The Washington times., 1911-05-03
CHAPTER III.
The Middle-ClaSs He'll.

bRcked up at this. l tried 10 SpeaH
naturally.
Yes" / said. I'm fired"
But that isn't right Carleton" he
protested Il didn think 1t would come
TO that. l went to Morse and told him
wanted TO get married and needed more
money. He asked me if thought
could do your work: ! said yes. q
have. said yes if he had asked me II
come back and let me explain it TO
Morse"
II was white of him, wasn't it? But
ffghtlng for his right 30 live as | was
fighting for mine. | don't know that ]
should have been as generous as he
was-ten years before. He had started
toward the door when l called him
back.
Don't go in there" / warned. The
first thing you know you'll be doing my
work without your two hundred.
That's sO,' he answered. But what
are you going TO do now?''
Get another job, | answered.
One of the great blessings of my life
Is the fact that il has always been easy
to report bad news to Ruth. ! never
had TO break things gently to her. She
always took a blow standing up, like a
man. So now / boarded my train and
went straight to the house and told her.
She listened quietly and then took my
hsnd, patting it for moment without
q wing anything. Finally she smiled at
'WelI, Billy" she said, lit can't be
helped, can it? SO, good luck to Evans
and his bride
When a woman is as brave as that
1t stirs up all the fighting blood in a
man. Looking into her steady blue
eyes ! felt that l had exaggerated my,
misfortune. Thrty-eight is not old, and
! was sble-bodied. might land some
thing even better than that which |
had lost. So, instead of a night of
misery, | actually felt almost glad.
] started in town on Monday in high
began TO wonder just where / was
bound What sort Of a job was l 60
ing to apply fof? What vas my pro pro-
tesslon, anyway? / sat down IN the
station to think the problem over.
For twenty Years now | had been A
cog in the clerical machinery of the
| Dnited Woolen Company. | was known
as a United Woolen man. But just
me? ] was not hookkeeper. | knew
no more about keeping a full set of
books than my boy. | had handled
only strings of United Woolen figures:
those meant nothing outside that par
tlcular office. | was not stenograpncr,
Ur An accountant, or secretary. ! had
been called a clerk in the directory. But
Wat did that mean? What the devil
WAS |, after twenty years of hard work?
The question started the sweat to
my forehead. But ! pulled myself to-
geLher again. At least | was an able
ho',t5d man. was willing to work,
had a record of honesty and faithful
ness, and was intelligent as men go. I
didn't care what / did. so long as it
gave me living wage. Surely, then.
there must he some place for me in
this alert, hustling city.
bought d paper and turned to
Help Wanted" l felt encouraged at
sight Of the long column. read it
through carefully Half of the posi-
tions demanded technical training.
fourth of them demanded special eX-
perience; the rest asked for young men.
l couldn't answer the requirements of
one of them. Again and again the
question WAS forced in upon me-What
the devil was /?
didn't know which way 10 turn. l
had no relatives to help me-from the
days Of my great-grandfather no Carle-
ton had ever quit the game more than
even. My business associates were as
badly off as | was, and 50 were my
neighbors.
peculiar now that ! came to think OF
II. In these last dozen years had come
to know the details of their lives as
Intimately as my own. In way we had
been like one big family. We knew
each other AS Frank and Joe and Bill
and Josh and were familiar with one
snother's physical ailments when any
OF us had any. II any of the children
had whooping cough of the measles,
every man and woman in the neighbor-
hood watched a. the bedside, in a sense.
until the yOungster was well again. We
knew to a dollar what each man was
earning and what each was spending.
We borrowed one another's garden tools
and the women borrowed from each
others kitchens. On the surface we
possible for a community to be. And
yet, what did II amount to?
There wasn't manson of them to
whom l would have dared go and con-
know it soon enough. be sure OF that:
but 1t mustn't come from me. There
wasn't one of them to whom ] felt free
TO 90 and ask their help to interest their
own firms to secure another position for
me. Their respect for me depended
upon my ability to maintain my social
position. They were like steamer
friends. On the voyage they aclUng TO
one another closer than bark to a tree,
but once the gangpIank was lowered
the intimacy vanished II I wished to
keep them as friends I must stick to
the boat.
knew they couldn't do anything il
they had wanted to, but at the same
time I felt there was something wrong
in a situation that would not allow me
70 ask even for letter of introduction
without feeling like a beggar: felt
there was something wrong when they
made me feel not like brother in hard
luck, but like a criminal. I began to
wonder what Of sterling worth | had
got out of this life during the past
decade.
However that was an incidental
matter. The only time did such think
ing as this was toward the early morn
ing after l had lain awake all hight
and exhausted all other resources I
tackled the problem in the only way I
could think Of and that was to visit
the houses with whom I had learned
the United Wooden Company did bust
ness | remembered the names OF about
a dozen of them. and made the ROUNDS
of these for a starter. il seemed like
Door chance and I myself did not know
Exactly what they could do with me- put
n would keep me busy for while
With waits and delays this took me
two weeks Without letters II was al
most impossible to reach the managers
but hung on in every case until sue
ceeded Here again didn't feel like an
honest man offering TO do fair return
Of work for pay so much as l DID
beggar This may have been my fault;
hut after you've sat around In offices
and corridors and been scowled at as
an intruder for three or four hours ana
then be geeted with a surly What DO
YOU want" you can't help having a
crouch There wasn't a man who treat
ed my offer as a business proposition.
At the end Of that time two ques-
tions were burned into my brain: What |
can you do and How old are You?"
The latter question came as revela-
tion. If seems that from a business
point of view I was considered an old |
man. My good, strong body counted |
for nothing: my willingness to under |
take any task counted for nothing. l |