FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65  
66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   >>   >|  
for him; to him, the Hon. Joseph and I were introduced. Mr. Hutchins knew what he wanted. He was cordial to Mr. Mecklin, but he took me. We entered a most respectable surrey with tassels, driven by a raw-boned coachman in a black overcoat, drawn by two sleek horses. "How is this thing going, Paret?" he asked. I gave him Mr. Grunewald's estimated majority. "What do you think?" he demanded, a shrewd, humorous look in his blue eyes. "Well, I think we'll carry the state. I haven't had Grunewald's experience in estimating." Ezra Hutchins smiled appreciatively. "What does Watling think?" "He doesn't seem to be worrying much." "Ever been in Elkington before?" I said I hadn't. "Well, a drive will do you good." It was about four o'clock on a mild October afternoon. The little town, of fifteen thousand inhabitants or so, had a wonderful setting in the widening valley of the Scopanong, whose swiftly running waters furnished the power for the mills. We drove to these through a gateway over which the words "No Admittance" were conspicuously painted, past long brick buildings that bordered the canals; and in the windows I caught sight of drab figures of men and women bending over the machines. Half of the buildings, as Mr. Hutchins pointed out, were closed,--mute witnesses of tariff-tinkering madness. Even more eloquent of democratic folly was that part of the town through which we presently passed, streets lined with rows of dreary houses where the workers lived. Children were playing on the sidewalks, but theirs seemed a listless play; listless, too, were the men and women who sat on the steps,--listless, and somewhat sullen, as they watched us passing. Ezra Hutchins seemed to read my thought. "Since the unions got in here I've had nothing but trouble," he said. "I've tried to do my duty by my people, God knows. But they won't see which side their bread's buttered on. They oppose me at every step, they vote against their own interests. Some years ago they put up a job on us, and sent a scatter-brained radical to the legislature." "Krebs." "Do you know him?" "Slightly. He was in my class at Harvard.... Is he still here?" I asked, after a pause. "Oh, yes. But he hasn't gone to the legislature this time, we've seen to that. His father was a respectable old German who had a little shop and made eye-glasses. The son is an example of too much education. He's a notoriety seeker. Oh, he's clever, in a
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65  
66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Hutchins

 

listless

 

Grunewald

 

legislature

 
respectable
 

buildings

 

sullen

 

unions

 

thought

 

passing


watched

 

playing

 

presently

 
passed
 
streets
 
democratic
 

eloquent

 

tinkering

 

tariff

 

madness


sidewalks

 

trouble

 

Children

 
houses
 

dreary

 

workers

 
Slightly
 
Harvard
 

father

 
education

notoriety
 

clever

 
seeker
 

glasses

 
German
 

buttered

 

oppose

 
people
 

scatter

 

brained


radical

 
interests
 

witnesses

 

humorous

 
estimated
 

majority

 

demanded

 

shrewd

 
worrying
 

Watling