Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-10

SAID the company abused its success
After two months and a half of the
strike, the men, conquered by hunger,
had returned to the pit and had been
forced to accept the tariff-this dis
guised abatement in wages, horrible
at present because red with the blood
of their comrades.
An hours work had been stolen
from them, and they had been made
to break their oath never to sur
render. Work had recommended ev-
erywhere, at Miron, the Madelaine,
Crevecoeur and the Victory.
Again along the roads the troops
of miners passed like herd of cat
tie, and they shivered as of old in
their thin clothing. their heads bowed,
their hearts bitter with desire for
vengeance.
When Stephen reached Jean Bart
the descent had begun--the cages
We're being drawn up. He stood
motionless for a moment in the midst
of the noise and hurry, watching the
monster as it swallowed it's rations
of human flesh. The sight of the
cages disappearing filed him with a
horrible dread-he had to turn his
back.
In the great, ill-lighted shed he did
not see the countenance of a single
friend. The miners. waiting lamp in
hand, glanced toward him, then drew
back in a shame faced way. They
recognized him, and felt no bitterness
any longer; indeed, they seemed to
dread his presence as if afraid he
would reproach them for their
coWardiCe.
Presently, as a new band came up,
he saw one of his lieutenants during
The strike.
You, ALSO" stephen murmured.
The other grew pale, and his lips
trembled as he said:
What could | DOL have a wife,"
And now Stephen recognized others
and cried:
You too-and you-and you,"
They all shuddered, stammering
simultaneously
81 have a mother.--T have chill
dren.-We must have bread"
The cage delayed to appear. and
they all stood afraid to look at one
another in the shame of their de-
feat.
"And Mother Maheu?" asked Ste
phen.
A gesture warned him that she was
about to appear. The silence con-
tinued, and when Stephen held out
his hand to each in turn it was tight
ly grasped with q pressure which ex-
pressed the general rage at having
yielded, the universal desire for re-
Yenge.
Pierron came in; during the last
eight days he had been the head of
the gang; the Workmen drew back;
for his advancement had made him
proud. The sight of Stephen annoyed
him, but he was relieved when the
young man announced his immediate
departure, and they began to talk.
La Pierronne now kept the Progress
Tavern, thanks to the directors, who
had been very kind to her. Then he
stopped to abuse Daddy Mouque for
not clearing out his stable at the
regulation hour. Mouque listened
meekly, then, before descending. gave
his hand to Stephen, and the latter
knew that the old man had par
doned him the deaths of his children,
and was so moved he could not speak
they parted without word on Ell
Their side.
Mother Maheu isn't coming this
morning. Stephen presently asked
Pierron.
The other affected not to hear. but
after a little, he moved away under
preteXt of giving an order and called
back:
What? Oh Mother Maheu-why,
there she is.''
She had just come out Of the
shed in her vest and breeches, with
her lamp in her cap. The company
had made a charitable exception in
favor of this poor woman who had
been so terribly afflicted. As she
was too old to be. put at the hauling,
she was employed al little ventilator
which had been established in the
north gallery, in the purgatorial re-
gions under Tartaret. BY working for
ten hours at the wheel, till her back
most suffocated by the heat, she
earned 80 sous a day.
When Stephen saw her in her mems
clothes, looking so unutterably
wretched he was so overwhelmed that
he could scarcely stammer some bro
ken phrases about wishing to bid her
good bye before he went away. She
looked at him without appearing to
hear a word he said, then suddenly
cried:
so It astonishes you to see me
here! It's quite true | threatened to
strangle the first of my family who
came bacn, and here I ami ought to
strangle liyself, Ell? oh, I'd have
done 1t, be sure, except for the old
man and the little ones at home!"
She went on in her low, tired voice,
not trying for executes; just narrat-
ing the pitiful story OF want which
had forced her to come to work.
How is the old man. stephen
as%ed.
"Oh. he's mild and quiet. but his
he is completely gone. He wasn't