Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-11-04
SAM. Had Sam then come at last
Had Sam hit him2 Had Sam recop

SanA Had sam then come at last?
Had Sam hit him? Had Sam recog-
nized him? Or ws it another Sam?
But there was something queer the
matter with his head, and he could
not think. He put up his right arm
to feel the bandagc and the pain in
his shoulder stung again. Somehow
to his feverish fancy it seemed the
sting of Mrs. Endicott's words to him.
He dropped his hand feebly and the
nurse gave him, something in a spoon.
Then half dreaming he fell asleep,
with a vision Of Starts face as he had
seen her last.
Three weeks he lay upon that mar
row white bed, and learned to face
the battalion of eyes from the other
narrow beds around him; learned to
distinguish the quiet sounds of the
marble lined room from the rumble
of h unknown city without; and
when the rumble was the loudest his
heart ached with the thought of the
alley and all the horrible sights and
sounds that seemed written in letters
of fire across his spirit.
He learned to look upon the quiet
monotonous world of m~inistrations as
a haven irons the world outside into
which he must presently go: and in
his weakened condition he shrank
from the new life. 1t seemed to be
so filed with disappointments and
burdens of sorrow.
But one night a man in his ward
died and was carried silent and COW
cred from the room. Some of his last
moaning u~tterances had reached the
ears of his fellow sufferers with a
swift vision of his life and his home,
and his mortal agony for the past,
row that he was leaving it all.
That night Michael could not sleep,
for the court and the alley, and the
of sunken humanity were
pressing upon his heart. It seemed
to be his burden that he must give
up all his life's hopes to bear. And
there he had it out with himself and
accepted whatever should come to be
his duty.
Meantime the wound on his head
healed, the golden halo had cov-
cred the scar, and the cut in his
shoulder, which had been only a flesh
allowed to sit up, and then tt be
about the room for a day or two.
1t was in those days of his sitting
up when the sun which crept in for
an hour a day reached and touched
to fame his wonderful hair, that the
other men of the ward began to no
tice him.. He seemed to them all as
somehow set apart from the rest; one
who was lifted above what held them
down to Gin and earth. His counter
ancc spoke of strength n self-con-
troll, the two things that many Of
those men lacked. either through con-
slant SHINING or through constant
fighting with poverty and trouble, and
1n oc ho hooon k4 cot oh4,rt <Ao,, newt
for him to come to their bedsides, and
as they talked one and another Of
them poured out his separate tale of
sorrow and woe, till Michael felt he
could bear no more. He longed for
power, great power to help; power to
put these wretched men or their feet
again to lead a new life. power to
crush ONE Of the demons in human
form, who were grinding them Gown
to earth. Oh! for money and knowl-
edge and authority!
Here was a mar who had lost both
legs in a defective machine he was
running in a factory. He was skilled
workman and had a wife and three
little ones. But he was useless now
at his trade. No one wanted a man
with no legs. He might better be
dead. Damages? No, there was no
hope of that. He had accepted three
hundred dollars to sign a release. He
had to. His wife and children were
starving and they must have the
money then o. perish. There was no
other way. Besides, what hope had
he in fighting a great corporation?
He was a poor man, a stranger in this
country, with no friends. The COM
pany had plenty who were willing to
swear it was the mans own fau,s.
Yonder was another who had tried
to aaphyxiate himself by turning on
the gas in his wretched little board
ing house room because he had lost
his position on account of i'll health,
and the firm wished to put a younger
in his place. He had almost
in taking himself out Of
this life.
Next him was one, horribly burned
by molten metal which he had been.
to carry without adequate
because 1t wAs Q cheaper
Of handling the stun and mon
cost less than machinery. You could.
always ct more men
The man across from him was