The Topeka state journal., 1906-02-17

at takes a bit or sarcasm to get
through is ed. We'll" I ses, you're
stiu on the old track I see, looking for
work, Take care you don't ave an
/ accident one of these days and run up
2gen it. before you've got time to get
out of its way" IT'S these miserable
! foreigners e ses, look at en-" e
ses. There's enough of you doing
| that ses, I've got my room to put
straight, and three hours needlework
! to do before can get to bed. But don't
! let me 'inder you You might forget
what work was like, If you didn't take
an opportunity Of watching it now and
then" "They come over ere, e ses,
and take the work away from as
] chaps "Ah," ses, ''poOr things, per-
1 haps they amt married" Lazy
1 devilsi" ses, look at EN-, smoking
1 cigarettes. I could do that sort of work
! There's nothing in it. 1t don't take
/ 'eathen foreigners to dab bit of tar
about a road" Yes" I ses. you al
ways could do everybody else's work
but your own I can't find 1t,
/ Martha . e ses. NO" I ses, and you
never will in the sort of places you go
( looking for 1t. They don't 'ang 1t out
/ on lampposts, and they don't leave II
( about at the street corners One Of these
I days" 1 ses, fwheE you're walking
| about 'appy and careless, not thinking
7 about it, youn run UP agen II, as !
tell you, and then you'll get the biggest
/ shock you We ever 'ad in all your life
/ Go 'or1e" I ses "and turn the mangle
for your poor wife. That's big enough
for you to find, even in the DARK; DARK,
/ Looking for work. snOrted Mrs. VIII
kins with contempt I'VE women never
/ ave much difficulty in finding It, I've
noticed. There are times when l reel L
could do with losing it for day.
But what did he reply, Mrs. WIKI
! ins?" I asked; your brass-finishing
/ friend, who was holding forth on the
/ subject of Chinese cheap labor. Mrs.
| Wilkins as a cOnversationalist IS not
easily kept to the point. I was curious
/ to know what the working classes were
thinking on the subject. "Oh, that,
| replied Mrs. Wilkins, "'e didn't say
nothing. E amt the sort that's got
much to say in an argument. r be-
longs to the crowd that hangs about
at the back, and does the shouting.
But there was another of 'en, young
fellow as / feels sorry for, with q Wlfe
and three small children, who asn t
'ad much luck for the last six months;
and that through no fault of is own, 1
/ should say, from the looks of i'm. I
| was fool, ses e, when 1 chucked
! a good situation and went out TO the
/ war They told me I was going to
fight for equal rights for all white
men. I thought they meant that all
of US were going to have a better
| chance. and it seemed worth making
I a bit of a sacrifice for, that did. I
/ should be glad If they would give me
a job in their mines that would enable
me to feed my wife and children.
That's all I'd ask them for " 1T is q
difficult problem, Mrs wilkins I said.
| According to the mine owners
'Ah," said Mrs. Wilkins. they don't t
seem to be exactly what you'd d call
popular them mine owners, do they
DaFesay they re not as bad as they'r
painted" Some people, Mrs. WIKI
ms" I said, paint them very black.
There are those who hold that the
South African mine owner is not a
man at all, but a kind of pantomime
demon. You take Goliath, the whale
that swallowed Jonah, a selection
from the least respectable citizens of
SOdOm and GOmorrah at their worst.
Bluebeard, bloody Queen Mary. Guy
Fawkes, and the sea serpent=or,
rather, you take the most objection
able attributes Of all these various
personages, and mix them up to-
gether.
The result in the South African mine
owner, a monster who would willingly
promote company for the putting on
the market of a new meat extract. pre-
pared exclusively from newborn in
fants, provided the scheme promised a
fair and reasonable opportunity of heec-
ing the widow and the orphan eve
card they's bad lot" said Mrs. Will
ktns, but we're most Of us that, if we
listen to what other people say about
Us" t0uite so, Mrs. wilkins" I agreed.
zone never arrives at the truth by lis
toniEg to one side only. On the other
hand. for example, there are those who
stoutly maintain that the South African
mine-owner is a kind of spiritual crea-
ture, all heart and sentiment who
against his own viii, has been. so to
speak dumped down upon this earth as
the result Of over production up above
Of the higher class of archangel. The
stock of archangels Of superior finish ex-
ceeds the heavenly demands: the sur
plus has been dropped down into South
Africa and has taken to mine-owning.
1t is not that these celestial visitors of
German-s0Undiug nomenclature care
themselves about the gold. Their only
desire is. during this earthly pilgrimage