The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1905-07-12
Miss Sinclair's
Sociology
BY Keith Gordon
Copyright, 1904. by Frances Wilson

Sociology was at the bottom of it
but what was responsible for the so
GEOLOGY is beyond the writer's knowl
edge.
| When the corners of a woman's
mouth turn upward and the tips of bel
fingers curl ever so slightly backward
1t 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
suit herself.
| Fate, by way of showing herself in
| accord with natures intentions in re-
gard to Miss Sinclair, provided that
young lady with a 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 gratified 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, it seemed to her, with
a grim, Supplying 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 on her way to a Iec4
ture one day when a man in oyeralls
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 poten-
tate.
The young workman meantime had
dropped into corner seat, thrown one
leg over the other and, with an arm ex-
tended along the back of the seat, turn
ed 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 growing
wonder, though large and powerful,
were Of the sort most frequently seen
protruding from the sleeves of modish
tweeds or knowing tuxedos. Emery
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 a
throne for an hours masquerading?
With an abrupt turn of the head, I'M
cannily suggestive of his having heard
her mute query, he turned and received
her puzzled glance full in the face.
For moment they stared at each 9TH
er with the undisturbed frankness of
pair Of children; then Miss Sinclair,
with an acute recollection of the new
~ acquired fact that the humblest of
toilers is 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 |
lind but one excuse. 1t was an up
fare of that madness which certain |
had long since discovered |
rs lurking in each and every human |
brain.
A quick, resolute desire to know who
md what he was had seized her, and
'or twenty-five years she had been &C
:ustomed to getting what she wanted. |
Was he not by every token a mere
workman, man of the sort that
night come toto fix the electric wires