The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1920-03-19
Chapt. XXI
HIS WAY IN THE WORLD.


office than he called up the judge o.
the telephone. He never went back O.
his word with his daughter, altho b
sometimes put his own Interpretation
upon it, when it came to execution
He had promised to see TO 1T tina
that boy was set free, but he also sa'
TO it or at least he thought he die
that all complications were forestalleC
by fixing it so that it would be i'm
possible for her to meet him. He knev
human nature well enough TO recogniz
that the impressions which this strahg
Jail bird had made upon his chll
were deeper than mere soul savini
! interest. He feared lest she SHOULD
one s interests but his own lie mad
umstances, and the enthusiasm whic
she now manifested might develop in
to something more serious.
With these facts in mind he laid Ii
plans and as was his custom prepare
for swift and effective action. Hi
Judgment was generally good whel
dealing with the merely economic a.
pect of life He never considered an,
ones interests but his own. fIe mad
mp his mind and then drove ahead ol
rule or ruin basis, like most sue
ccssful business men do
This time however he was doomed
to disappointment. He was not deal
ing with chattles or real estate. II
was dealing with basic human emotion
aud ideals; things of which Gus An
Gerson knew next to nothing. TIE,
wern elements which for thirty year
he had tried. and without success, t,
chliterate from his being. There wa
only one flower left in his garden
dwarfed and enarled by the influence
his hopeleSslv materia!istic creed bu
vet struggling alive; it was his low
for his daughter. If ii had not beer
for the Influence of Olive on Iii
life he would perhaps have been on
tirely hrutlized. 1t must not be un
G"rstood that he victimized people th
less for his daughters sake; on tn
contrary he aimed to exploit them al
the fiercer. \ wolf is most ferociOu
when she has cubs. What it did f0
him was to soften his native roughues
into sort of boistrous gentleness. III
lived for his child or as nearly 70
his child as his business would le
him, and his child had lived for hin
! lntil now.
In his love for her he had tried t,
raise her in such a way that sh
should not be aware of the claw an,
fang processes Of modern civilization
! With this in mind he had left he
under the guardianship of her mothe
and the church. For it must be re
membered that Anderson s antagonisn
was to the church and not agans
religion. II was not founded on an,
| intellectual conviction as to the trutl
or fdlsehoOd of it s teaching. Hi
was an attitude of Indifference, if i
had not been for the fact that Et
deSnised all sanctimoniouS pretcnse h,
might have been a christian. lie rob
bed his victim within the law ant
openly boasted of it. He was not un
like the bucaneer who sat down Il
the cabin of his ship with his fellow
pirates and lit pan of sulphur sayin.
that he was going to see which ot
them could make himself the mos
comfortable in hell. The story thcl
relates how this old marander was in
ordinately pleased when he found tina
he could outstay all the others. ri,
aefied hell for his chosen profession !
sake, and so did Gus. Anderson. III
swore TO defy the power which a
heart he believed existed. lie ever
encouraged his wife to give to tn,
church in somewhat the same spiri
that a Chinaman propitiates the devil
He was too honest to worship what ii,
conceived to be the christian God ant
work the civilized business game.
Gus Anderson was honestly dis
honest. He was irregligiously religions
He believed in God and the Devil
and dealt in farms and cattle. y,
thot the practice of beliefs cost hin
money, business made him money. S.
he decided that business was th
easier way thru the world. He forgo
the creed of his fathers and left th
spiritual life of his daughter in tn
care of Mrs. Anderson whom he cou
sidered tcmperamentally we'll fitte,
for the work.
Having lived mans life in
mans world he had developed to a,
exaggerated degree the archaic notiol
that a woman has definite sphere il
life out of which she must never rise
That her place is in the home, an,
in the church, and in the sewing circle
And if she should by any chance ste
out the male approved environment
che did it at the peril Of losing al