s run on
de ice, and I know vell dis one dat I hold de tail. Den quick I haf a
thought. I look for a stick all about: dere iss but a little one for de
fire, and no knife, but I get a knife from a man dat iss at de odder
room, and I cut it and tie it. I vill not tell Brita vat I do, but soon
I haf de tail vid a handle, and I put it inside my coat, and go to a
store vere iss a man I haf seen dat vill make many things, and money
sometimes.

"'Ha, Jan,' he said ven I show it, 'dis _iss_ a notion! I'll gif you ten
dollar for dat notion.'

"'No,' I say. 'If you say ten dollar I know it vorth more, for I know
vat you can do. But let it be more, and I may sell it.'

"Den he talk. Dere is risk, he say, and he must spend much money, but he
say it vill _take_. Oh, I know dat vord, and ven he has talked so much
at last he say he vill write a paper and gif me one hundred dollar, and
make me a foreman ven he shall make dem. For he says, 'It iss vat all
ladies vill vant--so soft to make clean in de beautiful cabinets, and de
china on de vall so as dey hang it in great houses. Vid its handle for
stiffness, den de soft tail vill go eferyvere and nefer break. It iss a
duster, and best of all duster too, for nothing can efer break.'

"So now he hass rooms--dree rooms--and many people are to take dem, and
to-morrow I go to show how one must hold all de tails, and dere is vork,
all I can do; and ven money iss come I dink to go avay, but not soon,
for I must help some dat haf no help. But oh, I dink of de little ones,
and of Brita dat iss gone; and de moder she cannot haf rest, for all day
she say, 'Vy must it be dey are gone, ven now iss plenty?'--'My God, it
iss your vill. And not fery long, and you vill make us a home vid her.'
It iss all right, my lady."

Jan lingers still in his last quarters. The mission holds him fast, and
his grave, steady face is known to many a poor wretch just out of
prison--many a tramp who has returned despairing of work and been helped
to it by this man, himself a workman, but with a sympathy never failing
for any sad soul struggling toward a better life or lost in the despair
of waiting. Their name is legion, and their rescue must come from just
such workers--men who have suffered and know its meaning. Men of this
stamp hold the key to a regeneration of the masses, such as organized
charities are powerless to effect; and already some who believe in this
fact are seeking to make their work easier and to gi