News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1903-04-15


Mrs. Penrose asked the question in q
sweet voice that startled everybody.
Justice Chambers? I-I-don't re-
call-ah, yes. the new justice in Dis
trict o." There was note of uneasi-
ness in Tommy's voice that Gordon
was quick to detect.
mfr. Cham .ers is a cousin of mine
very brilliant, rising young lawyer"
Mrs. Penrose again spoke in her sweet,
cultured voice, and again every one, in
GLIDING the boss, stared at her.
at makes no difference" The voice
Of Tommy Randall rose again rough
and assertive. "Law or no law, l know
what | am doing. Good day, Miss An
drews. Sorry you don't see fit to take
the lots. l admire your grit" And he
undoubtedly did.
He turned and walked back to the
workmen engaged in making measure
ments, and John Gordon turned to Miss
Andrews, eXclaiming bitterly: "If this
had occurred in fiction, wouldn't we
have laughed at it as wildly improba-
BILE? Yet here it occurs in one of the
greatest cities on the American con-
tinent, and we are obliged to accept it
as part of our municipal system of
government. Before God, Miss An
drews, can we do less than vow war
on all that such a creature represents?
Bear me Witness" he exclaimed, and
he was one Of the last men in the world
to resort to dramatic poses or heroics,
81 will exhaust every resource known
to man in an attempt to have Tommy
Randall obey the laws Of this city. He
may have robbed us of our proposed
plan for parks and Fairgrounds, but
he shall not murder little children and
helpless women in these bells Of double
deckers."
They all walked silently back to
Hope House and went into the library.
II don't think any one knows the full
extent of Tommy Randalrs power"
Miss Andrews said quietly. 81
thought once, few years ago, that l
knew, but l don't Nobody does, not
even himself"
"Of course you have tried to have
these building ordinances obeyedY
Gordon spoke it looking at her in great
trouble.
Miss Andrews smiled her patient
smile that told the story of countless
battles, of countless defeats, of heart
sick failure to arouse civic con-
science, of corrupt courts and packed
Juries, and the whole city lying in a
contemptuous apathy that owned no
god but Mammon and felt no indigna-
ton except that of wrath over the fall
of stocks or the thwarting of personal
schemes for glory.
what can be done" Gordon asked
it, but had no answer. "Of what use
is our gift from Mrs Dillingham;? Even
il Randall would sell the lots he has
bought he would demand outrageous
prices that we could not pay. 1t is
maddening to think that he has so che
sen the places for his tenements, his
saloons and vaudeville halls that even
if we owned all the rest of the district
we could do comparatively little to car
ry out our plan. The ward clubhouse
means, of course. the intrenchment of
Tommy Randall in the heart of his ter
ritory. Can you think of anything ex-
cept spider who has artfully spun his
web-and sits waiting in it for victims?
o God of the children, is there no way
in all this great so called municipality
that these wrongs can be r.ghted"
He had never expressed himself SO
III, Of l. f.,,
had never felt so much real emotion.
She was sitting by the window, and as
Gordon finished and slowly turned
away from Miss Andrews, to whom he
had put the question, Lucia also
turned and glanced out the window
why don't you put the law on him?"
Mrs. PenrCse exclaimed impatently.
There must be some way of executing
the ordinances of this city!'
Il have used every method within my
power during the last twelve years to
prevent the violation of these city ordi
nances relating to the tenement house
In every instance, with
out one exception, we have been thwart-
ed when the case came into court. Mrs.
Penrose, you have no conception of the
political and social power
back of Tommy Randall. 1t is an abso-
lutte dictatorship. 1t is true, as he I'M
says, he or the powers back
of him own courts, judges, juries, at
torneys. All our appeals to the people
themselves have been in vain. AS the
years have~gone on my work has
grown to be that of some alienation of
misery; it is not a contribution to the
removal of causes. The misery flows
on. The best we can do seems to be to
make life a little more bearable for
children to put little light and good
cheer into these darkened, saddened
lives, to alleviate ever so little their
Sometimes l have
thought this was all we ever shall do"
Miss Andrews spoke with her usual
quiet intensity. There was no whining,
not even complaint; simply indomita-
BILE patience in the face of everlasting
and unrelieved defeat Of purposes by
a power so grimly fortified with money
and social entanglements and vice and
appeals to all human passions that it
seemed hopeless even to expect relief
from its dominating grip on the situa-