The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1914-12-25

NOIu lldl Ml'. " Hil4l4B ldu gone 10
Rose alley and asked him TO follow
her. Some one was dying. He did
not wait for dinner, but hailing a cab.
set out on another journey to Rose
alley.
He stumbled hastily UP the gloomy
staircase to Romans door and raped
lightly. II was opened by an unkempt
foreign woman. doubtless a neighbor.
and he entered. Save for her tho
kitchen was empty. But by the light
Of a smoky lamp that stood on the
table near an inner door, he saw a
group dimly outlined. Or a narrow
bed lay a huge dropsical figure, Seem
ing to Mark already dead. The Matka,
more faded than ever. sat at the dy-
ing mans side. m%otionless as he, her
gaze fixed rigidly upon him.
Thank you for coming" Kazia said.
I'm glad you sent for me. Ia there
anything | can do2"
yes. get Piotr. He went away early
this morning and doesn't know. 1t
was very sudden. You1l probably find
him at She named a corner a mile
or more distant. He makes speeches
there every evening"
The cab came to a halt at q corner
where many people passed. A small
changing crowd had gathered around
a man 40 from his soap box ha-
rangued them. He preached a gospel
that, beginning with q germ OF love.
had grown IN him into a creed OF hate,
II was a rambling incoherent ha-
rangue, full OF bitter denunciation and
vague generalities that never came to
a polnt-the grOtesque but pitiful out
pouring OF q feeble mind obsessed by
a sense Of injury real or fancied and
cracking under the effort 70 inoculate
others with its venom. Mark listened
a moment.
The man must be mad he thought
pitifully.
Piotr in his ramblings came to tho
late strike. He began a roll call OF
the masters Of the Quinby company
Quinby himself. Henley. Higsbee.
Hare
And Truitt," The hoarse voice be-
came. II that we're possible. even more
: bitter, He fairly wriihed as he shrieked
out his charges. "Trultt the wife
oeater. The rounder, With his
Women" For several minutes hs
rayed on, regallng his audience with
an array Of disgusting but ~apocryphal
p, details OF TRUTHS life that ~ his dis
d eased fancy must have become proved
n facts.
;, GO tell hlm 20 come here. Marx
\ ordered the cabuan. Tel him mis-
e father is dying"
"Aw, hell" groVled a big Irishman
e in the crowd, audible even to the cab.
{: Shut up, TRUTHS III only wan " Ia
lot wild bowls 2 him"
"Fool-fool," piotr shook clenched
fists at the lTishman. Are you taken
3 in because he tried 10 stop the strike
: Who was he working for then. you or
e Quinby? Where was he when Hen
ley's strike breakers came to steal
your jobs and shoot down your women?
Where was his money when your
children were starving for bread
o Where"
But the cabman had reached him
- with Marks message. For a momsn
e Piotr stared ~stupidly, trying TO lake
n in It's meaning. Then be uttered a
wild piercing cry
y Dying" He leaned toward the
crowd. hands me face twitch,ng In his
y frenzy. My fathers dying. but he
can walt while I tell you about this
Y Truitt. When he was starting out
Y he came to our house. because my
father took pity on him. My father
loved him, better thai u. I'D his own
sol He watched or. cared for
~, hin, Farrhf IfD, Ill .r - hta
d trade. Then the old man broke. He
wouldn't have beer old anywhere else.
% but he had burned himself up trying
TO make Quiuby's furnace bells pay.
They threw him out. of course-and
d Truitt took his JOB. Truitt-p4rner
4 OF Qulnby' The old mans heart broke.
IT Then his mind gave way. And now
.e he's dying-do you know whers? In
Rose alley"
The crowd had become very still
j." To them, too. the tragedy tina tor
tured the madmau was clear; infinite
repetition could not take away its bit
e. terness.
IS And that isn't all" The emotional
-e delirium reached its climax. In that
house was a girl-ilst al ignorant
h. Hunky girl but the kind men love. And
.e Truitt made owe TO her. But when he
Is left US. he left her, too-anotheI
broken heart, To forget him she mar,
ried a worthless rummy she had 10
,t leave. Then she went out into the
city 10 make her own living-you
know the fight and the price women
must pay or go down. Aud she-the
' girl he wouldn't TAXI VI with him
~ she paid
Bewildermeut choked back tbs
81 stream OF words. For a man-whose
10 pallor vas not due to the garish arc
70 lamp-had leaped from the cab and
is was elbowing a way swiftly toward
" him. The crowd fell back to let TIT
a man through. then presaed closer