Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-13
THE QUALITY OF MERCY

worked for it, and had managed to
marry and had a little daughter. this
poor little girl we are talking about,
and when the little daughter was be-
ginning to toddle, a dark day came
when the father did not return home.
The mill had him. Weak and tired,
he had stumbled and fallen among
some of the cruel wheels, and the soft
spoken messenger who came to break
the news to the widow and orphan said
that as soon as he had given permit
the widow and the orphan might send
for said remains, and bury them, or,
if they were too poor the authorities
would do 1t.
The widow knew that the remains,
while still her man. had had few
dollars saved up for a rainy day. This
was the rainiest day that could hap
pen, the rainiest that could be imag-
ined, so she thought of the savings and
said she would attend to the burial
of the remains. and did, after they had
been sert home by the coroner with
a verdict of accidental death and con-
tributory negligence. The widow knew
what accidental death meant, but she
could not understand the meaning of
the rest of the disease which had car
ried off her husband-"contributo
negligence" she told the minister
that her man had died of this among
other things. that he was dreadful
sight, and that she wished they would
be more careful about putting safety
guards on the "contributory neglf-
gence" part of the MILL because there
were others whose lives or limbs might
be endangered by it. With melan-
choly smile, the minister said he
guessed the company would look out
for contributory negligence in future,
but he did not enlighten her. He had
a heart. After the woman and the
child had recovered somewhat from
their sorrow, and were able to eat
again, they found the funeral had
taken away all the savings. and that
if they were to keep up the habit of
eating, one or both must go to work.
The mother said she would go. but
the little girl cried and said it was
bad enough to have no father, without
having the mother away from her all
the time. and if the mother would go
to the mill, she must go also.
The mill people looked hard at the
little girl when she came with her
mother, and, one of them asked why
the child wasn't at school. "What
good would that do herr" asked the
mother, with tears so close to her
voice that the man said: There, there!
never mind, my good woman; but it
is hardly right that she should be
idling away her time. She looks strong
for her age. LET US PUT HER TO
WORK"
What could such little tiny mite
of a girl do? She might be strong
for her age. but that was not saying
much, for herculean strength is not
as a rule developed at 5 years old.
Her strength at its utmost was a lit
tie puny strength, even as her life
at its utmost was only little flicker of
life, a shining wee soul, cleaning and
d
that would not smile back.
But she was put to work, and soon
was accustomed to the routine; in
fact became part of the machinery.
One day. at the end of long hours of
noisy toll, when the hum was in her
head and the dust made her eyes ache
and her throat was choked UP and
she was so tired that she could hardly
walk and when she looked around her,
could see and could appreciate neither
heaven nor earth, but only long re-
volving greasy shafts and huge clam
bering steel beams and arms and great
wheels that hummed and span, and
ugly little wheels that she hated, little
wheels that had great teeth to catch
you-she stumbled and fell, and with
a Shrek unheard in the clamor of the
giant machinery, she realized with
sickening dread that the little wheels
with the teeth had caught her. and
were GNAWING HER HAND OFF.
Well, there is not much more to tell.
The newspapers said her hand had
been severed by the machinery. Rep
resentatives of the company said the
accident was regrettable, but that the
girl had been warned frequently to
BE MORE CAREFUL, and that what
had happened must be attributed main
ly to Contributory Negligence on her
part. The poor stump was dressed,
and the child was taken home, and
the mother lost a whole day fussing
over her, then she had to go back to
work, for now there was only One
to earn enough money to buy food
for Two. Oh, a dreadful thing, this
Contributory Negligence! What havoc
it had wrought in a helpless little
family.
A lawyer man called one evening
for a few minutes, and said he guessed
the company might be made to pay
damages, but the mother said that it
was Contributory Negligence and not
the company's machinery that was
to blame.
"They have you well trained" said
the lawyer, with a smile.
"Well. 1 guess it won't be worth my
while to bother with this case"
But the good company did not need
any cold-blooded lawyer to remind ii
to do it's duty. 1t was a Christian
company, in a Christian land, and the
bead nf the cornora tion conducfad a