Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1920-01-02
When Betty
Struck
BY JANE OSBORN
tCopyriLh,. 1919. by the Mcclure News
paper Synd:cate.)

, nc 'Frrdip. don't mind il myself,
h"s I don't want any of the students
! to get on tn it. FIRST thing. they'll he,
! calling me- Uncle Fcr,lic,' or some
thing like that"
"Weli. ih"n--Fcrdinan,i"
That sounds n lot better" and the
professor put his god-rimmcd spec
taclcs back on his wclI-shapen nose
and went on with his reading.
What was going To- say is this
when are we going to be married?'
Ferdinand closed his book withou,
putting IN Il bookmark. n most unusu:l,
event In his well-or,lered life; took or
his spcctacles. shut his mouth tight
and looked at Betty.
TO be sure. he and his young Secrc-
tary were engaged. He had fallen in
love with her when she was studcD,
In college and keeping the fact nf his
love for her Il secret. had convinced
her that she wanted to Specialize In
economies" and. having guided her
through Il year of postgraduate work
In that science. he HAD then convinced
the faculty that he needed an assistant
and that Rctty WAS the assistant he
needed. Then he proposed !: and Betty,
VIII" had been very much in love with
the gOod-lonking young professor all
along, accepted. Betty had been his
assistant for two years and, though ut
first they spoke often of the time when
they would he married. they had
hardly spoken Of it within. the past few
months.
so this came as Il surprise, and ;ht
professor took some time to consider
before he answered. 1t seemed to
him II slightly unrcminin" question to-
ask, though he was an nvnwcd hrliey-
cr in equal privi:eg. for the sexes,
spoke III all the feminist meetings. End
was looked upon as Il champion of the
cn-rdS III the university.
''nr cnurS" III have To get my b..ok
finished. That will take several
months With that on our hands we
would hardly want to think about it,"
Ferdinand was deeply Interested in
this book of his; which was study Of
strikes in ancient Egypt lie cOnSid.
cred that it would be II really valpnble
contribution not only to Egypt4.ogy
but 10 the cause of labor in general.
II seemed TO his academic mind that
the present labor agitator would have
so much more power behind him,
would he able to further his cause so
much more convincingly If he had the
precedent of ancient Egypt. il he
could assure the capitalist that the
engineers OF the prynmids had had to
To ct Tn, l,h
what boon it would be. But in order
to undertake this work Ferdinand had
had I" deive deeply into hieroglyphics
and had had TO spend hours IL con.
ference with the department oC Egyp-
toIngy at the university.
'"rhe labor situation Is Srnwing
more insiStent every day" he went on
TO explain, land must have my book
with the publishers before the year is
over. 1t would never do to pause now.
And then after that I was thinking OF
spending my summer in one Of the in-
dustricS rhat Is likely TO go on strike,
so that I can give my actual bodily
support 10 q strike. want to feel
that ! have been in n strike-that
have rebciled against capital. that
l."
'.Well. you can strike If you want
TO. but ] cant say that Til have any
sympathy for you If you get yOnr
nose broken, Fertlie-Ferdinand dear
I'm not so sure that striking Is the way
that labor ought to go about Il. /
am not SO sure that the strikers are al
ways In the right
To the enthusiastic Ferdinand this
was rank hcrcsy. Though he hHd hard.
ly dared openly to espouse the cause
of labor In his courses of economies In
the university, he had hoped chat The
result of those courses always had
been TO create Il prejudice in favor of
labor and against capital in the minds
of his siudents-thS in spite of the
fact that the university in question
owed its existence. and he owed q
rather generous compensation TO the
bencfactions of a certain liberal cap
italist There was something of the
fanatic in Ferdinand.
"Thcrc Is no other way to get what
YOU want hut to strike for it," an
nounced he. "To attempt diplomacy.
TO whepdlc. to coinpromiSc----thoSc are
the methods Of insinccrity, and labor
is always sincere If you believe YOU
are in the right, If you know yon
arc--why accept less than YOU want?
Why not fight for IT. Nothing has
ever been gained without some sort Of
fighting. Every great advance In this
world has always been made by meth
DDS that ACKNOWLEDGING To those Of the
strikers"
Now. although Betty had heard all
this before. she listened with nm at
tention that was unusual. Likewise It
was nattcring TO Ferdinand He felt
that he was interesting her, as he had