Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-04

there's use trying to blind ourselves. The peo-
pie at coffee the verandas of this world
about as competent to handle the real problems OF
the mills as they to direct the sun"
Then what did you mean to ask them to do---up
there on the veranda?" Eve asked reasonably,
"I'm always thinking they could help" he said.
'Pve-Pve only to talk with you to see that they
cannot
Certainly this proper hattery from lord
of the manor within a toy palace
81 beg your pardon" he said quickly. II
ogre, see. But won't you understand what 1
mean? The very''--he hesitated, then he went
simply If 1t coaching he discussing
1.-The very charm and perfection of you defeats
You are the aristocrat to your finger tips. They
pick you out before you pick out one
other. One look at you yourself-at your face
your hands, the sound of your voice. your way of
falkland they would dstrust you. You
far from them as another life. You are of
In solving the problem of the age than spirit
would be- The arstocrat In you conquers you. You
Just helpless In your way these mill peo-
pie are. You bound like them. SO is most of
your class
Eve looked at him wonderingly. $50 is most Of
your class" That hardly sounded like the lord of
the manor! But whoever he was he was spendidy
in earnest and, somehow, he to the world
in the making. But he CHASING her with the
other sidei
1T isn't that" she said eagerly. "It's only that
there is no one to tell us-so that we understand.
II we understood we could help those people But
there are good many of us-oh, most of us never
know anything about such things. :"
She broke off for he stood shaking his head with
his luminous and sngularly uncompromising smile.
Its bigger than that" he said. We've got to
know about such things-we can't help it, you
know. And it needs more than being told about
them. 1t needs going out after them. 1t needs
something to make the two classes clear to each
other. And there isn't any way until every last
of us does something matter how little 1t is,
for some poor devil other. don't mean give
'em soup--or soap. ] mean give 'em your
hand Give 'em their self-respect"
Eva looked at him quickly.
But you of my class" she said quiety "and
yet think that both classes seem clear to you"
He drew himself erect and folded his arms across
his brown flannel shirt
Pardon" he said II not of your class. I
am the superintendent at the lumber MILL"
Eve rose suddenly, and with her rising the deli
cate wall of water that had shut them in ceased
abruptly. and revealed the darkness all about them
And when he marked the unmistakable change in
her manner--nvoluntary and yelled 1t was--he
laughed lttle softly, but with something Of sad
ness and more of unmistakable bitterness
my point proves ITSELF" he said simply. "SureIy
you will see that my advice is wise. It is this:
When the committee comes to the house there, with
the veranda it will be wise If you Will all be we'll
within it--you and your coffee Nothing that you
can do will mend matters in the very least. You
see, do you not?-that we do not know the way. you
and II"
Then he was gone. stridng away across the
grounds, and Eve stood angry and ashamed. How
had she let him her annoyance? But she was
not annoyed he had supposed, she told herself
She stood still for moment, her heart beating
to new measure. How splendidly in earnest he
had been. How near. some way, to the world in
the makingI
When after time she went up the steps of the
veranda, Mrs Winkler called to her from her hang
ing porch chair,
"Eve--oh, Evel We've excursion planned for
Tomorrow We're going to visit the lumber camp
and see the boards go round. We're going in the
drag and do it horoughly--investigate conditions
and that kind of thing oh, thiak it will please
Alex so!''
Eve did what she could but there was no chang
ing Mrs Winkler's intention.
- So all save Eve. who frankly begged off and
young Hartley, who insisted staying with her,
did leave Just after luncheon. They were to visit
the mill. have tea in the woods and dine at the ho-
tel four miles on, returning by moonlight And
they were looking very gay in Alex Loveridges
1OrSeS,
known for miles about. There were nine of them
the women charmingly conspicuous with those eff
feets OF the inconspicuous contrived by pink and
white, by soft-colored piumes and shoes, and by
fugitive yeils futtering out inconsequential and
wavy like laughter
On the lumber camp-that bleak stretch of open
where the wounded earth showed distorted members
of trees and the great mill burrowed into the Wild
wood like giant worm at the heart of the green-a
fever had laid hold the unrest of soul which is ac-
counted unrest of body because the body is suffer-
ing. And that noon because of the fever that was
in them, the men had met in the schoohouse to
cast their die, When the drag emerged from the
pines 1T had been known for hours that the
strike would be declared that night at quitting
time
Matters therefore would doubtless have pro-
gressed logically to the official document to Lover
idge had 1t not been for that unlucky drag The
men IT from within the mill that afternoon. and
looked at each other grimly. and more than ever
doubted the efficacy of the document. They felt the
a. .Ealxc uvhs&