roy. They call themselves
anarchists.

A civilization rises when the beaver-men outnumber the rat-men. When the
rat-men get the upper hand the civilization falls. Then the rats turn
and eat one another and that is the end. Beware of breeding rats in
America.

CHAPTER IX. THE SCATTERED FAMILY

For three years after we came to Sharon I went to school, and in my
spare time worked at my shoe shining and other odd jobs. We had bought
feather beds again and our little home was a happy one. By hanging
around the depot spotting traveling men who needed a shine, or their
grips carried, I got acquainted with the telegraph agent. And so I got
the job of telegraph messenger boy.

Few telegrams were sent, and then only when somebody died. So whenever
I carried a telegram I knew that I was the bearer of bad news. Accidents
happened in the mines and iron mills. And when a man was killed, it
often meant his wife and babies would face hunger, for the jobs were not
the kind for women and children; muscular men were needed. Aside from
the occupation of housewife, there was nothing for a woman to do in
those days except to take in washing or sewing.

Of the many death messages that I bore to the workers' homes in Sharon,
few found a home that was able to last a day after the burial of the
bread-winner. He had failed to make provision for such an accident,--no
savings in the bank, no life insurance. As soon as the worker was
stricken his children were at the mercy of the world. I saw so much
of this, that the pity of it entered deep into my boy-heart and never
afterward could I forget it.

I talked with the station agent, the banker and the hotel keeper. The
station agent had money in the bank which he was saving to educate his
boy to be a telegrapher. He also carried life insurance. "If I should
die," he said, "my wife would collect enough insurance to start a
boarding-house. My boy would have money enough to learn a trade. Then he
could get as good a job as I have." The hotel keeper told me that if he
should die his wife could run the hotel just the same, it being free
of debt and earning enough money so that she could hire a man to do the
work he had been doing. The banker owned bonds and if he died the bonds
would go right on earning money for his children.

These men were capitalists and their future was provided for. Most of
the mill-workers were only laborers, they had no capital and the minute
their labors ended they