Amador ledger., 1905-04-28
Miss Sinclair's
Sociology
BY Keith Gordon
Copyright, 1904, by Frances Wilson
BY Keith Gordon

ciology is beyond the writer's knowl-
edge.
When the corners of a woman's
mouth turn upward and the tips Of her
fingers curl ever so slightly backward
it is safe to assume that she was in
tended for the decorative rather than
the useful purposes of life. Dame Ma
ture arranges these little matters to
auit herself. --
Fate, by way of showing herself in
accord with natures intentions in re-
gard to Miss Sinclair, provided that
young lady with bank account Of
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 prac-
tically the same predicament To have
every wish gratifed is in effect as
crushing as to have no wish gratified
This is as plain as pikestaff, and it
doubtless had something to do with
Marcia Sinclair's 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 book or two, as the outward
visible sign" of her inward Intensity.
Sociology, 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, 1t seemed to her, with
grim, stupefying monotony. Whether
she looked backward into the past or
forward into the future, the view was
the same-a blur Of gray days huddled
together by the perspective.
She was listlessly thinking some such
thoughts as these on her way to a lee
ture 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 tray
cling incog.," she unused as her aroused
glance took in the square set shoulders,
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 poten-
tate.
The young workman meantime had
dropped into a corner seat, thrown one
leg over the other and, with an arm ex-
tended along the back Of the seat, turn
ed a preoccupied gle ice out of the
window, thereby presenting to his WIS.,
avis profile that, to say the least,
bespoke absolute physical integrity.
His hands, she noticed with growing
wonder, though large and powerful,
were Of the sort most frequently seen
protruding from the sleeves Of modish
tweeds or knowing tuxedos. Emerg-
ing from the sleeves of a blouse they
were nothing short of startling, and
Miss Sinclair was stirred by an inter
est that degenerated into curiosity.
What manner of workman could he be
who wore all the habiliments Of toll
with the air of one descended from q
throne for an hours masquerading2
With an abrupt turn of the head, un-
cannily 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 9TH
er with the undisturbed frankness Of a
pair Of children; then Miss Sinclair,
with an acute recollection of the new
ly acquired fact that the humblest Of
toilers is a person and not thing,
withdrew her eyes, whiH 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
find but one exctse. 1t was an up
fare Of that madness which a certain
philosopher had long since discovered
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 ac-
customed to getting what she wanted.
Was he not by every token a mere
workman, a man Of the sort that
might come toto FIX the electric wires
or solve plumbing mysteries? Why,
then, should she hesitate to address
him7
Lifting her eyes, she leaned forward
with the serene blandness of q queen
addressing a subject.
pardon me" - the voice was very
winning, but the dullest could not have
misunderstood, 1t was meant to put
an inferior perfectly at ease pardon
me, but / wonder If you would think
1t very strange II 1 asked gou few
questions, I'm interested in labor
unioue," she continued, with q beauti-
full directness, land should 80 like to
hear labor's side. Excuse the person
ality, but you have the appearance Of
q workman who thinks for himself
who''-
She got no further, for something In
the mans face transformed her inta
a picture Of frozen dignity. Ripples
Of mirth seemed to be chasing each
A Tried and True Friend,