Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1901-04-03
oned il the same as If the r.en were be


oned the same as If the r,en were be-
Ing paid.
But all this was nothing to what he
longed to do. He. went himself iato the
miners cabins and acquainted himself
with all their rough and meagcr sur
roundings. Several times dNring these
visits he met Rhcna, but she was al
ways busy with her duties and hardly
exchanged word. Stuart fnncied she
tried to avoid meeting him. Her man
ner was different. He wondered vague
~ if she knew, If she had been told,
that he had found her that night and
carried her down through the upper
trail
All this time he was also working at
the problem Of the men in idleness, and
the more he thought 1t over the less
confident he grew of his ability to
solve the difficulty. Chalnpion was
mining town, with nothing else of an
Industrial character to occupy labor of
any kind. There had once been an at
tempt to put in smelling furnaces, but
it had failed owing to the expense of
fuel. Stuart confronted condition of
practical ignorance on the part of the
miners concerning any kind Of manual
toll except that to which they had been
horn. 1t is Of course hardly necessary
to say that he daily used his influence
with the men to persuade them to
agree to his terms, and yet even while
talking and urging he could not avoid
n feeling of great unrest, and with it oil
went n certain admiration for the men
who gave as their reason for not COM
ing back to the Champion mines on
Stuarts terms 1T don't belong to be
for lis to take the dollars while all the
rest of DE Mott men be shut out at the
old wages by other companies" The
whole situation was deadlock SO far
as the union was concerned, and the
whole problem was n complication OF
events and conditions in the CONNER
cial world which Stuart faced us a
new thing, especially when he found.
himself attempting to apply the teach-
ings CT Jesus to his part Of 1t. He was
| willing to act ON those teachings rs
fast as lie discovered them, but other
men connected with the strike on both
sides Were not willing. And he was,
willingly or unwlllingly, n part of the
commercial system, and as far rs he
had gone yet he saw little relief for the
Champion men or little opportunity for
the use of the money he was ready to
/ give or use except to help lessen the
Immediate sufferings regardless of
what other people might call Its cause.
He had not been enough in the habit of
using money for other people to know
how to do it either wisely or in way
to produce permanent results.
So the week went by, and it was tho
night of Aunt Royals and Louise's
party. Stuart dreaded the occasion
because his heart was not in 1t Mt all.
1t seemed to him like cruel thing
somehow to be having gay, expen-
sive, dressy gathering, as he knew this
affair would be, at time when little
children We're dying and rugged men
and women in those wretched miners
cabins were tossing in the fever of
that scourge which laid its bony
knuckles of death against nearly ey-
cry door in Cornishtown and grimly
called one by one out of the burning
heat within to the cold embrace of the
messenger outside. Stuart spent tho
day in u round of visits. AT different
places he found Andrew and Rhena
and Eric. AL of them were worn and
sad with the burdens of all they had
done and carried. Rhena especially
seemed to show the strain Of her great
sacrifices. Stuart came very near
speaking to her once about her over
work. If he had, 1t is doubtful II he
could have kept from telling his love
In the same breath. Somehow he did
! not say it. And late in the evening
he went home with feeling as near
the heartache as he ever knew. He
seemed to have thought he must spend
the day; In as sacriticial and helpful =
manner as possible in atonement for
the evening he was to spend. But GER
tainly If ever man was In poor frame
of mind to enjoy festivity of the fash.
ionable sort Stuart was that man. Jim
Binney had died that afternoon, and
Stuart had been there just in time tu
see Rhena kneel by the bed and pray
MS the spirit went back from the rough
tabernacle to God who gave 1t. The
words of the prayer and the great sobs
Of the miserable wife and mother, the
cries of the children, the wretched hut
with It's few broken pieces of furni
ture, the snow patches on the floor
the dirty windows, the august dying
Of humanity in SO commonplace and
for granted q manner-all this filled
Stuart's heart as he came down into
the brilliant rooms, decorated witt
their gnrlands and bouquets of ex
pensive flowers and perfumed will
that refinement which wealth Gun
ningly spent knows SO well how to pro
duce.
The guests came, dressed in the lat
est and best that money can afford
The conversation was charming and
agreeable. To hear. these men'and wo
men talk stranger never could have
guessed that there was such q thing MS
suffering In all the world. The music
was about love and flowers and beauty
and sentimental phrases that had nc
meaning or double one. The whole
thing filled Stuart for the first time II
his life with unspeakable loathing. II
seemed to him like dance In GENE
terry, where the dancers might imagine
they were, waltzing over fragrant
meadows dotted with white blossoms
when in reality 1t was on human
graves they danced. black with the
freshly Ibid earth of new made burials
He never knew how he passed the
evening. lie sang with Miss Vas
plnjne when Louise requested 1t. He
heard great applause when they had