The San Francisco call., 1904-11-19
FOR A MOMENT THEY
STARED AT EACH OTHER.

rather astounding size. This possibly
had something to do with the depres-
sion of mind that drove her into the
serious field of sociology, the very rich
and the very poor being in practically
the same predicament. To have every
wish gratified is in effect as crushing
as to have no wish gratified. This is
as plain as a pikestaff, and it doubtless
had something to do with Marcia Sim
clairs unnatural thirst for knowledge.
In consequence, she might have been
seen almost any day that winter wend
ing her way up to Columbia, clad in
austere tailor-made gowns and carry
ing a book or two, as the outward Wis
ible sign" of her inward intensity. So
ciology, she decided at the start, should
begin at home, and thereupon she
abandoned her carriage and took to
street cars. thereby seeing more of real
life than she ever had seen before.
In this wise the winter days marched
by, keeping step, it seemed to her, with
a grim, stupefying monotony. Whether
she looked backward into the past or
forward into the future, the view was
the samoa blur of gray days huddled
together by the perspective.
She was listlessly thinking some such
thoughts as these one her way to a
lecture one day, when a man in overalls
and blouse boarded the car. Something
in the way he carried himself attracted
her attention.
Might be the Emperor William trav-
cling incog.," she unused, as her aroused
glance took in the square-set shoulders,
clear-cut face and crisp hair. A few
months earlier it would not have oc-
CURED to her to notice a man in over
alls and blouse at all. Seen from her
carriage, they had been mere shadows,
by no means human beings. Now all
was different. Though she began to
suspect that the pursuit of knowledge
was only another of the endless make
shifts by which we strive to forget the
ennui of life, she had learned one cardi-
nal fact-namely, that the humblest
worker shares all the most important
things of life with the greatest po-
tentate.
The young workman, meantime, had
dropped into a corner seat, thrown one
lCB ONCl I1lC OliACAg blANs WIN I'LL al LII
extended along the back of the seat,
turned a preoccupied glance out of the
window, thereby presenting to his Wis
avis a profile that, to say the least,
bespoke absolute physical integrity.
His hands, she noticed with grow
ing wonder, though large and power
full, were of the sort most frequently
seen protruding from the sleeves of
modish tweeds or knowing Tuxe-
dos. Emerging from the sleeves
of a blouse they were nothing
short of startling, and Miss Sinclair
was stirred by an interest that degen-
Grated into curiosity. What manner of
workman could he be, who wore all
the habiliments of toll with the air of
one descended from a throne for an
hours masquerading?
With an abrupt turn Of the head,
uncannily suggestive of his having
heard her mute query, he turned and
received her puzzled glance full in the
face. For a moment they stared at
| each other with the undisturbed
! frankness of a pair of children. Then
Miss Sinclair, with an acute recollec-
ton of the newly acquired fact that
the humblest of toilers is a person
and not thing, withdrew her eyes,
while the man in overalls took his
turn at inspecting. 1t was for this
reason that she did not see the slight
twitch of the lips that had followed
the open amazement Of her glance.
When, later in the day, she recalled
| the little scene that followed, she
could not find but one excuse. 1t was
an upfiare of that madness which a
certain philosopher had long since dis
covered as lurking in each and every
human brain.
| A quick, resolute desire to know
who and what he was had seized her,
and for twenty-five years she had
been accustomed to getting what she
wanted. Was he not by every token
! a mere workman man of the sort
.s.--I,4 +, IL