Show r THE WOMAN AT HOME HOMEI I BY GEORGE RANDOLPH CHESTER I f 4 c I I I I wp I 1 II 1 L i o l I I 4 r lit i iI I 7 L N i 55 Ii I c 1 t With closed eyes she was lying on the bed breathing breath ing heavily Powell Io nt 11 and deep in frowning thought strode down don tho the bar barren ren rn street whore where countless tiny cot cottages cottages all nil exactly alike and cheap and bare and ugly uI stretched c away In mo monotonous perspective The roadway was as of oC yellow jellow clay cIa the sidewalks of ot lI w planking The Th scant front iuds ards the pitiful vegetation even the houses and the two Interminable strings of ot picket fence were alj al ai of the thes theme theme s me dreary monotone Inured to the I prospect Powell gave it itt arcely t arc ely a passing glance but automat i ally turned in at his own gate swing w g with ith his awkward r l I red ff d stride around to the kitchen hit h fronted upon a view still more 1 if solute a black expanse of railroad trick and dingy t Just beyond the baked and seared back lot which have been a K garden arden It was at kitchen window brooding with un unseeing seeing ping gaze gaz over this gloomy outlook that Powell found his wife She nodded TO U 0 him with a momentary lighting of oft fr t yes eyes s as he ame in then turned to her supper work as he heit heit it d his blackened face from a tin wash basin out on the porch i r This was wa va Powells ig rig He had hd taken his place at the j table before either of them Young going soing to build a around toe the tb whole plant he i ed edIs I Is he h she sio indifferently replied Are Ar you going to like him as well welt as asu l 11 u did his father f ther 1 I dont know yet nt he lie said frown r IT g again I r dont like this stockade I i a Nobody lobody does It will make It mi m like a jail jallu 1 I It wont make so much dif dlf difference di ference fremo as as long as you ou get your pay very ery first and fifteenth she corn com and they the relapsed again into After fter the meal was over and the ta table tablE taIl ble Il had been cleared off the man took from the top of at the cupboard a big roll rollof rollof rollof of complicated pencil drawings and so se solo lo ting one which was scarcely half halt completed he ho methodically trued It to tc tle table with a and plunged i to ito his Ins work The woman finished her and sat down with some mend mending mg ing It was perhaps half halt an hour later when n an eager exclamation from irom Pow Powell Powell ell cli aroused his wife from the brood brooding brooding ing In reveries into which she had fallen Ive Tn got it he exclaimed Look here Bess She bhe came over and gazed down at the with unwilling eyes Its the point that has been bother ig ng g me for a year he exulted and then began a glowing explanation of Ina ii I S device following the course of ma maTial material through the urge machine with his pencil and looking up In triumph when hen he h had concluded Her face was absolutely unresponsive but he quickly overcame or his disappointment diss and andA v i A Of or course I expect you to toke toke toke ke that all In he said y y but I just jUt had to explain It tp t 9 somebody homebody Im going to work ft It out carefully now flow and by next week I think Ill be able to start on the pat patent patent ent eat drawings Patent she vehemently exclaimed awakening to the word ord as if It a lash had stung her tier Dont Donth Why h Bes Bess the matter he asked startled by the sudden passion pas lon of ot her tone toned toner I r cant stand it she cried Two sears jears youve been working on this thing Jim and it fl has eaten up every tent nt that we could scrape together drawing lessons tools paper and I dont know what all and now patents This will make the fourth all allon on this me ne ana anu you ou naven t tone aone anything with it yet I dont believe you ever will vIli We Te need a new cook stove We Ve need a rug for the front room We Te never go anywhere I a decent dress dregs Ive made over ever that old hat of or mine until Im ashamed to show myself anywhere Ive Iv washed and ironed and cooked and baked and arid scrubbed all these th se years and nd what have hav I got Every day da I stay alone al ne here with nothing to look at but the mud of the street Every night you ou bend over that table and leave l ave me as much alone as If you ou had not come comei iome ome i at all I shall die If I have to live this way much longer longert I shall die Its killing me now They told me it would lie lp like this In a torrent this had bad poured from her lips Powell looked at her shocked and white faced It had come at last the reproach h that he had been dread dreadIng dreadIng dreadIng Ing for so long They told her It would be like this The whole sore question of ot caste vital from hut to 5 mansion lay la In that charge She had been a minor grade school chool teacher struggling herself from romantic and given to the building of air castles and she had c idealized her love for the ambitious V t I young toung machine hand until the dull ac fiC actuality of ot life Ufe must be of ot necessity a keen disappointment to o her Why Wh girl he said and put his arms about her and kissed her I know it was so bad as all that But just be patient a while longer dear and see if we dont win As AR soon