Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-04
stop! I'll go. Come backr' He ran after tir

| tinctiy to his ears, he turned to her and
said, Don't be afraid it will amount to
nothing, and hurried out. He stood in the
half shadow between door and window and
awaited the approach of the men.
Now that he heard the mingled curses.
shouts and laughter at that short distance
he felt the least bit of anxiety, it must be
acknowledged. He remembered, as did
every one else along the right of way of
the canal, the laWlessness and disorder that
sometimes accompanied a pay-night drunk.
Only last month Lake and Stafford had
paid the penalty of shotgun methods in
handling their men, when whisky had
given the employees courage. But 1mrie felt
no fear or uncertainty to the final out
come, for years of authority had given him
confidence in his own capacity for making
his commands obeyed, now as well as on
the work.
They were coming straight to the office
without a doubt. As they turned the cor
ner of a cluster of dump cars and sighted
the office their uproar died down TO a low
murmur, and he heard ominous hoarse
whispering. His ear caught, coming from
half dozen tongues of various rationale
ties. the sound of There he is" and
That's him which did not tend to
sure him. The rustic of a macintosh in
his rear disturbed him, and he felt his hand
clasped by the fingers of two trembling,
rain-wet little hands. 1T is so lonesome
in there" softly said a voice at his Shout
der. He laughed again.
Emerging from the shadow into the dull
light from open door and curtainless win
dows, was a crowd of half hundred men,
almost all showing evidences of a too Wig
orous attack on the black bottle. Instead
of beginning debauch of destruction they
halted in front of the office and looked re-
spectfully at 1mrie. No one spoke for
minute, and they seemed to be waiting eX-
pectantly for something, shutting nervous
ly from foot to the other Finally
Stewart Brough elbowed his way to the
front, and taking off his hat bowed with
awkwardly exaggerated Difference to the
two wondering people standing before him.
He took from his breast pocket a folded
paper, much crumpled and bearing the
marks of dirty thumbs and handed it to
Imrie.
Mr. Imrie" he began solemnly, we're a.
men of no great amount of learning and ed
jeWcation, but for a that We have got the
souls and feelings of men. So we, employees
of Donar Mcdonald and Companee. do"
Louder" said voice in the crowd
"Do-do-er, in meeting assembled, do
hereby present you wi few resolutions
which set forth in a few words the esteem
in which We are held by the said employees
of DonaP Mcdonald and Companee.' The
assistant superintendents, nonplussed at the
unexpected turn of affairs, fumblngly
opened the paper and made pretense of
reading the scraWl that began with, Re
solved" with a huge and Enthusiastically de-
signed r." and ended with 1.-The Commit
tee." 1t was bordered by a ruling of red
ink, the line thicker in places, where clum-
So fingers had failed to control the flow of
ink under the ruler. .YeIl mind, Ah'm no
clark" continued Stewart, land a trowel
fits bechune the j'ints of me hand better
than pen, yen excuse the writing.
But the idea Is there. We wish to say,
Mr.. Imrie, that we consider We a man and
a gentleman, though, of course, we have yer
shortcomings the best of us have, and
were a. extremely sorry ye're going to
leave the job We have no suspeecion of
why ye're going, but If there is any leetle
thing can do to make ye change yer
midland ye know vera weel the variety
of our capabilities-well do 1t and welcome
If ye're set on going, weel, we can only
say guild luck and success in a yer I'M
dertakings, and may we get anither 'sistant
super like We. Am All rightT He turned
fiercely on the men and hurled the last
sentence at them. A mighty answering
roar could leave no doubt in the young
mans mind of the unanimity of the senti-
ment Stewart shook his head emphasize
ingly, and then hemmed and hawed and
squirmed while trying to remember the
balance of his rehearsed speech. Finally
he said. abruptly, 'Wf these few remarks
Ahl close"
Imrie, completely taken aback, stood
namely holding the paper in his hands, with
a pardonable sensation of elation filling
him, while Barbara looked on In yyonder
He took step forward and said: Men,
this is very pleasant and gratifying the
more SO because 1t comes Unexpectedly
I'm glad have merited this good opinion
of those who have worked with me, and
thank You sincerely for this" He held
up the paper.
Three cheers for John L." shouted some
one Immediately.
A below from fifty healthy threats,
thrice repeated, snote the air. Imrfe
grinned. and the girl. who was still uncon-