The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17

l LUX or INlrktOWn.
 Janet was IS. but having borne the
 cares of the state for more than three
 years, she looked older. At one time
 sne mad threatened to grow tall and | handsome, but early responsfbility the
 effort to fill the place of her dead
 mother, and to administer faithfully tne douotful finances of Kirktown Free
 Manse, seemed to have aged and altered her. Still 1t was an eminently pleas
 ant face, and the wise kindness in the eyes added to the humor about the
 mouth drew an answering smile from
 you if you so much as met her on the street.
 Today she was smiling to herself as
 she went. She was thinking of her | brother Raff's face when he took stock
 or his diminish ed portion on the plate, ana looked up to find his sister "bund-
 ling half the dinner' into & basket.
 Poor RaifH she murmured, T must
 LOOK out something for his tea. He Is
 growing so fast"
 And then she grew suddenly sober as 1 she thought of the knees of Raif
 trousers and the approaching necessi-
 ty Of getting him a new outfit If, in- ! oeed' he was to go to college In the autumn. This was solemn thought | to Janet, for 1t was quite necessary,
 
 new hat-for Sundays. The old would
 do very well for funerals, which were l wet, windy, blustery affairs, from | which you came back with 8 soaking ! oYercoat and an incipient cold But 8
 new tall hat for Sundays-like Mir.
 Sleekmans of Overton-Janet had set
 her mind on that. Not that her father
 cared, He would as soon have gone
 bareheaded or In an old widea wake.
 Indeed, he had to be watched as it | was
 Janet turned down by the Cemetery
 wall on her way to Widows Row-the l struggling, out-at-elbows cluster of
 houses, which, being out of the juris- | diction of the great mining firm of l Incubus G. Co.,, was mostly inhabited
 by the widows and orphans of men who
 had once been in it's employ. As Janet passed the corner where the paths crossed between the Carron Pit
 and the Long Dock, she came upon two
 men standing close together in heated 1 argument. She knew them. They were l the two pit managers of these work ings-by name, Hector McKill and Wal | ter Grinding.
 T tell you" said the taller long, | lean man in frock coat clinging to his
 knees, and an incongruous torn Pana-
 ma hat on the back of his head q am | been too long in kirktown. I will use
 my influence"
 You will lose your time," his com panion broke in, a ruddy, rustic-look ] ing man with blunt red nose and
 watery eyes, The has the ear of the | Geordies-and what's more" | "Ssssh--" hssed the first speaker
 laying his hand on the arm of the stout man and turning him half round. He had seen Janet over his partners shoulder.
 That's Fowlers eldest brat!' said ' MT. Grinding. She doesn't take after | her father. He's a good looking dog, when a1l's said and done!" Beauty is vain," said Hector McKill, l shaking his head. "Absolom was hanged in the magnifcence of his l tresses, and John Fowler is entangled | in the words of his own mouth." Hum said the ruddy manager of | the Long Dock, well, you know best, of course, about church affairs. That's your strong suit. But, speaking as a | worldly man, MT. McKill, I don't see | how you are going to shift him out of Kirktown."
 Am not I one Of his elders, an in l fiuential one, too? Do I not subscribe | literally to all that goes into the | treasury of that church? l think you will allow I have some right to my opinion"
 "Doubtless," said Walter Grinding ! watching the girls slender figure car 1 rying the napkin covered basket turn into Widow McTurk's, "but he is some | thing of a favorite, isn't he? Now that was his daughter, going with some of his dinner to the poor-ah, to Tom Me ! Turks widow in the Row. Well, the Geordies understand that sort of thing. 1t makes a man popular"
 Mere ostentatlon" cried Mir McIlill, stamping his foot angrily, why, last winter I gave orders to my cook to have god saucepan of soup prepared | every day for any who cared to apply, l and I never heard any complaints. My 1 wife told me that no one ever asked | for it, except the regular beggars, which shows that there can be no real want in this place. Surely what is ! worth having Is worth asking for, eh, | Grindling?" l The stout manager of the Long Dock 1 shook his head.
 "I daresay," he said, "but you see 1 that Is not the way they look at it. | They like to be fused over, and help from the manse is-what is 1t, twice blest-it blesseth him that gives and him that takes. That sort of thing. I'm no great hand at Scripture. That's not Scripture you say-oh, very well, | it sounds like it. anyway. Eve heard | it somewhere. I might have known it l wasn't in the kirk. That Is place l ! don't often trouble. But the minister, now, how much a year has he?" "One hundred and sixty-six pounds, 1 six shillingS and sixpencew said MT. 1 McKill, promptly, and q very suffi | cient and even superabundant, salary"
 Salary, perhaps-but pretty lean ! wage" said MT. Grinding. His eyes rested on the trim cottages of the com | panys reservation.
 "Yonder's Block co he said, pointing 1 with his finger, "our long Dock men there are good average workers-all on 1 piece work, the father and two or three boys all working. How much, do you i think, goes into each of those doors every Saturday night?'
 "A couple of pounds, or even three
 said Mir. Mckill, earelessly, his mind still on the ecclesiastical wrongs. Prom four to six pounds, 1 tell you, ! sterling coin of the realm," said MT. | Grinding, 'I check the pay sheets" Dear me" cried MT. McKill. "I must speak to the chief. We must reduce our wages Such thing is positively | indecent, It's bad for the men," Possibly" said MT. Grinding. but l just now with our contracts and the | boom in the trade 1t can't be helped. The men would just go elsewhere. | Only that was not what meant. was | speaking of your minister on salary | of f166. He is a far poorer man than ! any good workman in our pits. There's ] Dick Pearson coming out now with his | two boys. They are making hundred pounds year more than John Fowler,