The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-07-28
(Exclus1Ve Service The Survey P
 Bureau.)


 From the ancient hills of Sicily, from the flower er-enbroidered fields Where Proserpina played and Pluto wooed, they had come to America the Agnellos = Teodoro and Maria And in Anaerica.-.'iI Paradiso,'' they had dreamed of it-tIis is what befeIl.
 They were erecting a model factory in our town, one of the first It stands now, as a special sight for visitors.
 Teodoro was doing his share to help on this beneficent undertaking. With heavy barrows of mortar on his shoulder he scaled ladders, and walked narrow girders.
 If one lost his balance. or stepped too far aside to let another passHone may read statistics to know the life cost of labor-welI, Teodoro was not dead when they examined him. He breathed.
 It was eighteen months before he could rise and walk about. But only a few days after the breaking of his body he was left alone, helpless on his bed, by a loving wife and in- human society, left to be the care taker of four small children. The mother knew that they ate, for she left bread every morning on the table, and she worked from seven until six to get the money to buy it.
 The Royal Insurance Company, with which the contractors for the model factory made business arrange ments to care for their injured and dead, sent from their palace in New York an agent to our town. He, dwelling in the security of a high storied office, had his agent, too. The sub was political ward-heeler, regularly maintained in a municipal position that from this vantage point he might usefuIly control the unknow- ing foreigner.
 +I- 41- York palace presented itself at the bedside of Teodoro, about a. week after the breaking of his body The lids lay thin over his sunken eyes. His rosy begrimed little children stood silently, innocentIy around.
 Patiently the sub agent sat and pa tiently he held Teodoro's hand. He waited quietly when the mans con scfousness seemed to ebgb away in utter exhaustion But after half an hour of effort, with the gentIest pos s1ble guiding of the pale, gnarIed hand, waiting a space between each letter, he caused him to write his name, 'tAgnelIo Teodoro'' at the foot of piece of paper.
 For a pittance Teodoro had. signed away his right to sue the contractors for the almost total loss of his body, life, liberty and the ability to pursue happiness.
 the mOIn6T WOFk6Q, aDSnQ1LS n6EE shoulders under the weight of Amer lea And the little unnested children cried. One of them fell sick and died; a new baby came and died. The tall woman grew taller for thinness, and her cheeks pinlxer. and her eyes blacker for the fire of the soul that burned through theTn-
 Then, there is the model factory. Maria AgneHo also felI-fe11 into an other unguarded pit She had no time to see it in her great haste. A five-dollar-a week job builds no rail round the pit of over-work and deep ening responsibility. TI1bercuLoe6s She fought bravely for health. In October they took her to the county hospital In about two weeks she was dead. The four children were re- moved by the Chi1dren's Aid Society and separated in two orphan asyIums
 The maimed was alone. He could walk around haltingly; he tried to find work. But our industrial sys-l tenn had mo place for the lame. Day after day he sat in the corner of the kitchen with his head on his arm and sobbed.
 He felt his mind bewildered. A thousand thoughts like 8 mob beat through his brain. Slowly one emerged and knocked insistentIy: how did 1t all happen? He traced back step by step through the gloom to the old sunshine-ah, the fall! But that was by the grace of God. Then the Royal Insurance Company's agents sub agent Had he not heard that from an injury like his the law awarded not hundreds, but thousands of dollars?
 If the sub-agent had not held his hand half hour making him sign a paper, there would have been more money. and not only could the doctors .I NEt hox stayed at home. and she would still be tall, taller than he, and pink under her dark eyes, and the children would not have died. or have gone to the asylum, and there would be a home, and he would be getting stronger. and l someone would give him work.
 He grew feverish. o, for some jus 1 tice to change it all, to make life right His friends, the laborers in field and | factory, were impotent like himself. | Justice@a judge-if he could tell his | story to a judge! The thought was like a stimulant To the judge all things are possible. Teodoro tried | to straig.hten his bent body and went | out of the house to find a friend
 s.No one sees the judge except they who commit crimes said the friend. | ou must get yourself arrested"
 '"Then will I commit crime, a little | crime'' said Teodoro. his eyes aIight | against the devil.'' The friend and | Teodoro started early, for the walk was long and the man with the mis- sion was lame. The brick wrapped in newspaper that he carried grew heavy, but he would not let the friend touch it. Through the center of the city, across the canal bridge, up an ugly street they trudged until they came to a certain red brick building.
 The heeler. with his sleek face and immovabIe smile, came down the hall way, and bowed right and left to his Teodoro raised the brick and threw it He had not planned where the brick should strike; he had only planned to throw it. It struck no one, only the wall. But it aroused thoughts in the mind of the sub-agent