Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-11-04

But. toward the end of the day,
the ball swung a little wide and
came toward him.
Catch II. Rat" yelled the
gang boss. but Joe. after one
look, dropped his wheelbarrow
and stumbled backwards, falling
in the midst of welter Of brick
and stone. sE
AS he recovered the gang boss
walked over.
81 told you TO catch II, didn't
IL" His voice was harsh.
~ couldn't" Joe quapered 1T
would of killed me-"
The gang boss laughed, and as
he did so the quitting whistle blew.
WELL" he said, arms folded
over his broad chest. Its what
you're gonna be doin' tomorrow.
BE here at 1880, ready for II,
or you're fired"
All his muscles stiff, Joe walked
slowly home TO the tenement, re-
solving in his mind TO quit in the
morning. 1t was too much 10 ask
a guy, too much. He'd tell Grace
the minute he saw her.
But Grace's eager smile, her
welcoming greeting. her gladneSs
to see him. made him put il off.
He'd tell her later after
they ate.
Something happened to him
while they were eating. 1t was a
funny sort OF pride--a feeling he'd
never known before. Here he was,
A man. sitting with his wife, eat
ing his meal after an honest days
work. 1t made ii hard to say
anything about quitting. Then
Grace spoke.
What do they call you, Joe?"
she asked. "'JOe,' or 'Spurlos'?"
DECIDES TO STICK
An icy feeling pierced his heart.
THE Rat" That's what they
called him. 1t wasn't right TO tell
Grace that. Well, he wouldn I
tell her.
ooh, they just holler, Hey
YOU so far" he muttered.
On the way TO the job in the
he rehearsed his quitting
speech. Som how the words
wouldn't hang together, because
every time they started to make
sense he could see Grace's proud
smile as she saw him off. As he
walked to the timekeper's shanty,
the gang boss saw him.
"C'mon, Rat" he shouted. "get
tn lead out. Sign in an come
over"
Joe never knew what made him
do il. His mind was all made up TO
quit. yet he found himself Chamber
ing over the piles of debris, looking
fearfully at the giant iron ball as
it hung quietly from the cable.
The first few times the great
sphere swung that morning, Joe
Spurlos cringed like the rat they
called him. Once they let it 60
by, and he screamed as he fiat
tened himself on the pile of bricks
and rubble.
"No wonder they call you tn
rat" snarled little man. tight
and compact. as Spurlos pulled
himself back TO his feet, his
hands bleeding from the frenzied
clutch he had made on the
stones. The little man walked
closer and spat in his face. Joe
looked at him, his eyes dead
with fear.
II never did anything to any
of YOU guys" he whimpered.
"Can't you leave a fellah alone?"
The crane engineer, ordinarily
aloof from the labor gang, joined
in the jeering laugh that followed
and threw his head back TO guf-
faw the better. Inadvertently he
lost his balance and fell heavily
against the lever controlling the
swing of the iron demolition ball
As he struggled to extrieate
himself, his overalls tangled with
the weller of levers and pins, and
the crane swung wildly. throwing
the ball in great arc toward the
wall.
4 Another twist by the engineer,
and the ball missed the brick ram
part. and swung backward, this
time straight for the watching
crowd on the sidewalk, which scat
tered like chaff.
SAVES BOYS LIFE