The Nome daily nugget., 1935-02-16

SudSlon, d. l. consented. But even then they had to practically force bim Into 1t.
 He sputtered and complained and ragged during the three days It took to reach Miami.
 He continued to sputter and rage during the next week.
 But they forced him to play golf, to sail about Blscayne bay in chartered yacht, to sit for hours in the warm sun on the beach.
 He asked for and was refused news of conditions back at the mill.
 They tried to keep his mind from business.
 They wouldn't even let him talk with other textile magnates who were wintering in Florida.
 "ThAe mill is closed, eh? Shut down. Folded up. That Is why you will not let me hear the news, eh? You think 1t does me goodl Per- haps now you will believe when I say they cannot keep going without the great H. l.. eh?"
 
 TheyEkept him there a month.
 Then they let him go back.
 It was no use. He had improved but slightly. He was like a maniac, ever thinking and talking about his mill.
 The train bearing H. l. and his party reached Boston late in the evening.
 The great man scoffed at sugges- tions to remain overnight in the city.
 The sooner he reached Martins vile the better.
 He chartered an automobile.
 They drove through the night, passed through sleeping towns with mills that were closed and dark factories looming on every hand like grim spectres of a once four ishing industry.
 H. I. squirmed in his seat, became morose.
 At length they reached the out skirts of Martlnsvllle, whirled up the main street, came abreast of the mill. H. I. started, blinked, rubbed his eyes.
 The mill was lightedl
 Every window of every depart ment shone brightly. There was the hum of machinery. An at- mosphere of industry prevailed about the place.
 H. I. climbed down from the au- tomoblle, went alone into the office. Maurice was there; Maurice and the entire night force.
 They looked at the great man in surprise.
 There was also the merest trace of annoyance in the glance they be- slowed upon him.
 "The mill Is running, chi Come, what kind of a. trick are you play ing2 You are running and yet there are no orders. There can be no or ders without me here to see to things"
 Maurice seemed surprised.
 Things had been going along all right. Orders2 Of course. Why not2 The mill was running as 1t always had run.
 H. L was incredulous.
 He sat down, looked through some books, listened to the reports of various department heads, stood up, thrust his hands deep Into his pockets, strode over to window and stared out into the night.
 And then suddenly the great realization came. The mill had run without himl
 They had managed somehow without his guiding handl
 He wasn't after all, as important as he'd thought himself to be.
 He'd had an exalted opinion of himself.
 He'd placed a halo. about his head, thought he'd held the relns of progress in his hands.
 He'd believed that the mill and everyone connected with 1t depend ed upon him and him alone.
 He'd come to think of himself as a savior, as some kind of exalted being on whom the world was de- pending for guidance.
 Suddenly H. I. chuckled and for the first time in months a twinkle came into his eyes.
 He wasn't, he reflected, important at all.
 Things had progressed quite as as they always had. The mill and Martinsville and the whole world did and would continue to go on whether he was around or not.
 He was such an insignificant part of 1t.
 There had been others before him: Caesar. Napoleon, Cromwell. Alexander hundreds upon hun- dreds of men who thought of them- selves as a little more important In the scheme of things than the next man.
 They had come and gone and the world had gone on and on with scarcely ripple in its progress. Fl T turnnd awav at last and