The Lamar register., 1919-12-03
Her Rowdy
By WILL T. AMES
tCopyright. 1919. by the Mcclure News
paper syndicats)

me END OF turDuIent IueetiuS, uui"k
which the men, yielding to the mag
netic influence of Kolb. the oratorical
agltator, had booed their own officials
and jeered at letter from the head
of their national union declaring the
proposed walkout to be Ill advised, II
not wholly unjustifiable. You are be-
ing sold outr Kolb had shouted. And
somehow he made the men believe
him. Setting tradition and discre-
tion alike at defiance. the trolleymen
streamed out of their hall alight with
the excitement OF fight In which they
felt, under the spell Of Kolb, that they
were champloning the cause OF all op-
pressed workers as well as their own.
An hour after midnight the last car
had been returned to the barn, and
next morning not a wheel turned on
any Of the city lines.
At 8 80 that afternoon a girl with
gold-brown eyes and red hair plodded
wearily along on the last half mile of
two-mlle walk between office and
home All the town was walking. save
handful Of adventurous souls who
took chances on the one occasional
ear the traction people had been op-
Grating since noon. defying the jsers
OF the mob and the risk Of pebbles
flung by hoodlums
But company in misery very slightly
palliated the discomfort Of the unnc-
customed tramp that Glory Blair
had been compelled to take with
scarcely an idle minute In II. She
could do very well without any pedes-
trian exercise Immediately before or
after #. she thought IT'S an outrage.
that's what II Is !" she protested.
The worst OF II was. Glory was wor-
ried about the Job, too. She had be-
gun to suspect that Mcknight, the pro-
prietor by whom she was employed,
might be a bit Of n wildcntter. Glory
was merely his stenographer and had
nothing to do with his accounts: but
little things recently had given her the
impression that II would not he sur
prising n Mcknight were to close that
Office of his suddenly, some Of these
days. and fade away. So. altogether.
Miss Blair was in n rather depressed
state at the moment when a group OF
uniformed trolleymen. standing on the
corner and soothing loudly at the ef-
forts OF n couple of traction company
ofice men to run u car. caught her
eye.
caught her eye II was Ford Bur-
zoyne. Ford was one OF the strikers.
He hadn't been n trolleyman very long.
he had been a "tech." school man.
and then he had gone across and got
gnssed and came back with a bron-
rhitis that forbade his staying indoors,
the doctors said. for at least two
years; and meantiu< his father had
died broke. and Ford had found him
self obliged to quit college and earn q
living. and do It Mt outside work"
All of sudden Ford. who was
laughing as loudly as any of the
crowd at the unfortunate amateurs on
the car. realized that Glory Blair was
standing stock still. six feet away.
looking at him with an expression he
had never seen on her face before. He
left the group instantly.
Glory didn't give him so much as
time to say How do you dor"
"Tm rather glad that CHANGED to
see you. Mr. Burgoyne." she said. and
the chill Of dislllusionment was In her
voice 'If some one else had told me
they heard you hooting and black
guarding decent people on the public
streets. should have refused to be-
lieve IT."
"But. Glory" protested Ford. those
fellows are just plain strike-breakers.
now surely"
Surely" blazed Glory. interrupting
him, "to be strike-breaker In this
kind OF strike is Infinitely more cred
liable, Ford Burgoyne. than to set a
city full of tired. wornout people afoot
in torrid weather like this. But ] see
now that I have given my friendship
to a mere rowdy. who could never. by
any possibility. look at things as do.
I just wanted to say that you needn't
come to see me This evening-nor ever.
Good-by." And Glory Blair. stepping
around Burgoyne. who would have de-
tanned her II he could. marched OF
with the air OF duchess-and lump
IN her throat and an ache in her heart
for she had come to be more than
fond of this tail young fellow. who
had faced his altered future with so
sunny a laugh and so willingly fol-
lowed the admonition: Whatsoever