Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-02

I
| from the beershop, slept the whole
| day, the women, locked In their RI %
| tons Of coffee, became less quarrel
/ some more sensible ana quiet, ami
| even the children seemed to under
| stand, for thcy ran about barcfooted
ana whacked each other without
noise The password repeated from
mouth TO mouth was Let us be rea B.
| sunable."
There was, nevertheless, a constant
| coming and going at the Maheus.
| stephen, by virtue of his secretary
| snip had distributed the 1000 francs
OF the provident found among the
most necessitous families, no had
| also received "A few hundred francs
| the proceeds If subscriptions and col
iections But now all their resources
seemed exhausted; the miners had no
more money o keep on the strike the
wolf was at their doors, threateningly
showing his teeth. Margrat after
having promised credit for fort
night, had suddenly changed his mind
| at the end Of a week and stopped the
supplies. refusing the men even bread
As rule he took his Instructions
from the company; perhaps the lat
ter wished to have done with the
thing as quickly as possible by starry
ing the villagers into submission Be
sides he played the capriclous tyrant.
giving or refusing food according to
tho attraCtiVoncss of the ambassa-
dress sent by her parents To the
Maheus he had closed his door with
out appeal S if to punish them for
not having sent Catherine to him.
For the last week, then. they had
| been living upon the money dlstrib-
uted. But now that the cash box of
the fund was empty, how We're they
to get bread2 To make things worse
severe frost had set in, the women
saw the stock Of coal grow less, and
were worried by the thought that it
would not be renewed at the pits
mouth while the men did not go down.
! Then they would not only he dying
! with hunger they would be frozen TO
| death besides. At the Maheus they
| were already short of everything The
| Levaques still managed to drag along.
| thanks tu piece of 90 frames lent by
| Bouteloup, As for the Pierrons they
were all right. hut in order TO appear
! as badly off as the rest lesN they
should try TO borrow, they went on
| trust at Margrat's, who would have
! given tho whole Of his shop to La
! Pierronne IL she had only asked for
| IT. Since last Saturday many fami-
| lies had gone to bed supperless. But
! though confronted with the terrible
| days about to commence for them no
one complained. an obeyed the pass
word given 10 them with unobtrusive
| forttude
In spite of everything there reigned
an absolute confidence around Ste
phen. religious faith the blind sub
/ mission Of people Of believers Since
| he had told them that an era OF tus-
! tice was at hand they were ready Ia
, suffer in the struggle for universal
| happiness. Hunger turned their heads
as il were. Never had the hitherto
/ closed horizon offered a more bound -
less vision OF happiness to these poor
| fanatics, exalted by their hardships
| When their eyes grew dim from
weakness, they beheld the ideal city
of their dreams but close at hand
ard real this time, with it's brother
hood Of workers, its golden age ot
labor, and the daily repast partaken
of in common by all Nothing shook
their conviction as to their entering
upon this city at last. The fund was
exhausted the company would not
give in, every day would AggraVate
their situation, and still they did not
give up hope. They smiled contempt-
/ uously az existing facts. When tho
very ground should open At their feet
to swallow them up. even then some
miracle would happen TO save them
from destruction. This faith replaced
food, and kept them warm Wher
the Maheus and others had too quick
~ digcsted their WaterN soup. then
fell, as II were, into q semi trance; il
was Ike the certainty of better life
4 which made fha fn4TtNre az 1lI tbr.,,