Evening star., 1915-01-31


the and into the busses made real by the figure
of Handsome Hawkins. the ugiest and LATEST baggage
in the world. Excited exclamations and shouts
of laughter from the audience familiar faces
were recognized. 1t a bully good show, and the
crowd was delighted.
When it seemed that there nothing left to por-
tray, picture of the Mckinley School. the pride Of
Greenhelds public educational system, thrown
upon the Groups of happy we'll clothed children
poured out of the school doors They surged out into
the playground, to play games of tag, red and
prisoners base Children darted around everywherc
plump children slim children, little and big, all radiant
with health and happiness.
SUDDENLY the scene changed. a hush fell on the
~ audience. They before them the spinning
in one of John Royces mills There were children in this
picture too; but they did around or laugh
play Little girls with pinched faces and squirting
eyes shuf1ed slowly up and down before the long
of ring frames, stopping now and then to join together
the broken ends of thread with deft twist of their
thin little fingers.
Mingled in with them the tiny doffer boys,
watching for the bobbins to fill and then climbing up
the frames to replace the full ones with "emptes.7
One minute two minutes three minutes crept by;
but the did not change The little girls with the
squirting eyes continued their stless search for the
broken threads, and the dofers automatically climbed
the frames. The dreary monotony of it all wrung a
smothered cry from woman in the balcony.
The cry gave Benton thrill of strange satisfaction.
had done his work well! Suddenly after what seemed
have been eternity, the faded into another.
A gasp went up from the audience. On the
they John Royce himself he of the spats and gray
burnsides and the air of pompous superiority.
Chnging to his hand on each side of his small
granddaughter, compacent little spes with the frlls
of their tiny white pettcoats just peeping from beneath
their pretty dresses.
1t was the innocent little scene that had been caught
in front of the Star Department Store; but it had
significance now, and this significance not lost
upon the audience. 1t sat spelbound, and watched
Royce he tendery lifted his granddaughters the
waiting limousine. Then he stepped in after them.
The reel ended abruptly, and the lights in the theater
flashed up, revealing upon of startled faces.
Benton stepped the front of the stage again There
uneasy shuhling of feet and then-silence.
MY friends" he said, II will tell you now why
A'A to your town. 1t to end the labor Of
little children in your mills"
He paused and swept the assembage with quiet,
fearless eyes, The thousand faces raised so expecanty
to his suddenly blurred Five hundred miles away,
little studio Washington Square, he knew that
slim, white-faced girl praying:
80 God, help him! Give him the power to make
them see-and understand"
He could see her tense lips they framed their
fervent plea, and great thrill raced through him. The
vision died away He began to speak agan-and his
words carried ringing appeal.
He told them of the hundred children who were
working in the local mills, slaves the
chnery that crushing all physical mental, and
spiritual life out of them He explained how than
half of them under fourteen and being worked
in defiance of the State law. As he made this direct
charge tall, lanky raw-boned man slid quietly out
of his in Of the and left the theater
The young advertising startled his listeners by
quietly informing them that they were as morally
sponsibe for the child slaves in Royces mill as was
Royce himself. He read them that part of the law
which gave them the right prosecute the person or
persons who broke it.
"But your duty does end there he added. Let