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Show A LABOR OAY REALISM! (n Work tie found 5alvaion for doth y Cody and-Mind I Ykank u sweet 0Z. ENNINGTON lit a ciga-f3 ciga-f3 jft rette, took one puff, hes-n hes-n H itatcd, and threw it B-J away. He had forgot-B forgot-B ten the doctor's quiet 's ly spoken but Incisive P words, and now remembered remem-bered them with a sudden sud-den return of his old dread of what might come. And yet, what odds? The world was an unsatisfactory place at best, and if it was to be hedged in by high walls, what pleasure pleas-ure would the little cells be? A band of music was approaching, and his gaze went to it with the crowd's. Behind the music came a great block of marching men, and behind them another and another, and still another. Then Pennington understood. under-stood. It was Labor day, and this was the trades parade. Under other circumstances Pennington's Pen-nington's gaze would have turned iway indifferently; but there was only the sidewalk or the street, and of the two the street was the less tedious. It was at least a moving bore. Ths first impression that came clearly to his understanding was one I of the strong, stalwart units of the ! blocks; the Eext, their contented and even happy looks. "How happy and strong they are," said a voice at his side, and Penning-Lon Penning-Lon looked dQwn, a quick glow coming com-ing into his face and fading yet more quickly. It was the girl who had tinged his dreams, who had since grown distant and somewhat scornful. scorn-ful. "Yes, they seem strong and happy, Esther," he answered, "in spite of being be-ing In the trades." "necause of being in the trades." she corrected swiftly, a vibrant ring In her voice that brought his eyes again to her face. She was looking out at the marching blocks, her gaze steady, but with a tremulousness of the delicate lips that somehow reminded remind-ed him of the odd note in her voice. The next day there was a rumor of Pennington's going abroad; his housekeeper had received a note to close the house, the agent to look after the afxrs until further instructions. instruc-tions. Down on one of the back streets, a street unknown to Pennington's old life, were many dingy offices, meager In appointments, but representing a vast accretion of labor. At one of them a line of men were seeking employment, em-ployment, passing In front of a keen-eyed keen-eyed foreman, who accepted or rejected re-jected them almost without a glance. Hut the rejections were few. Men were wanted for new blocks of buildings build-ings going up, men of skill, of strength, of merely carrying capacity any man who could add his strength to the labor force and hasten the work. So when a whltehanded man of confessed Incapacity stepped In front of the foreman's desk ho was looked at askance, but finally accepted and set to carrying brick from tho sidewalk side-walk to the men who were laying tho Then Pennington Understood. foundation. It was muscle making or muHclebreaklng work, nnd for the first few days or weeks even It seemed wholly of the breaking. Hut Ihero was an under element of doggednesH in Pennington's nature which had never come to the surface, and though Ills limbs trembled with weariness long lief ire the days were half over, nnd at no, in h sank Into a crouching heap upon the ncnreHt Hoard rather than cross the si reet to a res tnnrant. lie struggled on In some way until the hour of dismissal catno. Tho second day the boss told him gruffly that ho could not nfTord fo pay 111 in more than half wages, nnd the third day Hint he should pay him nothing nt nil, for ho was worth nothing. noth-ing. This was tantamount to n dlschnrgo, and so tho boss meant It. but If was not ono In nctual words. Pennington disregarded It. Tho boss looked toward him doubtfully doubt-fully from time to time, but In tho end concluded to let him remain. Such determination promised good work, if the man survived the breaking break-ing in. Besides, he must be in dire need. Pennington had a little room over the second-hand store where he purchased pur-chased a coarse suit of working clothes, but he had not brought money to pay the room rent. He possessed a cheap silver watch, however, and this he left as security. With his first pay envelope he redeemed the watch. In his room were cot, a chair, and a rusty little stove propped up with wooden blocks. But not until the third week did he start a fire in the stove and make disastrous ineffectual attempts to cook his breakfast. By this time the blisters had disappeared disap-peared under rough lumps and ridges. How he had lived before this no one knew but himself, for until he received re-ceived his second pay envelope he did not commence crossing the street to the restaurant for a noon lunch. When he sat down for a few minutes min-utes at the noon hour he did not double over in a tremulous heap as he had done at first, and though his face was thinner and whiter, its flesh was firmer than when he first came, and his eyes were clearer. As Pennington's hands acquired a working knowledge of the materials, and his mind began to more thoroughly thorough-ly grasp the details, the boss gave him I Seemed to Be Directing the Work. occasional Jobs of oversight or authority, author-ity, for he Beemed the best man at hand for them. At first an hour or two of keeping the men's time, the stock taking of some of the materials, or perhaps a commission downtown to purchase things that required inspection and could not be ordered by messenger or telephone; then, after a year or so, he began to be left in temporary charge during the enforced absence of both foreman and boss. And by that time Pennington's hands were as firm and hard as the average workingman's, and his thin face and narrow shoulders w ere filling out with good, solid flesh. At the end of three years the foreman fore-man started out as an independent contractor and the boss took his place. Pennington would have then become boss, but the new contractor asked him to go with him as foreman, and Pennington, with an odd feeling of exultation and wonder, consented. All this time the Pennington agent had heard nothing, and an expression of speculative concern was beginning to appear in his face. Of course Pennington must he dead, for ho was a man who required a great deal of money, and being in Europe Eu-rope mado the money more imperative. impera-tive. The agent was In half mind to communicate with the nearest relative, rela-tive, but hesitated and concluded to wait a little longer. A small portion of Esther Hilton's property consisted of downtown tenements. tene-ments. In the last few- years she had become infected with the reform movement, and was remodeling them with more regard for the inmates' welfare wel-fare than her rent roll. Severn! blocks had already been rebuilt re-built and occupied, and recently to hasten the work she had given a block to a new contractor. When the old buildings were demolished and the new walls were up a dozen or more feet she went down to look nt tho work. Poled on the very end of a timber nlmost nbove her was nn nleit. compactly com-pactly built man. who seemed to be directing the work. Something about hini drew- her gaze back again and ngain: yet even while her eyes kindled they tilled mistily. He was so like nnd yet so unlike; so what the other might have been, and was not. Presently the mnn sprung lightly across to another timber seven or eight feet away, explained something iib'riit the work to a new man. then crouched and dropped to the ground 12 f et below. As he turned he stood facing tho owner, and they gn'ed for some moments mo-ments Into each other s eyes, lie hail been bo absorbed in the work that ho had not noticed her presence "Est her ! '' hi cried. "Uulph Pi i tiiii;;tou," wonderlngly. "'. thought you were In Europe." "No; I hnvo been hero nil the time. " "In work like this?''. He nodded. She looked at him with tho color rising warmer In her face; In her eyes was Inquiry, then comprehension. Joy, exultation. "ltnlph," sho snld sortly, nfter ft long sllenco, "will you come up this evening nnd and tell mo nbont It?" There was a smile In Pennington's Penning-ton's eyes, though his fuce remained grnvo. 'Yes. Esther," he answered, "I will conic up nnd nnd nsk you about it. I am low in tho trade." |
