he Fleece and mining and minting and bringing the Silver till the Song
of Service filled the world and the poetry of Toil was in the souls of
the laborers. Yet ever and always there were tense silent white-faced
men moving in that swarm who felt no poetry and heard no song, and one
of these was John Taylor.

He was tall, thin, cold, and tireless and he moved among the Watchers of
this World of Trade. In the rich Wall Street offices of Grey and
Easterly, Brokers, Mr. Taylor, as chief and confidential clerk surveyed
the world's nakedness and the supply of cotton to clothe it. The object
of his watching was frankly stated to himself and to his world. He
purposed going into business neither for his own health nor for the
healing or clothing of the peoples but to apply his knowledge of the
world's nakedness and of black men's toil in such a way as to bring
himself wealth. In this he was but following the teaching of his highest
ideal, lately deceased, Mr. Job Grey. Mr. Grey had so successfully
manipulated the cotton market that while black men who made the cotton
starved in Alabama and white men who bought it froze in Siberia, he
himself sat--

_"High on a throne of royal state
That far outshone the wealth
Of Ormuz or of Ind._"

Notwithstanding this he died eventually, leaving the burden of his
wealth to his bewildered wife, and his business to the astute Mr.
Easterly; not simply to Mr. Easterly, but in a sense to his spiritual
heir, John Taylor.

To be sure Mr. Taylor had but a modest salary and no financial interest
in the business, but he had knowledge and business daring--effrontery
even--and the determination was fixed in his mind to be a millionaire at
no distant date. Some cautious fliers on the market gave him enough
surplus to send his sister Mary through the high school of his country
home in New Hampshire, and afterward through Wellesley College; although
just why a woman should want to go through college was inexplicable to
John Taylor, and he was still uncertain as to the wisdom of his charity.

When she had an offer to teach in the South, John Taylor hurried her off
for two reasons: he was profoundly interested in the cotton-belt, and
there she might be of service to him; and secondly, he had spent all the
money on her that he intended to at present, and he wanted her to go to
work. As an investment he did not consider Mary a success. Her letters
intimated very strongly her intention not to