The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-04-27
SURVIVAL ] | o. THE H1TEsT
"A Good Story From Maryland
by Franklin II. Went
worth.
They were both from the heart of


Maryland.
One of them was slight, delicate,
with finely chiseled features. His brow
was frank and open; his lips and nos
trils tremulous with sensitiveness and
feeling. He was the poet, the artist;
and the great underweave Of human
tragedy and human aspiration moved
with its mystery strange undiscovered
deeps in his nature.
The other was OF the earth. earthly;
his hair short and crisp; is body
sturdy; his nose 50 large and pug
nacious as to suggest, even in his boy
hoow, the embryonic bird of prey. He
was not sensitive, and his brow was
illumined only by those singular little
marks about the eyes which denote OBJ
stinacy chastened by cunning. He
could yield-when it paid him.
Their mothers needed the service
Of their hands to keep bread in the
cupboard at Laurel; and so, through
the kindness OF the local congressman,
they had come up to Washington, little
as they were, TO serve the mighty men
of the United States senate as pages.
The one, would stand before the
great paintings in the capital, drink
ing with his imagination the suffer-
ings and the heroisms Of the fathers.
He would huddle against the wall,
Of the huge rotanda tracing out frag-
ments Of t. pictures on the back of
a senate document, so absorbed that
a touch on the shoulder would wiring
from him an involuntary cry-Nke
the string of violin touched I'M
guardedly.
The other would pass works Of art
unmoved; unconscious Of their mess
age; unconscious of the sacred life
that had been wrought into them by
patient brush and pencil; unconscious
Of the artist yearn1ngs which expand
the heart in an effort to bless the
! world. magination-torch of celestial
fire-lighted, for him, only the horizon
of his self-interest.
The one, forced to wait the dictates
Of his masters in the senate commit
tee rooms, would flush and tremble
with shame at the coarse and vulguar
epithets; the indecent references to
| women, the vile stories and the loud
laughter which followed them. And
! when a senator, good natured with
| wine, would encircle his slight figure
in a paternal caress, the lad would
| shrink and shrivel like sensitive
plant at the tread Of a bison.
Not so the other. He drank the
poison Of his atmosphere as natur-
| ally as the water OF his native spring.
He echoed back the filth of the COM
| mittee rooms; and met the Quizzing
looks Of the story-tellers with an ap-
preciative and understanding wink. He
learned quickly the senators whom
Nbations made generous, and endeared
himself to them by faithful service.
He knew the women with whom they
consorted. He made ten dollars in fees
to the other boys one. He was handy
in many ways, and he thrived, as
handy lads do. .-s .'~ i
When. congress -adj ourned the boys
went home. s.,~,-<~,s|- ID. - +.
The one threw himself into the arms
Of his mother and sobbed: "Oh, don't
send me back, mother. Don't send me
| back"
Six senators had promised the other
| that his job was secure.
Both mothers hearts throbbed with
pride, after the manner of their kind;
| the one, that her son was SO pure,
and gentle, and loving; the other, that
her son was so bright, and shrewd, and
capable. Our mothers always see in
us that which is accounted good.
The next winter came and both boys
returned to Washington, the one seek
ing work; the other already sure Of it.
u \
In 1897 the dead body of an artist
was found in a garnet studio in the
city of New York. One can live upon
almost nothing; but one cannot live
| upon nothing at ALL The fellows in
New York who know about art said
the artist had endeavored to paint his
ideals. It does not pay to paint your
ideals when the only people who can
buy pictures have no ideals. You can
not bless the world with art while
the spirit Of art is smothered in divi-
| dends and vulgarity on the one hand,
and by wretchedness and squalor on
the other.
In 1880 there came up from Mary
land man to sit as United States
senator in the chamber In which he
had served as a lad so faithfully. He
was the other.
In order for a plant to thrive it must
be suited to it's environment, the SCI
entists tell us.
y
There are many little lads in the
service of the senate today. They are
pale, as a rule, and do not look healthy.
One wonders why they are not in
school; and why the senators cannot
see them when they are making their
speeches on te imperative necessity of
education.
The senate is not pleasant place
| to work. The air is often very foul. 1t
is no place for little lads. It is no
place for them physically. It Is no
place for them morally. They see too
much, and hear too much, of the things
they ought not to see nor hear-of the
| things which not to be.
Day after day teir little feet patter
! douyr, c0rridoro o,,d ~,