asked herself. Were he brainless
fop in her own set, it would be right
enough; but this man of noble nature
earned his living by useful work.
"What wicked state of things"
CHAPTER XVI.