The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1929-05-10
CHAPTER VII
-

Consider for moment the case OF
the unfortunate Adolf Smucker. be.
reft of job and soured by the diid.
Guilty of finding another Until he
was discharged he had not known
that his status among his neighbors
was wholly due to their mistaken es-
innate of the importance of his pO
sition in the office Of Hilton Handy,
of Leonard street. wooden merchant.
The only jobs open to him were Of
a sort that would have lowered him
in the eyes of his friends. his FAM
fly. and the young men paying court
to his daughters.
other careful man. he had decided his
property TO his wife. 10 find, too late,
that such a beneficiary regards the
gift as entirely her own. He was
to learn that Mrs. Smucker had long
known of his inefficiencies as a pro-
wider. After that fateful sentence,
"DoIf, you've fined yourself she
knew flaft the tdsK OF -l00Rlng after
things was hers She had long won.
sdered at Mr.. Hanby's unusual for
bearance.
Smoker was conscious that ne had
fallen from the domestic pedestal.
He saw that he was no longer of
prime Importance. His meals were
now no better than those given these
many years to his old father; and
the ole man dared to jeer at him. to
question his Interpretation of pOliti-
cal events, and to denounce him as
Bolshevist!
The wild look In Smokers eye be
came wilder. He was no longer com,
PEELED to shave every day. Mrs.
Smucker and the girls pressed his
pants no more. He frequented more
intensely those little clubs of nal!
contents whose members spoke be-
hind locked doors of the time coming
when the land would be as red as
ever Russia was red. They did not
especially welcome Smucker. since
they were mainly Of foreign birth and
speech; but the chief organizers, who
knew men, marked him down as one
who could be worked upon If needed.
There must always be some first
man to hurl bomb or throw, phos-
phorus cakes among ripening crops
The best were those like Smucker,
who had nursed grievances against
richer and more capable men until
hatred famed up at word Of en-.
enlargement, and who had no exact
knowledge Of the details of the move
ment, or of the names of the active
cOnspiratOrs. Smoker came to de-
pend upon these haters of rule, these
enemies to society, for the cheap Gig
arettes he smoked. He posed as an
honest man whom capital mad thrown,
broken. into life's gutter. They af-
fected to believe him. He was tool
to be used at need.
One day the Smuckers, In family
council. decided that Adolph should
ask Mr.. Handy for some such letter
of recommendation as might enable
him to get clerical position in one
of the Weehawken factories. His
trousers were pressed, and his shoes
shined. and he turned cityward. He
did not like the prospect at all, but
the Smuckers in council had massed
psychology which OVERRIDE all objec-
lions.
His family was against him. Those
who had listened to him respectfully
now turned and jeered. People pass.
ing him wondered why ne talked to
himself so constantly. They could
not guess that he was again expert
encing vengeful visions of what he
would do when he got into power. In
these dreams he now included even
his old father, who made ten dollars
"A week, his haunting children. and
the two young men who despised him
as a future father-in-law.
BY this time Hilton Handy occu-
pied more prominent position than
ever in these schemes of punishment.
Handy was the prime cause of 1t all.
Handy was capital incarnate. Well
the Commune was coming sooni