The true northerner., 1900-04-25
CONTINUED
CHAPTER ".

-
CHAPTER ".
II was now 10 o'clock, and the day
seemed TO him cruelty brief for the
work he had to do. He entered the
office. and almost the first thing he saw
on his desk was the following letter,
addressed TO him. but written in n dis
guised hand:
Mr.. Hardy-Us in the casting don't need
no looking after, but maybe the next pot Of hot
iron that eXplodes will be next the offs if you
thinks we have bodies but no soils some morning
you will wake up believing another thing. We
aia't &C easy led % snPP2ses Retter look to
house and employ spesu patrol; if you do we
viii blak his face for him.
There was no signature TO this threat
ening scrawl, which was purposely
misspelled and ungrammatically COM
posed. Mr. Hardy had received threats
before and paid little attention TO them.
He prided himself on his steady nerves
and his contempt OF all such methods
ui"d TO scare him. Only n coward, he
reasoned, would ever write an anony-
mous letter of such a character Still
this morning he felt disturbed. His
peculiar circumstances made the whole
situation AXE on more vivid colOring.
Besides al that, he could not escape
the conviction that he was in certain
sense responsible for the accident in
the casting room. 1t was not his par
ticular business to inspect machinery.
But his attention had been called TO ii,
and he felt now as if he had been Grim
inally careless in not making the in
spection in the absence OF the regular
officer. IN investigation Of the acci-
dent would free Mr.. Hardy from legal
responsibility, but In the sight OF God
he felt that he was morally guilty. At
this moment Mr.. Burns came in. He
looked sullen and spoke in Il low tone:
only half the men are back this
morning sir. Scoville's death and the
injuries of the others have had a bad
effect on the men,"
Mr. Hardy crumpled the letter nerv-
ously in his hand.
"Mr. Burns. would like to apologize
to you for my neglect Of tie injured
men. Who are they and how badly are
they hurtY'
Burns looked surprised, but made
answer, describing briefly the acci-
dents. Mr.. Hardy listened intentiy
with bowed head At last he looked
up and said abruptly:
Come into the casting room."
They went out Of the Office, passed
through the repairing shops and enter
ed the foundry department. Even on
that bright winter morning, with the
air outside so clear and cool, the atmos-
phere in this pla e was murky and
close. The forges in the blacksmith
room at the farther end glowed through
the smoke and dust like smoldering
piles of rubbish dumped here and there
by chance upon some desOlate moor
and stirred by i'll omened demons Of
the neither world. Nr. Hardy shudder-
ed as he thought Of standing in such an
atmosphere all day to work at severe
muscular toll. He recalled with sharp
vividness Il request made only two
months before for dust fans which had
proved successful ia other shops and
which would remove a large part Of
the heavy, coal laden air, supplying
fresh air in its place. The company
had refused the request and had even
said through one of its officers that
when the men wore out the company
could easily get more.
Mr.. Hardy and the foreman paused
at the entrance to the casting room
where the men had been injured the
day before. a few men were working
sullenly. Mr.. Hardy asked the fore
man to call the men together near the
other end of the room; he wanted TO
say something to them. He walked
over there while the foreman spoke to
the men. They dropped their tools and
came over TO where Mr.. Hardy was
standing. They were mostly Scandi-
navians and Germans, with a sprin-
king of Irish and Americans. Mr..
Hardy looked at them thoughtfully.
They were hard looking crowd. Then
he said very slowly and distinctly:
"You may quit work until after SEQ
ville's funeral. The machinery here
needs overhauling."
The men stood impassive for a mo-
ment. Finally big Dane stepped up
and said:
1--WE be no minded to quit work
these times. We no can afford It, Give
us work in some other place"
Mr.. Hardy looked at him and replied
quietly:
1.-THE wages will 60 on just the same
while you are out"
There was n perceptible stir among
the men. They looked confused and
incredulous. Mr.. Hardy still looked at
them thoughtfully.
Finally the big Dane stepped for
ward again and said, speaking more
respectfully than he did at first:
"Mr. Hardy, we be thinking maybe
you would like to help towards him the
family of the dead and others as be
hurt. / been pointed to take up purse
for poor fellows injured. We all take
hand int. My brother be one lose his
two eyes"