The weekly examiner., 1901-06-22
CHAPTER II.
LARGE RESPONSIBILITIES.

LARGE RESPONSIBILITIES.
 A week after the death and burial of Ross Duncan, Stuart and Louise were talking together of their future plans. Louise lay on a lounge, looking very pretty, dressed in mourning of a fashionable pattern. She appeared vexed at something Stuart had just said and tapped her foot smartly against the end of the lounge.
 "I have no patience with you, Stu art. Why don't you talk sense?''
 'I thought was talking sense,' re- piled Stuart, who was standing up by one of the windows of the room look ing out on the front lawn. He turned and walked back to the end of the room and continued to pace up and down. He was very thoughtful and part of the time seemed not to hear all that Louise said.
 ''We1l, you lose all your sense the minute the subject of these horrid min sers comes up,' continued Louise. elf was the governor of this state, I would order out the militia at once"
 "Whyw asked Stuart, with slight smile. "The men are not doing any thing. What would you order out the troops for?'s
 .eI would get new men in to take the men's places and then order the militia. And, you know, Stuart, 1t will have to come to that at last"
 Stuart answered nothing. He was thinking hard Of that very thing. t-
 Louise went on talking while he stood still by the window for minute look ing out at the hills. T regard fathers death as caused directly by the miners They frightened the horses and caused the accident that killed him. I don't see how you can side with the men in this strike"
 T don't" said Stuart without turn ing around.
 ''Then why don't you do something to start up the mines? Haven't we a right to manage our own business and hire other men? If the miners threat en to interfere, we have a right to call for state troops"
 'sI hope 1t will not come to that" re piled Stuart gravely as he walked up to the lounge and sat down by his sis ter. Louise, want to talk plainly with you about this matter. do not feel just as father did about it." .Kou just said you didn't side with the men.''
 Louise sat up and arranged her dress Some ribbons at her throat kept her fingers busy for minute.
 ''I don't side with them in the sense that believe they are doing the right thing to strike this way. But I be- lieve they ought to have more wages and that the companies ought to pay them the scale they have drawn up." Stuart was talking aloud to his sister, for the first time really expressing his convictions as they had grown on him every day since his fathers death had thrown the burden of ownership upon him.
 Louise heard his statement with 8 frown. For awhile she was silent; then she rose and walked out of the room, angrily saying as she went: Ross Duncan'S son is not much like his father That's true if you did say it''
 Stuart rose and went over by the window again. He was vexed not with Louise, but with the whole situation. Since his fathers death he had gone through a great many struggles, and each one had left him with the feeling of his responsibility heavier upon him. The strike was in the same condition as when it began. The different mine owners at Cleveland had conferred to- gether and were united in their deter imitation not to yield to the demand for higher wages. Stuart had been asked to come down to a conference to be held in the city that week. He expect ed to leave the next day. As he stood looking out at the stock covered hills he knew that a crisis was rapidly ap- preaching and that within the next few days events would be precipitated that would leave their mark upon his whole life. He was not a coward, and that was the reason he could not run away from the situation. The interests of the mines at Champion were all in his hands, but the other mines on the up- per and lower ranges were involved with his in the general strike. He was not at full liberty to act alone. Be- sides, the men had within 8 week form ed a union and would not treat with the separate mine owners, insisting that the companies must recognize the union as whole.
 Meanwhile matters were coming to a crisis very fast. Stuart clinched his hands tightly and bit his lips nervously as he turned again from the window and paced the room. He was worth more than $2,OO0,OOO in his own right, and yet the possession of the money caused him little real pleasure. With all the rest he was having an inward revolution of education toward the en- tire problem. And he could not avoid the feeling that before the week was gone he might come face to face with