Evening star., 1896-12-05

Monkton's. rather than old Monktons and
fathers. 1 don't suppose they care so very
Tuch."
Mrs. Hope slowly raised her glasses to
her eyes and stared at her son, who was
looking at the hearth rug now. resting his
weight on his toes and then coming down
on his heels.
Il haven't the least idea what you are
talking about Barnard"
Il am talking about the proposed strike.
mater; about the demands of the men,"
Requests. my son. The men request an
audience with Mr.. Sartwell. and he refuses
1t. as if he were prime minister"
That's just what I said to Sartwell.
Sartwell. said i, you're hgh-handed with
the men, He admitted 1t. but held that If
he had a conference with them. no good
would be accomplished unless he acceded
to their dem-requests."
He could compromise-he could make
scme concessions, and then everything
would go smoothly again. He has no tact -
Quite So quite so. But you see the men
want only one thing. not several. They
are perfectly logical about it, had a talk
with them. and they were very much graft
fled to hear that you were on their side
There will be no trouble with them in fu-
ture IL Sartwell is only reasonable. They
look at 1t like this: They work ten hours
day and get on an average pound a
week-or-ah-somethi like that-I forget
there In shillings and pence. Now father
and Monkton work four or five hours a day
mot very hard. either-and go to Switzer-
land In the summer and Algiers in the win
ter. yet they draw 10000 a year each out
OF the business. This. the men claim, is
unjust. and. Of course 1 quite agree with
them It's outrageous and / said so. Well,
the men are prepared to do the most gem
erous things In order to compromise, they
VIII allow the partners ten times what the
real workers get: Monkton and father are
each 10 draw $500 year out of the busi-
ness. and the 10000 is to be divided among
the workers. 1 thought that 1t was an ex.
ceedingly liberal proposal. and 1 told them
So"
During this able. if mythical, exposition
OF the workmen's views, Mrs Hone eazed
at her son with ever-increasinx amaze
ment: When he had concluded, she was
standing up, apparently speechless, with
an omlnous frown on her brow. Lady
Mary looked with timid anxiety from one
to the other. There seemed to be a sweet
reasonableness in the young mans areu-
ment, and yet something hopeessly wrong
about the proposition.
rive hundred pounds a year!-to mer'
cried Mrs. Hope, at last
OF course" b
Five hundred year! Barnard, If ahy
one had told me an hour ago that yoy
were fool five hundred year,-bow
can people exist on five hundred a year?'.
barney looked reproachfuily at his moth
er. He was evidently hurt.
mats mats Just the way Sar.well talks. and
IN
because I'm trying to understand the labor
problem. 1t seemed to me that II a york.
man with twelve children 70 3upport cnn
i've on f3O year. an elderly pair with but
one child, and he about to maze a fortune
In painting. could get along on ten times
that amount"
oh. I've no patience with -ou, Barnard :.
And then. Sartweil says. look at the
capital Invested
Certainly. He is perfectly right, and
any one with grain OF sense would sec
that. There are thousands and thousan ands
expended In the buildings and In the de.
velopment Of the business The workman
never tnlnk OF that-nor You. either. II
appears"
You see. mater, it's ou. of ny line. Hu,
what Sartwell said about investment made
me think
Think" exclaimed his mother, with
withering contempt.
YES" continued Barney. placidly, so
went to the workmen to see wnat rhev had
to say about it. They said at once tha,
the capital had been refunded over and
over again. L went back to SartweIl to
see II this were true, and it was true Well
then
What then?'
Under the circumstances fl seemed tc
me that the workmen had made a mos,
magnanimous proposal If a man would
paint a picture for me which 1 could sell
Ior tJo and he was content to take fHa
for 1t and leave me the other f45h, should
tnlnK MIN the most generous of men,"
stop talking nonsense. please Is Sart.
well going to receive the men,"
Il suppose So"
Then you must instantly 60 back te
the city and tell him he is to do nothina
of the sort"
But. mater" protested the Young man