as I apply for this t is patent Im going to show Tremont where it will save ive him thou thousands thousands sands ands and thousands of dollars Ive got to hurry top Is bound to todo todo todo do something or rother other and andL andI I want to be out of the thc way before that time Hell have a strike on his hands before he quits Its sure ture to come and soon 5 Jn soonA A strike she gasped and went pale and breathless She was silent for a moment and then th n she reached up and kissed him with cold lips Good Goodnight Goodnight Goodnight night she said quietly A strike She Sho lay alone in the little bedroom and went over detail by b de do detail detail tail tall the tho horror with which he lie had threatened her God Could she again go through that monstrous nightmare Why in that other long Ions bitter strike had reached depths of humiliation so fearful that the hot blood of ot shame flooded her face at the bare memory of f them The Thc cold and the hunger had been nothing more hardships har but the things thin s that coid and hunger nad flad forced for d upon them there was the blight 1 Why she had spent days at a time along the railroad track back there thre th re in a dirty gown like other beggars be picking up bits of coal that meant meat life quarreling q with other othea wo women women O Omen men coarse ignorant women and even een righting lighting once for the possession of a particularly fine lump that a rival had striven to take from her by main force From the strike fund had come a mea meagre meare meagre gre re pittance each week but there had hae been rent to tn pay pit installments on the furniture ture insurance a on one things and nd no strikers credit was good genii after a certain period of the long battle Powell unable to find tint temporary work had grown despe desperate desperate desperate rate and sullen and once alice he had f brought home a great hunk of meat with so Sf defiant an air that sh knew he had stolen it It was the tIte first meat they thuy had eaten for many days and she remembered yet et how good how good It had tasted ted and how like famished animals animal they devoured It sitting across tho the table from each other with blood bloodshot bloodshot bloodshot shot eyes eel She shrank even ven now to re remember remember member r th tIm se so indignities that had so jo seared her soul even as a She shrank from the memory m meni m r ry of that last final blow when the baby had died She groaned anew In the anguish of that recollection tion A strike She could not would not survive another one oneTh oneTh Th Thre re rc Is no aspect of a continued strike that Is not nut terrible The Tre Tremont Tremont mont Wells Sr Tremont plant employed when whon at full till blast SOD SOO workmen m To write the complete history of or an Im un Important Important strike In that concern would Involve the writing of SOO tragedies and ancl an l th the central figure in each one of these there pitifully true tales would be a woman the woman at home I If Powells wife had good god reason rea on to I shudder hudder at the thought of a second siege Po Powell yell had grave excuse for his apprehension Young having inherited his late fathers controlling interest in the business found chaps confronting him On the ne h he hea wa a faced fat fah d bj bY b a it labor abOr organization organization rg nl on the other by b a proposed con the outgrowth of If recent un unbearable unbearable Unbearable bearable competition that offered him the alternative of ruinous absorption or annihilation and he saw no way but to fight His first disquieting act was the eroc o e Blockade Strong and high he had it built surrounding the entire property and the move as aa taken by br the men nien as one of open Mr Wells always timid was frantic but young Tremont by his controlling in interest Interest interest terest had the whip hand and used It The structure was finished and the grumbling among the men increased They rhe objected to being imprisoned The pen meant a cut in wages and pro protection protection protection for scabs in case a strike followed fol followed lowed towed had a swelled head and wanted want to HOW Frow that he tie was boss He lie was wa too young anyhow It wait wa all disquieting talk the more FO so because based on reasonable promises premises and Powell naturally worried carried it L U nome 10 Lu nis JUs Wile nine dreaming or of how breathlessly she listened to each days da s report He Ht did notice however that she seemed to take a renewed In Interest Interest terest In Jn his working life and It pleased him Meanwhile Powell had lost no notime notime notime time On Or t day that the great barred gates sates swung upon their hinges to let the sullen workmen In he walked Into the office with his big roll of drawings drawing under his arm and asked to see Tre Te Tremont Tremont mont alone Certainly said Tremont cordially and led the law Into his private office He had a great deal of at respect for a workman with drawings under his arms What Is It he asked they were seated The parts that cost the most in the output of ot this plant ate are the mall small parts began Powell plunging Into the business with a directness that warmed warm d the soul of or Tremont within him More than the pieces In every fin finished finIshed article you