motion. I confess I see only darkness
ahead, save as it is pierced by the light of your love.

We have a thousand men this morning building a fence eight feet high
around our works. It looks like war to the knife under the present
policy. Of course I can't say much till my opportunity comes, if it
ever does.

Believe me, darling Gertrude,

Wholly yours,

George.

The note was dispatched by special messenger. Its receipt and contents
gave comfort to Gertrude.

Colonel Harris left his breakfast table almost abruptly. One egg, a piece
of toast, and a cup of coffee were all he ate. It was an earlier meal
than usual which the Swiss cook had prepared, and by half past six
Colonel Harris started from home to his office, Gertrude from her chamber
window kissing her hand to him, saying, "Keep cool, father!"

By seven o'clock he and his capable manager were busily using the two
office telephones. Before nine o'clock, all the teams of several lumber
firms were engaged in hauling fence posts, two by four scantling, and
sufficient sixteen foot boards to construct a fence eight feet high about
the entire premises of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co.'s plant.

This early action of the company for a time confused the strike managers,
as they could not divine whether Colonel Harris in a fit of despair
planned to fence in and close down his mills, or, perhaps, once getting
his plant enclosed, purposed to eject all members of labor organizations,
and again as in a former strike, attempt to start his plant with
non-union labor.

The leader of the strike was a brawny man with full beard, unkempt hair,
and a face far from attractive. "Captain O'Connor," as the labor lodges
knew him, was the recognized leader of the strike. He was not an employee
at the steel mills, but an expert manager of strikes, receiving a good
salary, and employed by the officers of the central union. At 2:30
o'clock a secret meeting of the officers of the several labor lodges and
Captain O'Connor was held behind closed doors. All were silent, when
suddenly O'Connor rose and began to denounce capital, charging it with
the robbery of honest labor.

"Behold labor," he said, "stripped to the waist, perspiring at every pore
in the blinding heat of molten iron, shooting out hissing sparks.
Pleasures for you laborers are banished; your wives and children are
dressed in cheap calicoes; no linen or good food on your tables, and most
of you are in deb