HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1918-7-4, Page 2Food Coatro! Corner
The "farmers of Canada will very
shortly have to undertake' the harvest
work with the help of green labor,'
In this connection they should remem-
ber that we are at wax. They should
adjust the work throughout the farm
to suit the new conditions, and they
should begin right in their own minds.
ee_.. "•rn.wM,. „ "„+� •,=.x..�a;+^.�rthic•.F� _...,.:,.:..: m.:raznec�-�..�xs•»,Fu The first adjustment necessary is
ompahy by special arrangement with '.Thos. A11ev. to change the point of view from one
Toronto of criticism, discouragement, and
f cleliv_ fault-finding with labor conditions, to
CHAPTER VTI.—(Cont'c.) him; he longed for the hour o that of
the soldier and war `worker,
°Conyrlght IouChton _Ailirlin
"Fire weren't the first to shoot, and er kI ce r i 1 hi eves and looking and realize that we are going through
down the load, knew that it was at a crisis, the most serious the world
we wont be the second,” said lob -i
bins. "But we'll shoot if -we have to"�
Jerry Donohue, in the front rank of
the strikers, tingled with 'excitement)
and suspense. Such a stillness had I
,fallen that he heard the breathing of :
the man next to him, Fascinated he,
kept his eyes fixed on the sheriff,, a
bulky, red-faced man, who had lost his
batin the serinunage and whose bald
head glisaened in the hot August sun,i
The officer was panting from his exer
tions; sweat was streaming down his
face; but with the revolver in his hand
he was not quite anobject for deri-
sion. Jerry watched him with the
absorption of a mere spectator, one.
not himself involved in the drama, and
wondered what he would do. I
The sheriff looked about him; his
forces were over -matched. Reluctant- I
ly he returned his revolver to his
pocket.
I don't propose, to engage in a
pitched battle with you men," he said,
"You defy the civil authorities; very
well, In a day or two you are likely
to find yourselves under martial law," I
CHAPTER VIII:1.
The group on duty before the gates
knew that the end was near. The
whole town was aware of it -had been
since the night before, when the
governor's decision to call out the
National Guard had been published.
Immediately upon the receipt of that
news many of the strikershad slipped
away. They realized that further re-
sistance was Hopeless and they dread-
ed punishment for past resistance if
they remained. But most of the'
men, though admitting the futility of
prolonging the fight, were animated
by a resolve to make no premature
surrender. Even though theyall knew
that their rebellion had been already
overcome, they chose to compel the ef-
fective demonstration of the fact.
It was not a stimulating prospect,
however, and the drizzling rain that
dripped from their hat -brims and
trickled down inside upturned coat=
collars made it difficult for them to
maintain the desirable spirited ap-
pearance. They stood about discuss-
ing the course that after the capitula-
tion it `night be best for each one to
follow. Most of them were disposed
to seek again their old positions in
the mills. .
"tNot. for me," said Jerry in response
to a question. "Drayton has a black
mark down opposite my name. I'nz
going to get :a job in the city, and
then I'm going to night school; if you
dont have an education you're bound
to be somebody's man allyour life."
"An education's no guarantee eith-
er," replied one of the group. "A job
that you can: save money .fn that's all
that counts."
"Where"
will you findone of those?
1 y
[
asked another.. "Unless you've got a
rich friend to help you to it."
"Sure„ that's the thing," declared a
third derisively. "A rich friend! And
where would we be getting a rich
friend:"
Smoke ascended from meditative
pipes and was dissipated in the moist
air in hopeless inquiry.
Jerry shrugged his coat` more close-
ly round him, settled his chin in his
collar more. doggedly. Nothing; to
do now but wait it out. His thoughts
at the moment turned, not to his own
and his mother's uncertain outlook,
but to the difficulties of the Scanlan
family. He had not seen Dave or his
father for two days; when he had
seen them, they were both unsteady
from drink, unfit for picket duty,"and
had been led away to sober off. There
was talk among the men that the
Scanlans were especially hard-pressed
—without funds and unable to get
credit any longer at the local stores.
To Jerry, remembering the extrava-
gant aims and expenditures of the
family,the gossip seemed only too
likely to he well: grounded. He
thought of Nora in the unfamiliar at-
mosphere of squalor chat must now
surround her, with a drunken father
and brother sprawling before her. eyes
and a bitter, shrewish, and discourag-
ed mother berating them and her
alike, and a hot desire to be her res-
cuer to bear her away to peace and
comfort and happiness, burned in him,
only to leave him, with the quench-
ing of it by common sense, more mis-
erable than ever. He couldn't serve
her, he couldn't marry her, even if she
Were willing; he had nothing to offer.
He was himself a dependent now on
his mother's little hoard --a' dependent
as much as the three motherless chil-
dren that she had taken into the house
—motherless and, as Jerry thought,
soon to be fatherless; Dobbins was
now but a tottering ; shadow of a man.
Yet the thought of Nora in misery,
the misery of actual want, drove him
apart from his fellows; he paced up
and clown bending his brows upon.the
problem, striving to originate some
method by which he might come to her
aid, _ A full-grown man, a man of his
ex eptional vigor and strength --sure-
ly it' as preposterous that he should be
as incapable as any child of giving
support to oris in deed --to the one he
loved. It could not long be so; youth,
entliiisieslgi, gtreli thrthey must find a
good market. . He chafed even now
at the delay in running to seek it that
loyalty to his fellows itn-nosed
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