ou turn out are handled handle l lone one at a time go through a dozen dif different dl different ferent hands and cost ost In labor more mOie than of the whole assem assern assemblage assemblage blage Exactly agreed Tremont with a smile what Is keening kee me awake nights at this very cry time Veil Well Ive worked out and patented a machine that will wilt take the bars ban of steel for th these parts and turn them out In gangs ready for tor assemblage without one single handling except the first feeding which can be done by a aboy aboy aboy boy One mechanic can run each ma machine machine machine chine Tremont frowned incredulously but bum gave tho the drawings slow careful study With growing interest he lie asked a feW direct I questions which Powell his hl p lillS n stan k up uj p I in his throat answered briefly and he went over oyer and over the different sheets et The drawings were somewhat trude trudl but the ideas were there clear and simple I 1 believe bellee youve got it he at last la t admiringly announced Do you iU mind minI leaving these plans with me over oer overnight night Powell hesitated only for Cor a moment I Longer if you like he offered Tonight will do replied rc lIed the theother other oth r but the moment Powell had gone aone out ut uthe uthe he sent out for his head draughtsman Take these drawings and put your entire force upon them he directed I want accurate tracings of every everyone one of them before you go home tonight Dont soil them and dont leave marks of any sort tHat will ivill show that they I I j have been copied Powell for the first time in two years Cars was as able that night to bring a gleam of hope to the time eyes COS of oC his wife He lie had no work to do and anti they thy went for a car carride carride carride ride to time the park and heard some good music The woman built new air cas castles castles casties ties and was in gay ga spirits when they ther came caine home Its like old times she said Ill take the balat e of oC this week to the matter over ov r Tremont an announced announced announced when Powell Powen got gol go his drawings the next morning I believe you have something worth while and I think I Ishall shall put you OU to work on an experimental experimental mental machine Come in on Mon Man Monday Manday day da daThe The week was a slow one to Powell but it was w s nt to a crisis had come about in the time affairs of o the company Competition had been sui suicidal suicidal idal and the promoters of the consoli consolidation consolidation consolidation dation were using pressure upon Tre lre Tremont Tremont mont Wells Tremont remont Young Tre Tremont mont weighed their proposals wi with h an angry angry gry disfavor and classed the promoters as mere commercial highwaymen He had his fathers fath s good fighting blood and it caused him to spend every night that week and all day Sunday SUnda over oyer Powells drawing draving Within half an hour after his talk with Powell on Monday morning he had defiantly de do declined declined dined the trust proposition and laughed laugh d at nt the tho threat of the promoters to buy the plant for Cor scrap Iron within two years Powell Powel went home intoxicated with his prospect of success successIve success successIve Ive IC signed si ned a contract with Tremont for the exclusive use of ot my m patents Bess he exulted Tomorrow I am to start building one of my machines My I pay goes right on I am to be parti partitioned partitioned partitioned off from the rest of the shop and no one is to know what I am doing As soon boon as my Invention works right I Iam Iam Iam am am to have havo a thousand dollars cash bonus for each one that they build and anda a royalty ro on all the work they turn turnout turnout turnout out Well bc be rich at last girl May MayI I haVe e a mt new dress now she asked wistfully I guess you may ma maya a cheap lp one he laughingly answered But lets let s be bc careful not to get in debt We Ve want our money clear clea when we get it The weeks slipped rapidly away awa The consolidation was completed without the Tremont Wells Veils Tremont plan and already the hand of the giant was in evidence Prices were cut to the desperation point but there was al at always ways was a surprise In store for the com corn combine combine bine Whenever r competitive bids were opened the concern that had defied the trust was found to have submitted a proposal with prices a shade lower than those offered by the trust Contract after contract for Cor spring delivery rolled in and Tremont smilingly f filed them away at tho same sam time ordering enor enormous enormous enormoUs of material A lot of at new men were taken on to handle the heavy contracts This was the one hole In armor and andt the t e trust tryst found und it They T c SlIpped flipped a few Cew agitators 01 or own among tho the new workmen and confidently awaited developments The men men had been dissatisfied before beCore and under skillful handling they th v soon soon became Im Impatient Impatient Impatient patient The stockade was always there to remind them of their thrall thralldom thralldom dom and the paid agitators were at work in fruitful soil Powell repeated hi his fears at home together with the news neus that his ma machine machine Machine chine was almost ready for a |